<<<>>>
It was late afternoon as Mulligan walked into an old gym that the organization used to train their slayers. As he entered through the door his minds eye showed him a memory of a ten year old boy tentively punching a heavy bag. Now that ten year old boy was a twenty nine year old man who was aggressively attacking that same heavy bag. He stood back watched him continue his exercises, amazed, as always, as he smoothly went from one series of moves to the next. This particular part of his work out was apparently over when he made a repeated staking motion at a faded heart drawn on the bag. He finally saw the Father standing there as he removed the rag from his head to keep the hair from his eye, “Father, what’s up?”

“Hello my boy,” He handed him a bottled water from the cooler. Matt took a drink and toweled off his face and turned his attention to the speed bag.

“So did Big Red tell you to read me the riot act?”, he asked as he began.

“I haven’t had a chance to speak with the Cardinal today yet.” Not that he was looking for him. “But if I do, can I say you’re apologetic about last night

Matt stopped the bag and wore a sad expression on his face. “I am very, very sorry about my actions last night and promise never to act like that in front of the Cardinal again.” A bold face lie if he ever heard one. Still he allowed himself a slight chuckle. The Father was certain he would have had a stroke if he actually was sorry.

Changing the subject he asked, “Did you go straight home last night?”

Matt stopped with the bag and headed for another station,” No, I wasn’t exactly sleepy so I grabbed a drink before heading home.”

“Matthew,” he admonished, “you know I don’t approve of you drinking and driving.”

“Out of all the things that could kill me, something like that should be the least of your worries.” He picked up some hand weights but paused before starting, “Sorry, I know you don’t like it when I talk about things like that.”

“It’s alright my boy. Unlike the Cardinal I fully realize what you’re up against. Such thought are only natural I suppose.” He walked over to a nearby wall and looked at the pictures of the local champion hanging there. “You know, when I was younger I rather good with my fist as well.”

He saw the grin already on Matt’s face when he turned around, “Was this before or after they invented electricity?”

Mulligan snorted, “I’ll have you know that I knocked the block off of several ruffians back in the day.” The Father glanced down at his watch, “And if I didn’t have to be somewhere in a little bit I’d show you how good I was.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna need to see a note from your doctor first.”

“Concerned about well being are you?”

“No,” he answered as he put the weights down, “I just don’t want Big Red riding my ass after you have a heart attack.”

“Your concern touches me,” he deadpanned. “Well I’ll let you continue with your workout.”

Matt nodded, “Later Father.”

<<<>>>
Ludwig walked in the park in the middle of the afternoon with his trench coat buttoned up and a black hat on his head. One of the benefits of being a, as the human liked to call it, master class vampire was that he could stay in the sunlight for a limited amount of time. Mere decades later he could still see how the other vampires attitude toward him changed when his eye started turning black. The complete and total shock on the one who bit him face when he realized he sired one was priceless. Much like the look when he ordered the other to kill him. To use the old expression he was living the high life ever since. He ended his trip down memory lane as he realized he walked up on the person he was looking for. A heavily shaded area of the park too, how considerate of him. “Hello, splendid day isn’t it?”

The good Father Mulligan started straight ahead. “Why did you call for me?”, he asked.

Ludwig sighed, “What is wrong with this world when two people can’t exchange simple pleasantries. You’re a Priest, you should be setting an example for the others.” Mulligan said nothing in return. “Oh well, down to the matter at hand I suppose.” He unbuttoned his coat and removed an envelope that he handed to Mulligan. He opened it at looked at him confused as he pulled out a set of pictures. “I thought you might want to see what your disciple is doing.” Mulligan went through the pictures, “Drinking in vampire bars. For the sake of pleasantries, let’s say he ‘consorting’ with our woman. Not exactly proper behavior for someone working for the church,” his face was solemn but there was an amused glint in his black eyes.

Mulligan handed back the picture and closed his eyes, “I’m aware of what he does. He’s a grown man capable of making his own decisions, no matter how distasteful I may find them.”

“Well it’s not surprising actually. Seeing how his mentor made a deal of his own with a vampire.”

The priest finally looked at him, anger flashing in his eyes, “I have in no way directed him toward anything like this.”

“Not consciously perhaps,” Ludwig told him. Mulligan was forced to look away. “How do you think he would react if he ever found out I helped you create that system he uses? Do you think that in his outrage that a small part of him would appreciate the irony of a vampire helping you obtain the power of the sun itself?”

“God, why did you let me deal with this person,” Mulligan said out loud.

Ludwig leaned in, all humor gone from his voice, “Don’t use him as crutch now. To use your own words, you are a grown man capable of making your own decisions.” The vampire put the pictures back into his coat. “I’ll forgive this little outburst of faith this time. But I would think you would be grateful that I am on good terms with my counterparts in the Far East. According to them there are people with similar systems popping up all over the place. Although from what I understand those system are internal.”

Eventually Mulligan said, “We would have developed the system on our own in time.”

“Perhaps, but how many slayer would have been lost until then. Maybe even you favorite would have fallen in battle. He is your favorite, is he not?” The priest didn’t say anything. “Are you still in shock from that note I sent to you about the unexpected result we found? The one were if he was bitten then activated the system. How it was possible he could become the ultimate weapon.”

“Or it could kill him,” the priest countered.

Ludwig shrugged his shoulders, “Every theory has it failures before it is proven right.” Ludwig got up and imagined the possibilities. “Can you see it now? I can, a warrior of the church becoming the perfect killing machine.”

“Is that why you let him live all those years ago?”, Mulligan demanded. “Did you have something like this planned since then?”

Ludwig concentrated and silently said *You are in no position to demand anything*

Mulligan grabbed his temple, “Stay out of my head!”

Ludwig turned toward him and picked him up by the collar. *Shut up.* The priest mouth closed immediately. “I could have bent you to my will a long time ago. But remember you came to me of your own free will because you heard I had something you wanted.” He let him go and Mulligan fell back to the bench. “But as to why he lived, the two who were hunting that night didn’t know why they spared him either. I killed them on the spot for I have one rule, when you hunt leave nothing alive. But they say your God has a plan for everything. Maybe it was part of that plan when I had word sent to your organization about the survivor.”

Mulligan was stunned and his face started to lose color, “You’re lying!”

The vampire leaned over him and leered, “No I am not. If it wasn’t for me there was a good chance the authorities would have shown up and taken the boy before you even arrived. They would have brainwashed the boy into believing he didn’t really see what he saw. It might have been better for him in the long run but you would have lost one of your best warriors. You were indebted to me twice over and you never even realized it. When I call in those debts you will pay in full. Until then Father…,” he trailed off and walked away. Almost to himself he said, “It will be interesting to see where his plan will take your disciple now.”

<<<>>>
It was a week since Matt saw the Father in the gym. It was almost like he was being avoided. But that couldn’t be on his mind right now. He was told a group of five class ones were causing havoc. He found them in a plaza filled with dead bodies, and they were all class ones, but the actual number was ten. Damn intel. “Henshin,” Slayer charged the group. The first one who saw him coming didn’t get a chance to warn the others. He grabbed the vampire by the mouth and shoved him into a group of three feasting on a fat one. That caught the attention of the others as they stopped what they were doing. “Gonna be a long night,” he muttered.

Above them Ludwig and the others were watching. This was the first time he had seen the battle system in action and was studying it intently. He was amazed that the human wasn’t apparently using it at full strength, just augmenting his own abilities. “He’s fighting like he normally would,” he said out loud.

Slayer extended the spike on his right arm and decapitated one of his targets on one strike. The blond vampire whistled, “I don’t think that was a normal bossman.”

“Indeed,” he agreed, “I’m very familiar with the design plans, those spikes have no edge. That was pure strength. So he’s willing to use it when he has to.” Almost like he was proving Ludwig point he flipped over and behind another one and twisted his head completely around and left him to stumble around. To his left he could feel the rage coming from the now brotherless twin as he watched his killer.

“Easy mate,” the blond vampire told him, “Don’t go doing anything stupid.” They watched as Slayer broke a piece of wood off a bench and rammed the pointed end into his closest assailant. Then he drove the spike through the heart of the one with the backwards head. Three down already, this human was close to being the perfect killing machine as it was. Ludwig smiled to himself imagining the possibilities. The bald one had enough watching and jumped down in to the fray, “Brett wait!,” the blond one shouted out but it was no use. “I warned him.”

“It’s quite alright Peter. Let him get it out of his system. If he survives his he’ll be that much more level headed when we make our move.”

Several of the remaining vampires moved out of the way as he landed. Slayer didn’t notice there was a new player on the field until he grabbed him by the shoulder and flung him backwards. He skidded on the ground as he landed. Slayer looked at the one who did it and titled his head slightly as he got to a knee, “Didn’t I already dust you?”

The bald one face twisted even more, “You killed my brother,” he grunted as he vamped out. Slayer noticed that his eyes went red.

“You’re a class two?” Slayer got to his feet and got in a defensive stance, “Having him around had to be embarrassing.”

“Shut up!”, the bald one rushed at him. Slayer couldn’t even block his initial swing he was so angry. The vampire kept on the attack, pounding him down to a knee. He forgot an unwritten rule of vampire fighting, when going against a pissed off vampire don’t piss him off even more. Slayer grabbed his ankle and squeezed before pulling on the limb causing him to fall backwards. A class one got on his back allowing a second one to start punching him the gut. The bald vampire threw his own man out of the way to get his shots in. Slayer planted his foot on the ground and jumped backward to get some space between them. The vampire let go and jumped away expecting himself to get squished on impact. What he wasn’t expecting was for Slayer to run for the broken bench and grabbed another piece of board that he hurled it like a javelin. The class one was speared in the shoulder and cried in pain as he tried to pull it out.

Up above Peter whistled again, “Damn that’s got hurt.” Then they watched Slayer grab the board and swing it and the vampire into the others. “Talk about adding insult to injury.”

“Must you make a comment about everything?”, Ludwig said dryly, but with a hint of warning in his voice.

“Sorry boss,” he said before claming up. He was lucky he made Ludwig laugh.

“Die meat!!,” the bald one screamed as he tried to punch his head off. He swept the vampires legs out from under him. Slayer waited until he was on his knees before swinging his leg around and kicking him right in the mouth. Even Ludwig face betrayed a twinge of pain. The bald didn’t even have time to spit the loose teeth out before a right cross loosened some more. Ignoring the pain he grabbed at the humans throat. The battle system made it easy for him to remove those hands. “Damn you, you son of a bitch!”

“I told your brother I was called worse,” he said coldly as he kicked him in the chest, full force. The crack from his rib cage was audible as he went down in a heap. Slayer hauled him to his feet and punched him in the face repeatedly. He dropped him when he saw a class one come at him with a broken board. He ducked it and punched him away. Slayer picked up the board that he dropped and studied it for a bit. He looked at the bald vampire before swinging it like a baseball bat at the vampire who had. The board splintered as it crashed against his head. He walked away from the bald one for a bit before saying, “Time to burn.”

“Uh-oh,” Peter mumbled, “I heard about this. Don’t look good for Brett”

“Quite,” Ludwig agreed. “Although I always wanted to see this live.”

Slayer punched a class one that was in his way before turning his attention back to the bald one. “Rider kick,” he said and spun the jewel. He ran at the bald vampire and jumped up. Out of desperation he pulled one of the class one in front of him. Slayer kicked him and the vampire was engulfed by the flaming cross. The remaining vampires saw that and started running. The bald one forced his wing through his vest and struggled to fly away.

Peter swooped in and helped him, “Don’t worry mate, I got you” Slayer watched them fly away, the bald one eventually flying on his own. What he didn’t see was Ludwig staring down at him.

*Excellent performance young one*

Slayer turned around quickly, trying to find were the voice was coming from. He looked above him, nothing was up there or around him. So who in the hell said that? A grunt in pain caught his attention. Somebody was on the grass trying to crawl away, it was the vamp he cracked in the head with the board. Slayer found the one of the broken boards he used earlier and walked up to him. Placing a foot on his back to keep him there. He brought the board down, severing the vampire spin and impaling him to the ground. He pulled the crystal out and he got out of arms reach. Matt kneeled down to speak to him, “You better hope I didn’t dust one of the guys who would come back and check on you. Because,” he checked his watch, “sunrise is in about four hours.” He got up to leave but turned back to him, “You know I gotta ask, do vampires make really strong sun screen?”

“You fucking bastard!!”, he screamed as she still tried to reach for him.

“I’m going to take that for a no,” Matt walked away as the vampires kept screaming obscenities. He scratched the back of his head saying, “The Father going to give me an earful about that one.”

<<<>>>
As he entered the church he paused midstep, something was off. The vibe of the place didn’t feel right for some reason. He shook it off, he was probably still jumpy about that voice he heard in the park. Matt sat in the confessional, crossed himself and went “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned, It’s been a little over a week since my last confession.”

“Go on my son,” Matt turned toward the screen. That wasn’t the voice he was expecting.

“Where’s Father Mulligan?”, and what the hell was going on?

“The Father is not feeling well,” the priest on the other side told him. “He asked me to fill in for him.”

“Bullshit, he would have told me if he was sick” He got up and started pounding on the wall behind him, “Open this damn thing up now!”

“My son please calm down,” the priest pleaded. Matt responded by kicking at the wall. Finally it opened and he rushed into the hallway and down the stairs. Waiting impatiently for the door to open Matt was confused even more when he saw Mulligan. The father looked at him. For the first in a long time Matt couldn’t read his face, even his eyes was emotionless.

“What the hell is going on?”, he demanded.

“Nothing is going on Matthew,” Mulligan told him and looked at something at the computer.

“Nothing going on?”, he said in disbelief. The Father still wouldn’t look at him. “I haven’t seen or heard from you since the gym. Did I take the old person jokes to far or something? Father,” he pleaded. Mulligan still wouldn’t look at him. Only the few on the other side of the room were seeing how much pain this was causing the Father. Matt lowered his head and clenched his fist, then he softly said, “I don’t know if this means anything, but what ever it was I’m sorry.” He turned and headed for the door. His hand was on the handle before Mulligan finally said something.

“You did nothing wrong Matthew.” He turned around and looked at his back. “I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. I felt I had to handle it myself.” Matt turned around and the Father offered him a weak smile that didn’t last. “It wasn’t my intention to alienate you. I didn’t want to put my burden on you.”

“After all the crap I told you over the years, you didn’t think I’d listen to you for a change?”

“I know you would have listened to me Matthew. But this was something personal and I didn’t think it right to share.”

His confusion quickly turned to concern, “There’s nothing wrong is there?”

“No, my boy, I’m in perfect health.” He watched as the confusion returned to his face. “It was nothing major, just something I needed to work through myself. And I did, I might add.” Matt eyes narrowed a bit, that explanation was a bit on the lame side. The Father saw the suspicion in his eyes and quickly covered himself. “I was offered a higher post in the organization, if you must know. I spent the past week going over my options. I’ve decided to turn the position down.”

“In Gods name why?”, Matt asked him. “They need somebody up there with more than a half a brain running this thing.”

“I thank you for the vote of confidence,” Mulligan told him. “But the position would have put in closer contact with Cardinal Murphy.”

Matt grinned for the first time since entering the room, “I can see why you didn’t take it now. That would be about as close to hell as you’re gonna get.”

A bit of the turmoil he was feeling slipped into his face for a brief moment. Fortunately Matt didn’t see it. “Come my boy I do believe you have a confession to make. You can tell me as we head back up upstairs.” Matt nodded his head in agreement and the exited the room. A few moments Mulligan voice could be heard through the door, “You did what!”

<<<>>>
The next day Mulligan treated Matt to lunch at a diner they both frequent, a small penance for shutting him out for the past week. The truth be told, he wasn’t sure when Ludwig was going to call in his debt and wanted at least one last pleasant moment with the boy he saw at least as a nephew after all these years, if not a son of some sort. They sat in a booth near the door, he was drinking a cup of coffee while Matt skimmed through the paper. They made some small talk at some of the articles he found. Although he was a more than a little disappointed in Matt apparent delight in finding a small article in the newspaper about a board sticking in the ground with a some type of ash around it. “You’re taking a little too much pleasure in that particular act Matthew.”

“Geez Father, it’s not like a stood around and waited for him to burn up. He had a chance to get out of, if he could. Hell I thought about using a metal pipe and bending it so he be stuck for good. The wood gave him a sporting chance.”

“How thoughtful of you,” Mulligan said dryly. Both of them stopped talking as their order was brought up by their waitress. Mulligan had ordered a roast beef sandwich. He looked over at Matt’s plate, he had ordered a number seven. A cheeseburger with everything and the greasiest mess of chili cheese fries he had ever laid his eyes on. He made a comment about it but Matt didn’t answer. He and the waitress were a little too busy talking to each other. He recognized that particular grin on the boys face, he was lining up another one. Where did he go wrong with this one? “So how is Samantha?”, Mulligan asked him innocently.

“Samantha?”, Matt asked looking confused. The waitress thought something else entirely judging from the look on her face and walked away. “No wait…!”, he started but she wasn’t looking at him. Matt turned back to him and shot him a look, “Thanks a lot.”

“Somebody has to watch out for the woman in this world. There are a lot of wolves out there you know,” he chuckled, Matt didn’t look amused. “You can go tell her I was telling a lie.”

“Like she’s gonna believe me when I tell her you lied?”

“That was the way I was thinking,” he said normally as he arranged his napkin. Matt grunted then took a bit out of his cheeseburger. “Remind to have you checked out one of these days. That can’t be healthy.”

“Part of my backup plan Father,” he said between bites. “I want the vampire that bites me to be the first one in history to die from a heart attack.” Mulligan sat there amazed as he wolfed down the burger than started on the fries.

“Don’t you eat at home?”, he had to ask. “You’re eating like your starving.”

“Of course I do,” he answered. “You build up an appetite doing what I do. Gotta keep up my strength and all that.”

“Then why are you eating like the devil is right behind you?”

“Because I just remembered that the tech guys wanted to run some test on the belt.”

“Oh yes, I remember that memo now. I’m sorry my boy, if I remembered that we could have done this another day.”

“It’s all right Father, I forgot too. Besides I want to get this out of the way before they start getting ideas. You know the tech guys, they love to tinker.” After finishing off the last fry Matt got out of the booth and put his duster back on. He started reaching into a pocket when Mulligan stopped him.

“It’s on me son.”

“I can’t let you do that Father,” Matt protested. “You didn’t eat what I did, and it cost more than what you ordered.”

“And I told you this was my treat. You can pay the next time.” Matt was still ready to argue and his hand went into his pocket. “Matthew, if money is in your hand when you remove it from your pocket I will beat you in front of God and all these witnesses.”

They started each other down, Matt knew he was being serious. “Can I at least chip in for the tip?” Mulligan relented and he put a twenty on the table and walked away. “You always were a skinflint when it came to the tip.” Mulligan was going to say something but Matt was already out the door. The priest sat there shaking his head.

There was person standing next to him suddenly. Before he could look to see who it was a something put into his head made him sour. *He’s a little more jovial then I would have thought.* Ludwig sat in the spot that Matt just vacated. Out loud he said, “Nothing like the person I saw last night. It’s almost easy to believe it was somebody else entirely.”

Looking everywhere but at he vampire Mulligan said, “What do you want now?” He noticed that none of the other patrons were acting like they saw him there. Even the waitress paid him no attention, not even stopping to take his order.

Ludwig took the Father’s coffee cup and sniffed it. He made a face and put it back down before answering, “I was studying the target before things started to get interesting. Your warrior has a bit of a cruel streak in him, did you know that?”

“After what he’s been through it no wonder.” Mulligan finally looked into the other’s black eyes. “His purity of sprit was taken from him a long time ago.”

“And you wish to place the blame on me and my kind,” Ludwig said. “How entirely human of you. And I sure your training methods had nothing to do with it?” Mulligan couldn’t answer him right away, the vampire didn’t give him another chance. “I have seen how your organization trains their warriors over the years. It would have been more merciful if those two idiots killed him along with his parents.”

“We train so they can survive against your kind.”

“You say survive, I say hunt down and eradicate.” Ludwig showed him a smug little grin, “But I suppose it all in how you look at it. We both been around long enough to realize that. Wouldn’t you agree Father?” Mulligan wouldn’t respond. “Of course you do, you are no fool. A little too dedicated to your duty perhaps, but you are no fool. The time is almost upon him Father, are you ready for the results?” Mulligan looked up and found Ludwig was gone, like he was never there.

“Father?”, the waitress was standing by him now. When did she get there? “Are you alright.”

Mulligan looked at the empty seat in front of him before addressing her, “I’m fine my child.”

“You sure, you been sitting there like you were in a daze or something.”

“Yes, I’m quite sure. Thank you for your concern.” Mulligan paid the tab and quickly left the diner. When he went outside it felt like somebody was watching him. He thought he saw a quick glimpse of somebody wearing black but then it was gone. Dear Lord what has he done?

<<<>>>
Matt walked the hallway to his apartment, the tech guys started up again with the upgrade mumbo-jumbo just like he thought. One good hard stare from him stopped that real quick. It should of, he perfected that look after those first few mission they sent him on. He remembered the small sense of victory he felt the first time he made a class one hesitate. That’s when he knew he was a professional and not some kid with a stake praying to God he would live through the night. He reached his door and put his key in the lock, it was already unlocked. He knew he locked it before he left. Carefully he opened the door and peered inside so far nobody could be seen. As he closed the door he saw something that made his blood run cold momentarily. The cross on the door was missing. Ok it could just be a crook with a particular habit or something nothing to worry about. Although if the guy was still here he was going to be in for a huge surprise.

Matt surveyed what he could see of the apartment from where he was standing. All of the curtains were open, he never opened the curtains. Reaching into the duster he went further in. Standing behind one of the chairs was the bald headed vampire he fought the other night. In front of him with a leg draped over one of the chair arms was the blond headed vampire that helped him escape. The blond one gave him this predator type grin while the other one started at him. He couldn’t stop his voice from betraying him, “Fuck.”

“Hey there,” the blond one started. “I got to say this is a nice place you got here.” He got up and walked by the windows. “I mean I always wondered what a slayer place would look like. A lot of us felt you guys lived a rather barren lifestyle. But this is nice, you got a high def TV and everything.” Matt slowly backed his way to the kitchen counter.

“Hump,” the other one snorted.

“You got to forgive my mate here. He’s still a little ticked you offed his only family.”

“I know the feeling,” Matt said keeping an eye on both of them as much as possible.

“Somewhere in that brain of yours you have to be wondering why we’re letting you move in that direction,” the blond one said casually. “Well we already went through the place and took anything dangerous out of here.” He chuckled for a bit, “Well not everything of course, some things needed a human hand, if you get my drift. Like that cross on the door and on the windows and what not.”

“I still say we should have killed him as soon as we saw him,” the bald one said.

“Bossman wants him alive Brett, we can’t kill him.” He turned around and smiled, “Of course that doesn’t mean we still can’t have a little fun bringing him in. Please tell me you gonna resist.”

“I was planning on it.” Matt hit the top of the counter with his fist and a secret drawer popped open. He quickly grabbed two small silver knives and threw them at the vampires as he turned around. The first blade missed the blond vampire but the second plunged into the bald one’s shoulder.

“Shit!,” the blond one cried and waved a hand in the air. In seconds vampires crashed through the windows, all class ones. Matt went right at them, cursing himself for leaving the belt in the side bag. He snapped off a kick the caught one under the chin. A backhand stunned a second. The blond one grabbed him by the back if the coat and threw him into the wall, right by the bald one. With a grunt he pulled the silver knife out of his shoulder and dropped it. “Brett we can’t kill him!”

“He can live with a broken back,” he proclaimed as he picked Matt up. Without warning his started digging his thumb into the vampire’s eye. “AARRGHH!!,” the bald one cried out and he let. A class one grabbed him from behind. He ducked as the bald one swung his right hand wide in is direction. The class one got clocked in the head, making him groggy enough that Matt could flip him over and into the bald vampire. The blond one motioned for a couple of the other to attack him. They jumped over the couch, Matt had the same idea as he jumped past them and landed a solid straight right to the blond one’s face. Matt quickly leaped over the couch again kicking one of the other two in the head.

“God damn it you fucker!”, the blond cried out as he clenched his face. “I’m gonna plant you into the ground personally!”

“We can’t kill him Peter,” the bald one said, obviously enjoying his partner’s pain.

“Bite me dickweed!”, he shot back. The blond one snapped his nose back into place. The others surrounded Matt, he had no room to run. The blond one hopped up onto the counter and studied the contents in the drawer. “Besides, accidents do happen right?”, he flashed a grinned right at Matt.

“I been saying that all along,” the bald one said with an evil looking smile. The joined the circle surrounding him. He had no room to fight, he needed to make some room. Or take the fight into a bigger space. He charged one of the class ones as he pulled a stake out of his coat. Matt ran into him and through the remaining pile of ash. While the others were stunned at what happened he kept on running and jumped out the window. Landing on the roof below he didn’t even look back. The remaining vampires gathered at the window and watched him.

“What are you waiting for?!,” Peter slapped on of the other vampires in the back of the head, “Go after him.”

“We’re going to need more than that.” At his signal another hoard of class one vampires jumped down from the roof and gave chance. “My brother had a lot of friends,” he explained.

“Come on mate,” Peter said as he jumped up and squatted on the window sill, “we can’t let them have all the fun.”