Denise scowled at the rundown building she was watching from around the corner. It didn't look that bad, and it was in the middle of town, but the super suspicious part was that the van was nowhere to be seen. Their GPS tracker was saying the chip was in the house, and somehow Denise doubted the vamp had somehow gotten the van through the front door.

"Are we going in or not?" one of the vampires who had gone with her—she was pretty sure his name was John, and she was absolutely sure that he was annoying as hell—whispered to her from behind.

"Quiet!" she hissed at him, continuing to watch the house and the street. A woman was walking down the street, but she was human, so there was no need to worry about that.

"Come on, let's check it out," the other one, Andrea, said. "We can't stand around here forever." Denise let out an annoyed sigh.

"Fine, fine." She shook her head, pulling out her gun. She was really starting to miss Adley. He was an idiot too, but he was more the kind of idiot she liked. And also she was usually the one pushing him to do things, not the other way around.

Drawing her gun, she looked around before walking up to the house, watching its windows. There was no light or sign of movement at all in the ones that weren't boarded up. If Denise didn't know any better, she'd just assume that the house was abandoned, and it made sense that there was no movement in the dead of night.

But she did know better, and this definitely felt like a trap. Realistically, Denise had no idea how the vampires who had survived their fight would know to check for a tiny tracking chip on the underside of the van, but clearly, someone had found it.

But someone trying to lure them here also made no sense to her. These vampires had been staying under the radar so much Aegis couldn't have managed to find any trace of them until now with very little to go off of still, so why would they suddenly decide to try to attack them?

Denise looked back at her coworkers as they reached the door. They nodded at her, stakes in hand. Were there really so few people who preferred the guns?

She tried opening the door, only to find that the lock had been broken. Not suspicious at all. She pushed the door open, wincing at the loud creak it had produced, and frowning into the dark hallway.

Denise raised her gun a bit as she reached what looked like a kitchen, only judging by the sink and fridge because the rest of the room seemed to have been moved out or robbed, poking the gun in the room first before looking around. There was no one here of course, but she felt like she was going to start jumping at shadows soon. Something about being here was really putting her on edge.

They continued moving through the house as quietly as possible, covering the entirety of the first floor without coming across anything suspicious. Denise had almost relaxed by then. At least until they heard a tiny creak of wooden flooring above them.

They all froze, staring up at the ceiling. There was only silence yet again, but Denise wasn't stupid. There was definitely someone up there. Looking at the other two vampires she pointed up, nodding at them, which they nodded back at, clutching their wooden stakes tighter.

They went back to about the middle of the hallway where the stairs were and began to climb them. Denise practically cringed with every step, expecting the old wood beneath her feet to make a noise. Shockingly it hadn't yet, but it could only be a matter of time.

Despite not actually needing to breathe at all, her remaining human instincts were making her hold her breath as she reached the top of the stairs. There was still no one there, just another empty hall with three doors, all of which were closed. Because of course, they were.

Sighing quietly, she pointed at the door on the left in an exaggerated way so the other two saw before grabbing the doorknob and gently turning it, opening the door with a soft but long creaking that made her cringe.

She stood there, the door half open, as she waited for any sound to indicate that the person who might be here had reacted somehow to it. But there was just more silence. She hadn't seen anyone inside the door when she'd opened the door, but Denise now took a closer look, scanning the dark, mostly preserved bedroom as she tried to ignore the strong stink of mold coming right at her. It was in the entirety of the house, but this room in particular was something else.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Next, she tried the door opposite this one. This time around there was no creaking, but the tiny bathroom also didn't contain anything of note, except for the fact that the cobwebs were somehow much more concentrated here for seemingly no reason.

Denise shook her head, swallowing. So door number three it was.

She approached it, giving her colleagues a look over her shoulder. They seemed less enthusiastic about being here than they had before entering the house, but they still looked determined, which was at least something.

She grasped the doorknob, gritting her teeth and pushing the door open fast before she gave herself more time to overthink it, only to frown when she couldn't see anyone inside. She walked in, looking around with her gun held out in front of her. It was another bedroom, this one bigger, but unlike the one before this one, there was something that immediately drew Denise's attention.

In the middle of the room were a chair and a small table with a glass on top of it. A glass with a dark, thick liquid inside of it. Denise found herself walking towards it as a morbid curiosity overcame her.

She didn't need to go directly to it to smell the thick metallic scent that was coming from it, though. This was blood, and it smelled fresh. Before she could warn the other two vampires, there was yelling behind her as the door slammed shut.

Denise stared at the scene as Andrea turned to dust right in front of her by some blond guy in a suit, who was now trying to do the same to John. Without thinking, Denise took a shot at him, only missing his heart by what must have been less than an inch as their enemy moved at the last moment, killing John as well with shocking ease.

Denise gritted her teeth, throwing her gun away and grabbing her stake instead when she saw the guy charging at her. Before she could strike, though, he grabbed both her wrists with bruising strength, so she slammed her forehead into his, making him let go and stumble back.

He grinned at her, twirling his own stake in his hand, but he didn't move. Denise had no idea who this was, but he had to be old to be this strong. That could either be a good thing, as he could be too sure of himself and underestimate her, or bad because he could very well know exactly what he was doing because to live this long the vampire couldn't be an idiot.

"I was hoping you'd show up," he said, still grinning. His accent was very posh. To an almost exaggerated degree. He sounded like some English aristocrat. "It's good to know I can count on Aegis for at least something."

"What do you want?" There was no reason Denise could think of for this guy to need her. But this was probably one of the vampires who had been capturing demons because she couldn't tell what he was just by looking at him. That was most likely how he'd managed to ambush them, too. Besides sight, vampires could spot people sensing their heartbeat, or their presence. And this man was giving off absolutely nothing.

"You work with a certain James Adley, correct?"

Denise frowned, the question surprising her enough that she actually felt herself lower her weapon. "What does he have to do with this?"

"Are you referring to what your organization has been making frankly pitiful attempts to investigate?"

Denise rolled her eyes.

"Nothing at all. This is a personal project," the vampire continued, waving his hand. As if none of this mattered. "Do you think he cares enough about saving your life to come to me?"

"Is that your grand plan? What do you even want with the guy?" Denise eyed the gun on the floor. It wasn't far away but if she lunged for it, the vampire would reach her before she could get a clear shot. She tightened her hold on the stake.

"So that's a no, then?"

Denise glared at him. She wasn't sure why she was taking the implication that James didn't care about her at all as an insult because if it were true, she'd be fine with it, but she couldn't help but get angry when it came from this person.

This had to be some vamp from James' past. Especially since he'd said it was a personal project. She had no idea why this guy thought that she'd be the best candidate for it, though. Hopefully, James wouldn't be too bothered by her killing him.

With deadly precision, she threw her stake right at his chest, watching it fly as if in slow motion as it got closer and closer. And just as it was about to make an impact, the vampire caught it, throwing the stake away casually.

"Let's test if he's interested, shall we?"

Before Denise could reply, she was dodging his fist, unfortunately not managing to do it a second time when he threw her against the wall. Coughing up blood, Denise got up immediately, but she wasn't fast enough to stop the other vampire from grabbing her by her throat and pushing her back against the wall.

She grabbed his arm with both her hands, almost managing to pull away the hand squeezing her throat, but he just pushed back harder, adding his other hand as well. Why did vampires have to have a blood stream despite not having a heartbeat, she angrily thought to herself as the edges of her vision began to turn black.

Denise tried to kick the vampire away, but she could tell her strength was leaving her. He just squeezed even harder, slamming her against the wall again, making the back of her head hit it as well. Her ears were ringing as she struggled to keep her eyes open out of pure stubbornness.

Groaning, she finally felt herself slipping with one last thought in her mind—this was really, really bad.