Having two showers at the house was a real time saver. One in the bedroom in the attached bathroom and one in the house bathroom. Jillian and I were cleaned up and changed in record time. Steve was a little later than I figured because Jillian had a chance to armor up before he showed up. We were kind of joking around and carrying on as we waited. She was laughing because I had to physically push her around when she dared me, and I couldn't really do it.

“You definitely need to work on your legs more. Your standing leverage sucks.” Jillian laughed.

I was still laughing myself when we heard a knock on the door. We had our guns out, a round chambered, and we were leaning around the second window near the door, in case someone was watching the first window. Steve stood there on my front porch and waved at us.

I shook my head and went to the front door to let him in.

“You can still make me laugh.” Steve said when I opened the door. “You need to switch tactics sometimes, old buddy.”

“Hey, I'm a little out of practice; but, I still got it, all right?” I said and he nodded.

“I hope so. This isn't going to be an easy one.”

“No? You're not afraid, are you?” I asked with a smirk.

Steve's eyes went blank and his face shut down, the same way it does when you know he's going to kill something.

I spoke into the ringing silence. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't tease you like that.”

Steve's face came back to life and he nodded. He walked past me into my kitchen, pulled a large manila envelope from under his jacket, then proceeded to open it and empty it out onto the table. There were a couple of blueprints, a security schedule, a list of names, and surprisingly enough, a security pass.

“How did you get all this in just a few hours?” Jillian asked disbelievingly.

“Trade secret.” Steve said with that 'I know something you don't know' smile and pointed at the blueprints. “This is the warehouse that the rental car was traced to. It's owned by a company that has no assets, holdings, storefronts, or customers.”

“Hold on. Then that would mean...” I started to say.

“It's brand spanking new.”

“How is that possible?” I asked. “There should be a record of it somewhere.”

“Nope. It's like the business and the building just appeared out of nowhere a couple of months ago. No building permits have been filed and no construction crews have been in the area. The only records are what you see right here.” Steve said and pointed to the list of names and the schedule.

I picked up the names and looked at it. None of them were familiar. Some even looked fake to my old cop sense.

“That list is supposed to be the chairmen of the board who own the place, the workers employed there, and the delivery guys. None of those people exist.” Steve said. “I've run the names, even as aliases. Forwards and backwards and even last names first. Nothing came back.”

Jillian and I looked at Steve and said what we were thinking. “It's a trap.”

“Good to see you're both on the ball on this one.” Steve said.

I looked back at the table. “We're still going, aren't we?” I asked, superfluously.

Steve smiled and clapped me on the back. “Let's go.”

Steve had rented a beige van for the occasion and filled it with everything we would need to storm the place. I wasn't too fussy on that part, though. Jillian was iffy on the proposition, too. She knew what it was going to be like to essentially jump into an already active firefight, just like we did.

Steve tried to reassure us and said that the only thing we would be doing is staking it out and infiltrating at the right time. It doesn't hurt to have all the other stuff along anyway, just in case. If it came down to storming in though, we would be better off having it at hand, rather than trying to get it later. Traps were like that.

The three of us were dressed in full assassin garb this time, with everything black, even our weapons. It felt really good getting back into the field, I have to admit. I wasn't even a little afraid that I couldn't handle it. I wasn't even nervous, since the shock of the last time I was in a warehouse and had been crippled might have been too much; but, I was unnaturally fine with it.

I think it was like that old saying, 'If the horse bucks you off, clean yourself up and get back on it again'. Although, if it was Steve, he would have shot the horse. I laughed a bit at that thought and Steve asked me what was so funny. I quickly explained my missing bout of the jitters and about the horse, and both he and Jillian laughed. Apparently, she would have shot the horse, too.

We drove down the street past the warehouse in question, as all good stake outs start the same way. Steve found a good vantage point where we could see the security gate and the entrance to the building as well. I was about to comment that we were a bit too far out to see any details when he passed me a pair of special micro-binoculars. I took them without saying anything, since I should have expected him to have everything we needed, and I adjusted the dials for a closer look. Only one guard was at the gate and no one was next to the building or doing patrols.

Huh. It's kinda strange to have that bit of security and not the rest. I thought and handed the binoculars to Jillian. She looked and let out a little hiss, which meant she was a little angry that their 'guards' were doing nothing of the sort. Incompetence always pissed off professionals.

“You noticed, too.” Steve and I said and Jillian nodded and handed the binoculars to Steve.

We waited and watched the place for almost an hour and there was no change in what we saw. So, with just over two hours until full dark, we moved into the back of the van and got ourselves ready. I already had on my handguns, both my primary under my arm and my secondary at the small of my back. I also had the knives in my boots. I was going to bring some of the other guns I own, like Jillian did; but, I knew that Steve would have something new that he would let me play with. He always had the best toys.

I wasn't disappointed.

Two mini-uzi's went across my back, two side slung sawed off shotguns, and pouches on my legs for all the extra clips and ammo I might need. He also loaned me a wicked long blade like a machete and gave me a thigh sheath for it. It was beautiful.

“Hey, can I...”

“I'll get you one for Christmas.” Steve said and I nodded. Christmas was the code word for 'the next time I visit', because every time he visited, it was like Christmas.

Steve loaded up with similar things and a few things that I didn't ask about, and Jillian was impressed with the load-out in the van and helped herself to a few of the goodies as well. Apparently, she was enjoying Steve's visit, too. We had enough firepower to take down a small army, and to be honest, that's exactly what we thought we were going in after.

Steve tossed a couple of thin silver containers on straps over his own back, and I looked at him enquiringly. “It's a little surprise for our friends inside.”

I smiled and nodded at him, then we got back into the front seats and Jillian ducked down out of sight. Steve started up the engine and we rolled down the street and took the turn towards the security gate. I was a bit nervous that the guard would see the enormous amount of weapons we had on; but, everything was completely black and unless he knew exactly what to look for, he shouldn't see anything.

Steve pulled up to the gate and handed over the security pass. The guard didn't even look at us when the gate swung open and he passed the security card back. He waved us forward and stepped back to his previous position.

We drove inside the walled off area and found a spot to park next to the warehouse. It was well out of the line of sight of the only guard we could see. That didn't mean that someone else couldn't see us, though. Cameras were a tricky thing to plan for, since fields of view were never included on building plans.

_______________

You have a choice to make. It could potentially change things.

A) Storm in the front. B) Creep in the back. C) Sneak in. D) Blow it up and hope for the best.

Damn, the choices are getting harder. I thought. Well, I didn't come all this way to make a bunch of noise and alert everyone what we're doing, so it was down to B and C. I thought about it for a minute. The doors could be rigged, so I'm going with C. I choose C.

_______________

The three of us crept out of the van as quietly as possible and found the access ladder to the second floor fire escape. We had silently debated going in the front door, considering we had a security pass, then decided that caution was the better choice.

I looked around and couldn't see anyone else except Steve climbing up the ladder. I motioned for jillian to go next and followed her up the ladder. I did not look at her shapely ass the whole time. Nope, I did not. I climbed in through the window behind her and she winked at me.

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Dammit. So easily caught. I thought with a smile and make a kissing motion with my lips. She clamped her mouth shut to stop her laugh, pointed to her own eyes, then out. I nodded and observed.

It was dark. Luckily, it wasn't too dark to see. We were on a catwalk that was well above the floor, and seemed much higher than the ladder we just climbed up. My power flared a bit at that thought and my sense of worry, then everything was almost as clear as day. I took in a quick breath when it happened and Steve must have heard me, because he stopped and looked at me.

I held my hand up in apology. It looked like he was going to say something, then he shook his head and started crab-walking across the catwalk. I went right behind him and Jillian took the hint without being told and followed me. We continued along the catwalk over to the corner of the building. It was probably covered in enough shadow to conceal a whole team of people and I could see every detail and was worried that someone else could see us just crouching there.

“David, are you okay?” Steve whispered.

“What? Oh, I'm fine.” I said just as quietly. “I'm just nervous we're exposed up here like this.”

Steve nodded and pulled out a couple pairs of slim night vision goggles and tried to hand me one. I just shook my head and he widened his eyes. He offered a pair to Jillian and she shook her head, too. Steve put them back wherever he got them from.

We all looked around and tried to get some bearing as to where the trap was going to be. We could tell where anything could jump us, though. The whole place was completely open. Steve motioned towards me, pointed his fingers at his own eyes, then pointed at the floor below. I caught the gist of what he meant, 'watch the floor', and nodded. He got up and continued to crab-walk to the right, moving all the way around the catwalk along the upper floor windows.

I think he was looking for a way down, but I wasn't sure if that was what he was doing or not. This wasn't really my kind of fight. Since I had been off the force, I kind of just went in the front door and dealt with whatever happens. All this sneaking around was a little nerve-wracking.

I kept a solid view of the floor and Jillian watched around us and back the way we came through the window. Neither of us noticed any movement at all. If there was anyone else there, and if they moved, I would have seen it. Steve came back along our left side, which apparently meant that the catwalk went full circle and was uninterrupted. I looked at him and shook my head, as did Jillian.

Steve nodded and pointed back along the left side past the window we came in. It was our turn to nod and we followed him back the way we came. Just a little ways away from the window we initially came through, was a thin wrought iron spiral staircase that went to the floor below.

Steve looked at the first stair and flicked a knob on his goggles. He couldn't have seen anything because he then took a tentative step, and when nothing happened, he continued down the stairs really quickly. I was a bit surprised, and tried not to fall when I went down the stairs behind him.

Stupid legs. I thought and managed to stop before running into him when I got to the bottom.

Steve was there holding out his hand in a 'stop' gesture. I didn't argue and immediately did the same to Jillian behind me. When Steve tells you to stop, you stop. He pushed another knob on his goggles and walked really slowly towards the back of the room, motioning for us to follow. We reached the back of the place quickly, considering how big it was, and he leaned against the wall and lifted his goggles.

“Nothing.” Steve said in a hushed tone and sighed.

I was a bit perplexed, and I said so. “What do you mean?”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and whispered to us. “There's nothing here. No sensors, no trip wires, no hidden passages, no other stairs than the one we came down, and the only door that I can find is the one we saw from the outside. No office, no desks, and nothing to indicate that anything was ever in here.”

“But, we knew it was a fake.” I whispered back. “Why are you surprised?”

“Because there should be something. Some kind of trace. Something. There's not.”

I was still a bit bewildered by what he meant, then I suddenly felt something as a shiver went down my back. I quickly turned towards the upper window we had come through and saw the light outside wane. The sun was about to set and we were still inside a place that we knew was a trap set by vampires.

I didn't even try to keep my voice down when I spoke. “Steve, we have to go.”

“What?” Steve looked at me with wide eyes.

“The sun's going down. We don't want to be out in the open like this.” I said and Jillian nodded.

Steve looked at me for only a second, nodded, and we ran for the stairs to go back up to the catwalk. It was then that we heard a loud metallic clang. The three of us flattened ourselves to the rough concrete floor automatically.

We looked up at the same time to see the stairs we had come down fold up into themselves, which made a large circle that then receded up to the height of the catwalk. It left us stranded. We all thought of the only door that lead out of the place and turned to it, then there was a loud bang and a grinding sound. The whole floor shook and then started to lower itself into the ground. Steve pretty much hit himself in the forehead with his palm and looked at me.

That was why there was no signs of anything being here in the 'room'. It wasn't a room. It was an elevator.

I wasn't quite sure why I felt it when the sun collapsed beneath the horizon. When it happened, my necromancy rippled slightly, and the elevator dropped below the warehouse walls and down into the ground. The darkness seemed thicker as it engulfed us and we descended down into the bowels of whatever it was that we were going down into.

Steve gave up using his slim night vision goggles and even my heightened eyesight didn't penetrate it. I had to assume that Jillian couldn't see, either. That's when a realization hit me. I had been dreaming for weeks about these damn pervasive shadows that you couldn't see through.

“Get ready.” I warned my two companions.

I could actually hear Steve give a derisive grunt while he got his equipment ready. If I wanted to hazard a guess, I'd say he was just a little bit unhappy right now. That's another thing we have in common. Neither of us was going to like what was coming. Jillian I couldn't read; but, I heard her prep as well. She was just as ready as we were.

A feeling of trepidation started to fill me and I quickly squashed it before it took hold. I was not going to be afraid now. I couldn't afford to be afraid like I had been in my visions. Then I realized something. I could feel them. I wasn't sure what they were, because I haven't felt anything like them before. They were there in the darkness and the shadows started moving around. They cleared away just enough for us to see everything when the elevator stopped with a loud crunch and a bang.

We were now in a large underground room and completely surrounded by vampires. I didn't even bother turning around to see the look on the other's faces, because I knew what it would be. They would have the same expression as me, because we were all majorly pissed off.

A single high pitched voice broke the silence as the vampires that surrounded us made a narrow space for someone to walk through. “Well, well, well. If it isn't David, the crippled necromancer.” She laughed. “I suppose that's previously crippled now.”

I knew that voice, even though I had only heard it for one evening. The sweet tone it carried held an unmistakable trace of loathing and I turned around to face her. Mina crossed the vampire circle with all the authority of a general passing her troops. She looked at me and I put into my face all of the hatred I could muster.

Mina's face blanched a bit, if that was even possible for a vampire of her age. She steeled herself quickly and glared at me. “Nothing to say? No witty comebacks? I must say I'm disappointed, David.”

“Why?” I asked, my voice dripping with scorn. I felt dirty just talking with her.

“Isn't it obvious? It's you. It's always been because of you.” Mina said. “You're the one that's been messing up everything for me.” She spat. “None of my potential conquests wanted anything to do with me after they were near you!”

I was a bit surprised by that.

“They would say things like, 'he treats us like we're normal'. Ugh!” Mina pouted. “Normal? They are not normal! You are not normal!” She strutted around us, circling like a shark about to consume its prey. “Jeanette. Charlotte. Nina. Natalie. Mikki. Even Jillian.” She said and glared at Jillian.

I didn't turn to keep Mina in sight as she prowled and she looked taken aback by it, so I smiled at her.

“What are you smiling at?” Mina asked almost in a shout.

“I'm just trying to decide if I should take my time ripping out your heart or if I should finish you quickly by just taking your head off.”

The other vampires shifted around and murmured to each other as if they were gossiping.

Mina wasn't happy about that and she turned away from me. “QUIET!” She yelled at them.

The vampires quieted instantly and they didn't look happy about that.

“You shouldn't turn your back on your opponent. They could surprise you.” I said.

Mina turned around immediately to glare at me as she tried to see if I was doing anything. I just stood there and hoped that Steve got the hint.

“You wouldn't dare try anything now.” Mina said in satisfaction when she saw I didn't react. “You're surrounded by your death and there's no way out.” She said and grinned. “Natalie didn't fight at all.”

My anger instantly flared when she spoke her name and my power spiked through the whole room. Every vampire there felt it. Unlike Mina, they were smart and stepped back.

“Fine. I'll take both your head and your heart.” I whispered in a deadly voice.

Mina had a split second to realize what I meant before I darted across the short distance between us and drew the machete-like blade from the thigh sheath. I swung it through the air and across her throat in the blink of an eye and I didn't stop there. I followed through with a three hundred and sixty degree turn, inverted the blade in my hand as I placed my other palm on the hilt, then I drove it through her rib cage and into her heart.

There wasn't as much blood gushing out after decapitating her as I thought there was going to be. Not even when her head slid from her neck and dropped to the floor. I twisted the blade in a half circle, grinding her heart muscle into pulp, then I yanked the blade out and kicked her lifeless body aside.

The other vampires just stood there and watched it happen like it was a slow motion action scene and they might miss something if they didn't watch it all. Except for Steve. He had gotten my hint.

I heard what sounded like a camera flash bulb going off as he tackled Jillian and me to the floor, then pushed one of the silver devices from his back onto the floor beside us. It sprang open and about a dozen little pieces detached itself from the tip and flew into the air in a perfect circle. In the next second, everything at least two feet away from us was on fire.

I felt like my skin was melting from the heat and Steve kept my head covered with something. What the hell was that thing? I asked myself. I was pretty sure that it was something like an incendiary grenade; but, I have never seen one do anything like that before.

What felt like an hour, which turned out to be only a few minutes later, Steve got off me and helped me up, then he helped Jillian. He had put some kind of silvery blanket on top of us, that turned out to be an asbestos fire resistant sheet.

I was going to point out that 'fire resistant' didn't mean 'fireproof' when I noticed that we were alone. “Jesus Christ.” I said and looked around. Everything was covered in ash, or I guess it would be better to say covered in the remains of the vampires. So much for that trap.

Steve cleaned off the sheet and folded it up into a tiny little square that could fit into a regular pocket. I looked at him and vocally expressed my earlier silent question about the device.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, almost in a shout.

“That, was an experimental prototype of a supernatural incendiary control mechanism.” Steve said with a straight face, then he laughed when I glared at him. “It is supposed to be dropped into a very large area and released to cover everything. It wasn't intended to be used the way I just did it, mainly since it's not supposed to be survivable.” He said. “The blanket worked better than I thought it would.”

I glanced down at the singed edges of our clothing and at our bright red skin. I suddenly had a weird thought and wondered if I would get a tan from it. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

“Shall we go look for clues, then?” Steve asked me, a little mockingly.

“Okay, but try not to step on anyone.” I responded and he laughed.

Jillian looked at us like we were crazy for about five seconds, then she smiled. “Is it always this fun?”

Steve and I exchanged knowing looks, then we all laughed.