November, 2020. Phoenix, Arizona

Charlie's parents had certain expectations for their recent high school graduate daughter to which she found a way to subvert all of them.

For example, they wanted her to go college straight out of high school. It's not like she didn't get into a really nice school, either. She had. And for the entire summer she had let them believe what they wanted. When the end of August hit, Charlie really did pack up all her stuff and move out. Only, she had no intention of moving into a dorm or going to college at all. Charlie, or Charlie to her friends and Lottie to her enemies, had a very different set of expectations for her life.

She was going to hunt every last vampire to extinction even if she died trying.

Okay, so that might sound a little dramatic coming from an eighteen year old, but, hey, every motivational poster she'd ever read had told her to dream big.

It's not like she didn't have help. In fact, she had her uncle and his partners (Her uncle refused to call them his friends. They were "partners". Period.) and they had trained her well.

Alright, maybe not as well as they would've liked considering what happened two months after she was supposed to be attending college.

She would describe the night in question in three words:

Worst. Halloween. Ever.


As Charlie twisted and turned in front of the mirror, she studied her reflection with a critical eye. The bandages had come off a few days ago and the wound had scarred over well enough if she was being generous.

She tugged on the end of a strand of her short hair, regretting the fact it was cut so short. Her short hair just barely brushed the top of the scar. If only she had longer hair it would cover her new scar, no problem. Unfortunately the eye was irrepressibly drawn straight to the jagged lines stretching across the nape of her neck.

The doctors had said she was lucky, that she could have suffered brain damage or a spinal injury. It was the blood loss that had really put her in danger, but that's a given when it comes to vampire hunting, not that that is what she told her parents.

The "official" story was that she had been attacked by a pack of animals while camping with her uncle which was the last thing her parents had wanted to hear for more than one reason.

1. Their daughter was supposed to be across the country in college. Not camping with estranged family members.

2. Their daughter had almost died.

In that order.

Now she was home, whether she liked it or not, while she recovered.

Huffing in annoyance at her reflection, she roughly tied the kite bandana scarf around her neck and called it good.

"It's like I'm on house arrest," she muttered bitterly to herself and then smirked.

She looped her arms through the straps of her backpack and locked up behind her. "I'd like to see someone on house arrest do this," she chuckled.


The sound of bells clunking together announced her entrance as she shoved open the door to the diner, although the sound was drowned out by the goings on of the already noisy diner. She was quick to spot her uncle and she ducked past a harried waitress carrying two trays of food. Her uncle was just as quick to notice her approach and he beamed at her from a booth towards the back of the diner.

She took the short time it took to cross the dinner and studied her uncle's haggard appearance. The dark circles around his eyes were prominent as though he hadn't slept in days. She was sure her parents had given him a hard time since they got the call that their daughter had almost been mauled to death on her uncle's watch.

"Hey, kiddo, it's been a minute," he greeted cheerfully as she slid into the booth. "How have you been?"

She forgoed a reply and went straight for one of the glasses of water that her uncle must have ordered while he waited. His brow furrowed as she slurped down half the glass before reaching for the napkin dispenser and grabbing a fistfull to dab at her brow. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, hesitated, and then tried again.

"Did you run here?" he asked, finally.

She removed her backpack and snorted. "What do you think?"

He blinked at her in disbelief. "We're several miles from your parents place and you just got out of the hospital. You shouldn't be running anywhere."

She rolled her eyes at the man as a waitress came to take their lunch order.

"I'm all better. One hundred percent recovered," she told him as the waitress left to put in their orders. "When's the next mission?"

The expression on her uncle's face became inscrutable at her question and Charlie felt a growing sense of dread.

"Charlie," her uncle started and she knew instantly he hadn't agreed to meet with her despite her parents wishes because they were going to pick up where they left off.

She immediately scoffed. "You're unbelievable."

Her uncle looked pained. "Charlie you almost died. Hell, I was sure you were dead for a minute there before we got you to help. You were lucky. You might not be next time."

Her eyes narrowed. "I could say the same for you, you do realize that, right? It's not like you're getting any younger. Any of you," she raised her voice at the end and the two figures hiding their faces behind a pair of newspapers in the booth across from theirs grumbled.

Edgar and Alan Frog threw down their newspapers and glared at her.

"Charlotte," Alan greeted in his usual monotone voice.

His brother merely grunted.

She flipped them both off.

"Screw you guys," she snapped at her uncle. "Yeah, I took a hit. A bad one. That I won't deny. But I lived and I won't stop until they're all dead."

She grabbed her backpack. "You can either help me or get out of my way."

Sliding out of the booth, she made for the exit before anyone could get a word in edgewise.

Her uncle slumped down in his seat as he watched her go. Alan and his brother slid into the seat Charlie had vacated.

Alan offered a sympathetic half smile. "You tried, Sam."

"If the internet has taught me anything it's that teenage girls and vampires don't mix well," Edgar grumbled, crossing his arms.

Sam let his partner's unhelpful words slide right off his back.

"She's only a year older than Michael was when he died."

Alan traded a look with his brother which Sam decidedly ignored.

"I never should have brought her into this."

Edgar tapped the table to gain his attention. "Hey, she was already in it when she reached out to us. At least now she knows how to take care of herself because of what we taught her."

Alan nodded in agreement. "Michael didn't have any training. You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened to him any more than for whatever choices Charlie makes from here on."

Sam squinted at the two brothers, wondering how he had put up with them after all these years before moving to exit the booth. "We should go after her," he announced suddenly.

Edgar chuckled. "She's an adult now, Sam. You need to let her do this on her own."

Sam's face hardened for a moment as their words sunk in despite his best efforts to shrug them off. He sighed loudly before slumping down into the booth. "We couldn't stop her if we tried."

Alan smirked. "We are getting too old for this shit."

Sam scowled.

"Shut up Alan."


Santa Carla, California

Charlie had circled the block at least five times, and with each rotation she grew more and more frustrated. The bus ride from Arizona had been far from comfortable and she just wanted to find her cheap hotel so she could rest before her real mission began.

And yet, here she was standing in front of a psychic shop instead.

"God damn it," she swore at the glowing neon sign of an eye staring vacantly out at her from the window and then glanced down at her phone.

It was the right address but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why her uncle had sent her there.

She quickly reread his text, searching for any clue as to what he was playing at.

Trust me on this

"Trust you, huh?" she scoffed.

Meow!

Charlie cast a baleful eye from her phone to where the irksome mew came from.

A mangy looking black cat stared back at her with round, almost expectant eyes as it stood in the psychic shop's front entrance. Charlie raised a brow and glanced up and down the street, looking for the animal's owner.

She was alone, the surrounding street empty. Her mouth dipped into a frown as she looked at the cat once more.

"What?" she demanded rudely.

In lieu of answering, the cat took its paw and scratched repeatedly at the door's surface.

Charlie grit her teeth at the irritating noise. The cat mewed at her again, this time a touch louder and for a longer duration.

She huffed her annoyance and rolled her eyes. "Fine!"

Tucking her phone away, Charlie strode up to the door and threw it open. The cat immediately darted inside the shop with a delighted mew. After a second's hesitation she followed the creature inside, apprehension growing in the pit of her stomach as she did.

She recalled the sign in the store window had said 'open', but she was still cautious entering the unfamiliar space. Her senses were bombarded with the garish decorations filling up her surroundings to an astounding degree. The place hadn't looked that big to begin with from outside and yet everywhere she turned there was just more stuff. Occult looking artifacts and furniture that had seen better days littered every square inch of the shop. She had completely lost sight of the cat.

The door slammed itself shut behind her causing her to nearly jump out of her skin.

"It's about time!" a new voice boomed from behind a partition and Charlie instinctively reached for her cleverly concealed knife. "Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to get over here so I can take a look at 'ya?"

Meow! The cat echoed presumably its owner also from behind the partition.

Charlie forced the tension from her body and left her weapon alone. It simply wouldn't do if she brandished a knife at a random civilian.

She shuffled over to the person, an older woman pushing forty she now realized, and found her sitting at an empty round table. For some odd reason, she struggled to place where she had seen the woman before, which was impossible because she was certain they had never met before.

The cat leapt onto the table and the woman quickly shooed it away and down to the floor.

"I hope that's your cat. It was really eager to get in here or something," Charlie told the woman, still trying to shake the feeling that she was supposed to know who exactly she was.

The woman reached down to pat the animal on the head, much to its indifference. "It actually belonged to my little sister but she had to leave the furball behind. So now we're stuck together." She straightened up in her seat and gestured at the empty chair at the table's opposite end.

Charlie sat down reluctantly, very much aware of every object she could use as a makeshift weapon in the room if she needed to. She hadn't seen any other exit beside the front door and an open window. All the while, this strange woman stared at her dead on. Charlie struggled not to squirm in her seat.

A large black bird ruffled its feathers from a perch by the open window.

"So I don't know if my uncle mentioned I'd be stopping by or not, but I'm Charlie," she introduced herself, albeit awkwardly as she eyed what had to be the woman's pet bird.

The woman beamed at her when she glanced away from the large bird. "Charlie! I heard you were hurt pretty bad about a month ago but you look good. You know, I was really surprised to hear from Sam after all these years. He makes a habit of avoiding this town like the plague," the woman remarked vaguely.

Charlie already knew why her uncle refused to set foot in Santa Carla for the same reason she was determined to make her first solo hunt there.

"You can call me Jess," the woman said.

Charlie snorted. "That's not very psychic sounding."

Jess smirked at her. "And what exactly is a psychic sounding name in your book?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. 'The All Knowing Agatha'? 'Fortune-Telling Sal'?"

Jess laughed at that. "Oh kid, I missed you."

Wait, what?

"Huh?" Charlie asked in confusion. "Have we met before?"

Ignoring her question, Jess procured a deck of cards from somewhere she hadn't noticed. "Shall we begin your reading?"

Charlie felt a little out of her depth as she blinked slowly at the woman. "Reading?"

"Tarot reading, dear," Jess elaborated as she pushed the deck across the table. "Go ahead and shuffle those."

"I'm going to stop you right there. I don't really believe in this stuff, and even if I did, I don't think my uncle would send me here for tarot reading." Charlie passive aggressively pushed the deck of cards back across the table.

"Just so I'm clear; the girl who hunts creatures of myth and legend doesn't believe in psychic readings?" Jess cocked her head and shoved the cards right back at her.

The bird cawed loudly like it was laughing at her and Charlie floundered for a response.

"That's what I thought, now shut up and shuffle the damn cards."

"I don't have to pay for this, do I?" Charlie asked dubiously as she reached for the cards.

"I'll give you the family discount," Jess replied with a wink.

Pursing her lips in displeasure, Charlie took the stiff cards and began to shuffle them halfheartedly. When she was done amusing the woman, she placed the deck neatly in the center of the table. She stared at Jess expectantly and crossed her arms defiantly. "Aren't you going to ask me what I want to know?"

Jess scoffed as she pulled the first two cards from the top of the deck. "I already know what you want. You're here right now because you don't know what you really want."

Charlie scowled. "Spare me the gimmick. I know what I want."

Jess raised a curious brow as she placed the two cards beside one another and flipped them over.

Charlie uncrossed her arms and slammed her fists on the table. "I want to destroy all vampires. This is a huge waste of time and my uncle knew that when he sent me here."

Jess rolled her eyes at her angry display. "I'm just going to do a two card spread so you can be on your way as soon as possible, then."

She gestured to the first card. "Okay, so this card represents your current challenge."

Charlie forced herself to look at the card and was immediately skeptical. "The Hanged Man? Is someone going to torture me today? Oh, no, wait. I see. It's a metaphor for what's happening right now."

Jess drummed her fingers on the table with thinly veiled impatience. "The Hanged Man represents letting go, breaking old patterns, and circumspection."

Charlie's eyes slanted. "Is this your way of telling me I need to give up hunting or my uncle's?"

Jess ignored her question and pointed to the other card. "This card represents a catch-all solution to a problem you may encounter today."

Charlie's skin crawled as she peered at the card's stark image of a skeleton atop a white horse with bold lettering beneath the image declaring it 'DEATH'.

"How the fuck is my death considered a solution?" she snapped at the woman.

Jess waved her off. "Don't take this card so literally. Death can represent change, new beginnings, or metamorphosis."

Having reached her threshold for putting up with psychic nonsense, Charlie pushed away from the table and stood. "This was fun, though you should note the sarcasm in my voice. You can bill my uncle and tell him he's hilarious; oh, and better luck next time. I'm gonna go now."

Her back was turned to the woman and she heard her quiet sigh. She was just about to turn the corner back towards the main entrance when Jess spoke up.

"You'll be tempted to scope out the boardwalk tonight. Don't bother. They don't hang around there like they did back in the day. The place is a fucking tourist trap now if I ever saw one. You'd have better luck over by the fancy, private vacation homes."

Charlie glanced over her shoulder, slightly taken aback.

Jess leaned on the table, balancing her chin on her clasped hands, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

The corner of Charlie's mouth quirked up. "Thanks for the tip."

Jess watched Charlie disappear behind the partition and listened to the bells on the front door jingle, a sense of nostalgia warming her heart as she reclined against the back of her chair.

Meow! The black cat reminded her of its presence and jumped into the woman's lap.

Jess absently scratched behind its ears.

"It's only a matter of time now," she said, her gaze fixed across the room at a sand clock placed at the center of an altar. "Sorry Sammy. This probably isn't what you had in mind when you sent her my way."


Charlie waited until nightfall to make her move. For as inept as the cops were in a town like Santa Carla, Charlie didn't want to risk getting caught trespassing while she reconned the neighborhood during the day. What other choice did she have than to go in blind and pray her ability to improvise was up to task?

Another she hadn't accounted for was a decent exit strategy. Her motel was nowhere near the upper class neighborhood so walking was definitely out of question. In the end she resigned herself to… taking an uber. The entire ride from her motel to the beach houses was filled with awkward small talk with her driver during which Charlie repeatedly cursed the fact that she didn't own a car. A sense of trepidation struck her when her uber finally dropped her off and sped away, leaving her alone and admittedly ill prepared for the fight she was about to walk into. On the bright side, her research from earlier had proved fruitful after trudging through social media until she heard tale of a rager at the address she now stood before.

Cars lined both sides of the street in front of the modern monstrosity that called itself a beach house. Music blared from within and if it weren't the off season for vacation dwellers, Charlie was certain a score of neighbors would be calling in complaints for the disturbance.

She strode up the concrete driveway, passing a couple of impressive motorcycles, confirming her prey were indeed inside the house somewhere.

The door was already open and not a single person batted an eye at her intrusion. She blended in seamlessly with the groups of young party goers milling about the interior of the house. Thank goodness for Santa Carla's chilly nights or she would have stuck out like a sore thumb with her bulky jacket that she was able to conceal an arsenal of weapons.

With a trained eye she scanned the various guests, intent on picking out her prey as she made her way through the house. Her uncle and his partners might have taught her a thing or two, but she had figured out how to pick a vampire out of a crowd all by herself. The biggest give away was how they moved. Smooth. Confident. There was a magnetic pull that drew people to them like moths to a flame. Charlie used to wonder what it was about them that appealed to so many. Sure they could be effortlessly charming, but you could still pick up on something more beneath that charming veneer. Something dangerous. Charlie might have fallen for it once, but never again.

She needed to find a vantage point where she could observe the party goers in the main room and those who drifted in and out over by the door leading to the outdoor deck. First, she snagged a can of coke from the kitchen to make her seem more inconspicuous and made for the staircase along the wall. People seemed to be avoiding the second floor as most of the action was on the first floor anyway so Charlie planted herself on a step in the middle where she could see everything.

She clasped her hands around the perspiring soda can and surveyed the room below. Recalling her own high school experience, she spotted the various cliques, the pack leaders and the sheep who were just along for the ride. It wasn't too difficult to discern who was with who, and who wanted to be with who either. Most importantly, she could distinguish who was a posturing human, and who was looking for their next kill.

"Do you wanna see a picture of my dog?" someone asked as they plopped down next to her out of nowhere.

Charlie cursed out loud, nearly jumping out of her skin. She glared at the new person seated on the same step as her with half a mind to bash their skull in with her coke. It was some blond guy with his phone out as he beamed at her in a friendly manner as though he hadn't just snuck up behind her and scared the shit out of her.

"His name is Paul Jr.," the guy continued even though she never answered his question.

Eye twitching, Charlie internally scrambled to find a way out of this social entrapment. She still had a job to do damn it! And here this guy, albeit kinda hot guy, comes along and scrolls through his phone gallery and brandishes a picture of a cute pomeranian curled up against a couch arm, sleeping.

Aaaaww! Charlie's heart sang as she looked at the adorable picture. Her mouth curved into a smile.

"He's cute, right?"

Charlie's gaze returned to this stranger and faltered. Despite his happy-go-lucky countenance that put her at ease whilst she was distracted, she was immediately put on guard again. Something in her keen instincts whispered not to trust that pretty face, or those baby blues. Maybe it was the fact that he had been able to sneak up on her, which was already incredibly difficult to begin with, that screamed creature of the night. Or maybe it was the dried specks of what she suspected to be blood on his boots.

She faked a smile, calculating how she could get this blood sucker alone.

"I'm guessing you're Paul Sr.?" she asked, adopting a light, teasing tone.

He grinned at her, showing off his very white teeth. "That's my name, don't wear it out," he joked.

She watched him put his phone away and raised a brow. "Aren't you going to ask me for my phone number?"

His eyes widened briefly in surprise before his expression turned coy. "Didn't want to get ahead of myself. You could really be a cat person for all I know."

She giggled while holding in the urge to roll her eyes.

"How about a tour of the place? We can talk and get to know each a little better," he suggested, already moving to his feet.

She took his hand when he offered it to help her to stand. "Perfect!" she chirped, assured that this "tour" was definitely going to lead them to somewhere vacant and secluded.

As Paul led her down the stairs, Charlie had a strange feeling. It reminded her of Psychic Jess and how Charlie was sure she knew the woman beforehand but couldn't place how exactly. But that was impossible because she had never seen this man before. Her uncle didn't have any pictures of the men who killed her other uncle; the one she never got the chance to meet and the entire reason she was in Santa Carla at all.

"Pauly, where ya going?"

Paul and Charlie paused on the steps and turned around.

There was something eerily familiar about this man she felt as she sized him up. Her gaze carefully, or perhaps indulgently, drank in the sight of his strapping build and by the time her eyes trailed up to his tempting mouth her head was swimming.

She tore her eyes away, fighting to reign in this new sensation.

The new comer cocked his head curiously, eyes smouldering into hers. "Who's your new friend?" he asked Paul.

Paul's eyes widened comically as it quickly dawned on him that he never asked for her name.

She genuinely laughed at his expression. "My friends call me Lottie," she supplied, the lie slipping off her tongue with ease.

Paul grinned sheepishly. "That's David," he introduced the other blond at the top of the stairs with a jerk of his head.

Charlie's heart nearly leapt into her throat. Holy shit! That's the one who killed uncle Michael!

"Come and meet the boys, Lottie." The way he said it was more of a demand and left no room for refusal.

She blinked in surprise, amazed at how easy that was and then quickly plastered a smile on her face. "Sure!"

He flashed his teeth in a sharp grin before pivoting, wordlessly indicating they should follow him. Paul offered his arm in a joking manner and Charlie took hold, noting to herself the solid muscle he possessed. They climbed the rest of the stairs followed David down a corridor that led to an open plan living room that was lavishly furnished. Two men were smoking and speaking softly on the outdoor balcony.

"You'll never believe who Paul just found," David drawled lazily to the two men.

They both ceased their conversation and turned to face Charlie and Paul. One of the men who had a riot of curls and fetching Romanesque features perked up as soon as his gaze landed on her. He quickly stubbed out his cigarette and made his way over to her. The other man a few steps behind, stalked across the room with a predatory grace that made her heart jack hammer in her chest.

"Marko, Dwayne, may I introduce you to Lottie," David continued, addressing the two.

The curly blond smirked and gave a two fingered salute. His companion, Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome, crossed his arms as he gazed at her stoically. Charlie fought to keep herself from fidgeting under his intense stare.

She managed a small smile. "Nice to meet all of you."

Charlie was hyper aware of every single weapon she had concealed on her person. She mentally catalogued each weapon as she looked around the circle they stood in. While it wasn't exactly ideal to have them all so close when the fight started, she remained undaunted. She had to move fast before another party guest decided to venture upstairs.

"Paul?" She turned to the blond who's arm she still clung to.

He looked to her with a question in his eye. "Hm?"

"I would say this isn't personal," she began, shifting her stance slightly as she subtly reached for a wooden stake, "but that would be a lie."

The adrenaline rush that came with catching the vampire off guard as she plunged a stake between his ribs and into his heart was dizzying.