I do not own Deacon Frost, Abigail Whistler, Hannibal King, Zoe Sommerfield, Dex, Hedges, or Blade! I do own David Barnes and Hugh King!

I also do not own The Emerald City of Oz.

Zoe leaned by the door to the lab. Blade and she had gotten the girls home safe, and now they were back at the base, but stupid Hannibal said they needed to talk to Blade about this "In private." Zoe leaned closer to the door, her ear pressed to it.

"Why would they be attacking a school?" Zoe heard Abby ask.

"The Vampires are recruiting," Blade responded. "Newer. Younger. More agile."

"The cheerleaders," Abby realized aloud.

"They could be picking kids off the streets right now," Hannibal said.

"They are," Blade said.

Zoe heard Hannibal hit his head against the table. "This is so fucked up."

"There's that and the fact the last thing we need is more vampires," Abby said. "What about Hugh? And Zoe? Hannibal, you can't tell me you're not worried!"

"Of course I am," he replied.

"Yeah, well, so am I," Blade said. "You need to see these shits. Some of them have evolved, faster and stronger and three times as deadly. They also need more blood, and it's got to be fresh."

"Do we know where the base it?" Abby asked.

"No idea. It's a work in progress. Don't worry, Whistler. I don't think they've found this place yet . . ."

"Zoe? What are you doing on the floor?"

Zoe sat up quickly. "Hugh," she breathed, looking into the deep green eyes of Abby and Hannibal's little boy. The little toe-headed boy looked up at her, toting his teddy bear behind him. He was rubbing his eyes, a sleepy look in them, and his hair was a tousled mess.

"I was just looking for my earring," She said, lifting him onto her hip. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"I was having bad dreams," The four year old said, yawning and laying his head on Zoe's shoulder. She carried him to his bedroom, setting him on his new "Big-boy Bed."

"Will you lay down with me?" Hugh asked. "Mommy's with Mr. Blade and Daddy . . ."

Zoe crawled into bed next to him, and he snuggled up to her. "Zoe?"

"Yes, Hugh?"

"Where did Mr. Blade come from?"

"I'm not sure," she replied after a moment.

"Is he nice?"

"I think so."

Hugh nodded, as though reassured. "Good," he yawned. "I don't like bullies."

Zoe frowned, remembering that he had some trouble with other kids teasing him in his pre-school class. "Me either."

"Vampires are bullies, Zoe, aren't they?"

Zoe pulled away, looking Grant in his eyes. "What makes you say that?"

"I heard Mommy and Daddy talking about Vampires," He yawned again. "They sounded mean."

"They are."

"Zoe?"

"Yeah?"

"What's a Vampire?"


Zoe had school off the next few days so the school could fix the damage done by "Vandals" and investigate the murder of Mr. Ralley. Hannibal had been sulking, and Abby was constantly keeping her eyes on Hugh. Zoe didn't see much of Blade, but then again, she didn't expect to. He was Blade. A loner.

Zoe borrowed the car from Hannibal around three one day, claiming to go out and get some groceries for them. She offered to pick up Blades serum, because she was secretly dying to find out where it came from now that her mother was dead, but he just grunted and shook his head. Zoe shrugged and left the house. She drove around for a bit, just for the sake of keeping busy, before stopping and parking near the docks. There was a vamp club about two blocks down, and she was in the mood to stake something. As she walked towards the entrance when the sun finally sank, her eye caught the vampire mark on the wall. She made herself comfortable next to the entrance, pulling the fake fangs from her pocket and putting them over her canines. They had been specially designed to look exactly like vampires, and they were great for disguise. Four vampires were coming her way, but before she got the chance to even touch her stake, someone grabbed her arm and whipped her around into the dark alley way. "Let go!" She snarled, then stopped when a wooden stake was positioned right under her throat. She brought her foot down on her attacker and slid out of the way just before the stake could hit her heart.

"Come on," a males voice from the shadows said. "Let's dance, suckhead." He lunged at her, and she ducked behind him before grabbing the fire escape ladder above her and using it to swing her feet into his back. He landed face down on the concrete before rolling over, spitting blood out of his mouth. With a yell, Zoe flung herself from the latter to jump on him, but he rolled out of the way. She stayed balanced on her feet before darting after him as he climbed up the escape latter. He kept going until they reached the roof, where Zoe flipped herself off the latter and barreled into him. He rolled over on top of her, the moon outlining his face, and he grabbed his stake.

"Any last words, blood sucker?"

"Yeah," Zoe said, and she rolled him off of her. "I'm not a vampire!"

"Bullshit," he said, backing away once they were both on their feet.

Zoe pulled the fake teeth off and threw them on the ground. The guy took a step back. "Oh . . ." He looked up at her. "Who . . .?"

"I'm a Nightstalker, idiot!" She snapped, crossing her arms. "God!"

"A Nightstalker? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No," she said dryly. "Who are you?"

"Um, David. David Barnes. I just go by Barnes. What's your name?"

"Zoe."

"Just Zoe?"

"Sommerfield."

"Right. Um." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about attacking you. Thought you were a vampire. . ."

"You don't say?" She remarked. They were silent, and finally Zoe pointed at the stake in his hand. "Silver works better, you know."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, it's kinda hard to afford silver these days." He rubbed his arm. "So, anyways, sorry. Next time I'll take a better look."

"Blade's in town," Zoe said suddenly.

Barnes looked surprised. "Blade? Back here? I thought he was in Africa investigating?"

"So you know you're stuff." Barnes looked embarrassed, realizing he was being tested.

"I've been hunting for three years now," he said. "Since I was fifteen. They killed my parents."

"They murdered my mother, too."

They looked at each a moment before Zoe pulled another silver stake from her bag. "Here, keep this. It's better than wood." She held it out.

He took it cautiously, then nodded. "Thank you."

Zoe nodded and turned. "Well, see you."

"Can I see you again?"

Zoe looked over her shoulder. "Why?"

"I-I thought maybe we could hunt together? Sometime?"

She blinked, then shrugged. "Okay. This Saturday at Central Park."

"See you then."

Zoe paused, gave a nod, then climbed down the latter.


"Where the hell have you been?" King crossed his arms when Zoe walked in the door.

"Out," she said, throwing her bag on the table.

"Out where?"

"Just out, okay?"

"Fine. Did you at least stake anything?"

"Not tonight."

King shrugged. "You scared the shit out of Abby. When she saw you pull in she was so pissed, she sent Hugh to bed and then went to practice on the shooting range.

Crap. "Well, I'm home now," Zoe said. "What's the problem?"

"Is it a boy? Do we need to have a talk?"

"Yes. I would love the sex talk."

"The dick goes in the vagina. There, sex talk."

Zoe snorted and kissed Kings cheek. "Thanks for looking out for me," she said earnestly. "But I'll be ok."

"I know," he said. "I just get the hell scared out of me when I think of something happening to you."

"Then don't," she smiled sweetly, and headed up to bed. She met Blade at the top of the staircase, and he looked at her.

"Which club were you at?"

"I – Equilibrium on Fourth." No use lying, he'd know.

"You want to stay away from there," he warned. "That's one of Frosts old places."

"Frost is dead," she said flatly.

"Some of his methods aren't. Just watch yourself, kid. We can't have you fucking up the operation."

"Why can't you just be nice?"

"The world isn't nice."

Zoe grinned ruefully. She constantly asked this, and she always wound up with the same answer.

Zoe went to her room, dressed for bed, and got under her covers. She thought of Dex and Hedges and her mother. She reached under her bed, pulling out an old, braille copy of The Emerald City of Oz.

Her mother had been reading it to her the night she died. Abby had finished reading it to her eventually, but Zoe's heart squeezed with grief whenever she saw the book. She could remember the smell of her mother's perfume, and the way she ran her fingers over the braille, not missing a beat. Zoe ran her hand over the cover lovingly, before stashing back under the bed and flipping off the light.