Before Alice decided to move, she heard footsteps down the hall.  Penny and Alice’s mother turned the corner.  Penny carried a gun while Sara Hayes held a pistol in one hand and a first aid box in the other.  They saw Alice sitting next to the dead vampire, and Penny’s eyes grew wide while Alice’s mother came over to check on Alice.

            “You did it,” said Penny. “You actually did it.”

            “You’re hurt,” said Alice’s mother, kneeling and opening the first aid box.

            “It’s not as bad as it looks,” said Alice, looking down at her bloody blouse. “Most of this blood isn’t mine, and my cheek is just a scratch.”

            “And the bruises?” said her mother as she put some disinfectant onto a cotton ball.

            “They look worse than they are.  How’s Uncle Paul?”

            Alice flinched as Sara Hayes wiped her daughter's cheek with the cotton ball. 

            “Fine,” said Alice’s mother. “Aunt Betty’s with him.  He’s breathing more easily now but still can’t talk.”

            “Good,” said Alice. “Anyway, I thought I told you to barricade yourselves in the study?”

            “It’s alright, Mrs. Hayes,” said Agent Walker.  Alice realized her phone was in her mother’s pocket as Walker continued. “I recognized the sound of a dying vampire’s shriek.  It’s not a sound I’m going to forget any time soon.”

            Yeah, thought Alice, I’m not going to forget it any time soon myself.  Alice’s mother then applied a large square bandaid to Alice’s cheek, stopping the bleeding.  When she finished, she looked at her daughter and smiled with tears in her eyes.

            “You really did it, didn’t you?” said Alice’s mother. “I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

            “Hey,” said Alice, smiling back at her. “If you weren’t worried about me facing a vampire on my own, I’d think something was wrong with you.”

            “Congratulations are in order,” said Walker from Sara Hayes's pocket. “Taking down a vampire on your own with such limited resources is no small feat.  I suspect that when this is all over, my superiors will want to talk to you.”

            Did he think Alice was Night Hunter material?  Alice had to admit, a part of her liked the sound of that.  It was another chance to track down the vampire who took Arthur.  A part of Alice really liked the sound of that. But, of course, the rest of her was terrified of the idea.

            “Let’s get through the night first,” said Alice, she and her mother standing up. “First, let’s check the front door.  The vampire said she’d picked the lock, after all.”

            The others nodded, and they went to the front door.  As Alice feared, the door was open.  When they approached and looked out, they gasped, startled.  Five vampires stood just outside the door, their human disguises shed.  Their red eyes glared hungrily while their fangs gleamed in the moonlight.

              “Alice,” said Penny, raising her rifle.

            “Easy,” said Alice. “They can’t enter uninvited.”

            “That’s correct,” said Walker. “But it can’t hurt to close the door.”

            The vampires had clothing as tattered and dirty as the previous vampire. Judging by that clothing and the tangled hair, Alice counted three males and two females.  She reached for the door to close it, but as she did, one of the male vampires took a deep breath through its nose.

            “You smell nice, Alice,” said the monster.

            Right as the door closed, Alice shuddered before locking the door once again.  Her mother put a comforting hand on Alice’s shoulder.  That helped, but Alice knew it wouldn’t make the vampires go away.

            Moments later, they went back to the study.  Along the way, Alice pulled the bloody wooden stake from the dead vampire and stuck it back through her belt.  Back in the study, Alice reloaded her pistol and her rifle.  Alice’s mother went back to Paul Hayes, and Betty kept peeking out the barricaded window, afraid something might try to break through at any moment.  Penny watched the hallway with her gun, just in case.

            For a moment, Alice saw Ryan in a corner of the room.  The others must have moved him there when Alice was fighting the vampire.  They’d crossed his hands over his chest, and he looked almost peaceful.  Alice felt a swell of regret for what had happened to him but didn’t have time to dwell on it.  They had to plan for survival.

            “So,” said Alice. “Agent Walker.  How long until that backup get’s here?”

            “They’ve been pushing it,” said Walker, Alice’s phone on the table again. “Going as fast as they can get away with.  I now have an ETA of fifteen minutes.”

            Alice breathed a sigh of relief.  That was good.

            “And I have more good news,” said Walker. “Another unit has redirected.  They’re on a plane and can parachute in.  It should be there in twenty minutes.  I was kind of surprised they were available, to be perfectly honest.  This unit is made of…specialists.”

            “Specialists?” asked Alice.

            “Let’s just say that when fighting the supernatural, it helps to have the supernatural on your side.”

            “Oh, please don’t tell me you fight vampires with vampires.”

            “Not vampires, no.”

            Alice was just about to ask for more details when Aunt Betty spoke up.

            “Alice!”

            Aunt Betty was looking out the window, peeking around the bookcase in front of it.  Alice came over and peeked through herself.  Outside, in the light of the moon, Alice could see a line of people approaching the house.  There were a lot of them, and they didn’t look like vampires.

            “Walker,” said Alice. “You said that vampires can control humans, right?  And those can enter the house uninvited?”

            “I’m afraid so,” said Walker.

            Alice looked around and could tell everyone was scared.  She wasn’t far off herself.

            Alice took her rifle, pulled back the slide to put a round in the chamber, and then looked at the others with as much confidence as she could muster.

            “Fifteen minute ETA,” said Alice. “We just need to last until them.  Get ready.”