Chapter 2: Alliance

The pain in Laura Comer's right eye was excruciating. Despite the fact that she had been taking prescription strength numbing drops for the last few weeks in a failed attempt to somehow deaden the incessant stinging, it still felt like a sharp object was wedged in the back of her eyeball. Blinking seemed to send a razor blade deep into recesses of her vitreous. Regardless of the fact that Cowboy Sam had assured her that his own eye had healed within a week, she was now convinced that the only way to stop the pain was to have her eyeball removed. She was considering just such a move, drastic as it may seem, and contemplating why she had ever allowed some backwoods Guardian to remove it. At least, without her IAC, or Intelligence Assistance Communicator, a small computer that was implanted into each Guardian or Hunters’ eye, Aaron, the Guardian Leader, could no longer track her movements. She was now free to begin an unauthorized pursuit of her own.

She had been operating with Cowboy Sam and his team for almost a month now. While they had initially considered tracking down Cadence first, as she had recently set out on her own and might be the easiest to locate, the team of renegades had been hesitant to try it with their IACs still in place. It had been easier to focus on tracking Giovani, whom all of them had reasons to want to eliminate as well. It was the Rogue Vampire who had initiated all of her problems in the first place, so she didn't mind focusing there. Sam had agreed; Giovani had recently murdered the old-timer's niece and her family in their suburban Dallas home. While each of them had their reasons to hate Cadence, Giovani, Aaron, and the whole LIGHTS team, they knew they needed to make smart decisions, to be calculating and act decisively. If they were patient, everything would come together eventually.

They had been tracking Giovani for a couple of weeks when he seemed to suddenly fall off the face of the Earth. He knew they were tracking him; that seemed evident by his sporadic movement. He had hopped from Tucson to Mexico City, to Rio, to Lima. Then one day, the trail grew cold. Of course, there weren't a lot of Hunters or Guardians who were willing to help the band of renegades either, which made it a lot harder to pick up on clues or other information to let them know where Giovani was located. Sam had worked with Finn and Camilla for years. The hippy and the quiet African American woman were loyal to Sam above else. However, they had also recently had their IACs removed. Without that piece, it was not possible to pick up on chatter that may lead them closer to their mark. Out of desperation, they finally determined to find a Hunter who would be willing to help them without letting his or her loyalty be known to the LIGHTS team. That mission had led them to a small town of Elloree, South Carolina.

Laura sat on the couch in the home of Sharon O'Braonain hoping that the extreme pain in her eye wasn't apparent on her face. She had no idea why the others didn't seem to have the same reaction to having the IAC removed that she was having, but she was jealous of their composure as they listened to Sharon tell her tale.

She was a tiny thing, not more than four-foot-ten at most. She looked to be in her sixties, but Laura knew she had to be well over one hundred. While both Hunters and Guardians continued to age after they Transformed, Hunters aged much more rapidly than Guardians. Eventually, Hunters would die of old age, if not at the hand of a Vampire, while Guardians would live forever, so long as a Hunter didn't end them. Sharon was a Hunter, so eventually, she would expire. For now, she sat in a recliner across from Laura and Sam explaining her reasons for potentially helping them and her reservations for doing so. Finn and Camilla were elsewhere. They had decided not to overwhelm their potential lifeline.

"My father knew him well. They were best of friends," she was saying. "They had a falling out many, many years ago. I'm not exactly sure what it was about. But Daddy never spoke his name again. Never. My daddy decided to operate as a free agent, and I did for much of my career as well, though there was a time I was a member of the team based out of Miami. But that was before Aaron took over. That was back when Jordon Findley was the Guardian Leader. Now, him, I liked. Him I respected. Even though I have no idea what the beef was with my dad and Aaron, I never could get on board with him, you see?"

"Yes, we do," Sam agreed. They had decided he should do much of the talking. She would most likely relate better to him. After all, they were practically contemporaries, Sam being over one hundred years old himself. "We're not asking much, now," he went on. "We just want you to give us a call if you hear anything interesting on the IAC. We are trying to track down this Rogue Vampire, Giovani, like we said. And we are trying to avoid LIGHTS. It's not that we wish them any harm," he offered, "we just don't want them interfering."

Sharon stared down at the afghan she had thrown across her lap and smoothed the fringe, her face indicating she was contemplating the proposal. "I suppose I can do that," she finally agreed "I can listen in on the IAC and then give you a call if I hear anything that may of be value to you. That seems harmless enough."

Sam smiled, a look of relief and gratitude spreading across his rugged face, his gray moustache turning up at the corners. "Well, that's right kind of you, Ms. Sharon," he said, extending his hand and taking her frailer one in his. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Sure," she replied, shrugging her narrow shoulders. "What can it hurt?"

Laura pushed past the pain and dug in her purse to find the iPhone they had purchased for Sharon to use. "Here's a phone you can use to call us directly. Do you know how to use this?"

Sharon smiled. "I might be old, but I'm not stupid. Of course, I know how to use an iPhone."

"Perfect," Sam said, still smiling. "If you hear anything about a Rogue that could potentially be our guy, give us a call. Also, if you hear anything about Aaron and his team or Cadence Findley tracking us down, you'll need to let us know so that we can take precautions. In fact, any information you can provide about their movements would be greatly appreciated. Sound good?"

"Will do," Sharon said. It would be nice to contribute to Vampire Hunting again. She had been retired for years, had no family close by, and spent a lot of time alone. Now, at least she would have someone to chat with. "Hope you get him real soon," she added.

"Me, too," Laura said, though she wasn't necessarily thinking of the same person Sharon was. "We have another favor to ask, if you don't mind."

Sharon's eyebrows went up. "What would that be?"

Laura exchanged glances with Sam, and he began to explain. "We have found that it might be in our best interest to let Aaron and the LIGHTS team know, from time to time, what we are doing--give them bits of information. But now, we can't communicate with them ourselves. We've enlisted a few Hunters and Guardians to help with this. Would you be willing to pass on information once in a while, without letting them know we are the source?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Sharon began. "I don't think I'd be up to contacting him directly."

"No need for that," Laura assured her. "There are other Guardians you can communicate with. We'll provide you with a list of contacts you can talk to who will hand your information on in turn, without revealing you are the initial source."

After a few moments of thought, Sharon said, "All right. I guess I can do that, too."

"Wonderful," Laura said. Not only would she be a lifeline for them, she would also serve as one more voice to confuse the chatter, one more noise to filter, one more notch in their belts.