1 The Book of the Vampires: The Demons of the Underground

"Roll up, roll up, roll up. Come get tickets to see the Circus of Tzas." The young boy shouted whilst pestering as many adults as he could to buy some tickets. Only one responded to him however, and it was really out of pity more than anything else. She certainly wasn't going to see a Circus of all things, but she couldn't leave the little urchin to go hungry.

The young urchin was somewhat intimidated by the sight of this strange lady, who he knew from reputation. She was quite unlike anyone else in all of London. Dressed completely in dark, yet fancy clothing, whilst her skin was whiter than snow. Her nose was enormous meanwhile, whilst her eyes were a piercing green. Finally her hair was styled into a towering beehive. The lady was also smoking too which the young boy thought was most unlady-like. When she smiled, the boy could see what appeared to be sharp teeth, though only for a few seconds.

Despite her somewhat elegant if unusual appearance. When she spoke it was in an extremely gutteral, thick cockney accent.

"Awright Darling, ere have one on me." she said in a friendly tone as she handed him some money. After a few second's hesitation the boy accepted before running away. He may have been scared of this eccentric lady, but this was more money than he'd ever been given before. He shouted thank you at her as he ran away. Almost too intimidated to even look back.

The lady in question, Carlene, had built up quite a reputation in the local area. Despite being here for over six decades since 1824. (Where she had apparently appeared out of nowhere.) She seemingly hadn't aged a day and still had the appearance of a woman in her 20s. Furthermore any time there was something weird happening Carlene was always there and over the years a number of her closest associates had been of a somewhat strange nature to say the least. In fact at one point the group she hung around with were actually known as the Freakish Family. Even her local, the Rose and Crown was a bar that most regular people tended to shun, with some speculating it was a monster pub. At the very least there were a number of strange occurrences near or in the bar. Still despite the fact that many suspected her of witchcraft or worse. Carlene had the full protection of the police force.

The truth was Carlene didn't belong in this city, or even this time. She had been pulled from her own era of 2007, by a supernatural force and thrust into the early 19th century. She had never really adapted well to this era, though to be fair even in her own time Carlene had never really fitted in.

Carlene was a vampire, specifically of the breed known as the Heklox. Unlike almost all other members of her kind, Carlene had learned to control her blood lust many years ago (or rather many decades in the future.)

Over the years Carlene had helped the police defeat many dangerous adversaries and monsters, but even they still didn't entirely trust her either. Nevertheless the vampire was too useful to them as she had a greater knowledge of the paranormal than anyone else in the city. 

Carlene often had a similar relationship with the authorities wherever she stayed for any given period of time. Even with the protection of the police, people in the local area would still bother Carlene. They'd throw things through the vampire's windows, or refuse to serve her in a restaurant, hence why the Rose and Crown had remained her local for several decades in a row now.

Carlene had just been to the police station to help them crack an important case. It involved the zombified corpse of the former criminal mastermind, and evil wizard Doctor Masterik. She had been fighting Masterik for several years, having even foiled an attempt by the wizard to condemn all of England to a horrific curse. She had actually killed him in a previous battle, but unfortunately the criminal's servants had found a way using his own black arts to revive him.

The vampire was sure she had seen the last of him this time however. "Even that bugger couldn't put himself together again after that." Carlene thought as she walked home through the foggy streets of Victorian London.

After that ordeal, Carlene just wanted to get home, have a cold glass of cow blood, and then have a long day's sleep after the night she had. (Her kind,unlike most breeds of vampire, would not be destroyed in the sunlight, but she still slept during the day anyway.) However when the beehive topped vampire reached her house she found two children sitting anxiously on the steps.

One of them was a girl about 16 or 17 years old, whilst the other was a boy who couldn't have been older than 12.

"Awright, is there something I can do to help you both?" Carlene said, wondering if she was going to have to get her windows fixed again.

"Please you have to help us" the little boy mumbled through tears as his sister hugged him tight.

"Now, now darling don't cry" Carlene said as she comforted the boy.

The sister spoke more firmly with Carlene.

"Look, I know who you are. You're, you're not human are you mam? Normally when we see you in the street we give you a wide berth like everybody else, but please, our little brother, he was.... He was taken by something. I don't know what, but it wasn't human. It snatched him and then it went into the underground. I looked but I couldn't". She had to stop there to regain her 

composure. Carlene put her hand on the young girl's shoulder much to the urchin's surprise before she continued.

"Please I know you don't care about us, no one does, but I need your help. I'm begging you" the young girl broke down and got on her knees.

"You're right darling I may not be human, but I do still care. Of course I'll help you both. You can stay at my house for as long as you need and I'll search for your brother right away, but I'm going to need some more information about this creature that took your little brother. Okay love?"

The girl was shocked by Carlene's answer. She had heard rumours about her being a demon, and had always thought she looked quite creepy. She had only gone to this strange lady in black because she felt the police wouldn't know how to deal with the monsters. Still the girl thought she would have to bargain with Carlene or even blackmail her by revealing that she was a demon to the police (as if they didn't already know) but to her surprise Carlene was extremely gentle and sympathetic.

"What's your name darlin?." Carlene asked.

"Ashlei, Ashlei McKay".

"Awright Ashlei, let's get you and your little brother inside, can I ask what your name is young man?"

The little boy was still too upset to properly speak and so Ashlei told Carlene her little brother's name. "He's called Tom," Ashlei said softly.

"Well don't worry Tom, I promise I'll find out what happened to your brother okay. Let's just get you somewhere warm first."

Carlene took them inside and told them both to remain here until she got back. She assured the two children that they would be safe. Carlene had placed various protection spells around the house for demons, though she couldn't guarantee that the villagers wouldn't attack the house, she felt sure they would never harm the children at least.

The vampire still had some questions about the creature that had attacked them. She didn't push too hard as she could see how difficult it was for Ashlei to even acknowledge what had happened.

"We were sleeping in Paddington, where we always sleep, next to the tube station. It's a good place to beg, as many people come and go. You're bound to hit on one who is generous eventually. We were all huddled together as usual when suddenly it came, I don't even know what it was."

"It's okay love, I understand, but please I need more information on the creature. Was it a vampire? A demon?"

"I don't know," Ashlei snapped through tears. "I've never seen anything like it. It ripped through the gates of the underground. It was strong, strong and huge. Its skin was slimy, white, and the stench that came from it. I was almost sick. It looked bloated, but it moved so fast. It cornered us before I could even wake the boys. We'd have all been dead if it wasn't for some poor old bugger that distracted it."

Ashlei continued "He was an old drunk who used to wander round the neighborhood at night. Sometimes he'd shout at us to give him the money we'd been given by strangers. I'd generally just ignore him. He was never violent or threatening. To tell you the truth I pitied the poor bugger. I sometimes gave him any spare change I had. He wouldn't get it from anyone else that's for sure. The idiot probably thought it was someone giving us money instead of him again and he ran towards that thing to plead. It tore him to pieces. There was nothing we could have done. We ran as far as we could down the street, but the monster chased us. Eventually me and Tom managed to lose him, but when I turned around I saw that my youngest brother, Brian was gone. I thought he was right behind us, but I was too busy running to even look out for him..." Ashlei stopped trying to make excuses. "I left him. I was a coward and left the person I should have been looking out for the most."

Ashlei collapsed into Carlene's arms.

"Don't worry I promise I'll find that creature" Carlene said.

Tom spoke up "Do you know what it was?"

"No, but from your sister's description it sounds like a vampire."

"You mean like you" Tom replied somewhat nervously.

"No, nothing at all like me, love. I am a vampire, yes, but there are hundreds of different breeds of vampire. They're all monstrous, except for me. I'm a one in a million vampire, but from the sounds of things though this could be a whole new breed. I should be able to track it. I can't imagine it's got that far and even in a place as big as the London underground, a vampire's stench still stands out."

Carlene fetched her various anti vampire weapons and placed them inside her beehive before leaving. The cockney vampire had always worn a beehive, even when she was human. It was in fashion when she was alive in the 60s, but she had kept wearing it in the decades after and before, which often made her stand out from the crowd.

It was still dark outside, though there was probably only half an hour or so of night left. Carlene hoped that this vampire was vulnerable to sunlight.

The beehive topped vampire's house was not far from the tube station where the three children had been attacked. She was able to get there in about 10 minutes. The beggar's corpse meanwhile lay by the stairs leading down to the gates that had been torn open just as Ashlei had described.

The body was mutilated beyond all recognition and his guts had been ripped out. One leg had even been ripped clean off and scattered across to the other side of the road. Carlene placed her dark fur coat over the mangled body as a sign of respect.

"Poor sod" Carlene said to herself "I wonder if there's anyone out there that'll even know the right name to put on your grave stone."

Carlene then tread slowly down the stairs into the underground. She could pick up a very faint scent of something unnatural. Vampires of her breed had an incredibly enhanced sense of smell. Ironically Carlene had always been picked on for having a huge nose growing up. (During her days as a singer in the 60s, many critics had also made unflattering comments about her big nose too. Granted that was a couple of noses ago, as her kind had the power when brought back to alter their physical appearance, though only slightly. Carlene had sadly experienced more than a few deaths since her first. Her nose however was always exceptionally large regardless of how different the rest of her face was. Maybe deep down it was what she wanted as she had become so defiant to the idea of changing it for anyone.) At any rate Carlene traced the scent down the railway, with the stench getting stronger the deeper she went. It eventually led the beehive topped vampire to tiny drops of yellow slime on parts of the rail. Many vampire breeds, particularly the stronger types, dripped slime. In the dark Carlene could also see what looked like a large hole by the side of the railway track.

It looked big enough for two people to slip through, whilst on the other side was a long tunnel, filled with water, ankle deep.

Carlene walked slowly through the water, which appeared to come from a pipe in the left hand side of the wall. She constantly searched around for any sight of the monster or its possible victims, and she soon started to pick up the scent of human blood as well.

Finally when she reached the end of the tunnel the cockney vampire saw that it led to a small waterfall within a huge cavern. In the middle of the cavern was a massive pile of mangled body parts. All that was left of the vampire's previous victims. Just behind the mountain of human remains however Carlene could also see two people chained to a wall. One of them was a teenager aged about 18 years old, whilst the other was a small boy who couldn't have been older than nine. The older boy was struggling in his chains, whilst the younger boy was just crying. Ten feet or so to the right of them was another tunnel.

"Why had they both been spared" Carlene thought? Using her vampire agility and strength, she jumped from the top of the waterfall to right in front of the boys. The vampire must have leaped over 80 feet in one jump!

The two boys recoiled in horror at the sight of Carlene when she landed in front of them without making a single sound.

"I knew it," the elder boy said in terror. "I knew you were in on it. We've always thought you were creepy. I bet that thing's your pet or your son or something"

Carlene rolled her eyes. She didn't have time to bother to explain her full life story to them, and hoped the two boys would see she wasn't there to hurt them by her actions.

As Carlene went to try and rip the chains off the wall however, she heard a thumping noise. It was coming from the tunnel to the right of the boys. The beehived vampire instantly jumped onto the wall above the tunnel, which her supernatural powers allowed her to stick too.

She waited patiently for the monster to emerge. The boys kept quiet as they weren't sure what she was doing and didn't think anyone could help them anyway.

The monster slowly crept out of the tunnel. Ashlei wasn't lying in her description. The abomination must have stood about eight feet tall. It had to crouch when walking down the tunnel. Its skin was completely white, whilst there were horrible, yellow, wet patches all over its body. Its hands were also dripping with yellow slime too, whilst its claws ended in rotting, but very sharp talons. The monster's eyes were bright green meanwhile with a red pupil, whilst its hair was white, thinning and scraggly.

The blood sucker's mouth was filled with long razor sharp fangs like any vampire, whilst a putrid green slime slobbered from its mouth and down its chest.

Its entire body was bloated, but its stomach in particular was massive, whilst tiny green and yellow warts and spots littered its bulky frame.

As the repulsive brute moved towards the two boys, smiling with sadistic delight. Carlene reached into her beehive for a weapon. Her beehive had become more than just a fashion choice over the years. It was in fact a magical weapons chest, bigger on the inside than the outside, and created by the strongest magics. Carlene pulled out a long wooden stake, a common weakness of many vampire breeds (including her own) and jumped on the bloated vampires back with a tremendous speed. The beast, completely taken by surprise, tried to shake her off, but Carlene dug her claws deep into its flesh. The monster was every bit as disgusting to touch as it was to look at. Its skin was ice cold, so much it was almost burning! Carlene probably couldn't have pulled her hand away even if she wanted without some force the slime was so thick.

Carlene then rammed the stake straight into the monster's back and pushed it with all her strength through the layers of fat and into its heart. The monster didn't even react.

She then reached into her beehive for a silver sharp, but the monster responded by ramming backwards into a nearby wall. Such an act would have crushed an ordinary human into nothing but paste, but Carlene's vampiric constitution allowed her to survive. It was still a most unpleasant experience however as the vampires slimy, warty fat filled her mouth!

The monster would ram her again and again a few more times, but Carlene after having become practically embedded in its back used all of her strength to pull herself off of the monster.

She then ran towards the waterfall and immersed herself in it. The slime that covered her body from the monster's back was painful as well as revolting. It stung all over her body.

If it had been the sewers, Carlene would still have dumped herself in the sewage to get the slime off!

She then pulled out a gun from her beehive loaded with silver bullets and fired three shots into the monster's heart. Again it did little to deter it, with the monster simply twitching for a few seconds before laughing. Carlene then pulled out an axe from her beehive. It was made from Bronsicate, a metal forged by the gods themselves, and was capable of piercing the skin of just about any creature on earth.

With one swing of her blade she took the bloated beasts hand clean off. Within seconds however it completely regrew its hand. Carlene was more than a little shocked. She'd rarely seen a vampire with that kind of healing capability before. It must be a very old, or perhaps even an alpha vampire.

The monster charged at Carlene. It was fast, faster than any human could possibly be, but fortunately Carlene was faster. She went for the monster's stumpy leg next with her axe which took it clean off. Though the leg regrew again, the monster still stumbled to the ground, allowing Carlene to strike the vampire in the back of the neck.

Unfortunately however before she could fully part the beast's head from its shoulders, the bloated vampire managed to grab the axe, whilst it was in its neck!

With its other hand the monster then threw Carlene about ten feet across the room, whilst it was still clutching her axe.

The vampire's strength absolutely dwarfed Carlene's. It would probably take about 30 of Carlene's breed to arm wrestle this vampire.

"Oh bollocks" Carlene said to herself when the creature came charging at her, wielding her own axe. She fished through her beehive again but before she could pull anything out the monster reached Carlene, swinging her own axe. She managed to dodge it in time with her still greater speed allowing her to continue to dodge the vampire's attacks afterwards, but only just, and she wasn't able to pull anything out of the portable weapons chest on her head in the meantime.

The larger vampire was getting visibly frustrated. It wasn't used to an enemy that could evade its attacks. Carlene meanwhile tried to keep the monster away from the children. She lured it back towards the waterfall, and her chance came when it briefly stuck its axe in the wall. It was only for a moment, but that was all the smaller, more agile vampire needed to flip back 20 feet in the air and stick to the wall next to the waterfall.

This vampire didn't look like a jumper so Carlene could safely test which of the weapons in her beehive would work on the monster from up here. First Carlene threw a gold dagger straight into its throat which did nothing. Then she shot it several times using a gun loaded with iron bullets. Then she dropped a magical bomb on the monster, only dangerous to supernatural creatures (but not whoever uses it.) The bomb created a massive blue explosion which enveloped the entire room. When the blast faded however, the bloated vampire stood there perfectly fine.

"You pathetic coward, stop throwing trinkets at me, because you are afraid of a fair fight! Come down and face me!" The vampire shouted or slabberred rather.

"I hardly think a bloke who picks fights with old beggars and children can call anyone a coward, love." Carlene responded.

The monster started throwing things at Carlene. It threw back her gold dagger, and ripped out slabs of concrete from the ground itself which it hurled at Carlene who effortlessly dodged the monster's clumsy throws. Eventually however the beast made a mistake and threw Carlene's axe at the beehived vampire which she caught instantly.

Carlene then jumped towards the two boys again and using her axe broke their chains. "Get behind me boys". They still didn't trust Carlene, but they could see she was at least, the lesser of two evils compared to that monster.

The larger vampire circled Carlene and the boys, waiting for the right moment to strike. As Carlene reached into her beehive for another weapon, the vampire grew impatient and tried to attack her first, but it proved to be a mistake. Once again Carlene sliced the creatures hands off, and whilst it was regrowing them, Carlene pulled a bottle of holy water from her beehive and threw it in the monster's face.

This time there was a reaction. The colossal vampire sank to its knees as its flesh began to sizzle. She then threw another bottle which caused its chest to briefly catch fire.

Afterwards Carlene then walked calmly towards the bloated vampire knowing it wouldn't put up much of a fight now, and raised her axe to part its head from its shoulders.

Just as she was about to strike, however, she was suddenly distracted by the two boys' screams. She spun round and to her horror, stood another vampire similar to the beast she had just fought, holding the two boys in the air by the back of their necks.

This vampire was much smaller than the previous one, and it was a female.

"Drop the axe NOW, and take that stupid thing off your head." The vampire had clearly been watching from the tunnel, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"But it's my actual hair." Carlene responded.

"Really?" the monster said, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah look I'll show you" Carlene replied as she reached into her hair and threw two smoke bombs in the monster's direction. The gas startled the vampire enough to make her drop the two boys, allowing Carlene (who could see through the gas clearly) to grab them. With the two monsters blocking the way to the waterfall, Carlene was forced to run down the tunnel with the two boys.

At the end of the tunnel was a small room which led to three different tunnels. A figure began to emerge from down the left one.

Carlene kept the boys behind her whilst she went to confront it. The figure looked like an ordinary man. He certainly wasn't one of those hideous monsters, but he didn't look well at all.

"Don't be afraid. Everyone might think I'm a bit creepy darling, but I'm here to help. Just let me"

The man interrupted Carlene shouting at her "Please get away. Those things they" he suddenly coughed up a hideous, steaming yellow liquid from his mouth as he clutched his sides and sank to his knees in agony.

The same yellow liquid began to burst out of other parts of his body including the palms of his hands. His arms, legs, torso and face all began to swell too. He screamed, but there was nothing Carlene could do except try and put him out of his misery.

These creatures had infected him and there was no way to reverse the process of becoming a vampire. It was better that he died now. Carlene pulled a sword out of her beehive, but just as she prepared to strike, she was distracted by a singing voice coming from the other end of the tunnel. She turned round to see a strange blue skinned woman slowly walking towards her.

The blue lady had flame red hair, and was dressed in a long flowing white dress. She was incredibly beautiful and her voice seemed to have an effect on both of the two boys and the man changing into a vampire, who seemed to forget the pain he was in as he wandered closer to this strange woman. Carlene had to hold the boys back meanwhile. "I don't get what all the fuss is about." "Her voice is nice, but it's kind of limited. I doubt she could sing anything by Sinatra or Billie." She thought to herself.

Carlene watched as the blue Siren lured the young man near to her. She didn't know why but Carlene didn't think that the creature was evil. Maybe she was falling under its hypnotic spell without realising.

When the man came close to the Siren however, she stabbed him through the heart with a strange knife. Carlene instantly ran towards the Siren, with its victim falling into her arms.

The man began to change back into a human after being stabbed in the heart. At first Carlene felt like attacking the Siren but then she realised that it had only done what she herself was about to do a few seconds earlier. Carlene then pulled the knife out of the victim's heart. The blade was made of copper, obviously a weakness of this breed of vampire. The Siren snatched it back out of Carlene's hand.

"That's alright I've got my own" Carlene said as she ruffled through her beehive. She was sure she had a copper weapon of some kind in there. Copper was a common weakness among certain breeds.

The Siren suddenly pushed Carlene down as she ran towards the two boys. The two giant vampires had made their way down the tunnel. Carlene quickly jumped back up and joined the Siren, pulling a silver sword out instead as it was all she could reach in time.

The Siren slashed at the face of the female vampire who reached out to grab the boys. Carlene meanwhile went for the larger male. She swung her sword at the slimy giant but it managed to dodge her attacks before grabbing the blade, which it then pulled out of Carlene's hand. Carlene however instantly jumped onto the creature's chest and using her full body weight knocked it back into a wall, causing it to drop the sword. She then delivered a flurry of punches to the monster's face before it batted her back across the room.

The Siren meanwhile had been overcome by her vampire. She wasn't anywhere near as skilled a fighter as Carlene. The two boys stood cowering in the back. There was nothing either could have done, and if they had tried to interfere they'd probably just have made things worse.

Carlene attacked the female vampire. She pulled it off of the Siren, though the female vampire however instantly shook Carlene off. Still Carlene's distraction allowed the Siren to pick up her copper knife and stab the female in the heart. The female vampire then crumbled into nothing but a pile of ash on the floor in a matter of seconds.

Carlene and the Siren stood in front of the two boys, both brandishing weapons. The male vampire didn't look scared however.

Several more of its kind soon came trundling down the three corridors. About ten in total. Carlene headed for the two boys whilst the Siren jumped into the crowd of monsters in the middle tunnel. Carlene called at her to stop, but within a few seconds the monsters were on top of the Siren. Carlene tried to help the Siren. She lifted a bottle of holy water from her hair and splashed it over several of the vampires, scattering some of them. Carlene could see fleetingly through the mess of vampires that the Siren had managed to escape thanks to her actions down the middle tunnel, with some of the vampires pursuing her.

Carlene didn't know if the Siren could escape that way, but sadly she didn't have time to worry about her mysterious blue ally. She had to think of the boys who were completely defenseless against the monsters. Grabbing the two boys, one under each arm, she darted back down the corridor to the room with the waterfall, with most of the vampires in hot pursuit.

Fortunately Carlene could outrun the larger vampires no problem and once she reached the waterfall she was able to jump to the top with her vampiric strength. She soon reached the other end of the tunnel above, back onto the railway, with the monsters right on her tail having managed to climb up with their claws. Carlene however was ready for them. She lifted a bottle of holy water out of her hair and poured it into the ankle deep water which filled the tunnel. (Only once she was free on the other end, as holy water was lethal to Carlene's breed of vampire as well.)

The water in the tunnel instantly began to glow yellow and burned the vampire's feet. Some of the blood suckers fell face down into the water from the pain where they quickly dissolved. Others tried to run, but the holy water burned their feet away into nothing and they fell into the water too. Only a few, including the original vampire Carlene had faced (who she was sure had to be the alpha, as he was the largest and strongest) were able to make their way to the end of the tunnel.

Only the alpha had the strength to hurl himself from the top of the waterfall to the other end of the cavern below. The other vampires, too weak from the pain, and their feet having virtually been eaten away, simply fell down the waterfall which burnt them away to nothing.

The alpha meanwhile couldn't stand once it reached the cavern below. Its feet were burnt to a crisp!

Carlene told the two boys to wait behind whilst she crawled along the roof of the tunnel, avoiding the holy water. She told the two boys that if any creatures came up the railway line they were to jump into the holy water where they would be safe. She didn't like to leave them, but she had to make sure there was no one else in the vampire's clutches. .

When Carlene made her way into the cavern, she could see the former alpha lying on the floor, clutching what was left of its feet, and screaming in absolute agony.

It would be an easy kill now, but Carlene almost felt pity for the beast. She would make it quick.

She jumped from the ceiling onto the monster's chest. The beast was too weak to fight back, but it spat at Carlene in a final act of defiance, before she calmly took an axe from her beehive and parted the monster's head from its shoulders. Carlene then searched through the entire underground area. She didn't find any other survivors however, and only one other vampire, which she decapitated with her axe.

In the three rooms at the end of the three tunnels were the chained and mangled corpses of various street urchins. "Poor sods. They were easy meat for these monsters." Carlene didn't find any traces of the Siren, though she did find a large hole in the ceiling. When she investigated it she saw that the hole led to another part of the London underground. There was seemingly nothing around. It was possible the Siren had escaped this way, but Carlene didn't have time to investigate. She couldn't leave the boys any longer.

The two boys had huddled together in the dark, too scared to even move. Neither were sure if they wanted Carlene to return or not. In spite of everything she had done, they still didn't trust her. Nevertheless the two boys couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they saw Carlene crawling back down the roof of the tunnel.

"All right boys, let's get you both home" she said as she descended from the roof.

"I have no home," the older boy replied.

"You do now. You can stay at my mansion for as long as you need."

The two were still unsure of Carlene.

"You can trust me," she said with slight frustration. "I did just save your lives. Also do either of you have a sister and a brother."

The youngest of the two boys suddenly spoke up. "Yes, yes," he said excitedly. "Ashlei and Tom. I tried to keep up with them, but I".

"It's okay," Carlene said. "She and your brother are fine. They sent me here to rescue you. They're at my house waiting for me to come back. Let's not keep them anymore shall we?"

Carlene led the two boys back to her home. The elder boy, whose real name was Daniel, had been part of a group of children who had survived on the streets for years. In fact he had risen up to become the leader of his gang. Sadly they had all been slaughtered by the vampires. The monsters in their cruelty had saved the leader for last.

By the time Carlene returned home with the two boys, it was light. Ashlei and Tom had sat anxiously by the door the entire time for what felt like hours for the two orphans.

They couldn't believe Carlene had kept her word and after hugging her little brother so hard she almost crushed him, Ashlei hugged Carlene too. Both of her brothers were somewhat surprised at her reaction. Their sister had always seemed somewhat hard faced and angry on the streets. To see her cry and show outright affection to anyone or anything was almost as unusual a sight for them as the vampires!

"I'm sorry I was wrong about you." Ashlei said through tears.

"Thanks, but trust me if you saw me when I'm pissed out of my head you wouldn't be saying that," Carlene joked. Sadly the children weren't sure if she was joking or not and there was an awkward silence.

"This is not good, not good at all." Carlene continued as she searched through her beehive for something.

"What are you talking about?" Asked a confused Daniel?

"Oh sorry darling, I just meant that if there is a new breed of vampire out there then that means the book of Khastran must have fallen into the wrong hands."

"The book of what?"

"Let me explain. You children clearly don't know much about vampires. You're the lucky ones."

"Yeah we've really led a charmed life! Oh right, eh sorry about that." Ashlei said.

"Anyway," Carlene continued. "The first member of any vampire breed has to be created from the book of Khastran, who according to the legends was the first demon ever to exist. He and his race the Kardons, fed on the blood and the souls of their victims, and they came to this world thousands of years ago before being slain in a great war with Gods and Angels. Khastran left behind a book, bound in his flesh, and inked in his blood. Each page of the book has the power to turn any human into the first of a new breed of vampire. It is said that when Khastran's children, the vampires, outnumber humanity then he will rise once again. The book was here in London a few years ago. The last I heard Van Helsing hid it somewhere. He didn't tell me where. To be fair I don't think he trusted many people with it, but still it looks like someone's got it now and is creating new vampires."

"How many pages are there in the book". Asked Ashlei, who was clearly petrified. She always tried to appear tough for the sake of her boys, but the thought of there being more creatures like the one that chased her and her brothers being out there, chilled her to the bone.

"Hundreds of thousands I'm afraid."

Carlene paused for a minute to drink a glass of cow blood, much to the others disgust. " Relax, it's just cow blood. I've been waiting all night for that" she said as she went through her hair looking for something.

"Yes" she said after a few minutes as she pulled out the leaflet the boy had given her for the Circus.

"I wouldn't have thought you went in for that rubbish" Ashlei said in surprise.

"I don't love, but I knew I had seen that blue woman before."

She turned the page around, showing that among the many colourful characters on the leaflet was the blue woman with flame red hair that had helped Carlene and the two boys in the sewers.

"It's her, the blue lady with the beautiful voice," Brian said in amazement.

"Yes clearly there's more to this Circus than meets the eye. There was a blue woman in the sewers, Ashlei. She helped us. I'm not sure, but I think she was a Siren. I've heard vague stories about them, they're also a breed of vampire apparently. Whatever the case, she was already there before me. She must know more than us about who is creating these new vampires. It's our only lead."

"Florence! What were you thinking?" The Circus Master said. "I told you not to go down there on your own."

You know how she is arrogant, stuck up. She thinks we're just her sidekicks, here to take her from place to place." Denika interjected.

"Don't project your insecurities onto me Denika. It's not my fault if you're perceived as sidekick material." Florence replied.

"This ship wouldn't even fly without me!" Denika protested.

Fortunately the Circus Master was able to break it up before it led to a fight.

"Please the one advantage we have over those bloodsuckers is the fact that we can work together. Vampires are always such weasely, self serving little backstabbers. Let's not descend to their level? Now Florence, remember, I am the leader here. I put this team together. I value your input like everyone else."

At the back Denika was practically mouthing everything the Circus Master was saying. She was fed up with this crap with Florence every single time.

"Yes well if I had listened to you then those boys would have been ripped apart by those bloodsuckers." Florence interrupted.

"You mean?" He asked.

"Yes, my hunch was right. The vampires were nesting in the underground." Florence replied.

"You took them all out by yourself?" Denika asked.

"Yes I, well okay I was a little out of my depth, but I had help from this strange figure. She was well, a vampire. I could sense it, but at the same time she seemed to be trying to help the children."

"You sure she wasn't just fighting with the other bloodsuckers for petty reasons? Like I said, vampires are chronic backstabbers." The Circus Master asked.

"No, no there was something else going on here. I could tell."

Denika rolled her eyes, whilst the Circus Master seemed genuinely interested in her story.

"What did this supposedly benevolent vampire look like?" The Circus Master asked.

"She was dark haired, quite pretty, dark eyeliner, her hair was up in a kind of wall."

"A wall?" Denika asked.

"Yeah at one point she pulled some weapons out of it. It was very strange."

This all seemed very familiar to the Circus Master who instantly went back into the Tent to check his books.

Denika and Florence soon followed.

"Well what is? Why are you acting so weird?"

"I'll need to check my notes but I think it could be a very important and a very challenging time ahead for us." The Circus Master said.

To Be Continued