A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.

I've had problems uploading tonight; the site wouldn't register the new chapters. It denied they were there even though I'd uploaded them… I'm not sure what time these will show. I'm sorry if they appear really late…

Chapter 11: Blinking

The young vampires raced towards the door as fast as they could. Bertrand gave them a grave look. Vlad recognised that look anywhere.

From Bertrand's position he wasn't in an aggressive stance, he was in a more anxious posture. "You're needed downstairs."

Erin was immediately concerned, why wasn't he more worried about the explosion? "What's wrong?"

Bertrand opened and closed his mouth, he couldn't describe the explosions. "You need to see for yourself." Bertrand told them sharply.

Vlad nodded before gesturing for Bertrand to go ahead. Bertrand vanished out of the room; the pair shared a concerned look before vanishing.

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As soon as they were all downstairs they could immediately see why Bertrand had thought it was easier to show them rather than tell them what was wrong.

The explosion had caused no immediate damage to the building's structure itself but there was something else about it that could cause a problem.

"Renfield opened the box, it looked like an ordinary soy blood crate. As soon as the lid was off it exploded sending these things flying out everywhere. There's no structural damage but they're just sitting there."

Vlad ran his hand near the objects imbedded into the walls. Each object was like a pop can sized dart in glistening metal. A row of blue pulsing LED lights flashed on and off. They were imbedded at least two inches deep every single one of them.

Bertrand pointed upwards; Vlad followed his finger to see the minute holes in the ceiling where these devices had travelled upwards in a straight line. Other walls had holes in them as well, showing that they had passed through them as well.

Someone had known what he or she was doing.

Jonno stepped into view at this point; he was out of breath, Robin close behind him. They'd left Mina with one of the crates to keep an eye on them and let them know if they were doing anything different. "We've found three other soy blood crates. Each one has exploded at the same time, latching these things onto the walls."

So the explosion that shook the building hadn't been from one solitary place it had been from three at exactly the same moment. The explosion had been used to embed these 'things' in the walls.

"What are they?" Erin asked quietly. She gently reached her arm forwards and touched one. Erin let out a sharp cry as she yanked her hand back. Her skin burned where she touched it. She shook it in instinct trying to get the cool air to it.

Vlad was instantly by her side inspecting her hand carefully. The damage wouldn't last long. It was already healing. He stroked the back of her hand with his fingers trying to distract her from the sensation.

"They're flashing what ever they are." Ingrid answered with a shrug.

"They're definitely not Slayer design." Jonno mutter moving closer. They weren't their typical design and they weren't made of these materials whatever they were.

"We need to deactivate them." Erin told them all firmly. She looked at Jonno who stared at the device. "Before they…" There was no guarantee they would explode, "Do something…"

"I've never seen anything like this."

"Do you think you could understand it?" Vlad asked him quietly.

Jonno resisted the urge to touch one. "If I have a few weeks."

Bertrand was the one to speak before Vlad can answer, "If they're in the walls now, whoever sent them will be here before nightfall."

There was no way that Jonno would be able to figure out what they did completely and how to deal with them but if luck was on his side he might be able to figure out what they were at least.

"We'll need to get one out to take it apart."

Ingrid looked at Vlad, "Vlad can use his powers…"

"We don't know whether that will set what ever they are off. We can't risk it." Jonno looked at the small device, it looked innocent enough but looks can be deceiving and there definitely was a reason it was sent to them and it wasn't just to add decorate to Vlad's home. "It'll have to be take out by hand."

Vlad looked at the device, he wanted them out of his walls as fast as Jonno possibly could. "What do you need?"

"I need tools."

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Vlad had a chance to get back to the conversation he wanted to have with Bertrand ever since seeing his face as he burst into the room. Bertrand was obviously concerned about something and while they were preparing to try and study the devices this would be the best time to discuss it. He folded his arms and looked up slightly at his former mentor, "What do you know?"

Bertrand looked around before lowing his voice for vampire ears only. "There's only one thing Olga can do about your power." Bertrand told Vlad quickly, it had come to him. This is what he'd realised while they were talking, "She won't be able to attack you herself she's not skilled enough to do anything, nor are the Council…"

Vlad automatically cottoned on. "They don't exist anymore…"

Bertrand shook his head; it was something Vlad had to consider. "We never saw proof of that Vlad,"

Ingrid seemed to cotton on to what Bertrand was talking about and watched the conversation like a tennis match, now wasn't the time to inject a quip. It was time to let Vlad talk it out.

"I thought I disbanded them!" Vlad hissed at Bertrand. They had been the first thing to go, they were supposed to serve the Grand High Vampire but they served anyone for a price. Their loyalty could easily be bought and sold.

None of them had actually seen written that showed that Vlad had disbanded them and he hadn't overseen it personally. Knowing what the Council had been up to there was every possibility that they hadn't followed through with Vlad's order. He should have demanded written proof, however even if he had there was still a small chance that it would have been a forged document.

"Obviously you didn't."

Erin coughed loudly, they continued arguing for a few moments and she coughed louder. Eventually they turned to face her, but this time she'd folded her arms over her chest. "Are you going to let the rest of us join in or is this a full blood vampire only conversation?"

Vlad gave Erin a sheepish look; he'd forgotten he hadn't talked to her about this. It had been one of those discussions that had been tabled for later when something came up and it had never actually been resolved. Vlad had a feeling it had been about the time of their second Betrothal Ball. He wrapped an arm around his wife's waist and tugged her closer to him before kissing her softly in an apology.

"Bertrand thinks Olga is sending Hunters after us, and I'm not convinced he's wrong." Vlad admitted. Bertrand's fears were justified. If this was the work of Hunters then it made sense, they would be the most trained vampires and possibly the only way to deal with the power that Vlad held.

"What are Hunters?" Erin was curious, she'd heard Vlad mention them before but she'd never actually asked him.

"The worst kind of vampires. They're like bounty hunters; they hunt for the sport not the reward. They're highly trained Vlad, a Hunter is bred its not an occupation you can choose."

Ingrid spoke the next part quietly. "And Vlad is their biggest challenge. They won't pass it up."

"They don't care about dying, as long as it's in the heat of battle. They don't fight with honour. They cheat. Not one vampire has survived meeting them in battle; they like to do the job quickly and precisely. They were originally formed to protect the Grand High Vampire but they then worked for the highest bidder. They still do."

Erin summarised, the thought of Hunters terrified her. "And you think Olga is the highest bidder at the moment."

Vlad tipped his head and winced before nodding. As he thought before, it made sense.

"Vampire elite?" Robin asked with a grin, "Awesome." Every other person in the room rolled their eyes at the comment. Only Robin could be awed by something when they were all so close to death.

Ingrid asked a very valid point then. The obviously didn't have long. "How do we stop them?"

"You can't, all we can do is wait for them to show up and attack. We're the most highly trained vampires in existence next to them."

"So we might have a chance?" Ingrid asked quietly.

Bertrand hesitated and that told them all they needed to know, the odds were slim. "Yeah." He eventually said, completely unconvincingly. Ingrid could see through him straight away but she fought to keep an optimistic look on her face so not to make everyone panic.

Jonno knew they needed a plan of defence, if Bertrand was right then they'd come for them as soon as possible. These devices told them they meant business and that they'd be here soon.

"We need people where each crate was." Jonno suggested, "Ingrid by the servants' entrance, Mum you go by the garden entrance and Robin can go by the side entrance."

Vlad nodded in agreement, they would serve as lookouts, it was all they had at the moment. "Do it."

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Jonno leaned forwards on the ladder; it rocked violently underneath him before he could do anything about it. "ERIN!" He hissed grabbing the metal of the ladders firmly, his heart racing as they wobbled. The panic in Jonno's voice seemed to finally get Erin's attention and she grabbed the ladder once more, steadying it.

Jonno breathed slowly, trying to calm himself down.

Jonno inserted the flat-headed screwdriver underneath the device, he tried to gently pry it out but he couldn't do it with one hand it was buried to deep. Adding extra force he placed both off his hands on the screwdriver and slowly pried it out. It was nearly fully out when his hand slipped. He reached for the first thing he could grab, trying to stop his whole body shooting forwards and falling flat on his face.

Unfortunately the first thing he grabbed was the device. He held the device for a few seconds, certainly longer than Erin had touched it. He pulled his arm back sharply as an electric current flowed through his arm.

The device seemed to embed itself deeper into the panelling without any assistance. There would be no way Jonno could get it out in time. Strangely there were no changes in the sound it made.

The LEDs on the device sped up from a gentle pulsing to a frantic blinking.

"Get it out!" Vlad yelled at Jonno.

"I can't touch it." Jonno yelled back at him.

"You did it just."

Jonno wasn't going to take the blame for this one. "I didn't do it on purpose!"

Erin looked at Vlad, "Use your powers."

"We don't know what will happen!" He protested, this was the whole point this had to be done by hand.

"Vlad there's no choice, either you take it out or it'll do whatever it was designed for."

Vlad looked at it resignedly, he clicked his fingers and the doors opened immediately. With a trembling hand he gestured towards the device, the blinking increased further, they'd been right his powers set it off even more.

With all his strength he flung it outside.

The device was barely out the doors when it exploded, sending a shower of the path inside covering them completely. Erin turned her head trying to protect her eyes. Immediately all the vampires winced as their hearing was affected by the noise of the blast. Everything became muffled. Vlad seemed to be suffering the most as she frantically shook his head trying to get some sense of hearing back.

"At least we know what it does." Erin quipped dryly. There was one answer they didn't have to worry themselves with anymore.

Bertrand looked at the devices, they were all close together, "If that had exploded in here it would have set off a chain reaction." He observed.

"So they want to knock the manor down?" It was hardly the great attack of the century.

"They can press the button at anytime." Bertrand continued, interrupting Jonno. "They can destroy it in the daylight and there would be no hope of survival."

Without shelter they would be nothing more than piles of ash in the sunlight.

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The only problem they had ignored was the one going on outside the school. The natural problem all vampires had – that night was upon them. They hadn't noticed how long darkness had been upon them but looking down at their watches they knew it had been dark for quite a while. Being summer dawn broke at four am and it was three am already.

A scuffle was heard and immediately everyone switched to fighting stance mode. Jonno grabbed the stake that had been lying carelessly to one side while he was trying to figure out what the device was.

Robin and Mina were shoved roughly into the room, Ingrid as well. The trio skidded along the floor.

"Glad to see you were expecting us."

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading.