1 One

Rogue vampires.

The night was full of them in the midnight hour, and the only thing that humans think the entities of the night are a myth or fantasy. Malcolm had hunted down rogue vampires for centuries, since now it's the twenty-first century, they looked oddly different in the midnight hour. Female vampires, to be exact. With their half-naked bodies at nightclubs, and males seducing other females, it was a full night of sin.

Within the Brothers , Malcolm was the leader. He and his fellow brethren protect his vampire race, from a rogue vampire society, The Shadow Realm, which they are determined to annihilate each and every one of them.

With that being said, there were four Shadow Rogue vamps out in the darkness, preying on their victims. Humans.

For Malcolm and several other Brothers, this was a mission. A task. They couldn't focus on anything else but hunting down vampires.

He hid on the rooftop of a nightclub, it was a quiet place to hunt. One vamp decided to go inside the club, probably to lure a human into their trap. In Malcolm's eyes, that's exactly what they did.

A woman, a puny, petite blonde, drunk off her ass tonight.

As Malcolm watched them slowly, he paid close attention to one rogue, who was luring the drunk female to their trap. Malcolm had special abilities, including super active hearing, so he overheard the rogue vampire saying that he needed to feed. He couldn't have that on his duty.

By that time, the rogues pushed the drunken female to the ground, crying in her own filth and fear. "Please don't kill me," she cried.

"It won't hurt, I promise," A rogue said with a sly look on its face.

The rogues hissed at the female and began to scream on the top of her lungs. Malcolm got a hold of his crossbow, and aimed it straight toward the rogues who were trying to feed off her.

He hit the first rogue, the arrow struck through its heart.

And then, there were three. Another rogue looked up where the arrow Malcolm shot had come from, so he crouched down so they wouldn't be able to see him before they would kill him. Not on his watch.

"Who's up there?" A female rogue yelled. "Come out and show yourself, bitch!"

Malcolm wasn't hesitant at all. He showed his face to the rogue vampires. Hopefully they would leave the poor blonde alone.

The female rogue reached for her gun out of her purse, and aimed at Malcolm. Eventually, he dodged the bullet, when she shot it, because he's smarter and wiser than the rogues.

As the female rogue wasn't looking, Malcolm shot the arrow at the rogue and struck another heart.

Two more left.

Malcolm jumped off the roof and landed in the alley where the drunken female was hiding her face, scared to death. The last two rogues stood right in front of the female, so he wouldn't stop them from feeding off her. It was too late, though.

Malcolm reached in his dark trench coat and what he had in his pocket was a silver dagger. The most powerful weapon that a royal vampire has used for a rogue.

"What are you going to do, stab us?"

Then, Malcolm said in a sinister, dark tone,

"Yes."

He started to stab the rogue on the right, then attempted to stab the rogue on the left but he disappeared in thin air before he could slay it.

Damn it.

The harder part was how to tell this female she's safe now. The look of her eyes looked fearsome. She was still scared. Thank God they didn't kill her before Malcolm would be a suspect.

He crouched down to talk to the scaredy cat female, he tapped on her shoulder, and she obviously was still jumpy from what almost happened to her tonight.

"Listen, it's going to be okay," he said to the female. "Can you walk?"

She nodded as tears rolled down her face. She stood on her feet, still intoxicated, but at this moment, Malcolm didn't know if he would help her. Maybe help her halfway.

"Look into my eyes," he told her.

So, she looked right into his eyes. Her eyes rose and turned pure white. It meant the female's memory was in the process of wiping away, but only what had happened tonight.

As soon as her memory had been wiped away, Malcolm told her that she fell asleep but then woke up in the dark alley.

She walked away after that.

Then, Malcolm's phone rang, one of the Servants that worked for the Brotherhood, decided to call him while he's on duty. So, he answered the phone, not being happy at all.

"What?" He answered.

"Sire, someone from a local club is in grave danger. I could see it."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Shadow Realm. Someone is trying to plan a killing in the Shadow Realm. My premonition never lies, sire."

"Who?"

"Her name is Briana Wilson. She is a journalist for the New Orleans Detectives Division."

"Where is she headed tonight?"

"To Club Nocturnal, sire."

Malcolm was intrigued, knowing what kind of job this female had. He was definitely intrigued. "I'll check it out soon," he sighed, hung up the phone, and went off into the darkness.

***

Briana Wilson's whole body tensed up as she had risen up from her bed, sleeping until midnight to get ready for her friend's performance at a nightclub. Her friends were dressing the part, all black.

Briana was a young twenty something, brunette hair looked like a chocolate river, her perfect emerald green eyes lit up the night, and her smile that a man couldn't resist. Briana might've been a journalist, but she was also stronger than she actually looked, which made her a sexy woman.

Her friend and fellow roommate, Evie Welsh, walked upstairs where Briana had been the whole time, and noticed Briana still not getting her clothes on, and Evie was a little perturbed about it. "Briana!" Evie said, "We have to go soon. I don't want to miss our performance tonight.

"What's the name of the club?"

"Nocturnal."

Briana scoffed as if she didn't want to go to Nocturnal. Hell, she didn't even know if it was a goth-themed club or a vampire-themed club.

So, Briana made the sacrifice to get dressed for the part and be a good friend to Evie.

Briana was the unofficial manager for Evie's band, the Bloodlust, they'd been recording demos in Evie's apartment, performing at nightclubs, cafes, and sporting events, and no one really appreciated their art.

Anya and Gabi, Evie's bandmates, came upstairs as well and impatiently waited for Briana's slow ass to get ready for the last ten minutes. "Guys, we have to go, like now. The nightclub is closing at one-thirty in the morning."

"My God, Briana hurry up!" Evie raised her voice.

"Okay, okay." Briana said, as she laced her last boot. "There, I'm done."

"Good. Let's go." Evie dragged Briana out of her own room and traveled downstairs to get the car keys, so they would make the club before one-thirty.

"Wait," Briana paused. "Where's Bella?"

"She is meeting us at the club. Let's go now." Anya said.

Once the girls got into the Hummer and drove off into the moonlight, Briana thought what if Bella didn't show up to the club? What if something happens to her in an instant?

Evie looked at Briana, analyzing her facial expressions, the way that Brianna's face didn't look happy and joyful, more like concerned and dreadful, and she doesn't know why.

"What's wrong, Bri?" Evie asked.

Briana shrugged like she didn't want to say one word. "I just feel something about tonight. I don't know what it is."

"What about tonight?"

"Something about Bella. It's nothing, I promise."

"Are you sure?"

Briana nodded. "I'm sure." She gave Evie a slight, fake smile just to let her know it's all in her head and nothing serious, but maybe it was.

"Okay, we're almost at the club." Gabi said. "Anya, got your guitar?"

Anya nodded. "It's in the trunk."

"Hey Evie, got bass?"

"Yes, girl." Evie held up her bass in mid air.

"Can someone call Bella to see if she had her keyboard?"

"I can." Briana volunteered.

As Briana grabbed her phone, and dialed Bella's phone number, Bella's phone went straight to voicemail, which was odd, because Bella always answered her phone. Absurd.

She grunted, as if Bella left her hanging.

"What's the matter, Bri?" Evie asked in concern.

"Bella's not answering her phone, even though she always answers it, but it's weird."

"Well, let's see if we could find her at the club."

They nodded in agreement.

As they pulled up to Club Nocturnal Briana got out of the car first to make another call to Bella, and she still didn't answer her phone, so she just left Bella a message.

Evie was next to get out of the car, to check on Briana, since she felt that something might've happened with Bella tonight. But, she was not going to let it ruin Briana's worrying and anxiety.

"Any luck?"

Briana shook her head. "I don't get it, though. Why isn't she answering her phone call?"

Then, Anya and Gabi came last to get out of the car, Gabi handed the car keys to one of the valets, and discreetly whispered in his ear about something that probably was irrelevant.

"Okay, you're ready?" Briana asked the group.

"I don't feel complete without Bella." Anya said.

"Okay, well I left a message saying that if doesn't show up then you're performing without her."

"What? No!" Anya yelled.

The girls scoffed impatiently.

"This is not the night to debate on this. You heard what Briana said, we're performing without her and that's it."

"No," Anya whined, felt like she wanted to cry as well.

Briana pushed Anya all the way into the club, and hopefully there was a miracle that Bella was in the club getting bottled up and having a good time. But they were wrong.

***

Club Nocturnal was a vampire-themed nightclub, where everything you'd seen screamed vampire. Bloodied drinks the bartenders were serving, skulls and black and white candles for decorations. Blood dripped along the walls, and a stage was big enough for five people, well, four now. And the girls were still wondering, where was Bella?

Briana began to look around the club seeing if Bella had shown up, but there was no one that she had recognized. All of the clubbers were dressed very aristocratic. None of them had wore any colors besides red. It was definitely vampire themed.

"Well, no sign of Bella." Brianna said. "All right girls, you know what to do."

Two out of the three girls nodded, Anya was still unsure about performing without Bella. They were close friends, very close. And if something happened to her, Anya would be damned.

Briana tapped on Anya's shoulder and whispered in her ear. "Listen, you need to work with us and not against us, Bella may not be feeling well, or whatever her situation is. Perform and play your guitar like it's no tomorrow. Perform for the crowd. And perform on behalf of Bella."

Anya began to cry again, acknowledging the fact that Bella was probably running late or something. But it wouldn't let it stop her. "Thank you, Bri." Anya smiled, with a crack in her voice.

"You're welcome." Briana also smiled. "Let's get on stage, girly."

The crowd were impatiently waiting for the performance for a lifetime from the Bloodlust. Briana's concern was that the audience not interested in the band's music, since it was a new flavor of sound to their newly-profound persona.

Briana went up to the stage to present the band, as she supposed to.

"Hello, ladies and gents and thanks for coming out tonight at Nocturnal," she said as the audience clapped their hands, some hissed like vampires. "Tonight, we have a special guest for y'all. Here to play one their original songs, My Last Breath, the band I manage, The Bloodlust."

The audience roared and hissed in excitement. It seemed like they wanted to hear the music earlier but no good vibes came out of tonight, until the Bloodlust played.

As the band played their song, Briana went outside to make sure that Bella made it to the club or not.

Outside of the club was completely empty. No one was out, not even people smoking cigarettes. It was an odd night.

Then, Briana noticed something cryptic from the alley. A silhouette of male figures hovered around a woman. She didn't know what was going on. What were they doing?

As she went to check out the commotion, Briana snuck in between the wall and a Dumpster, and watched them, carefully and slowly, so if they did something dreadful, she needed to call 9-1-1. As of right now, the men were hovering around this woman who was on the ground, shaking and shivering.

These men had leather jackets with white fangs and fire around it embroidered in the back. Briana didn't know what that meant, but it wasn't good either.

One of the men decided to crouch down at the woman and bit into her neck. She screamed in horror like there was no tomorrow.

What the fuck? She thought, appalled of what she'd seen. What are they?

Briana was stunned; she couldn't move a muscle after that. She realized this wasn't normal behavior. She breathed heavily to the point where the men heard her, and dematerialized in thin air. And the woman who was on the ground was someone that she knew. Briana became heartbroken after that. It was Bella.

No, no, no. It can't be. Briana wanted to call the police, but what were they going to do? Arrest the cannibalistic psycho biker gang for sucking the blood out of Bella? Briana couldn't get over it, so she went back to Club Nocturnal, and as soon as the band stopped playing, Anya, Gabi, and Evie were taking shots of vodka and lime to clear their throats.

Briana came in hyperventilating and panicking.

"Hey, Bri," Evie said, "Why does it look like you're scared?"

Briana took a deep breath. "I saw Bella," she said.

"Where is she? We actually played without her, even though we killed that performance." Anya replied, raising her voice as if she was angry at Bella, which she was.

"I saw her dead." Briana cried out.

"What do you mean you saw her dead?" Evie asked in curiosity.

"I went outside, and something was odd about this, I saw these biker-looking dudes hovering around this woman, and next thing I know, she screamed and then dead. I took a look at her face and it was Bella."

Everyone paused for a moment.

"Are you sure it was Bella, and not someone who looks like her?"

"Her body was outside in the alley," she said.

The girls looked at each other, and then back at Briana.

"I can show you where her body was."

The girls nodded in agreement, and they followed her outside to the alley.

Once they turn the corner, Evie looked at Briana in disbelief, and she didn't know why, either.

"Is this a joke, Briana?"

"What is?" She asked.

"There's no dead body here."

"What are you talking about?" Briana walked over to where Evie's standing. And as she thought, she was right.

Where the hell did she go? "I was watching the whole thing. You guys, you have to believe me."

"Briana, don't make jokes about death. It's irrelevant. The next time you wanna make a joke about Bella, I'm kicking you out," Evie said, "Come on, girls, we're going home."

Then, the girls walked to the Hummer, and as for Briana, she couldn't believe that Bella just disappeared like that. Where did she go?

I will find Bella, and whoever killed her have another thing coming. Or am I crazy?