"Can I ask what the relevance of this is exactly?" Herbert asked, sick at the very thought of the place he was in.

Even though Dan had tried to convince him in the past, singles clubs were the last place on Earth Herbert ever wanted to be in and if he were to list the reasons why, the list would probably take him until the end of his life to complete. At the moment however, the deafening music and obnoxious flashing lights were right at the top of the list.

"People are dying all over the club circuit in the area," said Cassie, shrugging and wiping off the bar she was standing behind. "Did you check out the bodies at the morgue?"

When he'd agreed to come with her and Vlad until he found a suitable place to continue his work on the re-agent, he hadn't realized that that meant getting involved with her lifelong suicide mission. If he weren't so bored with sitting in the back of her van and confining his thoughts to a notebook, he would never have gone along with it, but it had already provided him with new research material. Although, he wasn't about to tell her that he'd tested a different re-agent solution on some of them. The end result had been enough to make even him feel slightly nauseous.

"Yes," he said curtly, leaning forward on the bar. "They all have the same wounds in common – cause of death was a severe chemical burn. Probably acid."

"Uh-huh," Cassie replied dryly, nodding her head. "Acid Angel, I knew it."

"That sounds like a comic book character," said Herbert, unable to believe that he'd somehow been roped into this.

"And she dresses like one. Providing she's wearing anything at all and not spitting acid all over the place," said Cassie, putting a glass down in front of him and pouring something in it. "Drink up."

He looked down at the glass and then back up at her as if to ask, "What the hell are you thinking? Do you seriously think I want to touch anything in here, let alone alcohol?"

"It's okay," she said in a quieter voice. "It's just ginger ale. I've been throwing them back all night."

There was a scream behind them and the subsequent flying of a body overhead before it crashed into a table of very surprised blonde girls. Herbert blinked and turned back to Cassie. "At least Vlad's having fun," she said, shrugging again. "What about you?"

"I've never felt more ridiculous in my entire life," he said bitterly. "I was too old for these places when I was a teenager."

"Well it can't be much longer," said Cassie, sliding a beer down to a patron sitting at the opposite end of the bar. "I'm hoping the double A'll pick up another victim tonight, that way we can slaughter her again and move on."

"Again?" Herbert asked. "As in you've killed her before?"

"Well yeah!" said Cassie, nodding to someone who rather rudely requested a bourbon. "What'd you think slashers do after we kill them? That's the reason why there's so many bad horror movie sequels out there."

"You mustn't have killed her well enough then," said Herbert. "What's the point of killing them in the first place if they're just going to get back up again?"

Cassie handed the rude customer his drink over Herbert's shoulder and shook her head at him. "What's the point of bringing back dead people if they're just gonna get up and try to rip your face off?" she asked. "I dunno, but it keeps the body count of the country down for a little while. Just lemme know if any hot blonde chicks come onto you tonight."

"The only place I'm going once this conversation is over is back to the hotel," said Herbert. "I've wasted enough time here, and what's the significance of…"

Cassie shook her head again. "Acid Angel's whole schtick is that she finds some idiot, gets them all excited about the great sex they're gonna have, and the minute she gets turned on enough, she spits acid in their face," she said. "So if a blonde comes onto you, run."

Herbert blinked at her and stood up. "I've had enough of this," he said. "You and Vlad can more than handle this on your own. I will see you later tonight, if you somehow manage to survive. Goodbye."

"Hold on, wait, wait, wait!" Cassie said quickly, darting around from behind her post and catching him by the wrist.

He rolled his eyes and inwardly groaned as she put her arms around his neck. "I go on break in about fifteen minutes," she said, looking at him hopefully.

"Good," said Herbert. "I'm happy for you. Now get off me."

"Come on," said Cassie, grinning at him. "Doesn't a little part of you love making all these droolers in here jealous?"

Though it was true that a lot of the men at the bar looked either disgusted or disappointed, Herbert couldn't have been less concerned since the pulsating atmosphere was making his head feel like it were in a vice. In fact, it hadn't felt right since Warden Brando beat him down during the riot.

"If I were of lower intelligence, then perhaps I would," he said, trying to disentangle himself from her. "But thankfully, I've evolved a little more since you saw me last."

Cassie cocked an eyebrow at him and gave him that wolfish smirk that meant whatever he had in mind for the evening was about to be put on hold or completely forgotten whatsoever as she pulled back and grabbed his tie, yanking him towards a sorry little corridor that was pitch black and relatively empty. "There's an employee bathroom with a lock on it," said Cassie. "If A.A. shows up, Vlad's on his own."

"And here I'd thought you'd matured," Herbert replied irritably.

"I did," said Cassie. "But I'm a thirty-three year old woman with bloodlust and needs and the latter I don't have to wait for, so move it."

A/N: Next chap sex and violence will ensue. Probably together and before the slasher starts with the real violence.