[Dennis]Ever since we were first called out to meet with Master Nightshade in the park, Sybil and I had been on the lookout for anything suspicious. Every vampire in the area was donating time to the search for whatever was attacking humans. We all knew the threat of what would happen if the humans found out something vampire-like was killing humans. They might not care about a handful of homeless people, but they would care when it was their sons and daughters who were out at clubs and parties. Their wives and husbands who were working late. Their friends who were out walking their animals in the night or very early morning. I went into my bedroom and sat on the side of the bed near Sybil’s resting form. She looked peaceful and ethereal. Sybil was more than my childe, she was my wife, and my second chance at love. Though she wasn’t my Solus Amor, I was given to her by the goddess. I thanked the goddess every day when I woke up and saw her beside me. I leaned in to brush a strand of hair away from her face, but she stirred and blinked her eyes open.“Dennis?” she asked.“Yes, it’s me. I came to check on you,” I said softly, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.“Just like every night. I don’t want to wake up alone, but if you have things to do you don’t have to be here with me every evening. I can always come find you,” Sybil chuckled. “Why would I want something like that when I can be the first thing you lay eyes on every night?” I picked up her hand and gently kissed each of her fingers. “Every morning, I fall asleep with you in my arms and every night I wake with you still there. I am with you when you go to sleep every morning, it’s only fair that I be here when you wake every night.” Sybil smiled lovingly at me, her eyes soft and full of adoration. “I am the luckiest woman in the world to have you, my love,” she said, sitting up and wrapping her arms around my neck.I held her tightly, feeling her delicious softness against my body. “And I am the luckiest man to have you, my beautiful wife,” I whispered, kissing her deeply.After we pulled away, Sybil’s expression turned serious. “Dennis, have you heard anything new about the creature?”I shook my head. “Nothing yet. But we’ll find it. We’ll make sure it doesn’t harm anyone else.”Sybil nodded with determination in her eyes. “I was almost hoping it had been found while I was sleeping. Perhaps one of the werewolves or witches found it while the vampires were all dead to the world. No such luck for us, huh?” There was no doubt that each day, or night, when a supernatural group woke and found that the creature hadn’t been found or slain they were just as disappointed. With the cult situation still at the forefront of our minds, no one thought this was a coincidence. It was all too obvious that they were connected, at least to anyone who was paying attention. None of the leaders could possibly think they weren’t. We just didn’t know how or what the purpose was. Though the cult wasn’t widely talked about, most of the community knew about it and that the leaders were working on taking care of it. All of us were told to keep ourselves safe while in town and not to go with anyone promising us a better life without the goddess. The simple fact that people existed who actually thought the goddess didn’t have their best interests at heart was shocking. Even vampires, who were widely regarded as being dark spirits inhabiting corpses, believed in the goddess to some extent. There were some who believed all deities forsook them when they changed into vampires, and others who believed that the goddess was for the living supernaturals, not the undead. I had a hard time believing in the goddess, but, once I was free of my sire’s grasp, I could see all of the goodness of the world. It made it a lot easier to believe in the goddess than my life before. Finding Sybil reinforced that belief. I never thought I could love after Francesca rejected me, but I was given this perfect woman. “Earth to Dennis. Where are you?” Sybil chuckled as she tugged at the end of my moustache. I laughed and caught her hand. When I got too caught up in my head, she would find ways to get my attention. She always reminded me that I had her now and didn’t have to rely only on myself. “I was just thinking of everything. You’re right, we haven’t had the best luck, but I have to believe we’ll figure it out. Get dressed and we’ll go have some breakfast. I figured we would search for the first half of the night, then go into the office. That way we can take care of our interests and the community’s interests at the same time,” I told her. Sybil nodded. “That sounds good. It would be nice to start the night with a stroll through town.” She headed to the closet to pick out her clothes for the night. I waited by the bed as she changed, and sat at the vanity I had built for her to do her makeup and hair. Sybil didn’t say anything about me watching her reflection in the mirror. She knew I loved seeing her get ready for the day. The way she moved while she was applying her makeup was pure poetry. I was entranced by my wife and everything about her. When she finished, she turned to me and smiled. “Ready to go?”I stood up and went to her, wrapping my arm around her waist. “Always, my love.”We went to the kitchen where Franny was dancing around, excited to see Sybil. Tyler grinned as he prepared the blood for Sybil. She scratched behind Franny’s ears while she waited. This had become ritual for us as much as anything else. When her blood was prepared, she took it from Tyler with a big smile. He had bonded with Sybil quite a lot since she came to live with us. They bonded with each other faster than I had bonded with him and he was my servant. “What are you up to tonight, Ty?” Sybil asked. “I took care of all the errands in town while the sun was up. Most of the vampires in town have their servants on curfew lockdown. As soon as the sun starts going down, we have to go home and can’t come out until the sun is fully risen. It’s killing our social lives,” he sighed. “It’s for your safety. I know so far all of the bodies have been homeless humans, but human servants spend almost as much time outside after dark as they do. We’re doing our best to care for you, as we promised when you were bound to us initially,” I replied. “I know, but I feel like a kid who got grounded because of something someone else did.” Sybil set her empty container in the sink to be cleaned. She never took long to finish her meal. She moved over to Tyler and hugged him. “We’re going to figure this out, Ty. Stay safe for me, okay?” she murmured. His shoulders drooped in defeat and he hugged her back. Tyler couldn’t resist Sybil any more than I could. He wouldn’t be sneaking out if he knew she’d be worried about him. He told me once that he knew he was older than her, he was old enough to be her father, but she seemed more like a big sister to him than a little sister. One of the more difficult things for human servants to deal with was the fact that they never aged while everyone else, save vampires, did. It threw him off that he should be in his late fifties but was still very much in his mid-twenties. The first time he realized the age difference between him and Sybil, he got a strange look on his face as if something in his head had malfunctioned. Once she let go of Tyler, we left the house and headed toward the town center. It was still early, so the streets had a few humans in it. They were wandering from shops, into restaurants, and others were quickly making their way to the parking lots and structures. I assumed they were heading home from work. As we walked, we scanned the area for any signs of the creature. It was a dangerous task, but we were both determined to find it before it could cause any more harm.After a few hours of searching, we came up empty-handed and decided to head to the office. A few blocks away from the office, Sybil suddenly stopped in her tracks.“Dennis, do you smell that?” she asked, turning to look at me. I sniffed the air. I picked up the faint scent of blood and something else. Something not right. Sybil wrapped her arms around me and I lifted us in the air. I held her tightly as I flew toward the scent. Not many people knew flying was one of my vampiric skills. Whatever we were tracking wouldn’t be expecting an aerial attack. As we flew closer to our destination, the smell of blood grew stronger. I could tell Sybil was getting anxious, so I held her even closer. Finally, we landed on the rooftop of an empty building overlooking a dark alleyway. The scent of blood was coming from somewhere in the alley.Carefully, I got as close to the edge as I could and peeked over the edge. There was a whimper from a shadowy spot. As I looked closer, it was an unnatural shadow. There was nothing to cast a shadow that dark. Without a word, I dropped off the roof and onto the shadow, finding it to be a cloaked form. It released the man it had been feeding from. Sybil jumped down and started pulling the man away from where I was struggling with the thing.As soon as the man was out of harm’s way, the cloaked figure turned to face me. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Its features were twisted and gnarled and its eyes glowed red in the darkness. There was something that made it seem almost familiar, though.It turned and slammed me into the brick wall, loosening my grip and making me drop to the ground. I was back on my feet in a matter of moments. It had been years since I had a good fight, I knew my eyes were glowing with excitement. Whatever this thing was, it was as strong as a vampire.The creature lunged at me, its claws extended, but I was able to dodge it. I could see Sybil in the corner of my eye, making sure the man was safe. She was sealing the wound on his neck from a safe distance. I wouldn’t have to pull my punches.As the creature charged at me, I sidestepped and landed a couple of blows to its back. It turned and swung at me, and I barely managed to dodge the attack. I could feel the wind from its punch whip past my face. I returned the attack, but it was as fast and fluid as any vampire.It was a worthy opponent, but I was determined to take it down. The creature’s movements were like those of a wild animal, untamed and erratic. It was difficult to predict its next move.Suddenly, the creature lunged at me again, its claws extended. I dodged to the side and landed a solid punch in the center of it. I started to realize, this creature wasn’t reacting to the pain of my strikes. It was as if it didn’t feel them at all. There was no buckling, no protecting injuries, nothing to indicate anything hurt, when I knew I heard something break in one of my other attacks.I realized it wasn’t blocking attacks, either. All of the moves it was making were offensive and none were defensive. Even the initial attack that had gotten me on the ground was just to put me in front of it. It could take a lot to hurt a vampire, but we did get hurt. A broken bone would definitely cause some pain.“What are you?” I asked the thing as I dodged another attack.There was no answer. I didn’t know if it was ignoring me or didn’t understand me. It only attacked again without faltering.Gritting my teeth, I charged at the creature, ready to take it down. As I approached, it suddenly disappeared, reappearing behind me. I whipped around, but it was already coming at me again. I braced myself, but it grabbed me and lifted me off the ground with ease. I struggled as it squeezed me tighter and tighter.If I had been a creature that needed to breathe, I wouldn’t have been able to. It still wasn’t good. If it crushed my heart, I would die a final death.