Christmas and a Vampire

It Takes More Than That To Kill a Hunter

He grabbed her phone, hoping Seth's number was on it. Silly of him. She didn't have any numbers saved on the phone. Not sure what else to do, he grabbed his pants and dashed from his house in the direction of Seth's cabin. He knew the younger Hunter had wards and traps up. If he set off enough of them, he could get the kid's attention. The trick was to do that without getting himself killed. 

The wards hit him, making him fall to the ground. Unbearable pain filled his belly. His stomach lurched, making him vomit up Rafaela's blood. Writhing in the grass, he rolled out of the ward field, waiting for Seth to arrive. 

The young Hunter was good. Dirk almost didn't sense him. He realized Seth wanted him to feel him, smell him, taste him on the wind. 

"Rafaela needs you. She had some kind of seizure." 

Seth didn't stop to ask questions. Leaping over the downed vampire, he ran to Rafaela's cabin. Scrambling to his feet, Dirk followed, catching up with Seth at the cabin door. 

Rafaela lay on the bed where he'd left her, eyes staring. Her breath was shallow, labored. Seth ignored her nakedness, kneeling beside her, his fingers pressed to her neck. 

"Did you feed from her?" 

"She let me," Dirk confessed. "I didn't take too much, did I? I was careful." 

Seth's eyes flashed dangerously. He sneered and spit in the general direction of the half-dressed vampire. 

"She's been poisoned. What did you eat?" 

"We haven't eaten since we got here." 

"She's ingested something. Think!" 

"Nothing, I swear!" His eyes widened. "The bubble bath?" 

Rushing to the bathroom, he turned off the water before snatching up the bottle of bubble bath. He sniffed it, inhaling deeply, letting the scent flow through his nose and out over his tongue. 

"Wolfsbane," he snared. 

"In her bubble bath?" Seth rushed to his side. "How?" 

Dirk shook his head. 

"How long since she had it?" 

Dirk glanced at the clock. "Not quite two hours." 

"Good, still time. If she weren't a Hunter, she'd be dead. Go to my cabin. In a chest in the storage room, you'll find some activated charcoal." 

"Your wards will kill me," Dirk pointed out. 

"Dammit! Maybe-" 

Seth raced to the storeroom off the kitchen. He found the chest he was looking for. He searched for a tube of activated charcoal. If Rafaela was as prepared as he was-the way she had taught him to be. . . . There it was! Grabbing it up, he ran back to the bedroom. Together, he and Dirk carried her to the bathroom, forced the charcoal down her throat and into her stomach. It wasn't a pretty process, nor a pleasant one. 

Rafaela's body shook, clutching at the sheets as her eyes rolled in her head. They put her on her side just in time. Rafaela vomited up the charcoal and the contents of her stomach. Dirk held Rafaela while Seth rinsed the mess down the floor drain. 

"How could someone do that?" Dirk asked. 

"I was gonna ask you the same thing," the Hunter countered. 

"I would never harm Rafaela. I love her." 

"Vamps can't love," Seth growled. 

Dirk shoved the young Hunter hard in the chest. "You don't know what we're capable of."