Part 1

Something was wrong. Estelle had been gone for far too long now. Jason looked around the crowded club, but could see no sign of her. She'd *promised* she'd only be a few minutes.

He should have known. He should have been used to other guys trying to hit on Estelle, why did she have to go off with the one who looked particularly bad news?

Now she was gone. Jason stood up. The club was crowded, lights were flashing, loud music pounding. It was going to be damn close to impossible finding anyone in this dump.

Damnit, he thought. Where the hell are you, Estelle? Why did you do this to me?

He pushed his way through the crowd, ignoring the angry shouts of the people he barged into. All that mattered was finding Estelle. She wouldn't have left with another guy – would she?

He thought he knew her better than that. *She* was better than that. Yet he could see no sign of Estelle's blonde head, her sparkly gold outfit.

A fire door caught his eye. Maybe she'd gone to get some air. Jason sighed, shaking his head. Why hadn't he thought of that before? Of course. He headed over to the door and pushed it open, relieved when it didn't set off an alarm.

He found himself in the back lot of the club. The music here was fainter, the night cool and calm. "Estelle?" he called out.

He scanned the darkened lot. A small white van was parked near a raised barrier. He frowned, spying dark figures walking about. One was carrying something slung over his shoulder.

A large sack? No. It was too big, and it was moving, or trying to, at least. Sticking close to the shadows Jason tried to see what was going on.

His heart was pounding, so loud he was sure they could hear it. Whatever was going on, was obviously nothing good. The figures were all dressed from head to toe in black.

In his books, that was a pretty bad sign.

The figure carrying whatever they were carrying was opening the back of the small white van and trying to put the thing in.

"Get off me!" someone was snapping, angry and annoyed.

Estelle!

"Shut up!"

Anger gave Jason sudden strength. He lunged forward, grabbing a metal pipe lying discarded near by. He knocked the figure on the head. The figure grunted and swore loudly.

He dropped Estelle and whirled to face Jason, eyes blazing. Shit. Vampire. Night Person. Metal wouldn't do him much good. "Get her in the van!" the figure shouted.

Jason held his pipe up, ready to lash out at moment's notice. Other figures were running around now. The van's engine switched on. They were struggling with Estelle throwing her into the van.

"Jason! Do something!" she cried as the backdoors slammed shut.

Jason continued to circle the vampire. He cursed himself mentally for not being able to do anything while the others got back into the van.

Given the situation, he did the only smart thing he could think of.

He ran.

* * *