Fan Fiction ❯ The Vampire Hunter II: Bloodlines ❯ Chapter 5

Chapter V

The plane landed with several slight bumps and Clark groggily opened her eyes to look out the window as the runway began to move a little slower past her eyes. The gray morning clouds were being burned away by the sun's rays and Clark could tell it was going to be a hot day.

She sat up a little straighter in her seat and rubbed at her face to try to wake up. She'd only managed to doze on the flight from New York City to Los Angeles and it had been broken sleep at that. But she had several things she had to do before she could take a nap.

It only took her three hours to get out of the airport and into a hotel with a modem hook-up. She could have used her cell phone for the laptop's modem, but as long as she had access to a hard-line, she figured she might as well use it.

Within minutes, Clark had accessed the local VHA's database to look for known vampire hangouts. There was a long list, but they were clustered in particular parts of the city, so Clark had a few ideas about where Gabrielle might end up.

At least, she hoped she was on the right track. It seemed likely that the places most frequented by vampires would be near their headquarters or the oldest and strongest vampires' lairs, since they would be the ones in charge. Whoever Gabrielle ended up visiting in L.A., it would be someone in a position of power, that Clark was sure of.

Clark pulled out the little printer she'd grabbed from her own precinct's equipment room and attached it to the laptop to print out the list of addresses she'd come up with. In less than ten minutes, she had the whole thing printed out.

Clark looked at her watch. It was almost eleven. She needed to go to bed now, if she planned to get any sleep before she had to get up again that evening. Gabrielle's plane was supposed to land around six that evening, but Clark intended to already be awake and waiting to follow the vampire when she arrived.

Clark shucked her outer clothing and climbed into the soft hotel bed in just her underwear. She thought about Gabrielle as she drifted off to sleep. Just once, she wanted to see those short blond locks in the sunlight.

She could easily imagine Gabrielle's light blond hair shining and warm from the sun. She loved running her fingers through it and could almost feel its silkiness as the strands fell through her fingers.

She remembered what it had been like, sitting on her picnic table the night she'd last seen Gabrielle, as she'd waited for Gabrielle to fill the space she'd opened between her legs. Gabrielle had remained where she'd been and had reminded Clark of why they'd decided to spend time apart. But in Clark's mind, it was daytime and Gabrielle easily took her place in front of Clark.

Clark felt her lips touch Gabrielle's and they both held still as they each savored the moment. Then Clark moved her lips a fraction to the side and parted them in anticipation of Gabrielle doing the same. Their tongues darted out simultaneously and Clark felt an adrenaline rush at the touch of Gabrielle's slick muscle.

Clark lost herself in the sensations of their tongues and lips moving against each other. After a long time, Clark opened her eyes and gazed into Gabrielle's sparkling green ones. The sunlight danced in them and Gabrielle smiled at her. Clark smiled back and took in the sight of the woman she loved basking in the sun. Her hair looked almost white from the bright rays. In fact, it practically looked like it was on fire.

Clark's smile faded as she watched Gabrielle's face contort into pain and the vampire backed away from her. Gabrielle screamed and her fangs extended to their fullest, as did her claws, and she fell to the ground, trying to put out the fire that was now her skin.

The tissue began dissolving and Clark sat in mute horror as Gabrielle's body boiled and bubbled. Clark sat frozen on the picnic table and could only watch as Gabrielle screamed and screamed from having her body burned from the outside in, until there was nothing left but ashes.

Clark was suddenly able to move again and she found herself kneeling on the ground, trying to gather the ashes, but the wind blew them away and out of her hands. She looked around for someone to help her, but she was alone.

Clark sat up and looked straight ahead at the large TV sitting in front of her bed. It only took a moment, but Clark didn't try to stop them when the tears came. The crying was brief, maybe a dozen tears, if that, but it was more than she'd shed since before her family had been killed.

Clark pushed her legs over the edge of the bed and looked at the clock. It was only a few minutes before four, which was good, since that's when she'd wanted to be up by anyway. She stood up and crossed the room to the curtained window. She pushed the cloth aside and looked out at the still bright day.

Whatever happened, Clark vowed to never let any harm come to Gabrielle. She wouldn't survive losing someone she loved again. Hunting vampires had been the only thing that had let her go on living after she'd lost her family. There was nothing left if she lost Gabrielle, too.

Clark let the curtain return to its natural hanging position and went to her bags. She showered quickly and then dressed before grabbing the paper with the addresses listed on it. She pulled the keys to the rental car out of her jacket pocket and picked up the hotel room key on the way out the door.

Half an hour later, she was fed and on her way to the first area that contained four well-known hot spots for vampires and their slaves. The only reason the VHA didn't just burn the places down was because they were human owned and a vampire had to actually look like a vampire before it could be established that they were a vampire.

Granted, the VHA was rarely questioned on its methods or the outcomes of raids, but the vampires had learned early on that as long as they kept humans around them, the VHA tended to back off in order to keep from killing what might later be considered to be "innocent bystanders." A few stories like that in the newspapers had caused new procedural laws to be enacted concerning the VHA and its treatment of vampire servants and the VHA wasn't interested in having any more restraints placed on them, so they restrained themselves to raiding vampire lairs almost exclusively.

Clark decided to drive by the clubs to get a feel for them, since only a couple of them were open this early in the afternoon, and she jotted down a few notes about placement and look before moving on to the next club on the list.

By six PM, Clark was headed towards LAX and she pulled out the GPS receiver to get a fix on Gabrielle's position. At first, the numbers didn't make any sense, but then Clark realized Gabrielle was still in the air. After a few minutes, though, the numbers began to fall and Clark watched until they steadied, indicating that the plane Gabrielle was on had landed.