By the time Arra had managed to catch up with him, Larten had broken the back door down and was standing protectively over the dead bodies of a man and woman. He was watching a large vampaneze that stood just a few feet away, behind him lay the murdered children, a boy and girl. Larten's eyes never left the large man. He had seen his fair share of Vampaneze but he didn't recognise this one.

"Get out of my way, vampires." The man hissed through gritted teeth. He may be a good fighter but he didn't fancy his chances against two full grown vampires. Blood and saliva dribbled slowly down his chin. He clearly didn't care about losing the precious crimson liquid, having already had his fill.

"Larten, let him pass. I know that you want revenge for this family but you would be starting a war! Would it really be worth it?" Arra pleaded with him, not wanting this night to cause the rift between vampires and vampaneze to grow even wider. She could see the murderous hatred in his eyes, she felt like killing the man also but it risked all of their friends' lives.

"You know that I cannot do that." He growled under his breath, not even sparing her so much as a glance. His hand slowly moved inside the flap of his jacket, withdrawing one of his favoured knives. "He deserves to die!"

The next few seconds contained a flurry of high speed movements of a fight that no human eye could possibly track. But Arra could. Her chest tightened around her heart as she watched anxiously. Larten was faster than she was, faster even than his opponent, so there was no way in which she could be of any help. The fight was over in a mere ten seconds, a yelp of pain filling the air, the knife clattering away across the floor.

Both men held onto each other, the extent of injuries not yet known. A few more moments dragged on before Larten let the body drop to the floor, a gaping wound in the dead man's chest. The orange haired vampire was covered in blood all down his front, including his hand that had dealt the fatal blow. His own blood slowly trickled down his cheek from a slash of sharpened nails.

"Larten?" Arra asked cautiously, rooted to the spot. She had no idea of how he must be feeling. This was a man who rarely lost his composure, "Are you hurt?"

Hearing her voice seemed to snap him back to reality even though he still looked like he was in some sort stupor when he turned to face her. She went to him when she noticed the mark on his cheek, licking her finger before appyling it to the wound. It started to slowly heal up. He trembled just slightly under her hands, shocked by all of this bloodshed within the house. He slowly turned around, taking in the four bodies and the dead vampaneze.

"Something is wrong.." He said slowly, his voice a little rough. He completed his circle and looked back to her. "There's something missing from this place.."

Arra watched as Larten rushed around the room, searching behind the upturned furniture and along broken shelves. He couldn't put his fingeron it in his current state but his mind was screaming at him that there was something he had missed. Something was very important.

"Larten, I think you should-" She was cut off by him suddenly shushing her. His features were creased into a frown of concentration. "What is it?"

"Did you hear that? I could have sworn.." He crossed over to where the mantle piece had lost all of its items and crouched down to search the floor. He rummaged through the mess and slowly rose, holding what looked like a photo frame. He ran his finger down the surface, the cracked glass crunching under his touch. He handed the picture to her and looked towards the staircase in the hallway.

A faint but very recognisable gurgle floated down to their ears. Arra gasped, her eyes on the picture. They both spoke at the same time. "They have twin babies."

"And they survived." Larten added.

Sorry it took so long

Doggie