The Temple was dark, but Blade could see in the dark. The stale but sharp smell of old blood was a constant reek in the air. Some of it was his blood, he knew, but a more recent scent was evident. He travelled to the familiar upper level, where his own mother had taken him to be bled to death a few years before. The same chamber in which he'd fed from a friend to regain his strength, the same chamber in which he'd killed his mother, to free her, save her from an eternity of evil.

He found Rebecca there, strapped into the device. Her clothes were torn, her dark hair straggling down over her face. She'd been pretty once. Now she looked hollow, mournful. Her wrists were gashed deeply from the steel of the age-old draining device. She had a few bruises on her arms and body, some tiny shreds of skin and blood beneath her fingernails. She'd tried to fight when they came for her.

He saw numerous scars on her neck, she'd been fed from many times, but they were light scars, as if the vampire had been gentle. Blade let her down gently, and burned her bloodless body. He made the attempt, but the device would not burn.

He went down to the lower level, where he had shattered the Blood God. There had been an explosion of blood when he'd destroyed La Magra, but that blood was gone. Not even a smear was left on the smooth marble. Though the event was already past, he could still feel the quiet, leisurely throbbing power of the ritual that had brought the vessel back into existence. He took one last look around, and left the Temple of Eternal Night.

Abby was the one on guard duty the next afternoon. Caitlyn still hadn't figured out where the source of the creatures was, so all of the Nightstalker hunters were going to go out that night to methodically search the city.

A familiar black car drove into the old train yard. Abby held her breath for a moment. Blade had been presumed dead at first after the fight with Drake, then they'd heard of him still fighting vampires elsewhere.

If he was surprised to see his old hideout inhabited, he showed no sign of it as he drove the car past her into the warehouse.

The rest of the Nightstalkers, including Caulder and Zoe, were at a table eating some vegetable stew that Caitlyn had grown and prepared. Kevin had grabbed his gun at first at the unannounced entry, but King and Caulder stopped him as Blade stepped out of the car.

"That's Blade," Zoe pointed out. Caulder ushered her away to her room.

The adults had stood as Blade approached. King gave him a reserved nod of recognition, his face set hard. Caitlyn came out of one of the back rooms, sensing the half-breed's presence. Abigail came in to join them, and Caulder returned from Zoe's room.

It was silent for a moment, until King said. "Long time, no see, Blade. Now what the hell are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," Blade said. "Who are these other two?" he carelessly waved a few fingers in Kevin and Caitlyn's directions.

"Kevin Benson." Abigail introduced them. Kevin knew better than to offer a handshake. "And this is Caitlyn Groveton; they're Nightstalkers too, they're with our unit now."

"We're here because there's a new threat in this city," Caulder explained. "We've got footage of great beasts that have been given the vampire gene, and they've been tearing people apart. Plus all the rest of the vampires we're trying to get rid of, as always."

"Is that why you're here?" Abigail asked.

"No," Blade answered. "An old enemy of mine is back in town. A vampire by the name of Deacon Frost."

"We'd heard that you killed him," King said.

"I did." Blade replied. "His followers brought him back."

"How the hell do you bring back a dead vampire?" Kevin asked.

Blade's gaze lingered on Caitlyn. "You look like her," he commented.

"Who?" she asked.

"The woman they sacrificed to bring back Frost, it was someone called Groveton. They said she had special blood. They took it from her in the ritual."

Caitlyn's eyes widened. "Did she, did she have scars, old bite marks, on her neck?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, no, they found her," Caitlyn covered her mouth with her hand. Kevin, who'd known her for some years now, and had heard her stories, gripped her shoulder in sympathy. She shook her head sadly, then looked back at Blade. "How do we find this Frost?" she demanded coldly, taking Kevin's hand off her arm.

Blade had been glancing around the workspace as he stood there, and he raised an eyebrow. "Looks to me like one of you has already found him."

He walked over to the workbench, where a print-out had been made of Caitlyn's vampire, from the footage. He held it up and Caitlyn swore.

"You're kidding, right?" she said, looking angry.

"I don't kid. You've seen him?" Blade asked. "Where?"

"A few blocks over, near Vale Street," she replied, "and then I chased him right over the north freeway." She was clenching her fists and glaring at the photo, and it started to smoulder.

"What the f$k?" Blade dropped the sheet as it ignited.

"Ah, yeah," King explained, "Caitlyn can do that, except, as it seems, when she faces that guy in person."

Blade glared questioningly at Caitlyn but she was storming out to the back room.

"What's her story?" Blade asked of Abby.

"You should really ask her that," Abby said. Blade stared at her, crossing his arms, waiting.

Abby sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "Well, the way she tells it, she's not like you, but she is a half-breed, and she's what you might call a witch. She's pretty much human, but her father was a vampire, a pureblood, so she's strong and fast, and she can see in the dark. We're not sure how it happened, but it did.

"Her mom, Rebecca Groveton, the woman you found, had some new blood type or something. The vampire could take just a little from her and not have to feed for several nights, and she'd recover the blood very quickly. That vampire was killed because he wouldn't share her, but Rebecca escaped, while pregnant with Caitlyn.

"We've done tests on Caitlyn's blood, the cells rapidly duplicate themselves, especially when in contact with vampire blood, which she has traces of in her system. The vampires don't know who or what Caitlyn is, and we're trying to keep it that way so she doesn't end up being hunted down for her blood."

"Your turn," Kevin said. "Caitlyn got attacked by Frost last night. Considering we now know that it was her mother who was sacrificed to bring him back, I'm not so sure it was a coincidence. She couldn't burn him. Any other vampire, she can dust just by staring at them, but this one wouldn't burn. He's also the only vampire who's gotten close enough to bite her and is still alive to tell about it. Did he not burn because he's been a god and brought back from death, or maybe because he's had her blood?"

"How the f$k am I supposed to know? I don't even know her, I don't know anything about her." Blade answered. "Did you give her the cure?"

"She doesn't need it," Abby explained. "Both she and her mother are immune to vampire infection. It's why the vampire could keep feeding off Rebecca without her turning."

"Are you gonna help us fight off these new monsters we've found?" King changed the subject.

Blade paused for a moment. "You said you had footage. Show me," he said to Caulder.

Caulder nodded and walked over to the laptop, pulling up Caitlyn and Abby's files simultaneously. He played it through and turned on the audio. He fast forwarded through the girls' earlier kills, and replayed the footage where they dealt with the beasts. Blade watched silently, his arms crossed.

"How'd you know they were there?" he asked.

"I sensed them," Caitlyn said, returning to the shed. "It's how I hunt. I can sense the living and I can sense the dead. It's how we're going to try and track the creatures down, and once we're finished with them and whoever created them, it's how I'm going to go after Frost."

"Frost is my problem," Blade said.

"He's mine too." Caitlyn said. "Even disregarding the fact that my mother is dead because of him – something I believe we have in common – he's tasted me. I can't leave him out there, on the loose – not that I would have anyway."

"Fine," Blade said. "Tag along. If you can lead me to him, even better. Just don't get in my way." He glanced back at the screen. "We'll get the dogs first. What else do you know about them?"

"We don't know who created them," Abby said. "It's possible that they're leftovers from the Talos family's experiments, but the other dogs in that city were destroyed when we set off the virus, and they were also smaller. It wouldn't explain why these ones are different or how they got here, so we're assuming it's someone else."

"Is there any reason to think that Frost might have something to do with it?" Kevin asked Blade. "I mean, he has turned up at the same time the creatures have."

"I was told that Frost was gathering an army…" Blade thought aloud. "It's possible," he decided.

"From our experience last night," Abby continued, "we found out that the creatures are very fast, and they have very thick skin. They're still susceptible to UV light, and it takes a few seconds for them to catch alight, but they can be burned. Uh, we haven't tried garlic, it might still work. You need to use more strength than you would with a vampire to decapitate it or get it in the heart, because of their skin. If you're accurate, you should still be able to shoot them successfully."

"So, you know what we know," King said. "Shall we?" he gestured toward the entrance.

Caitlyn glanced at the entrance and then looked around at the group. "We didn't leave anyone on guard," she commented, "did we?"

"Ah," King dismissed it with a flick of his hand, "you'd have known if someone got too close."

"Well, I have been off my game lately," Caitlyn admitted softly.

Blade turned, saying over his shoulder, "Lead us to them," to Caitlyn, and he began walking out.

The Nightstalker warriors quickly organised themselves, earpieces and weapons and so forth. Caulder was automatically left behind to watch over Zoe and watch their monitors. Sound had been restored to Caitlyn's earpiece, but no picture. The light wasn't functional either, but Caitlyn had no need of it.

A few moments later they stopped outside beside Blade, who was looking at his car.

"What's the problem?" Kevin asked.

"Oh, no," Caitlyn said. One of Blade's tires had been punctured. Sticking out of the wheel was a very familiar knife. Below it on the ground was a blood-red rose. She went to the car and yanked out the knife, holding the blade up for inspection, a grim look on her face. "I left this with Frost," she said simply. She deliberately ignored the rose.

The rest were silent.

"This place isn't safe," Abby said. "He knows we're here."

"I thought you were supposed to know when a suck-head was around?" Blade accused Caitlyn.

Caitlyn gave him an exasperated look. "I don't know, okay? I didn't sense him last night after the fight and I assumed it was because he wasn't following me. Maybe it's like the burning, and I just can't sense him."

"I think you guys are overlooking something huge," King said. "You got here several minutes ago," he said to Blade. "During daylight. It's still daylight now. Are you following me, or should I spell it out for you?"

"Relax." Blade told him. "The vampires were developing an ultraviolet resistant sun-block. I've seen him out in the daylight before. It shouldn't surprise me that he's doing it again." He gazed around, wondering if Frost was still about.

"Caulder?" Caitlyn asked, after turning on her earpiece.

"Yeah," Caulder answered from inside at his desk.

"You can't stay here," she said, one hand on her forehead, as if she was stressed, and the other was resting on her hip. "Take Zoe and go. We're gonna have to meet up later, because the vamps know this place." She glanced up at Blade. "I'd forgotten that they'd found you here before."

"All right," Caulder said. "We'll be gone by sundown. Stay in touch."

"Yeah, we will," Abby agreed.

"So," Blade said to Caitlyn, "Frost has beaten you once already, and now it looks like he's stalking you. What are you gonna do about it?" he challenged her.

"My job," Caitlyn said simply. "And if he comes to me, so much the better. It'll save us the trouble of hunting him down." She met Blade's gaze without flinching, her expression resolved.

"Lets go," Kevin said, a loaded shotgun in his hand, "'See if we can catch these monsters while it's still daylight and we've got the advantage."