Who then can be saved?

[Cain Plunkett]

"They're getting out of hand," Yu Han said in his usual quiet, calm voice--a voice that nevertheless carried across the room, over to the corner where Cain sat alone on a small, hard stool. "If we wait, we'll lose the advantage."

Cain nibbled on a hard pear. It was still green, faintly sweet but not too juicy and the peel was thick. Frowning, he probed at a tiny fragment of pear skin that had gotten stuck between his teeth, with the tip of his tongue.

"These aren't the usual Blood Gang members, either. I think they're starting to separate. These new ones... they're more vicious than the old gang ever was."

Barely raising his eyes, Cain peeked up at Jem to see what his reaction was to Yu Han's report. With David dead from the last hunt and Gregg, David's star pupil, gone, Jem was their de facto leader for the time being.  Cain often wondered where Gregg had gone, but the rumor within the group was that Gregg had gone off to avenge David's death. It was none of Cain's business, of course, but being curious was free and not a crime; he could wonder all he wanted, within the closed confines of his own mind.

As Yu Han sat down, looking troubled, Cain turned his pear over to the uneaten side and started on the other half. The others were murmuring amongst themselves, trying to decide what to do with the fractious vampires making waves within Hazleton. A lot of other hunters had gathered in the area, and Cain often saw them wandering the streets or heading in and out of their respective camps.

Some even had businesses in Hazleton, all in an effort to better blend in with the general population.

He never spoke to them, of course; nor did he acknowledge them. He let Isaiah make the call, whether to approach fellow hunters or to leave them alone. Nine and a half times out of ten, Isaiah ignored them, and so too did Cain. He looked at them, though. Watched them silently as they went about their business--the business of hunting the devil's spawn.

That was what those things were. They weren't... clean. They were tainted by sin and Cain knew that God's plan for them was extermination. That was why he and Isaiah were put here, on this Earth, and shown their path. God's righteous will needed to be carried out through them. That was the knowledge that kept Cain going, the fact that he killed for God and in God's name. He knew that when the time came, he would still be welcomed in through the gates of heaven because he was doing the right thing.

He was saving others, keeping the humans safe.

Cain lowered his gaze to the pear held between his hands and he twisted at the dry, brown stem as the rise and fall of voices surrounded him. It was mostly Yu Han and Jem talking now; Isaiah was out getting supplies and Cain never spoke in the presence of others if it could be helped. Besides, he and his brother weren't the decision-makers around here anyway and as long as their agenda was covered by the activities of the group, they would stay with the group. It didn't matter to Cain, though, whether they stayed or left. All he needed was Isaiah, and the knowledge that their holy crusade was just and right. Anything else that happened was up to God, and his great Plan for them.

Hearing his name, his head lifted. Yu Han was looking expectantly at him but Cain hadn't registered what he said. Blankly, he stared at Yu Han.

"Are you and Isaiah okay to hunt tonight?" Yu Han repeated, with a raise of the brows.

"..." Cain nodded. The core of the pear disappeared into the palms of his closed hands; he gripped it hard, uncomfortable with the eyes on him. He almost shrank into himself as Yu Han's gaze lingered on him and if it weren't for the fact that he had no other place to run to, he would have bolted from the room by now. As it was, Cain turned his entire body away, squeezing the half-eaten pear between his hands.

"...all right. We'll need you to sweep the suburbs tonight, and make sure that those things from the fog are really gone."