Vampire Hunter Jon (2/?)
Do you guys remember Vampire Hunter Jon? Well, I have a new chapter ready! Oh, it's only be three months since the last installment. I promise I will get them out more regularly now!
Title: Vampire Hunter Jon
Author: pinkichan
Pairing: Jon/Ryan Brendon/Spencer
Rating: pg-13
Summary: Ryan has been kidnapped by a nefarious vampire overlord who is aiming to take L.A. as his own. It’s up to professional vampire hunter, Jon and his rag-tag crew of friends and ex-lovers to save Ryan and possibly the whole city.
Disclaimer: They don’t belong to me and this is all totally fake
Warning: minor death of non-main characters
Authors notes: I'll fully admit this is at times cracky.
Previous chapters Chapter One
Chapter 2: Anything Can Be a Weapon (If You’re Holding It Right)
“The plan is simple. We drive from here to L.A., kick vampire ass, and bring Ryan back here,” Jon says. He crosses his arms tight against his chest and looks to Tom. Tom - who is still trying to wash the blood out of his shirt in vain - looks up when he feels Jon's eyes on him. He gives Jon a blood-tinged thumbs-up.
“That’s a long way to drive,” Spencer says. He’s moved from the doorway and is now standing next to Brendon, their arms brushing lightly. Brendon ducks his head and smiles softly despite the seriousness of the situation. Jon frowns. He’s suddenly not sure if he’ll be able to handle a whole trip’s worth of their affections shoved in his face. It seems that he’s only just now realizing how different working with Brendon will be now. “And we can’t fly. What’s stopping Alex from taking Ryan while we’re getting gas or following maps?”
“Your optimism is astounding, Spence,” Tom says. He wrings out his shirt with his blood-stained hands and goes through Jon's kitchen to the little backdoor that leads to the tiny laundry room. Jon doesn’t say anything while Tom is gone. He just stands there, feeling utterly helpless and itching to call Ryan’s phone. Maybe Greenwald locked him up and forgot to take his cell.
“Join in or not. I don’t really care. I’m going to L.A. with or without a crew,” Jon snaps. The house is quiet save for the rumble of the dryer starting up. Spencer is glaring at the floor and Jon is glaring at Spencer and Brendon is biting on his lip enough to rip the skin. Tom emerges from the laundry room and sighs.
“I fucking knew this would happen. A team is no team if we can’t trust each other. Take my guys - I would trust any of them with my life. I know Sean or Ryan or Max would risk their lives to save my ass. It needs to be the same here or we’ve got nothing. I don’t know about you all, but I sort of want to live to see tomorrow.”
“I told you that this was a bad idea, Brendon,” Spencer mumbles. Brendon rests a hand on Spencer’s shoulder and squeezes, leans in and whispers something soft and comforting in Spencer’s ear. Jon can see Spencer visibly relax, his body loose under Brendon’s touch.
“You want to help. I know you do,” Jon catches Brendon saying. “You’re not the type who turns their back. Plus, it’s Ryan,” he stresses. Spencer scratches at his neck and has the grace to look sheepish.
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, Jon. I know that this is important to you. If it were Brendon, I’d be the same way.”
Jon nods and forces a small smile, one that Spencer returns. Tom takes a seat at the stool at the island in Jon's kitchen. “So how are we doing this? Two cars? One car? Follow-the-leader-style?” He looks around at them, tapping his fingers against the tiled counter, looking both amused and excited.
“Two cars,” both Jon and Spencer say at nearly the same time. It’s just easier that way. Jon really can’t handle both worrying about Ryan’s safety and walking on eggshells with Spencer and Brendon. Tom claps a hand against the table.
“So, Jon and I then?” He asks. No one bothers to answer because really, it couldn’t pan out any other way. Tom smirks. “Just a hunch.”
They can’t leave until Tom’s shirt dries. Tom is seriously so lucky that he’s a vampire hunting master and also Jon's best friend, because he hates waiting, especially for such a stupid reason. In the meantime, they have a map of the states spread out on Jon's dining room table. He can’t even remember the last time that he actually ate at the table and not in his bedroom or the living room, pouring over the news or assignments.
Tom and Brendon have markers and they’re plotting out which roads to take, Jon and Spencer interjecting when there’s a quicker route or a highway that they should utilize instead. The highways would be the fastest considering the fact that most vampires use the back roads or residential areas as their own personal version of fast food, chasing down cars and taking the occupants. Jon's seen that happen one too many times, his stomach still churning at the memory.
“Do we know who turned Greenwald?” Brendon asks. The cap to his marker is caught between his teeth as he looks up at Jon.
Jon shakes his head. “No, I’m not all that familiar with California breeds. Could’ve been anyone.”
“We could call Pete,” Spencer suggests. He’s staring at the map, at the red circled area of L.A. “He would know.”
“We’ll worry about that once we’re closer to the target,” Tom says. He caps his marker and makes to fold the map back up. The buzz of the dryer is loud in the stillness of Jon's home. Tom goes to put on his shirt and Jon turns to the kitchen counter to pick up his belt of stakes, draping it around his chest.
“You two have weapons in the car?” Jon asks. It’s more of an attempt at small talk than anything else. He knows that Spencer makes sure they’re well-protected at all times. Brendon is the one who answers for the two of them.
“Yep, guns at the ready.”
“Good. I’m going to grab a few more things from the closet,” Jon says. He points towards his room, but it’s a wasted effort. Brendon’s been here more than enough times to suddenly forget the layout of Jon's home. Jon goes to his closet and grabs up the duffle bag shoved into the back. He loads up the bag with extra bullets, stakes, knives, whatever he has to spare. He doesn’t know how long this trip will wind up taking or how hard he’ll have to fight Alex for Ryan.
When he comes back to the kitchen, Tom’s returned with his freshly-laundered tank top on, along with the trademark plaid shirt that Tom’s seemingly always wearing.
“We hitting the road now, Jonny?” Tom asks. Jon nods and shoulders his bag. His chest feels tight with nerves. Sure, he’s confident in their abilities, but no matter how skilled you are, every mission has the potential to be your last. Jon's going into this knowing he could die, but it’s worth it. Ryan is worth it. Jon doesn’t have much to live for these days, there isn’t a lot he looks forward to waking up another day to see, but Ryan is definitely one of the few things that fall into that category.
Brendon fishes the car keys from his jeans pocket and hands them over to Spencer. Tom leads the way out the door and tells Brendon and Spencer to go and turn on the headlights of their car. It’s still dark out, will be for at least the next two hours or so. The sky is dark, voided of the stars and the moon. Spencer and Brendon follow their orders and soon a bright white light is stretching up Jon's driveway and washing the house and Tom’s car in light. Jon finally emerges from his home, turning the lock on his door on the way out. It’s kind of pointless to lock the door considering that chances are low that a human will wander out this way - and if it’s a vampire, well, a simple lock isn’t going to stop them - but it’s a habit that Jon can’t seem to break.
The vampire carcass is still littering Jon's front yard and Tom goes to it, aided by the light, and removes the stake stuck deep the vampire’s chest cavity. The vampire’s body makes an unpleasant squelching noise as the stake pulls from skin and bone. Jon wrinkles his nose and Tom wipes the bloodied stake off in the damp, overgrown grass of Jon's front yard.
Both Spencer and Tom’s car are parked far down the dirt path of Jon's driveway. Tom had abandoned his car down the driveway after he hit the vampire and walked the rest of the way up Jon's driveway - or at least Jon figures that that’s the case. Spencer’s car is parked back a few feet from Tom’s, leaving a sizeable gap between their two vehicles.
“Are we going to move this vampire? I don’t really want guts getting all over my tires,” Tom says.
“You’re the one that hit it,” Jon points out.
“Yeah, but when I hit it, the damn thing flew up in the air, not under the tires.”
“Fine, we’ll move it,” Jon sighs. The vampire in question is no one that Jon recognizes from what he can see and he’s a little thankful for that. It’s a male, small and young; no wonder it died just from the impact of Tom’s car. Jon's not up for touching the vamp, so he and Tom roll the body with their feet until gravity takes over and pulls the dead weight down into the little dip of Jon's yard.
Jon loads up Tom’s car while Brendon and Spencer buckle themselves into Spencer’s, the engine humming. Jon decides to drive Tom’s car and Tom gives up control easily, sliding into the passenger seat with his handgun tucked into the holster around his leg.
Spencer is waiting in the street for Jon to pull out of the driveway. They’ll be following behind Jon and Tom’s car. The road leading from Jon's place is a lonely dirt road that breaks off into a residential area or a main road that leads into the downtown area; they take the downtown route, intent on driving straight out of Chicago. Jon figures if they make few stops and there are minor distractions, like vampires, then they can make it through Illinois and maybe even Missouri without having to stop for sleep.
An hour-and-a-half later, they’re driving through a forest-lined, deserted highway. The dark of the night is beginning to give way to the promise of sunrise. The sky is steadily lightening, stretches of blue. If people have to travel, most will just fly; if they have to drive, it’s done during the day and in large groups. The worst thing to be in this post-modern vampire world is all alone.
Tom’s saying something about giving Sean a call once daylight breaks. Typically, Sean and Tom work together at slaying jobs, along with Ryan J and Max. Jon is removing Tom from his team, but he doesn’t doubt that they’ll manage fine without Tom.
Jon should be more focused on driving, but the risks are low and the task is boring. He’s partially zoned out, listening to Tom tell the tale of the time Sean beheaded three vampires at once. Jon's heard this story no less than ten times already. It’s Jon's lack of focus on the road that makes him miss the dark flash of a figure following along the side of the road, keeping time with the cars.
“Motherfucker,” Tom grumbles, which finally draws Jon from his daze. He looks to Tom instead of the road, but Tom is glaring darkly at the road ahead of them, and Jon follows his gaze, finally catching sight of the vampire standing cockily in the middle of the abandoned highway.
“What the hell is that vamp doing out so close to morning?” Jon asks. He decreases his speed a bit and glances in the rearview mirror to make sure that Brendon and Spencer aren’t being followed.
“Daredevil … or stupid. It could be either one. Another of Greenwald’s?”
Jon shakes his head. “This one looks different than the rest.”
“Not a hipster, you mean.”
They’re rapidly closing in on the vampire and the beast has yet to make a move besides standing there, grinning like he’s got the upper hand.
“This one doesn’t look like he’s going to go down via car,” Jon says.
“We could always try,” Tom smirks.
Jon accelerates just a little. If he hit the vampire, it’d most likely cause bad damage to the car and that defeats the purpose and makes getting to Ryan that much harder. Tom lowers his hand down his leg. Jon knows that he’s going for his gun.
“Roll my window down just enough for me to squeeze through,” Tom orders. Jon isn’t so sure.
“It could rip your head right off.”
“Not if I shoot it first.”
“Tom…”
“I’ll be fine, just pull a fast turn. I’ll shoot it and we’ll make a U-turn back around to the leader.”
Jon sighs, but his grip tightens on the steering wheel. It’s tricky. If he’s too slow, then Tom becomes a wide-open target; too fast, and Tom won’t be able to take the shot. He’s got to get this just right. Jon rolls down the window and Tom cocks his gun, crouches up in his seat, ready to lean out the window when necessary.
They’re so close to the vampire that Jon can see its smirking face, its long, dark hair. Tom slides out the window and takes aim just as Jon pulls a sharp left. The tires squeal and burn against the pavement and they’re sliding sideways, directly into the vampire’s path.
Jon holds his breath and Tom takes his shot, but the wooden bullet cuts through nothing but air - not because Jon timed it wrong or Tom missed his target, but because the vampire simply isn’t there. Jon swears and Tom slinks back into his seat.
“Where the fuck is it?” Jon shouts. His question is answered by the harsh sound of crunching metal. Jon pulls back on to the road, going the wrong way down the highway. From this new position, they can see that the vampire bypassed their car completely and instead sought out Brendon and Spencer.
“It tricked us!” Tom growls.
“It wanted Brendon and Spencer! Fuck!”
The vampire is crouching on the roof of Spencer’s car, completely blocking the windshield and Spencer’s view of the road. Jon pulls off the road. He has to, or else Spencer will smash right into them.
“What’s the plan, Jonny?” Tom asks, his voice is tight but filled with energy. Tom lives for fights like this.
“I’m going to pull back around behind them. Maybe you can get a shot off that way?”
“I’m sure that I could,” Tom says with a nod. Jon turns sharply, edging off the dirt-lined path and back onto the road. Tom slips back out the window as Jon hits the pedal, trying to play catch-up to where Spencer and Brendon are feet ahead.
Jon grabs up his cell phone and hits the “3” button, speed-dialing Brendon. Jon can’t tell what’s happening, but he can still make out the figure riding atop Spencer’s car. Brendon answers after a few long rings.
“This really isn’t a good time, Jon.” Brendon’s voice is tight, too, like Tom’s. He sounds scared, though.
“What the fuck is happening up there?” Jon asks, edging ever closer to Spencer’s car.
“The vampire is trying to make us crash, I think. I can’t…I can’t find my gun.”
“Brendon, if they don’t have a fucking plan, then hang up the phone!” Jon can hear Spencer shout. The car swerves a bit, like Spencer is trying to shake the vamp off of the hood.
“We do have a plan! I’m going to get Tom as close as I can and he’s gonna shoot the bastard.”
Jon's car is grille-to-bumper to Spencer’s car and he moves to the left slowly, trying to get up alongside Spencer’s car. It’s hard to do when Spencer is still swerving, causing Jon to follow the course and swerve out as well. Jon stays on the outer edge of the road and Tom steadies his hand. Just as Tom goes to shoot, the vampire jerks and shoves his fist through the glass of Spencer’s windshield.
Jon hears the glass shatter in real time and over the line of the phone.
“Shit, Spencer’s, he’s grabbing the wheel!” Brendon shouts. He sounds far away, like he’s dropped the cell phone. Hopefully, he’s searching for his gun.
“Tom, get in the car!” Jon yells the second before Spencer’s car jerks wildly to the left and scratches alongside Jon's. Tom had just barely managed to duck back into the car before his head was crushed between the vehicles.
Tom lines up the gun again, not sticking his body out the window like before. Spencer is fighting the vampire for control of the car, the metal hunker lurching and pitching out of control. The vampire is looking to make them crash and there isn’t much that Tom and Jon can do to stop it.
Tom takes a shot. Jon isn’t sure where he was aiming, but he hits the right shoulder of the arm that the vampire has buried in the windshield of the car. The vampire screeches in pain and seems to lose control of the steering wheel. Both of their cars by now are off-road and heading towards a thicket of trees that begin the smattering of forest.
Jon turns just in time to avoid driving into the thicket of trees, but Spencer and Brendon are still fighting to see through the vampire marring their windshield.
“Brendon! You two are going to crash into the trees. Get down or tell Spencer to turn or something!” Jon shouts into the phone.
“Spence, there are trees! We’re gonna - we’re gonna crash!” Jon hears Brendon scream across the line.
“I know what I’m doing, Brendon!”
Jon can hear Brendon’s breathing over the phone line, harsh and frightened. Spencer’s car doesn’t slow and Jon can hear the vampire shrieking and swearing. Jon hits the brakes sharply so that he can focus on whatever sort of plan that Spencer has pieced together.
Spencer’s car collides with a tree trunk, and over the crunch of metal and Brendon’s gasp, Jon can hear the gurgled cry of the vampire dying. He’s not sure what happened and he puts the car in gear to drive slowly towards Spencer’s car.
“Bren? You guys okay?” Jon asks softly. There’s breathing and that’s good.
“I am. Spence, are you? Spencer?” Brendon asks.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, babe.” It’s a slip by Spencer, one that Jon's not supposed to hear. It’s not that he cares, it’s just surprising to hear something considered intimate when they were in such a high-risk situation moments ago.
“Is it dead, Brendon?” Jon asks.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“The car?”
“Spence, the car?” Brendon asks.
“Tell them to come help me get this thing off the hood, then we’ll check the car.”
“Deal,” Jon tells Brendon before he hangs up.
Apparently, Spencer drove right into the thick trunk of a tree, but with a purpose. The branches of the tree in question hung low and sharp, thick enough to stab right into the vamp’s chest, a sort of makeshift stake.
“Fast thinking, Smith!” Tom praises as he and Jon approach the car. The hood is dented in and there are fine wisps of silvery smoke rising from under the banged-up grille. Jon and Tom each grab one of the vampire’s shoulders, tugging the body back and from the car, its arm loosening from the broken windshield and falling almost in slow motion off of the hood of the car and crashing to the ground, bouncing against the roots of the trees. “Let’s start her up and see how she runs,” Tom tells Spencer, tapping the wheel of Spencer’s car with the rubbery sole of his sneaker.
Spencer nods from inside the car. The windows are rolled up, but Spencer can hear them through the gaping hole in the windshield. He turns the key. The car groans and sputters and then the silvery smoke turns black. The car shudders once, twice, and then stalls. Tom rubs at his chin.
“This car is done for,” Tom says.
“Well, thanks for that observation,” Spencer grumbles from in the car.
Jon slaps his hand down on the roof. The sun is starting to rise in the corner of the sky, pink and purple overtaking the blue. Brendon pushes the backseat door open and slips out, the heavy duffle bag of weaponry slung over his shoulder. He looks rattled. Jon goes to him, slinging an arm around his shoulder and asking, “You alright, B?” before he even realizes that it’s not his job to comfort Brendon, not anymore.
Spencer gets out of the car as Brendon nods. “I trust Spencer. I knew that we’d be alright.” Brendon smiles shakily at Spencer, who is frowning at his wrecked car.
“We just have to leave it here, then.”
“Well, yeah. I could call Max and Ryan to come and try and tow the thing out of here, but I also wouldn’t put it past Max to try and sneak a few parts for weaponry experiments,” Tom says. Spencer balks.
“No one will touch it, most likely,” Jon tells him. “Any passerby would think that this was the result of a fatal attack and the car doesn’t even run. No one’s going to spend time fixing it up to take it, not with dead vamps hanging around.”
“Plus vampires don’t drive,” Brendon offers.
“So it’s the four of us, then?” Tom asks. Jon nods and slips away from Brendon, letting Spencer move in to take his place. Brendon touches at Spencer’s face, checking for scrapes and bruises. Spencer is a little banged-up, tiny glass particles clinging to his hair and small, fine scratches on his cheeks and hands.
“I get shotgun!” Tom declares.
“Like…the passenger side seat or an actual gun?” Brendon asks. “Because we have both.”
Tom levels Brendon with a look like he’s saying ‘no wonder you were always the bait.’ “The seat - and you should give that shotgun to Spencer. Seems like he’d know how to use it faster.”
Brendon looks wounded for a brief moment, but he doesn’t argue as Tom heads back to Jon's car, the rest of the group following along.
EDIT wow sorry people on my flist who had this show up without a cut on it. Livejournal is really screwing me over tonight. Should be all good now.
Title: Vampire Hunter Jon
Author: pinkichan
Pairing: Jon/Ryan Brendon/Spencer
Rating: pg-13
Summary: Ryan has been kidnapped by a nefarious vampire overlord who is aiming to take L.A. as his own. It’s up to professional vampire hunter, Jon and his rag-tag crew of friends and ex-lovers to save Ryan and possibly the whole city.
Disclaimer: They don’t belong to me and this is all totally fake
Warning: minor death of non-main characters
Authors notes: I'll fully admit this is at times cracky.
Previous chapters Chapter One
Chapter 2: Anything Can Be a Weapon (If You’re Holding It Right)
“The plan is simple. We drive from here to L.A., kick vampire ass, and bring Ryan back here,” Jon says. He crosses his arms tight against his chest and looks to Tom. Tom - who is still trying to wash the blood out of his shirt in vain - looks up when he feels Jon's eyes on him. He gives Jon a blood-tinged thumbs-up.
“That’s a long way to drive,” Spencer says. He’s moved from the doorway and is now standing next to Brendon, their arms brushing lightly. Brendon ducks his head and smiles softly despite the seriousness of the situation. Jon frowns. He’s suddenly not sure if he’ll be able to handle a whole trip’s worth of their affections shoved in his face. It seems that he’s only just now realizing how different working with Brendon will be now. “And we can’t fly. What’s stopping Alex from taking Ryan while we’re getting gas or following maps?”
“Your optimism is astounding, Spence,” Tom says. He wrings out his shirt with his blood-stained hands and goes through Jon's kitchen to the little backdoor that leads to the tiny laundry room. Jon doesn’t say anything while Tom is gone. He just stands there, feeling utterly helpless and itching to call Ryan’s phone. Maybe Greenwald locked him up and forgot to take his cell.
“Join in or not. I don’t really care. I’m going to L.A. with or without a crew,” Jon snaps. The house is quiet save for the rumble of the dryer starting up. Spencer is glaring at the floor and Jon is glaring at Spencer and Brendon is biting on his lip enough to rip the skin. Tom emerges from the laundry room and sighs.
“I fucking knew this would happen. A team is no team if we can’t trust each other. Take my guys - I would trust any of them with my life. I know Sean or Ryan or Max would risk their lives to save my ass. It needs to be the same here or we’ve got nothing. I don’t know about you all, but I sort of want to live to see tomorrow.”
“I told you that this was a bad idea, Brendon,” Spencer mumbles. Brendon rests a hand on Spencer’s shoulder and squeezes, leans in and whispers something soft and comforting in Spencer’s ear. Jon can see Spencer visibly relax, his body loose under Brendon’s touch.
“You want to help. I know you do,” Jon catches Brendon saying. “You’re not the type who turns their back. Plus, it’s Ryan,” he stresses. Spencer scratches at his neck and has the grace to look sheepish.
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, Jon. I know that this is important to you. If it were Brendon, I’d be the same way.”
Jon nods and forces a small smile, one that Spencer returns. Tom takes a seat at the stool at the island in Jon's kitchen. “So how are we doing this? Two cars? One car? Follow-the-leader-style?” He looks around at them, tapping his fingers against the tiled counter, looking both amused and excited.
“Two cars,” both Jon and Spencer say at nearly the same time. It’s just easier that way. Jon really can’t handle both worrying about Ryan’s safety and walking on eggshells with Spencer and Brendon. Tom claps a hand against the table.
“So, Jon and I then?” He asks. No one bothers to answer because really, it couldn’t pan out any other way. Tom smirks. “Just a hunch.”
They can’t leave until Tom’s shirt dries. Tom is seriously so lucky that he’s a vampire hunting master and also Jon's best friend, because he hates waiting, especially for such a stupid reason. In the meantime, they have a map of the states spread out on Jon's dining room table. He can’t even remember the last time that he actually ate at the table and not in his bedroom or the living room, pouring over the news or assignments.
Tom and Brendon have markers and they’re plotting out which roads to take, Jon and Spencer interjecting when there’s a quicker route or a highway that they should utilize instead. The highways would be the fastest considering the fact that most vampires use the back roads or residential areas as their own personal version of fast food, chasing down cars and taking the occupants. Jon's seen that happen one too many times, his stomach still churning at the memory.
“Do we know who turned Greenwald?” Brendon asks. The cap to his marker is caught between his teeth as he looks up at Jon.
Jon shakes his head. “No, I’m not all that familiar with California breeds. Could’ve been anyone.”
“We could call Pete,” Spencer suggests. He’s staring at the map, at the red circled area of L.A. “He would know.”
“We’ll worry about that once we’re closer to the target,” Tom says. He caps his marker and makes to fold the map back up. The buzz of the dryer is loud in the stillness of Jon's home. Tom goes to put on his shirt and Jon turns to the kitchen counter to pick up his belt of stakes, draping it around his chest.
“You two have weapons in the car?” Jon asks. It’s more of an attempt at small talk than anything else. He knows that Spencer makes sure they’re well-protected at all times. Brendon is the one who answers for the two of them.
“Yep, guns at the ready.”
“Good. I’m going to grab a few more things from the closet,” Jon says. He points towards his room, but it’s a wasted effort. Brendon’s been here more than enough times to suddenly forget the layout of Jon's home. Jon goes to his closet and grabs up the duffle bag shoved into the back. He loads up the bag with extra bullets, stakes, knives, whatever he has to spare. He doesn’t know how long this trip will wind up taking or how hard he’ll have to fight Alex for Ryan.
When he comes back to the kitchen, Tom’s returned with his freshly-laundered tank top on, along with the trademark plaid shirt that Tom’s seemingly always wearing.
“We hitting the road now, Jonny?” Tom asks. Jon nods and shoulders his bag. His chest feels tight with nerves. Sure, he’s confident in their abilities, but no matter how skilled you are, every mission has the potential to be your last. Jon's going into this knowing he could die, but it’s worth it. Ryan is worth it. Jon doesn’t have much to live for these days, there isn’t a lot he looks forward to waking up another day to see, but Ryan is definitely one of the few things that fall into that category.
Brendon fishes the car keys from his jeans pocket and hands them over to Spencer. Tom leads the way out the door and tells Brendon and Spencer to go and turn on the headlights of their car. It’s still dark out, will be for at least the next two hours or so. The sky is dark, voided of the stars and the moon. Spencer and Brendon follow their orders and soon a bright white light is stretching up Jon's driveway and washing the house and Tom’s car in light. Jon finally emerges from his home, turning the lock on his door on the way out. It’s kind of pointless to lock the door considering that chances are low that a human will wander out this way - and if it’s a vampire, well, a simple lock isn’t going to stop them - but it’s a habit that Jon can’t seem to break.
The vampire carcass is still littering Jon's front yard and Tom goes to it, aided by the light, and removes the stake stuck deep the vampire’s chest cavity. The vampire’s body makes an unpleasant squelching noise as the stake pulls from skin and bone. Jon wrinkles his nose and Tom wipes the bloodied stake off in the damp, overgrown grass of Jon's front yard.
Both Spencer and Tom’s car are parked far down the dirt path of Jon's driveway. Tom had abandoned his car down the driveway after he hit the vampire and walked the rest of the way up Jon's driveway - or at least Jon figures that that’s the case. Spencer’s car is parked back a few feet from Tom’s, leaving a sizeable gap between their two vehicles.
“Are we going to move this vampire? I don’t really want guts getting all over my tires,” Tom says.
“You’re the one that hit it,” Jon points out.
“Yeah, but when I hit it, the damn thing flew up in the air, not under the tires.”
“Fine, we’ll move it,” Jon sighs. The vampire in question is no one that Jon recognizes from what he can see and he’s a little thankful for that. It’s a male, small and young; no wonder it died just from the impact of Tom’s car. Jon's not up for touching the vamp, so he and Tom roll the body with their feet until gravity takes over and pulls the dead weight down into the little dip of Jon's yard.
Jon loads up Tom’s car while Brendon and Spencer buckle themselves into Spencer’s, the engine humming. Jon decides to drive Tom’s car and Tom gives up control easily, sliding into the passenger seat with his handgun tucked into the holster around his leg.
Spencer is waiting in the street for Jon to pull out of the driveway. They’ll be following behind Jon and Tom’s car. The road leading from Jon's place is a lonely dirt road that breaks off into a residential area or a main road that leads into the downtown area; they take the downtown route, intent on driving straight out of Chicago. Jon figures if they make few stops and there are minor distractions, like vampires, then they can make it through Illinois and maybe even Missouri without having to stop for sleep.
An hour-and-a-half later, they’re driving through a forest-lined, deserted highway. The dark of the night is beginning to give way to the promise of sunrise. The sky is steadily lightening, stretches of blue. If people have to travel, most will just fly; if they have to drive, it’s done during the day and in large groups. The worst thing to be in this post-modern vampire world is all alone.
Tom’s saying something about giving Sean a call once daylight breaks. Typically, Sean and Tom work together at slaying jobs, along with Ryan J and Max. Jon is removing Tom from his team, but he doesn’t doubt that they’ll manage fine without Tom.
Jon should be more focused on driving, but the risks are low and the task is boring. He’s partially zoned out, listening to Tom tell the tale of the time Sean beheaded three vampires at once. Jon's heard this story no less than ten times already. It’s Jon's lack of focus on the road that makes him miss the dark flash of a figure following along the side of the road, keeping time with the cars.
“Motherfucker,” Tom grumbles, which finally draws Jon from his daze. He looks to Tom instead of the road, but Tom is glaring darkly at the road ahead of them, and Jon follows his gaze, finally catching sight of the vampire standing cockily in the middle of the abandoned highway.
“What the hell is that vamp doing out so close to morning?” Jon asks. He decreases his speed a bit and glances in the rearview mirror to make sure that Brendon and Spencer aren’t being followed.
“Daredevil … or stupid. It could be either one. Another of Greenwald’s?”
Jon shakes his head. “This one looks different than the rest.”
“Not a hipster, you mean.”
They’re rapidly closing in on the vampire and the beast has yet to make a move besides standing there, grinning like he’s got the upper hand.
“This one doesn’t look like he’s going to go down via car,” Jon says.
“We could always try,” Tom smirks.
Jon accelerates just a little. If he hit the vampire, it’d most likely cause bad damage to the car and that defeats the purpose and makes getting to Ryan that much harder. Tom lowers his hand down his leg. Jon knows that he’s going for his gun.
“Roll my window down just enough for me to squeeze through,” Tom orders. Jon isn’t so sure.
“It could rip your head right off.”
“Not if I shoot it first.”
“Tom…”
“I’ll be fine, just pull a fast turn. I’ll shoot it and we’ll make a U-turn back around to the leader.”
Jon sighs, but his grip tightens on the steering wheel. It’s tricky. If he’s too slow, then Tom becomes a wide-open target; too fast, and Tom won’t be able to take the shot. He’s got to get this just right. Jon rolls down the window and Tom cocks his gun, crouches up in his seat, ready to lean out the window when necessary.
They’re so close to the vampire that Jon can see its smirking face, its long, dark hair. Tom slides out the window and takes aim just as Jon pulls a sharp left. The tires squeal and burn against the pavement and they’re sliding sideways, directly into the vampire’s path.
Jon holds his breath and Tom takes his shot, but the wooden bullet cuts through nothing but air - not because Jon timed it wrong or Tom missed his target, but because the vampire simply isn’t there. Jon swears and Tom slinks back into his seat.
“Where the fuck is it?” Jon shouts. His question is answered by the harsh sound of crunching metal. Jon pulls back on to the road, going the wrong way down the highway. From this new position, they can see that the vampire bypassed their car completely and instead sought out Brendon and Spencer.
“It tricked us!” Tom growls.
“It wanted Brendon and Spencer! Fuck!”
The vampire is crouching on the roof of Spencer’s car, completely blocking the windshield and Spencer’s view of the road. Jon pulls off the road. He has to, or else Spencer will smash right into them.
“What’s the plan, Jonny?” Tom asks, his voice is tight but filled with energy. Tom lives for fights like this.
“I’m going to pull back around behind them. Maybe you can get a shot off that way?”
“I’m sure that I could,” Tom says with a nod. Jon turns sharply, edging off the dirt-lined path and back onto the road. Tom slips back out the window as Jon hits the pedal, trying to play catch-up to where Spencer and Brendon are feet ahead.
Jon grabs up his cell phone and hits the “3” button, speed-dialing Brendon. Jon can’t tell what’s happening, but he can still make out the figure riding atop Spencer’s car. Brendon answers after a few long rings.
“This really isn’t a good time, Jon.” Brendon’s voice is tight, too, like Tom’s. He sounds scared, though.
“What the fuck is happening up there?” Jon asks, edging ever closer to Spencer’s car.
“The vampire is trying to make us crash, I think. I can’t…I can’t find my gun.”
“Brendon, if they don’t have a fucking plan, then hang up the phone!” Jon can hear Spencer shout. The car swerves a bit, like Spencer is trying to shake the vamp off of the hood.
“We do have a plan! I’m going to get Tom as close as I can and he’s gonna shoot the bastard.”
Jon's car is grille-to-bumper to Spencer’s car and he moves to the left slowly, trying to get up alongside Spencer’s car. It’s hard to do when Spencer is still swerving, causing Jon to follow the course and swerve out as well. Jon stays on the outer edge of the road and Tom steadies his hand. Just as Tom goes to shoot, the vampire jerks and shoves his fist through the glass of Spencer’s windshield.
Jon hears the glass shatter in real time and over the line of the phone.
“Shit, Spencer’s, he’s grabbing the wheel!” Brendon shouts. He sounds far away, like he’s dropped the cell phone. Hopefully, he’s searching for his gun.
“Tom, get in the car!” Jon yells the second before Spencer’s car jerks wildly to the left and scratches alongside Jon's. Tom had just barely managed to duck back into the car before his head was crushed between the vehicles.
Tom lines up the gun again, not sticking his body out the window like before. Spencer is fighting the vampire for control of the car, the metal hunker lurching and pitching out of control. The vampire is looking to make them crash and there isn’t much that Tom and Jon can do to stop it.
Tom takes a shot. Jon isn’t sure where he was aiming, but he hits the right shoulder of the arm that the vampire has buried in the windshield of the car. The vampire screeches in pain and seems to lose control of the steering wheel. Both of their cars by now are off-road and heading towards a thicket of trees that begin the smattering of forest.
Jon turns just in time to avoid driving into the thicket of trees, but Spencer and Brendon are still fighting to see through the vampire marring their windshield.
“Brendon! You two are going to crash into the trees. Get down or tell Spencer to turn or something!” Jon shouts into the phone.
“Spence, there are trees! We’re gonna - we’re gonna crash!” Jon hears Brendon scream across the line.
“I know what I’m doing, Brendon!”
Jon can hear Brendon’s breathing over the phone line, harsh and frightened. Spencer’s car doesn’t slow and Jon can hear the vampire shrieking and swearing. Jon hits the brakes sharply so that he can focus on whatever sort of plan that Spencer has pieced together.
Spencer’s car collides with a tree trunk, and over the crunch of metal and Brendon’s gasp, Jon can hear the gurgled cry of the vampire dying. He’s not sure what happened and he puts the car in gear to drive slowly towards Spencer’s car.
“Bren? You guys okay?” Jon asks softly. There’s breathing and that’s good.
“I am. Spence, are you? Spencer?” Brendon asks.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, babe.” It’s a slip by Spencer, one that Jon's not supposed to hear. It’s not that he cares, it’s just surprising to hear something considered intimate when they were in such a high-risk situation moments ago.
“Is it dead, Brendon?” Jon asks.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“The car?”
“Spence, the car?” Brendon asks.
“Tell them to come help me get this thing off the hood, then we’ll check the car.”
“Deal,” Jon tells Brendon before he hangs up.
Apparently, Spencer drove right into the thick trunk of a tree, but with a purpose. The branches of the tree in question hung low and sharp, thick enough to stab right into the vamp’s chest, a sort of makeshift stake.
“Fast thinking, Smith!” Tom praises as he and Jon approach the car. The hood is dented in and there are fine wisps of silvery smoke rising from under the banged-up grille. Jon and Tom each grab one of the vampire’s shoulders, tugging the body back and from the car, its arm loosening from the broken windshield and falling almost in slow motion off of the hood of the car and crashing to the ground, bouncing against the roots of the trees. “Let’s start her up and see how she runs,” Tom tells Spencer, tapping the wheel of Spencer’s car with the rubbery sole of his sneaker.
Spencer nods from inside the car. The windows are rolled up, but Spencer can hear them through the gaping hole in the windshield. He turns the key. The car groans and sputters and then the silvery smoke turns black. The car shudders once, twice, and then stalls. Tom rubs at his chin.
“This car is done for,” Tom says.
“Well, thanks for that observation,” Spencer grumbles from in the car.
Jon slaps his hand down on the roof. The sun is starting to rise in the corner of the sky, pink and purple overtaking the blue. Brendon pushes the backseat door open and slips out, the heavy duffle bag of weaponry slung over his shoulder. He looks rattled. Jon goes to him, slinging an arm around his shoulder and asking, “You alright, B?” before he even realizes that it’s not his job to comfort Brendon, not anymore.
Spencer gets out of the car as Brendon nods. “I trust Spencer. I knew that we’d be alright.” Brendon smiles shakily at Spencer, who is frowning at his wrecked car.
“We just have to leave it here, then.”
“Well, yeah. I could call Max and Ryan to come and try and tow the thing out of here, but I also wouldn’t put it past Max to try and sneak a few parts for weaponry experiments,” Tom says. Spencer balks.
“No one will touch it, most likely,” Jon tells him. “Any passerby would think that this was the result of a fatal attack and the car doesn’t even run. No one’s going to spend time fixing it up to take it, not with dead vamps hanging around.”
“Plus vampires don’t drive,” Brendon offers.
“So it’s the four of us, then?” Tom asks. Jon nods and slips away from Brendon, letting Spencer move in to take his place. Brendon touches at Spencer’s face, checking for scrapes and bruises. Spencer is a little banged-up, tiny glass particles clinging to his hair and small, fine scratches on his cheeks and hands.
“I get shotgun!” Tom declares.
“Like…the passenger side seat or an actual gun?” Brendon asks. “Because we have both.”
Tom levels Brendon with a look like he’s saying ‘no wonder you were always the bait.’ “The seat - and you should give that shotgun to Spencer. Seems like he’d know how to use it faster.”
Brendon looks wounded for a brief moment, but he doesn’t argue as Tom heads back to Jon's car, the rest of the group following along.
EDIT wow sorry people on my flist who had this show up without a cut on it. Livejournal is really screwing me over tonight. Should be all good now.