"Yo Katze", Riki said knocking on the washroom door; "We got another sighting this time in the old graveyard at the edge of Ceres."

"OK be there in a second", Katze replied standing in front of the mirror. He pushed back his red hair and leaned over the sink to get a closer look at the small cut just below his right eye. A souvenir from a mid-level vampire he and Riki had bagged that morning.

Shit! It's been three hours and it's not healed,Katze thought as he prodded the wound. Blood started to well up in the cut and a single drop of blood fell into the sink with a soft pat. Katze stared at it transfixed. His stomach growled. He gripped the edges of the sink with now clawed hands as his fangs extended painfully to their full length. Katze looked back up meet his luminous golden gaze in the mirror.

Taking a few deep breaths Katze forced his fangs and nails to retract as he suppressed his vampiric traits.

Katze sighed, I need to feed I'm even reacting to my own blood and I should have been able to avoid that vamp's attack. It's been months since I fed last. I am growing weak.

With one last glance at his pale face in the mirror he turn and left the washroom.

Riki was sitting in the car when Katze exited the manor that he and Riki used as their base of operations. Katze opened the passenger side door.

"What took you so long, man? The vamp is getting away."

"Yeah sorry Riki," Katze replied getting into the car.

"What's up with you, man? You've been acting all weird or weirder than usual." Riki said as he peeled out of the driveway.

"It's nothing Riki."

"Katze, come on! You look terrible!"

"It's nothing Riki" Katze said again in a tone that suggested the matter be dropped. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes took one then offered one to Riki.

"OK fine. I'm just worried about you that's all." Riki said taking a cigarette and waited patiently while Katze light it and his. They sat in silence, lost in thought, until Katze opened his window and said, "I know, Riki. I know," before blowing a cloud of smoke out the window watching the trees rush by.

It was fully dark by the time they pulled into the drive that lead to the remote graveyard. Riki pulled off to the side; they would walk to the graveyard from here so they could move undetected. Katze got out of the car and opened the trunk to pull out the gear.

"What level vamp?" He asked trying to decide between a crossbow and a stake.

"Mid-level I'd say from the report," Riki replied slinging his own crossbow over his shoulder.

Katze grabbed two stakes, putting one in his boot and keeping the other in his hand.

They entered the graveyard silently, listening for movement in the forest that surrounded them. Katze cast his gaze around them, only using his vampiric vision when Riki was looking away from him.

Riki didn't know about his true nature and Katze didn't want him to. Katze knew from experience to keep his vampiric traits a secret. The first time he had told anyone he was just seventeen, and in love, or so he thought. He had told his well "lover" just before they were going to have sex. To say he reacted badly would be an understatement. He started screaming that Katze was a vampire trying to rape him and drink his blood. Katze had barely escaped with his life. Talk about betrayal and heart break.

"Katze..." Riki whispered drawing Katze's attention back to the present to focus on the figure Riki was gesturing to. He, as it was unmistakably male, was standing next to the lone tree in the graveyard and his back was to them.

The first thing Katze noticed was his height; he was tall, taller than Katze which was saying something. As they moved closer it became clear that there was what looked like a body on the ground. Riki motioned to Katze to flank the stranger as he raised his crossbow.

"Hey! You! Turn around slowly!" Riki called to the stranger.

The stranger turned and Riki instinctively took a step back, even though he was already ten feet away. The stranger's eyes were glowing with an inhuman green light, and his lips were drawn back exposing inch long fangs that gleamed in the moonlight.

Everything about him screamed predator.

Riki could feel the vampiric aura surrounding the stranger; it was the more powerful he had ever encountered before in all his years of Hunting.

Riki pulled the trigger on his crossbow, and…

The vampire caught it with what looked like no effort at all; then he laughed, a harsh sound that sent chills down Riki's spine.

"Did you think that would work," the vampire said coldly, tightening his grip on the stake till it shattered under the pressure.

There was a flash of gold and emerald and instantly the vampire was in front of Riki, who didn't even have time to think before he was thrown halfway across the graveyard. Riki crashed into a monument, his head hitting the stone with a resounding thwack,and he slumped to the ground.

The vampire started toward Riki's unconscious form when out of the shadows Katze leapt at the vampire stake at the ready.