Disclaimer: I don't own Blade or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

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Chapter 4: Cam Almighty

"Tell me more about your years with Snowman," Blade demanded as they drove through the dark streets. He knew a few people were going to die tonight, but he had other plans. He only wished people would grow brains and wake up, to know better than to walk right into a vampire trap. Dream on, Whistler told him, dream on.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked casually, looking over at him and received what she knew was a glare through his sunglasses. "Okay, okay. Ask and you shall receive, big guy. Snowman, unlike most vampire masters, was generally a good guy. If you take out the constant feedings and beatings for insolence, he was okay."

"Beatings, huh? He sounds great; deserves an award."

"Don't get me wrong. It sucked, no pun intended, but he was a very…Zen kind of guy; followed a code of his, honor and what not. Of course, I thought that whole thing was just because he was Chinese." Blade quirked a small smirk that Max didn't even see.

"He's dead," he stated, and she looked over to him, confusion clearly written across her face. "Killed by the Reapers, a bad ass upgrade of the suck heads only killed by sunlight and UV rays." He saw her stare straight ahead, one hand out the window, as the silence reigned until she decided to ask the big question.

"How long ago?" And there it was.

"Two years," he stated simply and heard her sigh.

"Damn," she muttered, lowering her head a bit in what, he couldn't tell, was either shock or respect. "Um, during the year that Xavier and I were with him, he taught us how to fight. Both of us learned the sword, that being Snowman's specialty, but I was much better than Xavier; he was a gun kind of man. Snowman said he wanted to be sure his meals could take care of themselves during the day, or at the clubs if someone tried to move in on us. This was, of course, before he turned us."

"You never thought about trying to escape?" Blade looked over at her through the corner of his eyes and saw her shake her head. "Stupid kids."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, more offended now than she had been when he called her 'kid'. "We had a good deal! Food, shelter, training –"

"You were someone else's food for a year, and than were turned into the very thing that fed off you. Take away the good, just how stupid were you and your brother?" She just scoffed and leaned back in her seat again.

"You're the real sympathetic type, aren't you?" She turned her head to look out the window, only hearing his deep chuckle over the wind. "You know, you freed us." She looked over at him, sensing he was looking at her. "No, you did. When Snowman left us to fend for ourselves it was to train to kill you, like I said. So, in a way, you freed us."

"Don't."

""Don't", what?"

"You know what." She nodded and looked straight ahead, indeed knowing what he meant. He didn't want her gratitude or thanks; he didn't want it, need it, and he simply didn't care. "We're here."

"And where is "here"?" she asked as the car came to a sudden stop.

"Do you always ask this many questions?" he asked while stepping out of the car, Max following and leaning against her door, arms on the roof.

"Do you always dodge this many questions?" He growled and walked towards the darkened building, and she followed him was a triumphant smirk.

Max decided to take the time to observe the building, just to see what she was getting herself into. She looked the building up and down with disgust. It was a bowling alley, a mother fucking bowling alley! Not just a bowling alley though, oh, no. It was a rundown and condemned bowling alley.

"You have the weirdest hang outs, Blade, I swear. Unused docks and an abandoned bowling alley? Fucking weird, big guy." Blade had noticed that she had nickname for him now and couldn't help but groan inwardly with disgust. He just knew Whistler was going to love this woman.

Walking inside, the alley was empty but all the lights were on. There was no one around, but it was abandoned so why would there be? All of a sudden, some loud rock music kicked on, but was muffled by the walls of the lanes. Wherever it was, it was coming from behind that wall. The sound of something like a chainsaw soon followed, and Blade could see a faint light at the last lane, shimmering onto the waxed floor. He pointed to it and Max finally saw what he did.

"Oh, yeah, that's not creepy at all," she mused sarcastically, standing exactly where she was while Blade moved up to one of the lanes.

"You comin' or what?" he asked impatiently, and she nodded slowly.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure, why not? Today's a good day to travel around the dark tunnels of a bowling alley and die," she replied, and Blade shook his head with a growl and went back to walking up the lane, Max close behind. "So, um, what are we doing here, exactly are we gonna find here?"

"Information."

"Anything else, like a crazy ax murderer, or circus freaks?" Blade stopped dead in his tracks and looked back at her. Max just shrugged and looked at him incredulously. "WHAT! It could happen!"

He shook his head and continued walking the slippery lane until he reached the end, where the pins would normally rest. Blade ducked under the low wall and looked around the dark tunnel. There was one light, and that was flickering at the end of the tunnel. Somebody was back there, working on something. When Max came through, he simply nodded towards the light and started walking again. He distinctly heard Max sigh behind him, but didn't stop.

As they reached the end of the tunnel, the music grew louder and Max identified it as Linkin Park. They walked around a corner to find a small-heightened Asian man with long black hair to his shoulders, baggy gray cargo pants, Army boots, a dirty white t-shirt covered in oil and grease. The only thing you couldn't make out on this guy was his eyes, which were covered by thick welding goggles as he worked. At least now they knew what the light had been – this guy, welding.

"CAM!" Blade bellowed, startling the man welding. He jumped, dropping his tools and stumbled backwards as he tried to remove his goggles, but fell onto the floor instead. Max walked over to the workstation, picked up a tiny remote and hit the power button, turning off the music. With a pained sigh, Cam pulled his goggles to his neck and blinked up at the massive figure of Blade hovering over him. "Having fun?"

"Oh, yeah, sure! You scaring the shit out of me is exactly my idea of fun," Cam retorted, taking the hand Blade offered him. Blade pulled him up so fast that Cam stumbled again, and Blade had to move away as Cam stumbled into his worktable. "That was fun, too. You know, Blade, you definitely know how to show a guy a good time!"

"I need information," Blade stated, getting straight to the point.

"Yeah, sure, no problem, 'cause I wasn't doin' anything important," Cam replied in irritation. "Never – NEVER – sneak up on a man while he's handling a welder, B!" he shouted, holding his unlit welder directly at Blade's face.

"Get that out of my face, or I'll shove it up your ass," he warned, and Cam immediately threw it onto the table with a loud crash.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry," he said, backing away from Blade slowly, hands raised in defense. "I meant no harm. And, uh, one more thing – who is the supreme hottie," he asked, pointing at Max, who raised an eyebrow at him. "She's not with you, by any chance, is she? Hello! I am Cam Lee, but you may call me Cam Almighty for I am a genius! And you are?"

"A former vampire," Max stated, crossing her arms threateningly at Cam's hopeful tone.

"EH!" he exclaimed, shivering in disgust as he walked away, towards a group of six or seven computer screens. "Why are all the good ones blood sucking fiends?" he asked himself.

"Cam," Blade said firmly.

"Yeah?"

"Information," he repeated.

"Oh, right, sorry, man. What kind do you need?" he asked as he sat down in his rotating chair.

"A man, possible vampire," he replied, walking over to him with Max right next to him.

"Name?"

"Xavier Doyle."

Cam nodded and typed the name into his databank. If you wanted information on anyone in the vampire community – leader, lackey, and known haunts – then Cam had it. As far as Blade was concerned, no one – besides him and Whistler – knew more about the underworld life than Cam. He had it all, and it was both a good thing and bad thing. If anyone in the vampire world knew about his data bank, Cam was dead.

"Uh…nothing," he said, leaning back with a sigh. Max shook her head and turned away, back towards both men. "You know anything about this guy that might help?"

"What was the name of that clan you heard he was with," Blade asked, turning to Max.

"Talos. My guy said it was Talos," she replied, and noted on Cam's shocked face.

"Whoa, hold the phone, honey," he began, earned a glare from Max. "If we're talking the Talos Clan, than you might as well forget it. This guy of yours is either dead, dying, or a fucking Familiar for them to fed off of. Forget him. Forget him and run."

"Not a fucking chance in hell!" she retorted. "This is you big fucking contact? What a waste of fucking time," she stated, stalking out of the workshop the way she came.

"Well, ain't she a peach," Cam commented sarcastically, walking back over to his workspace and welder. "Where'd you pick her up?"

"Alleyway," Blade replied walking past him.

"Oh, the usual spot," he mused, putting his goggles back on.

"After she was bitten," he added, and Cam looked up at him in shock only to find the hybrid gone.

"Yeah, that's not creepy in the least," he commented before turning his music back on, Linkin Park blaring through his sound system once more. "Sometimes, I hate my job," he said to himself and went back to his welding.

A/N: Cam is based loosely off of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda character Harper. I love him!

P.S. Five pages total.