The Bloodpack
Chapter 3: Vienna

Vienna
Republic of Austria, Central Europe
Circa AD 2000

Vienna was a lovely place, full of history — human and vampire alike. Beethoven had been influenced by his dealings with the vampires based there.

There were five main families plus almost a dozen smaller ones who lived in Vienna and in the surrounding areas. Each family had at least one person who claimed to have known the legendary composer. Only a few could actually prove that fact, but it was always a topic to brag about in family meetings.

Verlaine's family was not sure where she was, or even if she was in the country at all. Since her sister's murder two years ago, she had been on a vengeful hunt for Blade's death. More times than not she had left Vienna without telling her family, and when he had visited the night before, her mother had been frank: they were not even sure if she was alive.

It had taken some work, but he had narrowed his search down to the Hofburg Palace. She had been spotted entering the National Library just before closing time.

As Asad walked swiftly but quietly through the halls of the grand palace, the sounds of a fight began to reach him. He moved slowly now, towards the noise. Word on the street was that a cell of a vampire-hunting group known as the Nightstalkers were active. Verlaine had apparently chosen to hunt them down.

He turned a corner and ducked as a bullets whizzed past his head, hitting the volumes that lined the shelves around him and shredding them. Shredded paper flew around him, drifting to the ground like snowflakes.


Verlaine chased after her prey, firing her Colts as the last two remaining of the damnable Nightstalkers raced through the shelves. She gritted her teeth and dove for cover as gunfire was returned.

Of the twins she had always been the smaller one, and even in adulthood Racquel had been a few inches taller than her younger twin. But it was Verlaine who was not to be underestimated, because she was the one who had more experience with guns and fighting.

With her back to a shelf, she pulled out a clip of ammo from her utility belt and slapped them into her guns. Glancing over the edge of the shelf, she fired. She was rewarded with the familiar sound of a dead body hitting the ground.

She allowed herself a small smile and blew some bright-red hair out of her face. Five down, one to go.

Verlaine charged from her spot, firing wildly, a war-cry on her lips. Most of her bullets missed their intended target, instead hitting the closest volumes. She noted the black man who had ducked behind another shelf.

She sniffed the air, trying to determine whether he was friend or foe, but it didn't work. She couldn't smell him at all; there was just too much of the tangy copper of fresh blood.

Her opponent apparently decided it was time to face her head-on and came out from his hiding place, getting ready to fire. She was faster and took him in the knee, then in the arm. He went down with a cry of pain, unable to move.

She advanced like a tiger, slowly but surely. She placed one foot on his chest to stop him from struggling, and their eyes met; her black against his blue. There was no fear in his eyes, and she respected that. More often than not she had seen terror in the eyes of her prey, and some of them had actually wet themselves.

Verlaine respected that. She pointed the business end of one gun between his eyes and squeezed the trigger. He went limp under her feet and she stepped back.

"I know you're here," she said to seemingly no-one in particular. "Come out." She raised her guns.

Asad stepped out from behind his shelf, hands held at the level of his head. "I come in peace," he answered in hesitant German. He switched to vampire dialect. "I am Asad."

Verlaine relaxed and lowered her gun. Definitely vampire, then. "Did my parents send you?"

Asad shook his head, stepping over a dead body. "No. I come on business of Overlord Eli Damaskinos'. He seeks to form a group that will hunt and kill the man who murdered your sister." Verlaine's eyes narrowed in anger. She had been close to Racquel and her death had marked a new stage for her.

"So you've come to ask me to join," she finished for him. Asad nodded and from his pocket, took out the familiar truce key. He held it out to her in an unspoken question.

She studied it for a moment, then took it. Asad nodded. He knew Verlaine would not say no; Racquel's death had had too profound an impact for her to say otherwise. He pulled an envelope from another pocket. She took this from him also, turning it over to see if anything was written on the back.

Finding nothing, she looked back up at Asad. Between them they nodded, and then she watched as he turned and disappeared behind the bookshelves.