Chapter 1 (Revised Version)

The woman ran as fast as she could in her stockinged feet, her high heels lost half a block back. She'd flung her purse at them, too, hoping that would be enough, but she could still hear them whooping and hollering behind her as they made a game out of chasing her. Fragments of comments came to her ears and phrases like "working up an appetite" and "tasty treat" sent a surge of adrenaline through her veins, making her run even faster. As she ran, she looked frantically for a place to hide.

It wasn't fair. Vampires were supposed to hunt in the middle of the night, not early evening, and they were only supposed to hunt the dregs of society. That's what all the movies showed. Hookers and homeless people at two in the morning. Not upstanding middle-class citizens at half past nine in the evening. Sure, the news tried to sensationalize the odd attack on a well-to-do businessman or socialite, but it usually turned out they were living double lives and were into drugs or kinky sex. Attacks on regular people weren't the norm. Were they?

She suddenly realized where she was and a spark of hope lit inside her as she veered to her left and headed for the cathedral she knew was only one block over. It seemed an interminably long distance away, but she was running up the stone steps and pushing through the huge double wooden doors of the gothic church in just another minute.

She leaned against the first pew she came to and panted, trying to catch her breath as relief flooded through her. She'd made it. She was finally safe.

The doors burst open behind her and she screamed as she saw two of her tormenters actually standing inside the church. That shouldn't have been possible. Wasn't this supposed to be holy ground? Wasn't there supposed to be some invisible magical barrier that would keep them out?

She saw the vampires looking over her shoulder and turned to see several churchgoers in the pews a dozen rows down.

"Hey, looks like we got enough for all of us," one of the vampires said as he slapped his companion on the stomach. "We're gonna eat good tonight."

They both laughed and she slumped to the floor, her shaking legs no longer supporting her as she whimpered in terror.

Where was a vampire hunter when you needed one?

^~\/^^^\/^~

Dana Clark sat hunched in a dark corner of the stone steps leading up to an old brownstone. She wore an oversized trench coat she'd traded off a homeless guy a few weeks back after the last one had been damaged beyond repair. With the collar pulled up, the scent of body odor and who knew what else was closer to her nose, but coupled with her long black hair loosely draped across her face, it kept any potential onlookers from being able to see her trademark black shades. Behind the shades, which doubled as night vision glasses when they were turned on, she kept her eyes closed and reached out with her inner sense.

Still no vamps.

Dana resisted the urge to look at her watch. She'd probably been sitting there for less than twenty minutes, having shuffled her way into the area after parking her vehicle several blocks over. Reports of a small group of vampires preying on homeless people in the neighborhood had prompted her to set this little trap, but waiting had never been one of her strong suits. If something didn't happen soon, she was going to have to move on.

She smiled behind the upturned collar as she felt the unmistakable presence of a vampire, possibly more than one, entering her vicinity. The feeling was hard to describe to anyone who didn't have the ability. The closest Dana had ever been able to get was comparing it to the feeling of suddenly realizing you aren't the only one in the room just as you turn around and find someone standing behind you. Over time, Dana had gotten used to it and it wasn't quite as startling anymore, but the sense that she wasn't alone, even though the rest of her senses said she was, was always a little disconcerting.

Dana reached up and tapped the blood-red circle on the side of her glasses to activate night vision. In an instant, everything was lit up in shades of green, one of the few colors that would allow her eyes to quickly readjust to the darkness if she took the glasses off. Then she waited.

A minute later, as if on cue, three young males in jeans and T-shirts came out of the shadows to stand at the bottom of the steps in front of her.

"Think she's awake?"

"Who cares? I'm hungry."

"What if she's cute? Don't you wanna play a little first?"

"What's wrong with you, man? She's homeless. Who knows what she's carrying."

"It's not like we can catch anything."

"Dude, we can pick up way better pussy at Dante's, if you're that hard up."

Dana had heard enough. She stood up and let the coat slide off her shoulders and onto the steps, glad to be rid of the stinking thing.

"Evening, boys."

Three pairs of wide eyes focused on her and Dana grinned at their startled expressions. There was no mistaking her all-black outfit and the vampire hunting gear strapped all over her body.

As she sauntered down the stairs and stood facing them on the bottom steps, using the extra height to leverage her already six-foot-tall frame to even greater advantage, she studied them from behind the opaque black lenses of her sunglasses. Her senses told her she had the vamps she was looking for, but she had to be sure. Shooting some would-be gang-rapists, though satisfying, wouldn't look good for the department.

"So, let me guess. Out for a light snack? Sorry to have to tell you this, but the kitchen's closed."

The one in the middle moved forward and Dana drew her gun, the suppressor already attached as she aimed for his chest. He paused and then smiled, showing his fangs.

Thatta boy. Vampire status confirmed.

"Don't you know nothin'? Bullets can't kill us."

'Us.' He said 'us.' That implies they're all vamps. Even better.

Dana returned his grin.

"They can if I shoot you in the heart."

She aimed and fired, nailing him in the chest. He stumbled back at the impact and crumpled to the ground. The other two wasted a moment looking at their fallen comrade, while Dana lined up her next shot and got the left one in the chest as well.

The last one didn't seem to realize he was up against more than he could handle and crouched to spring at her, claws fully extended, so Dana dispensed with her careful aiming and simply went for center body mass, pulling the trigger as quickly as she could until the slide locked back on empty.

The kickback had drawn the gun upwards slightly, though the suppressor had helped a bit to lessen the recoil, and she moved with the motion, releasing the empty magazine and inserting a new one as she automatically chambered the first round, though she didn't continue firing as she watched a line of bleeding holes rapidly appear on her target's body. They started in the vampire's stomach and ran up along the side of his chest, and he seemed frozen for a moment, but then he dropped to his knees as he screamed in pain. He tried to get to his feet, but Dana was already on him, pushing him onto his back and ramming a stake into his chest.

He stopped struggling.

Dana went back to the other two and staked them as well. It was just a precaution in case she hadn't done as much damage as she'd thought and their hearts regenerated before their bodies could turn into dust.

She looked around, checking to see if anyone had been disturbed by the scream or the low popping sounds her gun had made, but no new lights had come on in any of the nearby windows and she knew even if someone had called it in, her current patrol location and status would make her the first one they contacted to find out if it was related or not before sending any cops.

Dana holstered her weapon and then pulled out what looked like a shiny black foldable handheld gaming device from a pouch on her left thigh. The aptly named Vampire Data Collector, or VDC unit for short, allowed hunters to gather vitals on every vamp they killed and Dana never took that part of her job lightly, knowing it could bring closure to victims of past vampire attacks.

She used its digital camera and laser imaging functions to create both two- and three-dimensional images of each of the vamp's faces. She checked the images for clarity, and then pressed a button to slide out the concealed fingerprint reader to take their prints.

She pressed another button and a compartment opened on one end of the device, revealing a blank mouthpiece. The reusable dental kit was double-sided and malleable. Dana used it to take an impression of each vamp's set of teeth, which were recorded as high-resolution, three-dimensional digital models. The mouthpiece also took saliva samples, sterilizing itself between each use.

Dana tapped one last button, which shot out a thin needle, and jabbed it into the first vamp's arm. As soon as the screen showed the blood sample had been successfully stored in one of the device's airtight containers, she reset the syringe with a fresh needle and proceeded to get samples from the other two.

When she was finished, she wirelessly uploaded the encrypted profiles to her pending reports directory for later processing and ejected the now full cartridge with the labeled saliva and blood samples, replacing it with a fresh one from one of the pouches on her thigh. She'd turn in all the cartridges she'd filled at the end of her shift.

Finally, she clicked on her shoulder mike.

"Clark to Control."

"Control here, Clark. Go ahead," the dispatch operator said.

"I've got another three staked vamps in Crown Heights near the southwest corner of New York Avenue and President Street. I need a cleanup crew to come pick up the bodies."

"Copy that. Pick up from Brooklyn South is ETA thirty minutes."

"That long?"

"It's been a busy night."

"Right."

"Control out."

Great.

Dana looked at the bodies and frowned. Protocol said she had to wait for the cleanup crew so no one could accidentally, or intentionally, come in contact with vampire blood. However, Dana wasn't about to babysit a bunch of dead vamps while living ones were out roaming around at her next stop.

Dana dragged the bodies out into the middle of the street, away from the nearby townhouses and parked cars, and piled them together. She pulled her mini-flamethrower, a modified handheld propane cooking torch, from her hip and twisted the nozzle to its narrowest setting, and then sprayed the bodies with the jet of fire. They caught immediately, something about their physical chemistry making them especially combustible. It only took a few minutes for the flames to consume them, and then Dana used her mini foam extinguisher to put out the remaining bits that were still burning. She ignited a 30-minute flare and tossed it on the ground next to the pile of wet ashes. Hopefully, it would still be burning to alert the cleanup guys when they arrived.

She headed back to her vehicle, an old reconditioned third generation military Tacvee. The Beast, as she'd dubbed the huge black SUV, had been rebuilt from the ground up to be damn near bomb proof, with a state-of-the-art multi-fuel hybrid electric engine that ran completely silent, unless the combustion engine was needed for more power.

Dana used the roof handholds to lever herself up into the driver's seat and reached for the printout she'd left on the passenger side. She crossed off the second location on the list and was about to input the coordinates for the third into her GPS when she suddenly sensed a vampire was nearby. She looked around and saw a woman on the next block dash around the side of the church on the corner and up the steps and through the doors. A few moments later, three men followed in her footsteps.

Somehow, Dana didn't think they were in a hurry to pray.

As she opened her door to get out, she heard a scream cut off just as the church's doors closed behind two of the males, the third having split off to the left to slip around the back.

Probably to catch anybody who tries to run.

She decided she'd have to deal with him later, the two inside posing the greater threat, as she raced across the street, clicking her mike on the go.

"Clark to Control. Probable vamp attack in progress. Three males at St. Mary's Cathedral on the corner of Brooklyn Avenue and Carroll Street. Am on site and about to engage. Will request backup if needed."

"Copy that, Clark. Will send backup in ten minutes if you fail to check in. Control out."

Dana ran up the steps two at a time and then stopped at the heavy wooden doors. She drew her gun and then pulled the door open a crack to check out the situation.

The church was lit up like the sun, with dozens of chandeliers overhead and polished stone tiles everywhere reflecting the light even more. Dana mentally cursed, immediately closing her eyes and turning off her night vision glasses before she was completely blinded. She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust and then took another look.

A woman was whimpering on the floor with two guys standing over her laughing. A few other patrons farther in appeared to be paralyzed with fright where they were sitting in the pews. A priest stood stock-still in the back, obviously unsure what to do.

Dana pulled the door all the way open and stepped inside, letting the door slam shut behind her. Everyone jumped at the sound.

"Excuse me," she said calmly and smiled. She leaned around so she could direct her next words to the priest behind the vamps. "Why don't you take your congregation out of here, father?" She motioned towards the nearest side door on the right, hoping they would avoid the third vamp who was probably lying in wait at the back, then returned her gaze to the vamps in front of her. "I've got this."

As the priest hurried to do as he'd been told, the vamps turned to Dana with angry scowls.

"You've got this? Who the fuck do you think you are? Dana Clark?"

Dana grinned.

"It's the shades, right? Gives me away every time."

She was satisfied to see they hadn't been expecting that answer and were reassessing their situation. However, she had no intention of giving them enough time to do so. She was just about to fire at them when the lights cut out, leaving only the dim votives lining the walls to see by.

Great, the other one must've cut the power, she thought as she hit the button on her glasses to reactivate night vision.

Everything was suddenly bright as day in shades of green. She saw the two vamps coming right for her and narrowly escaped getting tackled as she twisted out of the way. One of the vamps managed to knock the gun from her hand as he went by, but she didn't give it a second thought as she drew her modified samurai sword from the sheath on her leg and continued with her spin. The blackened blade was nearly invisible in the low light, even to the vampires' exceptional eyesight. The vamps never saw the instrument of their destruction as Dana sliced through first one vamp's carotid artery and then the other's. As they both gurgled and held their necks, she stabbed each of them in the heart, and then staked them just to be sure.

As she wiped her blade off on the shirt of one of the vamps, she heard a sound at the back of the church and looked up just in time to see a figure disappear through one of the side doors.

"Shit," she muttered.

In all the commotion, she'd completely forgotten about the third vamp. She was surprised he was running. Most vamps were eager to fight her because they thought it would make a name for them if they killed her. It usually never occurred to them she had a reputation for a reason.

Fucking perfect. One of them has a brain.

Dana quickly sheathed her sword and scooped her gun up from the floor as she started running. She clicked her shoulder mike.

"Clark to Control. I've got two vamps staked inside St. Mary's Cathedral and am in foot pursuit of a third heading south on Brooklyn Avenue. Request vitals and cleanup and will check in again when I have the third vamp down."

"Copy that, Clark. A unit is on its way to handle vitals, ETA seven minutes, and cleanup has been notified and will arrive as soon as possible. Control out."

With that taken care of, Dana picked up her pace. She could still see the back of the fleeing vamp ahead of her, but then he turned and she lost sight of him as he disappeared into a dark alley. Dana went flat out, but then skidded to a halt just at the mouth of the alley. She pulled her gun and took a quick look around the edge of the building. Her night vision shades showed her the alley in high relief and she easily spotted the vamp still running at the other end of the alleyway.

Dana took off after him, cursing herself for being cautious and letting him have even more of a lead, but if he had stopped and been waiting in ambush for her as she rounded the turn at full speed, he could've killed her before she even knew what hit her.

Dana put all her energy into catching up to the vamp, but by the time she reached the next street, she knew it was going to be nearly impossible to find the bastard.

Dozens of people walked up and down the busy thoroughfare, completely oblivious to the monster that had just slipped into their world. Dana put her gun away, but only because she didn't want to start a panic on the street. She could still sense the vampire was nearby.

She slowly made her way along the sidewalk, keeping to the shadows near the buildings and easing between and around passersby as she went. She came to a busy outdoor café and realized as she moved past it that her sense of the vampire was now behind her. She dipped back into the shadows and retraced her steps. From a dark corner, she scanned the patrons of the café.

She hadn't gotten a very good look at the vamp, just enough to know he was male and about half a head shorter than she was, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, dark jeans, and light tennis shoes. With the patrons sitting, height was nearly impossible to tell, let alone what kind of pants and shoes they were wearing. At least half the customers were male and some were even wearing hoodies, but the vamp could've ditched his sweatshirt, which meant she had to include all the men wearing T-shirts and tank tops, since she hadn't seen what kind of shirt he was wearing underneath.

She thought it was probable the vamp was sitting alone, but there were several boisterous tables full of young people he could've easily joined without anyone noticing.

Dana shook her head in frustration. Her ability to sense vampires only let her get a vague idea of what general direction they were in compared to herself. To get any more specific, she'd have to be standing right next to the damn thing, and by then, he'd be at her throat. She sighed quietly.

She was going to have to go back to her vehicle and get her personal handheld radar unit. Vamps had very high bone and muscle densities, more than twice that of humans, which was the theorized source of their superior strength. Because of that higher density, the unit would be able to show her which customers were human and which one was the vamp.

Not for the first time, she wished she carried the thing with her, but she was usually quite sure who her target was and the unit cost way too much for her to risk damaging it in the middle of a fight. Repairing her shades on a weekly basis was bad enough.

Now, the only question was did she risk leaving the vamp unwatched or call for a backup unit to babysit while she was gone? The vamp would likely hang out until he was sure she'd given up and moved on, but there was a chance he'd leave at the first opportunity. If she called for backup and they came in hot against her instructions, as some had in the past, it could spook the vampire into taking hostages and those scenarios never ended well.

Dana pursed her lips and made her decision. There were street cameras on nearly every corner, so if she came back and he was gone, she'd most likely be able to track him down eventually. He might even lead her to his lair, assuming there were more in his group than the other two she'd already staked. Above all, she wouldn't risk civilians. The whole point of killing vamps was to save human lives, not put them in harm's way.

Just as she started to back up further into the shadows to quietly leave, she caught the attention of a teenage boy sitting at one of the tables across from a couple other teenage boys. His eyes widened in surprise, and for a second, she thought he might be the vamp, but then he smiled and nodded, and she suddenly realized he was a fan.

Oh no.

The boy shot out of his chair and pulled a large wooden cross with a gold-painted figure of Jesus Christ affixed to it out of the inside pocket of his jacket. He brandished it in front of him as he turned in a circle.

"By the power of this holy relic, I command you to show yourself, demon! Prepare to be struck down by the Great Vampire Hunter herself!" the boy said confidently as he pointed to where she stood.

Dana rolled her eyes behind her shades. He'd probably bought the cross off the internet for less than twenty bucks, and now that her location had been identified, she had zero tactical advantage.

"Nice goin', kid," Dana muttered, knowing if he heard her, he'd never catch the sarcasm.

She stepped forward, but before she could even consider how best to calm what she knew would be utter panic among the patrons in a few seconds, the vamp revealed himself by grabbing the kid from behind. Pure reflex had Dana's gun in her hand and pointed at the vamp in less than a heartbeat, but the vampire had already pulled the kid tightly to his chest. He kept his chest covered and his head in line with the boy's, not leaving Dana with even a remote chance at a clear shot.

"Let him go," Dana ordered.

She heard the vamp snort into the kid's neck.

"You think I'm stupid? I let him go, you'll stake me."

"True, but that's gonna happen no matter what. You let him go now, and I'll make it as painless as I can. Which is more than you can probably say for all the people you've murdered. On the other hand, you hurt him and I swear you'll wish you—"

"I'm the one calling the shots here! You do what I say! And I say drop the gun."

Dana smiled.

"Not gonna happen."

"I said drop it! Or I'll rip his throat out right here!"

The vamp brought his hand up to the boy's neck, extending his pointed razor-sharp claws and pricking them against the kid's skin. Dana lost her smile.

For a moment, she flashed to another boy being held by a much bigger vamp, but that boy had been dead by the time she'd reached him, his lifeless eyes staring at nothing as he'd been tossed aside and the vamp had lunged for her.

Dana blinked and steadied herself, trying not to look into this boy's very alive eyes that showed terror beyond anything he'd ever experienced before.

If she gave up her gun, she might still be able to draw her sword or one of her knives in time to use it if the vamp decided to attack her. At least he hadn't asked her to hand over her gun. That really would have been out of the question.

"Okay," Dana said as she held up her hands, palms forward.

She slowly bent over to lay her gun on the ground, keeping her eyes on the vampire the whole time. Before he could say anything else, she kicked the gun behind her so he couldn't tell her to kick it over to him. She just prayed there were no other cowboys around who thought it would be a good idea to pick up her weapon and start shooting.

"There. Now let him go."

The vamp smiled and Dana felt sick.

"Whatever you say, hunter."

Then he pushed the boy away hard, sending him directly at Dana, whose instinct was to catch him, but she overrode her reflexes and dove around him to throw one of her knives into the vampire's retreating back. It thunked into place just below the vamp's left shoulder blade, and he cried out in pain, but it clearly hadn't gone in far enough to hit his heart because he kept running.

Dana jumped to her feet and ran for her gun, then turned to head after the vamp again, pausing for only a moment as she made eye contact with one of the waitresses standing nearby in shock.

"You! Call 9-1-1!" Dana yelled, and then she was running past the crowd surrounding the crying boy on the ground.

The kid was probably hurt—Dana thought she might've heard something crack as he'd hit the concrete—but he was alive and that was all that mattered. Someone else would take care of him. She had a vamp to kill.

This time she caught up to the vampire easily. He couldn't run nearly as fast with a knife stuck in his back and it was in that perfect position that made it impossible for him to remove it himself. Dana tackled him to the ground of the alleyway, pinning him down using multiple joint locks against his superior strength and jabbing a few more knives into strategic locations to lock his bones into place before applying handcuffs for a little added security.

As she pressed his cheek into the pavement and gently nudged one of the knives a fraction of an inch back and forth, she spoke low into his ear.

"I warned you how this would go. You think this hurts?" Dana asked and slowly moved the hilt of the blade around in a circle. "You have no idea what pain is." An image of three mangled bodies lying in front of her, flames rising in the distance, appeared in her mind's eye, and her face distorted into a snarl. "But I'm gonna make sure you learn tonight. Now why don't we start with where you live and how many more of your buddies I can expect to find there."

It didn't take long before the vamp was spilling his guts and Dana finally staked him, putting him out of his misery. It was a risk, since he could've been giving her false information, but in all the years she'd performed these interrogations, she'd only been burned a few times, and even then, she still had the satisfaction of knowing at the very least, there was one less vampire on the street.

Dana called it in and was pleasantly surprised when cleanup arrived in just a few minutes, allowing her to get back to work in short order.

She parked a block away from the address the vamp had given her and made sure to bring her handheld radar unit with her this time to verify what the vamp had told her. The name "Ashwood Apartments" was emblazoned on the front of the building and lit up with a pair of spotlights, so she moved around to the back alley. Near the first basement window at street level, she held the radar unit up to the wall, keeping quiet and making sure to stay out of the line of sight of anyone who might be looking out the window.

The screen lit up with an equal number of human and vampire bright blobs.

Three vamps, three slaves. Just like he said.

She gave the window a wide berth and then checked the next one. Empty. The next one was empty as well, but the one after that had two vampires and one slave. She checked the rest of the basement apartments, carefully making her way silently around the building.

Everything the vampire had told her appeared to be true. Most of the apartments were empty, with the rest clearly showing at least a couple vampires and their slaves. According to her informant, the nest usually rotated who went out to hunt, only allowing a few groups out each night, and they had a rule against hunting near their home base.

However, some special meeting was taking place tomorrow night at 10pm, so half their number had decided to go hunting last night and the other half tonight in preparation for staying in for the meet. It also wasn't unusual for some of the hunting parties to stay out an extra night, so her vamp's group's disappearance wouldn't raise an alarm as long as she used her informant's phone to text a status update to the nest's leader by sunrise.

She'd tried to get more information about the meeting, but apparently the vamp was low man on the totem, having just been turned a few months ago, and didn't even know the so-called "Master" vampire's name. All he knew was that some kind of major announcement was going to be made and they had to be there for it. It would also be the first time most of the nest, except for the leader, would be meeting the Master vamp.

Dana climbed into her vehicle and sat back in her seat as she blew out a breath.

She hadn't hit a lair this big in years. Sure, she could go in and take on half a dozen vamps and come out on the other side more or less intact, but there was no question she was going to need backup for what she estimated would be at least twenty vampires and twice as many slaves when they all returned tomorrow night.

She was also curious to meet this "Master" vampire and interrogate him about this new level of organization. Vampires weren't supposed to make plans and they damn well weren't supposed to hold meetings.

Dana pulled her phone from its holder on the console and started making calls. She had a raid to organize.