The taste hit me like a truck. The salty, slightly sweet taste like fire flowed over my tongue and down my throat. Each gulp was like pure heaven. Like a summer breeze it wrapped around me and it was as though all my Christmas’s had come at once. If filled me with warmth and I could feel my strength growing with every sip I took. I let out a low moan and swallowed more.
“Maybe you should get a room.” Claudia’s sultry laugh broke through.
Looking up at her from my glass, I saw that she was standing up against the doorframe, her arms folded across her chest. I also saw that she was wearing her Death Walker gear.
“Maybe I will” I said, licking the last drops of blood off my lips. “What’s up?” I indicated her attire, leaning across the counter and placing my glass in the sink.
“We have some new information. Frank just passed it along to Quintenn.” She stood up straight, looking serious. “This could be the break we’ve been waiting for. The hunters believe that some major contacts of Micah’s are located in a warehouse just outside the city. Logan’s getting ready to lead a group of hunters there, and Quintenn wants us to go along. Ben’s waiting outside in one of the vans for us.”
“I need to get changed first.” I was still wearing the jeans and floral shirt I’d been wearing all day. I couldn’t fight in them, they’d slow me down.
“I figured” she started to walk away. “I’ll tell Ben and we’ll wait for you. We have to wait for the hunters to tell us where we’re going anyway.” She glanced back over her shoulder one more time before leaving. “Don’t be long.”
“I won’t be” I said following her out, heading towards my room. And I wouldn’t be.


*****************

Once I was dressed, I met Claudia and Ben near one of the many black van’s parked outside the Manor. We all pilled into the backs and before I knew it, we were pulling up outside a warehouse located just off the interstate.
As I jumped out the back of the van, landing with a soft thump on the gravel, I was surprised by the sight of the warehouse. It was massive and completely run down. It looked as though it hadn’t been in use for years. It didn’t strike me as a place Micah would have his contacts stay at. Maybe he was more desperate that usual.
It was separated into two sections and we were quickly divided into two groups. Each group was set to survey one section. I was assigned to Quintenn’s group but Claudia asked me to swap with her and being the good friend I am, I agreed. That left me with Logan, Greg and the majority of the hunters.
I sighed, hoping that the hunters wouldn’t take the time to get rid of one extra vampire. The last thing I needed was a stake through the heart.
My group’s job was to check out the main section of the building, where the largest amount of vampires was believed to be.
As we approached the building, one of the many loose planks that boarded up the windows, fell and almost hit me. I jumped out of the way at the last moment. “This place’s a death trap” I muttered.
Logan, walking a few feet away, nodded. “You better watch yourself” He turned and included everyone. “That goes for everybody. We don’t know exactly what we’re about to walk into, so I expect that everyone watches their back very carefully.” He said it so loudly that even Greg, who stood the farthest away at the front door, heard.

Standing outside the entrance, we once again went over our plan of attack. We were to burst in and take down any vampires in the main rooms, while Quintenn’s group scoped out and took out any others throughout the house.
“It’s important that we’re able to capture some alive. The information we could get out of them could be invaluable. But know; if they pose an immediate threat to you or your life, don’t hesitate to take them out. It’s not worth it” Logan glanced around the entire group and I felt his eyes settle on me. “Okay?” He and other hunters were wearing head to toe black clothing, their weapon belts slung across their bodies. They looked deadly.
Everyone nodded, including me, answering Logan’s question. Then he stepped up, opened the door, and then we were in.
The moment we stepped over the threshold the atmosphere changed. The hunters slipped into their business modes and you could practically taste the tension in the air. The hunters hadn’t overestimated the amount of vampires that were waiting for us. We entered the room and, once over their initial shock, the vampires pounced, fangs bared, and our battle begun.
Slipping down into my own zone, I easily vanquished the first vampire that came at me. Instinctively he went for my throat; giving me an easy opportunity to reach out and grabbing his arm flip him over onto his back. I reached back, pulled my knife out from my own belt and thrust it down into his chest.
Yanking it out, I turned and kicked the vampire who had just come at me from behind flat in the stomach. And that’s pretty much how it went from there.
Inside, the warehouse was as same as it was from the outside. Every part looked like it was ready to fall apart. Many support and ceiling beams were only held up by rope. The doors were splintered and broken down.

All around me the hunters were busy facing off against vampires of their own. Most of the vampires were already dead. I noticed that the vampires weren’t giving the hunters any chance or reason to take them alive. They were fighting to the death, they wouldn’t be taken alive.
Everyone around me was in an almost identical position. Vampires were coming out of no where and I realised we were in over our head. We didn’t have the right number of fighters. As we took them down more arrived to take their place.
A vampire slammed a piece of wood against my head, hissing, and made me fall backwards. As I landed, I rolled and was back on my feet in the same movement.
A few feet away, wrestling with a vampire of his own, Logan gave me a look. I noticed that he was both sweaty and bloody, but otherwise appeared unhurt.
I shook my head, meeting his eyes, and indicating I was okay, threw a hit at the vampire. He staggered backwards and as he fought to compose himself I attempted to vanquish him. But he caught my knife in his hands, in between his two palms, and threw it onto the floor. He continued to throw hits at me, but I blocked each one, occasionally getting in one of my own.
He was fast becoming the most difficult one I’d faced this evening. He was smarter than the others I’d sparred with and he met me, kick for kick, and punch for punch.
Around me I was vaguely aware of the other confrontations going on. Logan was slightly to my side and was having some difficulty with the two vampires that were currently coming at him. I couldn’t count how many he’d already vanquished.
I saw him stake one of them, and then watched as the other brought its fangs dangerously close to his throat. I considered interfering, but while I was momentary distracted, the vampire I was sparring with took the opportunity to reach out and rake his fingernails across my face, slicing the skin and whipping my head to the side.

I grunted and felt the blood run down my neck. My head was still turned to the side and it was looking in that direction, that way, that I saw my answer. There was a sharp piece of narrow metal poking out of a pillar off to the side the room. I reached out, grabbed the vampire and, giving him a swift kick which sent him flying, smacked him back first into the pillar. He let out a surprised cry and blood oozed from the spot where the metal stuck out.
I stood staring at him for a second before someone slammed into me. I turned around ready to strike and realised it was Logan. Logan had the vampire by the forearm and was trying to prevent him from driving the sword he held, into his chest. The vampire broke free of Logan’s grip, and with a huge force plunged the sword towards Logan’s heart.
Logan spun at the last second, and as I quickly moved out of the way, the sword instead struck the pillar. As he spun, Logan pulled out his own dagger from the belt on his waist and sank it into the vampire’s chest, cutting him off.
The sword cut the rope that was wrapped around the pillar, and both Logan and I looked up in time to see one of the support beams from the ceiling come crashing down.
I barely had time to blink before Logan grabbed me and swinging me around, slammed me up against the wall. I let out a gasp, more from shock than pain, as the wall collided with my back. I heard the swish as the beam swung down and then a crash as it hit the floor, missing us by inches.
Then everything seemed slow. Logan had me pressed between him and the wall, our legs pressed together. We were both breathing heavily. I could hear my heart speeding in my ears and feel his beating up against my shirt.
We were still in the middle of a battle, but all my attention was on him. He was looking down at me, his eyes intense and I felt something sizzle deep inside me. It was a feeling I’d never experienced and it was not something I’d ever expected him to make me feel. Staring up into his blue eyes, I could see that he felt something too, but whatever that was, it ended. The next moment he stepped back, away from me, and shouting instructions to people, joined the battle again.

I stood, still standing up against the wall, panting. I touched my fingers to my cheek and saw that my gash was gone, already healed. I looked, and seeing more vampires arriving I jumped back into the fight, confused and unsure about what had just happened between Logan and I.
Soon almost all the vampires were dead. Quintenn’s group had showed up, finished with their task and between the two groups we had made short work of the remaining vampires.
Everything fell silent as the last vampire was vanquished. We all stood there, breathing heavily and counting our numbers. Some hadn’t made it. Logan and Ben walked over and stood near where Claudia and I stood. Silence drowned on until a voice broke through, booming throughout the entire warehouse.
“Hello Roxanne. What a lovely surprise.”