The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

My story starts like many others not so long ago and not so far from here in the mountains of a place called Claxonville there lived a young woman who at the time had a name but never used it, she did not need to use her name when she never had any contact with anyone outside the boundaries of her cottage you see she did not want anyone to know she was there let alone what her name was.

Her house was unfindable by most with all the protection that she had placed around it, the magic that would make people not see it or instead see more trees, there were so many other things protecting the house as well that it should have been impossible for anyone to find it which was exactly how she wanted it, the world around her was ever changing with people coming and going, cities rising in the skyline and then gone the next, war after war came and went by as she sat up there in her cabin but it did not matter and it did not bother her, her part in the world was done and it was about time it left her alone.

Most days she spent pottering around in her garden as living in seclusion pretty much guaranteed that she had to grow her own food, if she wasn’t in the garden then she would be in her study reading one of the many books that she had found there when she arrived (all of which she probably knew word for word), it was on one cold night that her life would change forever and for the better, as she sat there reading one of her books, she heard a commotion outside, what the hell she thought to herself and then all of a sudden there was a loud banging which made her jump somebody was at her door.

“help” shouted a male voice

She did not move she had no intention of opening her door, for all she knew he could be a mad man and of course she wanted nothing to do with the world outside her cabin, she continued to read in the hope that he would think that nobody was in but he didn’t the banging grew louder and more rapid it was as if he was trying to break the door down.

“please I know you are in there” he said but still no answer came “your lights are on” he added but still no answer came from in the cabin “please let me in from them” he said in hope that the door would soon open and he would be allowed to enter.

She decided that she would go and see what was going on after all what else could she do, it seemed that he was not going to go away, really she also wanted to go and find out what would make him come to her cabin, what scared him that much that he would step foot on her land, the one place all the villagers were scared to go after all they believed that a witch lived there of course it was not true it was a rumour that she had started when she first arrived there.

After all when you are trying to stay away from the world who wants people popping round for tea, certainly not her, just as she reached the door a thought occurred to her how had this person actually found the cabin when that should have been impossible, he was still banging when she made it to the door and pulled it open and a young man with brown hair stood there, after steading himself from nearly falling over, after trying to push the door open.

“it’s about time” he snapped slamming the door

“pardon you come on to my land and into my cabin and all you have to say is that it is about time” she replied

“well it is about, time, I have been knocking for ages” he replied

“if you will drop the attitude, I will tell you that it is not safe to open the door to anyone so you should think yourself damn well lucky that I did” She replied

“it is classed as polite when it is night and someone is knocking on your door shouting for help that you open the door” he said

“what difference does it make if it is day, or night, I do not know you and if indeed you needed help” she replied

“you heard me shouting” he said looking shocked at what she had just said

“that could have been an act to get me to open my door so that you could rob me or kill me” she said

“you still should have opened your door it is called being polite” he snapped

“I do not care if it is polite” she snapped at him

“you do not care because you also seem to have no bloody manners” he snapped

“I also do not care for manners I do not want humans here bugging me, now will you tell me what has got you so scared that you would dare to step foot on my land?” she asked

“you should already know the answer” he replied

“if I Knew the answer then I would have not asked the question” she said

“they hunt at night” was all he said

“who do?” she asked

“the night is their domain everybody in this world knows that” he replied “well any sane person” he added quietly so that she could not hear him

“if I was mad then you have come to the wrong place, will you stop with the bloody cryptic clues and just spit it out” she snapped rather annoyed that he would not just spit it out

“vampires of course” he replied with such fear in his eyes that she had not seen in a long time but she could not help herself and burst out laughing whilst the man stared at her in utter shocked at the fact that she was laughing about vampires

“vampires why the hell are they free? Why are they not still in their prisons?” she asked when she had managed to stop laughing enough that she could actually talk.

“why do you laugh at vampires? They are not something that should be laughed at, they rule most of the country, where have you been there are no prisons and have not been for centuries”, he said now looking at her as if she was mad.

“I do not mean to laugh” she replied

“as I said mad” he muttered not realising that she could actually hear him

“and where are all the hunters?” she asked curiously, surely, they had to be out there somewhere still fighting them as it was their job

“nope” he said looking at her strangely “there are none of those either” he added

“come in and sit down I need to know what is going on in the world, I need to know who you are? And I need to know the date” she said leading him into the living area of her cabin, she just had to know what the hell was going on in the world and what the bloody hell had happened that meant there were no hunters left.

“my name is Jack and the date is 2672” he said and thought about it for a moment “why would you need to know what the date is?” he asked

“because I do not keep up with what goes on outside the boundaries of my land, why should I?” she said “what happens to the world is none of my concern, there is nothing out there that holds any interest to me” she added

“but why?” Jack asked curiously why did she not want to know what was happening out there, why wouldn’t anyone want to know that they are taking over he thought looking at her strangely

“because if I wanted to know what was happening out there, would I not live out there instead of up here and away from the world” she replied

“I just realised I am in your house and I forgot to ask you your name” Jack said

Now this was a question she had to think about did she want this stranger to know who she really was, the more she thought about it the more the answer was no, at least not yet anyway “Charlie” she replied quickly not knowing why she had used his name, maybe it was because that was the first name that popped into her head and the only name she ever really thought about.

“you do look like your mother” Jack said

“My mother” Charlie said curiously

“you don’t remember do you I suppose you would have only been a small child at the time” Jack replied

“why would I remember you” she asked

“I have been here before when I was a bit younger, all the other boys dared me to come up to the witches house and steal something” Jack replied

“carrots” Charlie burst out without thinking

“what?” said Jack

“you stole my carrots” she replied

“you mean your mothers carrots” Jack said looking really confused again

“I think I know what I mean, now can you tell me what has happened to the world?” Charlie said and turned away from Jack, she really didn’t like the way he was looking at her, as if he was trying to work out if she really was a witch

“well as you said earlier many centuries ago the vampires were all in prison until 300 years ago, the government that ran this country at the time decided that it was too expensive to keep them locked up in prison” Jack said

“but safer for humans” Charlie said

“do you mind” Jack snapped

“continue” she said quickly

“so, where had I got to, oh yes so, after releasing them all form the prisons the government decided that they were trustworthy and that they would make a treaty with them” Jack was saying when he got interrupted again by Charlie once again laughing,

when she noticed that Jack was given her an evil look she quickly said “they thought that they could trust a vampire” and she gestured for Jack to continue with his story

“the treaty was quickly agreed upon and signed by all parties involved, the vampires were given villages all over the country and every single person was ordered to give on pint of blood a day to feed them and stop them from hunting us but it did not last for long, when a new government was elected who believed they were wiser and smarter than the previous one, they said that enough was enough and that they would no longer treaty with the foul creatures, instead they would put an end to their misery” Jack said

“that was a good idea” Charlie said whilst Jack wasn’t talking

Ignoring what Charlie had just said Jack decided that he would continue with his story after all she had asked him to tell her what was going on but did not seem to want to listen without interrupting.

“they decided that they would hire all the hunters” Jack said

“if they hired all the hunters, why do those foul creatures still walk this earth? They should have been sent to the underworld” Charlie asked

“because the hunters wanted to be paid” Jack replied

“what? A hunter never got paid, it was not the job of a hunter to be paid, their job was to protect people” she blurted out without thinking

“they seemed to think they deserved to be paid after they were doing a job but the king as he is known now wiped out all the hunters and began to take over this country city by city, the last one fell two weeks ago” he said “the hunters became too greedy” he added

“not all hunters were greedy, there must have been some of the good ones left” Charlie asked

“there is a story of one” Jack said “and how would you know that not all hunters were greedy, they were killed way before our time” Jack added

“because I do” Charlie replied

“but you are no older than me” Jack said

“I wish but that is none of your concern, tell me of the one hunter” Charlie replied

“all the stories I have read say that her name was Leanna and she was feared by all amongst the vampires, if they heard she was coming for them, they would run, she was the strongest among the hunters and dealt with many, all the stories say similar that one night she left the world in the hands of vampires after leading all of her friends into a trap, she simply did not want to fight anymore, if you ask me her leaving and betraying her friends is the reason that we now live in this hell” said Jack “that piece of trash abandoned us or was killed” Jack added

“Killed what do you mean killed” Charlie asked

“you know dead but I think the story is utter rubbish, she knew what this world was going to become and left it in its hour of need, she is nothing more than a coward” Jack said

“who killed her?” Charlie asked he seemed to be getting really angry when he talked about her, he seemed to blame her for everything.

“the king well the dean as he was known then or so he told everyone” Jack replied “that is why when they went to hire all the hunters they wanted to be paid because if the best among them could be killed, they wanted to know that their families would be looked after, if that coward hadn’t run away this words would be so much different” Jack added

“why do you believe that she wasn’t killed?” Charlie asked

“if she was as strong as all the books say she was, a vampire would not have been able to get close enough to kill her, she made a plan with him and then abandoned us” Jack said angrily.

Charlie realised in that moment that Jack really did hate her and blame her for everything, she was really glad that she had lied to Jack about her name, after all if she had told him what would he have done, what would he have done when he realised that the person standing in front of him was the person he blamed for everything, there was no way that she could ever tell him that she was in fact Leanna and not Charlie, how had the history books got it so wrong, she had never led anyone anywhere and who the hell was this king, he certainly was not the dean that she knew.

“well that is enough for tonight it is getting late, you can tell me some more in the morning and you look like you could do with some rest, you can stay here for tonight, I on the other hand am heading down to your village I need to see what is going on” Charlie said

“you can’t they will kill you” Jack said

“I do not fear them, they are nothing to be feared” Charlie replied

“you should fear them, let me come with you” Jack said jumping up

“no, you are safer here” Charlie said

“safe here but I found you” He said

“you fear far too much, they cannot find this place, you only did because you came here before, there are many things protecting it” Charlie replied

“But” Jack went to protest

“listen I do not need you out there you will only get in my way, I am quite safe, now get some rest and I will see you in the morning” she said walking out of her door, she had spent far too long in har cabin that she had forgotten how to deal with humans, forgotten what patience was, Charlie had spent so long on her own that she had forgotten that human had a strange need to fear anything that they did not understand, when really there was nothing to fear at all.

Charlie did not see the point in fearing the vampires yes, they could look scary when they showed people there true face but unless you were like her and had trained to fight them, if they attacked there would be nothing you could do about it so why fear it when you already knew what your fate would be, if one was coming for you, you would be dead, fear in anything just seemed like a waste of energy to Charlie who had no fear of anything at all, if you feared all the time you would never live your life because you would be worried about everything around you.

Jack laid down on the sofa and picked up a blanket that had been laying on the floor, this Charlie seemed quite mean and had no manners what so ever, there was no way that she was the woman he had seen all them years ago, witches did not exist, he decided that she was lying to try and scare him but it did not work only they scared him, with in a moment of laying down he was asleep.