The man at the Crossroads proved to be a man of his word and delivered the information Anna needed in three days. A pact was made: sometime in the future Anna had to do something for him. She had no illusions: however friendly the mysterious vampire was, if she refuses to obey when the time comes, she will die. Even without her blood, the vampire had enough money and manpower to find and have her killed.

So after she dealt with the situation at hand, Anna planned to look into the whole "a favour for a favour" system of his, and take him down before he could ask anything from her. That wasn't exactly fair, they were business partners after all, but Anna never promised to play nicely, and she couldn't afford it either: in the word she lived being nice and fair was equal to being dead.

Now that she finally had the information she wanted so much, Anna used it to set up a trap. She chose the Russian man: according to the papers and police reports the man at the Crossroads dug up, his name was Dmytro Yavorsky, he was actually Ukrainian but more importantly, he had turned into a vampire only fifteen years ago, so he surely hadn't developed any fancy vampire-superpower yet. Of course, the fae helmet protected Anna from mind control, but it was only the most common vampire-ability, and one could never know what freaky new kind of hell an old vampire could bring.

And the other one, the redhead teenage girl-looking one was old. There was less trustworthy material about her, probably because she was born a long time before most of the databases were even made. Her name was either Bonnie or Daisy, depending on the decade and probably her mood. She was only a little shy of 200, but her exact date of birth was a mystery. Bonnie had a very colourful carrier: she used to work as a prostitute, hitwoman, maid (until the family hired her was find torn apart at one morning, maid, money and jewellery missing), dancer (both professional and erotic) detective (ten honest years at the Scotland Yard in the '60s and '70s), teacher (English for 5 years then Math for 7 in a different decade), artist (she was a talented painter) and even as a bodyguard. She was also married at least seven times in her 200 years, mostly to rich men who all died early and in mysterious circumstances. Her most recent photo was actually a wedding picture, almost twenty years old, but the good thing was, she surely hadn't changed a bit since then. Unlike her husband, who was long dead.

So no, Anna had no intention to mess with that woman until it was absolutely and inevitably necessary. Yavorsky was big and judged by his pictures and crime reports somewhat insane, but that was still more desirable than 200 years of experience in how not to get caught.

The trap wasn't even a real trap. The records didn't have Yarowsky's address, but he was arrested three times in the same pub for physical abuse, so Anna figured that must be his favourite spot. She spent two evenings on a rooftop across the pub, and sure enough, the vampire showed up in the second one. Better yet, he came alone. All Anna had to do was to follow him after he left, catch him and make him talk.

One hour went by, then another. Anna wished she had a book or at least she could take out her phone, but it was too risky: Yarowsky could have spotted the light on the roof through the windows. It was a cold evening with the wind howling between the low buildings. The pub was on one of those local High Streets, between a small, now dark Tesco and a dry cleaner. There was nothing special about the neighbourhood, just one of the exact same streets with the exact same shops, restaurants, coffee houses. Every area got at least one of those streets.

Yarowsky stayed until the last call, then left as he came, alone. Anna was very thankful to see him because she was freezing up on the rooftop. She needed to figure out how to make her outfit winter stakeout-ready.

The girl let him gain half a street of advantage before she jumped to the next roof. Yarowsky surely didn't have any unique and deadly vampire-ability, but he had much more sensitive hearing than a human being. Anna didn’t want to attack him until the last of the pub's customers was off the street: she was certain that Yarowsky would put up one hell of a fight, and he didn't seem the kind of guy who cares about innocent bystanders. Fortunately, the vampire was headed for the local park that cut the street short, in the opposite direction than the bus stop where the last two drunks waited at. The problem was that Anna would soon run out of rooftops to jump on, let alone metal to use as a weapon if she had to follow him into the park.

The bus came from behind the corner, a big, red rectangle of noise and light, and Yarowsky disappeared behind it from Anna's view for a few seconds as it went by. Anna gave it a long look just in case Yarowsky would have spotted her and wanted to sneak away by grabbing on the bus, but he did nothing as such.

He had spotted her however, and the second when the bus wasn't between them anymore, he let something long fly towards the girl. It was one of the bars from the fence that separated the park from the footpath. It flew like a spear and Anna had only enough time to duck before the thing impaled the chimney behind the very spot she was crouching. Dust and pieces of bricks exploded around. The girl's feet slipped, she lost her balance and started to roll towards the edge of the roof. She managed to grab the gutter which cried out and bent under her weight. There was no way it could hold her longer than a few seconds.

Fortunately, it didn't need to, as Yarowsky tore out another bar with a horrible noise and aimed for Anna. She felt the metal coming, but couldn't use her power over it, because she had to actually see it for that. So she let the gutter go to avoid the bar.

The house wasn't particularly high, only one level above the ground one, but the landing hurt nevertheless. Especially because Anna fell onto the concrete driveway instead of the flower-bed next to it. The air ran out of her lungs and even with the helmet on she saw little lights for a second or two. She really wanted to stay there, lying on the concrete until she could catch her breath again, but that wasn't an option.

She climbed to her feet using the hood of the car on the driveway to push herself straight. As she looked around for a moment she couldn't see the vampire and thought that he was hiding in some shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to attack. She switched to heat vision and saw him running away with inhuman speed in the park. Now she was glad that it was cold: vampires had much colder body temperature than humans and Yarowsky would have gotten away unseen on a warm summer night.

Anna sighed. Things were not going according to her plan. She grabbed the metal fence with her mind and pulled herself towards it, flying over the bars and landing on her feet some five metres behind them.

The park was dark, without lampposts, but it wasn't a problem either for Anna nor for a vampire. She started to run, pulling herself closer and closer by metal-framed benches, but Yarowsky was way too fast. She knew that she couldn't gain on him on the ground. So she rummaged her pockets and found what she was looking for: a little marble. It was one of the most expensive instant spells she ever bought, mostly because she had them to modify it: the little ball had a tiny metal pin in it now so Anna could control its fly.

She threw it and made sure that it would shatter and activate itself at the right place.

A weird, whooshing noise and Yarowsky had to stop: he stood in the middle of a big circle made out of roaring, very tall blue flames. Fire was one of the few things that could really hurt a vampire so Anna figured she would bring some, just in case. Even if it put her three weeks worth of salary behind.

Yarowsky turned around and looked at Anna through the wall of dancing flames. The girl saw that he was smiling, and it was not what she wanted to see at all. She walked up to him slowly, with another instant spell in one hand.

'We need to talk,' she said when she was only some ten steps away. The fire was so hot she couldn't go any closer.

'You a girl,' said Yarowsky surprised. 'Nobody told Yarowsky you a girl.'

'Is that a problem? Would you like a male vigilante instead?' asked Anna impatiently.

The man shook his head with a grin.

'Yarowsky loves killing girls. Girl blood taste better.'

'Lovely,' said Anna. 'I'm afraid there will be no killing tonight, so let's just cut to the chase: who is your boss? Who hired you?'

'Yes, yes, cut. Yarowsky love to cut girls.'

Anna lost her last fragment of patience and took out a medium-size flashlight. She flashed it into Yarowsky's eyes and he let out a half-surprised, half painful shout. Sunlight didn't turn vampires into dust, not even direct one, but it could hurt them if they stayed in it for a long time, and their eyes were especially sensitive to it. This flashlight was a common self-defence tool sold by almost every shop in every corner. They rode the wave of anti-vampire mood in the city and they made money out of people's irrational fears, but the torches worked nevertheless.

'I am asking one more time: who is your boss?'

'Yarowsky will cut you open, little girl,' the man said, taking out a knife that wasn't much smaller than a machete. Then he stepped forward… One step, two, three, and he just walked through the flames.

'You've got to be kidding me,' groaned Anna.

The fire bit into his face, eagerly tearing the skin and the flesh, but he was still smiling as his face blackened. The smell of burning hair and roasting flesh scratched Anna's throat even through the helmet. Yarowsky's jean jacket smouldered but it didn't catch fire. Anna started to retreat slowly, with her eyes on the man.

'Yarowsky will cut out girl's heart now and will eat it,' he promised.

'I mean, you could try…' said Anna with much more confidence in her voice than she actually felt. There was not much metal around and her strategy was based on the assumption that fire can stop vampires. The situation seemed to simplify very quickly: there were the two of them and the huge knife. Anna wanted to live. Yarowsky wanted to kill. Hence, one of them had to die.

Anna never killed anyone before. Yes, she broke more bones than she could have counted, she had beaten up dozens, if not hundreds, she sent a lot of people to the hospital, but she never killed anyone. And yet, here she was, facing an insane vampire who won't stop until one of them was dead.

'Want little girl run? Heart taste better after run…' his face already began to heal.

Anna switched on the flashlight but Yarowsky was ready for that, he jumped forward with his eyes closed and the two of them collapsed. Anna dropped the flashlight as Yarowsky landed on her, and felt the air leaving her again, the second time this evening. She was happy that the knife wasn't in her stomach just yet, but it was only because she had used her power to avoid that.

She ripped a bench out of the ground and hit the vampire with it. Yarowsky rolled off of her and Anna leapt to her feet. She threw another bench at him but the man just slapped it aside as if it was weightless.

'You die now, little girl,' he grinned. 'He said you will come. Crazy man said you always come, ruining his business. He said Yarowsky can kill you.'

'Who? Who said?'

But she knew already. Who else? She suspected him all along. There was only one man in the city who wanted to see her dead, who had his shady businesses ruined by Anna from time to time. Only one man who knew that she would show up sooner or later.

Now she just had to escape so she could use this information.

The vampire attacked. Anna was ready to send a few bearing balls through his brain, but she didn't have to, because out of nowhere a small figure jumped the man's back, and as if it was nothing, tore his head apart from his body. She leapt down before the body fell on the grass. She wore a light, red sundress complimenting her beautiful, red hair. She had a lot of freckles and a radiant smile.

'You will have to forgive my friend,' Bonnie said, raising the bleeding head a little. 'He has really bad manners. Aren't you, Dmytro?' she threw the head onto the fire.

Anna didn't know what to say or do. She could have taken out Yarowsky, but she didn't stand a chance against Bonnie, not without preparing for the fight.

'Now what do we do with you, sweetheart?' she asked brightly. 'Good old Dmytro hadn't said anything useful, but you are still here, sniffing around, and I don't like it. My boss doesn't like it either. Tell you what, girly: I will let you decide. Try your silly little tricks on me to get me to talk, and you will die. Walk away and I'll let you live until you cross my way again. What'll it be?'

'Why did you kill him?' Anna asked.

Bonnie shrugged. The wind grabbed her skirt and danced around with it. Even on the edge of panic, Anna could see how beautiful this woman was.

'He was a risk. I hired him to help me out with my job but I don't need him anymore and as you could have seen, he was a talkative idiot. He would have told something to someone sooner or later. And hey, thanks! Now I don't have to pay him,' she smiled at Anna gratefully. 'Now be very, very careful: more nosiness could get you killed.'

Anna lifted her hands.

'No more questions,' she said.

'Clever girl. Now get the hell out of here before I change my mind.'

Anna did as she was told. All the way to home she stopped in every five minutes, scanning carefully around, in case she was being followed. She even used a can of special spray that was supposed to cover her scent.

She was trembling from the unused adrenaline and fear when she finally slipped into her room through the window. She dropped on her bed and took the helmet off. Her little vigilante-phone beeped, and she jumped up because of the noise.

It was a short message and a link, from the Gentleman. The message said "What the hell?" Anna clicked on the link and it led her to one of the big news sites. BREAKING NEWS: THE VIGILANTE KNOWN AS THE GHOST SUSPECTED IN THE BRUTAL MURDER OF LOCAL SMALL-TIME CRIMINAL.

So that's why Bonnie let her go, she thought. She was angry but felt almost a kind of crooked respect towards the vampire. That was a very smart move. From now on Anna had to be much more careful than ever, not to mention that even if she had a chance to get the help of the police, it was over. Very, very smart.

But it didn't matter. She knew who was behind the attacks, after months of struggling she finally knew it. It didn't come as a surprise, though: after all, if anything bad happened in this goddamn city, there was always a very good chance that it happened for the order of Attila Kovach...