Director Farrow tapped several buttons on an intercom from his desk before grabbing a key from one of the drawers.

“All personnel! We’re under attack, and the security system isn’t responding!”

“Wagner here, is it vampires?” the captain’s voice asked over the intercom.

“Footage is showing a new variant we haven’t seen before,” said Farrow, looking at the footage from his computer. “They’re outright ignoring our sensory overload weapons. I want officers with manual override keys at the door to each floor now!”

He heard a series of affirmatives as he opened up a panel on his desk, revealing a keyhole. Suddenly, another voice interjected.

“Sir! The holy water tank has been defiled!”

Farrow paused just as he’d inserted the key into his desk. The keyhole in his desk was marked, ‘Holy Water Rain,’ and was connected to the sprinkler system. If the water in that tank was defiled…

“What happened?”

“It was Agent Swann, Sir. She killed herself and let her body fall into the tank.”

Farrow felt his blood run cold. Agent Swann? A traitor? Was it her that compromised the security system? That was a question for later.

“Agent Danner,” said Farrow. “If you’re still alive, I want a status update.”

###

Within the mansion above the facility, a group of agents fired their weapons, held up at the end of the hall with a door and the elevator behind them. By the door, another agent had taken a panel off the wall and was trying to rewire the controls. At the other end of the hall, a seemingly endless supply of defiled vampires snarled as they ran forward. No matter how many seemed to fall to their bullets, more would run in to take their place.

“This is Agent Galloway,” he said. “Agents Danner and Harlow are dead. We couldn’t retrieve the manual override keys from their bodies. It all happened so fast, but a few of us are held up in front of the Stairs and the Elevators. Agent Jones is trying to hotwire the locks. We’ll hold them off as long as we can, but we could really use some backup.”

The hunters kept firing at the shrieking beasts. But then, after a moment, the defiled stopped attacking, hiding around the corner. The hunters seemed to have the advantage for a moment as the defiled hid around corners.

Further back, Lord Victor Sorenson stood, his army of normal vampires staying back as well. The Elder Vampire looked to his side where a figure stood that the other vampires hadn’t even noticed. This person was shrouded in darkness, becoming nearly invisible as he stood in the shadows. Lord Victor could barely see this man and the red eyed raven that sat on his shoulder.

“You know what to do, Walter,” said Victor.

Walter the Warlock nodded, and from beneath his feet his shadow began to grow.

The Night hunters kept their guns up even as the hunter behind them kept working on the door. A moment, later, they heard the glass shattering. Watching carefully, they suddenly saw the hallway in the distance grow dark, the lights in the roof breaking. More lights went out, and soon the hunters could see some sort of shadow creeping across the ceiling, breaking every light it touched.

“Flashlights!” cried Galloway.

The hunters activated their flashlights just as the shadow crept over them, the final light going out. For a moment, they were still, their flashlights showing no movement in the dark hallway. Little did they know, however, that the shadow that had knocked out the lights was now creeping across the floor and up their bodies. Panic began to set in when the first flashlight broke. As more flashlights popped, the hallway became darker and darker, until the final one burst and plunged the hunters into total darkness.

Soon the defiled vampires attacked as the hunters fled to the stairs in a panic. They were quickly overrun by enemies they couldn’t see, their throats ripped open to let blood flow out. Lord Victor Sorenson then led his army to the stairs, many of them armed with crowbars and hammers. With the electronic security down, it was only a matter of time before any closed doors gave way before them.

###

“Gordon!” shouted Phoenix after asking for a communicator. “What’s the situation?”

“We’re under attack!” cried Gordon. “Where are you?”

“The Chapel on level five,” said Phoenix. “I’ll meet up with you.”

“No!” said Gordon. “You stay right where you are.”

“Gordon, I don’t want people dying for me.”

“Use your head, boy! They’ve been targeting you from the beginning. I don’t know what they want with you, but it can’t be good. Who knows how many people they’ll kill once they get their hands on you!?”

Alice, fearing for her brother’s life, put her hand on his shoulder.

“Arthur,” she said softly, making him pause.

“Arthur?” asked Gordon. “Is that your sister?”

Phoenix hesitated, “Yes. That’s my sister.”

“Good,” said Gordon. “They’ll be after her, too, and right now that Chapel is the safest room in this facility. You stay there and protect your sister.”

Phoenix took a look at Alice, who looked back with eyes pleading. After a moment’s hesitation, Phoenix said, “Understood.”

###

Farrow pressed a button on his desk to begin flushing the holy water tank. That would also sweep away Agent Swann’s body, which they were have to recover later. In the meantime, he watched video feed from all over the facility. The vampires had breached the stairs. That couldn’t’ be avoided, but at the very least Agent Walker had succeeded in hotwiring the elevator, so the hunters could move between floors.

Most floors had managed to insert their keys into the manual override slots. With the electronic security down, there wouldn’t be power to actively keep the doors locked, but this would slow the vampires down. Floors two and six were compromised, however, with hunters struggling to hold their attackers off. That was research and the mess hall.

Two floors had enabled electronic locks, but considering it was the werewolf sleeping quarters and the armory, Farrow believed that this was deliberate on the vampires’ part. The armory housed the magic weapons sent over from the Silver Armory. It was locked with a three foot thick steel vault. With the electronic security compromised, it would be near impossible to open. Farrow was only thankful that he’d taken one of the magic weapons out earlier and entrusted it to Gordon Brand.

As for the werewolves, it would be easier to open that floor, but werewolves were a volatile resource. If they weren’t handled carefully, they could just as easily kill Night Hunters as well as vampires. It took a lot of time and preparation to use them effectively, which was two luxuries they didn’t have. As it was, the magic weapons and the werewolves would be of no help.

“Alright,” said Farrow to his intercom as he pressed a few buttons on his desk. “I’m about to refill the holy water tank. It will take some time, but that’s our best chance of turning this around. Agent Walker, I want you to lead a team to level five to escort some priests to the water tank. Cora Mires and Jasmine Ross, I want you to head to the water tank and make sure the way is clear for them. Agent Thompson, you take command of the recruit quarters. Finally, I want Agent Brand and Captain Wagner on level five to protect our Crucivire.”

###

Agent Walker pressed two wires together to open the elevator. Wagner, Walker, and Gordon then went straight to the chapel while Cora Mires and Jasmine Ross waited. Wagner had already armed himself with an unconventional weapon. He had a tank of holy water strapped to his back, which was connected by a tube to a nozzled weapon in his hands.

Gordon temporarily looked over his shoulder to the door to the stairs. A squad of Night Hunters already had the door covered, guns at the ready, and it was a good thing too. Gordon could hear the vampires on the other side using crowbars to pry the door open. It wouldn’t be long before they got in.

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Agent Walker opened the doors to the chapel, “Alright, I need every priest who’s willing accompany me to the water tank.”

A few of the priests stood, but didn’t immediately go to Walker. Instead they went to a large cupboard to the side. One of the priests slid a wooden door open to reveal a small armory of guns. The priests spend a minute arming themselves and then went to Walker.

As one of them passed by Alice, he turned to her and said, “Feel free to arm yourself, recruit Hayes.”

“Thank you,” said Alice, impressed. She’d certainly never seen a stash of guns like this at the churches she’d grown up in.

Phoenix looked to Gordon and the two nodded to each other. Phoenix picked up his sword, and Gordon shed his trench coat, keeping his hand on his own blade as he prepared to fight. Phoenix looked over and saw that Gordon wasn’t using his usual sword, but carried one with gold inlaid in the hilt and crossguard.

“Is that what I think it is?” asked Phoenix.

“Excalibur, yes,” said Gordon. “From the Silver Armory. Didn’t expect to need it so soon, but here we are.”

“Oh,” said Phoenix, trying to look a the door. He just couldn't help but give the magic sword one or two envious glances.

Alice went over to arm herself, and as she pulled a gun down to check it, she felt Captain Wagner’s footsteps as he approached her.

“Remember your training, Recruit Hayes,” he said. “And keep your wits about you.”

“Yes sir,” she replied.

###

“Remember your training!” shouted Agent Thompson.

The senior agent stood in a line with the recruits. Marcia, Jamar, Harry, and Robert stood with them, everyone aiming their guns. They could hear the door groaning as vampires on the other side worked to get the door open. Their faces were masks of steel as they griped their weapons tightly.

“We got this,” Jamar whispered.

“I hope you’re right,” Harry whispered back.

Marcia looked Jamar out of the corner of her eye. She wondered if the rest of them were as secretly on edge as she was.

###

Cora Mires and Jasmine Ross stepped off the elevator, coming out into a long hallway. A few soldiers were waiting for them, and the pair of dhampirs could smell the fear on them, even if they hid it well.

“We’ve set up a defensive perimeter around the water tank,” said the Hunter.

That was good, though Cora, as she could already hear vampires on the other side of the door trying to get in through the stairs.

A moment later, Agent Walker exited the elevators with a few priests.

“We’ll stay by the stairs,” said Cora. “And try to hold them off as long as we can. If we’re forced to retreat, I’d ask you hold off the gunfire until we’re behind the perimeter, but you do what you have to do.”

Walker nodded. He knew the damphir’s would be rendered helpless when the gunfire started. He only hoped he’d be able to honor her request.

###

A few minutes after Walker left, religious leaders from the other rooms on level five crowded in. There were rabbis, various flavors of priests, and even the psychologists, all hoping to take refuge from the vampires, and all were armed with guns. They ended up standing to the back with the Night Hunters standing in front of them. Alice stood to the very front with Wagner, Phoenix and Gordon standing beside her.

“I’ll have to ask you to refrain from shooting unless absolutely necessary,” said Phoenix. “Gordon and I will have a hard time with loud sounds.”

Alice understood. While the elder vampires had at least a hundred years for learning to control their pain, neither Gordon or her brother had that luxury. This Gordon seemed to be the leader of their group, so maybe he could resist it a little, but even so.

“If there’s a threat, let us handle it,” said Gordon.

Alice nodded.

###

On every floor of the facility, the vampires tried to open up the doors in the stairs, and Night Hunters sood at the ready.

Cora and Jasmine held their swords up. With their enhanced hearing, they could just barely make out the sound of the water tank filling up down the tunnel behind them, and that was going to take a while. It had to send water to the entire facily, after all, and the underground facility was massive.

Slowly the doors on each floor started to inch open. The vampires were careful not to show themselves, through the defiled tried to slip through, prompting hunters to shoot. More and more the doors opened, until there was enough space to place a crowbar at the edge of the door and swing a hammer.

Clang! A door would open a little more. Clang! It would open just a little further. Finally, with one more clang, the door opened completely, and the normal vampires stepped aside to let the defiled run amok. Gunfire hailed on the creatures as they attacked relentlessly.

Night Hunters in the recruit quarters held them off, guns blazing. Cora and Jasmine cut the feral creatures down with their swords, spilling blood all over the floor to protect the water tank. Outside Farrow’s office, a squad of Hunters protected the director, and hunters on every floor fired shots as the undead horde attacked.

###

On level five, with everyone crowded in the chapel, the defiled overran the floor. Sensing their prey, the senseless vampires sent straight to that group. The moment the first of them passed the threshold of the chapel door, however, they fell to the floor, convulsing as smoke drifted off their bodies. After a moment, the first few defiled vampires turned to ash as the rest of them held back, sensing the other vampire’s deaths.

Alice, Phoenix, Gordon and Wagner stayed tense as they watched the scene unfold, and Alice took a deep breath.

Lord Victor, flanked by some of his vampire soldiers, stood next to the stair door. His warlock, Walter, walked to a corner, still shrouded in darkness. Lord Victor turned to him, and drew a sword with a crossguard shaped like a bat’s wings and a pommel shaped like a claw clutching a ruby. He held the sword out to Walter, who raised his hand.

“The spell won’t last long, my lord,” said Walter.

“I’m sure it will last long enough,” said Victor. “You know what to do.”

Walter waved his hand over the blade, which turned black as night. After a few moments, it seemed that Lord Victor held a sword of pure shadow in his hand. The elder vampire inspected it for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction.

Walter then noded and took a deep breath. This next spell would take all his concentration. The eyes of the Raven on his shoulder glowed with a red light that illuminated the hallway. Soon darknes spread across the walls, knocking out the lights as it went.

In the Chapel, Alice and the other hunters gripped their guns tightly, while Phoenix and Gordon gripped their swords. Just outside the chapel doors, the defiled growled, though none dared cross the threshold. For a moment, all was still, but then both Gordon and Phoenix felt a shiver.

“Something’s coming,” said Phoenix.

Alice looked at him, but when she heard glass breaking. Looking back to the door, she saw some sort of darkness creeping across the floor as the lights in the hallway went out. The hunters stared at it in confusion until this darkness crept into the chapel and seemed to rise above the floor, taking shape. Soon the darkness formed long tendrils that slithered menacingly.

And with one, swift motion, the tendrils reached towards the hunters. Alice and most of them didn’t react in time, but Phoenix and Gordon ran forward, swinging their swords and cutting through the tendrils. Each tendril faded to smoke when cut, but more tendrils rose to replace them. The dhampir and the crucivire cut the tendrils down as fast as they could while the hunters watched, barely able to follow their movements.

Wagner gritted his teeth, “They must have a witch or a warlock

And not just a witch or warlock, he thought, one that has full access to magic, the kind not seen in over a century. Not good.

Wagner pulled out a communicator, “Security! The vampires have a magic user! Possibly on level five! Can you get eyes on anything outside the chapel? Any sign of magic?”

A moment later, someone from the security room said, “There’s a patch of darkness towards the entrance to level five that not even the infrared cameras can pierce. He’s probably there.”

“You five,” said Wagner, pointing. “With me, we need to stop that Warlock. Agents Brand and Phoenix.” Wagner lifted his weapon. “Get down!”

The two swordfighters dropped to the floor as Wagner fired a jet stream of holy water that sliced the tendrils in one large sweep.

“Go!”

Wagner ran forward, his footsteps shaking the floor. Five Hunters ran with him, shooting more tendrils as they tried to rise up. Gordon and Phoenix covered their ears, tolerating the pain until the six hunters were out the door.

Out there, Wagner fired another stream of holy water, cutting down the defiled in the immediate area, splitting each of them into two. The holy water left their flesh burned as they lay there in pieces and the six hunters ran past them. Inside the chapel, Gordon and Phoenix stood and began swinging their swords as the tendrils attacked again.

In the hallway, Wagner and his men shot down defiled vampires as they ran to the stairs’ entrance. In the darkness, the flashlights of the hunter’s weapons scanned the hallways for any threats, and it didn’t take long to clear the area of defiled.

Little did they know, however, that Lord Victor Sorenson awaited them in the darkness, hiding in one of the emptied rooms. When they got close, Victor ran out of the room and cut a hunter down, his blade of shadow cutting even the metal of the hunter’s gun.

For a few seconds it was pandemonium. The five remaining hunters looked this way and that, but Victor never appeared in the light of any of their flashlights as he dodged, jumping from walls to slice each hunter down one by one until only Wagner was left.

Wagner finally caught victor in a light attached to his water cutter, but victor was gone by the time the stream of holy water was unleashed. Wagner tried to follow his vampiric attacker, the water stream cutting the walls and then the roof, but Victor was able to get close and swing his dark blade at Wagner’s leg. The giant man cried out as he fell to one knee, and Victor didn’t give him time to recover before he hit the other leg, making Wagner fall flat on his face.

Victor then used two quick sword strikes, one to cut the tube connecting the holy water tank on Wagner’s back to his weapon, and the other to strike Wagner’s head.

The dark sword pierced Wagner’s metal skull, though it stopped halfway through. Victor pried his sword away, and Wagner’s eyes rolled back into his head as he fell face down. Victor turned to leave, but felt a vicelike grip on his ankle.

Looking down, Victor realized that Wagner, despite his brain being cut, had grabbed him. The corner of Victor’s mouth curled up with an intrigued smile. He’d known of this artificial human, this abomination before, but he’d never encountered it in person. Despite the sword cutting into his brain, Wagner was still going, and not a single drop of magic had been used to create him. Victor wondered just how durable this creature was.

“I admire your tenacity, abomination,” said Victor, before using two quick sword strikes to cut Wagner’s wrists.

Wagner’s grip loosened, and Wagner lay there, leaking blood. Victor ten turned and walked on. With the hunters down, Victor’s vampire soldiers followed him.

Gordon and Phoenix swiped the dark tendrils furiously, barely holding them off. Alice was getting dizzy just watching them. Suddenly, as quickly as they were lashing out, they stopped, pulling back. Everyone in the room looked on in confusion, until a figure stepped in from of the chapel doors. Alice, Phoenix, and Gordon felt their breath catch as Victor Sorenson, stood before them, smiling.

“Agent Phoenix,” said Lord Victor. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment.”