Chapter 7

The thuds and voices that carried through the tunnel underground were enough to pique the curiosity of the three vampires that waited for Zachary's return with the security tapes that he had been in charge of retrieving. Exchanging glances, the female tilted her head and stared that the ceiling of the tunnel above her.

"What's happening up there?" she asked, sounding almost annoyed. "What's taking so long with Zach?"

"Maybe Gideon finally got too tempting," the younger male counterpart answered. "Sounds like he's puttin' up a hell of a fight."

The young woman turned towards the grate that led to the janitor's closet in the mortuary. "Maybe we should go up and help Zach."

The older male vampire turned towards her and shook his head. "If you think that Zachary needs help finishing off a meal, you're sorely mistaken," he scoffed. "Zach likes working a bit for it."

She nodded and lapsed into silence, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Another violent thud vibrated through the tunnel, forcing her to stare at the grate. "I don't know, you guys," she answered slowly. "That doesn't sound like things are going well."

The elder vampire rolled his eyes and gestured to the ladder. "Fine, Landry," he sighed. "If you're so bent on finding out what's happening, then go up there and find out."

Landry turned to the other vampires and raised her eyebrows skeptically. "Alone?" she asked, running a hand through her dark hair. "You guys are seriously going to make me go by myself?" She turned to face the younger and gestured with both of her hands. "Clark, you can't make me go alone."

"Holy shit," the older man sighed. "You are the poorest excuse for a vampire I have ever heard of. Just go. Zachary will just be annoyed."

Turning towards the ladder, Landry reached for the first rung and pulled herself up, towards the grate in the bottom of the floor. She pushed gently, trying to lift the grate without making any unnecessary sound. Finally, she managed to slide the metal to the side enough to slip through the opening and creep towards the hall where the voices and loud thumps were echoing through the tunnel below.

Clark, the younger male vampire, followed her up the ladder quietly, but when they both heard the grunt of a female's voice in the dimly lit hall, Landry glanced towards Clark and lifted her eyebrows dramatically at him. "See?" she whispered. "There's something going on."

Bending down against the hole in the floor, Clark whispered, "Eddie, get up here. There's something going on down the hall."

"What?" he whispered back, annoyed.

Clark leaned closer and repeated himself. "There's something wrong!"

Eddie reached for the ladder and pulled himself up and into the dark janitor's closet. Landry pushed open the door, just wide enough to see the movement in the back of the hall. There appeared to be a young blonde woman with a blade, fighting with Zachary, as Gideon watched from the ground, holding his leg.

"Who the hell is that?" Landry asked, pointing.

Eddie pressed his lips together, obviously angry. "A hunter," he whispered, standing to his full height. "I fucking hate hunters. Always getting in the way."

Landry, Clark, and Eddie filed out of the closet and headed towards the hall in order to help Zachary fight the unexpected hunter, their fangs descending as they strode out into the rising sun's glow. From over his broad shoulder, Eddie muttered, "Let's take care of this fast. We're losing the dawn."

They pushed their way through the door and the young woman froze, seeing the new players enter the fray. She took a deep breath and blew the loose strands of blonde hair away from her face, trying to get a grip of the situation.

"Shit," Grace Browning whispered under her breath. She hesitated long enough to consider them and tilted her head. "Where are you coming from?" she asked, exasperated.

"That won't matter in about three minutes," Eddie replied, taking a step towards Grace. "You'll be bleeding by then and we probably won't be able to stop Clark or Zach. They tend to get a little bloodthirsty when it's out there in the open."

Grace took a step back, trying to reevaluate the situation. She had no ability to contact her sister in the midst of the fight, nor could she think of an easy way out of this. "I'm sorry to disappoint them, but they're not getting a drop."

Landry seemed to lose control first; lunging towards Grace with her mouth agape, trying to get her teeth into whatever she could. Grace tossed her to the side quite easily and Landry hit the wall hard, falling to a heap on the floor.

"Next," Grace whispered, steeling herself.

Eddie and Clark approached slowly, glancing at Landry's crumpled form. "Lan?" Clark asked, still staring at Grace.

"She's knocked out," Eddie replied. "Zach, you okay?"

"Yeah," he replied, rubbing his bicep. "She's quick, watch it."

Eddie and Clark split, trying to pin Grace to the back of the hall, against one of the locked doors, but she managed to dodge between them, using Eddie's shoulders to leap-frog over him as he attacked. She dragged her blade across Clark's chest on her way up, getting hisses from both men. Tucking into a roll, she landed on her feet, facing the vamps and holding out her blade.

"Give me the tapes," Grace said quietly. "The tapes and the girls. That's all I want. Then I can be on my way and you don't have to see me ever again."

Zachary lunged at her again, scratching her arm with one of his abnormally long fingernails, but Grace tucked herself against the wall and managed to evade harm. She swiped again with the blade, forcing him to take a step back, almost tripping over Gideon in the process. Grace pushed onward, swiping with her knife, trying to cause as much damage as she could as they made their way into the main room of the mortuary.

…

"Why are locks so hard to pick when you're in a hurry?" Serra muttered to herself as she struggled with the entry door of the mortuary. "You've gotta take your time, Serra," she whispered mockingly, impersonating Grace. "Yeah, well, I don't have 'my time' right now."

Finally, she shoved her way into the dark room and tried to allow her eyes to adjust to the dim. Listening, she heard movement in the back of the building, so as quietly as she could; she jogged to the edge of the room and extended her senses.

"Grace?" she asked into the darkness. "Gracie?"

Serra's call was answered by grunts and a heavy crash. She turned and ran to the end of a corridor, where there were five people besides her sister, all clustered together and apparently fighting for their lives. Two were on the ground, one holding his leg in pain and the other passed out against the wall. Grace was holding her eight-inch blade out defensively and smiling, Serra rushed to join her.

"What'd I miss?" she asked as she jumped over Gideon and brought out one of the twin Colt forty-fives from her shoulder holsters.

Grace turned and shook her head. "I said don't discharge," she lectured as Zachary moved closer.

Serra rolled her eyes. "I'm glad to see you too."