“The old observatory, very clever,” Mr. Bartlett checked the bullets in his gun one last time. The group stood behind a hill overlooking the main observatory building with a large dome connected to it. Moonlight lit up the area, covering it with a strange white radiation, making it visible to the naked eye.

Sam threw a rock off of the nearby cliff the observatory was built next too, “Long way down. No one better slip.” She turned to her comrades who were preparing for the assault. The sound of the waves below filled the salty air. She pulled her coat tighter around her.

Eddie sat atop the hill, looking out of his night vision binoculars, “Not a whole lot of them down there, they must be inside.” He stepped down the hill and joined his group, “There’s one in the guard box at the entrance and two more by the front door. One guy is up top, looks like he might have a long range rifle. There is also a side entrance on the dome, probably to the telescope.”

Red raised his hand, “I’ll take the guy on the roof, if you guys handle the rest. I might be better able to spot Andrelle from up there.”

Sam agreed and pulled her axe from her duffle bag and then clipped some UV grenades to her belt, “How are we getting close? You got a plan, B?”

Mr. Bartlett smiled, “I sure do, love.” The one eyed man started walking over the hill and down towards the guard box. The rest of the group took up positions on the hill, watching their friend and his so called plan.

“Why can’t he ever make things easy,” Eddie turned to the rest of the group, “He always has to be front and center, guns blazing.”

Sam laughed, “That’s what I like about him.” Her mood turned more serious, “He’s never afraid.” Sam turned back to the white suited man.

Mr. Bartlett reached the front gate and disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, reappearing on the other side.

The guard in the booth pulled his gun out and aimed it at Mr. Bartlett, only to see him vanish again. The guard looked side to side, trying to see what happened. A sharp pain filled the vampire’s chest. He looked down to see a blade jutting from his heart just before he burst into flames.

The gate started to open, and Mr. Bartlett waved the crew in. Brockly and Eddie started running down the hill to the gate.

As Sam started to run, Red grabbed her arm. Sam turned to him, “What’s up? Not getting cold feet are you?”

Red shook his head, “No, it’s not that.” He rubbed his neck, “I just wanted to say it has been an opportunity to serve with you.” He shifted around a bit, “We haven’t got along for the most part, and I know I’m a coward. It’s just. I always think of you when I’m afraid, it gives me courage to do the right thing.”

Sam smiled, “And you’re not too bad either, Mind Boy, but we have a job to finish and vampires to kill.”

Red smiled, “That’s what I mean. You flail your axe around with ease, charging in and saving the day, just like Mr. Bartlett. I just wanted to say thanks.”

Sam nodded and pushed Red in front of her, “Then you first Red, and don’t worry, I’ll see you when this is done.” He nodded and they ran off to the others waiting at the gate.

Brockly and Eddie were hiding behind the guard gate with Mr. Bartlett when Sam and Red showed up.

Brockly pulled out his pistols, “So is it my turn to take these guys?” He looked around at everyone’s face. They were all silent, giving him the same look of stupidity, “Alright, silent, I got that. Chill out.”

Sam bumped Eddie with her elbow, “You can always try those grenades of yours out.”

Eddie grinned, “It’d be my pleasure.” He slung his shotgun over his shoulder and pulled the pin off one of his grenades. He stepped around the guard box and threw it as hard as he could at the front door to the observatory.

The two vampires stopped their conversation and turned to the small blue thing flying towards them. The blue sphere landed right between the two and started to beep. They looked at each other, and before they could speak, a bright light flashed from the grenade, vaporizing the two vampires where they stood.

Eddie peeked around the corner to the front door, “Looks like it worked, they’re both gone.”

Mr. Bartlett nodded and pulled out his gun, “All right, Red, get to the roof and take the last guy out. You know how to get ahold of us if anything happens.”

Red nodded and took off running to the side of the main building.

Mr. Bartlett turned to Eddie and Brockly, “I want you two at the dome. We’ll cover more ground with us split up.”

The two men fist bumped and then took off running to the side entrance on the dome.

Mr. Bartlett turned to Sam, “And we, love, are going through the front door.”

Sam held her axe up, “Just the way I like it.” She went to turn, but was grabbed by the hand. She looked back at Mr. Bartlett standing in the moonlight. His white suit gave a strange glow. He pulled his hand up and twisted her around, landing her in his arms.

“Sam, I haven’t always been there for you, but I have to tell you that I love you. I’m not all man, there’s something else inside me, something evil and torturous. But when I’m with you, it can’t take ahold of me. You make everyday a better day for me, and I feel more like a man every moment you’re beside me. You are the happiness in my life. You keep the creature at bay. I left you all those years ago because I couldn’t handle the fact that it might do something to you, it might hurt you, and there would be nothing I could do to stop it. I just wanted you to know why I left you. I’m sorry for ever doing so.”

Sam smiled so wide, the world was engulfed with the love of two beings, even just for a second, the world was a better place. All maliciousness ceased, halted to the overpowering of feelings more than words. For no words can describe what true love is. No love could be overpowered by mere words. Sam felt as if she could conquer the world at that moment. Nothing could stop her now.

Mr. Bartlett held Sam tighter and leaned his face close to hers, “In case we don’t make it, I’d hate to waste a perfect night.”

She smiled and put her arms around his neck, “It’s not a waste with you.” She pushed her head in and the two kissed.

Sam stepped back from the kiss and pulled his hand towards her, “Let’s go, we don’t want to miss the party.”

Mr. Bartlett blushed, “This is why I like you.” The duo ran off to the front door, hand in hand, awaiting what the future would bring.

Sam Smiled. For the first time, Mr. Bartlett’s hand wasn’t cold to the touch.

Red began to climb the service ladder to the roof. It was the only way up he could find, but it worked just as well. As he reached the top of the ladder, he poked his head up over the ledge. The rooftop was still and quiet, like the midnight sky.

He climbed on top of the roof, crouching to avoid detection. He crept around an A/C unit and looked out onto the rest of the roof. There were several large skylights, all blacked out with some sort of dark material, but the sniper was nowhere to be seen.

“Hmmm,” Red stared to fidget with his fingers again.

Something flared up in his mind. He turned instantly to see a vampire pouncing on him. The vampire caught Red by the shoulders and tackled him to the floor. The vampire sat atop him and pulled a knife from his sheath, raising his arm to stab. Red held out both hands and launched the vamp off him with an invisible force. The vampire crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

The vampire crawled to his feet. “Psychic eh? Your blood will taste sweet,” the vampire snarled. He jumped at Red again with his knife raised.

Red raised his hands and caught the vampire in midair. The vampire thrashed about, being stuck in his position by psychic power. Red smiled and threw him headfirst into the A/C unit, which followed by a loud crunch. Red slung the vamp up into the air. As the body fell down to the roof it burst into flames as it hit the ground.

Red smiled and held his hands up like guns, blowing out each one then holstering them, “Still got it.”

A loud sound came from one of the roof windows, startling Red. He threw himself to the ground and started fidgeting with his fingers. After a few moments he lifted his head, checking the roof again as he stood.

The sound came again, and he flinched.

Some light flickered from one of the windows, and he quickly ran up to it and wiped it with his sleeve. He saw Sam and Mr. Bartlett below, fighting off some vampires in the lobby. Sam was pulling her axe from the neck of what appeared to be a woman, but Red knew better and sighed in relief.

He walked over to a second window atop the roof and wiped it like before, seeing just a black room.

Then he heard the scream of a woman yell out. The same scream as before. “Andrelle,” He ran up to the closest window and smeared away the black substance. Red ducked down to get a better look inside.

He could make out a female vampire tied to a chair, “Andrelle. Hold tight.” Red started to stand but stopped mid motion as he saw a familiar face inside.

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The vampire from the warehouse, and the restaurant, was inside the room with her. Yerick was his name. He set down a metal rod, superheated on one end.

“The rats smiling,” Red’s anger suddenly shot to uncontrollable portions. This was his fault. His cowardice had prevented him from protecting his partner. Why was he always so cowardly? The question burned through his mind daily. He clenched his fists, drawing blood. He tried to control himself, just barely keeping his mind from escaping from him. He took a deep breath and stood over the window. He readied himself to jump and took one last look in the room, “I’m coming Andr…”

Red’s mouth shot open in horror as he watched the male vampire stab a stake into Andrelle’s heart. Red lost control of his mind and yelled into the night.

Eddie and Brockly stopped in front of the large set of doors to the domed building. Brockly reached out and pulled the handle.

The door stayed shut and Eddie laughed, “You think they’d just leave it open.”

Brockly looked back to his friend, “Maybe they want a nice breeze, some fresh ocean air perhaps?”

Eddie put the palm of his hand to his face and let out a sigh. He reached into his coat, “Let me have a go at this.” He pulled out an automatic lock pick and stepped towards the door.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Brockly stopped him before he could take another step, “What are you doing?”

Eddie looked around, not sure of what he did wrong, “Umm, unlocking the door.”

Brockly kneeled to the ground and pulled out a small black leather pouch. He rolled it open and pulled out two small metal rods, “Old fashioned. The only way to do this lock. I’m surprised you didn’t know that.”

Eddie examined the lock and scoffed to himself, “If you say so.”

Brockly shook his head and remained silent for a moment. He then asked Eddie a question out of thin air. “Do you want to know why I was in prison?”

Eddie thought to himself for a minute, making sure he really wanted to know, “Sure, if it makes this lock picking move faster.”

Brockly chuckled as he fiddled with the lock, “After I was kicked out of the Institute, I came into the game of high profile burglary. Was pretty good at it too, figured I could put my Institute skills to better use.” Brockly used his mouth to hold one of the picks as he reached down to grab a third.

Eddie slipped his automatic lock pick into his jacket, “So the rich hired you to rob the rich? Why wouldn’t they just buy the stuff from each other?”

Brockly shifted his left hand around, grabbing the pick, freeing his mouth to speak again, “Some people won’t sell, even if the money’s good. They have emotional connections to the items that other people want more, so they hired me to take it without permission. Was pretty lucrative too.”

The sharp sound of a click shot through the air and the two men smiled.

“There we go,” Brockly started to put away his gear as he continued speaking, “My regular client thought that maybe someone would use me to steal from him.” Brockly rolled up the picks and stood, placing them into his jacket, “So he set me up, and used his political connections to keep me locked up for forty years.”

Eddie stepped back and brought his shotgun to bear, “Sad story bro. I’d say you have a stroke of bad luck, but you were busted out and you’re free now.”

Brockly pulled his pistols from beneath his jacket, “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Thanks to B, but once I’m done here, I’m taking off. Maybe hit up Europe.”

“Sounds like a good plan, since they will be looking for you and all. You going to be looking for this girl of yours?”

Brockly nodded, “I can’t stop thinking about her, haven’t for all these years.”

Eddie stood ready, aiming his gun at the door. He nodded to Brockly and put his eyes down the sights of his shotgun. “Ready when you are.”

Brockly leaned forward and grabbed the door handle. He looked over at Eddie and nodded. He yanked the door open as wide as he could, jumping clear of Eddie’s blast radius.

Eddie looked into the darkness of the building for a few moments before lowering his gun, “I think it’s clear.” He glanced at Brockly lying in the dirt beside him, “What are you doing? Taking a nap?”

Brockly chuckled to himself, “I didn’t want a new hole to breathe out of.” Brockly got up to his feet and brushed himself off, “Who brings a shotgun to a mission anyway? Seems a bit like overkill. You going to be fighting in a trench soon?”

Eddie raised one eyebrow.

Brockly smiled, “Well, you first. You have the big gun.”

Eddie shook his head and entered the domed building.

The room was pitch black. The only light source was the moonlight pouring in from the doorway like a ghastly mist.

Eddie looked to his left and found a light switch, “And he said, let there be light.”

The room lit up and revealed a giant machine towering in the middle of the domed building.

“Apparently he also said, let there be a big ass machine.” Brockly promptly entered behind his friend and looked around the room. It was rather empty except for the massive machine in the middle and the several tables scattered about, with a few more tables set next to the walls. Brockly started to walk around the machine. He whistled to himself, “The vamps sure know how to compensate.”

Eddie slung his gun on his back as he walked up to the machine. He found a small control panel nearby and started typing away.

Brockly made a full circle of the room and came back to Eddie, “There’s two doors besides the one we came through, they’re on opposite sides, so we should be good as long as the vamps only come from one direction. We could easily be surrounded here.”

Brockly looked around the room some more, his head was turning and looking around the ceiling as a small hum in the machine started up. His eyes opened up wide, and he looked at Eddie, who was staring right back at him. “What did you do?”

Eddie shrugged, “I don’t know, I didn’t even press anything that would start it up. I was just looking at the control panel.”

The machine got louder and the two men took a step back.

Brockly punched his friend in the shoulder, “You started something. Whizz kid.”

Eddie punched back, “No, I didn’t. Pretty boy.”

Brockly punched his friend again, “Yes, you obviously did.”

Eddie retaliated with another punch. The two started punching each other wildly. Brockly grabbed Eddie by the head then stopped moving.

Eddie thrashed about in his arms, “Get off me.”

Brockly let go and held his hand out, “Shhhh. Something’s going on.”

A large hatch opened atop the machine. The two men stood breathlessly as a large glass cylinder started to rise up, out of the machine. A young girl soon became visible in the glass compartment. She was slumped down on the side of the glass. She looked unconscious.

Brockly wasted no time as he holstered his gun and ran towards the machine, climbing on top of the nearest ledge he could fit on. He looked back to Eddie, “Just don’t stand there man, it’s the girl, stop this!” Brockly pointed at the computer screen.

Eddie snapped out of his trance and ran over to the panel. He started typing as a door behind him swung open. He turned around to see three vampires walking through.

The vampires stopped chatting and looked at the man standing in front of them. The lead vamp started to speak up, but was interrupted by a bullet to his shoulder. Blood shot into the air as the vamp fell down.

Eddie looked up to see Brockly aiming his gun down at the vampires from atop the machine. Brockly shouted down to Eddie, “Shoot ‘em!”

The vampires started to return fire on the men.

Eddie dove down beneath one of the tables, unslinging his shotgun.

Bullets rang out around Brockly as he hugged the small cover he had atop the machine. A bullet grazed his leg, and he lost grip, almost falling from his perch. He dropped one of his guns, sending it tumbling to the base of the machine.

The vampires flipped a table and hid behind it as the wounded vamp crawled over to its comrades.

Eddie peeked from his hiding place, seeing the three vampires behind the table gave him an idea. He pulled out one of his grenades and yelled out Brockly’s name, “Catch!”

Brockly glanced over at his friend throwing one of the grenades up to him. Brockly reached out and caught the grenade with his free hand.

“He’s got a grenade! Take him out!” The wounded vampire took aim at the man in the black suit atop the machine while his allies kept the man pinned down.

“Bingo,” Eddie darted out of his cover and rolled over the table in front of him, lining up a shot at the vampires.

One of the creatures caught his movement in the corner of its eye. It turned to face the man and started laughing, seeing the shotgun in his hands, “You can’t kill us with that, human.”

A slight smile appeared in the corner of Eddie’s mouth, “Boom.”

The vampire’s face turned confused. Eddie squeezed the trigger and a large slug burst out of the gun. The vampire began to jump out of the way as the slug crashed behind him on the floor.

Eddie dove back over his table, covering his head.

The slug exploded on impact, obliterating the three vampires instantly. The ornate doors behind them burst off their hinges, smashing to the ground.

Brockly stood from atop the machine and looked down on the sight of where the vampires had previously been. A small fire was still burning where they had stood. He looked down to Eddie on the floor, “You were carrying that the whole time?”

Eddie’s head tilted up, “Yeah, I always I like to go out with a boom.”

Brockly shook his head and started laughing out loud, “You never say that,” he turned to the unconscious girl still trapped inside the machine and his mind returned to his task, “But we still have bigger problems.” Brockly raised his gun and fired at the glass container. The bullet bounced off and flew into the wall nearby, “Bulletproof, damn,” Brockly slightly turned to Eddie, “See if you can shut it off.”

Eddie nodded and pulled himself off the ground. He ran over to the control panel and started typing away.

Brockly quickly climbed off the machine and came to Eddie’s shoulder, “You better hurry. I bet every vamp here heard that explosion of yours.”

Eddie nervously chuckled to himself as he looked over the screen.

Brockly retrieved his lost gun and took a deep breath. A sound behind him caught his ear. He quickly turned behind him seeing a horrific display of vampires, fangs drawn and knifes held in their hands. They wore black cloaks, trimmed in red. The group of vampires slowly started to circle around the two men.

“Eddie, you really, really, better hurry up on that.”

Eddie shrugged the annoyance of Brockly’s voice and continued typing, “I’m trying, but you can’t keep interrupting me.”

Brockly tapped his shoulder and Eddie glanced behind him. Several vampires were behind them and closing in. Brockly raised his guns, sweat protruding from his forehead. The sound of several more vampires coming from the hallway, the previous three had entered from, increased the level of his anxiety, “Eddie, you better try harder.”

Sam looked down at her hand linked with Mr. Bartlett’s. In light of her situation, she didn’t think happiness would be an emotion she’d feel right before she rushed into a vampire lair. The two made their way up the front steps, examining the scorch marks where the two vampires had previously been vaporized.

Mr. Bartlett let Sam’s hand drop as he reached for the door handle, “You ready, love?”

Sam unslung her axe and spun it around a little, rubbing the talisman tied to its hilt for luck, “Ready as I’ll ever be.” If she failed here, Starr would be tortured, or worse.

Mr. Bartlett opened the door and waved her through, “Ladies first.”

Sam smiled, “Always a gentleman.” Sam entered the lobby of the observatory where a young lady was sitting behind the desk.

The lady started to bend down slowly as she spoke, “May I help you?”

Sam spun her axe around and walked up to the desk, swinging the axe down at the desk jockey. The axe bit hard into the woman’s shoulder and she yelled out in pain, fangs showing as she did so. Sam hopped onto the desk and yanked the axe out of the lady.

The woman fell to the floor with a gun in her hand. She went to speak, but Sam made sure nothing came out. The woman burst into flame and materialized into ash.

Mr. Bartlett gave a slow clap, “Nicely done, love, at this rate you’ll make vampires extinct.”

Sam winked at Mr. Bartlett, “I learned from the best.”

A vampire burst from an ornate golden door, with ancient Egyptian characters carved upon it. Mr. Bartlett pulled his revolver out and shot the vamp in the head, causing it to blow into a pulp. The remains fried away as he holstered his gun. Mr. Bartlett held out his hand for Sam to take.

The axe toting woman joined him and grasped his hand tightly, “So,” Sam glanced to her right, “We can go down ancient Egypt memory lane,” Sam then pointed to her left, “Or through door number two.” The two stood in front of another set of closed doors.

A high pitched scream range out through the building. “Starr, it could be Starr,” Sam looked to Mr. Bartlett, “I think it came through this door.” Sam readied her axe and ran at the door. The vampires had Starr for far too long now. Who knew what they had done to her.

“Sam, stop!” Mr. Bartlett yelled out to her, but the woman kept going. He started to race after her, but she pushed through the door, bashing it open.

She stood still as a large group of black robed figures stood before her. Black hoods covered all their faces as they turned to see what had burst through the door. Hissings and growling started to rise throughout the crowd. Fangs were seen under the hoods.

Mr. Bartlett joined by her side, gazing upon the crowd of black cloaked figures in front of him. He leaned into Sam’s ear, “Looks like we’re not invited.”