“Good. Stuart, give me a layout of the bungalow.”

Having drawn a rectangle in the dirt with his finger, Stuart explained while sketching it. “The place has a side entrance. When you open the front door, you’re in a hallway. The first room on your left is the living area, the second on your left is the dining room, and the one directly ahead of you on the opposite side of the bungalow is the kitchen. There’s only one right turning, which is parallel to the dining room, and it’s actually a continuance of the hallway. Once you make that right turn, you have a room on either side of you – one being a bathroom, and another being a tiny bedroom. You also have two doors in front of you. One of them is the master bedroom, and the other is just a standard sized bedroom.”

“And the basement?”

“The hatch is in the kitchen. There’s actually a back entrance to the bungalow and it leads straight into the kitchen, so we could just sneak—”

Easily reading where his thoughts had taken him, I raised a hand. “No, we need to eliminate all the guards before entering the basement. Where exactly are the poker-playing vampires lounging?”

“The living area.”

“And the other two?”

“If they’re still f**king, they’re in the master bedroom.”

Sam asked, “From what you’ve seen, do you think it’s possible to save the vampires that are contained in the cells?”

Stuart blew out a breath, shaking his head. “No, Coach. The Sventé from your dream is lucid, but she doesn’t seem stable, she looks like she’s deteriorating fast.”

I felt the disappointment that travelled through Sam, but I resisted trying to give her any comfort. With the guys, she was ‘Coach’, and she wouldn’t like showing any weakness in front of them.

“Reuben, Damien, Harvey – I want you guys to cover the back entrance, just in case anyone from the basement tries to surface and make a run for it.” I doubted that anybody would. If these vampires were here to guard and hide something, the last thing they would do was run before at least trying to fight us off. “Chico, Salem, Denny, Stuart – once we’re inside, I want you four to deal with the vampires in the bedroom. Before we do anything, though, Salem and Chico – I want you both to deal with the guards on the roof. Do it quickly and quietly. We want the whole thing to be over as quickly and quietly as possible. We have no idea what kind of gifts the vampires in that place have. We can’t afford to give them any warning that we’re here.”

They both nodded, slinking away. In a tense silence, we all watched as Chico and Salem moved with a predator’s grace toward the large bungalow. Unseen, they reached the building and leaped up onto the roof from opposite sides. Before either of the guards could react, Salem threw an uppercut toward the first guard – I could almost see the ripple in the air as the psychic energy flew at its target. At the same time, Chico lifted his hand and released several thorns from his palm – all of which hit the second guard in the chest. The guards were then nothing but ashes.

“Okay, people, time to move,” I announced. “We get in, kill the vampires inside, and extract the female Sventé if she’s rational enough.”

“Then we burn shit down,” declared Sam. “If they’ve been creating any funky stuff, I want it to be completely and utterly destroyed. If it’s harmful to vampires, it needs to go. Butch, I need you to stay with David the whole time.” The natural born killer nodded.

It wasn’t that David was the weakest link – far from it. He was, gift-wise, the most powerful. But that made him an immediate target of any enemies in combat situations. As Butch was able to use his gift to project a deflecting shield, he often remained with David – extending his shield around them both. That way, David could simply concentrate on attacking rather than defending.

At vampire speed, but still stealthy in our movements, we got into position. I watched, fascinated, as Sam’s delicate fingers prickled at the air around her, absorbing energy; ready to manipulate it in whatever way she chose. It was impossible not to be in awe of just how in control she was of all that power.

Stuart, I want you to slip inside. If no one’s in the hallway, open up and let us in.

He exploded into black particles that swished under the front door. When it quietly opened, I entered first, followed quickly by Sam. The noise of the T.V. didn’t drown out the dirty talk coming from the other side of the bungalow. Clearly those two were still at it.

One at a time, I told Stuart, Salem, Chico, and Denny as I gestured for them to enter. Once all four were inside they slipped past us, heading for the master bedroom. Max, Butch, and David then entered, closing the door behind them. Knowing that if we lingered our scents would reach the vampires in the living area before we did, I didn’t waste any time in moving.

I nodded at Max to go slightly ahead as we all inched our way along the wall. Not because I wanted to use him as a living shield – although it was an appealing thought – but because his gift would give us the best chance at ensuring the other vampires in the building weren’t alerted to our presence.

Once we reached the doorway, Max turned sharply and, with the simple act of closing his fist, stole the senses of both vampires before they had the opportunity to react. While the shock of it seemed to freeze and distract one of the vampires, the other reflexively used his gift – conjuring a knife and hurling it in our general direction. It hit Butch’s shield, but Sam caught it before it could clang to the hardwood floor. As David swiftly raised his arms and splayed his hands, a psionic blast streamed from his fingertips and crashed into the heads of the vampires. Just like that, they were both ashes.

With a tip of her head, Sam gestured for us to follow her further inside. I was not even slightly impressed by her taking the lead. Yeah, okay, she was my co-commander and it was her job, but I didn’t have to like it. The other four met us at the junction of the hallway, clearly having dealt with the sex fiends. Scanning my eyes over them, I saw that they were fine, other than that Salem’s shirt had been singed and Denny’s collar had been…bit?

Finally in the kitchen, Sam quietly opened the back door to allow Damien, Harvey, and Reuben to enter. We all stood back, giving her space as she carefully opened the hatch just a crack. Seeing that there was no one in sight, and not picking up any nearby voices, I gestured for her to fully open the hatch. Most likely pre-empting that I would try to take the lead, she threw me a cautioning look and positioned herself in front of the squad. Forced to be satisfied with shadowing the wilful female, I followed her as she slowly and soundlessly descended the wooden staircase. The squad remained close, all extremely alert.




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