Chapter 7: Time

I entered the enormous house, wishing that I was back at home, asleep. A strange man was at the door, holding it open for me. He was taller than me, with bulging muscles, and shades on his face, even though he was inside. He sported a black t-shirt, and tight jeans that showed off a nice butt. He closed the door behind me quietly and walked ahead of me. He didn't say anything, so I figured that I should follow him. He walked out onto a patio outside in the backyard, and sat down in one of the white lounge chairs.

Abhay was sitting at a glass table, sipping tea. There was a slight breeze, brushing against my skin, cooling off some of the hot, summer weather. "Please, sit down." he said. I sat down, warily. He seemed different that day, something seemed wrong. "I'm sure you are still irritated at what happened with the sleeping arrangements." I nodded, not quite sure where this was going. "Is the vampire O.K.?"

"Yes," I managed to say. "Valdor, is fine."

"And I'm sure that you found him a place to stay as well."

"Yes, I did." Abhar's fine gray hair fluttered in the wind. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"Hmm. Well, let's get down to business," he changed the subject abruptly. "Do you have any idea as to whom the vampire is? Or where he is, for that matter?

"No I do not," I said through gritted teeth. "We have not been able to take any steps toward finding your vampire because my colleauge has been sick recently." He looked at me curisouly.

"And how sick is your vampire?" he asked me.

"Sick enough." I said, not wanting to pursue the conversation any longer. "Did you call me here on acatual business, or do you want to pry any more into my personal life?" He looked taken aback. I figured no one had spoken to him like that in years. The man that was sitting in the lounge chair had jumped up, ready to fight.

"Now, now, Jamar, there is no need for violence. Is there?" I wasn't liking this man as much as I did the first day that he came to get our help. He had seemed like he was up to something as the days wore on. Like he really didn't need our help.

"If you do not wish to discuss anything of importance, then I must be leaving." I started to stand up and leave but Abhar stopped me.

"I'm sorry if I seemed too intrusive a minute ago. I was just wondering about if Valdor was better or not. I asked you here because we need to go over how to kill this unknown vampire. I do not want a scene." I looked at him apprensively. There was never any scene, it was almost always easy after you had done it a few times. "I do not want the people in the towns to know, we want the body when you are done so we can dispose of it properly, and we need this done within the next four days." I gaped at him. It usually, at the least, took two months to track down a vampire and kill him. This one would be harder since their territory was so large.

"That's impossible. No one has ever hunted down and killed a vampire in less than a week. Give us a month, and we can take care of him."

"No, I will not give you a month. I will give you," he trailed off, thinking about how much time we had. "one month. I will double the payment if you can take care of it within two weeks time."

"But, no hunter has ever, killed a vampire within a month. You must understand, if we were able to do that we would be risking our lives!" A hunter usually has a lot of information gathering before they can kill a vampire. Where he sleeps, eats, how well he fights, his weaknesses, etc. If we were just given a month, we could only find where he sleeps, and how he hunts. That would not be enough information to kill one. It would require pure skill.

"I do not care what any other hunter has done. I want you to get rid of him in a month, or we will not pay you." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. A month! That man must be crazy. I stood up out of my chair, and walked around the house to my truck, then left.

A month!