BLOODLUST: A MODERN VAMPIRE TALE

by KMB

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(XI) THINGS GET A LITTLE BLOODY

After some time had passed, Daniel was led back to his cell. “Don’t get too comfy,” Carly said as the front of the cell was closed, “You’ve got a 7PM arraignment tonight.”

“Well, that’s just perfect timing for me,” Daniel said as he grinned. “You’re not gonna be smiling much longer,” Carly replied, “Your ass belongs to us now. You’re never going to be a free man again.” “On the contrary, Detective,” Daniel stated, “I think things are still going my way. At the end of the night, we’ll see who’s smiling.” A disgusted Carly then stalked away and Daniel turned his attention to his neighbor a few cells down.

“They got you locked up in here too, old man?” he asked, “Guess they didn’t believe your story.”

“You won’t live to see tomorrow night,” Gordon sharply replied. “You can’t stop me, old man,” Daniel said, “Anyone who opposes me will end up drowning in their own blood. You think these policemen can hold me?” “No,” was Gordon’s terse answer, “But I do know how to stop you, and I will.

Your kind will never rule again.”

“I’m sorry, old man, I don’t keep up much on my history books, so your lessons make no difference to me,” Daniel said, “I think I’m going to get some rest now, I have a big night ahead of me and I’m going to need my strength. But here’s a word of advice, things are going to get ugly in a few hours and it would be best for you to just sit back and drink your Metamucil when it happens. If you get involved, this time I’ll make damn sure you die!”

Meanwhile, feelings of euphoria filled the members of the Washington D.C. Police Department. The murderer was caught and now everyone could go back to their lives, or whatever they had that resembled a life. Even though they hadn’t been able to get a confession from Daniel, Assistant District Attorney Beth Foster assured her brothers that they physical evidence was more than enough to put Daniel Rooker away for the rest of his life. “I wish we’d been able to recover those bodies though,” Beth said, “That would have been the final nail in the coffin.”

“This guy’s got to have some place where he’s been staying,” Pete speculated, “That apartment hadn’t been occupied for a while. Wherever he’s been living, that’s where the bodies are. They’ll turn up before he goes to trial, I’m sure of that.”

“You’re going to have fun with this guy, sis,” Chris added, “I bet he’s going to be a hoot if he ends up testifying.”

“I just hope he doesn’t end up claiming insanity,” Beth sighed, “I want this guy in jail, not in a hospital.”

“The department shrink says this guy’s got one of those narcissistic personalities,” Pete reported, “She says it would kill this guy to admit he’s insane.”

“Either way, looks like we may have this month’s version of the Trial of the Century right here,” Chris observed.

“Hey! What’s everyone sitting around for,” Steve said, “This is a celebration!

Pepsi for everyone!”

Soon everyone in the squad room had their Styrofoam cup of Pepsi and were ready for a victory toast.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Lieutenant Smith said, “Before we do this, I see Pete’s out there dying to say a few words, so let’s get him up here and give him a chance to steal the credit away from the people who did the real work here!” Laughter cascaded as Pete stood up.

“Well I don’t have to steal credit from anyone because I actually am the only one who did any real work here,” Pete began. “Seriously, each and every one of you gave us your blood, sweat, and in Arnie’s case a lot of tears to this case and Chris and I want to thank you. Tons of hard work went into this thing, but if we’re going to toast, we should toast the one factor that always seems to get us through the tough ones. So everyone raise your cups and let’s give a big shout out…to luck.”

“TO LUCK!” everyone then shouted.

“Now we can all get back to normal,” Pete declared as he sat down.

“When’s the big press conference, is,” Chris asked Beth. “It’ll be at 5:30, just in time for the evening news,” Beth answered, “I’m guessing it might be a bit of a zoo.”

“Well at least it will all be over soon,” Pete said as he slumped down in his chair, “It’s a good thing too, I need the rest.” “I agree,” Chris stated, “You should just veg out in front of the TV tonight.

Hey I think there’s a good vampire film on Channel 8.” “You know, you think you’re funny, Chris, but you’re not,” Pete sighed as he saw Beth giggle, “Don’t encourage him, Beth, you’ll only make him worse.” Pete then examined his wristwatch, only to find that it had stopped cold. “Damn it, I think I busted my watch when I threw that bastard against the wall,” Pete declared, “What time is it?”

“Whoa, it’s a little after five already,” Chris said after he had checked his watch, “Time sure does fly when you’re having fun.” “Oh yeah,” Pete agreed, “This job’s been a barrel of laughs lately.”

Soon the press conference was in full swing in the lobby of the building, and that meant that most of the personnel from the homicide squad were downstairs getting ego boosts from the Mayor and having questions thrown at them by a sea of press.

Stacy, however, stayed upstairs. She was sick, and she just wanted to go home.

All day, her head had been aching, she’d been tired, and she’d been hungry. Ravenous was more like it. But the worst part was, she’d tried to eat but she hadn’t been able to keep any food down.

Tom had kept pestering her all day to see if she was all right and finally she just had to tell him to go away. She was sick of people asking her how she was, that’s all they’d done since her attack. She just wanted them to leave her alone so she could go home and crawl into bed for the rest of the century. She’d tried numerous times that day to just get up and go, but every time she tried she felt her strength sapped away, causing her to sit back down. It was almost as if some kind of force was keeping her there.

Her strength at a low again, Stacy decided that she couldn’t fight her body. She’d have to get some sleep right here at her desk. She didn’t consider for a second how that would look, but even if she had, she probably wouldn’t have cared. Stacy rested her head down on her folded arms, but as she tried to doze off, she began to hear a voice calling to her.

Stacy snapped her head up, but she saw that no one was even around, let alone speaking to her. Cursing her overactive imagination, she tried once again to sleep, but when she did she heard the voice calling her again. This time it was louder and clearer, but again when she looked around she still couldn’t see whom it belonged to.

But just as she was about to try and sleep one more time, Stacy heard the voice again, and this time she recognized it. It belonged to her Master! Everything that had happened the night before came rushing back to Stacy: Daniel biting her, Daniel letting her taste his blood, how she and Emily had made love, how Daniel had made love to her. All the pleasure she had felt came back in an explosion of sensations that hit her body. Stacy closed her eyes and silently orgasmed as these feelings soared throughout her. When the convulsions finished, Stacy reopened her eyes, and anyone who’d been looking at her would have been shocked at the change. Gone were the bright green eyes of the sunny woman that people loved being around, and in their place were the cold, evil orbs of a predator.

Stacy got up from her seat and moved toward the cells. Her Master was imprisoned and she was the only one who could save him. Daniel’s voice continued to run through her head and urge her on.

She stepped over to Carly’s desk, where she knew the detective always hid an emergency key for the jail cells. Breaking the lock on the drawer, the entranced woman retrieved the key and continued toward Daniel’s cell. Stacy knew that if she was able to help her Master, then he would kiss her again and she would become like him and bask in his love forever. When she got to the cells, he was there waiting for her. She rushed to him without hesitation. “Master,” she sighed, “What have they done to you?” “Nothing you can’t fix,” Daniel hissed, “The sun is setting Stacy, let me free so I can take you in my arms again and bring you over.” Giddy with anticipation, Stacy fumbled with the key briefly before successfully using it to open the cell. Daniel stepped out and took Stacy into his arms. “Good girl,” he said before kissing her passionately. “You see, old man,” Daniel shouted, “There is no one that can hold me.”

“Oh my God!” Gordon exclaimed. “Detectives!!!! Detectives!!!! He’s escaping!!!!

Stop him!!!!”

But no one was there to here Gordon’s warnings.

“They’re all gone, old man,” Daniel said as his fangs extended. It was time to finally finish what he had started. Stacy writhed in his arms as she tilted her neck to give Daniel the access he needed. After a grin, Daniel buried his fangs in Stacy’s jugular and drank heartily, his strength returning with every drop he swallowed.

As the press conference dragged on, Pete shifted uncomfortably.

“What’s wrong, Pete?” Chris asked.

“I don’t know,” Pete answered, “I mean we’re all down here, so who’s minding the store?”

“Stacy’s up there,” Chris answered.

“Only Stacy?” Pete asked, his concern growing.

“She can handle things for a few minutes,” Chris contended, “And if anything happens, she knows where we are. Now come on, bask in the glory with me, this is a once in a lifetime thing we’re in here. When are we going to get praised like this again?”

“I suppose you’re right,” Pete conceded, “But that reminds me, we should get the star of the show ready for his arraignment.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Chris sighed, “But send some officers for him. We’ll be done here in a minute.”

“Okay,” Pete said and he motioned for Officers Julie Muldowski and Chuck Bauer to come over.

“I want you two to go get Rooker for his trip to the courthouse,” Pete instructed the officers. “Bring him down the back way, I want to do this while the press is occupied over here. We’ll join you in a couple of minutes.” The two officers nodded their understanding and began to walk up away, until Pete stopped them.

“Be careful,” he warned, “This guy’s a real psycho.”

The two officers then began walking up the stairs toward the jail cells. “Can’t wait to tell my kids tonight that I got to see the famous murderer in the flesh,” Chuck stated.

“You tell your kids about the stuff you see,” Julie said as she shook her head in disbelief, “Oh man, when I have kids I’m going to lie about my job. You’ll give them nightmares if you tell them about this guy.” “Naw, they love this stuff,” Chuck contended, “They tell all the other kids at school the next day. Makes ‘em real popular.”

“I hate to think of the bills you’re going to have to pay for shrinks some day, Chuck,” Julie said as they reached to squad room. Before Chuck could respond, the officers heard Gordon’s cries for help and paused.

“Should we get help?” Julie asked.

“It’s probably nothing,” Chuck said with confidence, “One of the prisoners just wants some attention.” But then he unholstered his gun and added, “But better safe than sorry.”

He and Julie walked slowly toward the cells. When they finally got there though, what they saw made the officers go white with fear. Stacy was leaning against a cell door, swaying slightly. Blood streamed down from her neck wound, and also slowly trickled from her lips as a result of her tasting Daniel’s blood once again. Her face was contorted in pleasure as her mortal life was ending. Knowing the danger the terrified officers were in, Gordon changed his pleas.

“GET OUT OF HERE!!!” he screamed, “RUN!!!”

But Chuck and Julie were too frightened to move and Daniel smiled evilly at them.

“Hello, officers,” he said, right before he pounced on them.

Meanwhile, the press conference was just ending. The Mayor had answered what was hopefully the last in a seemingly endless series of questions and was finishing up his official statement.

“…Once again,” Mayor Barry said, “This man could not have been caught without the hard work and dedication of our Homicide Division. They worked around the clock for two days straight and as a result tonight the streets of Washington D.C. are safe again.”

“Yeah, unless you happen to run into one of our fine local drug dealers,” Steve whispered to Carly.

“Now I would like to introduce the men in charge of the investigation so they can answer your questions, Detectives Peter and Christopher Foster,” Mayor Barry said as Pete and Chris approached the microphone. But before either could speak, a blood curdling scream suddenly echoed through the room, coming from upstairs. The scream was followed by a sickening series of squishy thuds as something rolled down the stairs. “Everyone stay calm!” Tom ordered as he went over to see what it was. “JESUS CHRIST!!!!” he swore, when he saw that the object was in fact the severed head of Officer Chuck Bauer.

Throngs of the media began screaming and running out of the building, while others stood and snapped pictures of the head. Immediately grasping that something had gone terribly wrong, the detectives ran up the stairs, guns drawn. When they got there, they saw Chuck’s headless corpse lying in the middle of the squad room, and Daniel holding a claw up to Julie’s throat. “Move one step closer and she dies,” Daniel hissed as Julie struggled in a futile effort at escape.

“You lay one hand on her and you die,” Chris shot back as every police officer present pointed their gun at Daniel, “I think you’re a little outnumbered, Daniel.”

Downstairs, there was still a frenzy going on, but Sergeant Drew Sullivan was attempting to reestablish some order. He was the commander for all the uniformed officers stationed in the building, and he and the officers tried to get the media members out without anyone being trampled. Unfortunately, he was so caught up in restoring order that he did not see the six figures, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, come up behind him.

When he finally did turn around, he saw the burning crimson eyes of Lysette, Michelle, Mary, Emily, Sandra, and Sarah. Drew immediately recognized Sandra and Sarah, since they were celebrities that had recently been presumed dead. “What the hell?” Drew asked, a look of astonishment covering his face.

“You will take us to Daniel,” Sarah commanded in a low voice. “You can’t just walk in here and…” Drew began, but he was never to finish his statement as Sarah slashed across the Sergeant’s stomach with her claw. He collapsed to the floor in a bloody mess, dead before his head hit the linoleum. “You’re learning so well,” Sandra said to her young vampire sister as Sarah licked Drew’s blood off her claw, which then morphed back into a human hand. “SARGE!!!!” Officer Greg Prescott screamed when he saw Drew collapse. “Protect the Mayor!” Commissioner Doyle commanded as officers quickly rushed Mayor Barry to safety.

“What the hell is going on here?” Captain Carter exclaimed as officers charged at the vampires, only to have many of them meet the same fate as Drew.

Upstairs, the standoff continued as Daniel held Julie tightly to him.

“Help me,” the young officer cried.

“Let her go, Daniel!” Pete commanded, as noise from the commotion downstairs reached the ears of the detectives, “You’ve got no way out of here! You take one more step and your head is going to be blown off!” “So sweet,” Daniel sighed as he caressed Julie’s face, apparently paying Pete’s warning no heed. “You’re so beautiful. I’d love to make you mine, but unfortunately there’s no time now.”

So as Julie screamed in terror, Daniel quickly slashed her throat with his claw. Julie’s corpse dropped to the floor, the officer’s face frozen in an expression of pure terror.

“NO!” Chris screamed before all the police opened fire on Daniel. However, the vampire moved with the speed of a cat and dove behind Steve’s desk. Bullets continued to fly and huge holes were blasted through the sturdy piece of metal office furniture.

“Cease fire!” Lieutenant Smith commanded and for the moment an eerie stillness hung over the squad room. All movement had stopped as papers and debris that had been shot off the desk floated back to the ground. Detective Michael Steinberg slowly moved forward to investigate. “There’s no movement back there,” Michael said as he crept closer, the others warily followed him with everyone still on full alert. But before anyone got any closer, Daniel leapt up on top of the desk in full vampiric form.

“Oh my God!” Steve gasped at the sight of Daniel’s bestial face.

“It is true!” Chris exclaimed.

Michael tried to flee the vicinity of the desk, but Daniel caught him easily and turned toward Chris and Pete.

“I told you two I wasn’t lying,” Daniel said as he snapped Michael’s neck, killing the detective instantly.

“DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!” Pete screamed, before unloading a full clip of bullets into Daniel’s chest. Each bullet hit its mark and ripped through Daniel, but they had no effect and the vampire just stood there grinning. A look of pure shock covered Pete’s face as his brain processed what had just happened. Daniel took the opportunity to leap off the desk, pick up Pete, and hurl him across the room.

“PETE!!!” Chris screamed as he ran to attend to his fallen brother. As he did, the female vampires, having broken away from their pursuers, arrived upstairs to take their Master to safety.

Immediately sensing an opportunity to feed, Mary grasped Detective Tim Crawford and buried her fangs in his neck, drinking heartily. Mary’s sisters quickly followed suit, each grabbing whoever had the unfortunate luck to be near them at the moment.

Any officer or detective who dared take on a vampire was quickly and bloodily dispatched. Seeing this caused the others to go for cover in a hurry. “Where’s Stacy?” Tom shouted, taking refuge on the floor behind his desk.

“I have no idea!” Carly replied as she tried to find a way out.

“I’m right here, Tom,” a soft, tempting voice said from behind. Tom whirled around and saw Stacy or, to be exact, what Stacy had become. Her eyes were deadly cold, but a burning hunger was also visible in them. Her fangs were extended and the light seemed to gleam off their pure ivory color. “Oh no,” Tom said, trying to disbelieve what he was seeing. “Oh yes…” Stacy hissed. “Goodbye, Tom,” she then added before ramming the detective’s head hard against the cold metal that made up his desk. As Tom slumped to the ground, Emily came up to her roommate. “Sister…” Emily hissed before joining Stacy in a passionate kiss. The two vampires then broke off the kiss and, with a hungry look in their eyes, they began to slowly move toward Carly.

Pete remained unconscious as the horror raged. The police had all but given up trying to stop the vampires and were now just trying to stay alive. Chris was continued to try and revive his brother, when a thought occurred to him. Of course, he was so stupid. Gordon Sumner would know how to help them! He had to let him out!

Looking around, Chris saw Arnie pinned in the corner and, after making sure that Pete was safe for the moment, went to pull the detective out. “We’ve got to let Sumner out!” Chris said. “He’ll know what to do!” “Anything’s got to be better than just sitting here and waiting to die!” Arnie agreed.

“Get to evidence somehow!” Chris ordered, “He’ll need all that stuff of his!” Arnie nodded in compliance as Chris ran in a mad dash toward the cells. When he got there he heard Gordon screaming and hollering to get out. Chris pulled out the key and opened the cell.

“Do something!” the detective urged.

“Where’s my bag?” Gordon asked.

“We’re getting it!” Chris replied.

The two then ran back to the squad room where things had not gotten much better. Police were desperately trying to fend off their vampiric attackers amidst the strewn corpses of their colleagues. Chris noticed through it all that Carly was trying desperately to escape Stacy and Emily.

“What the hell!” Chris exclaimed, “Stacy?”

“She’s one of them!” Gordon shouted.

At that moment, Arnie burst back into the squad room with Gordon’s bag, but there was too much going on in between the two detectives for Arnie to safely get the bag to Chris and Gordon.

“Oh shit, we’re fucked,” Arnie spat out.

“What now?’ Steve asked as he managed to get to Arnie. “I’ve got to get this bag to Chris but he’s at the other end!” the other detective explained.

“Let me,” Steve said as he grabbed the bag and proceeded to hurl it across the room and into Chris’ waiting and very surprised arms. “I was a quarterback in high school,” Steve said with a smile, before he and Arnie both ducked back down.

Gordon quickly reclaimed his bag and headed for Daniel. “No!” Chris shouted, as he pulled Gordon toward Carly, who was rapidly running out of room to avoid the very hungry pair of Emily and Stacy. “Help her first!” So, right before the vampires could get to Carly, a splash of water landed in front of them. Emily and Stacy hissed loudly as they backed away from the growing pool of holy water. Gordon then pounced in front of them with a cross in his hand, causing the vampires to run away in search of their Master. He took off after them, hoping to get another shot at Daniel. “Carly! Are you all right?” Chris asked as he helped her up.

“Oh I’m just peachy,” Carly answered, “Where is everyone?” “Scattered, dead, dismembered,” Chris angrily replied, “I don’t even know any more.”

Meanwhile, the remaining police that had been downstairs were finally able to make their way up to the squad room where the vampires eagerly returned their attention to them.

The officers with him were soon scattered, but Captain William Carter stood his ground and began firing his gun into the pack of vampires. He managed to get several shots off, and stared in amazement as a bullet passed right through Lysette’s heart only to have no effect whatsoever. The Captain was able to let out one loud scream before Lysette fell upon him.

Pete was just returning to consciousness as this was going on. His eyes were blurry, but as he remembered what was happening, he snapped up and sought to find his brother. There had to be a way out of here! He had to get to Chris!

Carly and Chris had managed to make it over to the other end of the room, reuniting with Arnie and Steve.

“Where’s Tom?” Arnie asked, fear apparent in his voice. Carly shook her head sadly, “Stacy got him,” she sighed, right before she got the surprise of her life.

“Nobody gets me,” a groggy Tom moaned as he managed to get to his fellow detectives. His head was bleeding heavily and it was obvious the blow had weakened him.

“Get down! Get down!” Arnie said to his partner.

“Where’s Pete?” Steve asked, “And the Lieutenant?” “I don’t know where Smith is,” Chris answered, “I left Pete on the other side, he’s out cold. I think he’s safe!”

“Not that safe,” Carly said as she saw Pete attempting to get to the other side of the room by fighting through the vampires.

“What the fuck is he doing?” Steve asked in shock. “He’s going to get himself killed!” Chris shouted as he got up and ran to aid his brother. He paused in horror when he saw Michelle pull Pete down and dive for his jugular.

“NO!!!” Chris screamed as he tore off the leg of a wooden chair lying on the ground. With more speed then he thought was possible, Chris ran toward his brother and pulled Michelle off him.

Michelle, enraged that she had been interrupted before she could even break the skin, lunged at Chris. But before she could get on top of him, Chris rammed the chair leg right into the vampire’s heart.

Michelle screamed out in a piercingly agonizing scream of pain as blood began to gush out of her wound and spray all over Chris and Pete. The vampire attempted to pull the leg out, but she didn’t have the strength. Michelle collapsed to the ground as her body was hit with a series of violent convulsions. Seconds later, she died again, this time forever.

When Daniel realized what had happened to his lover, he let out a primal scream of his own. He and his other vampires ceased every other attack and bore down on Chris and Pete.

“We’re fucked!” Pete thought aloud, but seemingly right before the attack began, Daniel and his followers froze.

Chris and Pete looked up and saw Gordon on top of a desk, reading from a Bible and shouting in Latin. He then splashed holy water all around him. “I bless this building!” Gordon commanded, “You are forbidden to enter holy ground!” He then splashed holy water on Daniel’s face, melting some the unholy flesh.

Daniel screamed in pain as he collapsed to the ground.

“MASTER!” the vampiresses shouted, seeking to help him escape. Gordon withdrew a long dagger from his bag and ran toward Daniel. But before he could get there, Daniel gathered up all his strength and managed to stand. Surprised by his opponent’s recovery, Gordon was unprepared when Sandra darted forward and struck a solid blow across his head, fortunately not with her claws. The vampire hunter crumpled to the ground and could only watch as Daniel made his escape.

“THIS IS NOT OVER!!!!!” Daniel screamed before he and his followers blew past everyone to make their escape.

A few seconds ticked by before the survivors finally realized it was over.

“We’re alive, we’re alive, we’re alive…” Chris repeated as he hugged Pete.

“Just barely…” Pete added.

Calm was restored as soon as possible, but the survivors still walked around in a daze. Everyone was in shock over what had happened in the space of a few minutes.

Commissioner Brandon Doyle watched in horror as a sheet was placed over the corpse of Captain William Carter. By the time a count was finished, there would be twenty dead, including five detectives and two members of the media. “What do we do now?” Pete demanded of Gordon.

“He’s wounded,” Gordon sighed, “But he’ll emerge again tonight. We must be ready. He’ll need to feed again soon to restore his strength. If either of you have family, I’d suggest getting them in a safe place. He’ll want revenge. “Oh my God!” Chris shouted as a sudden realization hit him, “Amy!”

Chris then ran out of the squad room and to his car as fast as he could.

“Where’s he going?’ Gordon asked.

“I know,” Pete replied, panic in his voice, as he pulled Gordon toward the exit.

“And we’re going too!”

Amy Foster sat alone in the apartment, worried. She hadn’t heard from her father all day and as the minutes ticked away on the clock, her fears grew. She’d tried calling the police station but no one had picked up. Seeking to calm herself, the teenager got a glass of water and flipped on the television, where she was treated to a preliminary news report about the horror at the station. Amy dropped her glass in fear, but an even greater problem presented itself when the door to the apartment was blown off its hinges. Amy rushed to see the cause and was greeted by Daniel stepping into the apartment.

“Pretty little Amy Foster,” he said as his fangs grew.

Amy screamed as Daniel moved toward her, licking his lips as he did.

(XII) SOME GIRL POWER IS THROWN IN THE MIX

[Author’s Note: Some well known celebrities make an appearance in this chapter and by looking at the title, I believe you can guess who they are. There is a strong love/hate division on them and as you will be able to perceive from what I’ve written, I have a great deal of fondness for them. So I must warn you of their presence because I know many people out there just wish they would spontaneously combust. But I like them; so here they are, end of discussion.]

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Amy tried to run, but Daniel quickly threw himself in front of her. “Your father hurt me today,” Daniel hissed, scars covering his face as a result of the holy water burns, “He killed one of my girls and it was like he killed a little bit of me. I kind of figure he owes me.” Daniel pinned Amy against the wall, his fangs extending as he stared at his thirteen-year-old prisoner.

“What the hell are you?” Amy cried.

“You’ll soon know,” Daniel sighed, “Give yourself to me, Amy!” Amy responded to this request by screaming at the top of her lungs, before Daniel muffled her cries for help.

“Don’t do that!” he commanded, “Look at me, Amy!” Daniel stared at her intently, waiting for his eyes to do their magic. When he sensed her body relax, he took his hand away from her mouth and leaned in for a taste.

Amy, however, wasn’t about to let herself go easily. When Daniel leaned in, the teenager kneed him in the balls as hard as she could. As the vampire doubled over in pain, Amy took the opportunity to run for the door, again screaming for help.

But Daniel quickly recovered and grabbed Amy before she could get out of the door.

“YOU BITCH!!!” Daniel screamed, “YOU’RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!!!!” He tossed Amy as if she were as light as a nerf ball. She was propelled into the kitchen, where she smashed into a cabinet and knocked down a bunch of dishes. They shattered all around her, but Amy was too woozy from shock and pain to notice. “I was going to make it nice for you, bitch,” Daniel spat at Amy as he approached her, “But now it’s going to hurt!”

All of a sudden, Eddie O’Bannon, another resident on the floor, came rushing into the apartment. He’d been walking down the hall when he heard Amy’s screams and he’d immediately rushed to investigate.

“What the hell is…” he began to ask when he saw the scene in the apartment, but that was all he got out before Daniel balled up his fist and punched it right through the man’s skull. Daniel hit with such brute force that his fist went completely through Eddie’s head and out the other side. “Mind your own business, next time,” Daniel said as he pulled his fist out and let Eddie’s corpse hit the ground. He licked the blood, brains, and skull residue that was on his hand, and then turned his attention back to the dazed and immobile Amy.

“Now back to you,” he said as his eyes flared a deep shade of crimson.

At the sound of Amy’s first scream, Carol was pulled from her sleep. She’d just completed a ten-hour shift on her feet and she was exhausted. After she’d gotten back from the hospital she just threw herself down on her bed, not even bothering to undo one button of her clothes. She’d immediately drifted off to sleep, but she awoke with a start when she heard the scream. At first she thought it must have been her imagination, and when silence prevailed for the next few seconds, she decided to go back to sleep. But Amy’s second scream then pierced through her apartment walls, and when it was followed by a tremendous crashing sound, Carol knew that something was very wrong.

She ran out of her apartment to investigate the noise and when she saw that, as she had feared, it was indeed coming from Chris’ apartment. She got across the hall as quickly as she could. When she looked inside she saw a man’s corpse on the floor and an unmoving Amy Foster lying against a cabinet in the kitchen as another man approached.

“Get away from her!!!!” Carol shouted as she ran toward Amy and pulled her attacker away. She almost fainted though, when Daniel turned around and faced her. His features were like those of a wild demon; his eyes burned red, and Carol could immediately tell that he had murder on his mind. “Oh my God!” she gasped as Daniel’s faced morphed back to normal. She suddenly remembered the endless warnings Gordon Sumner had made about vampires all those years ago. She knew what Daniel was and she was terrified. “Ahhh, the girlfriend,” Daniel said, “This is getting better and better.” He considered his options for a few moments before walking toward Carol. “Please don’t hurt her,” Carol begged, “Take me instead.” “I have a better idea in mind,” Daniel said as his fangs extended once again, “I think I’ll have both of you.”

Carol reasoned that if she was able to occupy the vampire’s attention, then maybe Amy would have a chance to escape. As Daniel approached her, Carol began to mentally run through every prayer she had ever learned, assuming her death was inevitable.

“God help me,” Carol sighed in sadness as Daniel grasped her. “There’s no need to bring him into it,” Daniel said as he began stroking Carol’s hair, “I just had this discussion the other day.” “Just do it,” Carol said as she tilted her neck for Daniel. She struggled to hold back any tears she might have, she was not going to go out begging and crying. Of all the ways she’d imagined dying, this had never occurred to her. Carol watched as Amy began to stir from her position in the kitchen. Carol mouthed the word, “Run,” to the teenager but just as Amy was about to get up and run toward the window with the fire escape, she stopped and pointed at something.

Carol, however, was too distracted by Daniel’s fangs growing closer to her neck to notice.

“A direct woman, I like that,” Daniel said as he opened his mouth and prepared to feast on Carol. But before he could, the vampire felt a force pushing him away and knocking him to the ground. He looked up and saw that it was Chris. “RUN!” Chris screamed at Carol and Amy, before Daniel got up, slammed Chris against the wall, grasped the detective by his neck, and began to squeeze. “I WON’T LEAVE YOU!!!” Amy screamed to her father as she rushed toward Daniel.

“Go…” Chris croaked as Daniel continued to cut off oxygen. Carol grabbed the teenager before she got to the vampire and pulled her to safety.

“Let him go!” Carol pleaded as she held Amy tightly. “You’ve fucked with me for the last time!” Daniel said, choking the life out of Chris. “I’m going to make you die slow!”

Chris’ world began to spin as he started to black out.

“Get out of here…” the detective said softly to Carol and Amy. But once again Daniel was to be rudely interrupted, this time by Pete and Gordon. Before anyone could speak, Gordon threw an entire vial of holy water at the wall where Daniel had Chris pinned. The glass shattered and the holy water splashed across the vampire, causing him to scream out in pure pain. Flames licked at his face as he staggered across the room. Gordon withdrew his dagger again and attacked Daniel. The vampire’s face was now covered in burns and he was visibly weakened. Pete ran to his brother who was gasping for breath as Gordon and Daniel struggled. The vampire hunter managed to stab Daniel, but he missed his mark, instead hitting the vampire in his stomach. Daniel screamed again, but he still had enough strength to knock Gordon down to the ground and run for the door. Pete tried to stop him, but Daniel eluded his grasp easily.

Gordon quickly picked himself up and ran after Daniel, but by then the vampire had gotten outside and taken flight, disappearing into the night sky. “Are you okay?” Chris gasped to Amy as he struggled to catch his breath. “I’m fine,” the teenager said as she hugged her father tightly, “Just a few cuts. I was so scared Daddy!”

“It’s okay…” Chris replied as he kissed her head. “He just burst in here and I thought he was going to…” Amy said before her voice trailed off, “Carol saved me.”

“Thank you,” Chris said to Carol, “I can never thank you enough.”

“You can owe me,” Carol replied.

“What was he?” Amy asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Pete answered.

“What now?” Chris asked as he got up.

“He has to feed soon,” Gordon answered, “He’s wounded now, but fresh blood will reenergize him. This is our best chance. We have to find him!” “That’s impossible,” Pete said, “He could be anywhere in the city! He could just pick some girl off the street!”

“No, not our boy,” Gordon replied, “He’s after big game and he’s not going to let this setback affect his plan!”

“But what is his plan?” Chris asked.

“He seems to like celebrities,” Pete offered.

“Female celebrities,” Gordon added.

“Attractive female celebrities,” Chris chimed in. The three men then looked at each other before all coming to the same conclusion.

“The Spice Girls concert…’” they all said at once.

“What?” Carol and Amy asked.

“Don’t ask,” Pete said as he ran for the phone, “You really don’t want to know.”

Chris went over to Amy, who was still shaking from her ordeal.

“I have to go now, sweetheart,” he said as he hugged his daughter.

“Don’t go, don’t go,” the teenager plead, “Please don’t go!”

“I have to,” Chris replied, “None of us are going to be safe until he’s gone!

Carol will take care of you, okay?”

“No,” Amy protested as she began to cry, “He’ll kill you! Don’t go!” “I don’t have a choice,” Chris gently said as he hugged Amy as tightly as he ever had before, “I’ll be back here soon, I promise.” “No you won’t,” Amy wailed.

“I will,” Chris reassured his daughter, “I don’t feel like dying tonight.” “Let’s go!” Pete said as he hung up the phone, “They’re going to meet us at RFK!”

“I’ve got to go now,” Chris said as he pulled away from his daughter. “Don’t worry about him,” Pete assured Amy, “I’ve been protecting him all his life and I haven’t screwed up yet. So I’ll make sure we both get back.” Amy responded to this by running to her room and slamming her door.

“Teenagers, what’cha gonna do?” Chris asked with a nervous smile. “I’ll make sure she’s all right,” Carol said as she came up to Chris, “But you make sure you’re careful, Amy’s not the only one who doesn’t want to lose you.” “I love you,” Chris said as he leaned in for a kiss. “I bet you say that to all the girls who save your kid’s life,” Carol replied after breaking the kiss off.

“C’mon,” Pete said as he pulled Chris to the door, “There’ll be time for lovey dovey stuff later.”

“I love you too,” Carol said to Chris just as the door was about to close behind him.

“They want to meet us where?” Carly asked, disbelief filling her voice. “At the Spice Girls concert,” Arnie repeated, “They say that’s where he’s headed.”

“And how do they know that?” Carly asked.

“I don’t know,” Arnie replied, “They just do. Maybe their psychic friends told them. All I know is that I just got off the phone with Pete and he says we have to meet him at the Spice Girls concert.”

“But I hate the Spice Girls,” Carly protested.

“What’s wrong with the Spice Girls?” Steve asked.

“You probably love them don’t you,” Carly said to her partner. “They are not without their good points,” Steve contended, “They happen to be very entertaining.”

“Is it possible I’m losing even more respect for you?” Carly asked. “Well it’s common knowledge that all Spice Girl bashers are jealous,” Steve shot back.

“Excuse me?” Carly replied.

“Most people who bash the Spice Girls are women who secretly want to be Spice Girls and since they can’t, they mask their jealousy under a thick veil of hatred,” Steve explained.

“I want a new partner,” Carly announced, “My old one’s broken.” “Look people, can we focus here,” Lieutenant Smith interjected, “We are in the aftermath of one of the biggest law enforcement disasters in history and we have to catch this guy. Now if Pete has reason to believe that this guy is headed to this concert then that’s where you’re going to go. It fits in with his MO to go after these women and this is the best lead we have right now. I’m going to have backup teams ready to go on a moments notice, so if anyone spots him let us know.”

Smith paused for a moment to look at his gathered detectives, “Now we all lost friends today, so I know what you’re going through. But this has to be handled by the book. I want an arrest, not a revenge killing. Daniel Rooker is to be brought in alive! Do I make myself clear!”

Steve, Carly, and Arnie nodded their acceptance, but Tom, who had been sitting in silence, spoke up.

“I don’t promise anything,” he said.

“What the hell does that mean, Tom?” Smith asked. “You know what it means,” Tom replied, “I’m not sure what this guy is, but he’s going to pay for what he did to Stacy.”

“I don’t want to hear this from you, Tom,” Smith stated, “We’re law enforcement officials, not vigilantes. I can’t let you out in the street with a weapon if I believe you’re just going to kill him.”

“Lieutenant, this guy is not a human being!” Tom shouted, “Was I the only one paying attention when he was ripping people’s heads off?” “Maybe you should stay behind, Tom,” Smith suggested.

“I’m going,” Tom flatly replied.

“If you’re going, then you go as a police officer,” Smith explained, “You don’t go as an avenging boyfriend. Now I can’t explain what the hell happened here tonight, but I know that we have to catch this guy. We have to play it by the book. I know what you’re going through Tom, but you can’t ignore the code that comes with this job.”

“All right,” Tom said, “But if he attacks and puts our lives at risk, then so help me God, I’ll kill him with my bare hands.” “Just be careful,” Smith said as his Detectives walked out the door.

“So who is this Daniel guy?” Pete asked as he drove toward RFK.

“I don’t know,” Gordon answered.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Chris asked, “I thought you were the world’s foremost expert on vampires.”

“I mean I don’t know where he came from,” Gordon replied, “He has the powers of a master vampire, but I’ve never seen him or heard of him before.” “What’s a master vampire?” Pete asked.

“A master vampire is like a king or a tribal chief,” Gordon answered, “There are only a few left out there. They’re more powerful than slave vampires, their minds are stronger, and they can withstand a limited amount of daylight. You can only get master vampire powers through two ways. They can be granted to a slave vampire by its Master, or you can kill a master vampire and eat their heart.” “Ewwww,” Chris replied.

“Our boy strikes me as the type to use the second method,” Gordon stated, “There was one living close to this area, a man named Telemasco, and I’ll bet Daniel stole his powers.”

“How do you know so much about this?” Pete asked. “I’ve hunted them almost all my life,” Gordon said, “Don’t fool yourselves, there are vampires out there. They’ve just gotten good at hiding themselves. Daniel could just be the first shot in a war against humanity. There are so many questions here that I just don’t have the answer to.” “What are you saying?” Chris asked, “That Daniel is part of some great vampire conspiracy?”

“I don’t know,” Gordon answered as he began to think out loud, “Maybe he is.

I’ll have to talk to Eli, he’d know.”

“Okay, hold up for a second,” Pete said, “Who the hell is Eli?” “I can’t get into it now,” Gordon replied, “There are some things that you shouldn’t know detective. You’d be better off that way.” “Well I think we’ve earned the right to the whole story,” Chris pointed out. “Detective, if I were to tell you the whole story, then you’d be too afraid to get out of bed the next day,” Gordon stated, “Now, we must focus. We can’t get bogged down in all this other stuff; Daniel is our chief concern here. We have to kill him.”

“No!” Pete said as he slammed on the brakes of the car, “I want to know goddamn it! What the hell is going on here!”

“Detective! We don’t have time for this!” Gordon shouted, “All information will be given out if and when you need to know it. The only important thing is killing Daniel!”

“Let’s go, Pete,” Chris urged, and Pete reluctantly continued their journey toward the stadium.

“How come all the people who got bit today didn’t turn into vampires?” Chris asked.

“To turn into a vampire,” Gordon answered, “You must drink their blood.

Otherwise you’re just dead.”

“That would make sense,” Chris replied, before burying his head in his hands in disbelief at what he was discussing.

“Now as for killing vampires, there’s nothing wrong with the old stake through the heart routine,” Gordon said, “Holy water, crosses, and light all can kill slave vampires. Decapitations work and so do removing their hearts. Fire can wound them and in some cases kill, but for master vampires this is the key here.”

With that, Gordon withdrew his dagger from his bag, “This dagger can kill any vampire. Some master vampires are too strong for conventional methods, but this baby never fails. If I can get it right through Daniel’s heart, then he’ll be finished.”

“As much as I’m enjoying Vampires 101, can I just say that we don’t have any of these weapons,” Chris pointed out.

“Don’t worry, Detective,” Gordon said as he dumped out his bag. Stakes, vials of water, and crosses fell out, “I brought enough for everyone to play.” “We’re here,” Pete pointed out as he pulled into the parking lot of RFK Stadium. A few minutes later Carly, Steve, Arnie, and Tom arrived, with three units of officers behind them. After having Gordon brief them on the proper methods for killing vampires, Pete presented the plan.

“All right, I want an officer at every exit. Carly and Steve, you monitor efforts out here,” Pete instructed, “The rest of us are going in and if Daniel’s here we’re going to find him. Any questions?”

There were none.

“Okay, let’s do this. If anyone spots him, get on the radio,” Pete said.

“We never had to learn this in the academy,” Arnie remarked.

Pete, Chris, Arnie, Tom, and Gordon easily made their way past the guards, even though it was thought best by all involved that the guards not know the whole story about what they were looking for. The stadium, usually filled with throngs of insane football fans screaming for the Redskins, was now filled mostly with teenage girls. The occasional parent or horny teenage boy was spotted, but for the most part the usual Spice Girl fan base was there, screaming in joy as the British quintet ran through ‘Spice Up Your Life’ onstage. “Okay, we’ve got a lot of places to look,” Chris said over the noise of the crowd, “I suggest we split up; we can cover more ground that way. We’ll meet back here in an hour if we still haven’t found anything.” The four others agreed and split up, with Tom and Arnie taking the left, Chris and Pete going down center, and Gordon taking the right. Before he left, Pete handed a radio to Gordon.

“Call us if you see him,” Pete ordered before turning to his brother. “He could be anywhere,” he remarked, “We might never find him.” But Pete received no answer, as Chris appeared to be distracted. Pete leaned in closer to his brother and thought he could hear him muttering something. “Are you singing along?” Pete demanded.

“Absolutely not,” Chris immediately answered.

“Yes you were,” Pete contended, “You were singing along to a Spice Girls song!”

“Oh fuck you,” Chris replied, “I like them. They’re good.” “Great, after this maybe you can join the group,” Pete suggested, “They can call you Retard Spice. C’mon, we gotta work.”

Meanwhile, Arnie and Tom were working their way through the crowd, searching for any sign of Daniel.

“How’s your arm?” Tom asked.

“It’s still there,” Arnie replied, “I can see just as well with one useful arm as I can with two. Say, did you mean what you said earlier?” “I’m not sure,” Tom answered.

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’m not sure what I’m going to do when I see him again,” Tom replied, “I just can’t believe this is happening, that he’s real, that what he did to Stacy was real. I just don’t know, Arnie.”

“What are you going to do if you see her again, I mean now that she’s…changed into one of those things?” Arnie asked his partner. “I’m just going to hope that that doesn’t happen,” Tom replied before he resumed his search through the audience.

“We’re not going to be able to arrest this guy if he is what we all think he is,” Arnie sighed.

“I know,” Tom stated, “We are going to have to kill him if we see him.”

“I just hope we get him before he gets us,” Arnie thought aloud.

Gordon walked through the audience. There was no sign of Daniel anywhere. He silently cursed himself for saying anything at all to Chris and Pete in the car. He should have just instructed them in how to kill the vampires and not gotten into all that stuff that they didn’t need to know. He’d messed up again, but hopefully the damage could be repaired this time. Not like what had happened fifteen years ago. He’d never be able to forgive himself for that night. He was supposed to have been there, but the search for the vampire that had gotten his sister was consuming him, and as a result his friends were tapped and captured.

The police and the papers had called it the ‘Orange County Bombing’, ruling that it was a terrorist attack. It had all been a set up from day one and maybe Gordon would have been able to spot the trap. Eli had always been too trusting, but Gordon wasn’t there that night and innocent people had been killed. He could never right that wrong, but maybe by making a stand here and stopping Daniel before it was too late, then maybe he could pay part of his penance. These were dangerous waters he was leading the detectives into, but Gordon couldn’t act alone anymore and there wasn’t time to appeal for help from the West Coast. Daniel had to be stopped and he had to be stopped here, before others decided to follow his example.

Gordon stopped for a second, he had to calm down he told himself. All around him people were cheering and yelling, but for Gordon the tension inside the stadium was so thick he was practically choking on it. He could sense that Daniel was indeed here, laying in wait for the chance to snatch his prey.

Blissfully unaware of the search that was currently underway amid the audience, the Spice Girls continued to perform with their trademark high energy levels. Each of the girls reveled in the fact that unless a person had been living in a cave for the past year, they knew who the Spice Girls were. They were completely overexposed, and they loved every minute of it. Their names, personalities, and choice of outfits was forever burned into the brains of every person who had ever heard ‘Wannabe.’

Geri Halliwell (aka Ginger Spice), Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), and Victoria Adams (Posh Spice) were better known than most world leaders, and certainly better liked. Of course, the backlash against them was still present and it was more viscous than ever before. But none of that mattered when they were onstage. All petty fights between the girls, and all the mean-spirited press predictions of their imminent demise as a group, were forgotten and they became one unit with the sole purpose to entertain.

Some people liked being on stage, but the Spice Girls loved it. They were currently in the middle of their world tour and after playing here again tomorrow night, they would be zipping down to Miami for a show there. It was exhausting to be a Spice Girl, but not one of the five would trade in their lives at that moment; not for all the money in the world. The audience was living it up, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Except for one man who had caught Geri’s eye. He was just wandering around the audience close to the stage, as if he were looking for someone. “Look at that bloke there,” Geri whispered to Mel C. when they were in between songs, pointing at Gordon, “He doesn’t look like he’s having fun. What do ya suppose he’s doing here?”

“Maybe he lost his kid,” Mel C. suggested.

“I guess,” Geri replied, “He just seems out of place.” “Maybe he’s a dirty ol’ man who likes looking at your cleavage, Geri,” Mel B. chimed into the discussion.

“That seems more likely,” Victoria cracked.

“C’mon!” Emma shouted to them, “We gotta get going on the next song! What’re ya just standing around for!”

They did just that, but even as Geri sang, she couldn’t shake the feeling she’d gotten when she noticed Gordon—there was something wrong.

Pete and Chris had managed to make their way backstage. Their search down the center of the audience had been fruitless and had only turned up a teenager who’d smuggled in a six pack of beer. Chris and Pete had of course confiscated the contraband and planned to turn it into evidence control at the end of the night.

“I still think we should drink it now,” Pete suggested. “What and spoil the pain of being a loser while sober,” Chris replied, “I think not. It’ll work much better at the end of the night, after we’ve officially not found him. He’s not here. He’s hiding. Who’d be dumb enough to go to a public place after killing over a dozen cops? Besides he knows we’re on to him.” “Patience, little brother,” Pete said, “We still have places to check back here.

This is the best spot for him to hide out at.”

Guards tried to block entrance to the brothers, but one quick flash of their badges removed all obstacles.

“What if we can’t find him, Pete?” Chris asked. “We will,” Pete replied, not wanting to consider the alternative, “That son of a bitch is here, I know it.”

Pete and Chris proceeded to comb every inch of the backstage. They checked every person and even shone a light up into the rafters to check for an aerial assault, but their search produced nothing.

“Goddamn it!” Pete said, “I know he’s here somewhere!” “Let’s stay back here for a bit,” Chris suggested, “We can get a pretty good view of the audience right up front and if he wants to grab one of the girls then that’s where he has to be.”

“Good idea,” Pete said, “There’s only one way to get to them and that’s by going onstage.”

“Should we warn the girls?” Chris asked.

“No, we’ll just keep an eye on them from here,” Pete answered, “If he’s here, I certainly don’t want to tip him off. If we pull the plug on the show, then he’ll know for sure. We can’t blow this chance.”

Arnie and Tom also continued their search, weaving in from the back of the stadium to the front.

“Any movement out there, Carly?” Tom asked into his radio. “Negative, Tom,” Carly answered, “Every position checks in clear. If he’s gotten in while we’ve been here, he would have to have dropped in from the sky. You would have noticed if a man had come flying into the stadium, wouldn’t you have, Tom?”

“Yes, we would have noticed that,” Tom testily replied.

“Still nothing,” Arnie said as he finished scanning the people around him.

“He could be anywhere in here,” Tom sighed, “It’s a needle in a haystack.” “He’s a little easier to notice than a needle,” Arnie replied as he continued to look. He jumped on top of a piece of sound equipment to get a better vantage point and craned his neck to see as much as he could. He moved slowly from person to person, finding only teenage girls.

But then he froze and turned back; something had caught the corner of his eye! Arnie stared intently into the crowd until he noticed it again—the burning red eyes!

“TOM! I SEE HIM!!!” Arnie shouted, and when Tom whirled around again, he did too.

Daniel was indeed there and only a mere twenty feet away. By the looks of his eyes, and the fangs that were extending from his mouth, he was ready to feed. The vampire broke into a sprint toward the stage. “CHRIS! PETE! WE SPOTTED HIM!” Tom shouted into his radio, “HE’S HEADED TOWARD THE STAGE!!!”

“ALL RIGHT EVERYBODY, LET ME HEAR YOU SHOUT ‘GIRL POWER!!!’” Geri shouted into her microphone.

The audience responded as instructed.

“I WANT TO HEAR IT LOUDER!!!” Geri said, “GIRL POWER!!!” The audience again responded enthusiastically, bringing a smile to the redhead’s face. But then she saw two men running towards her from the left, waving their arms and screaming for the girls to get off the stage. At that moment Daniel also leapt onto the stage, in full vampire form, bringing out gasps and screams from the girls. His face was burned terribly, taking away the attractiveness he once had.

Immediately sensing that this was not supposed to be part of the show, the audience began to panic and move about frantically. “Get out of the way!” Pete shouted at the girls as he and Chris rushed toward Daniel. They had stakes in their hands, and even though they both felt kind of silly, they had Daniel’s heart as their target. “YOU WON’T STOP ME NOW!!!” Daniel screamed as soon as he noticed the detectives.

The vampire then leapt up high into the air and brought down a row of lights.

The structure crashed down onto the stage, glass and sparks flying everywhere. Mini explosions began taking out the rest of the lights as a chain reaction had been set off.

By now, the crowds of people were all rushing toward whichever exit they could find. Daniel seized the opportunity provided by the confusion and grabbed the first Spice Girl he could find. It happened to be Emma, and Daniel snatched the young blonde.

“EMMA!” Mel B. screamed as the girl struggled against Daniel’s grip. It was no use and the vampire held her tight.

Tom and Arnie had managed to get on the stage, with Gordon right behind them, but it was too late and Daniel grinned deeply.

“Gotta fly,” he said through a smirk as he took off into the night sky with Emma still in his arms.

“NO!!!” Victoria screamed, before turning to the detectives, “DO SOMETHING!!!!” “Carly!” Pete shouted into his radio, “He’s getting away through the top, do you see him?”

“Yeah, we got him!” Carly shouted, “Holy shit! He’s flying!” “Follow him! Goddamn it! Follow him!” Pete ordered, “Go after him and let us know the location. We’ll meet you there!”

“Who the hell was that? What’s he done with Emma?” Mel C. demanded as she grabbed Chris’ shirt.

“There’s no time to explain,” Chris stated, “We’ve got to go after him.”

“Fuck explaining,” Mel B. spat out, “We’re going with you!”

“The hell you are!” Pete said, “This is a police matter!”

“She’s our mate!” Mel B. protested.

“Take us with you!” Geri demanded. “We can’t just abandon her!”

‘We’re the police, let us handle this!” Tom ordered.

“We don’t have time for this!” Gordon cried out, “He’s getting away!”

“Who the fuck are you?” Mel C. demanded.

“I kill vampires,” Gordon replied.

“What are you saying?” Victoria asked, “That that guy was a…” “Vampire,” Gordon said, finishing her thought, “Yes he is.” “They aren’t real,” Victoria protested.

“Time’s a wasting!” Arnie pointed out.

“Let’s go!” Geri shouted, ‘We’ve got to save Em!”

“You are not going!” Pete declared.

The detectives and Gordon then ran off, leaving the four remaining Spice Girls behind.

“What are we going to do?” Victoria cried.

“We follow them!” Geri declared.

“They said we couldn’t,” Victoria contended.

“Fuck them,” Geri said, “Those morons couldn’t save Emma when that guy grabbed her, what makes you think they could do it now? Now lets go, before they get too far off!”

“We don’t have a car,” Mel C. pointed out.

“We’ll have to find one fast,” Mel. B replied.

“We’re not going to be able to save her, are we?” Chris sighed as Pete drove on, following the directions Carly gave him.

“Probably not,” Pete replied, “The bastard’s got a big head start on us.” “We might be able to,” Gordon suddenly said, causing the detectives to jerk their heads back.

“How?” Arnie asked, “We haven’t been able to save any of the other girls yet.” “Well there is a possibility we can do it here,” Gordon speculated, “There’s a slim chance that if the change is a quick one, which they’ve been lately, then the victim can change back.”

This perked up Tom’s attention.

“What do you mean?” Tom demanded.

“Usually there is an incubation period before a change to vampirism is complete,” Gordon explained, “But Daniel is so strong that this incubation is being skipped. So theoretically, if we kill him and break the mental hold on a new convert, then transfuse his blood out of the person’s system, they might be able to become human again. Of course this is all theory.” “We can save Stacy!” Tom exclaimed, hope popping into his thoughts for the first time in hours.

“Don’t get your hopes up partner,” Arnie said.

“Your friend is right,” Gordon said, “You’re going to have to prepare yourself to kill this woman if necessary.”

“I can’t,” Tom contended.

“You must be able to!” Gordon stated strongly, “She will kill you if she has the chance. Now if we go in, I need one hundred percent commitment from each of you! There can never be any hesitation when trying to kill a vampire. One split second could give them the opportunity to attack. Remember, Daniel and those girls are not human anymore, they’re predators and their senses are all razor sharp.”

The ride continued in silence, until the radio squawked back to life. “Pete, he’s stopping!” Carly said excitedly, “He’s going into an old factory or something. We can’t quite see yet. Oh God, he’s carrying someone.” “We know all about that,” Pete sighed, “What’s your location, Carly?”

The location was given and Pete turned the car around to head in that direction.

“Okay now stay outside and wait for us. Do not go in without us!” Pete ordered.

“This is a trap, isn’t it?” Chris asked. “He’s leading us right into a trap!” “Perhaps,” Gordon admitted, “But if we want to stop him, then it’s one we have to walk into.”

Meanwhile, the detectives were unaware that as they followed Daniel, they were being followed themselves.

“Go faster!” Mel B. urged.

“I can’t go any faster!” Geri said as she drove the car that they had borrowed from a roadie. “If I go any faster, I’ll ram right into them, and then they’ll know we’re here. This is the only way we can get to Emma!” “That man’s going to kill her, isn’t he?” Victoria asked.

“Don’t say that!” Mel B. angrily shouted, “Don’t you ever say that!”

“What if what that man said was right?” Victoria asked.

“About vampires? That’s bullshit,” Mel C. answered, “There’s no such thing.”

“He just flew off with her,” Mel B. pointed out. “Look, I don’t care what he is!” Geri said as she brought an end to the discussion by slamming her fist on the steering wheel. “We have to save Emma and I don’t care what we have to do to make that happen!”

Ten minutes later, Pete reached their destination and stopped the car. “He’s inside,” Steve said as he and Carly rejoined their colleagues. “He went inside and we haven’t heard one peep since.”

“Let’s do this,” Gordon said as he began handing out weapons to Carly and Steve. “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Carly said in a voice that rose slightly above a whisper.

“Anyone who wants to back out, do it now!” Gordon declared. He was met with silence and he nodded his head in approval, “Let’s go!” But before the group could head to the door, another car came screaming up in front of the factory. The detectives stared in disbelief when the Spice Girls piled out.

“Oh I do not believe this shit!” Pete sighed.

“What’s going on?” Carly asked.

“Oh my God! It’s the Spice Girls!” Steve exclaimed. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Pete cried as the girls drew near, “What the hell are you doing here? You girls are not going in with us!” “The hell we’re not!” Geri said, “We’ve got to rescue her!” “I’m not going to let unarmed civilians into what could be a death trap!” Pete said.

“You’re letting him in,” Mel B. said as she pointed to Gordon.

“He’s the only one who knows how to kill these fucking things,” Chris replied. “Look, Detective,” Geri declared, “We are going in and getting Emma out, whether you say we can or not! So step aside!”

“We could use the extra help,” Gordon pointed out.

“No!” Pete declared.

“What the hell are they doing here?” Carly demanded.

“They want to go in with us,” Chris reported.

“What on Earth for?” Carly demanded.

“Emma’s inside!” Mel C. declared.

“Who?” Carly asked.

“Daniel grabbed the blonde one,” Tom said.

“I will not let you get involved in this!” Pete stated.

“Tough luck,” Mel B. said defiantly, “We are involved already!”

“Yeah and it stops here!” Pete replied as he headed toward Arnie. “Arnie,” Pete said as he approached the injured cop, “I need you to stay out here and watch them. Make sure they don’t go in. Give us an hour in there and if we don’t get out, call the Lieutenant and have the place destroyed or whatever. Just stay out here and watch them.”

“Why me,” Arnie protested. “I’m not just going to stand out here and baby-sit, while you guys are in danger.”

“Arnie, your arm is fucked up to hell,” Chris pointed out as he joined the discussion, “You’d be a sitting duck in there!” Arnie’s face showed that he knew this too. “I’m just not going to sit out here,” he repeated.

“You’ve got to,” Chris said, “There could be a bloodbath in there and I don’t want any more casualties then there have to be. You keep them and any other people from going in. Let us handle it and we’ll take it from there.” “We’d better go now,” Pete declared before he turned to face the Spice Girls. “You stay out here with Detective Nash. If you go in with us, so help me God, I will arrest you or shoot you or whatever it takes to stop you from adding your names to the body count.”

“She’s our friend!” Geri cried.

“Then be her friend and let us do our job,” Chris stated “If we’re in there covering your asses, then we can’t save her!”

This reply caused defeat to cross the faces of the girls and they gave up their efforts to enter the building.

“We better go, little brother,” Pete said as he put his hand on Chris’ shoulder.

“Yeah,” Chris sighed.

“Be careful in there,” Arnie said as he kept his eyes on the girls. The detectives and their civilian companion stared at the abandoned factory before they entered.

“Ominous looking fucker, isn’t it,” Steve remarked.

“Are we going to die?” Carly asked.

“Probably,” Tom answered.

“Oh well, guess I won’t have to worry about making my car payments anymore,” Carly nervously joked.

“We’re not going to die,” Gordon declared, “He is.” “Let’s quit stalling,” Tom said impatiently, “Who knows what he’s doing to Stacy in there?”

“Time to go, Chris,” Pete said.

“Pete?” Chris queried.

“Yeah, Chris.”

“Next time I say not to answer the phone,” Chris stated, “Don’t make me answer the goddamned thing.”

With that they all walked toward the building entrance.

(XIII) LAST ONE OUT GETS THE LIGHTS

As the group marched toward the entrance of the abandoned factory, they wore masks of bravado when in fact they were as frightened as small children. One look inside the factory told them that it had been not been used for any industry in quite awhile. A thick layer of dust covered everything, and cobwebs connected the machines and equipment that had been left behind by the previous occupants. Boxes were stacked high and clutter lay everywhere. But there was also something else about this factory, there was a chill in the air. A sense of doom and death had taken up residence in the building, invading every corner of it. The building was vast and dark, with seemingly endless places to search. A long set of stairs extended to the top floor of the structure where the now empty offices stood.

“This is a really bad place,” Steve remarked in a low voice. “They are violating so many different fire codes here,” Chris added as he studied the terrain.

“Well remind me in the morning and we’ll have someone come in and take a look,” Pete replied.

“How big do you think this place is?” Tom asked.

“Pretty fucking big,” Chris answered.

“That’s helpful,” Tom replied.

“Where is he?” Carly asked, “I was expecting an attack the minute we stepped through the door.”

“Maybe he’s not here,” Steve hopefully suggested.

“Oh he’s here,” Gordon stated, “He’s here, and he’s waiting.”

When Arnie had woken up that morning, he never could have imagined the way the day would turn out. He had foolishly assumed that a man coming into a morgue and breaking his arm would be the weirdest event of his life, but he was way off; way, way off.

So here he was at the end of the day, babysitting four members of an insanely popular pop rock group while his fellow detectives went about hunting a vampire. This case was definitely one for the autobiography, Arnie decided. Sighing, he turned and saw that the girls were all huddled together in conference.

“What’s going on over there?” Arnie asked.

“Nothing officer,” Mel C. answered.

“We were just saying what a wonderful job your friends were doing,” Mel B. added.

“I’m sure you were,” Arnie replied, a fair degree of skepticism creeping into his voice. “Look, why don’t you just go back to your hotel or wherever you’re staying, we can handle this.”

“Why are you so mean to us?” Geri asked as the girls walked toward Arnie. “We’re not being mean,” Arnie explained, “We just don’t want you girls to get hurt. This guy’s a madman. My friends are pros, they’ll get Emma out nice and safe.”

“See, I knew you were the nice one,” Geri said, “Those other detectives are the mean ones. You’ll talk to us straight.”

“Maybe we can help your friends,” Mel B. offered.

“We’re very helpful girls,” Mel C. chimed in.

“C’mon, pleaseeeee!” Geri begged as Mel B. stroked Arnie’s cheek. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Arnie contended as he stepped back from the girls. “You see, we can’t just let civilians go in and-“ But that was all Arnie got to say before Victoria smacked him on the head with a beer bottle they had found in the car. He yelped in surprise and hit the ground, unconscious.

“Oh my God, I killed him!” Victoria exclaimed, “I knew I’d hit him too hard!” “Chill, Victoria,” Geri said as she leaned down to check on Arnie, “He’s fine, he’ll just have a bump on his noggin and a splitting headache when he wakes up.” “Besides that was our only of getting inside,” Mel B. contended, “Now let’s go rescue Emma, before those bloody cops shoot her full of holes.” With that Mel B., Mel C., and Geri headed for the entrance. Victoria paused to lay down the bottle on the ground and lean in close to Arnie. “Sorry,” she said to the unconscious detective, before joining the others. “What do we do when we get inside?” she asked her friends when she caught up with them.

“We’ll split up,” Geri said, “And whoever finds Emma will shout for the others.”

Meanwhile, the detectives had already split up, with everyone getting into pairs and each searching a section of the building. Tom and Gordon searched the left side, Carly and Steve the right, while Chris and Pete climbed up the stairs toward a row of offices on the top floor.

“Hey, Chris,” Pete said, “Next time we go off to hunt a vampire, let’s pick one with a one floor hideout.”

“Or at least one with an elevator that works,” Chris gasped, “You’d think that one big flight of stairs wouldn’t be so much for us.” “We should have exercised more,” Pete offered.

“Who knew,” Chris replied. “You think Daniel’s up here?”

“Top floor makes sense,” Pete reasoned.

“With our luck there’s another set of stairs after this one,” Chris remarked.

The search continued, as each team scoured their area. The Spice Girls had separated by then and were attempting both to search for Emma and stay out of the way of the detectives.

Victoria crept up to the top floor with much more ease than Chris and Pete did. Staying as silent as she could, she followed a few steps behind, keeping in the darkness as Chris and Pete checked each office door. Victoria reasoned that all she had to do was stay behind them as they searched for Emma and if they found her, she’d just run up to help and make sure she wasn’t hurt. Chris and Pete were now mid way down the left-hand side of the floor, having so far found only empty office after empty office. Chris tried to open the door of another one, but found it was locked.

“Oh great,” he sighed, “Now what? I don’t suppose anyone left a key laying around.”

“Hold on a second,” Pete said, “I brought a master key.” With that, Pete withdrew his gun and shot off door’s lock.

“Pretty useful key you got there,” Chris remarked as they entered the office.

“It does the trick for me,” Pete replied.

The two were stopped cold when they picked up the scent that was all over the room.

“I think someone left the milk out too long,” Pete gasped.

“Whoa!” Chris added, “What the hell is that?”

“I have no idea,” Pete said, “But if I had to guess, this might very well be the scent of death.”

“Well whatever it is, that’s a stench I’m going to remember,” Chris replied. “He’s got to be in here somewhere,” Pete said as he began to shine a flashlight around the room.

But a search through the room turned up nothing more than the bad smell.

“Maybe he’s in the next one over,” Chris suggested. “Maybe,” Pete agreed as they walked out, the walkway surrounding the offices creaking as they did.

“These floors are none too sturdy,” Pete remarked, “Good thing I’m not fat.” After Chris and Pete had looked into the next office, Victoria continued to silently move behind them. But as she passed the office the pair had just been in, Victoria thought she heard something.

The singer stopped in her tracks and a second later she heard the voice again.

“Victoria…” it whispered, and Victoria recognized it immediately as Emma’s. “Help me…” Emma cried softly, and Victoria rushed into the office. Her eyes took a second to adjust to the darkness but when they did, she saw Emma sprawled out on the old desk that lay there. Her clothes were tattered and Victoria immediately noticed bloodstains on them. The scent of the room then hit her, causing her to stagger a bit, but she quickly recovered and rushed to her friend’s aid.

“Oh thank God! Emma, are you all right?” Victoria cried. “I’m okay,” Emma sighed as she hugged her friend, “He did such horrible things to me, Victoria.”

“You’re safe, now Em,” Victoria assured the girl, “Let’s go find the others and get you out of here.”

“No!” Emma cried as she pulled Victoria down to the desk with her, “Stay with me, I’m so scared!”

“It’s all right, Emma it’s all right,” Victoria said as she ran her hands through Emma’s hair, “He won’t hurt you now!”

“He’s out there!” Emma cried, hugging Victoria tightly, “You have to help me!”

“I will,” Victoria said, “We’ll get you out of here.”

“Thank you,” Emma sighed, “I love you so much, Victoria.” Emma then leaned up and kissed Victoria’s cheek lightly. The girls had kissed each other lots of times, but this time Victoria felt a chill run up her body. The singer couldn’t decide whether the chill was from fear or from something else, but before she could mull it over any more, Emma suddenly kissed her on the lips.

Another chill ran up her, but this time Victoria knew that it certainly wasn’t from fear; Emma was turning her on!

“Did you like that?” Emma asked.

“Yes,” Victoria whispered.

“Then you’ll love this,” Emma promised as she kissed her friend again full on the lips. Her tongue snaked into Victoria’s mouth, where it was happily accepted, and soon the pair were kissing passionately. But just as suddenly as it had begun, it ended when Victoria pushed Emma away. “What are we doing?” she gasped as she sought to catch her breath.

“I think it’s perfectly obvious what we’re doing,” Emma replied with a grin.

“But we have to get out of here,” Victoria said, “We’re in danger.” “Why don’t you just forget about that for a little bit and kiss me again,” Emma sighed.

“What’s wrong with you?” Victoria cried. They had to get out of here, but instead of running they were making out.

“Nothing is wrong, Victoria,” Emma claimed as she began to gently stroke her cheek, “Just relax and let this happen.”

“He’ll kill us,” Victoria protested, but by now she was fighting off her own raging desires as well. She found it harder and harder to resist as she stared into Emma’s shimmering blue eyes. The look of those eyes was driving Victoria wild and all thoughts of danger and death were being pushed aside as she felt her pussy begin to moisten. Tiny fires seemed to flicker in Emma’s eyes and Victoria found herself unable, or at least unwilling, to look away. “We can’t…” Victoria softly said, but she didn’t believe her own words. “Yes we can,” Emma replied, and as if to emphasize her point, she began to kiss Victoria again.

This time there was no resistance whatsoever as the pair began dueling tongues. They lay down on the old desk together and Emma began running her hands over her bandmate’s body, eliciting moans from Victoria. Emma reached underneath Victoria’s dress and slowly removed her panties. She then bunched the dress up at Victoria’s waist and admired her friend’s pussy. “This is going to feel so good,” Emma promised before sliding a finger into Victoria’s pussy. The sensations began to hit Victoria immediately and she inhaled sharply.

“Oh God, that’s amazing,” Victoria moaned as Emma continued to finger fuck her, “Please don’t stop.”

“I knew you just needed to relax a bit,” Emma said as she leaned in to kiss Victoria again. The blonde girl then removed her fingers from Victoria’s dripping pussy and, moving down her body quickly, she replaced them with her tongue.

Any concerns over maniacs were gone and rational thought had long since ceased for the Spice they called Posh. Emma’s finger play had made her feel as good as she had ever felt, and when she felt the blonde girl’s tongue begin to lap at her pussy, Victoria screamed in ecstasy.

“Lick me, Emma!” Victoria cried, “Lick my wet pussy! Please make me cum!” The cries drove Emma on and she increased her speed. Soon enough her efforts brought forth a reward, as Victoria came onto her face. Emma lapped up as much of her juices as she could before moving back up and kissing Victoria passionately.

“Oh my God, Em!” Victoria sighed as she and Emma embraced, “That was incredible.

I want to make you feel good too. Let me please you!” “There’s no time right now,” Emma said sadly, “There are people here who wish to destroy us.”

“What?” Victoria asked as her quenched desire gave way again to the feelings of fear and confusion. She looked and saw that Emma’s eyes had turned blood red and fangs had extended from her gums. Victoria suddenly realized that the man had been right, there were vampires, and she struggled to get away. “Don’t struggle,” Emma hissed, “It only hurts for a second. Then we’ll be together forever. Give yourself over to me and then we can join our Master. We’ll go and find the rest of our mates.

Victoria tried to resist, but she knew that she couldn’t. The more Emma said, the more it made sense. Victoria’s desires began to rage again as she thought about the bliss that would await her; her and the other girls. They could be sisters and lovers rolled into one. And their Master would protect them. Victoria couldn’t wait to meet him; he would be strong and beautiful, she just knew it.

“You know it’s what you want,” Emma urged, and as soon as she saw Victoria relent, she buried her fangs in her neck. Victoria’s blood flowed freely into Emma’s mouth and she drank as much as she could. Emma then heard a chuckling sound behind her and knew that Daniel had joined them. He had been fortunate early on to find the secret room that had been connected to this office. Who knew what the previous occupant had used it for? Drinking scotch in the morning? Fucking his secretary? Smoking crack? It didn’t matter; all that mattered was that it made a good hiding place for Daniel and his brides.

“Did I do well, Master?” Emma asked as Victoria’s blood ran from her lips and down her chin.

“You did just fine, Emma,” Daniel said as he took off his shirt and cut open the wound on his chest, “But she must feed so she can cross over.” “Master?” Victoria hoarsely asked.

“Yes, Victoria, I am your Master. You must drink now,” Daniel commanded and Victoria eagerly complied. The scars on his face were long gone, thanks to the boost he had gotten from Emma’s blood.

“You promise you won’t hurt my mates,” Emma asked as Victoria greedily drank from Daniel.

“I won’t hurt them,” Daniel moaned, “I will bring them over and they will never feel pain again.”

“Well that’s every office on the floor,” Chris sighed as their search ended.

“There’s got to be something up here,” Pete insisted.

“All evidence to the contrary,” Chris replied, “Let’s check in.” “Good idea,” Pete said as he reached for his radio. “This is Pete, we can’t find him up here.”

“Nothing down here either,” Carly replied.

“I can’t find a soul,” Tom added.

“Let’s regroup down here,” Steve suggested, “I don’t like being split up.”

“Let’s do that,” Pete agreed, “He’s here somewhere, I know it.” Chris and Pete returned down the stairs and found everyone else gathered in a group.

“Where the hell can he be?” Carly asked.

“Maybe he had some kind of back exit or something,” Pete offered, “I can’t find any trace of him. Nothing up there but some weird smelling office.” “What do you mean?” Gordon demanded.

“I mean it smelled like a dead animal or something,” Pete replied. “Oh my God!” Gordon, “That’s where he’s been hiding during the day! You’ve got to take me there!”

“Yeah, it’s right upstairs-“ Chris began, but before he could go on, boxes being knocked over interrupted him.

“It’s him!” Tom declared. He and Steve crept toward the source of the noise, but when they got there they saw that it wasn’t Daniel at all, it was merely Mel B. “Oh great,” Carly sighed, “What the hell are you doing in here?”

“Where’s Arnie?” Tom demanded.

“He’s fine,” Mel B. replied defiantly, “He’s just taking a little nap.”

“What the hell did you do to him?” Tom asked.

“We hit him over the head with a bottle,” Geri said as she and Mel C. came out of the shadows, “We didn’t want to, but we had to.” “I ought to arrest you right now for assaulting an officer!” Pete stated, “We better check if he’s okay.”

“Wait a minute,” Mel C. interjected, “Where’s Victoria?” “Yeah, she was following you two,” Geri said as she pointed toward Chris and Pete.

“We didn’t see her,” Chris declared.

“She was right behind you,” Mel C. insisted.

“Nevertheless, we didn’t see her,” Pete said in annoyance, “Tom, go check on Arnie, make sure he’s still breathing.”

But before Tom could start toward the door, a deep mocking laugh began. Everyone jerked their heads up immediately and saw Daniel standing on the walkway around the offices. As everyone stared, Sandra, Sarah, Lysette, Mary, Emily, Stacy, and Emma joined the master vampire.

“Oh my God, it’s Emma!” Mel B. cried out.

Emma responded by smiling and baring her new fangs for her friends. “The gang’s all here,” Daniel said, “And it looks like you’ve brought some friends with you.”

“What did you do to her!” Geri screamed.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Daniel said as he grinned.

“Oh God, we’re so dead,” Steve stated in a panicked tone.

“Hold it together, Stevie,” Carly insisted.

“This feels like the end of The Wild Bunch,” Chris stated.

“Aren’t they all dead at the end of The Wild Bunch?” Pete asked.

“Yup,” was Chris’ simple reply.

“So this is how it ends,” Gordon declared as he and the detectives formed a semi-circle to repel the attack.

“This is how it ends for you, old man,” Daniel replied, “I am going to enjoy this!”

There was silence for the next bit, the seconds ticking by as though they were hours. Each side seemed to be waiting for the other to make the first move. “Enough,” Pete declared, “Let’s kick some ass!” With that, he hurled a vial of holy water up toward the walkway. It missed its target, but it did the job of breaking the tension. The eerie calm had ended and now it was time for action.

“YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!!!” Daniel screamed as he jumped from the walkway and lunged toward the humans on the ground. His brides followed right behind him, attacking fiercely.

Carly was quickly knocked to the ground by Lysette and dragged off into a corner.

“CARLY!” Steve screamed, but Sandra, who smacked the detective hard across the face, soon occupied his attentions.

“You knocked me down before, asshole,” she hissed as her fangs extended, “I’m going to make you pay for that!”

“RUN!!!” Mel B. screamed at her bandmates as they scattered to all corners of the building.

Daniel, meanwhile, had found Chris as his target. “You killed, Michelle,” the vampire spat out, “You’ll pay.” He then lunged for Chris, only to be stopped by Gordon.

“I’m the one you want, Daniel!” Gordon shouted as he withdrew his dagger. “Why don’t I show you what an ‘old man’ can do?”

The chaos continued as vampires battled humans. “I can’t believe Stacy ever liked you,” Emily hissed as she pursued a fleeing Tom.

“Where is she?” he demanded.

“Oh I think you’ll run into her very soon,” Emily said as she began to laugh, “She really wants to see you and finish what she started in the station.”

With Daniel’s attention grabbed by Gordon, Chris took the opportunity and tried to get away. But he couldn’t get very far before Mary leapt upon him and pinned him to the ground.

“Oh shit! Out of the frying pan…” Chris sighed as he struggled to get away.

“And right into the fire…” Mary replied as she lunged toward Chris’ neck. But before she could get to it, Mary screamed out in pain. Pete had run up from behind and driven a stake right into her. Blood poured out from the wound as Mary lurched up and tried to pull the stake out. “What the hell is going on?” A blood-soaked Chris asked after he’d gotten up. “I think I missed the heart,” Pete speculated as Mary continued struggle with the wooden shaft protruding from her chest.

“Guess we should try again,” Chris decided as he pulled out a stake of his own. He took a long look at the snarling creature before him. She was so far gone from the sweet girl who had been viscously murdered and whose soul had been corrupted.

As Chris grasped the stake, he flashed back to his meeting with Mary’s parents and the anguish and grief that had seemed to flow from them. It was time to give their baby the peace she needed. Without any further hesitation Chris thrust the stake straight into Mary’s heart. An unearthly scream emitted from the vampire before she fell to the ground, her face showing that peace had once again returned to Mary’s soul.

Carly was struggling with Lysette and the vampire seemed to have the upper hand. The detective reached for her cross, but before she could, Lysette grasped her hand and began to squeeze. The vampire squeezed so hard that Carly began to hear the sickening crunch of bones breaking, and blood began to leak from her hand. The detective dropped her cross and Lysette took the opportunity to knock her to the ground. Lysette then pounced on the fallen woman, digging a claw into Carly’s side.

Carly screamed as the pain coursed through her body; blood was flowing freely from her side as she made a last ditch effort to survive. She frantically reached into her pocket until she grasped what she had been searching for, her cigarette lighter. As she began to feel Lysette’s hot breath grow closer to her neck, Carly flicked the lighter and set the sleeve of Lysette’s gown on fire. “What the fuck?” Lysette asked as flames began to crawl up her arm. Momentarily forgetting about Carly she began to wave her arm around in an effort to stop the flame, but the added oxygen only made the fire worse and soon Lysette’s gown was completely on fire. The flames began to burn into the vampire’s flesh and Carly then knocked the vampire away and into a group of boxes and rags that quickly became part of the fire. Lysette’s screams echoed through the factory as the fire burned away at her.

The vampire leapt out of the fire, but the flames kept coursing over her body until it seemed as if she were a walking torch. But still Lysette attempted to attack Carly, only to be finally stopped when the detective casually took out the machete Gordon had given her and sliced off Lysette’s head. Blood continued to pour down Carly’s side as she limped away to find Steve. Her right hand was completely useless and her wound slowed her down considerably, but she continued to search for her partner.

But at that moment Steve was in a precarious situation. Sandra had him pinned to the ground and was licking her lips in anticipation. “I think I’ll make you my personal slave,” Sandra hissed, “You will do my every bidding.”

Steve continued to try and struggle, but as Sandra stared at him he felt his will to fight decreasing. The pure weirdness of the situation overwhelmed him. A few days ago he’d been living a normal life, but now he was on the verge of being killed by, of all people, Sandra Bullock! Being killed by a movie star-turned-vampire was not how he had envisioned dying, but as he saw the fires in her eyes flicker, it seemed a more appealing prospect. He momentarily relaxed, and Sandra took her chance, burying her fangs in Steve’s neck. Steve gasped in pleasure/pain as Sandra’s fangs pierced his flesh. She drank freely of him, her attention occupied by the man she sought to make the victim of her first vampirization. But the attention she paid to Steve allowed Carly to get the drop on her.

“NO!” Carly screamed, and as fast as she could, she ran toward her fallen partner. Carly, who was operating on pure adrenaline at this point, pushed Sandra off of Steve and, before the vampiress could respond, drove a stake right into her heart.

“Goddamn it! I think I’m getting good at this!” was all Carly could think to say. But then she saw that she hadn’t jammed in the stake far enough; even though blood poured from the wound, Sandra was still alive. Carly just watched as the demon died and the human soul regained control of Sandra. Her face softened as she grimaced in great pain. “Please…” Sandra whispered as she gestured to the stake. Wordlessly, Carly did what she knew she had to do and jammed in the stake further, ending Sandra’s torment.

Steve was drifting in and out of unconsciousness and Carly stood in a panic as she saw her partner dying in front of her. A thousand thoughts at once swirled around her head and all of a sudden she seized upon an idea. It was silly, but then again this whole situation was bizarre.

Carly remembered a late night movie she’d seen years ago. It was called Brides of Dracula or something, and she remembered a scene where Peter Cushing got bitten by a vampire. He’d used a cross to close the wounds, and since no other ideas came to Carly’s mind, she reasoned that this was better than nothing. She quickly used her one good hand to grab her cross and hold it up against the flowing wound on Steve’s neck. To her amazement, the cross began to burn into Steve’s flesh, cauterizing the wound. Smoke began to wisp up and Carly began to gag from the smell of burning flesh, but she held steady with the cross. Soon the wound had closed and Carly struggled to move her unconscious partner to safety.

“You owe me so big,” Carly grunted as she moved Steve away from the fire, which was beginning to burn with greater intensity.

Gordon’s stab with his dagger, cut right into Daniel’s flesh, but missed the target of the vampire’s heart. Gordon tried again, but this time Daniel caught the vampire hunter’s hand before he could strike. Both began using all their strength to try and wrest control of the dagger from the other. Around them, the fire raged, and was slowly, but surely, spreading throughout the factory.

“If I don’t kill you, someone else will,” Gordon grunted. “You have no idea of the forces at play here, old man,” Daniel replied, through clenched teeth.

“Your kind will never rule again,” Gordon said. “The war is starting here,” Daniel stated, as he found the extra strength he needed. He grabbed control of the dagger and plunged it into Gordon’s chest. The vampire hunter fell back immediately, blood flowing freely from his wound. “If you can’t stop me, who will?” Daniel asked with a grin. He came up to the fallen hunter and pushed the dagger in deeper.

“You will not win,” Gordon haltingly said as he drew in short, ragged breaths.

Then, with a gasp, he fell to the ground.

As soon as the battle had started, the remaining Spice Girls had run with two goals in mind. First, to find Emma and Victoria and, second, get out of there as fast as they could. The three had split up again to search for their lost friends and as Mel C. ducked the carnage, she saw Victoria through the smoke. Mel C. ran to her friend, but she immediately stopped when she saw the wound on Victoria’s neck and the hungry look in her eyes. “Oh no!” Mel cried as Victoria crept closer to her. She wasn’t sure what the hell was going on here, but she knew that whatever had happened to Emma had also happened to Victoria.

“Melanie,” Victoria sighed, her voice soft and full of love.

“What did he do to you?” Mel cried in fear and pain. “It’s so wonderful, Melanie,” Victoria said as she came up to her friend. “I resisted too, at first, but Emma showed me how beautiful the change is. I can show you such wonderful things.”

“Oh please, Victoria, no,” Mel sighed, as her will to run began to disappear.

“Don’t do this!”

“Kiss me,” Victoria sighed as she embraced Mel, “Then we can join Emma and our Master forever.”

Every lesson Mel had learned from the horror movies she had seen, told her to pick up the piece of wood lying on the ground near them and plunge it into Victoria’s heart. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t kill her friend. And anyway, as she looked deeply in Victoria’s eyes, it began to become clear to her. This was the path to eternal love and pleasure. Mel offered no resistance when Victoria pressed her lips up against hers and began to kiss her passionately. Soon their tongues were intertwined and as chaos reigned around them, the two continued to kiss. Mel’s arousal was at such a high point by then, that she all of a sudden came in the middle of the kiss.

As the pleasurable sensations of her orgasm shook Mel’s body, Victoria’s fangs extended and she buried them in Mel’s neck. Victoria drank deeply, loving the taste of Mel’s blood.

Finally breaking away from her feast, Victoria slipped down the top of her dress to expose her breasts. She then made a small cut on the top of her right breast and gently pushed the entranced Mel toward it.

“Drink,” Victoria commanded, and Mel complied as quickly as she could. Blood trickled out of the wound and Mel lapped it up, feeling the effects almost immediately. But before they could go any further, the pair were rudely interrupted by Pete, who thrust a cross in Victoria’s face. Victoria hissed in pain when she saw the cross. Mel slipped away from her body and collapsed on the floor. Pete then withdrew a stake and began walking closer to the frozen Victoria.

“Sorry,” Pete muttered as he rose the stake, but before he could strike, his arm was grabbed from behind. The detective quickly turned his head to see who it was. He was expecting a ravenous vampire, but he instead saw Geri. “What the hell are you doing?” Geri demanded of Pete. “I’ve got to kill her!” Pete shouted as he violently pulled his arm away from Geri’s grasp.

“Oh no you won’t!” Geri shouted back, “I won’t let you!” “For God’s sake, she’s a vampire!” Pete said as he continued to hold Victoria at bay with the cross, “Look what she just did to your friend!” “We can help her!” Geri insisted, “I won’t let you kill my friends!” “Fuck you!” Pete spat at Geri and once again lunged at Victoria. But, acting as quick as she could, Geri reached out and pulled Pete’s gun from its holster. She clicked off the safety and pointed it straight at Pete’s head. The detective froze instantly.

“Put that gun down, you stupid bitch,” Pete said, his fear masked by bravado again, “I’ve seen what these things can do! I have to kill them!” “Let Victoria go!” Geri insisted as she kept the gun aimed at Pete’s head.

Meanwhile, Tom had managed to corner Emily, and as she searched for a way out, he withdrew his stake.

“This is for Stacy,” he said as he moved forward, but as he did Stacy leapt out from the shadows and tackled him, knocking the stake right out of his hand. They rolled around for a bit before she pinned him.

“What’s the matter, Tom?” Stacy hissed, her fangs extended and her eyes blood red, “Don’t you want me anymore?”

“Stacy, you’ve got to fight this,” Tom pleaded, “Gordon says that we can save you! But you’ve got to fight his influence!”

Stacy laughed mockingly in response. “Why would I want to fight this?” Stacy asked, “This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me!” “Let’s just kill him, he talks too much,” Emily suggested. “No,” Stacy responded, “Let’s make him our slave! We can have this stud wannabe licking our pussies every night!”

“That does sound good,” Emily agreed, before she caught Chris in her line of sight, “I think I see my next meal in front of me; make sure and leave me some of Tommy Boy here.”

“You know I will,” Stacy said as she kissed Emily. Her roommate then darted off in pursuit of Chris.

“You’re going to love being a slave,” Stacy said to Tom before she lunged at his neck.

It was at this point that Rasheed Williams finished up his night of work at Burger King. The teenager went out to get his bike, but saw that it had been stolen once again.

“Great fucking city here,” he sighed as he began his walk home. As he walked the streets, being careful not to make the wrong type of eye contact with some of the colorful drug dealers on the street (who considered shooting you in the chest a sort of hello), he began drawing in the air around him. At least it was a nice night for a walk, he told himself. Soon he’d get a car and wouldn’t have to put up with this bike shit anymore. But in this city, that car would probably be jacked the first night he had it. But then Rasheed’s thoughts were interrupted by the unmistakable smell of smoke. Curiosity getting the better of him, he ran to investigate and saw that that old factory was on fire. It had been closed for years…what had they made there? Rasheed began to search his memory, but all of a sudden he reminded himself that he shouldn’t be just standing there. He ran for a phone and immediately placed a call to the fire department.

After hanging up, he saw something else. There was a dead guy in the parking lot! Rushing over to try and find out what the hell was going on, Rasheed saw that the guy wasn’t dead at all, he was just knocked out. “Wake up, buddy! C’mon, mister, get up!” Rasheed said as he pulled Arnie out of his state of unconsciousness.

“Deja vu all over again,” Arnie remarked as he shook off the fuzziness. His hand immediately went to the bump on the back of his head, which was swelling up very nicely. It was then that Arnie saw that the building he had watched his friends go into was ablaze.

“What the hell happened?” Arnie demanded.

“How the fuck am I supposed to know?” Rasheed shot back, “You were here first.

All I did was call the fire department.”

“You did what?” Arnie said as images of firefighters running into a massacre played through his mind.”

“What, am I talking too fast here? I called the fire department,” Rasheed slowly repeated, “You know, like you’re supposed to do when there’s a fire.” “Oh God, they must be dead in there!” Arnie declared.

“You mean there’s people in there!” Rasheed exclaimed.

“Hopefully,” Arnie replied as he tried to consider his next move.

“Oh my God, Gordon!” Chris declared when he saw the vampire hunter’s body. He rushed over just as Gordon was drawing his last breaths. “Tell Eli…I’m sorry…” the vampire hunter croaked with his final breaths. He then coughed once and died “Oh shit!” Chris said. This was not going well at all. The fire was spreading faster now, and if the vampires didn’t get them, the smoke and flames soon would. Chris knelt over the corpse and closed Gordon’s eyes. Chris’ gaze wandered down to the dagger buried in the hunter’s chest and he remembered what Gordon had told him earlier about what it could do to a vampire. Chris then pulled the dagger out and, after wiping off the blood, he grasped it tightly. They could still get out of this alive! But where was everybody? Where was Pete?

But before Chris could answer those questions, Emily leapt towards him out of the shadows. Chris was knocked to the ground several feet away. When he saw the very hungry look in Emily’s eyes, he raised the dagger in defense. However, as the vampire neared him, another figure came out of the shadows and pushed Emily away. Chris looked up in surprise and saw that it was Mel B. “Looked like you could use some help,” the singer remarked, before Emily recovered and lunged at her attacker. But once again the singer was able to fend off the vampire, using a high kick and a punch to knock Emily to the ground. “Self defense class,” Mel B. said as she took off the little gold cross around her neck and used it to hold Emily at bay.

“I’ll have to try a couple of those,” Chris replied, genuinely surprised at the turn of events. “Care to do the honors?”

“My pleasure,” Mel B. said with a smile, as she took a stake from Chris. The singer then grasped the wooden object and slammed it into Emily’s chest. A small geyser of blood accompanied the vampire’s final death scream. “Gross,” Mel B. remarked as she futilely tried to wipe off the blood. “You really are scary, you know that?” Chris said as he began to look again for Pete.

“Nobody hurts my mates,” Mel B. emphatically declared. It was then that Carly emerged from the smoke, an unconscious Steve slumped over her shoulder.

“Take him,” the wounded detective said as she began to cough violently, “He’s heavier than he looks.”

“What happened?” Chris asked.

“He got bit,” Carly answered as she leaned against a wall and continued coughing from the smoke.

“Is he okay?” Mel B. asked.

“He better be,” Carly said, ‘We’ve got to get out of here, Chris. We’re going to just burn up in a few minutes.”

“Agreed,” Chris said as he lay Steve down next to Carly, “Sumner’s dead.”

“Oh shit,” Carly said, “What do we do know?”

“I don’t have a clue,” Chris began, before a cloud of smoke cleared away and he saw Geri holding a gun to Pete’s head.

“What the fuck?” Chris declared as he ran toward his brother. As he ran, and was quickly followed by Mel B., the smoke overcame Carly and she slumped over.

Stacy’s fangs pierced through Tom’s flesh and she happily began drinking his blood. Tom futilely tried to push her off, as he felt his strength being drained. But when Emily’s death scream hit Stacy, she stopped and began to convulse a bit, feelings of pain wracking through her. Tom took this opportunity to push Stacy off of himself. He tried to close the wound in his neck by placing his hand over it, and saw that humanity had returned to Stacy’s face.

“Help me,” she gasped, before the demon seized control again and her vampire face returned. “Disregard that last message,” Stacy then hissed as she lunged at Tom again.

“Don’t you get it!” Pete shouted, “If we don’t kill them, they’ll kill us!” “I don’t want to hear from you anymore!” Geri cried, her actions steeped deeply in denial.

“I’d never hurt you, Geri,” Victoria contended, “Blow his head off and we can be together.”

“Shut up!” Pete ordered Victoria, “One more word and I’ll ram this stake into you so fast you won’t even have time to scream!” “Don’t let him hurt me, Geri!” Victoria cried, “Kill him now, before he kills you! He’s crazy!”

“Yes kill him, Geri,” Emma said as she floated down from the upper level, “We love you.”

“Oh shit,” Pete said as he saw his situation worsening by the second. “Who do you trust?” Emma asked sweetly, “We’re your mates and this guy’s a stranger who’s been awful to you. Do what we say!” Geri felt her will weakening. They were her friends and they wouldn’t lie to her. Geri stared at Emma and Victoria’s eyes as they flickered through the smoky air. She felt the eyes drawing her in. She had to do this; then she could be with her friends. He was going to kill them all if she didn’t stop him. Geri slowly moved the gun closer to Pete’s head, preparing to fire. But before she could, she found another gun pointed directly at her own head. “Don’t even think about it!” Chris commanded.

“Took you long enough,” Pete commented.

“I had a little situation back there,” Chris replied. “Oh and what the hell do I have here, a fucking tea party?” Pete shot back, continuing to hold Emma and Victoria at bay with the cross, as Geri still held the gun to his head and Chris did the same to her. “I hate standoffs,” Chris remarked, “Someone always ends up the loser.” “Yes, and you’re the loser!” Mel C. said as she suddenly awoke from her metamorphism and leapt at Chris.

Chris jumped back immediately, and in the process dropped a vial of holy water that had been in his pocket. The vial shattered on the ground, spilling its contents everywhere. Mel C. continued toward him, but when she reached the spilled water she stopped immediately and hissed loudly. “We may have just lucked into something,” Chris said before he quickly took out another vial and spilled it so Mel C. was trapped within a circle of holy water. He then tossed another vial to Pete, who quickly trapped Emma and Victoria with it. Pete then grabbed his gun away from Geri.

“Give me that,” he said, “Little girls shouldn’t play with dangerous objects.”

Geri then responded by slapping Pete hard across the face. “FUCK YOU!!!” she screamed, “You’re not going to kill my friends, you bastard, I don’t care what’s happened to them!”

“Let’s just calm down here,” Chris said, “We have a fire going and a master vampire who seems to have disappeared. We can’t waste time fighting with each other!”

“Oh my God!” Mel B. said as she came upon everyone and took in the scene. Emma, Victoria, and Mel C. were all in full vampiric form as Geri and the detectives argued.

“Help us, Mel,” Emma hissed. “He’s trying to kill us!” Seeing her friends in the state they were in overwhelmed Mel B. with an agonizing heartache.

“What do we do?” she asked Geri.

“We can’t let them kill them!” Geri declared.

“They’re not human anymore Geri,” Mel B. sighed, her heart as heavy as it had ever been.

“Whose side are you on?” Geri demanded.

“I’m on yours, but I don’t know! I don’t know what to do!” Mel B. cried.

“Let us kiss you,” Mel C. hissed.

“It’s so wonderful,” Victoria added.

“The guy we were with said that if we kill Daniel, then there’s a chance they could be okay,” Chris offered.

“A chance?” Geri demanded, “How much of a chance?”

“We don’t know,” Pete answered.

“If there’s a chance then lets get this Daniel bastard!” Mel B. cried.

“Where is he anyway?” Chris asked.

“I don’t know,” Pete said, “But I do know that we have to do something quick, the heat’s making that holy water evaporate fast.”

“I know there’s still a part of you that’s human,” Tom cried as he backed away from Stacy’s advances.

“Not for long,” Stacy spat back, “The wimpy old Stacy is gone for good!”

“Goddamn it, you’ve got to fight this!” Tom contended. “I don’t want to,” Stacy said harshly as she pinned Tom down again and prepared to finish the job.

“That’s right, Stacy. Finish him off,” Daniel said as he emerged from the smoke, “Kill him.”

“With pleasure, Master,” Stacy said as her fangs extended. She lunged at Tom’s open neck wound and began to drink again, until she heard him whisper. “Please,” Tom softly said, his eyes begging her to stop.

“Do it, Stacy!” Daniel demanded.

Stacy paused as she struggled on the inside. Tom had been right, there was still a part of her that was human and it was struggling all it could against the demon that Daniel had put into her body.

She began to softly cry out as her internal conflict raged. She was trying desperately to hold onto the facet of who she once was, but it was being overwhelmed by a desire to follow her Master’s commands. Tears ran down Stacy’s face as she struggled mightily to control her demon. “DO IT!!!” Daniel screamed.

“Fight,” Tom croaked, his body and voice weak.

Stacy gazed at Daniel, looking for guidance from her Master, but instead of love, she saw his cold, cruel eyes and his face contorted with rage. “NOOOOO!!!!” Stacy screamed at the top of her lungs as her human side regained control. She grabbed a stake from Tom’s pouch and slammed it into Daniel’s stomach, missing the heart.

The vampire screamed in rage and pain as he pulled the stake out of his bloody chest. He slapped Stacy hard, sending her to the ground; then he returned her betrayal by pounding the stake right into her flesh. He began to yell ferociously as he stormed away from his former bride. “NO!!!” Tom screamed as he struggled to get up and run to Stacy’s aid. His strength was almost gone and he had to resort to crawling. He got to her just as her life’s blood began to slowly ebb from her lips. “Oh God, I couldn’t fight him!” she gasped.

“You did fight him, Stacy. You saved my life!” Tom replied as he struggled to hold back tears, “Just hold on, we’re going to get you help!” “My parents…” Stacy weakly said, “Don’t tell them…what he did to me… What he made me do.”

Then, Stacy stopped moving, her eyes closed, and her head slumped to the side.

The fire sirens wailed as the trucks pulled up to the factory. Arnie was in a panic, not knowing what to do. He couldn’t stand by and let these firemen head in to die, but he had to give everyone in there a chance to survive the fire. Vampires may have had a little tolerance to it, but humans certainly didn’t.

“Is there anyone in there?” A fireman shouted at Arnie. “Yes!” Arnie replied after a split second of thought, “You can’t send your men in though!”

“Why the hell not!” the fireman demanded.

“I can’t explain,” Arnie replied.

“You’re crazy,” the fireman responded, “If there’s people in there, we have to get them out!”

“I’m a homicide detective,” Arnie said as he reached for his badge, “Other detectives are in there now pursuing a serial killer, give them two more minutes before you go in! Your men could be at risk!”

“I don’t take orders from you!!!!” the fireman shouted. “Do it or I’ll blow your head off,” Arnie said, changing tactics as he reached for his gun.

“One minute,” the fireman said as he relented and went off to fight the blaze from the outside.

The commotion between Stacy and Daniel had attracted the attention of Chris and Pete, and they ran over to where it came from.

Daniel roared in rage when he saw them and he charged toward them. But instead of attacking, he merely knocked them to the ground and sought an escape. “There’s no way out!!!” Pete screamed. “You’re ours!!!!”

“MASTER! THIS WAY!!!” Sarah screamed from the upper level. Daniel ran that way, with Chris and Pete right behind him. But before he reached the stairway, Daniel’s lust got the better of him and he paused to grab Geri. “One for the road!” he shouted as he bounded up the stairs. It was then that the holy water evaporated enough for the imprisoned Spice Girls to break free. Emma and Victoria double teamed Mel B. and knocked her to the ground. Mel C., seeing that her Master was in danger, lunged at his pursuers. Her attack hit Pete first and she pinned the detective rather easily. Chris immediately changed directions and went to aid his brother. “FORGET ME!!! GET HIM!!!!” Pete screamed at Chris and as he struggled to get Mel C. off him.

Chris ran toward the stairs and began climbing them two at a time. He reached the top and as he continued to pursue Daniel, Sarah leapt in front of him. She attacked, but Chris was running on pure adrenaline at this point and he easily picked up the young vampire and tossed her over the railing. Sarah screamed as she fell right into the raging fire.

“YOU WON’T STOP ME!!!!!” Daniel roared as he prepared to plunge his fangs into Geri.

“I’m through watching people die today!” Chris shouted as he rushed toward Daniel. He grabbed Geri and hurled her away from the vampire; she fell to the ground, still slightly entranced. But she still had enough sense to immediately get up and run to other set of stairs, which would take her back down to help Mel B.

“YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!!!” Daniel roared as he squeezed Chris body with his brutal strength.

But at that moment an idea popped into Chris’ head, and before he could reconsider, he used all his strength to propel both himself and Daniel forward. Rational thought had ceased for the detective long ago, he only knew what he had to do.

Daniel crashed through the railing and, with Chris holding onto him, the vampire was impaled on a metal hook dangling from a ceiling crane. The hook ripped through Daniel’s body as the two dangled in mid air. “You’re bad at this, Chrissy. This can’t kill me!” Daniel laughed mockingly. “But this will!” Chris said as he withdrew Gordon’s dagger and plunged it right into Daniel’s chest.

The vampire had only a second to react before searing pain ripped through his body. This couldn’t be happening! Not to him! His body began to spasm as blood poured out of his open mouth.

Mel C. screamed when she saw what had happened to Daniel and she pulled away from Pete. She then began crying in pain and collapsed to the ground. Moments later, and just as Emma’s fangs were about to meet their target, the same effect hit Emma and Victoria. Soon all three vampires were writhing on the floor as their Master died. Sharp cries of pain and violent convulsions followed as their remaining human sides fought for dominance again. By now, Daniel was screaming an unearthly howl of agony, high and sharp. His flesh was literally melting off his body as the vampire seemingly began to liquefy. Before long, he slipped off the hook that had suspended him in the air. As he continued to scream, Daniel plummeted straight towards the ground, taking Chris along with him.

“This is gonna hurt!” Chris shouted as he fell through the air. “CHRIS!!!” Pete screamed when the pair crashed into a bunch of empty boxes stacked on the ground. Pete immediately ran over to the boxes, and when he pulled the mess away, he saw Chris laying silently, covered with an enormous amount of sticky goo.

“Oh my God!” Pete exclaimed, “No! Chris! Don’t die on me!” “Stop crying and help me up,” Chris gasped, “This is even more disgusting than it looks!”

Pete helped his brother up and, forgetting about the remnants of Daniel’s flesh, immediately hugged him tightly.

“Oh that’s gross!” Pete said as he pushed Chris away.

“Didn’t I warn you?” Chris replied. “Now let’s get the fuck out of here.” But before they could move, Daniel’s last strike against them occurred. His coat fell from the hook and hit Pete in the head.

“Let’s keep it as a souvenir,” Pete suggested after freeing himself from the garment. “Maybe not,” he then said, changing his mind and flinging the coat to the ground.

Right then, the fire department crashed through the doors of the factory. They were slightly taken aback when they saw a glimpse of the chaos, but they quickly pressed on. The unconscious pair of Steve and Carly were quickly removed from the building, and the firemen began to shout for everyone else to head for the door.

“Are they all right?” Geri asked Mel B. as they stared at Emma, Victoria, and Mel C., who lay on the ground, unmoving.

“I don’t know,” Mel B. said softly as tears began to form in her eyes, “I hope so!”

Firemen then grabbed hold of Geri and Mel B. and tried to rush them outside.

“We can’t leave them!” Mel B. shouted.

“Don’t worry, we’re going to get them out!!” a fireman said; he and two others in his unit picked up the unconscious girls.

“Tom! We gotta get out of here!” Chris screamed as the fire began to cause the upper structure to collapse.

“I’m not leaving without her,” Tom said as he stared at the unmoving Stacy.

Pete immediately picked up the Stacy’s body as Chris helped Tom up.

“Is he gone?” Tom weakly asked.

“He’s gone,” Chris said, limping heavily, as they headed to the door of the factory.

“Tom, are you all right?” Arnie shouted when the trio arrived on the outside.

“I’ll be fine,” Tom sighed, watching Pete lay Stacy’s body on the ground. Paramedics then swarmed them. Before they even had a chance to breathe fresh oxygen, the three were being rushed onto gurneys. “We beat him, Pete!” Chris shouted to his brother, as he was loaded into an ambulance.

“We beat him, Chris.” Pete agreed, as the door to his ambulance closed. They then tore off for the hospital, their sirens piercing into the night.

No one was quite in the mood to relate exactly what had happened to them, so everyone was extremely gratified when they were immediately treated, no questions asked.

Pete and Geri checked out just fine, save for a few nasty bruises and a sprained ankle for Pete. Mel B. had dislocated her shoulder and Arnie needed several stitches for the wound on his head. And in a testament to the ability of adrenaline to save off pain, Chris was informed that he had helped Tom out of the building on a broken leg.

The others required a touch more care. Carly, also suffering from smoke inhalation, immediately went into surgery to close the nasty gashes on her side and repair her severely broken hand. Steve, Tom, Victoria, Mel C., and Emma all had to have immediate blood transfusions because, as a very surprised paramedic remarked, “They all seemed a quart or two short.” Reporters were soon swarming the lobby of the hospital, wanting immediate information about the fire, the killer, and, most importantly, the damage done to the celebrities involved.

Lieutenant Lawrence Smith pushed through the sea of media members and soon found Pete attempting to fill out forms in triplicate. “Do I want to know what happened?” he inquired.

Pete looked his Lieutenant squarely in the face and mused over his answer.

“No,” he replied, and went back to the paperwork. “Hey, Lieutenant! Look, I’m in a cast!” Chris excitedly shouted as he was wheeled past on a bed. “It’s really cool!”

“He’s on pain medication,” Pete explained.

“I see,” Lawrence replied.

“Make sure you come by and sign it!” Chris shouted as he was wheeled to his room.

“You did good, Pete. I told you that you’d solve this one. My gut feelings are never wrong.” Lawrence said as he patted his friend on the back, “But how the hell are we going to write up a report on this?”

Geri sat inside a hospital suite and watched as Emma, Victoria, and Mel C. slept. IV’s were hooked up to them and they had all just received emergency transfusions.

“Are they all right?” Mel B. asked as she came in, her right arm in a sling. “I don’t know,” Geri softly said, it was obvious she’d been crying. “They haven’t moved an inch since they got here and the doctors don’t know anything.” “They’ll pull through,” Mel B. said, “I know they will.”

“This is all my fault,” Geri declared.

“Now how do you figure that?” Mel asked.

“I was the one who didn’t want all the extra security hanging around the stage,” Geri replied, “I was the one who was all gung ho about going into the building. It’s my fault they’re like this.”

“Well you’re just being stupid,” Mel shot back, “No one could have foreseen this, and we all wanted to go after Emma. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself. They’re going to be fine. I refuse to consider any other possibility.” “But what if,” Geri began, but she stopped when she saw Emma stirring in her bed. Geri and Mel rushed over to her just as she woke up. “Geri?” Emma asked, her voice weak and filled with confusion, “Where are we?

What happened?”

“Oh thank God!” Geri cried as her malaise lifted instantaneously. She and Mel then tightly hugged their very confused bandmate.

“How you holding up, partner?” Arnie asked.

“I’ve been better,” Tom replied from his bed. “How’s your head?” “Thick as ever,” Arnie answered before veering to the real reason he came, “I wish I could say something here, but I don’t know what.” “I just wish I could have saved her,” Tom sighed, “If I’d just been seconds quicker, I could have gotten to him.”

“She’s at peace, Tom,” Arnie offered.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Tom agreed, “I just wish…” “I know,” Arnie said, “I know.”

“How are Steve and Carly?” Tom asked.

“They’re going to be just fine,” Arnie answered, “Steve will be whining and Carly will be ragging on us again before you know it.” “Can’t wait for that,” Tom replied, “I’m gonna try and get some sleep, man. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be here,” Arnie said as he left, his attention immediately captured by who he saw in the hallway.

Tom lay there in silence. A tear began to run down his cheek, but he quickly brushed it away.

“YOU!” Arnie shouted, only to be immediately ‘sshhhhhed’ by an army of nurses. “I have ten stitches in my head. Ten stitches!” Arnie said in a harsh whisper, “And it’s all because of you!”

“I don’t suppose it would help to say we’re sorry,” Mel B. offered. “We didn’t want to hurt you,” Geri added, “It was the only way. We’re very sorry.”

“Very sorry,” Mel B. said, “Can we kiss it and make it better?”

“Well…I…uh…don’t know if that would help…and anyway,” Arnie stammered out. But that didn’t stop Mel and Geri from leaning up to Arnie’s bald scalp and kissing his wound lightly. The detective turned all shades of embarrassment, seemingly beginning to blush everywhere.

“Garsh…” he said with a silly smile, “You’re forgiven.”

“How long were those pills supposed to last?” Carol asked.

“Not that long,” Pete answered.

“But he’s okay, right?” Amy demanded.

“As close to okay as he ever was,” Pete said, “Now he’s just a nut with a broken leg.”

“Does he always snore like that?” Carol asked.

“Yes,” Amy and Pete simultaneously answered.

Chris began to stir, and as his eyes came into focus, he saw Carol and Amy at his bedside.

“And you two thought I was going to die,” Chris said, “Silly people.”

As the night continued to drift into the next day, Pete sat alone on a chair in the waiting room, staring out the window as he ran over the night’s events in his mind. It was close to three in the morning, and visiting hours were long over. But no one really cared about that right now. Pete needed this silence. He just needed to sit here, look out the window, and think. It had been an absolute miracle. They were all going to be okay. He didn’t know how they did it, but they did it.

The silence was interrupted when Pete heard a throat clearing. He turned around and saw that Geri was standing there.

“I’m sorry,” she said, almost whispering, “I don’t know what came over me in there tonight. I just couldn’t let you hurt them.” “Are they going to be okay?” Pete asked.

“Yeah, they’re going to be fine,” Geri answered, a wide grin coming over her face. “No supernatural force can stop Girl Power,” she joked, causing a quick smile to hit Pete.

“What you did in there,” Pete sighed, “I understand why you did it. I would have done the same if it had been my brother on the ground. I should have seen it in your eyes. I’m the one who should be sorry. Everything about tonight was just fucked up. Fucked up from the word ‘Go.’”

“Maybe someday you’ll explain all this to me,” Geri sighed, slumping down in a chair next to Pete.

“Maybe, someday,” Pete agreed. The two sat in silence, staring into the Washington D.C. night. From what they could see, it looked very quiet. It was almost peaceful.

Epilogue

She was confused. Horribly confused. The coat’s hood was pulled over her head, so that no one could see what had become of her. Her skin was burned and most of her hair singed off. She had no idea how she’d survived it all. She remembered the fire lapping away at her flesh, but somehow she’d been able to get out of it. Instinct had told her to get out, and somehow no one had noticed when she did.

He was dead now, and she didn’t know what to do. But she felt herself being summoned; summoned home. Not that she really could even remember what home was, but she knew she had to follow the beckoning she felt deeply within. All of a sudden, she found herself taking money from some man she knocked over. She began walking toward the airport. There wasn’t much time, and she had to act now. When she reached her destination, she walked up to the ticket counter and faced the woman behind it.

“I need a ticket to Los Angeles,” Sarah said softly, but firmly.

You can contact the writer at: KMB_76@yahoo.com

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