Editted All of the neighbors watched from their windows as two large, unfamiliar trucks pulled into one of the newly paved driveways. The neighborhood was nice with nearly identical white chalets with bright shutters and freshly cut green grass. Children’s toys littered the driveways and SUV’s inhabited the garages. The house that the quartet had pulled into was no different from the rest. It was nice, a fairly good size, and incredibly well maintained. A navy blue suburban was on one side of the garage and a silver BMW was on the other. A concrete walkway led them to the front door. Aun pushed the doorbell. After a few seconds of waiting, a weary looking, small, blonde woman answered the door. Dark rings circled her eyes and her hair was tangled and messy. She didn’t say hello, but simply eyed them with her teary bloodshot eyes. “Are you-?” Aun nodded. “May we come in?” The woman nodded and stepped to the side, allowing them entrance to her home. “I’m sorry I haven’t cleaned in a while, so it’s a little messy.” Her small voice was shaky. “It’s just that so much has been going on and I haven’t found the time to.” The four eyed the rooms as they were lead to the dining room. It didn’t seem dirty at all. Well, it was cleaned compared to their office. “Here,” the woman waved her hand at the kitchen table. “have a seat. I sent the kids to play upstairs and my husband should be home from work shortly.” They all took seats at the table and Kharmatica started the questioning. “How many kids do you have, ma’am?” “Three.” She answered. “Well, two now.” She grabbed her purse off of the counter and started rummaging through it until she found her purse. She pulled out a wallet-sized picture and handed it to him. “This was my little Sandra her junior year.” Her eyes filled with tears again as she reluctantly released the picture. “Well,” Warren took hold of the conversation. “I’m Warren. This is Aun, Brice, and Kharmen.” She pointed to them as she introduced them. The mother took a seat at the table. “I’m Patricia.” she said politely. “You really have no idea how glad I am that you are all here.” Her voice became shaky again. “Sandy was my oldest. You have no idea how hard it is to lose her. I mean, she was still my little girl.” She began to cry again. “Patricia,” Warren reached over and placed a hand on the crying woman’s shoulder. “We promise you that we’ll take care of this.” “Do you mean that you can bring her back to me as my little girl?” Her watery, blue eyes locked on Warren. When Warren said nothing, she looked to everyone else. But when no one else said anything, she began to cry harder, burying her face in her arm and laying it on the table. They all heard the front door shut and the voice of a middle-aged man. “I’m home!” he called out while walking into the dining room. “Honey? Whose trucks are-” His face dropped when he saw the four strangers in his house. “How many times have I told them that we don’t need grief counselors?” his voice turned harsh. “Sir, we’re not grief counselors.” Brice explained to him in a somber voice. “You’re wife called us a yesterday and-” Her husband cut him off. “Oh. You’re who she was talking about. What do you think that the four of you are going to do about them? What makes you punks so special?” “We’re trained for these kind of cases, Sir.” Brice argued. “What? They train you to commit suicide? Sounds pretty stupid to me. This isn’t something that any of you will be able to fix. Just let it go.” “That’s not our job.” Aun kept her back to him. “We have been doing this for years and have no intention of giving up now just because you don’t think that it’s possible. Do you not care that they took your daughter from you?” The father’s face turned red. “Don’t you EVER say something like that!” he yelled. “You don’t have any idea what it’s like to lose a daughter to such a horrible thing!” Aun got out of her chair and walked over to him. “I meant no disrespect to your daughter.” She turned her head to the side so she could see him out of the corner of her eye. “But can you see what this is doing to your wife? Can you even begin to fathom how every other family feels that has lost a loved one to them? It sickens me that you don’t want to do anything about this.” “It sickens me that you’re charging people to save them.” “We do what we have to in order to get by ourselves.” The man glared at his wife before turning and charging down the stairs. “I’m so sorry about him.” the mother whimpered. “He doesn’t deal with these kind of things well.” “We’re used to it.” Brice tried to comfort her. Aun turned her head to the woman. “Everything will be taken care of tonight.” The two trucks drove about fifteen minutes to a narrow, weedy dirt road. The drove about five yards down it before pulling over and killing the engines. The all got out of the vehicles; girls in one truck, guys in the other. The four walked behind the girls’ truck and crawled into the bed, flipping open the large toolbox in the back. Each one pulled out their select weapons they had brought along with them. They all strapped small, silenced handguns and newly sharpened daggers in their holders placed around their waists and under their loose camouflage pants and tight black tops. “Alright,” Aun began with the plans. “We’ll go the last mile on foot so not to attract attention to ourselves. When we get there, we’ll observe the grounds from a safe distance and find a way in from there. It’s a Monday night, so they’re probably spending the night recuperating from the weekend. We get in, get the job done, and then get out; plain and simple.” They all nodded and snuck into the hay field they had parked next to and crept through it as far as it went, then made their way through a small, yet thick forest until they saw dim lights coming from a small, old manor. They crept as close to the edge of the woods as they could to get a better view of the area. No one was outside, so they crept around back of the house and peered in through the windows. There were about fifteen vampires stationed inside the den that Aun could see. Brice signaled that about five more where in the kitchen and Kharmen signaled out eight more in the foyer. Warren crept around the entire house and counted the amount of room on the first and second floor, totaling to thirteen rooms, six of them being bedrooms. So they knew that there was more than the twenty-eight that they could see. Each of them did another search of the house from outside. Aun crept around the corner to the back porch, peeking around to check for anymore of them. She slid around, her back pressed against the wall, gun held tight in her hands and pulled back against her chest. Just as she slid around, she saw the back door fly open and a vampire step out with a cigarette in his mouth and a lit match in his hand at the end of it. He took a long drag on it, then let the gray smoke flow out of his mouth into the dark air. The light from the lamp on the wall showed off where he was, and where Aun was. The vampire spun towards Aun at the sound of a snapping twig that had broken under her boot. He pulled the cancer stick out from between his lips and smiled at her, eying the handgun she was now pointing at him. He laughed. “Do ya really think that a little thing like tha’ is gunna hurt me, sweetheart?” He chuckled in a thick Scottish accent, pointing a finger at her gun. Aun said nothing, but kept her gun pointing at his chest. “Fine.” He put the cigarette back in his mouth and stretched out his arms, giving her a clearer shot of his chest. “Shot me then. It‘ll give me all the more reason to bite into that hot little neck of yours.” Aun fired the silenced weapon, sending a bullet right into the vampire’s cold, dead heart. The smirk fell from his face and the cigarette dropped from between his lips, bouncing off his shoe. His eyes locked on Aun. “The gun didn’t hurt you,” Aun said blandly, gun still pointing at the vampire. “but the bullet did. Any second now a tiny mechanism in the bullet that is triggered by a your blood will cause wooden splinters to pop out of the sides of the bullet into your heart and you’ll be dead.” As soon as she finished talking, his limp body dropped to the porch, creating a loud ‘thud.’ Aun slipped around the corner just before another vampire came rushing around the back to find his friend’s corpse lying on the porch. He ran back inside to warn the others that something was here. Aun snuck around to find the rest of her group. “Most of the house will be heading outside in a matter of minutes.” She said as quickly and quietly as possible. “We need to find someplace to hide until they clear out so we can get in and take out whoever stays inside. “There’s a small shed that is on the other side of the building.” Brice explained. “We can go in there.” “We need somewhere to go where they can’t corner us if they did find us.” Kharmen shunned his idea. “He’s right.” Warren agreed. “But if we hide somewhere that’s open, then the outside lights will give us away.” “Everyone split up again,” Aun butted in. “Take out any lights on the outside of the house that you can. Keep back from the light as far as you can and shoot. As soon as you take that light out, move fast to the next one until they’re all gone. Then get under the back porch. We’ll all meet up there in no more than five minutes.” The all split up again and crept around the house. They were careful to avoid the doors so not to be spotted. For the lights that were next to steps, they had to use trickery. Kharmen approached the front of the house, peeking around the corner to see vampires flowing out of the house one by one. He pressed his back against the siding of the house and pulled a compact mirror from his pocket, holding it back so he had a clear view of the lights. He then poked his gun around the corner of the house, aiming the laser on the end of it at the bulbs. He fired once, breaking the bulb none to quietly. The three vampires that were just outside the door began searching wildly for where the gunshot had come from, but Kharmen had pulled everything back close to him. He watched as the vampires took off in separate directions, only one coming his way. Just as the vampire passed him, he shot a bullet into their back and watched as their body fell to the ground. Again, he repeated the process of knocking out the last light and quietly made his way around the back to the porch. The lights above it had already been shot out, so he ducked down under the porch to find everyone else already under there. “Are all the lights out?” Aun whispered to everyone else. “I got the two out front.” Kharmen answered. “Brice got the fog lights on the east side of the house and I got them on the west.” Warren chimed in. “I didn’t see anymore.” “We’ll give it a couple minutes before we make our way inside.” They waited about five minutes before they stopped hearing footsteps on the porch and shouting voices inside. All of the sounds and voices they now heard came from the woods. As they crept out, they noticed that all of the lights inside had been shut off. They still knew that there were vampires inside, however. Vampires can’t see well in the dark, but they can see better than humans. No one was out in the open, so they proceeded to the back door, creaking it open as silently as possible. The group communicated through various army hand gestures. Aun signaled for Warren and Kharmen to cover this floor and that her and Brice would head up the stairs. Each one nodded as they received their instruction and broke off into their pairings. As Brice and Aun reached the top of the stairs, Aun signaled for Brice to scope the left side of the upstairs and that she would cover the rest. Again, Brice nodded and headed in the opposite direction of his companion. Aun pinned her back to the wall, cautiously pushing a thick, rotting door open with his hand. She waited a second while it noisily creaked open, holding her gun close to her chest, index finger locked on the trigger. Quickly, she slid around the corner into the room, gun pointing away from her body as she quickly scanned the room. Finding nothing, she pulled the gun back against her. “I don’t know why you’re being so quite,” a deep, British voice sounded through the room, giving no hint to his location. “We all know that you’re here.” Aun scanned the room again with her gun held out. “Plus, anyone can tell that you’re here when you’re breathing so hard.” A moment of silence. “It won’t do any good to hold your breath now. You’ve given yourself away. Now tell me,” Aun could feel him moving about, but couldn’t pin out where he was. “what have you come to ask of old Luthien?” Aun dropped her handgun to her side, slowly sliding her free hand over the other identical gun still in its hilt. She clasped the handle tightly in her palm, but left the barrel in its holder. “The mother sent you, didn’t she?” the voice laughed behind her. Aun quickly spun around, both guns pointing at a dark figure leaning against the wall. She tried her hardest to focus her eyes on him, but could only faintly make out his silhouette. “If you kill me, then there is no way you’ll find out where the girl is.” He stood up straight, revealing his amazing height. “So you might as well lower your guns.” Aun kept her guns pointing at him. “Or I can shoot out your knee caps and force you into telling me where she is.” She lowered the barrels of her guns, guessing at where his knees would be. “And if I refuse?” “You won’t. I’ll be sure of it.” “And what kind of torture do you plan to put me through that will get me to reveal such information? I’ve already sustained more than you could ever do to me.” He stepped closer to her, the faint light from the hall revealing his pale face, jet-black hair, and black eyes. He smiled, showing off his blood stained teeth. Aun raised her guns back up, the barrels now pressing against his chest. “Shoot me then.” He smirked. “I know that you’re not so stupid as to try to kill me with a silver bullet. I saw what those little bullets of yours are capable of; but why don’t you give me a demonstration?” He pressed harder against the barrels. Aun fired one gun, sending a bullet through the left side of his chest. She didn’t flinch or move at all. She kept her deep green eyes locked on his face. The vampire jerked slightly, taking a couple steps back. He touched the bullet hole with his fingertips, drenching them with crimson blood. He brought his soiled fingertips to his mouth, licking the fine liquid off. He licked his lips. “I haven’t tasted my own blood in a long time.” He licked again at his fingers before turning his gaze back at Aun. “You’ve got a lot more in you than any other slayer that’s came after me. You’re the only one who’s actually drew my blood.” His gaze traveled down to the hole in his chest. “But I don’t think that a little scratch like that will do you any good.” “Where’s the girl?” Aun asked sternly, ignoring everything else he had said. “What do you think the mother will do with her? Train her to be a good girl again, but never let her outside? You’re better off just forgetting about the girl and killing me…or at least trying to.” Aun fired her gun again, this time landing a bullet in his diaphragm. The vampire slightly jerked, clasping the wound with both hands. His eyes shifted to Aun again. “You’re not doing yourself any good right now.” He stood up straight again, letting the blood fall from his fingers to the floor. “But I suppose I have given you plenty of time.” He charged at Aun, clasping her wrists tightly, causing her to drop both pistols to the floor. Aun, jumped back, driving her boots into his chest, pushing off of him. He kept a firm grip on her arms, holding her in place. Feet still against the vampire’s chest, Aun pushed harder, but he still held her arms. Running short of options, Aun shifted all of her weight back. The vampire came toppling down over her. As soon as her back came in contact with the floor, she kicked at the vampire, flipping him over onto his back above her. Aun then rolled back and flipped over, straddling his chest and pinning his wrists to the floor in one small hand. She drew a small blade from a sheath strapped to her lower back and placed the blade to his throat, drawing a thin line of blood. “Why is the girl so important to you?” Luthien managed to choke out. “She’s just one girl. There are plenty others that you could be saving.” Aun’s gaze hardened on him and her blade pressed harder on his neck. “Well, thank-you for saving our castle, Mario,” his words were strangled. “But our princess is in another castle.” He pulled his arms out of her grasp, threw her off of him into the wall, and fled to the window. He glanced back at her long enough to watch her struggle to get off of the floor before jumping out of the second story window.