A/N:
Released on April 25, 2018

Sorry this chapter is a bit late in the evening... my updates have been like that lately XD

Anyway, we're back to a normal length chapter! I hope you all enjoy this new POV while it lasts! Plus new characters :) I'm not sure if it'll happen again

Word Count: 2184

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Chapter 19: More Than Just Protocol

A Hunter's POV

We arrived at the abandoned parking lot a half hour after the distress call, finding everyone alive, much to our surprise.

My team and I had to shake the others awake once we found that they had a pulse, but most of them seemed unharmed.

"What happened here?" I demanded from Amy, who was put in charge of the mission.

She shook her head in disappointment before answering, knowing that she would be reprimanded. "I have no clue. One minute I was speaking with the one we thought was a kidnapped human, the next minute I had an undeniable urge to go to sleep. So I did."

"Sir, I can do the overview." Parker stepped up, having heard the conversation.

"Report?" I said to urge him to explain quickly. I'd like to know how everyone just went to sleep while on the job.

"The girl appeared human, but proved to be something else. She had super speed, strength, and red eyes. Then she-" Parker stopped speaking with a look I'd never seen on him before.

"What is it soldier? Speak up." I ordered, knowing that would break through the fear he was displaying.

"The girl attacked me and I was suddenly in the woods, stuck in my worst nightmare. I don't know how she did it." He told me, his face blank once again as he told the tale.

If I didn't know Parker better, I wouldn't have noticed his fear was still present by the way his jaw was clenched.

I pulled him aside, away from the others who were being helped by the medics, so that we could speak in private.

I knew there was no way he could continue telling the story standing at attention. I wouldn't ask that of my friend, seeing as he was terrified.

"Tell me what you saw, Parker. It might help you recover." I spoke to him quietly, reassuring him so that he'd feel a bit better.

I sat on the ground to invite him to sit with me, watching as he visibly relaxed, slumped over as he gathered his thoughts. "I was running through the woods at night with no weapons and multiple injuries. I was running from vampires."

"I couldn't see anything, so I was running blind. Then the moon shone through the trees, and I looked back to see that the vampires were my family, and they were trying to kill me." Parker recalled it reluctantly, refusing to meet my gaze.

"No matter how fast I ran, I got nowhere. I was still stuck in the woods running from my own family, who'd become these horrible monsters. They were worse than any vampire I've ever seen. And I was tired, so tired." He said, rubbing a hand over his face.

After taking a deep breath to steady himself, Parker continued with the story. "I was about to give up because of the burning in my limbs from running so far, when I was suddenly back in the parking lot with the girl, and a voice in my head told me to act like I was still in the nightmare."

"That doesn't make sense. If she put you in the nightmare, why would she stop it?" I asked in confusion, thinking of the girl as a psychotic supernatural.

"I can't explain it. But I do remember what was happening while she had me acting." Parker said, an uncertain look in his eyes that makes me even more cautious of the tale.

"The girl grabbed Mabel and demanded the cure for silver poisoning. Her vampire friend was stabbed." Parker explained, but I interrupted again.

"Did she hurt Mabel?" I questioned furiously as I glanced around for our fallen soldier.

"No, that's the thing. The girl pretended that I was still stuck in my nightmare, because she still had me acting, and she said she'd let us both go if Mabel gave up the location of the cure she needed." Parker quickly elaborated, surprising me into more confusion.

"So, you're trying to tell me that this girl was a nice supernatural? After what she did to you?" I inquired with narrowed eyes, unable to believe such a story.

"No, but she did the right thing in the end by letting everyone go, basically unharmed. All she did was put everyone to sleep after that." Parker informed me of what I already knew.

I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face in exhaustion, tired of everything getting stranger.

Why can't a vampire hunter just be a vampire hunter? Why do we have to take care of people with mind control too? I constantly had to remind myself that it was for the greater good.

"Alright. Thank you for the information. I have to go check on the others now." I told him as I stood to leave.

"Thanks, Dallas. I mean it." Parker said sincerely, giving me a weak smile as I nodded in return.

Everyone was awake by then, awaiting medical attention before they're allowed to go anywhere for safety precautions.

"Sir! It's Cody, he's got something you might want to hear." One of the medics came running up to me.

I followed in a hurry, finding Cody sitting with his best friend in the spot they were both found.

"Is Stuart going to be okay?" Cody asked anxiously as two of the medics wheeled his best friend on a stretcher and into the ambulance parked at the end of the alley.

One of the medics paused to speak with us while the others prepared the ambulance to leave. "From what we can tell, Stuart has multiple broken ribs, but we think he'll be alright soon."

Cody and Stuart were always together.
They were partners and everyone knew it, ever since they'd become best friends in kindergarten.

Cody's family had been in the vampire hunting business for generations, but Stuart was only part of the team because Cody knew his friend would make a great addition.

So everyone could see through the tough act Cody had put up since Stuart was hurt. No one could imagine what it felt like for the best friends to be separated because no one else was allowed to have a partner like that.

It was always a rule, since it was a danger for you to be watching over someone else when you should be focused on the mission.

The only reason that Cody and Stuart were allowed to be hunting partners was because Cody's parents were head of the institution. Plus, the two boys had proved multiple times that they wouldn't let their friendship distract them from the mission. And the two fought perfectly together, so it was allowed.

It also helped that the two were incredibly smart, always thinking outside of the box and coming up with new plans together that helped on missions.

And once again, the boys had proven that they put work first because Cody had stayed behind to tell me his side of the story while Stuart was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

"What happened to you?" I asked Cody, noticing the dried blood on his shirt and on his nose.

"I have a broken nose and a missing tooth. But they gave me something to temporarily stop the pain so I can give my statement." Cody replied with wide eyes.

I nodded my head at the normal protocol. He'd be able to get treatment soon, and everything would be fine as long as he went to the hospital within the next few hours. I only needed to hear his story, since he'd said I'd want to hear it.

"One of the vampire guys wasn't a regular vampire. I think he was a hybrid." Cody exclaimed, half excited and half wary, having never encountered a hybrid before.

"What? Tell me everything. Give me every detail as fast as you can. We have a lot going on." I urged him to speak faster.

"They had knocked everyone else unconscious by then, but Stuart and I were hiding. When we heard the vampires and that girl debating whether or not to kill everyone, we jumped out to attack. By then we had realized that the girl wasn't human." Cody told me with a grin, probably proud of himself and his best friend.

"We had our sights on their heads when the blonde guy moved towards us to attack. We were about to shoot when a voice in my head said to shoot up and that's what we both did." Cody's face fell at that, helping me realize it was the turning point when they got hurt.

"He came at me first with this animalistic roar, moving much faster than a normal vampire can. He punched me in the face so hard that I blacked out instantly. When I came to, it was only for a moment, but I heard a crash and knew he'd gotten Stuart too. I blacked out again and woke up to you coming to our rescue." Cody finished his story with a grim look.

Cody and Stuart were both only twenty, young for hunters, but not the youngest. They had started official training when they were fifteen, but became hunters at the more appropriate age of seventeen. And they weren't allowed on missions like this until they were eighteen.

It was moments like this that I wished that no one could become a hunter until they were twenty five so that they could have time to grow up normally. But the rules were there for a reason, and Cody and Stuart both chose the life of hunters.

"Oh, and I saw his eyes were discolored when he attacked! They were red, but not completely. They looked like red and a mixed orange, like his eyes couldn't choose between being red or yellow." Cody spouted, almost sounding in awe of the monster's eye color.

"By your testament, it seems like we've got a hybrid on our hands." I muttered bitterly, thinking of how dangerous hybrids are and also knowing that Cody would insist on working this case. And so would Stuart once he recovered.

"Thank you for the report. Now get to the hospital before the medicine you took wears off, kid." I teased, getting a small smile from him and lifting my mood a bit.

"Whatever you say, old man." Cody replied, unable to hold back his grin as he walked off with the medic who had been waiting for him.

I shook my head at the encounter happily, glad that most of our team was a tight knit group.

I'm only thirty seven so there was no reason for him to call me an old man, but he does it because I called Cody a kid even when I knew he was twenty. He was like a son to me.

It was that way from the very beginning, even though I'm a higher up that he's supposed to treat with respect. But we understood each other and welcomed the teasing.

Sometimes it was the only thing that kept our spirits up in a world where we fought monsters for a living. We had to watch everyone around us get hurt.

~*~

"Alicia, stop looking at me like that." Zane said when he noticed that I was staring at him.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for being so preoccupied. I completely forgot about the hybrid predicament while I was focused on telepathy training and getting away from those hunters." I apologized, feeling awful for forgetting something so important to my boyfriend.

"I understand. But what made you bring it up now?" He asked me curiously.

"Zane... You moved too quickly back there. And it wasn't just that. I saw your eyes change color for a split second." I glanced at him reluctantly, not wanting to worry him.

I remembered that Zane had clearly stated he didn't want to become a hybrid. In fact, he had panicked for a moment at the thought.

"They turned a strange orange color that I've never seen." I told him apologetically, wishing it wasn't happening to him.

"Just forget about it. Let's go inside and figure out whether or not we're leaving." Zane suggested as he gestured to Ash's childhood home that we were standing in front of, ignoring the fact that I obviously wanted to talk about his problems right then.

He didn't want any help. Zane probably wanted to deny any evidence we saw that showed he was a hybrid, but I couldn't let that happen.

Zane had to help us figure out exactly what was going on with him and how to fix it, if need be.

I just had to get Ash alone to speak with him about it before going to Zane again. That, of course, would have to be after we all discuss our housing situation.

I believed it was about time to go. We had work to do, and I had a feeling that Ash wouldn't be helping Zane and I on our mission to gain his telepathy back and find my brother.