Cold Open.

It didn’t take long for the vamp to spot his next meal. He walked through the crowd, zeroing in on her, in her ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS’ pink sash. How grim.

Fresher’s Week was one of his vamp’s favourite times for ethically young fresh blood. He wouldn’t stoop as low as nine year olds like that pack of vampuras did a month or so back, but Fresher’s were young enough still to taste good and not be frowned upon.

The music from the night club speakers was loud. The lights were flashing and whirling and it was quite frankly difficult to see anything. He watched as Birthday Girl had to literally lean into her friend’s ear just to be heard. All perfect conditions. If he was lucky, he’d be able to do it in here and leave before anyone even realised.

He went up to her, and in his best act, shouted, “Oh my God, happy birthday! You look a-maz-ing!” He was lying of course. She looked awful dressed up as a but he wanted to feed from her, not body shame her.

“Oh my gosh thanks!” she yelled back. “Are you on my course?”

“Yes,” the vamp lied.

“Oh my god that’s so cool! I love your outfit.”

“Oh thanks!” He hated his outfit. The one drawback of hunting on Fresher’s Week. Sometimes you had to get creative, and this particular night was fancy dress, and to cover his grey complexion, he went with the awful but successful… Smurf look. Full blue body paint, no top, white daft hat. The full shebang. “You ever made out with a Smurf?”

Birthday Girl laughed and took a sip on the straw in her drink. “Noooo,” she said all coyly.

“I can make your birthday dreams come true then!” Vampura Smurf said.

“Just a little one then,” she said going in for a kiss. It lasted a few seconds, but it was long enough. “Do you want to go and sit somewhere?”

And there he had it. As easy as that.

“Yo yo yo! Fresher’s can I hear you shout?” the DJ said over the track. “The countdown for the foam begins in 3…2…1!” Cannons from around the room and pipes from the ceiling chucked out foam as the crowd went wild for it! Within seconds, everyone was knee deep.

Shit, my paint could come off in this, he panicked, leading Birthday Girl to a small booth. Luckily, she wasn’t too enamoured by the foam, not enough to want to stay in it, and they kissed again.

After a minute, she came up for air. “You can kiss my neck, but no hickeys! I don’t want to look like a skank in lectures tomorrow!”

“Ok!” A hickey is going to be the least of your concern, he thought, chomping at her neck.

Chapter Nine.

“No, we’re waiting for some others first!” Nadheera insisted.

“It could be too late by then,” Lana argued.

“Nadheera’s right. The last report came through saying they had shut themselves in the freezer, so they’re at least safe for now. There’s no need to risk our lives,” Bridget said.

“What do you think Henry?” Lana asked.

“I’m sure Henry is only thinking about following orders,” Bridget said, cutting in before Henry could even answer.

“Look, Stanley and David are here now,” Nadheera said, spotting the pair running across the road towards them.

“Woah… we got here… as fast as we… could… oh hell,” panted Stanley. “Give me the… run down while I… catch my breath.”

“Ok, five vampuras have gone into the QwikBite, biting two civilians, scaring the shit out of ten others and causing the staff to seek shelter in the freezer,” Nadheera explained. “Myself and Bridget got here first, then Henry and Lana. We’ve just been waiting for more back up before going in.”

Stanley glanced over at the new fast food restaurant that had opened not too long ago in the outskirts of town, just outside of Pin Corner’s patch.

“They’re looking very calm considering the chaos they’ve caused,” Stanley said, having got his breathing under control. “It looks like the cavalry have arrived too,” he added, noticing the police van move to the block the road further up. “Ok, I’m going to talk with the police and you five are going to go in. Take one each and then get the staff out of the freezer. When it’s clear, radio up and I’ll let the police and ambo know so they can move in. We ok with that?”

“Yeah,” they all said in unison.

“Good. Remember, you’ll need to move quick to get in there. Split them up if you can, and try not to get in each other’s ways. Good luck.”

The five Nasscies started running toward the QwikBite carpark and to the front doors. The vampuras, strangely, didn’t seem too concerned by their presence.

Bridget led the group, followed by Nadheera. Henry was just behind her and as he got to the front of the restaurant, he could see a bit more of the scene inside. The vampuras had occupied a booth and on the round table lay the lifeless and bloody body of a young woman.

“Those fuckers, honestly,” David muttered when he saw it all for himself.

“Look, we’re not wantin’ any trouble!” shouted out one of the vampuras.

“We just want to speak to the manager,” said another.

“Excuse me?” Bridget asked, not quite believing what she was hearing.

“The manager. We know he’s hiding in the freezer, but we would appreciate a word wiv ‘im before we’ll go,” one of the other vampuras clarified.

“You’re not the ones calling the shots here,” David said firmly. “We are. You’re going to get up and leave.”

“No coz you’ll just stake us.”

“Of course we will,” Henry said, stepping forward and boldly walking towards the table. “You arseholes barged into this restaurant, killed a couple of the diners and are now making demands. So yeah, you’re going to get staked.”

The vampuras chuckled. “Get the manager, and then you can have your fun.”

Henry sensed one of the other Pin Corner Nasscies move behind him towards the kitchen. Moments later, Lana came back with a shivering cold manager.

“The manager,” she announced as they came into view.

“Finally,” the first vampura said. “We’ve got a complaint about what we think is caused by the food being served at this restaurant.”

“P-pardon?” the manager said, bewildered at the claims of this vampura.

“We think,” the vampura continued, “that the food you’re selling here is making the blood of humans taste funky, and if you think about it, if we can taste it, then it can’t be doing the people eating your shit any good.”

“So you’re here for the good of public health?” David challenged.

“Yeah, you could say we are.”

“And what’s with the dead woman on your table?” Henry asked. “And the man you’ve just left on the floor over there?”

“Well we obviously needed a fresh sample so we could be for certain,” a vampura who had so far not said anything finally piped up with.

“And… and what did you think?” the QwikBite manager asked.

“Don’t ask him that! Bridget scolded. “We’re not encouraging this.”

“He was alright,” the first vampura said, pointing in the dead man’s direction over his shoulder. “She is a bit rank.”

“But then she does have a diabetic bracelet on…” another vampura said.

“So… to conclude you still have no fucking idea?” David said.

The vampuras looked at each other, sat around the booth, looking for an agreement from one another. “I suppose so. But we still think that there’s something funky with the food here.”

“Tough shit. You should’ve tweeted about it,” said David. “I’ve had enough of this!”

Henry and his team mates moved as one, approaching the booth whilst taking out their stakes. The vampuras, didn’t have enough time to fully leave the booth in time. Henry took on the one at the end, staking him in the heart as he tried to get out. His vampura mate tried to grab angrily at Henry, but Nadheera pulled at the woman’s dead body on the table by her feet for David to jump onto the table, kicking the vampura in the face. Bridget had gone in to take the vamp at the other end of the booth.

“Push, H!” Bridget instructed, and they both pushed the vamp statues from each end further into the booth, effectively pinning the other three in the middle. David, from his elevated position, was able to reach down and stake one, while Lana tried to reach past Bridget and stake the one next to the statue at the end.

In moments, all five had been staked and were sat stiffly at the table. David jumped off from the table and gave Henry a high five.

“’QwikBite, where sometimes you might be on the menu’,” Henry quipped.

“Look at them, they look like they’re in a Coolidge painting,” Bridget remarked, stepping back. “Just if the dogs were vampuras and instead of poker chips there were pools of blood on the table.”

The door opened behind them. “Excuse me, can’t you see we’re closed?” the manager called out.

“How did-” Bridget asked as they all turned round to see who had come through the door. Three people, a man and two women stood there, dressed in all black. They had coverings over their noses and mouths. “How did you get past the police cordon?”

“Move away from the table,” the man instructed. “We’ll take over from here.”

Henry wondered if they were vampuras, but there was nothing at the table of value for vamps.

“No,” Bridget said all authorial, stepping forward between her team and the newcomers. “You need to leave. Now.”

“Not without those five vampura statues,” one of the women said. “The Collector will pay a good price for them.”

Lana scoffed and tensed up to Henry’s left. His brother and her had fought with some people seeking some vampura statues on The Collector’s behalf a while ago, but things had gone quiet since.

Bridget laughed. “The Collector? I don’t know no Collector, and he’s not getting anything from here. Guys, do your thing,” she said, meaning she wanted her team to silver the vampuras.

“I wouldn’t,” dared the male, reaching into the front of his waist band, keeping his hand there.

The atmosphere in the restaurant changed instantly. The manager scuttled back towards the kitchen area, seeking refuge in the fridge again. Bridget raised her hands. Nadheera let out a gasp and David stepped in front of her and Lana.

“Let’s go easy, now” Bridget said, her tone being less stern and more calmer. “If that’s a gun, there’s no need to get it out. Even if you get past us, there’s all the police up there.”

“Don’t worry about us. We got in, we can get out,” the man said.

“Ok, well, there’s also five of those statues and three of you. You’re going to struggle.”

“That’s why you’re going to help us,” the second woman said menacingly.

Bridget sighed.

“So you two guys,” the first woman said, looking at David and Henry. “Take one each. And be gentle with them. Any funny business and we’ll hurt you.”

Bridget turned to face her male team mates and nodded, so Henry and David slowly started heading towards the table.

“It just gets worse and worse,” Henry whispered.

“Are you doing ok?” David asked him.

“Yeah, I just don’t like being on the wrong end of a loaded gun, but it made me forget about being on the wrong end of a vampura dog for five minutes.”

The boys pulled out a vampura each, and as they were stuck firm in a seated position, they both opted to hold them from under their legs, almost like in a wedding carry.

“Gently!” the man cautioned.

“They’re fucking heavy,” Henry grunted as he moved towards the trio.

“How did you even know they were here?” Bridget dared to ask.

“Someone tweeted about it from the back there,” the guy helpfully explained. Bridget could only shake her head in dismay at the stupidity of live tweeting from a fast food restaurant’s walk in fridge. “The Collector is going to be so impressed with these.”

“Your boss is fucked up if he’s into these,” David said as he set down the corpse statue he was carrying.

“They’re not our boss. They just pay a high price for vampura corpse statues.”

“We’re freelancers,” the second woman said.

“Unbelievable,” Lana muttered from the back.

“Oi, shut up. Now I want you two to bring one each over. When we’ve got them all, we’ll leave,” the guy said.

“And that’s it?” Henry asked.

“Well, unless you happen to know where the statue of the dog who killed that Nasscie last week is? But otherwise, yeah, that’ll be it.” The trio laughed. Henry could feel anger bubble up inside him, and could feel his team mates tense up.

“Let’s just get this over with,” David said, moving things along and not allowing Henry to dwell on the insensitivity of those collecting for The Collector.

***

“Stanley, he potentially had a gun. What was I to do?” Bridget said defensively. By this point, the Nassices inside the QwikBite had helped bundle the corpse statues into a van for the trio who demanded they do so. They drove off and they had been explaining the situation to Stanley. “Besides, how did they even get past you all? You were out here, perhaps you should have done a better job.”

“Enough,” Stanley said firmly. “What’s done is done.”

“And we’re alright,” Lana added.

“Yes, yes you are. Which is the main thing.” He rubbed his forehead, clearly agitated by how the night had developed. It should have been easy in and out. It’s never an easy in and out. “Sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Bridget said. “What do you want us to do? Just go back out on patrol?”

“Yeah, we’ve got three hours or so before dawn,” Stanley said. “Are we all ok to do so? Henry? Are you ok?”

Henry looked up, not expecting to be called out. “Yes Stan, I’m-I’m alright.”

“Come on then,” Lana said. “You can get me a drink from the shops. I don’t fancy the idea of fast food for at least a while yet.”

Lana and Henry peeled off from the group.

“Where do you want to go?” Henry asked.

“Somewhere really quiet where we can just go the rest of the night without anything happening.”

***

True to Lana’s wish, the night went quietly without anything happening. They walked, they talked. Henry spoke about Mark, and they laughed and cried. And Henry tried to disguise how sick he felt as they did.

As much as keeping busy and being distracted worked, it didn’t take away from what Henry had done and how sorry he was that it happened, but also how desperate he was for no one to know.

Would he ever be able to live with himself? How bad will the guilt become? Could he do anything to redeem himself in his own eyes?

“I need to go back to the pavilion to get my bike,” Henry said.

“It’s alright, I’ll walk you back. You know, I can give you a lift in and back home again?”

“It’s alright, honestly. I don’t live far away. I just prefer cycling now because it gives me a reason to see Mark’s tree and then also it doesn’t take me long to get home. If I walked, I’d have my thoughts keeping me company for longer than if I cycled.”

“That’s fair enough. I appreciate your honesty.” Lana smiled sweetly.

Henry’s stomach churned. Honesty. This shit is tough.

They walked up the drive to the pavilion’s car park with half an hour before sun rise.

“Do you mind if I join you at Mark’s tree tonight?” asked Lana.

“No, not at all. It’s just ov-… Who is that?”

Lana grabbed Henry’s arm, stopping him from walking anymore. A figure was stood in a long green dress, with a burgundy shawl over their head. They had their back turned to them, looking at Mark’s tree.

“Shit, I think that’s Marta fucking Barr…”

“Fuck, you mean the Marta Barr? You have got to be kidding…? Shall we run?”

The woman who they thought was Marta Barr turned around and Lana gasped, as she learned that her assumption was right. “There’s no need to run,” Marta said.

“Stay away from my brother’s tree!” Henry said.

“It’s fine, I’m not here for the tree. I’m sorry for yer loss.” Lana suspiciously side eyed Henry. “You look just like him.”

“How do you know what my brother looks like? Why are you being creepy? Just go.”

“His photograph was in the newspaper. I still actually like reading them, I suppose I’m just old school like that. But I will. The sun’s coming up soon anyway and I don’t plan to burn at some twink’s memorial tree. But I need to talk to someone. To you perhaps.”

“Why me?”

Marta began to walk a bit closer to the pair. “No stay there, I like you where you are,” Lana said, as Marta obliged.

“Because you know loss. And so I think you’ll understand.”

“I don’t want to understand you,” Henry spat. “You’re a monster and I’m…” A monster too, he thought. “…I’m not like you.”

Marta pulled her shawl further down her face to protect it more, but she still maintained eye contact with Henry and Lana.

“Ok, but I just wanted to warn you, so you can spread the word to the rest of you Nasscies. Evil is coming. An evil much worse than I am. You need to be ready, and you’ll need more than just those crossbows I also read about in the papers to fight this evil.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Lana asked, her body tensing with unease at this continuing exchange.

“Because I’m going to do my best to fight the evil, and if I don’t then you will all need to finish what I started.”

“Are you going to tell us what it is?” Henry asked.

“It’s not a question of what, but who.”

“Ok… Who is he?”

“His name is Tallon. And Rowena is her name.”