Hunting The Dark Side

Chapter 3: Dominic\'s Job

“What bad things, which creature do you think did this?” Sapphire asked curiously, wanting to know what he thoughts where. Then she realised she had messed up saying 'creature', she then knew he would question her. Damn I am screwing up so much around him, what is with him that makes me like this.

“Just the things that we experiment on,” Dominic answered, making sure he didn’t say the creature’s name. He hesitated Wait? She said creature, not just bad things, she asked curiously not terrified. Has she been playing me all of this time? Does she know about the dark side of the world? He added quickly, “Wait, you said creature – you know about them, don't you?

“You experiment on bad things? And that doesn’t answer my question, what bad things?” she said, ignoring his question. Not wanting to be questioned she started to act stupid again.

“I don’t do the experiments; my work colleagues do that. You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” he said, but he was uncertain with her. He can’t get out of his head that she said ‘creature’ in a general convocation.

“Try me,” she challenged him, she needs to know what he thinks done this. She needs to know if it is the same as what she thinks done it.

“Do really want to know?” Dominic asked curiously.

She just wants to know if I know, maybe she will let me know what she knows if I tell her the truth.

“Yes I do, I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t, would I?” she said impatiently, she needed to know what he knew.

“No I guess not and fine then…” He looked directly at her, “…they are zombies.” He spoke as if it was a normal conversation.

Sapphire flinched a little, she hated zombies the most, they gave her the chills the way the dead look at people. When Dominic said that and when he saw her flinch he smirked, but he was half off the seat probably ready for her to either scream or collapse but she just said, her voice strong and not full of fear, “Your job is to find zombies? And then your work colleagues do experiments on them? Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

He frowned slightly, not understanding her reaction. “Yeah, it is my job to find zombies or people that could turn into them, which could be these ones.” He walked to look at the bodies again. “And yes, it is a very dangerous job; I like danger so I like my job. I don’t give a s**t if I die because I have been saving lives for four years now.” Dominic turned and smiled at Sapphire trying to ease her in case she was faking this whole reaction or this was her in shock.

“They could be zombies?” She asked as she moved to the bodies and stood next to Dominic, looking at the bodies as well. “How?” Sapphire questioned, trying to get all of the updates on what was happening in the darkness of the world.

“If it was a zombie that did this, the zombie has a bite that has poisonous venom in its teeth and this venom will change the people into one of them,” he explained to her simply, because the scientific version would probably go straight over her head.

“Oh right, well, I was doing a blood test till you came in,” Sapphire said, smirking knowing that he needed the blood samples to carry on with his mission.

“You were?” he asked, smirking back, he very rarely got cases where the person he associated with was helpful. In fact this was the first time. “Sorry, carry on.” Then he looked into her eyes and said, “Do you actually believe me?”

Sapphire met his eyes before starting to do the blood test again. “Yes, I do believe you,” she said once she had looked at the blood through the scope, and continued, “Only because there is no animal that can bite this deep… and this blood test is not good!”

Dominic came to her fast as lightning and put his hand on her, she jumped a little. “What is it?” he asked urgently.

“The blood, it is…” Sapphire looked again to make sure she was right, “…the venom is spreading fast and the venom is making the blood turn purple!” she said, shocked that it turned the blood that colour she never knew that until now.

“It is?” he said, quite shocked she knew what venom would look like. Then behind them the bodies began to move but they were oblivious to it. “How bad is it?” Dominic asked, covering up his shock.

“It’s very bad; I would say from this little sample that it has spread round the body already,” she said and turned to look at Dominic.

Sapphire saw the dead people were now zombies. “s**t! Dominic, behind you!” she shouted and he spun round.

“You go and I will fight them off!” he shouted back, getting his gun out of his pocket.

“No, I am not leaving you here,” she replied stubbornly.

“Go, this is my job remember, I have done this before,” he explained starting to get anxious and annoyed.

If only you knew, she thought to herself then added out loud making assumptions “You have done it with help, but not on your own!” Sapphire ignored his snarky comments.

Dominic laughed, “You think you could help? You are a person in Forensics, not an officer of the law.” He was still unsure with her, the way she reacted about it all, she had to have known about it all. Wouldn’t she?

“Trust me,” she insisted. Then Sapphire got one of the zombies’ attention by throwing anything that was in her reach so Dominic would let her help.

“You are really stupid, do you know that?” he responded angrily with how stubborn she was being, but he chucked her a gun, she caught it and instantly started shooting the zombie till it was dead. She must have shot it three times, the first time in the stomach, the second in the chest and the last shot in the head, after which the body fell to the ground and flies instantly started to eat the rotten flesh.

The scene and her surroundings reminded Sapphire about how to hunt zombies. How they were stupid and could easily be distracted, by throwing anything in the opposite direction. Sapphire always assumed that they were blind as they used sound more than their sight, but she never knew if that was true or not. It reminded her that the only way to stop these creatures once and for all was the brain to be punctured, it could be with anything, a gun, a knife or a hammer anything that was sharp enough to pierce the brain.

She snapped about of her little bubble after she heard the growl and snarl of the dumb zombie, she rose her gun resting her left hand under her right hand to steady her slightly trembling hand.

“Yes I did know that, but thank you for reminding me,” Sapphire answered jokingly. She saw that there was a zombie just about to latch onto Dominic's neck, her reflexes as quick as they used to be, she aimed within seconds the bullet left its barrel, it scrapped passed Dominic’s cheek and into the zombie’s head; The head flew back as the bullet went straight through the forehead and out the other side. Sapphire kept her gun aimed at the zombie, making sure that it was dead, but it had died from one shot.

“Oh yeah! Two down and two to go. Come on, Dominic, you haven’t even killed one yet!” Sapphire screeched with excitement, the adrenaline pumping through her like it was in her blood, but Dominic just stared at her in astonishment, another zombie was slowly making its way to him, she bellowed, “Snap out of it!””

After a few seconds he came alive again, he composed his face and responded quickly. “Yeah, right.” he replied still stunned. A zombie came behind Sapphire and tried to feast on her but she whacked him in the eye with the butt of the gun, the eye came out of its socket. Sapphire spun around and shot the zombie, the blood squirting out and getting in her mouth. In sync with Sapphire, as if they had worked and trained together for years, Dominic shot the last one in the mouth as it tried to bite him and it dropped to the floor.

They both ran to the exit, Sapphire skidded to a stop locking the door behind her. Dominic was panting waiting for her, he had stopped as she did, he didn’t rush her as the key was already turning and click of the lock was already heard.

She is extremely good under pressure. There is no way that training to examine dead bodies could lead to be this good under pressure. What is it about this girl? What is she hiding? she has to be hiding something because she is just amazing.

Dominic thought as they were both running again, he was following her, she knew this place like the back of her hand. After five short minutes they were at Sapphire’s car, which they both climbed inside, slamming the doors behind them, trying to catch their breath. Sapphire was the first to catch her breath.

“Are you OK?” She asked whilst she grabbed him a wipe so he could wipe his face, she got one for herself, as well as a bottle of water so she could rinse her mouth out. She wound her window down then spat the water out. He didn’t reply so after a few minutes she snapped her fingers to get his attention, “Dominic?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied as he stared at her, surprised at how good she was at defending herself and how astounding she was at using the gun.

She turned to look at Dominic, getting irritated. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Where did you learn to do that?” he questioned instantly without even wanting the words to leave his mouth.

“Learn to do what?” She was confused to his reaction. Why can’t I know how to use a gun? He knows nothing about me, for all he knows I may have been a farmer’s daughter and shot deer for a living.

“To defend yourself and use a gun like that, it is as if you have done this sort of thing before,” he said, his voice was pitching with surprise.

“Yeah, I have,” Sapphire admitted, shrugging one shoulder as if that was old news; that it was unimportant.

“What! When?” he shouted, astounded. How could someone like her do what I do? She looks so skinny and weak. Obviously I was wrong about that.

“Why are you getting so worked up about it? Well, my brothers are Leo and Jackson Humington,” Sapphire only half explained, mentioning her brother’s names as nearly everyone in this line of work knew of them, they were the best and most officiant too. She was furthermore highly offended by how he was responding to her.

Dominic looked at Sapphire, finally composing his face. “I’ve never seen someone who is in Forensics that has used a gun or had to defend themselves like that. So, who are Leo and Jackson?” he asked still astounded.

“Yeah, well, I did the same sort of thing as you before I became a doctor and a scientist, plus when in Forensics I can keep a general eye on the supernatural world. My brothers, you never heard of them? They are the best in what they do, most people know of them and seek their help when supernatural species occur; they do the same stuff as you but they do it for all the supernatural creatures and they don’t get paid.” She explained fully this time as if it was the most normal thing to talk about in the world.

“You have done something like this before? Why didn't you tell me? Wait, there are more than zombies out there? Would they help us? Your brothers, I mean.” He replied breathless astonished and pleased almost relieved, his partner he usually hunted with was useless, now he had the help of the professional.

“I didn't tell you because I didn't exactly know you or what you knew, and I like to keep my past job quite private; if people found out I would be out of a job before I knew it and... Well, yes, I am sure they would come if I asked them.”

“Wait, did you say before they do it without being paid?” Dominic asked, again amazed.

“yes, they were trained when they were children to defend themselves, our parents were hunters you see, well we know father was, you see our grandmother was murdered by vampires so our family do it as revenge, in time it was all we knew. Well it was all they knew.” Sapphire said, looking down at her hands; upset when she mentioned her grandmother.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, feeling the guilt run through him. She must have been through a lot being brought up around this and yet she is so strong. What a minute… he thought. “Wait you said ‘they’ were trained, not ‘we’ were trained, were you not trained, I mean you must have been but not by your father?”

She looked back up at him, she was not used to people listening to her each and every word, “No I was not trained with my brothers, I do not know why, but I always thought it was because I was a girl, father never wanted a girl, he couldn’t train a girl to be as good as a boy. That or he blamed me for mother’s death, she died giving birth to me.” She looked ahead passed the wheel and stared at the brick wall for a short moment, fighting the tears away, when she was sure her voice wouldn’t break she added. “I need to go home to call Jackson, Leo or whoever I can get in touch with; do you want to come to mine or do you need to get back to the lab?” she invited politely.

He didn’t know what to say, he was stunned at how much she had gone through and by the surprise of how much attention she was getting she was not used to it. He could also tell that it was a topic that was upsetting her so he focused on the change of subject. “Um…” he rolled his sleeve up to look at his roman numeral watch. “I got time before I am due back to the lab, if it is not a problem,” he said, not used to meeting people that knew what he knew or how much she knew.

Sapphire welcomed how he noticed the change of subject, “Of course it is no problem, come on, put your seatbelt on. Oh, and my house is not the best – I have a roommate called Grace who would be all…” Sapphire couldn’t finish her sentence; she didn’t know how.

“…All cocky and interested in what’s going on, right?” Dominic finished her sentence for her while putting his seatbelt on.

“Yeah, she is that type of person who wants to know everything that is going on,” she said then laughed and started the car to head home.

“I know a few people that do that, it is extremely irritating,” he said, as he looked out of the window watching the world go by.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Sapphire agreed then after the normal drive home she turned into her estate and pulled into the drive where they got out. Sapphire locked the car doors, then she opened the house door and sneaked Dominic upstairs and into her room as she wasn't in the mood for Grace asking questions.

Sapphire's room was an average square size, the walls were a light cream, the window looking out to the garden. There was not that much furniture in the room, only a double bed, a fitted wardrobe and a dressing table, but what was strange to Dominic was that there was one wall that was completely bare; no pictures, no furniture against it, nothing.

“Have a seat,” Sapphire ordered Dominic, pointing to the chair next to her dressing table.

“Err, OK,” he said, sitting on the chair, obeying what she said. Sapphire walked to the far bare wall and pushed a certain part of the wall, a code pad flipped out of the wall and she typed a code, making sure Dominic didn’t see what she was typing. Dominic frowned and was about to speak but Sapphire put one finger up to hush him before he could even say anything. When she finished typing the code, the wall lifted up and behind it was her secret storage place for all of her guns, diaries, book, notes and more. Dominic was gobsmacked when he saw this. It was not something he expected, especially from a girl. “W-what is this?!” he asked, his mouth half hanging open; amazed.

“This, my friend, is my private storage room,” Sapphire answered as she walked into the private room.

“Wow,” was the only thing he could say. Who is this girl? She seems more like a secret agent than a hunter. But that is impressive, Dominic was thinking as she was looking around the room until she found the device she was looking for. The device she needed was broken; she cursed annoyed, but it didn’t seem to faze her, she sat on a leather desk chair with wheel, she rolled across the other side of the private room to grab a screwdriver.

“What is that?” Dominic asked when he saw the device that looked so complicated, a rectangular object with many buttons on the front of it some numbers others letters and a tiny rectangular screen.

“Oh this, this is a mobile number device that can track down any number in the world in approximately 0.17 seconds, well, as long as you know the name the contract or phone belongs to.”

She unscrewed the body away from the circuit board. “Well it will when I fix it.” She put the screwdriver in her mouth as she examined all the wires. She took the screwdriver back out her mouth, “Ahh, found the problem.” She wheeled again to a draw and she pulled a soldering iron out, plugging it in and let it heat up. She wheeled again to grab a thin rod of metal, she rolled the chair back to the board took the soldering iron and dripped melted metal to ‘glue’ a piece of wire back into place. “That should do it.” She put all her tools back away as she let the metal cool down. After she screwed the body to the circuit board. Then turned it on.

Meanwhile Dominic just sat in the chair watching her wheel back and forth stunned, does this girls talent ever stop, is there anything she cannot do? She can defend herself, fix electrical things, hunt by the sounds of it. I’d rather have this girl as my partner than the one I have now. She is brilliant.

Sapphire was now typing buttons into the mobile searcher device, she was trying to find Jackson’s number, it took a couple of times to figure out which name he’d use.

Jackson was born in 1975, which made him thirty-nine years of age and to be honest Sapphire did not know much about him. He had been a hunter since he was able to handle a gun which was when he was a little boy. His job was to look after Leo and herself because their dad was always hunting when he was just twelve years old; Leo was nine and Sapphire was eight. Jackson kind of liked hunting things, he always wanted to hunt with his dad but he had to look after Leo and Sapphire.

Leo was born in 1978, which made him thirty-six. He wasn’t able to handle a gun till a bit later than Jackson, because Jackson was always there for him. Leo never really liked being in the hunting family. Now Jackson and Leo are hunters like their parents they wanted Sapphire to join them but it wasn’t really her thing; she’d rather save people in a good way, from injuries rather than bad and supernatural things, and now Sapphire needed their help.

“So wait, you don’t know your brother’s number?” Dominic finally asked stunned at how the family don’t seem to keep in touch.

“No I don’t, it’s very complicated, I mean the last time I saw them was when I was sixteen, we are not really close, we never really have been, plus they change their phone a lot so no one tracks them. They have fake ID and everything so they are on the police wanted list,” Sapphire answered, she had no idea why she was telling this stranger all of this but for some reason she had a feeling that she could trust this man with more than the secrets she kept to herself but with her own life. She felt safe with him, that she didn’t have to hold back anything because finally she knew someone that also knew of the dark side of the world. Then added, with excitement and disbelief “Yes! It actually worked I got his number.” She typed it in her phone and saved it then she rang Jackson and waited for an answer.

After a few rings a man in a deep voice answered, “Hello?”

“Jackson Humington?” Sapphire replied, clarifying that it was him, before she talked like a mad woman.

“Um yeah, who is this?” Jackson said curiously.

“It’s me, Sapphire,” she answered happily; she couldn't believe she was talking to him again.

“Oh, hey Sapphire, did I give you my number because I can’t remember giving you it?” he asked, trying to remember, she heard his confusion in his voice.

She heard Leo in the background saying, “Is that Sapphire? What does she want?”

Jackson must have covered the microphone on his phone because he sounded a lot quieter, but she faintly heard a “Yes and don’t be so rude, she has never asked anything from us in all of her years and you know I have wanted to see her. Jesus Leo, she is our sister, for all we knew she could have been dead.”

Sapphire sighed softly, one phone call caused them to have an argument, after Jackson said that Sapphire heard a door slam shut. “Sorry, where were we?”

“Your number, no you didn’t give it to me. I used the number device thing to track down your number, it was broken, you must have given it to me all broken.” She chuckles a little, when added, “Don’t worry I fixed it, but I hope that was ok? Not fixing it but for using it” Sapphire asked, feeling slightly guilty.

“Oh yeah, it is fine, you are my sis after all. You’re telling me you actually listened when you were little. Anyway what can I do for you little sister, I am assuming there is a problem since you have never called before?” Jackson questioned curiously.

“Yeah... Firstly, I’m sorry for causing an argument between you two I didn’t mean to do that I just needed your help, both of your help.” She sighed again softly.

Jackson had brushed it off, “Hey don’t worry about it, it’s great to hear from you, just ignore Leo he is being all moody, he hasn’t slept in a long time, we just finished up a hunt, but we always got time for you, what up?”

“Err well there is a town with zombies in it and I was wondering if you and Leo could help, we killed some but I don't know if there are more,” she answered briefly.

“Zombies! I haven’t had zombies to kill in ages. Where is this town? And who is we?” he asked again, curiosity hitting him.

“Newcastle, our hometown, I still live there and I have a zombie expert with me right now but we need a few extra hands.” She was relieved and happy they could come and help but nervous and scared about keeping her secrets hidden.

“ok, we will head that way to check in.” Jackson thought through what she had said for a while. “Wait, did you say a zombie expert?” he asked, shocked, how could his sister find a zombie expert?

“Yeah… Dominic Freeman,” she replied slightly

annoyed by his tone. why does everyone have to be surprised by everything I can do?

“Umm OK then, we are on our way, just stay inside for the moment, OK sis; can you mange that? Because the last time we saw each other you disobeyed what I said,” Jackson said.

“Yes, I can handle that, thanks bro, hang on if you

haven’t slept in a long time, you should rest before coming up, we can handle it till the morning.” Sapphire added worryingly and concerned, she didn’t want to cause an accident or anything.

“Who’s meant to be looking after who here...hang on?” Over the phone she heard, “Hey Leo come on we are on the move, we have another job to get to.”

She heard a grunt which she assumed was Leo, “We haven’t slept in days put someone else on the job.”

She heard Jackson reply, “No it is Sapphire, if something happened to her because we palmed someone else on her I’d never forgive myself or you. We are going and that is final, now pack up we are leaving.”

After that she heard Jackson say, “Hey Sapphire, I’ll see you soon, remember stay inside.” he replied he was happy that his sister finally needed his help. He had wanted to see her for so long.

“Wait...Jackson…” Sapphire tried to say but the phone call went dead. Sapphire put the phone down and for a moment she forgot she had company, till she heard a small shuffle.

Dominic looked at her, he was confused at what he saw. She looked happy but sad at the same time. “Are you ok?”

Sapphire just nodded before adding, “They are coming and until they comes we need to stay inside.”

“We? Is it ok if I stay? I mean what about your roommate?” Dominic said, concerned, he didn’t want to cause trouble between her and her roommate.

“Sure it is ok, I will just tell her what is going on and then she will understand,” Sapphire explained, though her voice was full of sadness and worry.

“OK, thanks.” he said but he was still concerned, she

didn’t seem alright at all, she seemed as if she was going to break down into tears at any moment “Are you sure you are ok?

“Anytime, and yeah they just had an argument over

helping us is all, they just finished a hunting you see so they are tired.” she replied as they walked down stairs. Sapphire showed Dominic around the house and told him to help himself to food, etcetera.

“Oh?” he asked, he was sure there was more to it,

but he didn’t want to push it. “I mean anytime? That’s a joke right?” He replied trying to lighten the mood as he follows her as she showed her around.

“No, I am serious, anytime, hunters always help other hunters, it is one of the rules,” Sapphire explains though she thought that he of all people should have knew that. Every hunter has to give another hunter safe haven if they need it.

“OK...there are more hunters? And thanks Sapphire,” Dominic replied. She smiled at him and went to get a duvet and a few spare pillows ready for sleeping. She walked to the living room, and walked to the two seater sofa and pulled it out into a bed, then made the bed up.

“Yeah, there are quite a lot of us. You can have my room; I will sleep on the sofa,” Sapphire told Dominic.

“No, it is ok, I will sleep on the sofa,” Dominic insisted

being the gentleman that he was brought up to be.

“Have you ever invited anyone over? And then made them sleep on the sofa before?” she made a point, folding her arms stubbornly.

“Umm...No, I suppose not,” he admitted, and Sapphire smiled.

“Good, it is sorted,” she said, chuffed with herself, that he managed to get him to agree so quickly.

Dominic sighed but nodded his head. Sapphire looked at the clock and it read 2:36am. Sapphire was shocked by the time; no wonder Grace wasn’t up. She didn’t know it was that time, even though it was really dark, but it was Halloween so you can never tell, can you?

“Good night, Dominic,” she said, feeling quite rude though because it felt like she was making him go to bed, then she added hurriedly, “I mean if you want to go to bed, do you want to go to bed because I will stay up if you want?”

“No. No, it’s ok, I need to go to bed, I am knackered,” he replied, smiling, and then he turned around and walked up the stairs saying, “Good night, Sapphire.”

She smiled back. “Night to you too.” She headed downstairs, where she lay on the sofa and after a few minutes dozed off into a deep sleep.