David Micheli, motel manager and part time wizard, knew he was in trouble. All he had been trying to do was perfect his ability to summon up minor demons from Makai with the help of a musty book of spells he had stumbled upon a while back at a used bookstore.  He had hoped that if he could show some competence in any branch of the black arts, he might get some respect in the wizardry cliques he knew.  But he only meant to summon up something small, stupid, and easy to control, not a monstrosity like this.  What he had summoned was a zombie who was far too clever and powerful for him to contain.
Upon summoning it, David had immediately realized his mistake and tried to send it back.  The zombie broke through the containment spells that were designed to hold the summoned creature, ran into the circle that was supposed to protect David as if it wasn't there, and smacked him to the floor.  Dazed from the blow, David looked up at the zombie.  Half it's torso was missing, so David could see into it's chest cavity where the few remaining organs hung limply.  Burning red pupils glared at him from empty sockets as the few remaining muscles on the zombie's face twitched into what might be a smile.

Lord Zabel Rapter laughed at his good luck.  Not only had this human mistakenly summoned him, he had bungled the spell so badly that the portal to Makai was still half-open but could only be detected in the Earthrealm. With Malta's help, Rapter could teleport anywhere in Makai instantly, and disappear back to the Earthrealm without anyone being able to follow him.

With the advantage of being able to conduct hit-and-run attacks from between two worlds, Rapter could easily go into Makai to gain power by battling other Darkstalkers and then slip back to the Earthrealm when
things became rough.  It wouldn't take him long before he would be powerful enough to take on both the Maximov or Aensland houses.  But first, he needed to get rid of this silly mortal wizard so he couldn't
undo the spell.  A jagged bone slid out of Rapter's forearm as he pulled it back to strike...

A queen sized bed sheet and extension cords were thrown at Rapter.  The sheet wrapped around him and the cords somehow tied themselves around the sheet, binding Rapter.  Only his head was still exposed.  Craning his neck, Rapter looked over his shoulder to see who had attacked him.  He saw four young mortals- two male and two female- and a large brown dog. Rapter cursed himself.  He had compleatly forgotten that the Earthrealm also contained Vampire Hunters.  While the group who had attacked him didn't look like much, he knew better than to judge them on appearances alone.  He had once foolishly attacked the Vampire Hunter Amanda shortly after her protector Donovan had disappeared.

The small girl had battered him with so much power that Rapter had barely escaped from the fight before he was destroyed for good.  With four Hunters, as well as their familiar, having the drop on him, Rapter felt he had better be careful with what he did.

David, still sitting on the floor, franticly cast the incantation that would cancel the spell.  Rapter felt the effect immediately; in a moment  the spell would be canceled and he would be sent back to Makai.  True, his new plan would fall apart, but he wouldn't have to deal with this pack of Hunters either.

A young blond man stepped forward.  "Are you all right Mr. Micheli?"

David staggered to his feet.  "Ah, yes.  Aren't you, uh, the young people I rented out the bungalows too?"

"That's right, Mr. Micheli, and I think we've solved your zombie mystery for you."

A short brunette with thick glasses stepped forward.  "Our first clue was the drops of purple paint we found under the staircase.  The second clue," she held up a weathered, yellow piece of paper, "was this
geological survey."

Rapter was starting to wonder just what the hell these mortals were talking about. The blond man walked over to Rapter.  "You see Mr. Micheli, this `zombie' was created to scare away customers and force you to sell the land- land that is full of oil." The young man clamped his hand onto Rapter's hair.

"This whole plan and this `zombie' are actually the work of-" he yanked up sharply on Rapter's scalp, "your custodian John Crawford!"

The young man finally looked at Rapter, who had a very perturbed look on his face.  The young man half-tugged on Rapter's hair again, which only made him look even more angry.  A redhead in the group scratched the side of her head and asked, "Why isn't his mask coming off Fred?"  Instead of answering, the young man had backed away from the zombie to where his friends were.

Rapter couldn't believe it.  He had let a golden opportunity slip through his hands.  Already he could tell the spell had been irrevocably cancelled, and he could feel himself being tugged back to Makai.  He would be sent back any moment.  Rapter began to twitch in the fabric and cord trap he was in.  What he hated was that he hadn't lost because of a strong opponent or the intervention of Vampire Hunters.  He had lost because of his own stupidity and these... meddling kids.

Rapter performed his Death Hurricane move, shredding the sheets and cords that held him.  Every muscle in his undead body shook with rage.  Even his lungs and heart, which had atrophied from disuse, swelled back to life, pumping furiously in spite of the fact that they were no longer directly hooked up to any other part of his body.

The large dog jumped into the hands of a thin, scraggily looking young man.  Somehow managing to hold onto the dog, he stammered "I think t-that's a r-r-real z-z-z-ombie!"

"A wrearal rwombie!" the dog howled.

"Everybody run!" the young blond man yelled.  With that, the four people and their dog ran out the door and thundered down the hall.

Rapter had forgotten about David, his only concern now was to kill those interlopers before he was pulled back to Makai.  "You're dead, do you hear me?  You're all dead, dead, dead!" Rapter screamed as he ran after them. Rapter jumped down a flight of steps and landed in the lobby.

Through the rotating glass doors, he saw the group jump into a green and purple van and quickly pull out of the parking lot.  Rapter smashed through the door and howled "I'm gonna rip your guts out and stuff 'em down your throat!  You're all dead!"  Rapter chased the speeding van down the highway, cursing them the whole time, for ten minutes until he was pulled back to Makai.  Even after Rapter had vanished, the van continued to speed off into the night, without once looking back.

David Micheli, spell book in hand, stood in his lobby.  He couldn't believe he had escaped all of that with only a broken door to show for it-although he decided he might want to have a talk with custodian tomorrow.

He snorted as he flipped through the spell book.  In some stupid attempt at making a name for himself, he had nearly gotten himself killed.  He needed to stick with spells that were safer, like necromancy.

David happened upon a summoning spell on how to summon Jedah, the Late Vampire Savior.

Vampire Savior?

Now that sounded impressive!

David smiled as he thought about how impressed his wizard friends would be when they saw himcommunicating with the deceased Vampire Savior.  Besides, it was a nice, safe spell since Jedah was already dead in Makai.  It's not like there was any chance that David could accidentally revive him, was there?