The night had fallen over the city when Alia walked down the streets. A black and red leather jacket covering weapons, shitkickers hiding knifes, belt rigged with a flat version of the UV-grenades. Scud had been busy lately. Blade was somewhere up the roofs or maybe down the sewers, hell only knew. But he was somewhere so no worries. Whatever they were facing tonight, Alia was sure she could handle what she'd run into. The only thing that worried her was what she couldn't see. Only feel.

The 3rd drink before him, Scud tried to look inconspicuous. Easier said then done, all the vampires knew him. Which was part of the plan. Sit around, wait for them to come and try something. Weapons hidden underneath his red baggy pants and the wide shirt and big jacket should make it easy. Should. Overconfidence kills. At least humans and Vampires not being named Eric. Ugggghhh. Shivering internally over using Blades real name, Scud let his eyes search around. Yup, there they were. Two in the corner to the right, five next to the big speakers. Moving away from them, the show on the stage next to the speakers distracted them.

The Vampires had gone completely nuts. Alia was sure of that when she entered the club. Or they just had discovered Anne Rice novels for themselves and tried to recreate them. But Alia was pretty sure that "Théâtre des Vampires " wasn't the best arc in the chronicles to play on a stage. A little too obvious. Shaking her head, she saw Scud on the bar, a smoke hanging halfway down between his slightly opened lips as he watched the show. Fighting the urge to just walk over and shake her dipshit-boyfriend by the collar, she moved into a dark corner. The whitish-wig and the heavy make-up should give her some cover but Vampires also went by smell. Only so much to do about that.

Blade watched the whole mess from behind the stage. He'd been thinking about standing back this time. Wanting to see how good Scud and Alia could handle things and only intervening if it goes to shit. Yeah. No. Fuck that. This was a new stage of craziness and clearly a trap. They did that to lure him out. Or didn't they? Maybe Dementia had now really settled into the weak lines for recent vampires. In that account, he had to agree with Drake. The race became weaker and weaker that in fact it had been fun for Blade fighting an enemy as strong as the first of Vampires himself. And given his, in comparison, alien nature, it was hard to guess what his next step was. But now, for the problem at hand, he had to come with something now. He didn't want to endanger his friends. In fact, he'd been playing with the thought of sending them away. But Alia had made it pretty clear that they wouldn't go anywhere anymore. Their death-warrants had been sealed in blood already and literally. They were safest with him. Watching the Vampires drinking from each other on the stage, watched by humans and members of the breed made Blade chuckle. Safe. Right.#

Unbelievable! They actually drunk from each other on the stage. The humans around thought is was an awesome and bloody trick but Scud knew better. His scars itched and hurt watching this. Holy hell. Ash from his cigarette fell on his pants and he brushed it off. When he looked back up, they were there. Four of them circling him. Show time. "Hey guys. Y'all havin' a good time?" Cocking an eyebrow along with the question, he continued smoking like he didn't care. Good Suckheads would sense his heartbeat altering and his sweat glands working harder. They seemed to be good. Well, good in whichever way you wanna look at hit. One of them very visibly smelled the air. "The Daywalker's pet. Little to convenient for you to be here, don't cha think?" "Ima nobodies pet" Scud scowled at him but the dude just took that as an instigation and came closer until their noses almost touched. Now his fangs were very clearly visible. Captain Obvious infront of him tried to aggravate him, that was for sure. With that many humans around, it would cause a big riot if Blade now popped a few of them and they knew it. Blade was still a fugitive of the authorities of the United States. So what to do? As always, his woman was one step ahead.

End of the line
You sold your soul
For a better life
You're better off dead*

The fire alarm blared and Alia just saw Scud jumping off his bar chair, throwing something into the air while she ran towards his attackers. One of them, the big black dude closest to him, threw him down but she saw the tip of the long knife Scud had hidden in is sleeves sticking out of the back of the Vampire. No worries. The ten second delay gave her enough time to make her way through the masses to them. Her two khurki-daggers at ready, guns in both hands, she tried to steady her fists during her run and fired. Both bullets hit their targets and the two went to ashes. The third Vampire turned towards her and Alia realized the ten seconds were over but the grenade didn't go off. Dud. Shit. With a snarl, the guy came at her.

Smelling the ash of the Vampire above him, the hilt of the blade feeling hot in his hand, Scud realized his smoke dropping from his lips after all when he saw the vampire still standing charging at Alia and his bomb not going off. Shit! Scrambling to get up, he drew his own gun. But by the time he had leveled it, he realized it was futile. Ducking, not stopping her own run but dropping her guns since he was to close anyway, she and the vampire crashed together. Her fist connected with his stomach, which caused him to howl. He kept moving with his incredible speed but Alia had trained with Blade a lot. Also, they had their weaknesses in what made them strong. They were essentially animals and that was something to count on. Twirling around, her left hand now held her kuhkri-dagger. The suckhead turned as well and went straight for her neck with his mouth wide open. The curved blade went straight into the soft flesh of his belly and curled up into his heart from underneath the ribcage. Poof!

Showtime. The second Blade showed himself on the stage, they were all onto him. He was the bigger threat. Four out and a dud. So far so good. The Daywalker made short work of the rest with his Katana. Easy job for tonight. But that was what it had supposed to be. The humans around screamed and ran out. Unharmed but scared to death and with a story to be told. Nice. Looking around, he saw Alia picking her guns up and Scud brushing ash of himself. "Gotta go" Blade rumbled and led the way to the backdoor. But before he reached it, he already heard the sirens. Shit. Either the fire alarm had made them come so fast or they Vamps had called the cops before all of that. He had been aware of the trap, of course but he never chickened out. Neither did his friends. Now they had to find a way out. "Gimme your weapons".

*Arch Enemy -end of the line