It had been several hours at least since Moira had left him there, the torches so close that he felt their heart burning him through his black fur. Vampires had a natural fear of fire, as their dead bodies burned so much easier than a living one. Gren's fur was thickly matted with bloody sweat, both from the heat, and from his own fear of the flames. He didn't even open his eyes at the sound of the door opening.

Moira walked in, carrying a single fluorescent camping lamp, which was much brighter than the oil lamps. She placed it on the table as Chigger went to extinguish and remove the torches. He then shifted to his lupus form and walked out of the room. Smiling coldly, Moira walked forward to stand a few feet in front of the chained vampire.

"Had enough?"

He glared at her, then licked his dry lips before speaking.

"Enough of you? Yeah. If you're trying ta scare me into serving ya with that fire, all you're doing is breaking my fear of it."

"Oh I doubt that. It takes quite a while to get rid of the fear. Quite a while. But, I'm sure you must be getting thirsty by now? Yes?"

His cold glare was all the answer she needed

"Heheh. That's what I thought."

She motioned to the door at Chigger, who came back in and walked over, still in his lupus form, carrying a small cage. Inside the cage was a rat. The lupine set it down at Grendel's feet then backed up, his tongue lolling out in a canine smile. Gren's words earlier about feeding on rats came back to haunt him as he looked down at the cage. Moira smiled darkly, then backed away a few yards as Chigger shifted up to his crinos form. Walking over to the far end of the wall, the Dancer began to turn a wheel that was hidden from Gren's sight in the shadows. The chains began to release from the wall, allowing the vampire to move somewhat.

The black tabby grunted and slowly started to kneel down as far as the chains would let him, as he reached out for the caged rat. The chains were loosened enough to give him plenty of room to reach the cage, but not much more than that. Moira also stood just out of reach, knowing exactly how long the chains were.

The male vampire hungrily pulled the cage to him and opened it, sticking a hand in and pulling out the rodent. The rat squealed and tried to get away, biting at the vampire's hand, although Gren barely even felt it. He hated the way that he must have looked: down on his knees, beat up and tortured, and forced to drink the blood of a lowly rat.

Moira and Chigger both laughed. The rat provided very little blood, and it was quite thin compared to the blood of a kat. Grendel growled, dropping the rat after draining it dry, wishing he could stuff it's shriveled up corpse down their throats. Moira smiled at his hateful expression.

"Oh? I'm sorry. Not enough?"

He growled at them and their taunting. Forget choking them with the rat, he wanted to drain them both dry himself! He glared viciously at the pair, as the she-vamp moved a bit closer again, though still just out of reach.

"Heh. Well, if you want more, you know you need only ask."

She drew a claw over her wrist, bringing a thin line of her own dark blood. The large male grunted, standing back up slowly. He knew he had to try and resist the temptation as long as he could.

"What's the catch?"

"Catch? Who said anything about a catch?"

She spoke in her most innocent-sounding voice.

"I'm not stupid, Moira. If I drink your vitae, I'll only be giving m'self over ta you"

"And that's a problem?"

"You'll have ta do much worse than that before I willingly take a single drop of that!"

He tried to hold back the tremble. He knew he'd need to feed on something more soon, or he'd frenzy. And then, he wouldn't have any control over who or what he feed off of. Moira shrugged, then licked the wound closed slowly.

"Suit yourself. Chigger?"

The werewolf turned the wheel, tightening the chains again. Grendel was pulled back against the wall, all the way to his wrists. He snarled at them, swearing to himself that if he ever survived this, he would kill them both. Moira's expression then changed. Her fangs lengthened and her eyes glowed green as she called upon the Discipline to create fear in those who gazed upon her. Her cold bestial eyes narrowed, she began to walk toward him.

Gren shivered at the sight, not even being able to look away as she came closer. She had recently fed, and was currently stronger than him. With amazing speed, she reached out a clawed hand and grabbed a hold of his throat. Moving forward quickly, she dug in her fangs, tearing his neck open to drain most of his remaining vitae. Gren opened his mouth in a silent scream and new waves of pain hit him as much of the remainder of his dark blood flowed from the wound.

Pulling away again, Moira licked the blood from her lips and chin. She had left him with only enough vitae that he must either burn it to heal now, and risk frenzy, or suffer though the wound until she brought something more for him to feed on. Grendel didn't really have much choice. He had never felt this weak before. Not since he was first Embraced. Reluctantly, he used up the last of his precious vitae to heal his neck.

The silver-furred she-vamp laughed. Very soon, he would frenzy, and feed on whatever was close enough for him to reach. But not yet. She wasn't quite ready. Motioning quickly to Chigger, the werewolf picked up a object from against the wall and threw it to her. She caught the stake and moved forward fast, impaling his heart with it. Gren went limp immediately, not uttering a single sound as he slipped back into torpor.

.

Felina sat at her desk, going over the files on her computer. She had been going through the lists of 'missing persons' reports from the past year for the area in the northern part of the city where the vampires were most numerous. Though she searched, she couldn't find very much of a pattern at all. In fact, it all seemed to be very random. But then, she remembered that Akin had said that the vampires tend to chose those that no-body would miss. Those who were less likely to be reported missing, and therefor wouldn't have any reports ever filed.

"Sure makes it a lot easier for them to hide their numbers..."

Her shift had actually ended almost an hour ago, but she had decided to wait around for a bit longer. There was another Enforcer who's shift was about to start, and she wanted to talk to him before hand. Felina continued to search through the reports until a little after seven. Glancing at the clock, she glared at the fact that the Officer still hadn't reported to her.

Felina shut off her computer, then stood up and retrieved her gun and badge from the drawer in her desk, preparing to leave. The Lieutenant then headed off toward the locker rooms. On the way there, she passed by a kat she recognized as one of the Sergeants of the ground patrol unit.

"Sergeant!"

The kat seemed a bit taken by surprise, and gave her a quick salute before answering.

"Uh, yes ma'am?"

"Has Officer Brencat left for patrol yet? He was supposed to report to me first."

"No ma'am. He hasn't checked in yet today."

"Hasn't checked in? When was his shift supposed to start?

"His shift was supposed to start at seven, but he usually gets here at least a half hour early. But no-one's seen him today, and he hasn't called in."

"Has anyone tried contacting him?"

"Yes ma'am. But no-one can seem to reach him on his home or cell phone."

Felina really didn't like the sound of this.

"Alright. Have an Officer stop by his apartment. And notify me as soon as anyone hears from him. I don't care what time it is."

"Yes, Lieutenant."

The Sergeant saluted her again, then continued on his way as Felina headed for the elevator. Once the doors to the elevator opened, she stepped inside and hit the button for sub-level 2. The doors closed again and the elevator continued down, her being the only one inside.

'This isn't good. First Moira's closest friends form colledge go missing or end up dead over the past few months, as well as anyone else who could tell us much about her... Then Vairen's cell-mate ends up dead, as well as a few other inmates who knew anything about him... And now Grendel's former partner has gone missing? And to make matters worse, Grendel shows up at Nak's club, knowing exactly who and what she is, and where to find her, trying to convince us to work with the she-vamp that's supposedly Angelida's heir... This can't possibly be a coincidence. Something else is going on. But what...?'

When the elevator doors opened at the second level of the underground parking garage, Felina stepped out and walked over toward her motorcycle. She got on and kicked up the stand, about to turn on the ignition with the fur on the back of her neck stood on end. She jerked her head up sharply and looked around, but everything was quiet and she didn't see anyone, or anything out of the ordinary. Still, she had that feeling again. That someone, or something, was watching her.

After a moment, with no trace of anyone else around, she turned on the ignition and the motorcycle roared to life. As she quickly peeled out of the parking garage below the massive building, she considered going to check Brencat's apartment on her own, but decided that she should go tell the others what she learned first. Though she wondered wether or not she should mention that feeling again, no longer sure if it was just the whole vampire thing getting to her, or if she really was being watched...