"I found this." Aneisha said, dumping a bag on the table. Dan looked up and pulled the bag towards him as he started to rummage through its contents. It was a few days after William had terrified Zoe on her way home and they'd all been working themselves until they dropped since. Katarina had been working with Zoe and Tom on the various ways to kill a vampire. They'd even accquired some dummies and between the three of them, they'd practically destroyed them. Dan and Aneisha, however, had been working on strengthening Aneisha's gifts. Already, they were working on producing the fire that would rid them all of William, but they'd had no luck yet and Dan was becoming desperate. Zoe's time was running out.
Dan dug his hand into the bag and pulled out a long peice of wood, as long as his forearm and fashioned into a stake. What interested him about it, however, was the symbol carved into the side. It was identical to the mark on the back of Tom's hand.
"These are Warrior's weapons." Dan realised, placing the stake on the table and pulling the rest of the contents out and placing them on the table.
"That's what I figured they were." Aneisha said. "I found it in the basement. I thought Tom might be able to use them."
Dan nodded as he picked up a silver hunting knife with the Warror's mark engraved into the hilt.
"But I can't figure out what these are." Aneisha said, reaching across the table and picking up one of the three bottles that Dan had pulled out. Dan grabbed a second and unscrewed the top, sniffing the water. He wrinkled his nose and then closed the bottle setting it back on the table. But he was grinning.
"What is it?" Aneisha asked.
"That's Holy Water that's at least eight hundred years old." Dan said.
"Would you care to explain why you look like a kid on Christmas?"
"Because Holy Water's like vampires - the older it is, the stronger it is." Dan said.
Aneisha started to say something, but then Dan's alert vampire hearing picked up yelling from outside. He ran out the back door and Aneisha followed, grabbing one of the Warrior knives as she did so.
When Dan rocketed out into the backyard, he could see Katarina and Tom, but there was no sign of Zoe.
"Where is she?" Dan asked as the Old One and the Warrior turned to face him. "Where's Zoe?"
"Matthew grabbed her and took her." Tom said.
"Matt did wha . . . William got to him." Dan hissed. "Shit."
"I've told you before about trusting werewolves!" Katarina shouted.
"It's not his fault!" Dan shouted back.
"Both of you, stop." Aneisha said. "We need to find Zoe. I can probably track them."
"Could you use this?" Tom asked, holding a necklace up. With a pang, Dan realised that it was Zoe's necklace. Aneisha nodded and Tom threw it to her. She caught it easily and closed her hand around the stone, closing her eyes.
When Aneisha's eyes opened, vampires and human alike could see the determination sparkling in them. "She's at the school."
Dan nodded. "Let's go. Neish, grab those weapons off the table. The Holy Water too - we're going to need it."
"Dan - " Katarina started, moving towards her son.
"Just stay here." Dan said. "You've done enough."
"I haven't done anything."
"Exactly." Dan hissed. "You are a thousand years old. You could have saved Zoe and you chose not to. Now I have to go fix it before she becomes a monster." Dan said. With that, he stormed inside the house. Tom and Aneisha were standing at the kitchrn table, stuffing the weapons and bottles of Holy Water into the leather bag Aneisha had brought. He could feel their worried gazes on his back, but he ignored it. He needed to focus on getting Zoe back.
"You don't have to do this." Zoe said as Matthew roughly dragged her along beside him. The werewolf didn't anwser, he just tightened his grip on her forearm. Zoe whimpered, digging her heels in. "Matt, what did he do to you? Why are you doing this?"
"Because I have to." Matthew responded as they turned a corner.
"Why?" Zoe asked. "Why do you have to do this?"
"I . . ." Matthew faltered. "I don't know. I just have to take you to William."
"You know what he's going to do, don't you?" Zoe asked, struggling to free herself. "He's going to wait until Dan comes to get me and then he'll make him watch while he Turns me. Dan will hate you forever."
"Well then he's going to hate me for all eternity." Matthew replied as they turned a corner. Zoe gasped as she saw St Heart's High School looming in front of them. Desperately, Zoe racked her brain for something that could make Matthew remember who he was.
"What about Logan?" Zoe asked, still pulling against Matthew's hand, which was wrapped around her arm like a vise. She felt Matthew stiffen, as if she'd finally hit home, but then he relaxed. "What about Logan?"
"Is this what he'd want?" Zoe asked. "For you to be taking your best friend's girlfriend to her death?"
"Don't be so melodramatic." Matthew told her as they entered the school yard. "You'll come back within a few hours."
"But I'll be dead." Zoe protested.
Matthew grunted and Zoe gave up. Obviously, he was too far gone to care anymore. She let him drag her along as they entered the school. She remained silent as she stumbled after him as Matthew searched for the right classroom. When he found it, he wrenched the door open and shoved her inside, flicking the light switch on. Zoe stumbled a few steps before she fell over.
"Well done, Matthew." A voice said above her. Zoe felt fear set in as she pushed her hair out of her face and looked up. William knelt down in front of her, traces of bloodlust on his face. The same features that had she had found endearing and filled her with fascination when they were worn by Dan looked terrifying on William. When he smiled, his fangs had replaced his canines as he grabbed Zoe by the shoulders, yanking her upright so she was sitting.
Zoe screamed, not in pain, but in terror, as William's fangs sunk into her neck and she started to feel her blood being drawn out of her body against her will.