Johnathan went through the inner glass door of the new ARES Industries Headquarters, located in sunny Miami, Florida. The company had relocated due to their constant problems with New York's policies, and he had to admit the mood was a tad better now. Politicians, he nearly snarled. Distrust and outright hate of politics and bureaucracy was another of the (many) things he picked up during his deployment, and one of the few things that could keep his mind busy long enough to make life endurable and avoiding his usual mind-drifting and day-dreaming. He sipped coffee from his mug as he opened his office's door and sat unceremoniously on the swivel chair, quickly focusing his attention on the seemingly-never ending flow of paperwork that always found a way to arrive in his desk.

He always did his best to focus his whole attention on his job, but there were days when he just couldn't. Those days when he would try to dig into his own mind, trying to exorcise or at least finally know who the mysterious girl on his dreams was. In the beginning, he thought of it as a fine mental exercise, trying to solve the mystery. But overtime it became an obsession, a task where he tried too much but the results were none. It was something he tried to avoid as much as possible, but bottling it up just made it worse, resulting in him losing a day's worth of job dealing with it (not that it mattered, he was always ahead of schedule when it came to his work). He closed his eyes, decided to get it over with. The sooner the better.

He had dreamed it so much that he could remember every detail of it, from the girl's jet-black hair, styled in bangs, down to the clothes he wore, short pants with a yellow shirt and a faded trench-coat. That's what always seemed odd to him, the trench coat, and that's what ultimately led him to believe his dream was more than just random stuff he pieced together from some movie or book he'd read. He never did liked trench coats, and the fact that he was using one in his dream was something that might seem trivial to anybody else, but he knew that little details could change the context of the big picture. God is in the details, ladies! He could remember hearing from his Drill Sergeant, a burly black man who was a bit too happy to make boot camp slightly more miserable.

Focus, you are drifting away! He thought to himself, focusing on his previous task.

"This… is… the most… incredible thing I've ever seen" she says, her back still to him, her attention robbed by something. What is it? What is she paying attention to? There… it's a sunrise. Okay, yeah, sunrises are pretty neat, but why does she act like she's never seen one?

It didn't matter how much thought he gave to it, it made little sense to him. The scene was so surreal that he might be able to fit it in a fictional book or soap opera. Yet, the beauty of it, the sunrise over the mountain, covered with a lush (if creepy) forest… it was… beautiful. It was peaceful. But why?! The desperation got the better out of him, causing a sudden anger burst during which he threw all the paperwork to the carpeted floor.

"I've heard of bad Mondays, but yours is the worst case I've seen so far" Daniel Marlow, CEO and founder of ARES industries (and Johnathan's brother) stood on the doorframe, watching his brother have a fit scarcely 10 minutes after clocking in. While he disguised it pretty well, he was one of the few who had at least half an idea of what was happening to his brother. He had been, after all, in charge of looking for Dracula's daughter when she went missing some years ago, much for the benefit of his then-depressed-and-near-suicidal brother. He was more than disappointed to see that all of his efforts where in van, since, despite his fancy new job and apparently-straightened life, the man was still as emotionally crushed and demolished as before.

It was different now, though. His brother seemed to have mental blank spots of everything that had happened regarding the mythological Count's offspring. While at first this had seemed to be something good, he soon found out that a blank memory didn't necessarily translated into a blank heart, and his brother was pretty much in love with a person he didn't even remembered. He was, essentially, a prisoner of his own heart. But that's not what I'm here for.

"You should have seen me last week, almost jumped out of that window" Johnathan replied, giving his brother a half-smile for the sake of politeness.

"Doubt it, that window is embassy-grade blast-resistant glass. You could fire rocket into that thing and it wouldn't break. I would have to hire somebody to clean up and fix the outer wall, though"

"Then I'll keep my toys at home. Coffee?" Daniel nodded at his brother's offering, and Johnathan poured his boss-brother a cup of steaming coffee. "What brings you here? Checking out how lesser types live?"

"Of course, I sometimes need to lift my mood" they both chuckled, the joke being an internal one and never told in public, lest they cause a swarm of politically-correct activists to come for their heads. "Nah, I'm here because you got mail, a personal letter. I figured it would be better to bring it to you personally. Do you know a… Jessica Torres?"

"Uh… not personally, but I do know her husband, John Torres. We were squad mates in the 'Stan. He saved my ass for good a couple of times. Maybe she's trying to reach to me to plan a surprise for him or something. She's that kind of girl, ya know?" Johnathan snatched the envelope from his brother's hands, using a thin-bladed knife to cautiously slash the brittle strip of glue under the lapel and extracted a single paper sheet. His mood and demeanor had gone from bad to worse by the time he finished.

"What's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost"

Johnathan blinked once and then refocused on reality.

"John is dead"

"What?! How?"

"Car accident. Drunk asshole hit him, he died instantly according to her"

"Jesus. What a horrible way to go"

"Yeah, I know"

They sat in silence for a minute or two, Daniel out of respect of his brother's friend and Johnathan trying to digest what he had just read. That Torres had saved his life a couple of times was an understatement. The latin-ascendance Texan had been one of the closest friends he'd had in his life, a bond that was strengthened when he had pulled and unconscious Johnathan from a Humvee in the middle of a firefight. Torres would take his discharge along with Johnathan, going to work as a psychiatrist and often being the one that had helped Johnathan try to put a face on Johnathan's mystery girl. And now he was gone. Just like that. A man that survived countless shootouts against ruthless religious extremists, humping heavy packs in one of the Earth's most rugged and unforgivable terrains, comes home after surviving hell on earth and gets killed by a random idiot who went out on a bender. Unbelievable.

"I'm sorry bro" Daniel finally broke the silence, a sincere gesture to his brother, who'd just realized he had lost another important person in his life.

"They'll give him a service in two days. Do you think I could…"

"Yeah, no need to ask. I'll take care of your work"

"Thanks bro"

"Who's a little rebellious vampire, uh? You are, little Nate!" Mavis cooed to her son while she used her magic to change his diaper. The baby giggled uncontrollably as she tickled him, a mother-and-son moment that made the rookie mother very happy. While it was true that motherhood was anything but easy (more so when the baby is a vampire and ages so slowly), she found herself enjoying every second of it, from Nathan's birth to the present moment. She thought that the fact that O'Donnell was also a very attentive and loving father and husband was also part of the reason she didn't feel particularly restless about her new responsibilities. Padraigh was always eager to take care of their son, often playing with him and helping her when the little vampire threw his tantrums, which none of them understood the reason for.

"You want to see your daddy, huh? He should have arrived an hour earlier. Where could he be?" but the baby offered no answers beyond beaming his eyes towards his mother. Mavis cradled him and the baby was fast-sleep in no time. Another twenty minutes would pass before the house`s door opened and her husband peeked inside, not wanting to risk spooking the sleeping vampire on his wife's arms.

"Is he out?" he whispered as he tip-toed his way to the couch were Mavis had sat to wait for him.

"Yep. A storm could bring down the house around him and he wouldn't even flinch" she answered with a smile.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that" O'Donnell retorted, sitting by her side and using his left arm to embrace her by her hips. The couple watched their son sleep peacefully, Mavis trying to picture her own father raising her as a baby, perhaps not so unlike Nathan himself. Surely he would have had a few gray hairs after raising her if he wasn't a vampire.

"Why did you take so long? I was worried" she said, changing subjects.

"I'm sorry, Mavy, it took a bit longer than I expected. I got a call from Ireland. The guy I left inn charge, Summers, he wanted me to go back, he said it was urgent. I tried to talk him out of the idea but he's a stubborn bastard. I'll have to head over there in the next few days."

It wasn't good news. The couple loved to travel, and normally going to Ireland wasn't something very complicated for them. But they had a baby now. They couldn't drop everything and go away at a moment's notice. Yet, perhaps this was going to be the last opportunity they would have in decades.

"You know… we could ask Dad and Claire to take care of Nate… I'm sure they'll love to spend time with him. And we wouldn't be away more than a few days, right?" she offered, trying to get the gears on her husband's head rolling.

"No, not really… but… it doesn't feel right, you know. I feel weird about this whole thing."

"Hey, it's ok, it was just a suggestion, alright? You don't have to do it if it doesn't feel right"

Yet, he could sense the slight disappointment in her voice. O'Donnell went to bed that morning thinking time and time again the situation. He didn't like the situation at all, his gut telling him that it was best to stay put. But he felt like he was punishing Mavis for no reason. She was still very young, she wanted to see the world still and see and experience new stuff. Yes, having a baby was great and none of them would argue that, but their traveling together was also something great, an activity both of them loved, and Mavis wanted a last taste of it before she had to forfeit it for some years (probably a couple hundred, if they decided to have more kids, an idea that hadn't yet made it to their plans for the future). It was a delicate subject, he finally decided before falling sleep, and he needed to think it through and through.

Tomorrow.

Yeah, I know, I'm late. Sorry. Holidays are over, had to come back home and all that. Add the jet lag and you have a recipe for two days of good ole lazyness. Anyways, don't forget to review and I hope you are liking it so far. I know I've strayed way too far from the movie's feel but it's not so bad, is it?