The next evening after dinner Sera's father showed up at the manor. He told Lord McAshton he had a lead on the vampires whereabouts and wanted to take Sera and Theo with him. He thought it would be good 'field practice' for Theo and good quality time with his daughter.
Sera was just happy for an excuse to wear her comfortable clothes again. She sat in the back of the Vampkill truck loading stakes into a gun, Theo was leaning against the door twiddling a stake between his fingers.
"I prefer you in the dresses."
"I prefer you when you shut up." She replied without even looking up at him but in her peripheral vision she could see his muscles tense in anger.
"A woman should be at home cooking and cleaning."
"McAshton women don't do their own cooking and cleaning."
"No, McAshton women know to stay home and keep their husbands bed warm."
Sera's stomach turned in nauseous waves at the thought of sharing a bed with a pig like Theo. Before she could do anything more than glare her father returned.
"This is definitely it. There's a spot by the fence where you two can watch from –"
"Watch? I thought we'd see some action. What happened to 'field practice'?" Theo complained. Sera rolled her eyes, normally she'd be pissed about being stuck on the sidelines but if this was Gregory's clan – family she didn't want to be expected to kill any of them.
"Watching is practicing." Her father explained, "When it comes to vampires you can never be too prepared. Tonight you'll watch, boy and see how it's done." Theo reluctantly agreed as Sera handed her father the gun she'd loaded.
~~~O~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~ ~ ~ ~ O ~
Sera and Theo were crouched by a stone column peeking through the metal bars of the fence. Her father had been right, the vampires were living here. There were five of them, Gregory's father stood the tallest, his aristocratic clothing tattered at the seams, his dark hair slicked back. Beside him stood his wife, her strawberry blonde curls were pinned up in a large double bun and her eyes shone with compassion as she held her husbands arm calming him from his frustrations.
Left of the couple sitting on a gravestone was a young girl. She looked like a doll as she sat waving a lace fan in front of her face, her long blonde hair almost glowing under the moonlight. On the opposite side of the parents was Gregory's younger brother. His clothing seemed more tattered than the rest of his family and his dark hair was spiked, though not as extreme as Gregory's was. Gregory stood off to the side watching his father and brother.
Their father seemed to be scolding his youngest son until he yelled, "Leave I say!" and bared his fangs. There was a high pitched scream as a young boy, who had been blocked by a statue, was scared off running to the east exit in the direction of the hidden Vampkill truck.
Just then her father revved up his gun and approached through the west entrance immediately gaining the Sackville-Bagg's full attention.
"Rookery!" Mr. Sackville-Bagg shouted as his children all bared their fangs instinctively. The worried mother pulled her two youngest with her as they fled, Gregory trailing behind them. She turned back to her husband.
"Go! Take the family. Run! Do as I say!" he made his way toward Sera's father, "Stay away from my family! Do your worst!"
Her father aimed and fired but the stake fell short. The vampire took advantage of her father's confusion and lunged at him. But her father was too quick, he grabbed his luminescent cross and repelled the attack. As Gregory's father recoiled from the light her father, Sera and Theo all turned toward the entrance to see the mortal boy holding the gun's disconnected wire. When they looked back Mr. Sackville-Bagg was gone. Her father took aim at the boy instead. He held up his cross but the boy didn't flinch.
"What kind of bloodsucker are you?"
Seriously? Sera thought as she rolled her eyes. The boy began to run, her father lumbered after him until he fell down a hole. Sera flinched, she hoped the kid was alright. Her father obviously didn't share her concerns as he shot a flare down the hole capturing the attention of the groundskeeper.
"Hey! What's your problem?" he demanded riding up on his bicycle.
"None of your business pal."
"It is! When it's in my cemetery! Visiting hours are from dawn till dusk. Now get a move on!"
~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~ ~ O ~ ~ ~
The next day Rookery had a meeting with Lord McAshton.
"It's been two months of nothing!"
"Your grandson was there last night, he saw the vampires himself, M'Lord."
"Other than some dead animals, there has been no other evidence of vampires."
"You sound worried M'Lord. Are you afraid of upsetting the beasts? I assure you unless we strike first –"
"I want more proof. I want to be certain they are a threat to us not just the local wildlife."
"What more proof do you need M'Lord?"
"Show me a biting – a true biting. You won't get another shilling of funding until then."
~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~O~~ ~ ~ ~ ~O ~
"I've got no family. No one to be with. Just me and all these dead people."
"I'll drink to that." Her father replied clinking mugs with the cemetery's caretaker. "To dead people. . and to the living dead."
"Aww, come on, you're either alive or dead. Their ain't no in between pal."
Sera watched her father and the caretaker's conversation through the bushes she was crouched in. She'd snuck out of the mansion again, a task that was becoming easier with each passing night. She knew her father was up to something she just couldn't figure out his angle.
"Unless you're a vampire."
"Vampires? Heh, heh, you must be jokin'."
"I knew you'd laugh, it's only natural. But we've been hunting them for over four hundred years."
"That long?"
"It's a family business, you might say."
"For a hunter you wear an awful lot of jewelry." He said reaching for her father's amulet. He grabbed it before the grave keeper could, a reflex from guarding it for so many years. It's been passed down through generations but Sera's father had always told her she'd never have that burden. He'd be alive when the comet returned and the vampires stirred. He'd use the Stone of Attamon to send them all to hell so she could sleep soundly at night. The only problem, they didn't have the stone and after meeting Gregory sending all vampires to hell wasn't exactly on Sera's to do list anymore.
"This thing? The vampire's have one just like it but with one small difference. Theirs is designed to help them, this is designed to send them straight to hell. All I need is the stone and the magic is complete."
The caretaker laughed nervously, "Now its, its magic."
"There is a whole 'nother world out there. If you just know how to look for it."
Sera then accidentally stepped on a few branches. Damn it! Spending so much time with the McAshtons instead of training had made her sloppy.
"What's that?" for a moment she was afraid she had been caught but her father pointed his light in the opposite direction.
"There! Oh we're in luck, come on."
He led the caretaker to the hole the mortal boy had fallen down the previous night only now there was a large metal contraption built over the hole.
Really? This is what he did today?
"Wha-what is this? This wasn't here yesterday."
"This? Oh yeah –yeah I built this. I'll explain it later. Now, it must have gone down here." He pointed the light down the hole, "I'm going after it." He told the caretaker.
"Wait! It's my graveyard, it's my job. I'll do it." He said grabbing the collar of his jacket and standing tall.
"Well, um, if you insist." Her father gave in too easily, "But take this safety line."
"Not that I'll need it." He said with confidence as he was hooked up to the rope. Her father handed him the light.
"There you are. And down we go." He said with a smile that the caretaker couldn't see. But Sera could and she knew she had to warn Gregory and his family before they were caught and killed.
She hurried back to the tombstone they'd seen the family at the night before. They'd fled quickly which meant another entrance had to be there. She came across a mausoleum embedded in the hillside. The back wall of the tomb had crumpled and fallen away revealing an underground system of tunnels. Sera immediately began searching for the Sackville-Baggs. She didn't get far when she heard frightened yelling. The caretaker.
She searched for the source of the sound knowing that's where she'd find them. But it was difficult, the noise echoed all around her making it harder to locate her target.
"Let go Gregory! Let go!" she heard and ran faster hoping the tunnels she picked were the right ones. "It's a trap! Gregory! Let go!"
She kept taking various turns hoping she hadn't gotten herself lost. It was hard to see more than a few feet in front of her so she strained her ears trying to locate any sound that would guide her.
"You bit him?" came a voice.
"Just a taste." Gregory replied.
"Was it worth betraying your family?"
"Well you're the traitor. Forever denying the truth of us. We are the dark gods. You've turned us into cowards. Sulking around our holes like worms!"
"What would you have us do?"
"Fight back! Make these mortals blood run cold!"
Sera was shocked as she made her way through the underground, at a slower pace now. Was this really the same Gregory who helped her at the cliffs? The same Gregory who had smirked playfully as he poked fun at her? Had he been toying with her all along? Had he really been thinking about how easily he'd fooled her? Had he only been waiting until he got bored before draining her dry?
She remembered stories about how some vampires liked to play with their food. There were hundreds of legends about vampires seducing women, luring them from their homes at night before feasting on their blood. Had Gregory turned her into that? A pathetic, swooning damsel in distress? She felt like such an idiot!
"And you could do it, Gregory. You're young, strong, ruthless, and willing to risk a stake in the heart to prove it!"
"Better a stake than this prison!"
"Do you think me oblivious?"
"What does it matter to you what I think? Or if I think?"
"It matters greatly. I feel your sting."
"But you are Frederick the Great. You feel nothing!"
Suddenly there was a bright light at the end of the corridor and Sera sprinted toward it. The screams of the Sackville-Bagg family echoed through the tunnels. The terrified, pain-induced shrieks grew louder as Sera got closer. Just as she made her final turn and saw the smoking vampires someone on the other side of the room threw a rock into her father's light. The bulb broke and the chamber was cloaked in darkness again.
"Oh, my hero." The sister sighed looking to the human boy. The others helped Frederick sit down. Sera backed away into the shadows, the guilt of her father's actions weighing her down. The guilt of being unable to stop it nearly crushed her.
None of the vampires had noticed her arrival, their attention was on Frederick and the boy. Only one heard her fading footsteps.
~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~O~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Just as she feared Sera found herself lost among the cobwebs and stones. She huffed, blowing hair out of her face as she leaned against the moss covered wall.
"Lost Seraphina?" Gregory's playful mocking voice spoke from behind her. She turned to face him prepared with a clever come-back but froze. His skin seemed paler, the dark circles around his eyes more pronounced – the light had weakened him even though he tried his best to hide it. All Sera's guilt came crashing back in. He noticed her concerned stare.
"What's wrong, Sera?"
"I should have stopped it. I should have tried harder." Even if he was toying with her she still hated seeing him in pain. And she couldn't be too harsh on him if he was lying to her; she wasn't exactly being completely honest with him either.
"This isn't your fault. Rookery's our problem, we can handle him. You shouldn't get involved."
"I'm already involved."
He looked at her confused. Her mind quickly went through every possible scenario if she continued. The majority of them involved bloodshed and pain but she didn't care. Gregory deserved to know the truth.
"Rookery he's, . . . I'm. . . ." she paused taking a deep breath and looked away from him. She couldn't voice the truth while looking in his eyes.
"Rookery is my father." Before she could blink Gregory's cold hand was around her throat.