Disclaimer: All characters from the TV series obviously belong to Toby Whithouse and the BBC

Author's note:Reviews and comments are very welcome and always appreciated!

As Johnny turned around the corner to the house he brushed his hands down his jacket to wipe away any tell-tale ash that might have settled there. Next he straightened out his powdered wig using one of his neighbour's windows as a mirror. He noticed a spec of blood at the corner of his mouth and dabbed it away with a silk handkerchief. Back to normal. Finally he carefully placed his stake into the leaves of the bush, taking care that it didn't stick out and alert his friends to its presence. Satisfied that his transformation from vampire slayer to respectable lawyer complete, he took his key from his pocket and turned it in the lock.

He stepped carefully over the threshold, holding his breath as he gently pushed the door shut. He didn't want to wake Sarah or Emilia. He needn't have worried. Emilia sat at the desk in the hallway and Sarah was sitting at the foot of the stairs, arms wrapped around her knees and eyes wet with tears. They had clearly waited up for him.

The vampire stood up to greet him. 'I just came from having a very interesting conversation. A werewolf has been going round assassinating vampires. Isn't that interesting?' She looked at him pointedly. 'I don't suppose that you would happen to know anything about it would you?'

'Perhaps this is better discussed in the morning.' He suggested in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

Emilia ignored him. 'So were ever you planning on telling us about your spree of murders or were you just hoping that we wouldn't find out?'

'I was. I was just waiting for the right time.'

'And what would be the right time? When they're hammering at our front door?'

He glanced over at Sarah who was sitting silently observing them both. He was used to angering Emilia, he seemed to be managing to do it on a daily basis recently. But he could tell from the way that Sarah was refusing to meet his eyes when he looked at her that she too was furious with him. 'It won't come to that.'

'It will. Finding you has become their top priority, they won't stop until they succeed. In case you haven't noticed, vampires don't tend to appreciate people challenging their authority.'

At least they were finally seeing him as a threat. 'There's no way they can trace it back to me.'

'For now, maybe. But when Hal returns do you not think that you, the only werewolf to come out of his captivity in one piece recently, might be his prime suspect? And it wouldn't exactly be difficult for him to trace you to this house. For god's sake Johnny this address is on your firm's records! It would take him less than a day to find this house once he suspected it was you, and then he'd realise I'm involved…'

'Then we need to find somewhere else.' Sarah turned to Emilia. 'You must have more places like this this.' She added hopefully.

'Not that Hal doesn't know about.'

'Then what do we do?'

'Lie low,' Emilia's eyes met his. 'Try not to do anything stupid until I find us somewhere else to stay. The full moon's only two days away. The vampires who aren't at the Dog Fight will be out looking for any werewolves in London's parks. We should try and find some cellars for you both to transform in. Keep you both out of harm's way.'

'They're holding another Dog Fight?'

'They want to show the werewolves where the power lies. I can't think why, can you?' Asked Emilia, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 'You see, what you're doing, it's not just yourself who you're putting at risk. Other innocent people will die because of it.'

'What if we could stop it all?'

'What are you suggesting?' Sarah asked cautiously.

'Emilia, you know where they hold the Dog Fights right?'

'I'm not sure if I like where you're going with this.'

'What kind of building is it?'

'An old warehouse in the docks. Where are you going with this?'

He was amazed the thought hadn't occurred to him earlier. It was perfect really. 'I have a client.' He began. 'He imports black powder for use in the mining industry. I've known him since school, and I recently helped him avoid a huge duty charge on one of his imports. I think it would be safe to say that he owes me…'

'Black powder? Isn't that an explosive?' Sarah asked.

'You want to blow up the Dog Fight? That's actually ridiculous. For one, in case it escaped your attention, that's the night that you transform into a bloody wolf! And before you even suggest it, no. I won't do it for you. Pre-meditated murder is not the answer.'

'That's a bit rich coming from you don't you think?' he snarled at Emilia

'And what is that supposed to mean?'

'You've been a vampire for more than a decade. You're not really in a position to lecture anyone else about premeditated murder. Especially given your close relationship with that monster. Don't you try to play the innocent here Emilia.'

Sarah stood up, 'This is going nowhere.' She said tiredly. 'Perhaps we should just call it a night before someone says something they regret.' Her eyes flicked between the pair of them. 'If we keep fighting amongst ourselves we don't stand a chance.'

Johnny watched her as she retreated up the stairs.

'Can you really not just let this go? Haven't you done enough?' Emilia pleaded once Sarah was out of sight.

He scrunched up his face in disgust. 'How can you even say that? After everything he did to me? You think I can just walk away from that?'

'What about what he did to me? I would have loved to have suffered for a short a time as your brother did. Harry barely even cared that he existed. He never paid him attention, just left him in that cellar to rot between his fights. I had his full attention Johnny. Do you know what that means? You think you're the only one here who's suffered?'

'Emilia, please…'

'No.' she slammed her hand down hard on the cabinet. 'You need to listen to me. You think you're tough, that you're some big brave warrior. You're just a boy who's hurting. And he will use that pain against you. If he wins, if he kills you, you won't have died in some glorious battle. You'll just be another dead werewolf.'

He dropped his head down, gazing at the floor as he let her words wash over him. He looked back up at her. 'And if I win, if I kill him, then I can live my life. And you...' He grasped hold of her hands. 'You'll be free from him.'

'I don't need you to save me Johnny. Please don't insult my intelligence by pretending this is about anyone but yourself.' She tried to pull her hands free from his but he held onto them tightly. 'Let me go, Johnny.' He didn't loosen his grip. 'I said. Let. Me. Go.'

He ignored her and pushed her back against the bannister. 'You don't get to tell me what to do.'

'Look at what you're becoming Johnny. You're violent, controlling and I think you're actually starting to enjoy all of this. You say you hate Hal, but you're on your way to becoming the spitting image of him.' She kneed him hard in the groin making him fold forwards and release her hands. She slapped him around the cheek. 'Is this really the man you want to be?'

Finally her words struck a chord in him and it suddenly dawned on him what he had just done. 'I'm so sorry' he murmured. 'Emilia I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me.' And with that he hurried out of the door and back into the night.

He was a little surprised when she approached him again at dinner the next evening. He eyed her mistrustfully as he helped himself to a glass of freshly poured blood. She pushed her way through the gathered vampires and come to stand beside him.

'I thought I should offer an apology for my recent inquisitions regarding your past.'

Hal raised a skeptical brow. 'Go on.'

'I may have been overzealous in my interest.'

She didn't sound like she was used to apologising. Her eyes kept darting between his face and the floor and her words were stiff and well-practised. This whole conversation was clearly making her rather uncomfortable and Hal was enjoying every second.

'Perhaps allowing me the knowledge of your name would be a good starting point for our renewed friendship.'

'I had rather expected you to enquire about me elsewhere Hal. It would not have been difficult for you to learn my name in that manner.'

'You have me in rather a compromising position my Lady, even in light of your apology. It would be disturbingly simple for you to raise some questions which would be very difficult for me to answer. As such, I thought it unwise to displease you.'

She nodded in approval. 'You're a sensible boy aren't you? And here I was thinking that your mind was guided only by a certain appendage.' She flicked hear eyes down to his groin. 'Ana' she dipped into a curtsey. My name is Ana.'

Hal bowed in response. 'Well Ana, it is a pleasure to be finally granted a proper introduction.'

'Snow has asked me to deal with an innkeeper who fell back on an agreement Snow had made with him to supply us with travellers on occasion. I don't suppose you would care to join me? A lady alone on the road at night could attract unwelcome attention.'

That wasn't her real reason for asking, he was sure of it. But his curiosity got the better of him, as often was the case, and he found himself agreeing to accompany her. In spite of finally learning her name, Ana remained an enigma to him. One that he was finding himself very keen to solve.

The inn was less than an hour's ride on horseback and they were greeted by the innkeeper who instantly recognised Hal and Ana for what they were and sheltered in what he clearly hoped was a safe place behind the bar brandishing a large crucifix and spouting poisonous biblical verse. Although the word of God no longer caused Hal unbearable agony, it still stung a little. He unsheathed his knife and threw it hard at the innkeeper. The knife caught the man right in the throat rendering any speech impossible.

'Impressive aim.' He heard Ana compliment from across the room as she bolted the door shut behind her.

To Hal's disappointment there were very few guests at the inn that day. Just a few passing mercenaries by the look of them. A pity, he had been so looking forward to a good old fashioned massacre. But no matter, this would have to do.

The men fought back admirably, but ultimately their efforts were futile and Hal had laid waste to four of them in less than ten minutes. Deciding that he'd had his fill for now, he settled back against the door and admired Ana's work. She was obviously an experienced fighter and was dodging and deflecting every blow with ease. She had already killed one of the men and was currently fighting off the remaining two. Hal contemplated diving in to help her, it would be the gentlemanly thing to do after all. But she seemed to be handling herself well and besides, he was enjoying watching her far more than was probably appropriate. Finally she managed to gain the upper hand and wrestled one the men's daggers away from him, twisting it back on him and thrusting it into his chest. She pulled the dagger free and spun around to face the last man standing. She pushed it down hard into his upper thigh and he toppled to the floor. Hal watched as she knelt down beside him and trailed her fingers through the blood gushing from her victim's wounded leg. In one move she had straddled the man and dug her teeth into his jugular. The pair would have looked rather intimate were it not for all the broken flesh and blood

'Alright boys. Who's getting the first round in then?'

Neither of the vampires had heard the footsteps coming down the stairs. They had been too absorbed in the carnage. Now he had their attention. And judging by the horrified look on the man's face, they had his too.

His face fell as he registered the blood spattered across Ana and Hal's clothing. 'What the fuck?' he managed to choke out.

'Well, well well…' Hal began to advance on him. 'You've just missed our little party.' He grinned at the man who was standing slack jawed, terror rooting him to the spot. His eyes shifted between the two vampires and the broken bodies of his friends littering the floor. In his shock appeared to have completely forgotten about the sizeable sword sheathed by his side.

Hal leapt forwards at the man who finally seemed to regain control of his body and swiftly unsheathed the weapon, swinging at Hal who barely manage to dodge out of the blade's way before it struck him.

Hal went to grab his own knife from its sheath then remembered that he'd left it embedded in the innkeeper's neck. Shit. The man took another swing at him, Hal had to admire his spirit. He was putting up quite a good fight for someone who had just been confronted with a room full of his friend's corpses. He ducked out of the way of another blow that came worryingly close to striking his neck. He scanned the bar for a suitable weapon. He gestured to Ana to throw him her dagger but she made no move to help him, he assumed that she was exacting her revenge on him for not helping her out in the previous fight. Bloody woman. His eyes finally settled on poker by the fireplace which he grabbed and began to swing at his opponent in earnest. He finally managed to strike a blow and smelled the sweet tang of the man's blood.

He blinked and manifested, baring his fangs at the man as he hissed. His opponent backed away as he realised that the man he had been fighting wasn't human. He kept swinging his blade at Hal, but the terror had clouded his mind making his movements sloppy. Hal had the upper hand now and wanted to bring the fight to a swift conclusion. He cornered the man, jabbing the poker forwards towards him, forcing him against the wall. The poker's tip hit soft flesh and he lunged forwards pushing his weapon into the man's abdomen. He let go of the poker letting the man slump to his knees. To his surprise, the man somehow found a last burst of strength and jabbed his sword savagely into Hal's thigh.

The man actually had the cheek to chuckle as Hal's leg buckled under him. 'Got you, you bastard.'

Honestly Hal was rather impressed, if not slightly irritated. 'I think you could be of use to me.' He informed the dying man. 'I could make you like me.'

'Yeah?' The man gave a painful sounding cough which stained his lips red with flecks of blood . 'And what's that that then?'

'A vampire.' He grinned as he saw the man's disbelieving expression. 'You'll have eternal life, money and any woman you desire will be yours for the taking.'

Despite his stricken state, the man managed a laugh. 'You can offer me all that? What are you, the bloody saviour?'

'I've been called a lot of things, but never that.' Hal lifted his wrist to his lips and pierced it with his fangs then held it to the other man's lips. 'You need to drink.' He explained.

After a brief struggle the man complied and accepted the gift. Once he had had enough, Hal withdrew his wrist and took hold of the man's sword which had fallen to the floor. He thrust it into the man's belly beside where the poker was still embedded and pushed it upwards, twisting it as it went, causing the man to howl in agony before falling silent as the what remained of his mortal life shuffled off elsewhere.

'That was for stabbing me.' Hal explained to the body as he climbed back to his feet, being careful not to put too much weight on his wounded leg.

'Why him? 'Were you feeling nostalgic? Ana asked from over his shoulder. 'You were a mercenary too were you not?'

'I just happen to believe that mercenaries make very good vampires. You saw that fight, he clearly had potential. Must you insist on making everything I do into a statement about my past?'

'But Hal,' she rested her hand on his shoulder, 'you make it so very easy.'

'What was your human life like then?' Hal attempted to move the conversation away from himself. 'It seems only fair that you share something about yourself with me.'

'I'm afraid there's not an awful lot I can tell you about my human life; I've told so many different versions of it that I must confess I forget what the truth really is. I had children, of that I'm certain. So I suppose there must have been a husband too. It's all so very vague now. I can't picture their faces.'

He nodded but didn't believe her. Even if the duration of your human life paled in comparison to that of your life as a vampire, it still left its mark. There were some things that you just couldn't forget.

'And what about you Hal?' she smiled.

'I'm sure there's very little that you don't already know my Lady. I was born in a brothel to one of the whores there, though I never knew which one. Once they were all dead I ran away to sea to become a mercenary and eventually ended in up a forest with a lance in my belly.' He shrugged his shoulders. 'It's hardly an unusual story.'

He didn't like to credit his short human life credit for his current position. Granted, if he hadn't led such a wretched existence, he didn't know that he would have parted with his soul so willingly. But that was as far is it went. The truth was, that when he thought back to his memories of a human life it was like watching a play through a thick wall of fog. He could make out the general storyline, but the details were lost. When he had stopped drinking, the details had become clearer; he felt the losses and disappointments of that human boy more keenly. But not now. Now he saw little point in reflecting beyond revelling in how far he'd come since then.

Ana walked over to where Hal's new recruit was propped up dead against the wall. 'If you want to be an Old One, you really should be more discerning of who you recruit. They don't recruit lightly. It's tradition.'

'I've never really had any interest in upholding traditions, in case you hadn't already noticed.'

'All the same, you can tell a lot about someone by their recruits. You'd do well to keep a close eye on yours, keep them out of mischief. Especially if you're going to go around recruiting any old ruffian you find on the road.' She gave the body a gentle kick. 'It'll be a while before he wakes I expect, and I don't particularly want to have to carry a dead weight home with us.' Ana gave Hal the most genuine smile he'd seen from her yet, 'It would seem we have a little time to kill.'

Hal thought he could see where she was going with this, after all blood was a powerful aphrodisiac. It seemed a little too good to be true though and he thought that perhaps the blood was just making him overly optimistic. 'And how exactly do you suggest we entertain ourselves?'

She placed a hand on his chest and playfully trailed it down to the fastening on his breeches. 'I'm sure we can think of something.'

His cheek was still stinging from the slap. She was bloody strong for someone so small. One of the perks of being a vampire, he supposed.

Emilia was right, he knew that. He found the violence intoxicating. Plunging a stake into a vampire's heart made him feel more powerful than he had ever thought possible. There, he'd admitted it. He could tell himself that all he wanted was justice for his brother, that this was a noble fight. But that would be a lie. It was vengeance he wanted. Bloody, brutal vengeance. He would never win this fight by being a good man. That had become painfully clear. If he'd learnt anything from his dealings with vampires it was that they crushed good people like insects under foot.

He hadn't known where he was going when he left the house, he'd just let his feet carry him. He'd formed the plan as he stood watching some street children keeping themselves warm around a fire. He'd given them a few coins and his coat in return for them allowing him to take away a lit torch. Thankfully the cold night meant that the streets were virtually empty of anyone who might question what he was doing carrying around an open flame. If his estimation was correct, he was only about five minutes' walk from the vampires' base of operations in London. Even though Hal was in France. He could still do them a great deal of harm. Maybe even delay the imminent dog fight.

He hid around the corner a few metres away from the entrance trying to keep his torch out of sight. The front door was guarded but wide open. The current leader obviously wasn't as fastidious about his security arrangements as Hal had been. He squinted at the guards, trying to distinguish their faces in the darkness. They didn't look familiar. Hopefully that meant they were relatively young and would make for easy prey. He stalked up to the doorway and swiped at the guards with his torch, they hadn't been paying attention to their watch and within moments they were both alight.

There was music and laughter coming from upstairs, it sounded like a party was going on. Perfect. The celebrations upstairs drowned out the guards' screams. He hung back for a moment, waiting to see if anyone would come to see what the commotion was. When he was certain that he wouldn't be disturbed he made his way systematically through the ground floor rooms setting light to all the soft furnishings, he couldn't help but smile as the fire began to tear through the ornate rooms. Once he was satisfied with the fire's ferocity he made his way quickly out into the street, knocking over gaslights and candles as he hurried through the halls.

He made it out into the street just as the heat from the flames was becoming unbearable. He stood and watched for a while, listened as the laughter from the party turned into shrieks.

Ana hadn't disappointed. She had been right that night they first met, she wasn't like any other woman he'd been with. They had come to a rest besides the fire in a sweaty tangle of limbs and she was currently laying a trail of kisses down his neck giving him a little nip when she came to the vein. Hal glanced over at his new recruit. He was still out cold, but he was rather happy to let him take his time to wake up, he'd rather not be interrupted right now.

'I don't see why you're so reluctant to tell me about your little dog. We both know that I could do a great deal of damage to your reputation, even with only the snippets you've already told me. I don't see the harm in telling me everything, satisfy my curiosity.'

He huffed in exasperation. 'This again? So basically you're saying that because I've already handed you enough rope to hang me with, I might as well give you even more?'

'A drop is a drop Hal. It hardly matters how long the length of rope is if you're going to die at the end of it anyway. You've got nothing to lose by telling me the whole story.' She rolled away from him onto her back, pulling him on top of her.

'I think your logic is a little flawed there.' He planted a kiss on her forehead. 'If the werewolf were a part of my distant past it would damage my reputation far less than were she a recent folly.' He realised his error as soon as he had spoken. Ana's lips widened into an unpleasant smile.

'Nothing like a bit blood to loosen the tongue is there Hal? So she is recent then? I suspected as much, but thank you for the confirmation. Tell me, does she still live?'

'I have no idea.' At least that was the truth, 'When I left London she was still alive, but she's a female werewolf alone in the city, it hardly sounds like a story that has a happy ending does it?' He didn't think it would be wise to admit that he had left Sarah with resources to build herself a new life.

'Ah.' Said Ana triumphantly. 'So would I be correct to surmise that you spent your mysterious missing decade playing happy families with a werewolf?' She took his silence as confirmation. 'Oh Hal, you do like to live dangerously don't you?'