Anna Van Helsing discovers one of Mina Harker's victims while performing surveillance on the elusive Peter Craig. She also uncovers a plan to wipe out three members of a group Harker's allegedly affiliated with. Anna sets out to meet this group in hopes of hatching the Mina's activities.

Chapter 20

I can't help but feel sorry for this guy named Conrad. Having pity for a vampire goes against everything I stand for. But when I think about it, how would I feel if I lost all of my humanity to some blood-sucking prick? Three days later, my life was consumed with rest, vampire killing with Danny and thoughts of my search for Mina Harker. For a vampire Todo Hotsumi sounds legendary. From all things I've been hearing about Mina, how she's quick with a sword, has agility, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I couldn't help but think that some of that stuff has got to start somewhere. Where and how exactly do I find this Todo Hotsumi? It's not like I could just round up every vampire of Japanese descent and ask them for his cell phone number. Anyway, I have to consider the mission ahead: finding those three guys from this group Crimson Sun. They're meeting at this fast food joint in West Hollywood. I knew just where that was. I would eat at this place occasionally: Popeye's.

At 9:15p.m. on a Wednesday night I rode on my bike to the small outpost where they served New Orleans style fries, chicken and seafood on the go. I walked inside wearing a black baseball cap, a brown sweat top and blue jeans and sat at a corner by myself near the registers. I didn't know what to expect when looking for these three guys. I didn't know if they already arrived or if they were on their way or they left already. I took out a small scope called the HE 45. Like the P9 goggles it's able to read the body heat of a crowd of people. I held the HE45 in my right hand and covered it with my left in order not to draw any unwanted attention. I looked around the small area of the restaurant only to read the red body heat of humans. Suddenly I spotted three men sitting at a table near the entrance. Their body heat read blue. I knew by that it meant they were vampires. I stayed there watching them yap. After a while I looked at my watch. I was sitting there for ten minutes but seemed as if those guys were talking for a whole hour. What the fuck could they possibly be talking about? And then I was thinking of a way of trying to corner one of them to beat out the truth about Mina Harker. I knew I just couldn't walk up to them just like that and grab one of them from behind and throw him in a corner without alerting the rest of them. I then saw one of them, a tall skinny one with curly red hair, getting up and heading to the men's bathroom. I then pulled out a silencer from my right pocket and my H&K USP pistol from the back of my pants. I hid both of them under the table and screwed on the silencer on the barrel on the gun. I then tucked the gun into the back of my pants and headed for the bathroom. On my way to the bathroom I was thinking, what the fuck am I doing? This is the men's bathroom! You're not a man! I then thought, well this is one opportunity I can't let go. That guy has gotta have some dirt on Mina.

I tucked my baseball cap over my eyes and pushed the door open. I shoved my hands into my pocket and walked in a manner trying to look like a guy. There were three in the bathroom; one at one of the urinals and two at the face basins. The one at the urinal zipped up his pants walked up behind one of the men at the face basin who then left soon after. They guy who was at the urinals, brown hair, wearing a red baseball looking like a kid from high school started to wash his hands. But there was no sign of tall, red and skinny. The kid with the baseball cap was the second one to exit the bathroom. Third was a chubby man wearing a brown business suit. As the men walked by I bowed my head hiding fact that I was a girl in the men's bathroom. I then heard the flush of a toilet bowl in a toilet that was next to the urinals. The door opened to reveal tall, red and skinny taking his place at the face basin. I walked up to the urinals and pretended to take a piss. I felt kind of embarrassed and I was hoping and praying that no one would discover that I was a girl in the men's bathroom. I looked over my left shoulder and saw tall red and skinny quickly washing his hands and face. I then pulled out a needle gun filled with serum X1 used to inject vampires, thus cramping their muscles and subduing their powers. I walked up to him slowly hiding the needle gun behind my back. All the while my I felt a bit shaky and extremely nervous. He was just starting to dry his hands at one of the blow dryers when he suddenly turned his head in my direction. I quickly stuck the needle gun in his neck and pulled the trigger.

The syringe was as small as your little finger, so all it takes is a small dose of X1 to bring a vampire to his knees. Tall, red and skinny dropped limp on the floor and started to breath with extra effort. He curled his body in the way a person having an epileptic seizure would. I picked him from under his arm pits and dragged him into one of the toilets. For a guy who was super skinny, man was he heavy! It took a lot of effort for me to put him on the toilet seat with the lid down. I seated him on the toilet bowl, held him by his curly hair and shoved my silencer mounted H&K USP to his forehead. "Are you the member of Crimson Sun?"

"Who… the fuck… are you?" he said haltingly.

"Are you the member of Crimson Sun?" I said cocking the gun. With that he nodded. "Is there somebody named Mina Harker in your group?"

"Who…?" He said.

"Mina Harker. Do you know Mina Harker?"

"Yeah… But she's not with us."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm telling you the truth"

"Don't lie to me! Is Mina Harker with your guys?

"No she ain't."

"Don't fucking lie to me!"

"I'm not lying, man! She's not with us. I think she's with Neo Rising."

"Who?"

"Neo Rising. Mina was never with was us. She was with that group going into a year now."

"Oooh. Looks somebody set you guys up, dude. Do you know anybody by the name of Peter Craig?"

"Who the fuck's Peter Craig?"

"Didn't think so. Do you know a Todo Hotsumi?"

"Todo Hotsumi? I think he's giving all the training for some of the best known vampire groups around. There's one called Dominion of Darkness. He's given them the best fighters around. Nobody can compete with them, man, except probably Todo Hotsumi.

"Where can I find Todo Hotsumi ?"

"…I …don't…know…"

"Quit your bullshitting. Where is Todo Hotsumi?"

"He's…in…this…castle he built in…this estate called…Destiny's Hand… in…Sacramento."

"You'd better not fucking with me, bitch!"

"I'm telling you the truth, man! He bought that estate thirty one years ago. He's got a huge following. That group Neo Rising, their leader, Alexandria Wolfe, she had her training there."

"Alexandria Wolfe? You mean Neo Rising's leader is a woman?"

"You'd better fucking believe it, man. I got no reason to lie to you. P…please d…don't h…hurt …me."

I calmly tucked my pistol in the back of my pants and released his hair leaving his hand to flop back. He then slowly raised his head and looked at me. The guy was still very weak. "Thanks a lot for your cooperation." I said. "There's something I have to tell you though. You see that guy Peter Craig? In about a few minutes he's got his right hand man and plenty of others coming to blast you and your pals to kingdom come. I strongly suggest that you go warn your buddies. That's unless of course you can walk. Soon you'll lose your ability to talk. You have about two hours before that shot you got finally wears off." I did a kind of trick before I left. I locked the door from the inside and climbed over the toilet. I landed on my feet and briskly walked out of the bathroom. I then walked out of the restaurant and hopped on my bike and drove off. I felt quite guilty of what I done, but I understood that when it comes to those pricks there's no mercy.