They all burst out into the street right as additional rounds began to ricochet around them. Alain and Felix sidled up against a nearby building, while Az and Sable did the same on the opposite side of the street. From where he was standing, Alain could see Az and Sable trying to steadily inch their way out of cover to advance, but he frantically waved to them and got their attention before they could.

"Stay put!" he shouted. "Don't risk moving up until we've cleared it a bit for you!"

They both nodded, and Alain took a deep breath as he checked to make sure both barrels of hit shotgun were loaded. Next to him, Felix did the same with his lever-action rifle, then they both nodded to each other and peeked out from behind cover, and began to lay down fire. Panicked shouts sprang up from down the street, and the incoming stream of bullets began to taper off a bit.

Alain hurriedly thumbed two fresh shells into his weapon, then him and Felix both began to step out from behind the building. They steadily advanced, occasionally loosing another stray shot just to keep their opponents' heads down. They managed to move up about a block before their assailants regrouped, reloaded, and began to shoot at them again.

"Can you see who it is?" Alain asked over the sounds of incoming gunfire.

"No idea!" Felix said. "I see them moving around, but I can't tell who they are!"

Alain scowled, then chanced a quick look out from around the corner. A stray bullet skimmed across the wall just a bit away, showering him with small shards of wood. A panicked yelp escaped him as he pulled back, and he grit his teeth, forcing away the pain before it could fully set in. Alain dropped into a crouch, then once more peered out. This time, he was able to tell who it was.

"It's Jasper!" he said.

"It is?!" Felix asked, confused. "What the fuck? I thought he wanted us to come here?"

"Hey!" Alain shouted. "Jasper, it's Alain! What are you doing?!"

The gunfire suddenly stopped. For a few seconds, there was no more noise, until Jasper called back to him.

"Did you really think I wouldn't know a vampire when I see one? What were you thinking, bringing those two here?!"

"It's not like that!" Alain protested.

"Bullshit, it's not! You sound like her Thrall already!"

"He's not my Thrall!" Sable hissed. "Nobody is! I would never do that to someone!"

"If you're going to lie, at least try to make it convincing!"

"Jasper, listen to me!" Alain shouted to him. "Whatever you think is going on, I assure you, it's something completely different! I've seen her in action – if Sable wanted you dead, you'd be dead. Or did you really think you could take on her and Az?"

"I've got them both stuck behind cover, don't I?!"

"He's got a point…" Felix admitted, which earned him a glare. He held his hands up in surrender. "Just saying."

"Look, let's talk this over," Alain offered. "I'll put down my gun, and we can meet in the middle of the street to work this out."

He received no response, but that didn't stop him. Alain laid down his shotgun, then kicked it out into the street. After that was done, he waited a few minutes, then came out from behind cover with his hands up.

"Hold your fire!" Jasper shouted.

Alain tensed, but it soon turned to a sigh of relief when Jasper emerged from behind cover, a rifle held in his hands. He kept it leveled at Alain as he advanced, but didn't fire. The two made it to within just a few meters of each other before Jasper held out a hand, stopping him.

"That's enough," Jasper commanded. "Alright, talk. I'll give you this one chance to change my mind."

Alain looked around. Jasper had apparently taken the time to gather together a ragtag militia group, of sorts – there were about half a dozen other men posted behind buildings nearby, all armed with rifles and shotguns. A few of them were staring at him with suspicion, but the others were keeping a careful eye down the street, watching the building Sable and Az were hunkered down behind.

"What do you want to know?" Alain asked, turning back to Jasper.

"I want to know what the fuck a vampire is doing here," Jasper growled. "You said you're not her Thrall, and yet you're traveling with her. Why is that?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got time." Jasper emphasized, motioning with his head to the rifle that was still pointed squarely at Alain's chest.

"Alright, fine, I guess I can try and shorten it a bit," Alain conceded. "We met in San Francisco. She initially hired me for a simple escort mission – I was supposed to take her to a small town, receive my payment, and then we'd part ways. That didn't happen, obviously; the mayor was involved in some very shady, very supernatural stuff, revolving around some way to make himself immortal using human sacrifices. We all had to work together to stop him."

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"That doesn't answer why you're all here now."

"To put it simply, the Tribunal was very interested in us after what happened. They took us in and interrogated us, and then let us go with an ultimatum: they wanted us to find my mother. I have no idea why, but that's what they told us to do. That part wasn't a lie – we really are here to track down my mother, at the Tribunal's command."

"So, what are you saying?" Jasper demanded. "You think we can trust her, even though she's a vampire?"

"She's saved my life plenty of times already," Alain insisted. "At this point, I trust her more than pretty much everyone else I've met. If she wanted to kill me, or use me as little more than a source of free blood, or turn me into her Thrall, then she's had every opportunity to do so by now, but she hasn't done any of those. We've known each other for a few weeks by this point – that doesn't exactly make sense if she's the way you think she is, now does it?"

Jasper's eyes narrowed, but after a moment, he gave a begrudging grunt, then lowered his rifle. Again, Alain breathed a sigh of relief, and lowered his hands.

"Follow me," Jasper commanded. "Your friends, too."

Alain nodded, and they all set off after Jasper and his men.

XXX

Jasper led them to a large abandoned building in the center of the slums. They all stepped inside, and found that it had been set up as some sort of command center. Maps and newspaper clippings were laid across several tables, and boxes of ammunition and spare weapons were scattered around as well, along with packages of food and water. At the sight of it, Alain couldn't help but let out a low whistle.

"What's all this for?"

"What do you think?" Jasper asked. "Take a seat, all of you."

They obliged, settling down into several chairs that had been pulled out for them. Jasper sat across from them, his rifle laid across the table in arm's reach.

"As you've probably guessed by now, I'm not just a bartender," he told them. "In reality, I'm a hunter, of sorts. My men and I help deal with the various supernatural happenings around town, and in return, the government pays us a good amount to keep doing it."

"I thought they had a special Army unit for that," Felix pointed out.

"That regiment can't be everywhere at once," Jasper replied. "Lots of the bigger cities have groups like ours – just a few guys who encountered the supernatural and were lucky enough to survive, and then decided to turn it into a way to make a living."

"So you're all like vampire hunters, but not as specialized," Sable surmised.

Jasper nodded. "That's a good way of putting it. Nobody here is capable of hunting a vampire, at least not by themselves – that's a unique skill set that only a few mortals possess. Mostly, it falls down to the Tribunal to police their own, but again-"

"They can't always be there in time, so some people take it into their own hands," Alain finished.

"Precisely," Jasper said with a nod. "Anyway, you can probably imagine why we went in guns blazing when we realized there was a vampire walking around, not to mention whatever Az is."

"How did you know she was a vampire?" Alain asked.

"Because I'm not an idiot. Have you seen her? Pale skin, red eyes, fangs… either she's the world's scariest albino or she's a vampire. Most mortals would probably think she just had a strange appearance, but I am not most mortals, and neither are any of my men. We've all crossed over onto this side of the Veil, and unlike most people, we were fortunate enough and skilled enough to survive in the end."

Alain looked around again. Jasper's men were gathered around them, all still holding their weapons. Most of them were smoking cigarettes, watching them and listening to their conversation carefully. He pursed his lips, then turned back to Jasper.

"Be honest," he said. "Do you really not know anything about my mother?"

"Nothing at all," Japser answered. "And that's the truth, I swear. The most I've heard is Ariana mention her name a few times, but that's it. I don't know who she is or why she's here, only that she's one of the world's premier vampire hunters and that for whatever reason, she's here. I've never met her, and from the sound of things, that's probably a good thing."

"So why did you bring us here?" Az questioned. "Is this supposed to be intimidating?"

"That depends. Are you intimidated?"

Az looked around the room, then shrugged. "Los Banos was far worse."

"So if you're in charge of stopping supernatural threats, then why aren't you investigating the swamp?" Alain asked. "That's where all those people have gone missing."

"Because if we were to leave town and head into the swamps, we'd be leaving the place defenseless against any supernatural threats that may pop up in our absence," Jasper explained. "Plus, if something were to happen to us out there, it'd be even worse. We did consider going out anyway, but ultimately, the needs of the entire city outweigh a few missing people."

"Even if one of those missing people is your own sister?"

Jasper's eyes narrowed. "Watch it."

Alain held up his hands. "Sorry; didn't mean to offend. I was simply pointing out-"

"Yes, the city outweighs even her," Jasper insisted without a moment of hesitation. "Much as it pains me to say it. Ultimately, she made her choice when she got involved with Voodoo; like I said, nothing good has ever come of that. I do miss her, and I would like to know what happened to her, but I'm not about to put the city at risk just to satisfy my own curiosity."

"Which is why we're going," Felix surmised. "At least, I assume that's what you wanted to talk about at this point."

Jasper nodded. "Indeed."

"Bit of a tall order, considering you were all just shooting at us."

"Then don't do it for me," Jasper snapped. "Do it for the city. I just told you why we can't venture into the swamp ourselves. You four are perfectly positioned to go in and help us out. I can't make you do it, obviously, but it would be the decent thing to do for all these people."

"You don't need to tell us that, we were going to go anyway," Alain responded. "Just promise me the next time we come walking through town, your men won't greet us with bullets. Give me your word on that and we can leave peacefully."

"You have my word," Jasper answered. "But to tell you the truth, I'm still not sure I can trust a vampire running around with barely any supervision."

"I wouldn't call us unsupervised," Alain offered. "I'm pretty sure the Tribunal is keeping an eye on us, somehow. Probably from a safe distance, mind you, but they're still there, I'd bet."

"Was that supposed to reassure me? Because it doesn't."

"Then how about this," Felix said, stepping forwards. "The rest of your men stay here, and you come with us. They seem capable enough to take care of themselves in your absence, and traveling with us would help put your mind at ease."

"Not to mention, if we're looking for your sister, you could help us find her," Alain pointed out. "I know you said the needs of the city outweigh her, but I also know that you're dying to know more about what happened to her. We can search for her on our own, but we can only do so much by ourselves. Having you along would definitely help with that… that is, if you're willing to travel with us."

Jasper blinked, seemingly surprised by their offer. He looked back over to one of his men, who just shrugged; Jasper's lips pursed, but after a moment, he turned back to Alain and nodded.

"…I suppose that makes sense," he reluctantly agreed. "But make no mistake – my sister is not the priority here. I'm coming along purely to keep an eye on the vampire and… whatever the big guy is."

"That's fine by us," Alain insisted. "Hell, you can even stay in the back of the group, if you'd like – be easier to keep an eye on us that way."

"Sure sounds like you're trying pretty hard to get me to go along with this."

"We've got nothing to hide, that's why. All we want to do is find my mother. If you're willing to help with that, then fine. If not, then stay here. It doesn't affect us at all."

Again, Jasper pursed his lips. "...Very well. I suppose I can tag along."

Alain nodded, then looked back to his friends. "Let's go, guys. We've got work to do."

They all stood and left the building without another word. Once they were down the street, Felix walked up alongside Alain to speak with him.

"You seem surprisingly nonplussed about being shot at," he said.

"Oh, believe me, I'm still livid about that. I'm just not showing it," Alain answered.

"Fair enough, I guess."