XX

Rachael wakes up as the first rays of sunlight penetrate the window and hits her face, her eyes flutter as she uses her hands to block sunlight from hitting her face.

She yawns as she turns to adjust but jerks as she notices the crowd around the car.

What is going on?

There are half-naked men and women around the car staring at her and she wriggles at the backseat in fear and confusion.

Where is Cassandra?

She searches her pocket for her phone then remembers that it was missing when she woke up in Dracula's lair.

She hears a growl behind the crowd making them disperse and she tries to take a look.

Cassandra comes out of the crowd and stands between them and the car, "Keep walking," she says and they move aside.

"Unlock the car," she says to Rachael who is in the car.

Rachael unlocks the car and Cassandra opens the door, "Come on, let's get you something to eat".

Cassandra enters the front seat and Rachael joins her, "What is going on?" Rachael asks, "They are just wondering what a human is doing here, don't pay attention to any of that".

Like it's easy.

Cassandra starts the car, "Have you heard from John or my bosses?" Rachael asks, "No, but don't worry. They will be alright". Rachael nods and sighs.

My mom, I hope she is okay.

Elma's place.

"Seems like you guys had fun without me," Elma says as she walks into the room with a tray of whiskey and glass cups.

Samuel sits with his head laid back against the couch.

The living room is spacious and has a dark theme design. The couch is grey, the chairs are black and the floor is covered with grey marble.

Elma places the tray on the glass table in the middle of the room and pours the drink into the glass cups.

She hands Samuel a glass and goes to give Gabriel one as well.

Gabriel stands at one end of the living room with his back against the wall and his head up staring at the white ceiling.

He collects the glass of whiskey from Elma.

"How's John?" Samuel asks her, "He is still unconscious but he'll be fine. I left him some blood bags so when he wakes up, he can feed," she says.

"What happened?", Elma asks, "Yeah Gabriel, what the fuck happened?" Samuel redirects the question to Gabriel.

Elma quickly spots the anger in his voice, "What?" "Why did she have to die?", "You are asking me like it's my fault" "Well, isn't it?".

Elma feels the tension between the brothers, "I think I'll leave you two to talk," she says and leaves the room.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriel asks his brother, "I warned you six years ago that you should leave that fucking hunter alone but you didn't listen and now look at where the fuck we are," Samuel says.

"You are saying shit like I wanted any of this to happen," "Well, you could have fucking prevented it. Now, you have dead parents on your hands".

Gabriel leaves the corner of the room and walks closer towards his brother's position, "Don't go telling me about dead people blood on my hands, you don't even know how many lives you've taken. Self-righteous prick," Gabriel says in anger.

Samuel scoffs and sips his whiskey, "Look, I didn't mean it like that Gabe" "Then what the fuck do you mean, Sammy?" Gabriel raises his voice in anger.

Samuel can see his brother is hurting, "Hey" he drops the glass down, "We are going to scale through this together like always," "What about her, Sammy? What about Rachael?", Gabriel says in sadness.

Samuel stands up and meets his brother, he puts his hands on Gabriel's shoulders, "We can't bring Mrs. McQueen back but we are going to be there for Rachael no matter what happens" Samuel says and Gabriel nods with a sad face.

"And I didn't mean what I said earlier, none of this is your fault. Don't blame yourself, we can only move forward from here".

CLOUDS

A 6'2ft man walks into the club with a couple of men behind him, they are all in suits, he brushes his wavy long brown hair with his hand as he walks toward the counter with a majestic charisma.

He smiles at a few girls in the club showing his sparkling white teeth, he rubs his stubble beards that compliment his handsome face.

He meets the bartender, "Hello" he pulls out a badge, "NYPD, I want to talk to your boss" he says.

The bartender, Bryan, who is a vampire quickly spots the name on the badge before the man returns it to his pocket, "They aren't in Detective Peace, they have been out of town for a while now" Bryan says as he looks at the taller man sternly.

"For what, if I may ask detective?" Bryan asks, "I just want to ask them a few questions about this establishment. We've gotten a few reports but it's nothing serious," he says.

He drops his card on the counter, "Have them call me when they return," the detective says, Bryan looks at the card, "Detective Warren Peace" he mouths, "That's me" Warren says with a smile.

"I will make sure they get this when they return," Bryan says like a lifeless puppet, "Hmm, yes" Warren Peace turns and leaves.

Bryan eyes the man's fair skin and observes the men with him until they exit the club.

He said "them", so he has probably done some research.

This is a sketchy character; Bryan thinks as he pockets the card.

Warren walks out of the club. He walks to a car and gets into the backseat while the men with him enter different cars.

He pulls out his cell and dials a number, "I have seen the place. They aren't in but the place is crawling with vampires, whoever these guys are they aren't humans", he says into his cell phone.

"Yes. Hail the Lantern".