Elsewhere, in other cities, the vampire population had remained untouched by the effects of Day-star. New nests sprang up all over the place. It seemed that the cities of Prague, Bucharest, Budapest and Moscow were having problems at the time.
A young blonde girl sat crying on the doorstep of a building, the snow sprinkling on the body of a woman lying beside her, her blood a crimson stain against the fallen white powder. The woman wore a fur-lined coat and cap, and scuffed black boots. The child wore an oversized blue jacket, a denim skirt and thick brown stockings. Her big toes protruded through holes in the stockings.
A passing couple in formalwear hurried over to discover the trouble. The girl looked up at their approach, her face moistened only by the damp in the air.
She got to her feet while the couple rolled the woman over, the tall, brown-haired man trying to cover the neck wound with his hand. There was some blood, but no actual wound beneath his gloved fingers. The woman in a blue dress and fur wrap was rummaging through her purse, muttering hysterically. She pulled out a mobile phone as the girl put a cold hand on her shoulder.
A shot rang out, and the little girl staggered as the couple looked around in panic. For a moment the girl looked agonised, then she dispersed into red hot ashes. The woman recoiled in horror and the man shielded her and the body from the embers, his dark overcoat too damp to catch alight.
The seemingly injured woman sat up abruptly, and took hold of the man's coat. She bared her fangs and tried to drag the couple away into the building, but another shot rang out, piercing her temple. She too, burst into ash particles. The couple clutched each other and ran, never seeing their saviour.
Blade holstered his gun and sniffed in disapproval. This was the third time this week he'd seen the crying kid routine. Sometimes it was a familiar that pretended to be injured, this time it was another vampire, but every time the kid had been turned already. The vampires seemed to think it was amusing that children, innocents, could do so well at drawing prey to them.
He jumped from his vantage point, the roof of a nearby building, landing lightly on the snow-covered path. Several people who were not really people emerged from their hiding places a moment later. An ambush. They loosely circled him, an assortment of weapons in their hands.
Blade grinned. "One, two, three, four, five of you suck-heads and three familiars. Are you mother-f$k#s crazy or just stupid?"
They attacked, but did not last long. Blade kept throwing them aside and using his extendable dagger to dust the vampires. He broke the neck of one of the familiars, stabbed another and slammed the third into a building. The third one was still alive when Blade yanked him to his feet by his hair.
"Now whose scam is this?" Blade asked, gesturing back at the doorway where the girl had been acting as bait for unwary good Samaritans. The man had blood streaming down his face from his nose and a scalp wound, his straggly black hair being held in a fierce grip. Blade searched him and found the following glyph tattooed on him.
"La Magra's vessel will destroy you, Daywalker!" the man gasped and bubbled through the blood.
"What the f$k are you doing wearing Frost's mark? He's been dead for a while now, a+hole."
Blade rammed the man's face into the wall again. The man cried out in pain, his skull was likely fractured. "What do you mean, La Magra's vessel?" he demanded.
"Reborn, he's been reborn, aaagh," the man cried. "The god was banished, yes, but the vessel was brought back with blood, special blood!"
"What, pureblood?" Blade asked, remembering the ritual to bring forth the blood-god.
"No, human blood, special human blood. They found one, a woman, someone called Groveton, with powerful unknown qualities in her blood."
"Where?" Blade hit the familiar's head against the wall again.
"I don't know, but they took her to the Temple of Eternal Night and bled her dry in some ritual. The vessel was reborn!" The man gasped.
"So what are his people doing out here?" Blade demanded.
"Building the ranks," the man whimpered, "they want an army."
Blade bashed his skull against the wall and his face caved in. He threw the dead familiar aside. "Frost," he growled, and stalked off.