

The Night His Song Shall Be

A Vampire Novella

# For Vanessa,

# Because you believed when thousands wouldn't

**29** th **November 2009; West Bromwich, England**

His every breath burned his chest as he ran; his heart thudding painfully and legs aching from the unnatural speed he was forcing them to maintain. His mind was whirling with so many thoughts; none of them given enough time to become coherent before another took its place. Everything had gone wrong. Everything had gone so very wrong. Gabe and Luc had gone down. He didn't know if they were simply knocked out or injured or dead...or worse. There hadn't been time to find out. Madeline was dead; he'd seen the monster...he'd seen it tear out her throat moments before Evan had shot it through the heart – seen the girl's blood soaking into the stone at her feet and mingling with the stolen life of her killer...seen the blankness of her eyes. She was so young. She had been so young. At least it was only death. That was some small comfort. And then there was Evangeline...his Angel. Fighting with a righteous, Godly fury in her eyes and showing no sign of stopping, screaming his name as he was disarmed by three of the beasts after dispatching two others, wiping a line of blood from her lip where it had been split during the fight as she yelled at him to run...

A dead end met him and he skidded to a halt; stopping a moment too slowly and thudding into the stone wall painfully, neck jarring, legs still trying to drive him onwards due to adrenaline and fear. England was filled with stone. Stone walls, stone floors; if only they'd favoured stone coffins; perhaps none of it would have happened if the English were more careful with their dead. He pushed off from the wall, seeing a shadowy figure appear in the side street he'd just vacated, and took off again; gasping and muttering prayers under his breath as he ran. He had nothing; his sword, his daggers, Evan's spare gun, his stake...they were all gone. Just a small vial of holy water, barely enough to half blind one of the creatures, and his silver crucifix remained. He was isolated and without any true way to defend himself. All around him was the sound of traffic; of late night supermarkets blaring out dreadful pop music and the odd drunken lout stumbling out off a pub.

He had only run to draw them from her; to perhaps saver her. He always knew she was too good for him, that he would face something terrible in return for the joy she had brought him. Now here was the answer. She would be the death of him – and he would die gladly in her place. A thousand times over he would...

" _Holy Mary..." he rasped; his accent thicker than it had been in a decade as fear and exhaustion and pure adrenaline raged through his body, "Mother...Mother of Gott..."_

Another dead end came to face him; a chain link fence twice his height with a barbed wire topping blocked his only chance of escape. In the murky light of a nearby street lamp he thought he saw a silhouette drift past the end of the street which he was separated from by the fence. Skidding to a halt and looking up with desperation, as if searching for some kind of last moment divine intervention, he felt his eyes close involuntarily as realisation dawned. His only chance at escape was gone. He was not going to live out the night.

" _Mousey Mouse has run out of places to run and hide?"_

The coldly cruel and completely inhuman voice echoed throughout the empty street. It pounded off every surface and surrounded him utterly. The woman was old; older than anyone truly knew, but she sounded young to the uninitiated ear. Slowly, with an acceptance that frightened even him, the man turned around to face her.

" _I always knew it would be you." he stated plainly; looking her in those black, black eyes – the eyes of the devil himself – eyes the devil would be proud to bear._

She looked human for the most part and yet there was an animal, otherworldly, aura about her which caused even his informed heart to skip a beat in abject terror. Keep calm, he told himself, do not give her your dignity. She shook back a coil of straw blonde hair and laughed in a rich voice of one who had seen and done terrible things. The laugh of someone versed in the world and its dark ways. It was undeniably the voice of a demon.

" _I knew too, pretty Wilhelm...or do you prefer Wil? She calls you that; doesn't she?"_

" _You know she does," Wil answered._

It smiled.

" _So much love...I wonder what it will do to her when she finds you. I wonder how she will feel. Shall she be angry, do you think? Bitter? Lost? Do you think she'll still believe in Him when you're gone?"_

" _Her faith is stronger than anything on this Earth. It is stronger than you can ever dream..."_

" _Oh Willy...Wil...she is the Angel of your heart, no? No one could blame you; her power alone makes her...intoxicating. One of the few remaining of that blessed hallowed line of...well. We know. Of course we do. She can change her name but she can never change her blood; nor can the boys she defends like a wildcat. Nor the ones my brethren and I killed over the centuries. Oh yes, their blood was something else. And blood, my darling Wilhelm, blood speaks louder than any faith you can conjure or create. One day I shall taste hers. I wonder, when I do...I wonder if I'll taste you in her?"_

The rattle behind him followed by a barely suppressed growl gave Wil a moments' warning that there was a creature behind him. He levelled his gaze at the she devil stoically and murmured with a voice filled with conviction, which did not shake,

" _Gott seigen sie, Juliette."_

He whirled around at the very moment that the beast leaped from the barbed fence; the sharp metal doing nothing to harm him as he fell through the air, so gorged was he on stolen blood. Wil threw the vial upwards, his aim true as the thin glass shattered upon impacting with the head of the creature, and causing it to scream a blood curdling cry into the night as its face smoked and steamed where the water touched flesh.

Wil stiffened as an arm went around his neck and he hefted his weight, flipping the vampire as sharp claws dragged across his chest and caught skin and muscle. He let out a hiss of pain as another monster leapt onto him; knocking him to the ground. Wil forced his knee upwards; using the force behind the motion to drive the creature from him. However two more took its place and Wil was unable to stop himself from being hauled to his feet; his body held up even as hungry eyes glared at the wounds on his chest – seeping blood. The first two he had fought had been deprived of food; weak. The ones holding him had fed recently; like the still smoking creature even now lying on the ground whimpering. Perhaps they had drunk from Madeline or one of the others. Wherever their sustenance had come from their human façade was firmly in place – the stark blue veins, papery yellow skin and hairlessness of their comrades nowhere in sight upon their forms.

" _You fight well, Wilhelm. You are perhaps the best of your kind – the best of the ordinary."_

Juliette swept closer to him as she spoke; her Edwardian dress – something she had sported for the last two hundred years, swirling around her feet as she moved with a deceptively gentle grace. How had she avoided detection so long dressed like that; he wondered idly. English people could be so blind sometimes...

" _You know," she breathed once she had come close enough so that he could feel her breath upon his cheek, clearly smell the blood she had gorged herself on for more than half a millennia in that breath, see the pale perfection of her complexion. The faint rose of her lips and deadly blackness of her eyes were the only colours amongst the alabaster, "I hear Hunters make excellent Vampir."_

Cold dread burrowed its way into even the most well protected areas of his heart as her words struck him. Death would be a blessing; death locked in battle with the beasts would be a sacrifice worth making for the rewards which would lie beyond but... becoming one of them...taking the place of the demon in the darkest recess of hell so that the creature could inhabit his body...

" _No..." he breathed; unaware that he had spoken. "God, barmherzig vater, bitte, please, no..."_

Juliette tilted her head and smiled gently at her captive even as her emerging fangs cut deep into the flesh of her still closed lips. When she opened her mouth a trickle of stolen blood ran from the two piercings and her smile took on a manic edge as her tongue lapped at the lost elixir.

" _I knew you would beg; before the end."_
**20** th **November 2011; Oldbury, West Midlands**

"Look at this."

"Oh my...is that?"

"Yeah; it is."

"Wow. Just...wow."

Elizabeth looked down at the sweet potato she was holding. Its reddish skin was splitting as great bulging veins ran across its body; creating a knobbly effect which, combined with the length and breadth of the vegetable gave it a...

"Phallic," Beth murmured; looking at it with a sort of morbid fascination, "It looks like one of those phallic statues they had in ancient times. You know? Worshipping fertility and...or is it phallus?"

"Wouldn't know babes," Jane replied; looking up from her gun and raising a brow. "Are you going to send it? I know it's not out of stock or anything but still..."

"They'll only boil it and cut it up right? There's no harm really." Beth shrugged, tapping the code into her gun and chucking it into one of the totes on her cart.

"Unless some poor old spinster is the recipient and she has a heart attack when she..." Jane stopped speaking and merely gestured in a superfluous motion at the potato.

"Might be exciting for her; spice things up in Chez Cat." Beth reasoned.

"Oh God," Jane responded with a grimace, "Don't say that..."

"Can't un-think it now." Beth answered with a smirk as she moved on to the next item on her gun - carrots; 1kg.

Working in a supermarket wasn't so bad. Especially on the on-line department were work consisted of finding things, scanning them and putting them in a red or blue box; preferably bagged. Yes, she thought as she absently loaded five carrots into a plastic bag, wondering whether she could guess a kilo without having to traipse over to the scales to weigh it, it could be mind-numbing. But that was only if you actually thought about what you were doing and; come on, who in their right mind would do that? Much better to get lost in another world and...

"Have you seen the penis potatoes?" called over Josh as he passed by; arousing the interest of several nearby customers.

"Beth shopped one." Jane answered; her eyes never leaving the shelf she was examining as she spoke.

"Really? Blimey...you dirty bugger."

Beth winked as he trundled off towards the chilled section; announcing to any colleagues he came across that there were 'cock shaped taters in aisle thirty three'.

Yeah, she thought, working in a supermarket wasn't so bad.

***

Goin 2 cinema ltr. Wanna come?

"See you later Beth!" called Jane from her spot two lockers down.

"Yeah; I'm in tomorrow, you?"

"My day off, mate."

"Alright for some," Beth smiled, "Saturday then?"

"Yeah; see you Saturday."

The door swung shut as Jane left the changing room. Beth once again looked down at her phone and sighed as she typed out,

Learn to spell, dipshit.

She pressed send and closed her locker, hefting her bag over her shoulder as she made her way in Jane's footsteps out into the employee corridor. A glance out the window told her it was long since dark – not unusual for November. Especially the cold and gloomy one they were currently experiencing. It was late anyway, past six, and she had been going since eight that morning. The run up to Christmas meant long days as people frenziedly bought online and the online shopping department frenziedly tried to keep up.

She looked down at her phone, always kept on silent by a force of habit left over from her school days, and saw a new message had appeared.

Harsh but fair. So...you up for drooling at Rhys Ifans and then discussing his hotness over pizza?

Beth rolled her eyes good naturedly.

10 out of 10 for improvement; and that's an eleven for taste. See you in half an hour.

She headed down the stairs and out onto the shop floor. There was a steady hum of shoppers and staff milling around but Beth cut through both heading straight for the door. It was so easy to spend a day's wages whilst browsing round the store. Better to focus on getting out – at least then the money could be blown elsewhere.

The night air was cold on her face; she pulled her hooded jacket more tightly around her as she headed out towards the underground car park. She always favoured it over the upper one; less people used it and there was little chance of anyone parking next to anyone else under there. Her little beat up Ford was barely hanging on as it was – it could do without middle aged mom rage being inflicted on it by the shoppers from hell. The fight in the car park between two seemingly perfectly normal thirty something toddler lugging women hadn't quite left Beth's immediate memory. Oh the joys of the Midlands.

She descended the stone steps down to the car park carefully; her work boots tentatively stepping on the slippery surface as she went. Last winter she'd fallen over at a bus stop in front of thirty twelve year olds who'd laughed so much she thought spontaneous combustion was a real possibility. No more falling over; that was her mantra- and so far one hundred percent successful.

The dim overhead strip lights in the car park shone a measly, dim glow onto the scene; a dozen or so cars parked in mostly haphazard ways and widely strewn throughout the large space. One of two of the lights were flickering; maintenance still hadn't gotten round to fixing them. People didn't care how they parked when there was no one to see. She spotted her shoddy red number in its usual spot and sighed with relief, as she did every day, to find it was still there. Paranoia wasn't unhealthy; another mantra to live by.

She fumbled in her bag as she approached the car, frowning as she attempted to use her phone backlight to see through the rubbish she carted around with her everywhere and find her car keys.

"Why do I always do this?" she muttered, fishing out a box of hatpins and a cigarette lighter she had never used, "Why not find them where there is actual light instead of waiting for..."

She trailed off as she heard the sound of harsh coughing coming from somewhere up ahead. Beth paused in her progress toward the car; tilting her head slightly as she looked towards where she thought she heard the coughing. That was the only problem with underground parking; she thought absently, it was well creepy. She bit her lip before letting out a long breath and, deciding she couldn't very well stand there and wait for someone else to get in their car, continued on towards her Ford.

Another cough, this time when she was within a foot of opening the driver's door, caused her to stop again. Was it coming from the other side of the car? She frowned. Perhaps a tramp had snuggled up to her hubcaps. Or maybe it was someone who was little and lost, or old and had forgotten where they were...or someone who was hurt. Her eyes went to the keys which she had now found, sitting loosely in her grasp, and then back to the other side of the car. If she just drove off and found out in the morning someone had been found injured or dead in the car park she'd never forgive herself. Damn morals, she internally cursed, rounding the car with a weary sigh and calling softly,

"Hello? Are you alright?"

There was no response but for a sort of shuffling sound. She rounded the front of the car, putting a hand on the bonnet as she leaned around tentatively.

"Hello? Is there...oh – hi there."

She had been right; there was a tramp snuggled up to her hubcaps. He was wrapped in a thin blanket, blackened in some places as though it had been too close to an open flame one too many times. She couldn't make much out; the blanket was pulled up to cover the entire figure from head to foot, but what she could see was one pale white hand clutching the blanket closed at the front. Her eyes widened as she saw the brightness of blue veins showing through the parchment like skin of the person; huddled on the ground and seemingly shying away from her. They must be frozen stiff to have veins that prominent. The fingernails were wrong too; sort of yellow with blackened bits at the nail bed. Was that frostbite? How long had the poor sod been outside?

"Hey, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. I was just wondering if you were alright."

The figure seemed to stiffen as she rounded the front of the car and came to a stop just beyond reaching distance of the crumpled form. She felt sympathy, of course she did, but she'd heard enough horror stories about people playing for sympathy (didn't Ted Bundy pretend to have a broken arm to lure in victims?) in order to gain trust to be a little wary at least.

She waited a few moments, her eyes roving over the figure several times and learning nothing new with each inspection. She couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman; though from the pitch of the coughs she'd have guessed man. Not willing to give up, despite the cold now beginning to make her hands stiff, she tried once again,

"What's your name?"

This elicited a reaction. She took a cautious step back as the figure jerked, this time forcefully, and seemed to swivel slightly; head raised towards her. She still couldn't make out his face as it was shrouded in the shadow of the makeshift hood he'd created with the blanket. However she was sure now that he was looking at her. That was an improvement, right?

"..od." came the croaking response; the voice so raw she almost winced at the sound.

"Od?" she asked, "That's...interesting. Short for anything?"

The figure moved, shifting slightly towards her, seemingly leaning on her car in order to rise into what she supposed was probably a crouch.

"...ood." he repeated; voice a little stronger now.

"Oh, sorry, Ood. Still quite unusual, I've got to..."

She was interrupted by a heaving gasp from the man as he rose even further, allowing the blanket to fall off him as he rose to face her.

"Holy..." she breathed as she took in his features.

His head was bald and perfectly pale except for a few reddened patches which looked almost as though they could be some severe form of psoriasis. His face was the same deathly shade of white; with a yellow tinge which looked like that of cholera victims from particularly grim BBC docudramas. His eyes were black; so black she couldn't distinguish pupil from iris; could barely see the whites of his eyes for all the darkness there. The blueness of the veins, standing out blaringly against the paleness of his skin, made him look like an alien. Yes. That was it; a choleric alien with psoriasis. Made perfect sense really...

"Blood..." came the hiss in a voice which was stronger and, she noted with a stab of fear, feral.

Oh shit. She'd found a cannibal.

"Look..." she murmured, taking a step back only for it to be matched by a predatory step of his own, "Whatever's the matter with you I can help. We can go into the store and I can phone an ambulance. Get you some treatment for...for whatever it is that's...okay stop. Stop moving; stop coming..."

She took two quick steps backwards in succession and bit back a yelp when she felt her back connect with the car park wall. The man's eyes seemed to sharpen and she gulped in breath after breath as she began to panic. This was bad. This was very bad. Why had she parked underground? Why had she worked until dark? Why had she tried to help an obvious lunatic instead of getting in her car and going to meet Marie at the cinema?

The man's face morphed from caved with hunger to gleeful with the aid of a grotesque smile; in one fluid movement. He continued his approach and Beth looked around wildly for a route of escape. He was barely two steps away though; if she ran he'd catch her. But talking wasn't working; it never worked, not with murderous psychos.

"You don't have to do this..." she tried, pulling everything she ever remembered from every episode of Criminal Minds she had ever watched

He tilted his head, continuing the motion into a wide circle as the bones clicked and he licked dry, cracked lips in some sort of perverse satisfaction as he did so. Once he was looking at her straight on again he smiled; that same dangerous, terrifying smile he had given her to begin with and answered in a husky croak,

"Yes; I do."

He snarled and she swore violently as his canines seemed to lengthen and sharpen before her eyes, the snarl turning into a rumbling growl as droplets of blood began to fall from where the fangs had seemingly grown from. Beth found herself completely unable to move as she stared at the creature before her. Not a man, she knew it couldn't be a man...but then what?

"You wished to help me..." the creature murmured in a darkly dangerous tone; eyes fixing on hers as it came so close she could feel shaking breaths on her face, see every discoloured vein and smell every drop of blood, "...this is your chance."

He inched closer and, despite every nerve in her body screaming at her to run, to push the...the thing away and run as fast as she could and never look back, there was something about those eyes that held her in place. The black caverns boring into her, drawing her in, telling her that she was safe, that it was alright to just give up...

He jolted against her and she closed her eyes, waiting for whatever was going to happen to happen. Her hoodie had fallen open, revealing her work shirt underneath. It was when she felt something wet against her stomach; a damp sort of feeling which was cold enough to make her suck in a breath of surprise, that her brain once again kicked into gear. With an almighty shove she pushed the man...creature...whatever over and away from her and darted around the fallen thing; racing over to press herself against a nearby pillar. After a moment's shallow panting; a resultant combination of running and panic all mangled together, Beth dared to flicker a glance around the pillar and toward the man thing. He was slumped where she had left him; seemingly unmoving, and surrounded by...

Her right hand flew down to her stomach and she touched her shirt to see it come away dark red with blood...yet she was not injured. There wasn't any pain. Holy shit - had she killed him? How? She'd just being standing there whilst he...no. It couldn't have been her. She didn't have anything that could...

Her eyes fell to her left hand; bloodied despite the fact that it hadn't come into contact with her stained shirt, and the set of keys gripped in it. However they keys were not her main focus. No, what gripped her attention was the small Swiss Army Knife key ring she'd nicked from some University fair when she was eighteen. The small nail file which was part of the cheap promotional tool was out and covered in blood. When had that happened? She didn't remember flicking out the...

"Nice work; though you should know that if he'd eaten in the last twelve hours your little stick 'em and run act wouldn't have saved you."

Beth jerked at the sound of the voice; another man, though this one decidedly less...ravenous sounding, coming from her left. She instantly spun to face him; tiny file like knife before her and pointed at him with a shaking hand. He was tall, pale skinned but without the blue veins and with a healthy head of dark curly hair. His eyes were a startling green and they were set above a nose which had evidently been broken more than once in the past from its less than perfect line. His jeans, check shirt and combat boots were a complete contrast with the dishevelled appearance of the thing. Nevertheless her survival instinct was now in full swing; and it was telling her to trust no one.

"Fuck off," she warned him in her best scary Midlands voice, "You saw...saw what I did. I'll do you too."

"Will you? Well that I admit I would like to see..." he gave her a wink and raised a brow almost simultaneously in a way which confounded her completely.

"Oh stop arsing around will you Gabe? She's obviously all shaken up – and no wonder. You alright mate? I know you feel a bit...odd right now but trust me you'll get over it."

Beth whirled around, turning her back to the first man (Gabe?) to face another.

He was tanned; looked like he could be Spanish or Mexican in descent, with big brown eyes and longish brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. He wore a similar outfit to the other; a white t-shirt, jeans and boots – though he had a hoodie similar to hers over the top of the ensemble which was in track grey. His look was sympathetic as he ignored the knife she was wielding and instead focused on her face.

"Look she's only a baby...what's your name?"

She eyed the man incredulously, pathetically small yet heavily bloodied knife still pointed resolutely towards the speaker, and asked,

"Last person I asked that self-same question to tried to..." she stopped, unsure as to what she was going to say.

"Tried to drain you dry?" the man called Gabe interjected, "Yeah...Vamps will do that."

December 13th 2009

" _No one lives for oneself and no one dies for oneself. For if we live we live for the Lord and if we die, we die for the Lord..."_

Evan closed her eyes and tightened her fists; the pressure of her ragged fingernails, already cutting deep into her palms, increasing with the action.

Everything had gone so very wrong. One moment he had been there, with her, fighting at her side and the next...the next he had been defenceless; out of wooden bullets, out of stakes and crosses and anything useful – and too far away for her to help. She'd shouted for him to run. He ran.

Now he was gone.

It was her fault. That was what it came down to. She should have gone after him, fought better, fought harder, and gone after him. But she hadn't. And by the time she'd found him it was too late. He was already one of them.

" _Evie?" murmured a voice._

She didn't look up but she knew who was speaking. John; steadfast, dependable John whose dog collar was firmly in place and Bible was in hand as he stood beside her. She hadn't noticed him finish the service; hadn't noticed that people had begun to meander away, talking quietly amongst themselves, clad in the same black as she was but without even half of the grief in their hearts.

" _It was a beautiful service, John." she answered his unspoken question with a wooden voice which she barely recognised as her own, "Thank you."_

His hand came up, as though to touch her arm, but at the last minute it hovered and finally dropped back down to his side. She watched the action avidly; finding it easier to focus on than his eyes; chocolate brown and eternally understanding as they were. She couldn't bear pity. Not now.

" _Evie I am so sorry," he finally breathed._

" _Don't..." she replied in a tone which shook. She was barely clinging onto her self-control._

" _Evan, please...God knows I never..."_

" _God?" she asked suddenly, hearing the word and latching onto it with a sort of deranged vigour, "What's God got to do with this, John? God let him die. God took Wil away from me. After everything...after everything Wil ever did in the name of the church, in the name of our Lord all bloody mighty, it was still decided that he didn't deserve life. Didn't even death; turn out. After everything he did and gave for this world he got Hell."_

She looked up, tears of anger and pain mingling together in eyes as green as her brother's as she met the eyes of the Pastor.

" _How can there be a God as cruel as that?"_

He didn't react with shock or horror as she had half expected him to. She supposed he was used to seeing people question their religion. He merely stood with her beneath the heatless winter sun looking down at the grave stone which lay before them; planted already in the Earth as there was no casket to be buried. There was no body. Not one they could bury at any rate. Not yet.

In Loving Memory of

Wilhelm Schmidt

Born 3rd March 1978

Died 29th November 2009

Warrior, Brother; Husband

**20** th **November 2011**

"Excuse me?" Beth asked faintly; too shell shocked to continue waving around the knife and instead letting the blade fall limply at her side.

"Vamps. Vampir, Vampyre, Vrykolakas, Strigoi...Luc, you got any others?"

"I think some people refer to them as Succubus....ouch!"

The sympathetic man, Luc he had been called, threw a hand up to his ear and tugged something which looked like a plastic in ear headphone out before shouting into it irritably,

"God in heaven Michael will you keep to the indoor voice?!"

"Now, now; no need for blasphemy..." interrupted Gabe in a teasing tone.

"Bugger off," replied Luc good-naturedly; re inserting the headphone carefully as he spoke, "By the way Mikey insists that Succubi are different things entirely..." he paused for a moment, as though listening intently, before adding, "They're sex monsters; apparently."

"Sex monsters? Danny boy never mentioned them..."

"Okay - you two need to hold the fuck up." Beth interrupted; her eyebrows had risen so high at their casual conversation her forehead hurt, "Are you saying that that..." she pointed over to the body of the thing which had attacked her; still lying where she had left it on the tarmac, "...thing is a vampire?"

"Disappointed that they don't sparkle?" asked Gabe mock seriously.

"Gabe..." sighed Luke.

"I mean it had fangs...they just sort of appeared and I thought that maybe it was an alien...or a cholera patient or...I don't know. Am I being Punk'd? Has Ashton gone international?"

"Nope; wouldn't be here if that wanker were within a hundred yards. Or miles; either works." Gabe answered in what she was fast beginning to think of as his typical shitty humour, "You're looking at your first Vampire encounter. Congratulations. You're not dead. Nice one."

Beth looked over to the body lying near her car and shuddered involuntarily. She could smell the blood on her; the darkly metallic tang sticking in her throat.

"Isn't it meant to...well...be all dusty?" she asked quietly of no one in particular.

"That's not how it works matey – for it to become dust buster fodder you need to stake it through the heart or expose it to sunlight. Or decapitate though once I did that and the head hit Wil straight in the...and then of course with all of those ways that you'd be left behind with the blood. Though with this one there isn't much to leave I reckon..."

"...okay..." murmured Luc from his position, moving round to join Gabe with a look of concentration on his face, "Yeah, alright...got it. Tell Pastor we're on route; one potential Vamp snack in tow."

He looked over to Gabe; the two men's eyes meeting for a long moment before Luc announced,

"Evan's coming; she'll be here in three minutes. Moore's been hurt – not bad but there's a bite."

"So he's a...he's one of them?" Beth asked; unable to say the word Vampire. It was too weird; too unbelievable. Her mind was still desperately trying to find another solution.

"You watch too many movies," Gabe commented, "He's bit – no better or worse than if Hannibal Lecter took a chunk out of him. Messy, yeah – and mighty painful I'd reckon; nothing more. Luc you take out Nail File Fido there. Evan'll have our balls if he reappears in a couple of weeks because we didn't finish him off."

Luc nodded stoically and strode over to where the body of the thing that attacked Beth lay. She watched with morbid fascination as Luc approached, stuck out a booted foot and pushed the creature onto its back. She jerked instinctively when she heard a weak moan coming from the body. She was too far away to see its face but she knew the features. She feared she'd never forget them. Luc reached to his belt and pulled out a stake of wood – she hadn't noticed it before but then it wasn't all that noticeable. Nothing more than a thick splinter really, about as long as her forearm and bearing a razor sharp tip. Without hesitation Luc moved in a fluid, deadly motion – driving the spike downwards and plunging it into the chest of the creature.

She gasped as the thing twitched wildly for a few long moments before going terribly still and then, in a sort of soft, gradual manner, beginning to disintegrate before her eyes; like too much salt in too little water. She didn't look away, even though the proof of the supernatural story the two men had told her was making her feel decidedly sick, and watched tremulously until there was nothing but a pile of ashy dust and old clothes on the ground where once the body had lain. What little blood she could see was soaked up by the ash and by the time Luc had used his boot to kick the dust out and spread it, hand over his mouth as he did so, there was barely any trace that the monster had ever even existed.

"We should get her back to St. Anthony's; that blood will draw any survivors from that Nest if she stays here..." Gabe was the first to speak; his voice more neutrally toned than it had been since she had first heard him speak.

"Everything go alright?" asked a voice from behind them; where the footpath based entrance to the car park lay.

They all turned to see a woman approaching; dark hair cut in a just past shoulder length mass and practical jeans, black tank top and hoodie combination along with sturdy looking combat boots marking her as part of the group. Trailing in her wake was another man; chestnut hair a mass of curls atop his head and face a pallid white as he moved much more slowly. One hand was holding a wadded shirt to his neck and, on further inspection, she realised that below the jacket that was fastened across his chest he was probably bare chested.

"This one stabbed it with a bloody nail file," announced Gabe, gesturing lazily towards Beth. "Luc finished it. But the girl's covered in Vamp juice – we'll have to..."

"Have you told Michael?" the woman asked abruptly, cutting him off.

"Yeah; he's aware that we're on route to St. Anthony's plus one. John says it's all fine so..."

"So let's go," she answered; her featured arranging for the first time in something near to a gentle expression. It wasn't a smile, not quite, but the corners of her mouth definitely lifted slightly, the hardness of her eyes lessening as she spoke to Gabe.

"Yes ma'am. Moore going to make it alright?"

"He's an idiot but he'll be fine," she responded dismissively, looking back to the injured man all the same as if to check that her supposition was correct. "He tried to go all Bruce Lee on a Vamp."

"You're right," Luc broke in as Gabe let out a sharp, bark like laugh, "He is stupid."

"Am I being kidnapped?" Beth asked in a faint voice.

"No, you're being rescued," Gabe answered with a raised brow and sardonic smile, "You stay here, go anywhere that doesn't require an invite or doesn't exist on consecrated ground; even driving home or hopping on the bus, and you're Vamp nibbles. That bastard," he gestured to where the thing had lain, "Came from a Nest twenty strong and we've only taken down seven so far. They smell the blood of their kin on you...well; bad times for you. So we have a church and we intend to take you to it until you've reached at least five showers and dawn. Then you're free to do whatever you like. Until then I suggest you stop being painfully dim and go with the flow."

There was a pause where everyone seemed to focus their attention on her; the injured man named Moore, the woman referred to as Evan, the spectacularly sarcastic Gabe and sympathetic yet business like Luc – all just staring as she hesitated. Going off with people she didn't know sounded like a properly stupid idea. However there was no denying that the thing that had attacked her...well – it wasn't human. And the people arranged before her seemed to know what they were doing so...wasn't it better to play it safe and go with those who looked vaguely none cannibalistic?

"Alright..." she sighed finally, reasoning that if anything freaky went down she still had her mobile and her thus far trusty Swiss Army key ring, "...but I reserve the right to make a phone call and or leave at any time. And I want answers; about the thing that attacked me and about you; all of you."

The demand was met with an exchange of glances. Luc and Gabe looked to one another and then simultaneously turned to Evan. Moore hadn't bothered to focus on anyone but the dark haired woman; his expression dark as he waited for her reaction. She met Beth's eyes candidly and held the connection for a few moments. Beth did her best to keep her own stare honest and yet stern. She wasn't sure of the effect but it must have done some good because a moment later the other woman nodded once; a sharp, affirming motion. She then abruptly looked away; as though uncomfortable with such direct contact. Beth ignored the reaction and instead responded by looking to Gabe and announcing,

"Then I'm in - lead on, Macduff."

"You know that wasn't actually in Macbeth," Gabe answered, turning and following after Evan who, at Beth's concession, had already begun to move off out of the carp park; Moore hot on her heels.

"I know...it's just something people say though isn't it?" she answered with just as much sarcasm as he had given. "I mean people don't actually swing cats to see how much room they've got. Or go about literally painting town centres red on a Friday night..."

"You've obviously never been to Manchester on a Friday night," inputted Luc who had fallen into step beside her; forcing Gabe to fall back in line if he wanted to keep in with the conversation.

"...well you know what I mean," she reasoned, "They're all just idioms."

"Who's been swallowing dictionaries?" asked Gabe as they exited the car park and, to Beth's innate relief, began to head up onto the main, open air car park above.

"Is that a literal reference?" she answered sharply.

"I think we've got a fiery one here, Gabe," Luc sounded amused as he looked over at the other man. The only response was a grunt which could have been confirming or denying the fact.

She walked with the men across the car park; through the hustle of post nine to five shoppers; all of them parking and leaving and being generally brusque as they contemplated that they had another hour before going home thanks to the necessity of eating. Evan and Moore were already at a vehicle; a battered off white Land Rover that looked like it had barely made it out of the seventies; let alone all the way to two thousand and eleven. Evan shoved a key into the passenger side and pulled herself up into the front seat; Moore pulling the back open and climbing inside.

"It's a classic," said Luc, somewhat defensively as he looked at Beth.

"My car once got mistaken for scrap; there will be no judgement here." was her only answer.

She and the two men reached the car and whilst Gabe climbed into the driver's side Luc took Beth round the back and held the door whilst she got in. She took her seat, strapping the waist belt around her securely and looking at Moore; seated to her right and still pale as he clutched his neck, and forward to the back of Gabe's head as he started up the engine. The rumbling of the car was accompanied by the snap of Luc shutting the door and a moment later they were rolling away. She fished her phone out of her bag and sent a text to Marie; who no doubt was already waiting outside the cinema for her;

Sorry; rain check for tonight? See you tomorrow.

She refrained from adding 'hopefully' to the end.

February 2010

" _I love you."_

She turned over onto her stomach and smiled at the figure laid next to her. His soft blue eyes; warm in their shade, were fixed on her. She loved those eyes; she had always had - even before she'd decided she loved the rest of him just as much. His Scandinavian blondness; the white blonde hair, pale lashes and ivory skin, were a cold outer reflection on a man with a heart as warm as his.

" _I know," she answered with a small smile. He rolled his eyes._

" _You could say it back; just a suggestion. Politeness and all..."_

" _Why?" she answered quietly; her eyes fixing on his as she continued to smile softly, "Don't you know by now?"_

He tilted his head to one side and pouted. She laughed; he always made her laugh, and shuffled up the bed to lay her head on his chest.

" _I love you. I will to my last breath; longer. If I know nothing else about myself I know without a shadow of a doubt that you are, and have been, and will always be the best part of me."_

She raised her head again and finished with a crooked smile,

" _There; is that good enough for you?"_

His kiss was gentle when it came; the soft movement of his lips on hers – his hands moving downwards so one was at the small of her back and the other resting at the nape of her neck. He was so warm and sweet and...

Her eyes opened all but involuntarily and she let out a slow; audible breath as the realisation hit her. He was gone. She had lost him. Evangeline rolled from her back onto her side, pressing the side of her face into the pillow as she did so. It was damp to the touch; damp with tears that she hadn't realised she had shed – tears that even now fell silently as she remembered what had been taken from her. The sound of movement in the next room passed her by – it wasn't unusual for Gabe to be wondering around at three in the morning when they had the rare chance to sleep the night through. He often left his room for hours at a time long after they'd all taken to their beds and didn't return until so late it was early. She would have to talk to him about that; his insomnia would be bad for his reactions and he needed to be fast and alert so that he didn't...so that he didn't end up like Wil.

She squeezed her hands into fists at the thought; as though her body was rejecting it. She had already lost a husband and the pain had almost killed her. She would not lose a brother too.

**20** th **November 2011**

Thus far no one had spoken. Beth sat uncomfortably in her seat, looking at the various things passing by as Gabe drove and wondering just what she thought she was doing. Sure she had been attacked by a crazy...and yes that crazy had apparently turned to dust when Luc had stabbed it but still...she'd seen the Stranger Danger PSA's from the nineties. Going solo with a group of randomers didn't exactly scream mature and responsible action.

The man sat next to her, Moore, grunted slightly as he shifted in his seat. Beth looked at him curiously; taking in the pale skin that almost all members of her new buddy system seemed to share along with that positive mop of tangled brown curls and, from her side view, she could glimpse the grey blue colouring of one eye. It was only when he turned his head to look at her full on that she realised she had been staring.

"Are you alright?" she blurted out; trying to cover the awkwardness of being caught.

"Yeah; it's nothing," he murmured; speaking for the first time.

"You're American?" she half asked and half stated; surprised by the subtle and yet still present hint of an accent so unlike the others in the car.

"No shit Sherlock," came Gabe's voice from the front, "Our Danny has been in Blighty for more than a decade now though so he's lost his twang a lil'" he finished in a very fake and over the top Southern drawl which caused Luc to snort in the back and Moore to merely grimace; though whether that was due to Gabe's insult or the pain she couldn't be sure.

"Are you sure you're alright?" she asked again, "I know I haven't seen the...you know..."

"Bite." Luc supplied from behind them.

"Yeah –the...bite," she agreed uneasily, "But there's a lot of blood on that shirt and..."

"It's nothing," he responded in a soft voice, "John has the stuff I need to be fixed up just fine at St. Anthony's. Thanks though...for asking."

She smiled slightly at the insecurity in the man's voice. He had to be in his late thirties or even early forties; the eldest of the group with, as far as Beth could work out, Evan in her late twenties and Gabe and Luc younger still – Luc maybe twenty three or four and Gabe not much older. However Moore seemed by far the least sure of himself, the whipping boy if she were to put a name to it. In contrast Gabe and Luc seemed tighter than brothers from the banter and few shared glances between the two and Evan seemed...well she seemed detached from the others.

Get me; psychoanalysing the crazies I've hitched a ride with, she mused.

"What's your name?" asked Moore suddenly; breaking the quiet himself for the first time.

"Oh...I'm Elizabeth Pierce. Beth...I mean everyone calls me Beth so..."

"Beth," Moore repeated with a smile, "I'm Daniel Moore."

"Nice to meet you Daniel Moore," she answered with a smile. "So where in...?"

"When you're done flirting with Yankee Doodle..." came Gabe's voice – much sterner now than it had been just moments before; laced with a grim turn of humour, "Y'all might want to look at what's head on and straight at a hundred yards..."

Beth looked up to the front to see Evan had unbuckled her belt and was stood on her seat in a crouched position; a gun in one hand with a finger caressing the trigger as she pointed it at the windshield. Beth hadn't even noticed the other woman moving; so stealthy had she been. Gabe had slowed the Rover to a crawl and she noted that his hands were clenched so tightly on the steering wheel that his knuckles were white. Breathing at her ear told her Luc had scrambled forward from his seat and was peering into the murky darkness ahead. Which brought her to the strange realisation...it was dark. Looking back there were streetlights lit, buildings ablaze with security lights and houses which were lit from the inside. Yet ahead of them there was no light; every streetlamp, every house and building...they were all swamped in a pitch darkness which the cloudy night did nothing to alleviate.

"What is it?" Beth asked; not ashamed at the fear she could hear in her own voice.

"Vampires," whispered Luc from beside her.

"How do you know that?" she breathed in return, "I mean it could be a power cut or..."

"You smell of their dead kin and Moore smells like take out. All that blood...of course they've tracked us. You need to stay down and stay quiet. You too USA – keep the new girl out of it."

"Shh," breathed Evan. Her simple contribution instantly caused the whole car to go deathly silent. By now Gabe had stopped driving; allowing the car to coast to a halt at the edge of the dearth of light.

"Luc, you cover back," she murmured; her voice deceptively calm as she spoke, "Gabe you're front cover. Moore can keep the girl safe..." she paused and slid her free hand up to pull at a catch at the back of the gun; the definitive clicking sound of what she knew was the safety being disabled making Beth clench her teeth with a kind of dread.

"What about you?" Gabe asked in an urgent hiss, "Evan you can't be..."

"It's him," Evan replied simply, "I can feel it."

With that she opened her door, slid out of the car before anyone could say another word and stepped out in front of the Rover without preamble. She raised the gun so that it pointed straight into the centre of the blackness and held her position steadily; as though waiting.

"Fuck..." Gabe cursed, fumbling around before eventually there was a snick as the Rover's headlights blared into being; casting a light which Beth found blinding for a moment.

She blinked, her eyes adjusting, and she could see Evans' form silhouetted in front of the car. The headlights led a path of light out into the dark – revealing absolutely nothing except for an eerily quiet and empty street. She felt Daniel move to her side and her eyes widened as he pulled out a wooden cross and handed it to her silently.

"I'm not religious..." she breathed as quietly as she could whilst still making sound.

"Doesn't matter," his own deep rumbling tone was nothing more than a soft burr as he spoke; the American accent more pronounced than before, "It's been blessed – it'll hold them off if worst..."

"I've got movement behind," Luc interrupted in a quiet yet business like voice.

"I think I can see something moving in the shadows up ahead too. Unless it's Fledglings we'll be fine as long as we stay in the light..."

"Will Evan do that though?" asked Moore.

His answer was a stiff silence.

April 2010

"...call upon you in our time of sorrow; that you give us strength and will bear our heavy burdens..."

She stopped abruptly; her eyes opening sharply as she heard footsteps at the back of the church. She looked up from her position; knelt before the altar, and turned to see Gabe standing there watching with an impassive face.

"I thought we weren't supposed to ask for our burdens to be borne for us," he announced blithely, "Just for the strength to carry them ourselves."

"Sometimes that's not possible." was her reply.

She rose from the ground, her stiff muscles protesting as she did so, brushing off her jeans from the dust which naturally accumulated in a place such as St. Anthony's. As she did so he walked down the length of the church; continuing straight for her until he reached the front pew. There he took a seat; his elbows resting on his knees as he looked down at his own interlocked hands.

"You know how I feel about this," he began suddenly; all joking aside for the first time, as far as she could recall, since Wil's funeral, "The constant praying, kneeling before the altar all day and night, begging Him for something..." Gabe stopped and sighed; lifting his head to meet her eyes for the first time since he had sat, "Do you even know what you're asking for?"

Two sets of green eyes, almost identical in shade and shape, locked together as brother and sister looked at one another with despair.

"I want..." she began in a soft whisper, her voice broken as she spoke, "I want...to be numb. I want...no, no I need not have to feel this...this pain; this hole inside my heart, inside my soul. I just want to be free of it. If He cannot do that then...who do I turn to?"

"To me!" Gabe exclaimed fervently, "To your brother, Ev. Or if not me then talk to John – bloody hell you know John loves you more than life itself; worships the ground you walk on. You know he'd do anything for you. If its spiritual guidance you need then..."

"I can't," she interrupted; her voice notably stiffer, colder than it had been before.

"Why?" Gabe asked, "You know I can understand you not wanting to talk about this with me. It makes sense really. I'm your little brother; your smart aleck kid brother – but John's been with us since the beginning. I thought you..."

"Don't," she urged him; the hardness in her tone painful in the echoing church, "Just...don't."

"You know John got an offer...about three or four years ago now. From somewhere high up...I never really found out all the details; it's only through eavesdropping that I knew it happened at all. But he turned it down – a chance at escaping the danger of being a contact and finally being safe. He turned it down, Ev – for you. Even though he knew you only had eyes for Wil by then. He still stayed. Because he knew you couldn't do this without him."

She was silent for a long time; the only sound the faint pattering of rain hitting the church roof as they sat together; brother and sister. She had been avoiding John since the funeral; something that had not gone unnoticed. They had been friends for years; she'd first met him when she was a slightly caustic fifteen year old that had born more resemblance to Gabe in nature then she ever cared to think of. He had been just shy of twenty one; a very young and serious man of God in training. She had thought him ridiculous for all of five minutes – until she realised that he was something the world was seriously lacking in; a good man.

"It's the way he looks at me sometimes..." she breathed so quietly she could barely hear her own words. However she knew Gabe was listening; was catching every second of confession; he might have been her idiot kid brother but he understood her better than most.

"It reminds you of Wil?" Gabe asked gently.

"It reminds me that he's gone." she replied plainly.

"You're my sister, Ev," Gabe answered slowly, "Which means that by law I have to both love and hate you at the same time – not always in equal measure."

She gave him a watery smile as he continued,

"But you know that we're here for you. Me and Luc, Mikey, John...we're here. And we'd take the pain if we could...because we all love you. We're all family."

She let out a shaky breath and pressed down the tears which filled her eyes. Standing she moved over to where Gabe sat and moved a lock of hair behind his ear; allowing their eyes to meet in a look of understanding which only could be shared between two people who had experienced as much as they had together.

"When did you get so wise?" she murmured gently.

"Must have taken a class," he replied sincerely, "Because I sure as hell didn't get it from you."

**20** th **November 2011**

"I thought Vampires were only susceptible to sun..."

"Look Miss Movie 24 – forget everything you knew about these things. They're demons, yeah, monsters from the darkest depths of hell. But half the bullshit you've ever heard is just that – bull."

There was quiet after Gabe's hushed and yet vehement outburst before Moore gently added in a suppressed and yet hurried whisper,

"The older they are the more light hurts them. The demon inhabiting the body of a human causes the body to bond with the monster – genetically. There's no light in hell. Their pupils are constantly dilated so they can see in even the most pitch of blacks meaning..."

"...they're sensitive to any and all forms of light; got you." Beth murmured gratefully to the American. He nodded slightly in response.

"It blinds them," Luc whispered, "So if anything goes wrong just remember to stay in..."

A smashing sound broke through the relative quiet; causing Beth to jump but making those around her only tense. It sounded like a car windshield being smashed, or a window maybe. A shadow flitted through the line of the headlights; moving so quietly Beth wouldn't have registered it if she hadn't been waiting for it to happen. There was a muted popping sound and Evan's arms jerked slightly as she shot at the thing. Beth knew her shot had gone wide as a moment later it reappeared; flitting forward before diving back into the shadows. Another popping sound and movement from Evan followed; though once again the creature was just too fast.

"What's it doing?" Luc whispered.

There was silence as they all watched the spot under light from the Rover's headlights for a few moments; no more activity forthcoming as their eyes desperately scanned the blackness.

"It's distracting us..." Gabe breathed.

A thump from above them caused everyone to jump and Beth pressed herself down into her seat as a harsh, metallic, nails on a chalkboard sound came from above. Daniel pulled a gun out, seemingly from nowhere, and pointed it at the roof – releasing a shot with a muted popping sound which was still loud enough to make Beth wince.

"EVAN; GET IN THE FUCKING CAR!" Gabe yelled as more shadowy figures seemed to dance around the edges of the Rover's beam – Beth was too afraid to keep her head up long enough to count them but she was sure there were more than ten – maybe more than a dozen.

"Keep down," Daniel said brusquely, putting a hand to her head and pressing her down further in her seat. She obeyed without question.

Several popping sounds outside told Beth that Evan was still firing shots. She counted seven more before there was a cold gust of night air as the passenger door opened and the woman herself threw herself into the car.

"Drive," she insisted, winding down her window as Gabe pressed down on the accelerator and drove the car forward at a heart lurching speed.

They sped forwards and another thump atop the Rover had Daniel once again shooting at the roof. There was a crashing from behind and Beth peered from her crouched position to see more forms back and beyond; swallowed the darkness being left in the car's wake, running full pelt after them as Luc tried to shoot them down. Evan was shooting out the window at anything that moved and Beth's stomach lurched as Gabe took a hard right, swerving down a side street without pause.

A thump so close Beth let out a shriek of alarm caused her to look to her left to see a hand hanging down from above. The hand was gloved in some kind of leather gauntlet with spikes attached to the knuckles. She screamed again as the hand punched the window once more; this time smashing through the glass and clawing the air inches away from her face. Beth backed up until she was pressed close to Moore; who was breathing heavily as his wound took its toll.

Beth saw Evan turn her gun upwards; shooting through the roof as others had before her and the hand disappeared for a moment before the owner appeared on the bonnet of the car. Beth's eyes widened as she saw a man crouched there, or what appeared to be a man; keeping his balance despite the speed the car was going at, grinning maniacally at the inhabitants of the vehicle.

"Evan, shoot him!" Gabe yelled as it began punching at the front window; its first blow causing frissons to appear in the glass.

Evan pointed her gun at the windshield and Beth waited for the pop of the gun followed by the falling of the figure. However it didn't come. Instead Evan's hands were shaking as she pointed the gun at the creature's chest – a perfect line of sight being ignored. The monster tilted its head slightly; its gaze turning to Evan as Beth watched its large, dark eyes pin the other woman. Gabe was driving, Moore was barely hanging onto consciousness and Luc was fighting to hold the back of the car. There was no one else but Evan and she...what was it they said about Vampires? They had a thrall? Could manipulate people to their own will?

Beth looked wildly to Daniel who was slumped with both hands pressed to his neck now; blood flowing freely from his wound. She saw his gun lying untouched on his lap and reacted with only a moment's real thought. She grabbed the gun, pointed the business end at the Vamp and pulled the trigger. The kick from the gun jarred her shoulder and she cried out as her head thumped back onto her seat as the windshield shattered completely. She saw the creature twist to the side as the bullet skimmed its left side. It didn't kill it, she knew that, but it was enough. It lost its balance and fell from the car – failing to reappear.

"Light up ahead!" Gabe yelled as they careened around another corner and came into view of a heavily lit area at the street's end. They sped towards it until, after what felt like a lifetime, swerving out into a suburban setting decked with lit homes, streetlamps and one particularly jolly Father Christmas light up decoration sat in someone's front garden.

The car came to a sudden halt; causing everyone to jolt as Gabe slammed on the brakes. For a moment there was silence as everyone sat, breathing heavily from exertion and adrenaline, realising how close they'd come to dying.

"What THE FUCK was that?" Gabe exclaimed suddenly, turning to Evan with fury.

"I don't know what..." she began in an empty tone; not raising her voice as she met with the man's obvious anger.

"You! You getting out of the fucking car!"

"Stop swearing," she murmured.

"Fuck off," was his reply, "You walked out there like you wanted to get yourself killed!"

Beth heard a breathy moan and turned, remembering Daniel's condition. His shirt was on the floor of the car, his hands bloody and barely pressed to his neck as his eyes fluttered open and shut sporadically. She leaned down, wincing as her shoulder pained her, picked up his shirt and gently moved his hands, placing the shirt at his neck and applying pressure. She didn't get much of a glimpse of the injury; just sluggish bleeding and a mass of cut up flesh, but she had to force down an urge to vomit at the overwhelming smell of blood.

"We need to get back," Luc spoke for the first time since the battle for their lives had begun. "Moore looks like he's about to keel over – and if they found us earlier..."

"Luc's right – we need to get to St. Anthony's." Evan answered.

There was a pause in which Beth took her eyes off of her patient to see Gabe and Evan staring at one another with equal amounts of steel.

"Drive." she repeated in a terrifyingly cold tone; infused with latent anger yet to be released.

He drove.

March 2010

"I can't. I just...can't," Luc breathed as he looked into those green eyes, "It's not right."

They were such beautiful eyes. So full of life, so expressive; olive with flecks of brown that stood out against pale, pale skin, stretched over delicately carved cheekbones...he could count the things he loved about that face forever. He could dampen down how he felt forever. But it wouldn't change anything. He'd still see every perfection; still think dangerous things...

"You don't think I know that? I can't help it, Luc; I can't. I've tried. God knows I've tried...and well that's the problem, isn't it? He's the problem. Because I'm drowning and I can't find a way out – and God sure as hell isn't throwing me a life raft."

"Try harder," Luc insisted, pushing his long hair back in a flustered motion as he battled with what his heart and head were both simultaneously screaming.

"It's too late," was the both dreaded and hoped for response; said with characteristic plainness, "I'm too far gone; have been for a long time, I think. Dunno when it happened but one day I woke up and you were just...you're in me, Luc. You're in me and I can't get you out. I can't stop wanting you..."

"Don't." Luc answered, his voice wavering. "Please don't..."

"Tell me you don't feel the same," was the command, "Look me in the eye and tell me that every time we're together you don't feel it to. Do that and I'll go right now and never talk about this ever again. We can just leave it where it is, leave it buried...if you say it."

Then there were only their two bodies; so close Luc could feel warm breath on his face as he worked up the nerve to say what he had to. Just say it; just say those four little words. I don't want you. How hard can it be? It's the right thing to do. It's the only thing to do. He met the eyes, the eyes which stayed with him every night, which haunted his dreams like spectres in the shadows, and let out a slow, uneven breath. Four words; just four little words...

"I want you too."

He'd barely finished speaking before Gabe crashed his lips to his. Then there was nothing but white noise and warmth. His last coherent thought was simple. How could something that felt so right ever be wrong?

**20** th **November 2011**

The roof was peppered with bullet holes, the windows were almost all smashed and everyone within the car was sitting in a kind of post-almost-dying stony silence which made Beth feel sick. Correction; even more sick than she already felt.

Vampires were real. That was what it all boiled down to. Not bad 90's prosthetic creations or glittering CGI brood fests. They were real. Vicious and bloodthirsty and nothing like Hammer said they'd be like. They were monsters. And they'd tried to kill her.

"Are you alright?"

The soft question came from Luc; a cut on his forehead from where glass had smashed back and hit him but otherwise apparently unscathed. In fact other than Moore's neck wound everyone seemed as though they were carrying minor to no injuries.

"Just...shook up," she answered honestly.

"I get it," he replied, "It's a lot to take in."

"Yeah..."

"How's Moore?" asked Gabe; his friendly jibing tone terse as he spoke. Obviously he wasn't in the mood for conversation.

"Holding in there" Beth answered, presuming the question was aimed at her, "How long until we reach this church...?"

"Five minutes."

She nodded to herself and refocused on applying pressure to Daniel's neck. Since Gabe had gone ape shit about Evan getting out of the car she had remained stoic, silent and unyielding. Beth didn't really know what had happened with the Vamp on the car bonnet but she wondered whether there was something else going on with Evan that the others were aware of but just didn't talk about.

"So Vampires can't see in light?" Beth asked Luc; the only person able and willing to talk.

"Yeah...like Moore said it's all about pupil dilation and stuff. Young ones can bear it easier; the older they are the more the demon takes hold. If they're really strong though; like...eight to twelve pints a couple of times a day..."

"A couple of times a day!" Beth interrupted, "Isn't that two people a day, give or take?"

"Give or take," Luc agreed, "It's used to keep the body running – they use it up fast. You saw those Vamps, jumping about, smashing through windows, dodging bullets...think of it like water. You don't drink and you die. Vamps don't eat and they die. You stab the heart the blood can't be circulated and they die. You chop off the head and you have end game. You burn them – same thing. But you have to be thorough...don't want to end up with crispy Vamp rage coming at you..."

"...like in Hereford." Gabe inputted, "Luc thought dumping petrol and setting light to a nest was a genius idea. Turns out not so much..."

"I didn't know they were connected to the sewers!" Luc exclaimed, turning back to Beth with a sheepish smile, "The result was us having fight really pissed off, medium rare Vamps."

"Nice..." Beth answered.

She shivered, using her free hand to pull her hoodie tighter around her as the cold air from outside blasted through the shattered windows. If any cops drove past them now they would be toast, she thought fleetingly, though why anyone would car jack a Rover was beyond her. A strand of hair swept across her forehead during the attack fell down across her eyes and she shifted the strawberry blonde lock agitatedly; remembering to keep pressure on Daniel's neck as she did so. Whilst she shifted she noticed him open his eyes for a moment and smiled encouragingly before he once again fell into a sort of restless sleep.

"Am I supposed to let him be unconscious?" she suddenly asked out loud, realising she had no idea whether that was the right or wrong thing to do.

"Doesn't matter," Gabe announced, pulling the car in and onto the kerb and drawing to a stop. "We're here."

She swivelled around to see, as promised, that they had pulled up outside a church. It was quaint in a way; sort of like a big house with two stories and five windows, two on the bottom and three on top. The door was surrounded by stone decoration and the brick was a faded red, as though it had stood through the elements for some time, with a similarly coloured roof.

"Come on," Luc murmured, "Let's get inside before any more shit can go down."

"You lot swear a lot," Beth observed as she shifted, Gabe opening Daniel's door and pulling him out with Luc already clamouring out the back and heading over to offer his support. Beth shuffled across the seat, keeping the shirt pressed to Daniel's neck as Luc and Gabe bore his weight, pulling him off up from the pavement and up the path to the church doors. Evan was still sitting in the Rover.

"Is she...?" Beth began, only to be cut off by Gabe with a rough,

"Leave her. She'll come in her own time."

So Beth instead continued to trot along with the others, flinching as her steps jolted the make shift bandage she had placed on Moore's neck and made him groan. His face was, if possible, even paler than it had been before and there was a fine sheen of sweat covering it which made her stomach lurch. It was possible to die from blood loss. Or from infection from a bad wound. Not that there was such thing as a good wound. But what if he...?

"Take him straight through to the vestry."

A new voice caused her to look up and see the Vicar (or Priest...didn't they call him a Pastor?) standing inside the doorway, moving aside as they approached. He was middle aged with thinning hair and glasses; a serious look on his face as he watched them near his front door. The hair was light brown and his small eyes were of a similar shade. His form was lanky; he was definitely closer to six foot than she would ever be. He seemed like a typical meek and goodly man of God type...strange he'd be caught up with a bunch of Vampire slayers.

"Where's...?" the Priest began.

"In the Rover; she needs a minute." Gabe huffed as he and Luc hauled Daniel over the threshold and into the church. Beth ducked under arms and half stumbled into the building; instantly hit by the scent of old wood and candle wax that she associated with churches.

"We've got him," Luc said to her, taking the cloth from her hands and applying pressure to the wound himself, "You stay out here with John."

She fell back, allowing the three men to head toward a door at the very back of the church.

"Are you alright?" asked the Pastor, his voice breaking through the sudden silence as the door shut behind Gabe, Luc and Daniel.

"Yeah..." she whispered, "I think so..."

"Please, sit, you've had an eventful evening."

She obediently half sat and half fell onto the nearest pew, letting out a long breath as she did so.

"My name's John," he said, sitting in the pew behind and leaning forward so she could see him.

"I'm Beth...Elizabeth Pierce."

"Beth," he repeated with a small smile, "So, what happened Beth? I caught the tail end from Michael..."

"Michael?" she asked.

"He'll be down in a moment; he's Evangeline and Gabriel's younger brother."

"Evan and Gabe are brother and sister?" Beth asked faintly.

"They would say unfortunately..." he replied wryly, "However they are quite devoted to one another – though you wouldn't believe it at times."

"No..." she murmured, "You wouldn't."

"You were attacked on your way here?" he didn't really phrase is as a question, even though Beth knew that's what it was. So she nodded and answered quietly,

"We got in the car...after Luc killed the...the Vampire. And we were just driving and then there was darkness up ahead. Evan got out of the car. Then they were...everywhere. I just...I kept down, Daniel kept me down, and everyone was shooting and Gabe was driving, trying to find a lit area and there was a hand punching the glass and..." she stopped suddenly and turned slightly so she could look at him properly, "Am I dreaming all of this? Is this just some bonkers dream?"

He merely looked at her for a moment and suddenly, from nowhere, Beth felt a wave of emotion rise up as tears sprung to her eyes.

"Please tell me it is," she begged, "Please tell me it's all a dream."

"I'm sorry." was his response.

It was enough.

The sound of the front door being thrown open and crashing against the wall behind it caused Beth to jump and swivel around in fear and John to stand and turn rapidly to face the new threat. However all that was revealed was Evan; striding down the centre aisle towards the vestry with a dark, empty look on her whiter than white face. She looked as though she had been dealt as great a wound as Moore. She looked as mortally injured as anyone could be.

"Evie!" exclaimed John as she came level with him.

Beth didn't think the woman would stop; but she did. She halted in her tracks in a dead stillness; turning her head slowly to the right to face the Priest at her side. She didn't turn; he still faced the front door and she still had the vestry before her. However Beth watched as their eyes met and held for a long moment. Then she followed Evan's eyes downwards; to where their hands were barely brushing; John's little finger a hairsbreadth from hers. Then Evan's hand curled into a ruthless, tightly clenched fist and she was gone – pacing off and reaching the vestry door before turning at the last second and swinging open another door which Beth could just about see contained a set of stairs. The door slammed shut behind the woman's form – the echoing sound the only thing to be heard in the silence of the large, empty church.

"Is she going to be all right?" Beth asked hesitantly.

John was still facing the entrance, his face almost as set as Evan's had been. For a moment he didn't offer a response; merely stayed still and silent, before finally he turned and answered in a voice as gentle as before Evan had arrived and left,

"I think so. She is suffering greatly at present but I believe...I hope...that it will pass."

"It has..." Beth began, unsure as to whether she had any right to speak.

"Go on, Beth," John urged her in what she decided to label his 'preacher tone' – kind and gentle yet persuasive.

"There was a Vampire," she said, still getting a thrill of oddness from using the word, "It broke a window, tried to claw my head off..." she took a slow, deep breath, momentarily reliving the fear of that moment, before continuing doggedly, "It landed on the bonnet of the Rover. She held up her gun and I thought she'd shoot it but...I don't know. It was like she'd seen a ghost. She just stared and her hands were shaking and...Gabe yelled at her to shoot it but she couldn't. Everyone else was...occupied...so I took Daniel's gun and shot at it. I didn't hit it, not properly, I've never shot anything before so...but it fell off the bonnet. It was that Vampire, wasn't it? Did she know him?"

"If it is who I fear then yes; she knew the man who used to own that face."

John looked as grave as she had ever seen him in their alarmingly brief acquaintance. Everyone she had met that evening, she had to remind herself, she had only known for...an hour? It had to be two at most. Yet they'd gone through so much together...it felt so much longer.

"Who was he?" Beth asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Her husband." replied John simply.

Beth flinched. She had been right. She didn't want to know.

***

" _RUN!" she screamed as she saw her husband lose his last means of defence._

He looked back at her; a desperate look which conveyed to her so much in such a small space of time that she could hardly breathe for the intensity. She smiled, so faintly it was a mere tugging at the corners of her mouth, and nodded once...and then he was gone. And she went back to fighting; gun firing as the Nest attacked en force...with her as the only one left standing to fight.

That was the last time she had seen Wil alive.

Twenty three months, five weeks, five days and...she checked the clock sitting at her bedside. Three hours – that was as close as she could get it. She'd seen him twice before – between now and when he'd died. The first time she'd only spotted his silhouetted form in the shadows, watching her. The second she'd failed to kill him; breaking a promise she had made on the night she had been told he'd turned. She'd failed to set him free. Now she'd done so again.

The floor was cold. She was leaning back against the door, sat on the unforgiving stone, making sure no one could come in. There were no locks on the doors in St. Anthony's. There were no secrets. She almost laughed at that. The bloody walls were made of secrets, the air, the light, the very power of God Himself was all secrets and lies.

Evan let her head fall back against the door with a resounding thump.

"Ev?" called out a deep voice. For a moment she wasn't sure who it was – then it dawned on her. Michael; of course...she still hadn't got used to his newly broken voice.

"I'm fine Mikey," she replied.

"Do you want some tea? I think Luc has nearly fixed up Moore if you want to come down..."

"I'll be five minutes. Just let me scrub the grime off, yeah?"

"Sure. See you in a minute."

His footsteps echoed as they descended the stairs and she waited until she heard the door to the church proper open and shut before banging her head once again against the door. Gabe would be giving her the ninth degree over what she thought she'd been doing when they were attacked the minute she went down and he was right...she'd been stupid. Reckless and stupid because she had known, just known in her gut, that Wil had been there; that the thing that killed Wil had been there.

Sometimes she wondered whether she was even trying anymore. Her thoughts never strayed far beyond killing the Vampire with her husband's face. Which brought up the question; did she really plan to live past that day? In her mind the lack on an answer said enough.

***

"Vampires are demons. We don't know what kind; no one really knows much about how Vampirism began. The best we can guess is a curse, definitely magic involved somewhere..."

"Magic?" Beth asked tiredly.

"You've seen the Vamps, Ginge – you don't believe there's more out there than just bloodsuckers?"

"Gabe..." John's voice, with its gentle chiding, seemed enough to put the younger man off his taunting. Instead he sat back in his seat with a put upon sigh.

Luc was still in the vestry with Moore. Evan had yet to come downstairs. John had therefore shepherded Gabe, Beth and himself into a tiny kitchen just off the staircase where they were crowded around a small oval table with cups of tea. After a few false starts and many awkward moments the conversation had finally fallen to its natural resting place; Vampires.

"Yes, Beth; Magic. Demons, when not on this plan, reside in hell. The magic involved, we believe, constitutes an exchange. A soul for freedom; a demon for a human being...that's the trade."

"So the people who've been turned?" she asked tremulously, "They're...?"

"Burning," Gabe clarified, "In hell. Literally."

"Do you ever stop being a giant arsehole?" Beth asked with disgust at his attitude.

"Sometimes I'm an averagely sized one," he offered with a smirk, "Depends on my time of the month..."

"Gabriel if you cannot behave you will leave." John announced.

"Yes, Mother." Gabe muttered. However he shut up which was a massive improvement.

"No wonder Evan's so messed up...with her husband facing that..." Beth murmured.

No one contradicted her.

Footsteps caused them all to look up the moment the door opened and a young man entered the room. He looked a lot like Gabe in many ways; although he had Evan's slightly upturned nose, and Beth immediately knew that he had to be the third sibling. She reckoned he was about seventeen or eighteen and gangly as they came to go with it.

"Ev's coming down in a minute," he said in a quiet, deep tone, "She's in her room."

"Thank you Michael." John murmured.

"Hi," Beth offered, smiling at the boy. He smiled in return and offered a nod of his head.

"Mikey this is Beth – Vamp Chowder as almost was. Beth this is my little brother Mike."

Michael ignored the introductions, instead moving slowly around the kitchen as he made himself some tea. Beth watched him for a few moments, wondering what life was like for him with his two siblings apparent Vampire Slayers. Where were the parents? She almost didn't want to know.

"Beth perhaps when you've finished your tea you might permit me to show you the bathroom facilities? I'm told that's demon blood you have on you...?" he left the question hanging and Beth took up the thread.

"Yeah...thanks. I should probably get it off me – apparently it draws them?"

"Like moths to flame." Gabe nodded sagely as he added, "Plus you stink but John's too polite to say anything. What?" he asked as Beth raised a brow and John shot the younger man a look of reprimand whilst Michael merely smiled as he sipped his newly made tea, "Just saying."

***

Daniel Moore opened his eyes slowly.

He felt groggy but the pain in his neck was now only a dull throb; which meant that there had been painkillers involved. He let out a strained breath as he shifted slightly, moving his head infinitesimally to the right as he tried to work out whether anyone else was in the room with him.

"Ah there you are."

Luc; thank God it was Luc and not Gabriel, or Evan. At least Luc could be mildly pleasant.

"What happened?" Daniel croaked, his throat feeling raw.

"What are you missing and I'll fill in from there." was Luc's response. He was messing with something which involved water – Daniel could hear the gentle splashing.

"...there was an attack..." Daniel forced out, "I remember shooting and then...I don't know."

"The girl saved you – Beth, the one Gabe and I saved in the underground parking?"

"Yeah...I remember."

"Well she shot Wil and then kept the pressure on your wound until we got to St. Anthony's."

Daniel blinked.

"She shot Wilhelm Schmidt?" he asked, thinking he must have heard wrong. Or perhaps he was high on the pain meds. That was perfectly possible...

"Yeah; from what I saw she grabbed your gun and just...boom. Caught him on the shoulder I think. Not enough to kill him, more's the pity, but enough to knock him clear so Evan could get back into the game."

"Evan froze?" Daniel asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Yeah," was the reply, "She did..." he paused and Daniel heard the other man sigh before continuing, "Look, Dan let me say this now before everyone thunders in here and I don't have chance. I've known Evan and Gabe four and a half years. They're my family, Mikey and John too. So was Maddy before...well. So was Wil. I know they're a good team but I also know that Evan's becoming a liability. I'm not Government like you. I'm a church boy. But even I understand that if she freezes every time she sees Wil then...well eventually someone's going to wind up dead; and it won't be the Vamp."

Daniel was quiet for a very long moment, waiting to see if Luc would say any more. When it became apparent that the ball was in his court he responded quietly,

"I know she's good. Her actions in the past have shown that; even if I didn't think her blood line was proof enough. They haven't accepted me into their clique and I get it, I do. I'm his replacement and I can't replace him. Fine; they don't have to like me. But she has to finish that Vamp before he finishes her because she's no good like this. She's keeping you all back."

"I know." was Luc's response.

Simple as it was Daniel felt like it was perhaps a beginning, which was something at least.

***

The water from the shower beat down on her head, pounding against the hair which was plastered to her skull as Beth closed her eyes and embraced the warmth.

Vampires; fucking Vampires. It was a turn up for the books, she'd admit that. And she had to admit it really because what she'd seen...that was no trick. That wasn't a disease or some kind of weird special effects...that was real. She's seen real Vampires and they're really tried to kill her.

Shit.

Her hands pushed her hair back as she scrubbed the shampoo, a bottle of Herbal Essences which met with Beth's immediate approval and smelled of coconut, she had been given through the long strands. It felt good to scrub the grime of the last few hours off. It felt strange to be doing something so normal after so much...well not-normal stuff had happened.

"Hurry up Ginge, I need to pee!" came a call from outside.

Beth let out a muffled curse.

"Isn't there another toilet?" she called in return.

"Yes," Gabe replied, "But I want to use this one!"

She rolled her eyes.

"Bugger off!"

"Right!" he exclaimed, still shouting over the sound of the shower far more loudly than was necessary, "If you don't let me in within the next five seconds I'm going to pee out the window."

"You're going to pee out of a church window in the middle of the night?" she stifled a laugh as she imagined shocked passers by watching Gabe letting loose out of a stained glass...

"Yeah, I will. One...two..."

She continued shampooing. She really needed to get some of that shampoo for home. It smelled amazing.

"...FIVE! Right, I warned you!"

She faintly heard footsteps heading off and smiled to herself as she rinsed the shampoo out. The Vampire Hunters might have saved her life...but they were completely barmy - to a one.

***

He walk ed in the shadows, prowling across the pavement as he stalked his prey.

The night was perfect; only a sliver of moon to light the backstreets which meant that he could hunt at will, could take the time to select and reject prey...could relish the moment.

She was pretty enough; a brunette with lily white skin wearing a long skirt and blazer. He almost always favoured brunettes when alone. When others hunted with him, when Juliette was present, he varied his choices but alone...alone he could kill his wife time and time again with no one to pick up on the fact that every victim looked just like Evangeline.

The brunette click clacked off into an even more obscure side street and he smiled secretly as he followed. Evangeline; seeing her again had awakened the memories in him which remained from the human. There were so many memories; almost all of them good though some so bad the demon revelled in them. They had been in contact three times now since he had turned; each she had failed to kill him. He was beginning to think the memories of her being a fearsome adversary were made up...except no. She was a good warrior; a soldier of God. Though he sensed the doubt, the loss of faith; he'd seen it in her eyes...

The woman turned a corner and Wil decided it was time to act. The stolen blood of his victims coursed through his veins as he moved quickly, closing the gap between him and his prey in moments before grabbing her bodily and wrenching her head to the side. His fangs sank into her flesh smoothly and he listened to the chorus of her desperate screams, growing fainter and fainter with every mouthful of blood he took, as though they were part of some glorious symphony...which to the demon they were.

It was only when the woman's body was limp in his arms that he stopped drinking and allowed the carcass to fall to the ground. It was of no further use to him now. The blood was sweetest when still being pumped around a living body...Juliette's lapdogs could take the scraps.

"Wilhelm..." whispered a voice from the darkness.

He smiled knowingly as she appeared, gliding from the shadows, her movements a mixture of grace and immaculate balance. Her blonde hair seemed to glow in the dim alleyway and when she held out a white hand for him to take he could not resist going to her.

"I was right to make you," she murmured, a purr in her voice as he pressed still bloodied lips to hers, "I always knew you would make a wonderful Vampir."

He said nothing, merely moved his lips to her cheekbone and then her neck, smearing unblemished skin with the blood of the dead woman. The woman he had killed. If only Evan could see him now...

"Come, darling," Juliette breathed, moving away so that she could look him in the eye, "We have business to attend to. The puppies can clean up the mess."

He nodded and followed her obediently. His Maker was his God; he needed no other. If her plans came to fruition then soon enough the Hunters would join him in that adoration.

Snarls echoed from behind; indicating that Juliette's other, less beloved; children had emerged now they knew the favourite had taken his feed. The sounds of fangs ripping into flesh caused him to close his eyes in pleasure.

***

"So you didn't use a window as a urinal then...?" Beth asked as she took a seat.

"John wouldn't let me." was Gabe's surly reply. Beth would have called him out on it if it wasn't for the deadly look the Priest shot the younger man.

"Well...thanks for the shower." she offered John a small smile which he returned, albeit tightly.

Every few minutes his eyes would flicker to the door to the stairs, as though hoping Evan would appear at any moment – only to be consistently disappointed. It had been more than an hour since Michael had reported Evan's imminent return; so far there had been no sign of her.

"So..." she pushed a strand of wet hair from her face and leaned her shoulders on the table, shifting in the massive sweatshirt and way too big jeans she'd borrowed from one of the boys, slightly uncomfortable and yet thankful for the change from bloodied; before continuing unsurely, "Vampires. And other stuff too."

"It's weird at first." Luc smiled slightly, looking up from the Sudoku he was scribbling in the daily paper. He'd joined them just before Beth had reappeared apparently. According to him Daniel Moore was going to be just fine; thanks to her, "The others won't get it – Gabe, Evan and Mikey have been in it since birth and John's been at this longer than I've been alive..."

"Careful..." John warned, albeit with a genuine smile.

"Well it's true!" Gabe defended; glancing at Luc for a moment and exchanging a warm look with the other man before looking away again just as quickly.

"And Daniel?" Beth asked.

"Danny boy was brought in to replace Wil...hence why Evan isn't friendly with him." Gabe explained with more than his usual level of patience.

Beth nodded; made sense, and promptly changed the subject.

"So Luc...does it stop being weird, eventually?"

"It won't matter," Michael leapt in, scratching his head through his thick crop of hair as he responded, "By morning you'll leave and you won't have to think about any of this again."

"Yeah," Gabe agreed, "Face it Ginge, after tonight its better you forget any of this ever happened."

"How can I?" she asked, "I mean...a part of me feels like this is some fucked up...sorry," she looked to John in apology before continuing, "Messed up dream but...it's not. This is real and Vampires are real and I can't forget that."

"Beth..." John murmured, a gentle tone firmly in place, "This is something you should not allow yourself to be mixed up in. The life we lead is dangerous and bad things happen; people die. You don't want a part of that."

"No," she agreed, "I don't – I'm not saying we have to keep in touch, send postcards and pop over for afternoon tea...I get that come dawn I'll leave and probably never see any of you again. But I still want to know – so if anything happens..." she paused and sighed, "Better the enemy you know, yeah?"

There was a pause where everyone seemed to look to one another for guidance. It was strange, she thought, not two hours ago most of the people around the table had been wielding guns and firing rounds off at ravenous, bloodthirsty vampires. Now they were all sat around a kitchen table, tea, coffee and hot chocolate in hand and looking entirely domestic. Like some kind of church community group.

"I think she's right," Michael piped up eventually, "If she's okay with keeping away from us, and the danger and all that...why not clue her in?"

"It could help if she ever gets attacked again..." Luc reasoned, looking to Gabe.

"What do you think, Vic?" Gabe asked of John. Obviously the de facto leader when Evan wasn't present John was looking at Beth with an intensity she found unsettling.

"Alright," he murmured, "Tell her what she needs to know. I'm going upstairs."

No one said it, no one really needed to, but even Beth knew that John was going to check on Evan. Even as a temporary and very new member of the group she didn't envy the Priest the task.

September 2009

" _Well there's heat sensitive technology...so you'll be able to tell Vamps and Humans apart straight off instead of looking for the signs. And the guns are working well so maybe adapt some more for wooden bullets – add target practise to training and..."_

" _Alright Mikey – we get it. You're a genius."_

Michael smiled at his older brother and sister as they examined the new items he'd created. He was only fifteen years old but sometimes he felt older. Especially times like now; when Evan and Gabe were really listening to him – paying proper attention to his suggestions. He's always been a disappointment as a Hunter. Never good at the physical side in the same way as he siblings...sure he could stake a Vamp and he was a pretty good shot but...well; it wasn't the same. They were built in their father's image. Michael only had his name.

" _So what do you think?" Michael asked with a shy smile._

" _Yeah...we'll talk it through with Wil and the others but – I think you're really onto something Mikey; especially with the wooden bullets. We've not had any injuries in a week." Evan was smiling down at him and he couldn't help but beam back. His sister's approval wasn't easy to gain._

Maybe, Michael thought hopefully, he'd finally found his place in their dysfunctional family.

**20** th **November 2011**

"Evangeline?" John murmured.

He was stood outside her door and he knew, just knew in his gut, that she was sat with her back pressed against the door, knees pulled up to her chin with her hair settled on her kneecaps; probably cold from the stone floor she'd decided to sit on. So he sighed and sat down in the same way on his side of the door; leaving one leg stretched out as he bent the other and leaned an arm on it.

He was right; the floor was freezing.

"Evie I'm not telling you to come out. Gabe told me what happened; all of it. I'm sorry you had to see him. I can't imagine how hard it is for you. But I want you to know I'm here, right outside your door, and I'm not moving until you're ready to see me."

Silence met his speech. He allowed the quiet to drag out, not feeling inclined to fill it with nonsensical talk – it wasn't a time for niceties. He knew. He'd done this all with her before; twice before to be exact; both times when she had been given the opportunity to finish the thing that was Wil once and for all...and had missed the chance.

The wood making up the door creaked as he shifted more comfortably, leaning more heavily against it, and looked up at the stone walls to the few decorations adorning them. In the corridor housing the bedrooms; surreptitiously added twenty years ago when the church had been made a contact point, there were two crucifixes; both plain wood. There was also a tapestry, fairly old and probably valuable, which depicted the Virgin and Christ atop a mountain surrounded by a halo of golden light. Across the hall and a few metres down from Evan's room Michael's door bore a plaque in aqua and cobalt with the boy's name on. Boy being the operative word...but not for much longer, John reminded himself. Soon Michael would be a man. The time seemed to have flown by.

Evan had shared the room he was currently sat outside of with Wil. He remembered the day Wilhelm and Evangeline had met. The day John had realised she would never feel for him the way he did for her. He remembered the day they had announced their engagement; how he had been happy for her. How he had masked his pain at the finality of it – the knowledge she was lost to him as anything more than a friend. He had performed their wedding. He had been forced, by his love for her been forced, to tell him to kiss her as she smiled adoringly at her husband.

John had liked Wil – Wil had been a good man. He was glad for that at least; that she had chosen a good man, someone who would take care of her, carry her heart without ever hurting it...and then he had been killed and turned. And John had stood by her, grieved with her, become the only one who could get through to her when she was in her darkest moods. She had been broken.

And a part of him had been hopeful. It was a terrible thing, an un-Christian thing, but a part of him had seen Wil's death as a chance for him to become more to Evan than just an old, erstwhile friend. It was easy to crush those uncharitable thoughts down now. Her pain was his pain. It had always been that way...ever since he had first met her when she was fifteen; not that he'd loved her when she was fifteen. He'd been twenty one at the time and felt she was laughing at him; the powerful daughter of a powerful Hunter...

June 1996

" _I don't need to meet a fuddy duddy priest, Dad!" Evan exclaimed as she sat in the car outside the church. Her father simply raised an eyebrow and waited. She sighed._

" _Fine – but I won't forget this."_

She climbed out of the car and marched up the path to the front door. The great wooden monstrosity reminded her of a thousand churches she'd seen before; her Dad's job meant she was in churches more than she was in hotel rooms...just.

" _Hello?" she called out in the foyer._

Her voice echoed around her as she waited for a reply. When none came she passed through into the church proper. It was fairly standard; wooden pews, lectern, pulpit, red velvet here and there with prayer books on pews and prayer cushions beneath them.

" _Hello?" she tried again._

" _Oh, hello!" called a voice; male and slightly flustered sounding. She couldn't see who was speaking for a moment until a head bobbed up from behind a pew. "One moment please!"_

He was young, she thought, thin from what she could see – though as for height she had no idea. He had light brown hair and was as pasty pale as she was. Just once, she thought, she'd like to meet someone with a tan.

" _Nice place you've got here," she murmured as she sidled down towards where he was._

" _Thank you, it does its job."_

Evan tilted her head and suppressed a smile.

" _That's one way to put it."_

She rounded the pew to see he was rubbing away at some graffiti on the back of the front pew. Obviously someone had been bored when prayer time rolled around and instead decided that pew one needed some cheering up.

" _How did someone do that without you noticing?" she asked blithely._

" _I don't give sermons, not yet," he answered, still scrubbing, "Father Pascoe – the man I'm to replace, he is currently the working preacher."_

" _And Father Pascoe doesn't have eyes?"_

" _Father Pascoe is blind."_

She cursed internally. Of all the bad luck things for her to say it had to be that one.

" _Sorry..." she began, trying not to wince at her own insensitivity._

He looked up with a stern expression. Great; first day meeting her contact and she'd already put her foot in it. He seemed like a bundle of...laughter filled the church suddenly and Evan felt the need to double check to make sure the sound was actually coming from the seemingly strict looking man before her. However he was laughing; and with some gusto at that...

" _I see you're very gullible, Miss Rowle."_

Evan's eyes widened.

" _You just lied, bare faced lied, in a church whilst wearing a dog collar!"_

" _I did," he responded with a smile, "And you fell for it; hook, line and sinker."_

She tried not to smile. She tried really hard but there was something about that laugh, that canny smile, which was infectious. Soon she was laughing too and it was in that moment, with their laughter mingling together as it echoed off the church walls, that she gave into the idea that maybe having a contact might not be so bad after all.

**20** th **November 2011**

He smiled softly as he remembered her laughter. It had been fifteen years since that moment and he still thought of it fondly. It had been a long time since he had heard her laugh. Not since Wil died.

The hollow clicking of the door knob being turned pulled him from his reverie. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there. His back was stiff and lower half cold so it was probably longer than was good for him. He turned slightly just as the door pulled away from behind him and fell open just enough for him to see into the room. He couldn't see her, which meant she was probably still cloistered behind the door, but he took the invitation as what it was and stood slowly before going inside.

Everything was plain; a photograph of her and Wil sat on the bed but other than that nothing was disturbed; everything in its right place. He stepped over the threshold and turned to see her sitting exactly as he'd imagined she would be; her eyes red and swollen from crying and strands of hair stuck to her skin by tears. He let out a slow breath, looking down at her for a long moment without reacting, before pushing the door gently shut and kneeling before her. He didn't say anything. He'd tried talking before; telling her everything would be alright...but she saw through the lies. He couldn't make it better. Not this time.

She looked up at him, those green eyes fixing on him and telling him immediately that she didn't want pity. She never wanted pity. But they also told him something very important; she wanted him there with her. So he opened his arms and she crawled into his embrace, her body shaking from silent sobs, and he wondered how many more times either of them could survive this.

"He's killing me, John..." she whispered, when the sobs had subsided and his knees ached from the unyielding stone. He said nothing, merely delicately stroked her hair in the same comforting motion he had been adapting for the past half an hour, "He's killing me...and I'm letting him."

There was nothing to say to that, he thought, because she was right.

***

"Garlic?"

"Movies."

"No reflection?"

"Movies."

"Turning into bats?"

"Christ on the cross woman if you don't stop naming clichés I'll..."

Luc gave Gabe a nudge which caused the other man to stop, albeit reluctantly, in his tirade and quieten down into a resentful simmer. Luc returned his attention to Beth and answered,

"Movies – Gabe's right you know. Maybe best you just presume nothing from movies works unless we say otherwise."

"That leaves me with destroying the heart, decapitating or light." she murmured letting out a frustrated breath as she spoke, "Not much room for error..."

"Holy water too," Michael contributed, "That burns. And crosses freak them enough for you to start running for light..."

Beth nodded slowly as she thought about it. From what she could tell her main port of call when facing a Vamp was a church, religious iconography or just running – fast.

"I should check on Moore," Luc stood slowly, "And then I'll head off to bed. We need to take the rest of that nest out tomorrow – night all. Beth, it was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," she answered; watching the man leave the room quietly before turning back to Gabe. The clock on the wall said it was only just gone ten o'clock.

"I'd have thought Vampire Hunters slept during the day..." she began.

"Get them when they're sleeping," was the brisk reply, "People forget – we don't have superpowers. We're just normal run of the mill human beings. Vampires, when full of blood, are able to push the human body above and beyond all possibilities you can imagine. We're limited; a well fed Vamp isn't. So we get them when they sleep, when they are limited – by daylight. Best cure for a Vamp is a dose of light and a dose of wood."

"So basically if I ever come up against a Vamp..." Beth began.

"You're chowder." Gabe agreed with a nonchalant shrug.

"I think I'm going to go to bed too," Michael announced, standing with a smile, "Night Gabe, night Beth. See you in the morning."

Beth smiled as the boy took himself off in Luc's footsteps; leaving just Beth and Gabe in the kitchen.

"Cute kid," she said absently.

"He's a good one, yeah – lot of our Mom in him." Gabe added.

"I bet she doesn't approve of you three being in this job...unless she doesn't know?"

"She knew," Gabe murmured, "But she died so now she doesn't know anything much."

Beth winced.

"Sorry..." she whispered, unsure as to what else to say.

"You didn't know," he replied blandly, "Its fine. Anyway I think I'll head off too. You okay waiting here for John?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I'll just...read the paper or something." she pulled Luc's discarded newspaper towards her and looked up at Gabe expectantly.

"Well then, night." he said, turning and heading off after his brother.

"Night." she replied, looking down at the paper and turning it back to the front page.

It was only a thin thing, a local paper which at first glance appeared to hold nothing but the typical sort of local news. Once she reached the front page she saw the headline was some Olympics spiel about the torch passing through local areas. However about three quarters of the way down a tiny article was hidden, surrounded by TV news and other inconsequential things, with the heading;

Missing persons reports double in Midlands area.

Beth scanned the story briefly as she read about how the police were stumped, with figures rising to double over a twelve month period and had put the disappearances down to people running away from home or moving away because of debts without telling anyone. She furrowed her brow as she read the names of three local, recently missing persons. People went missing every day; sometimes they were never found again. Could it be that they were all victims of Vampire attacks? How many people had been drained dry and had their bodies buried in some unmarked landfill over the years?

Suddenly Beth felt a new found respect for her new acquaintances.

***

Daniel shifted uncomfortably as he tried in vain to sleep. The clock, which was placed on the wall behind him and therefore was the most awkwardly place clock in all existence, showed that it was after one in the morning. He wanted to be able to go out Hunting with the others in the morning but at this rate he'd sleep through the morning. His eyes ached from lack of sleep but his mind kept racing, thinking things through; how it could have been different, how he could have been better...it happened every time.

The rest of them were such a well-oiled machine. They clicked over from action to action, everyone knowing what one another were thinking and doing...he just felt like an outsider trying to play in the wrong school yard. Evan had been the leader before Wil had died – now she was a shell. He didn't know her before her husband's death but the woman he saw now...she was formidable, yes, but also damaged. Her brothers were as wildly different as two siblings could be; Gabriel the smart aleck, wise cracking warrior who was good in a scrap but couldn't keep his mouth shut long enough to be truly useful and Michael; whizz kid, super nerd, level headed and probably the most sensible of the three. Luc was an odd one; good fighter, good sense, a medical background on his father's side...he was safe, dependable and yet his closeness with Gabe meant he couldn't be relied on. He usually sided with the other man – no matter whether it was right or not. As for John...well he was devoted to Evan. Anyone with eyes could see that. Daniel thought it was kind of sad; the good guy who had been there for her the last fifteen years would never get a look in. She was too wrapped up in her un-dead husband who seemed impossible to kill...

The creaking of the door caused him to twist painfully in his prone position as faint light filtered into the vestry. The crack in the door silhouetted a figure unfamiliar and for a second Daniel felt a wave of panic rise up...before he spotted the red hair and slightly plump figure and associated it with the girl who'd saved him. Beth, her name was, Elizabeth Pierce.

"Hi..." she whispered, sounding uncertain, "I wasn't sure if you'd be awake..."

"Yeah," he answered, "Kind of hard to sleep with a chunk of neck missing."

She smiled and looked around the room fleetingly before refocusing on him.

"Mind if I sit with you a while?"

"Sure."

She moved into the room and shut the door quietly behind her. There were candles burning off in the corner; stood in a weird candelabra which he'd only ever seen in English churches, throwing a little soft light on the scene, but apart from that they were in darkness.

"Aren't you tired?" he asked suddenly, remembering the time.

"A little," she admitted, "But Gabe told me to wait for John and he went up to check on Evan hours ago and...well I don't know really." she finished in a sort of bashful way he thought was vaguely adorable. How old was she; twenty three?

"He's probably just talking her through it," Daniel said, trying to dispel any awkwardness, "They told you that the Vamp you shot..."

"Was her husband? Yeah, they told me. It's terrible."

"Yeah," he agreed, "It is."

Silence came upon them once again. In the firelight he could see that she had freckles; only just visible in the dimness. Just a smattering and those quite faint but...

"So how did you get into the Vampire Hunting business?" she asked, breaking through his internal monologue and catching him off guard.

"Erm..." he hesitated; trying to order his thoughts.

"Sorry that was probably the weirdest question I've ever asked..." she added, looking down at her feet as she spoke.

"No!" he countered, "No it's just...not used to explaining it, you know? Everyone here already knows and I've been here nearly two years so...anyway it was through the Government. I was a cop when I was young and I stayed there for a few years and then I trained for the FBI. After training I got offered a place in a sort of top secret kind of area of the Bureau and...well..."

"Turns out that area was Vampire Studies?" she asked with a smile, "Bet that was a shock."

"It was," he answered honestly, "It was weird at first; I kept thinking it was some kind of test but eventually I just came to terms with it all...takes time. I've been in England a long time; working in the capital at first but after Wilhelm was turned and Madeline, she was another member of the team, was killed they sent me up here as relief. And relief turned into a permanent thing."

"Wow," she murmured, "So you like it here? In the Midlands I mean?"

"It's...different." was his answer.

She seemed to take it as a definitive answer as she said nothing more for a long while, merely looking around the room and seemingly taking in what she could see in the candlelight. He watched her; seeing an openness, that seemed to be lacking in the Hunters, plain in her expression. Except for the kid, Michael, they were all jaded and guarded. So many secrets sat within St. Anthony's walls.

"You won't get in trouble for telling me all that will you?" she asked suddenly. He half smiled at the genuine concern in her earnest look.

"Nah; you know about Vamps that's the main thing. Anything else is a side order. Plus if you were to tell anyone all of this you'd be holed up in a straitjacket quicker than you can say Yankee Doodle!" he accentuated his American drawl as he spoke, smiling as she laughed softly.

"It must be hard," she murmured once her laughter had settled to nothing and the room was once again quiet, "I mean...from what I can tell you lot seem really confined. No outsiders – I've already had the 'you'll be leaving at dawn' speech about eighty five times. I bet that's no fun."

"Not meant to be fun," was his answer, shifting into a slightly more comfortable position as he spoke, "For me this is a job – a job where I make a difference. For Luc it's a sort of calling; he's a church boy and they're all 'this is God's wish' – religious jazz. And for John it's the same. The others...Gabe, Michael and Evan...well; for them it's destiny. Or so they say."

"Destiny?" she asked.

"Ah well, that's one thing I can't talk about. Not my secret to tell. Safe to say they were born to do this – runs in the family."

"I see," she murmured, although he didn't think she did from that uncertain note in her voice, "And...what you said about church and Government...so each choose people to be involved? How does that work?"

"Well..." he began, "It's pretty simple. To do this job you have to have faith. You see I could go out there and wave a cross about in front of a Vamp's face until my arm fell off – wouldn't make a difference if I didn't have faith in the power behind that cross. So it all comes down to church in the end. It started that way. But of course Governments world over want their hands in every pie. So they have an equal share; put their men in along with church boys and girls and make sure there's total disclosure. I report to my Government and the British one and the others to the church...easy as that."

"Yeah...easy as that." she agreed with a smile.

He shifted again and let out a badly suppressed groan as a bolt of pain shot up his neck. He wished Luc had given him enough drugs to knock him out at least.

"Still hurting?" she murmured sympathetically.

"Yeah; being eaten will do that to you." he agreed.

"I could try and find Luc," she added, completely unfazed by his sarcasm, "See if he can give you anything in terms of pills or antibiotics or...whatever."

"Don't worry about it. I'll be alright. I just need some sleep."

"Right," she nodded slowly, "I'll leave you then. It was nice meeting you, Daniel Moore."

"You too Elizabeth Pierce," he replied, "See ya round."

As the door shut behind her he closed his eyes slowly, letting out a long breath. Somehow he didn't feel so uncomfortable any more.

***

Gabriel moved slowly down the hall, careful to keep his tread even as he went. He couldn't hear any sound coming from either Evan or Michael's room but he knew that behind both doors the occupants lay. He hadn't heard John leave Evan yet either. The thought of his sister's pain caused him to flinch internally. She was always so strong on the outside but now...the Vamp was taking that away from her bit by bit. And Gabe didn't know how to make it better.

When he reached the last door on the left before the stairs he paused, checking that no one was observing him, before turning the handle with uncharacteristic gentleness, slipping into the room beyond and closing the door softly behind him.

Luc was asleep inside. Gabriel paused, leaning against the door a moment as he watched the other man sleep. If anyone had seen him doing so he would have brushed it off, said something about Luc snoring like a boar or talking shit in his sleep. But then, in that moment of peace, he didn't say a thing. He merely watched.

Then, after a few quiet minutes, Luc shifted, turning onto his side, and Gabriel took it as a sign to move. He crossed the room and came to sit on the end of the bed, elbows resting on his knees. He didn't wake the other man. He was simply content to be in his company.

Everything was going wrong. It had started the night Wil and Maddy had died. Two Hunters taken out by a nest of Vamps...lead by Juliette. God damn Juliette Girard; a powerful Vampir who had killed countless others in the four hundred years before Wil and Maddy had even been born. The same Juliette that Gabe had been within moments of staking through the heart weeks before that night...the night when she had killed his brother in law and friend. He had never told Evan how close he had been to finishing Juliette. He never would. Because two things drove Evan; saving Wil's soul and making Juliette into dust. Take those things away and...

"Hey..." murmured a sleepy voice from behind.

Gabe turned his head and smiled gently to see Luc leaning up on his elbow, eyes only just refocusing after sleep, free hand running through his tousled hair.

"Hey," Gabe replied, "Did I wake you?"

"No," Luc replied with a smile of his own, lying blatantly, "No – I didn't know you were stopping by tonight. I would have waited if..."

"No, don't worry about it. You needed to rest." Gabe interrupted.

Luc nodded slowly and Gabe felt the other man's eyes boring into him, years of friendship and closeness making Gabriel's feelings as easy to read as a book.

"What's the matter?" Luc asked softly.

"Nothing," Gabe replied resolutely, "I'm fine."

He watched as Luc tilted his head, his eyes narrowing slightly in a way which was so familiar Gabe could hardly stop himself from smiling at the sight.

"You're worried about Evan?" Luc surmised; as usual correctly.

"Aren't you?" was Gabe's reply.

"Yeah..." Luc breathed, "I am. But she has John with her and he always helps. And when she's ready she has us and Mikey. She'll be okay, Gabe. If she's anything like you, and we both know she is, then she's strong. She'll get better."

"It's been two years..." Gabe replied, looking away and allowing his head to hang so that he could study the floor between his feet. "I don't know whether we can carry on like this much longer. She's going to get herself killed, Luc. Or get someone else killed. If that girl hadn't shot Wil tonight..."

"Hey..." Gabe felt the bed shift as Luc sat up and a moment later he felt the other man's body warm and flush to his, a hand gently gracing over his back as they sat there. His scent, clean and without a trace of cologne, was comfortingly familiar. "No what ifs; you hear me? It's alright. We're alright. That's all that matters."

Gabe turned his head so that he could see Luc's brown eyes, flecked with dark gold and so immensely beautiful; the first thing he'd noticed about Lucas Lopez had been his eyes. That was when he'd first realised he was in danger.

"I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you..." Gabe confessed in a whisper.

"It won't." Luc insisted, his breath fluttering on Gabe's face.

"Yeah, you say that, but you can't promise."

Luc shrugged slightly, his shoulders rising and falling infinitesimally in a non-committal movement.

"I can't promise anything," he answered quietly, "Except for the fact that I don't want to spend a minute of my life away from you. And I'll fight to make sure that doesn't happen. To my last; I will always fight for you, Gabe. I swear."

Gabe felt tears well up in his eyes, completely unbidden, and laughed in order to try and draw the other man's attention away from them. However Luc saw, as he always did, and smiled in return as he leaned in gently and their lips met. It was such a soft, gentle kiss; delicate and chaste in many ways, and yet Gabe thought it was perfect.

"You're turning me soft, Lopez." Gabe murmured as his lips moved slowly; still pressed against Luc's.

"Oh I hope not..." Luc murmured with a wicked grin.

***

The light filtered in through the window gently as dawn broke. It was looking to be a fine day from the golden glow of the sunlight casting shadows across her room. Evan let out a slow, lingering breath and looked down at John's head, resting against her shoulder as he slept, and resisted the urge to brush unruly strands of hair into order.

He had stayed with her all night. He had stayed on the floor, leaning against the door, sitting on the cold stone uncomplaining, unspeaking all night. It meant more to her than any act anyone had done since Wil had died. She had cried for hours and eventually fallen into silence; unbroken, unsullied silence which had led to her falling into the most peaceful sleep she had had for months. When she had awoken she had found him slumped beside her, their bodies still intertwined; her curled up into him with his head resting atop hers, and she had felt safe.

Now it was dawn. She'd watched him sleep for a long time, allowing her thoughts to roam, letting her mind order itself as she let him sleep. Evan saw the dark circles under his eyes the same way he saw the ones under hers. She knew it was her fault. She was hurting him by hurting herself...and Gabe was right. She was pushing John away. The only person who could help her, the only person she felt she could trust...and there were times when she couldn't even look at him.

Because when she did all she saw was Wil. The way Wil had looked at her. The way Wil had held her. The way she and Wil had talked about anything, everything, laughed and joked and been so right together. She and John had that, always had...but she loved Wil. That was the problem. That was the catch. John was her closest friend but Wil had been her world. And she still loved him; even now. Even with him dead.

Her eyes fluttered downwards again, tracing over John's features. His strong nose and cheekbones, his pale skin and the scar just below his right eye that he'd gotten helping Maddy fight off a Vamp soon after she'd arrived. He'd just run out of the church, cross in hand, and delved into the fight. Evan still remembered the fear she'd felt when she'd seen the Vamp strike him across the face. He'd hit the ground; hard, and stopped moving. She'd thought he was dead.

He shifted slightly and she held her breath, keeping still as his eyelids fluttered. However after a moment he settled again and she released the breath carefully, allowing a small smile to grace her features for a bare second before she raised her head and looked back to the window. She couldn't see much from the floor; just the sky. It was a clear, bright, even blue with no clouds; a sign of a cold day ahead. It was November; almost December now in fact. It would be Christmas soon; her third Christmas without Wil. He'd died in the November...she'd been in a vengeful rage against all creatures until January. The first Christmas had been forgotten. The second was the hard one. She'd tried to be happy, to remember that Wil would want her to be happy, but in the end she'd cloistered herself away. In those days even John hadn't been able to get through to her. In fact she'd been unable to see John at all – unable to see his pain at her suffering. She couldn't stand to see love in his eyes; love for her. It choked her. Now it was all she had to cling to.

"I'd offer a penny but I think it would cost far more to buy your thoughts."

She smiled slightly as she heard John's voice; yet kept her eyes focused on the sky. She knew if she looked over she'd see that look in his eyes again – that adoring look that was so filled with...

"They're not even worth pennies I assure you." she countered.

"No?" he responded, "The education you had and not even worth pennies?"

"Daddy would be horrified." she answered, hearing him chuckle softly at her reply.

"So..." he murmured when his laughter had died away and he had shifted so he sat straighter at her side, "How are you?"

She hesitated, wondering as to the worth of lying. It would probably be pointless; he could almost always tell when she lied. It was a shame really – he was the only one left living who could see through her poker face. The only one left living who could dissemble the brick wall she had created between herself and the world.

"I'm here..." she whispered finally.

"...and he isn't." John finished for her. She could always admire in him the way he kept his tone so completely neutral when talking about Wil; even though she knew it was hurting him.

They remained silent for a long time, until John shifted with a discomfited grunt. He was thirty six years old but she knew he had the aches and pain of a fifty year old. She didn't have to look at his face to see the deep lines around his eyes, on his forehead...more in those places than around his mouth. He lacked laughter lines. No wonder; having to support her. She was convinced Wil would be the death of her...but now she was also becoming sure that she would be the death of John.

"Thank you." she blurted out suddenly, not really meaning to speak out loud and yet doing so anyway. When he said nothing she continued, "Thank you for sitting on a cold floor for an entire night just because I lost my cool. Thank you for understanding. Thank you for being here."

"Always," was his gentle answer, "Evie..." a sigh which told her exactly what he was going to say next sounded. Yet she didn't stop him. She didn't have the heart. "...you know I'm always here for you Evangeline."

She closed her eyes slowly at the pullback he had executed; they could both feel the words left unsaid in the room; heavy as if they had been spoken aloud. So she answered in the only way she could.

"I know."

***

Dawn had come and Beth groaned slightly as she woke up with her face resting on a kitchen table in a completely unfamiliar place. It took several blinks and a lurching moment of sickening panic before she remembered the events of the night before; the Vamp, the Hunters, the chase, the shooting and the church. It all came flooding back and she shook her head, taking in her surroundings just to make sure she wasn't imagining it all. The weak morning sunlight filtered through a tiny window which looked out onto am equally tiny courtyard garden. She rotated her neck slowly, hearing the cracks and letting out a sigh.

"Morning!"

She jumped as she heard a bright voice greet her. Michael; the little brother of Gabe and Evan. He was smiling as he watched her from the doorway.

"Hi..." she replied, her voice croaking slightly as she spoke.

"Did no one let you out?" he asked, "I suppose John...never mind."

She looked at the clock on the wall; it was almost eight. Figures, she thought, with the weather we've been having I'm surprised the sun bothered to get up at all.

"Beth?" asked Michael; sounding amused.

She blinked a few times and smiled apologetically, realising he'd been speaking and she'd not been paying even the smallest amount of attention.

"Sorry...what was that?"

"I said I'll let you out – if you like. It's light now. You're safe. I'm guessing you'll have no more problems even when it goes dark. It's us they're interested in. You're all good."

"Oh..." she breathed, nodding slowly, "Great."

"Yeah – so I'll let you out?"

He seemed really eager to get rid of her and she didn't really want to intrude. So she rose slowly from the table, allowing the kinks in her back to unwind slowly, and grabbed her bag from where it had been resting next to her head. He walked over and unbolted the back door, undoing three bolts and a lock as he went.

"Security conscious..." she observed sleepily.

"Well yeah...Vamps need an invite but there are other bad things that don't."

His response was so matter of fact she was, if anything, more taken aback by it than if he'd said something terrifying. Beth pulled up her trousers, feeling them sitting uncomfortably low on her hips, and then realised that there was a reason for why they didn't fit.

"Erm...the clothes..." she murmured.

"Oh – no worries. We can get more. Anyway; here we are." he opened the door and looked at her expectantly. "See you – well, not again, but I mean...you know."

"Yeah..." she paused, thinking she should probably say something more to the people who had saved her life and offered her sanctuary for the night. The people who had introduced her to Vampires.

"I'll say goodbye to the others for you." Michael offered eagerly.

"Oh, great, yeah...and tell Daniel I hope he feels better soon."

"Done." Michael answered.

Another awkward pause pushed her over the edge. He wanted her gone and, to be fair, she had no right being there. So she smiled at the boy once more and then dutifully stepped outside into the weak, cool morning light. Taking in a deep, bracing breath of wintery air she went three steps down the tiny garden path before she heard the door shut behind her with a close following series of clicks telling her Michael was locking up after her.

Beth made for the garden gate, unlocking the stiff deadbolt with a little difficulty before tugging the old thing open and sliding out into an alley. A momentary lurch was soon quelled by the thought that she was in the sunlight and light and Vampires didn't mix. So, with a tiny smile at her own weirdness which was now surely only amplified by her new knowledge, she strolled down the alley towards the main street. Her first thought was where she could ask for directions back home. Her second was how life was ever going to be the same after that one, weird, terrifying and, strangely, exhilarating night.

The answer, of course, was that it wouldn't be.
