Director Farrow sat in his office faced with the shadowy figures of the Night Hunter Council on his computer screen.

“We’ve cleared the facility of all remaining vampires,” said Farrow. “And I already have technicians working to restore the security system. In the meantime, I’ve set up more primitive defenses around the mansion with barricades and holy water hoses.”

“Have we identified who compromised the security system in the first place?” asked one of the council members.

“It’s hard to believe,” said Farrow. “But a review of the security footage showed agent Thompson inserting something into the servers. We recovered a flash drive, no doubt loaded with a virus programmed by a vampire’s thrall.”

“Agent Thompson is a traitor?”

“That’s the strange thing. Agent Thompson insists he doesn’t remember inserting the device, or even being in the server room. Furthermore, he fought in the recruit quarters and killed vampires along with everyone else. If he really betrayed us, he had to have known we’d discover should we succeed, yet he did nothing to avoid capture. We haven’t had a chance to arrange for a dhampir to inspect his mind, so right now I have no theories on what cause Agent’s Thompson and Swann to act the way they did.”

The council remained silent for a moment.

“How are Captain Wagner and Agent Brand doing?” asked one.

“Both are recovering,” said Farrow. “Agent Brand is a dhampir, so his injuries will heal and his legs will grow back before too long. I was worried about Captain Wagner as he’s never been injured like this before. However, it seems even his metal skeleton is regenerating. Before long, he’ll be good as new.”

“How is that possible?”

“You’re guess is as good as mine,” said Farrow. “We still don’t understand the technology that went into creating him. I can only be thankful that Doctor Alsman was dealt with when he was.”

One of the council members sighed, “As grateful as I am at getting some good news, we have to face facts. This whole ordeal is a complete and total disaster. The Council will deliberate on our next move. We still don’t know what the vampires want with Agent Phoenix, but his capture may now necessitate drastic action. Be ready.”

Farrow nodded, and then the feed cut off. Farrow then sighed as he turned his thoughts to Alice Hayes and her brother. He prayed silently that they could survive whatever those vampires were doing with them.

###

The vampires had run like the wind, carrying Alice and Phoenix through the dark forest. Before long, they entered tunnels that went underground. Through long tunnels covered in Aztec carvings, they eventually reached a set of stairs that went up. Up the stairs, they came out into a ballroom.

They were greeted with cheers from the vampires waiting there. Hundreds of vampires within the ballroom, and even standing outside looking in, applauded enthusiastically. Even the other elders Fara, Harold and Archibald clapped politely. As Alice looked around, it looked like a beautiful ballroom lite by a bright chandelier. If she focused, however, she could see through Victor’s illusion, showing a dark, decaying room with vines creeping through cracks in the walls. Now that he’d drunk her blood, Victor could cover her eyes with false visions, and Alice knew she’d have to be ever vigilant to see through them.

Before long, Phoenix and Alice were split up. Alice was brought to a room in the mansion where Victor placed her on the floor before standing and turning to leave.

“You may move about freely inside this room, but do not leave,” he commanded.

Alice felt some of the pressure leave her mind. She could get up, but the moment she thought about trying to leave that room, her head throbbed. She tried to conjure the image of a cross in her mind, but a stabbing pain made her wince and the image disappeared as soon as it arrived. Frustrated, she looked up to Victor, his back to her as he walked away.

“Where’s my brother?” Alice demanded. “And where’s Gary?”

Victor didn’t answer.

“Where are they!?” she screamed.

Victor left the room and closed the door behind him. Alice ran to the door and tried to open it, but her hand stopped before she could grasp it. She felt her head throbbing some more as she tried to force herself to turn the nob, but she just couldn’t get her hand any closer. Finally, in a burst of frustration, she punched the door, but it didn’t budge. She punched again and again, but to no avail.

Over and over again she hit the door, until she started hitting it with both hands, screaming, “Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!”

###

“What is your name?” asked Victor.

Victor stood in the great hall with an audience of vampires watching him. Before him stood a vampire cradling the hand he’d burnt reaching into a chapel, a young male whose glamour showed dark hair and fair skin, said, “Landon Felix.”

“Show me your arm.”

The vampire Landon stretched out the arm that had been burned when he pulled Alice Hayes out of the chapel. Lord Victor considered it, then in one switch movement he unsheathed his sword, cut the arm off causing Landon to cry out, and sheathed the blade again.

“The damage from the chapel won’t heal on its own,” said Victor. “The only way to restore your arm is to cut it off and let it grow back.”

Landon, cradling his arm, said, “Thank you, my lord.”

“But don’t think I don’t reward those who show such dedication,” said Victor, closing his eyes. After a moment, Landon could feel faces flowing through his mind. A moment later, Victor said, “Those vampires serve you now, Landon Felix.”

“As we all serve you,” said Landon. “Thank you, my lord.”

Victor smiled, then mentally dismissed him. The vampires around them then turned and went back to whatever they were doing before. The great elder vampire felt good right now. The crucivire was tied up near the seal, ready for the ritual, they’d dealt a heavy blow to the Night Hunters, and Lord Victor had a new toy to play with. He couldn’t wait to start turning Alice Hayes to his side.

And on that note, he wondered how Fara Duval was doing with Alice’s former partner.

###

Gary, kneeling, kicked the wall as hard as he could. He’d found a spot in the corner where the wall seemed weak. This mansion was ancient, and the vampires hadn’t exactly kept it in repair. Soon the wall crumbled, and Gary got his first view of the woman on other side of the wall.

Sierra looked pale and gaunt, her blonde hair frizzy and disheveled. She had tear marks on her cheeks, and she looked at Gary as she trembled with fear.

“What if they see this?” she asked, her voice a whisper.

“We can hide it,” said Gary. “There’s furniture in your room, right?” she nodded. “Good. Just move something in front of the hole when you hear one approaching. We’ll be fine.”

He grabbed his sleeve and ripped a piece of his shirt. He then, gently, wiped away the tear marks from Sierra’s face.

Outside the room, in the hall, Fara Duval stood with her new protégé, the blonde vampire who had taken Gary. With their enhanced hearing they knew exactly what was going on in those two rooms, and Fara smiled smugly.

“So, my dear,” said Fara. “Any thoughts on what I’m doing?”

“Well, mistress,” the other vampire said carefully. “It would seem that you are deliberately making this human have feeling for one of your thralls, and that you intend to transfer those feelings from the thrall to yourself.”

Fara grinned, “Very good. Gary Frasier is someone who naturally cares for others, so it isn’t hard to push him in that direction. Soon he’ll be head over heels for her, and that’s when I begin making real changes to his psyche.”

“Is this all really necessary?”

“It is, child. You see, many mortals are naturally submissive to authority, so you can easy bully them into submission. For more difficult humans, you need to be more precise with your methods, focusing on their individual weaknesses.

“Gary Frasier, for example, is a man who feels deep compassion for the people around him. He is so attuned to the needs of others that he is prepared to neglect his own needs, spending more time helping with his brother’s children than getting married and having children of his own. In short, he is a man who needs to be needed by those around him. The first step to taming him is to provide him someone who needs him that I control.”

“I see,” said the young vampire thoughtfully. “But then how do you plan to transfer his affections from the thrall to yourself?”

Fara wagged her finger, “Patience, dear girl. Patience. You’ll see it in time. When it comes to breaking a human’s mind, it doesn’t matter how strong they are.

“If you know what you’re doing, then it’s only a matter of time.”

###

Alice had given up screaming at the door. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t force herself to open it. The most frustrating thing about it was that the door wasn’t even locked. Victor hadn’t locked it after leaving her there, so there was nothing physically stopping her from leaving the room. The block was all in her head, and that infuriated her.

Alice, feeling exhausted, finally looked around the room. It looked like an ornate bedroom with beautiful wood carved furniture and a luxurious four poster bed. Alice knew better, though. If she pushed, she could see through the illusion at the cracked walls and dust covered furniture. This place couldn’t be good for Alice’s health, not by a longshot.

For a moment, she considered carving a cross into her skin. The moment she thought about that image, however, she could feel that spike going through her head, just like before. Victor’s influence was already running deep, and he was clearly keeping a mental eye on her. If she focused, she could push through the pain, but the problem was getting out of the mansion once she’d severed the link. She didn’t think she could, not with so many vampires around.

“No,” Alice Victor’s voice in her head. “You most certainly can’t.”

Alice felt a chill go down her spine. Somehow, she knew that Victor was just outside the room, and sure enough the door opened a moment later. The elder vampire entered, a pleased smile on his face.

“Hello…Clara,” said Victor.

So that’s the name he’s chosen for me, thought Alice. She could feel a subtle pressure on her mind to answer to that name, but Alice kept her composure.

“My name is Alice,” she said defiantly.

Victor chuckled, “Yes, that’s about what I expected. It made no sense that Miranda could resist me. A simple, ordinary young girl without a care in the world? No, she should have succumbed to me much sooner, but you…” he grinned. “You have fire in you, and you were lending it to her, weren’t you?”

“If you know I can resist you, then you might as well let me go.”

Victor chuckled again, “Oh, I can be patient when I know the situation requires it.”

Victor sauntered up and began circling around Alice, who found she couldn’t move from that spot. The elder vampire ran a finger along Alice’s collarbone, making her shiver. Alice wanted to run from that room, but she still couldn’t make her arms and legs move, not while Victor was in the room.

“Let us begin,” said Victor.

Alice felt the world around her change, her surroundings shifting until the room looked clean and immaculate, the illusion reasserting itself over her mind. Somewhere, Alice could hear violin music drifting into the room. Alice found herself wearing a beautiful blue dress while her dark hair fell to her shoulders. She knew none of this was real, and if she focused, she could just barely make out the real world in her vision, she just couldn’t push away the false vision.

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Victor stood across from Alice and offered his hand, “Shall we dance?”

“I’d rather not,” said Alice.

Victor chuckled again, and Alice could feel her body moving closer to dance with him. However, though Victor had control over Alice’s motor functions, her mind was still her own for now. She was determined to keep it that way.

Though her real body began dancing with Victor, Alice stood still in the illusion. Surrounded by polished furniture and romantic candlelight, she shifted her attire back to her Night Hunter uniform, her hair short and out of the way. In her hands she summoned a katana, a cross showing in the reflection on the blade, and Alice shoved away the pain that came with it. After everything that had happened, Alice was more furious than ever, and that anger personified as a red flame that wrapped around the steel. The training she’d received from Jacqueline was about to be truly tested here.

Alice held her sword up, “You’re not gaining control of me without a fight, vampire.”

Victor chuckled one more time as he summoned his sword into his hand, “Whether it be to the sound of violins, or the sound of clashing blades, I’ll enjoy this dance.”

Victor rushed forward, and Alice was surprised by his speed, and found herself on the defensive. The elder vampire was like a whirlwind, and he danced around her with ease as their swords clanged together. For brief flashes, Alice could feel herself in the real world, dancing a waltz with Victor like a puppet on strings. They were mere flashes, though, Alice was having trouble concentrating.

Finally, Alice managed to deflect an attack and back away. Victor rested for a moment as he began laughing. Alice just glared at him as she kept her flaming sword up. When he finally stopped laughing, he looked at her, intrigued.

“Jacqueline trained you well,” said Victor.

“Yeah,” said Alice, smirking. “She did.”

“I’m surprised you’d be willing to work with her.”

“Sure, I was hesitant to trust a vampire at first, but she proved herself.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Alice didn’t like the smug look he was giving her. After a moment or two, Victor started laughing again, his voice echoing through the room.

“So you don’t know after all,” said Victor. “Not surprising.”

“What are you talking about?”

“My dear girl,” said Victor. “Haven’t you wondered all this time how she was able to connect with you? A vampire can only connect to a human through blood, after all. Can you not guess whose blood she might have used?”

“She’s never been in contact with anyone close to me.”

“Au contraire, dear girl. She most certainly has. You see, it was Jacqueline Castellane who took your brother all those years ago.”

Alice felt a chill run down her body as she tried to process what he’d just said. The red flame on her katana began to falter, dimming just a little.

“You’re lying,” said Alice. “The vampire who took Arthur was named Kenneth Noble.”

“Ah yes, good old Kenneth Noble,” said Victor, still smirking. “Jacqueline and Kenneth did see each other quite a bit, but if you have evidence that Arthur was with him, it’s mere coincidence that Jacqueline wasn’t the one in view.”

“If Jacqueline was the one who took Arthur,” said Alice. “He’d be...”

“Furious?” offered Victor. “Like he was when he found out you were talking to her?”

Alice started to tremble, “Why wouldn’t he say anything?”

“You’ll have to ask him,” said Victor. “From what I gather, the Night Hunters had already been working with Jacqueline for some time when he joined them. You see, Clara, the penalty for producing a crucivire is death. A dhampir may yet become a vampire, but the crucivire is our natural enemy, having already rejected our gift and bearing blood poisonous to us. Jacqueline knew the red council would hunt her down, and she made herself so useful to them that they’d never dispose of her, even for a crucivire. Phoenix must know that.”

“It can’t be true,” said Alice, backing away as the red flames on her katana began to flicker out. “That connection would have been severed…”

“When he became a crucivire, yes,” said Victor, nodding. “I’ll admit, I haven’t figured out how she got around that, but the fact remains. Your brother’s blood is how she got to you. Admit it, it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

Alice shook her head, but she couldn’t deny it explained things. Questions swirled around her mind. Why wouldn’t Arthur have said anything? How else could she have connected to me? What if he’s telling the truth? Despite Alice’s desperate desire to deny it, a cloud of doubt started to creep over her mind.

And when that doubt clouded enough of her mind, Lord Victor lashed out forming that doubt into a wall between Alice and everything she’d learned from Jacqueline. The flaming sword disappeared from Alice’s hand, and she was once more wearing a blue dress. Alice tried to remember what Jacqueline had taught her, but she just couldn’t reach that knowledge through that wall of doubt. Could it really be true? Could it really have been Jacqueline that kidnapped Arthur?

A moment later, Lord Victor danced a waltz with Alice, violin music, playing outside the hall, her blue dress swishing around her feet. The room looked immaculate once more, and Alice couldn’t even catch a glimpse of the real world. She wanted to run, but she had no control over her own limbs.

“Let me go,” said Alice.

“No, Clara,” said Victor, smiling affectionately at her. “I’ve been dreaming of the day I could hold you in my arms. I’m not letting you go, not after all this time, and not before I can show you what I have to offer.”

Alice concentrated. She couldn’t let what Victor had said about Jacqueline get to her.

“My name…is…Alice.”

Victor sighed, “Alice, you say? And who is Alice? Nothing more than a sad, lonely woman drowning in her own grief.”

“You’re wrong,” said Alice, though she barely believed her own voice.

“You want to stay Alice? You want to stay human, do you? I hope you understand what that means. If not, perhaps I can make it explicitly clear.”

Suddenly Alice was plunged into pitch black darkness, Victor’s touch disappearing. Alice froze in place, blind.

And just as suddenly the lights came back on. Alice stood on grass, the sun shining up above. All around here were military in dress uniforms, and next to Alice stood her mother, younger than when Alice had last seen her. Alice’s mother held her hand, and she held Arthur’s hand as well. Alice couldn’t remember when she’d seen Arthur so young, just a small child barely able to understand what was going on.

“Come on, Alice,” said Alice’s mother.

Looking around, Alice realized how short she was, little more than a girl again. She was led across the grass, trees surrounding the area. In the distance, Alice could see white crosses dotting the landscape ahead, and before that she saw a coffin with an American Flag draped over it.

Alice froze, “No.”

“Alice, come on,” said her mother.

“No,” Alice pleaded. “Please, I don’t want to be here.”

Her mother dragged her on, and Alice heard Victor’s voice in her ear.

“You said you wanted to be Alice, and Alice was here that day, was she not? So here you will stay…Alice.”

He spoke her name spitefully.

Alice was pulled closer and closer to the coffin, her eyes wide with fear. She still wanted to run, and her legs still refused to obey her. Finally, they were standing right next to the coffin, and Alice feared to look inside. Military personnel surrounded them, saluting, but Alice barely noticed them. Her eyes were locked onto that wooden box.

A moment later, the flag fell away, and the lid of the coffin opened. Within lay Alice’s father, his eyes closed and his skin pale. Tears fell down Alice’s eyes, and she could hear her little brother crying as he buried his face in his mother’s dress.

“Stop it,” Alice pleaded. “Stop it…please…Stop it…”

She still couldn’t move, her eyes locked on her father’s face as Arthur kept crying.

Alice screamed, “Stop it!”

Suddenly she was running away from the coffin, the sun setting fast and plunging Alice into night. She fled to the woods, running through the trees as moonlight dripped through the leaves above. As she ran, she saw coffins in the trees around her. One opened to reveal her father, while another opened to show her mother. More coffins appeared, showing the dead faces of everyone Alice had ever known. School Friends, fellow police officers, her mother, Penny, Ryan, Arthur, Gary, and even members of the Night Hunters. Everywhere she looked she saw death in her eyes as tears stained her cheeks.

As Alice desperately looked for an escape, she saw a light in the distance.

“Here!” someone shouted. “Over here!”

Alice ran as fast as she could, the light getting brighter and brighter. Within that light, Alice could see the silhouette of someone reaching their hand out. Alice made a break for it, stretching out her own hand to let the stranger pull her into the light.

A moment later, Alice stood there, sobbing as someone held her close. This person stroked her air, and Alice felt an overwhelming sense of safety and comfort.

“Do you see, Clara?”

Alice froze at the sound of Victor’s voice. Of course it was him. She should have known. She knew it was wrong but couldn’t shake that sense of calm and safety that had come over her, even as more tears fell down her face.

“That’s what being a human means,” said Victor. “You spend your life fighting against the inevitable, suffering, pain, loss and grief.”

Victor lifted her chin and wiped her tears away. Alice felt herself drawn to look into his eyes, and could see a magnanimous, kindly man. She tried to tell herself that it was all a lie, but the idea rang hollow in her mind.

“I can offer an escape from this, Clara,” said Victor. “I can ease your pain. All you have to do is leave Alice behind, let the grief slip away and embrace my gift.”

Victor turned and spread his arms, showing off their surroundings. Alice gasped as she beheld a ballroom of gold, dancers in beautiful dresses flowing around them. A golden chandelier illuminated the room with candles, and Alice caught a glimpse of her reflection on the golden wall. She wore a blue dress with her hair down, as before, her skin was flawless, and her wide eyes sparkled in the candlelight. Even the scars on her cheek were gone.

A moment later, Victor tilted her head again to gaze into her eyes.

“You see, Clara,” said Victor. “Every day can be like this, where we can live life to the fullest. Or…you can go back.”

Alice felt a chill behind her. That dark place that she had just fled from was still there, behind her. Always behind her, no matter which way she turned. She feared that darkness, and yet she could feel it slipping away, getting further and further behind her.

“You can leave it all behind,” said Victor, offering his hand. “If you let me help you.”

For a moment, Alice was tempted, and started to slowly reach out her hand. Her fingers came closer and closer to his, and Victor smiled triumphantly.

At the last moment, however, Alice felt something else in the darkness behind her, something important. Within all the pain and the grief, Alice could remember her brother, missing for years yet still alive. Upon thinking of her brother, she could see a vision of him lying on a stone slab, his arms and legs chained down, and this vision made Alice recoil, pulling her hand away.

Victor was on her in a moment, gripping her shoulders and making Alice gasp as she found her arms pinned.

“Oh, well,” said Victor. “Give it time. You’ll see things my way soon enough.”

And Victor leaned in, biting into Alice’s neck and making her cry out in pain as he drank his fill.

###

Phoenix lay on his back, chained to a stone slab with his arms and legs spread wide, his hands not yet grown back, even as the skin on his wrists had grown over. The vampires had brought him underground to the base of the seal, the red crystal casting its red glow above him. On the platform surrounding the seal, vampires stood around him, jeering and laughing.

“Look at him lie there!”

“Not so tough now!”

“You want a sword, little man?! Let’s see you try and use it now!”

The jeers and taunts kept coming, but Phoenix ignored them. Instead, he focused on uttering a prayer.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters…”

When he reached the end of the prayer, he started from the beginning, never faltering, even as the jeers and the taunts continued. Hearing the sound of scriptures, however, did make some of the vampires feel uneasy. Their natural aversion to the Christian faith wasn’t easy to ignore. Many kept trying to mock him, but the sound of that prayer was like an iron spike through their eyes.

Finally, one of them snapped, “Stop it! Stop saying that!”

Phoenix didn’t even stutter, but the other vampires stopped jeering and stared at this one uncomfortably.

“Now, now,” said a deep voice. “Didn’t I train all of you better than that?”

The elder vampire Harold walked up, vampires parting for him. This time Phoenix did stop his prayer with, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

The crucivire opened his eyes. “Harold Stone,” said Phoenix, glaring. “Another vampire who’s lived far too long.” He narrowed his eyes. “Where’s my sister?”

Harold didn’t answer for a moment, but simply watched Phoenix for a moment. And then, suddenly, the vampire raised his hand, extended his claws, and swiped at a cross tattoo on Phoenix’s cheek.

Phoenix flinched, gritting his teeth as bloody scratches were left behind. He glared at Harold, who watched curiously. After a few minutes, Phoenix’s skin healed, the wound closing and leaving the tattoo intact.

“Interesting,” said Harold. “Even the ink of your tattoo regenerated. Is it because you consider it a part of your identity that the magic repairs it?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” said Phoenix. “Where’s my sister?”

Harold shook his head, “No sense of curiosity, eh? Or do you just hate us that much?”

“Where…is…my…sister?”

Harold grunted, “If you really must know, she’s with Lord Victor.” He smirked, “She’ll be hanging from his arm before too long.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it.”

Harold raised an eyebrow, “You have a lot of faith in a woman you’ve barely interacted with in years.”

“Well,” said Phoenix. “She did rescue someone right from under your nose and force you to move early.”

Harold remained silent.

“Come on,” said Phoenix. “I’ve already heard a few of you vampires mention a ritual. It’s not hard to figure out what that means. You’re planning on using me as a human sacrifice in an arcane ritual. Right? So why not get on with it?”

Harold frowned.

“You’re waiting for a new moon,” said Phoenix. “The moon reflects the sun, and vampires don’t perform rituals with any sunlight in the sky, even indirectly. It tends to get in the way. The next new moon is a couple of weeks away, so it begs the question of why you didn’t way until a day before to attack the facility. You’d strike a blow to the hunters, and they wouldn’t have time to regroup before you performed the ritual.

“But Alice forced to you move early. Now that the Night Hunters know where you are, there’s the chance they could figure a way around that displacement spell. You had to move now to make sure you got to me before that happened. Isn’t that right?”

Harold growled.

“Alice did that,” said Phoenix. “So yeah, I know for a fact that your friend won’t break her easily.”

Harold sneered, tapping his foot. He glared at Phoenix for a moment, then lifted his hand, examining his own claws.

“We knew you’d gotten your memories back, you know,” said the elder vampire.

“Did you now?” asked Phoenix glibly.

“Not when we started, admittedly,” said Harold. “But that night on the farm, we were watching through the eyes of the vampires there. When you landed, you went straight for your mother. That, in of itself, could easily be coincidence. They were not yet far enough away from each other for distance to be a huge priority.

“But then you revealed yourself when the vampire carrying your mother panicked and started drinking her blood. You immediately changed direction to go after Alice.”

Phoenix seemed surprised by the answer, and Harold grinned.

“You didn’t even realize it, did you?” said Harold, shaking his head. “So impulsive, and with that one simple act you revealed your heart to us. The other members of the Hayes family were much closer, and yet you went straight to Alice, the one closest to you personally. It was too direct to be coincidence, so we know you remembered and that we could use her against you.”

Harold grinned, “All that effort to convince your sister you didn’t remember her, and you’d already sealed her fate.”

Phoenix instinctively tried to attack but was stopped by the chains holding him down. He struggled for a few moments, groaning painfully as he made a futile effort to break free. Harold just smirked at him, and Phoenix eventually gave up. As the crucivire lay there, he closed his eyes, and began reciting his prayer again.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want…”

As Phoenix recited his prayer, Harold sneered, “Pray all you want. Your God will not save you here.”

The elder vampire turned and walked away. The remaining vampires held back, too intimidated by one of their masters to begin jeering again. Not one of them noticed that as Phoenix continued to pray, a single, solitary tear ran down his face.