THE HUNT

CHAPTER-NINE

The two rolls at the front of the theater were reserved for the officers of the court. Though, the rest of the crowd appeared to be pulled from the streets. They talked among themselves, their chatters filling the room with an expectant buzz.

Murdock led Kate to a cordoned-off section and chose two seats next to a stalky man with sharp cheekbones, a significantly broad forehead, and inquisitive amber eyes, which he promptly aimed at Kate.

"Kate Lang," Murdock introduced, "Evan Tote."

Evan held out a beefy hand at least five times larger than Kate's.

"Come to watch the great show, have ye?" He asked, his voice accented with a thick burr. "Hard-fought, this one, but that just makes the victory, all the sweeter."

She shifted back to look at the guillotine. "Kate's new to the PSI team," Murdock explained. "She'll be working on the rouge outbreaks."

Evan's eyes widened. "That a fact? If you need anything, lass, yea let me know."

"Thanks. I appreciate that."

"I hope, you won't be needing me this weekend, though," he added with a grin. "I figured, I earned a few days away from PSI. Going back home, I am, back to the Highlands. My wife will have my head If I don't show, for the big High Feast."

"Oh, where's home?" Kate asked, figuring, that it was safer than inquiring about the High Feast.

"Scotland."

"Evan is a shapeshifter," Murdock added.

"Oh," since, she didn't know what to say, she gazed back at the stage. "So, what was this prisoner convinced of?"

Turned a human," Evan said. "A female then killed her. Couldn't control the monster," he said. "But that's no excuse. Not under the promise, once he's been through the possession.

"Blood craving," Murdock explained. "It calls forth the monster to release when a vampire feeds.

"I'm sorry. I don't understand."

"You've heard the human stories, that vampires are evil creatures without a soul, right? However, their soul doesn't depart with the transition, but it is dominated by the power of the monster that swells when they are made a vampire.

"What? Like they're possessed?" She asked.

Murdock shook his head.
"No, the monster comes from within. You can think of it as the dark side. The change frees it, and the monster craves to grow, feed. It wants power. That's why a newly made vampire must have a keeper."

"A keeper," Kate said, trying to keep it all straight in her head.

"Correct. A keeper teaches the vampire to quell the monster, the blood lust. To wrest control away and restore the prominence of his soul.

"So, the monster will completely disappear?"

"No, it will never completely be gone. But most vampires can adequately suppress it and are not afflicted by the influence of the monster and live almost ordinary lives. They blend in with society. They survive and can even thrive."

"You said most? " Kate said.

"Some do not prevail without a keeper," Murdock said.

"Those are the rogues," Evan said. PSI has a team that hunts down and kills the rouges."

Kate started to ask, exactly what Evan meant, but her question was cut off, by the roaring of the crowd.
She searched for the reason behind the crowd's change in disposition.