The entire group walked away from the house, following the gravel driveway.  In contrast to the vampires and their henchmen who walked steadily, each member of the Hayes family that was still conscious walked forward unsteadily, their faces slack and their eyes glazed over.  In the darkness ahead, Alice could just barely make out a line of black cars surrounded by more figures.  As they got closer, Alice realized that they were more vampires, their skin pristine and their eyes sparkling even in the darkness.

            The vampire in front of Alice stopped for a moment and said, “Walk beside me.”

            Against her will, Alice walked next to the vampire, who put his arm around her shoulders.  Alice tensed up but was helpless to run away.  The vampire leaned down and sniffed her neck, making Alice cringe.  The vampire just shushed her.

            “Relax,” he said.

            It took everything Alice had just to stay tense. Of course, it was practically nothing, but Alice would take any sense of control right now.

            They got close to the cars and the vampires next to them.  These vampires wore fancy clothing such as suits and dresses in contrast to the more casual clothing of the vampires that capture the Hayes family.  Each one had an ordinary human next to them, standing still and keeping their heads down. One of these new vampires walked forward, crossed his arms, and slanted his eyebrows.  The human behind him also wore a suit, an ordinary man with dark hair and brown eyes.

            “You were supposed to wait for us, John,” said this new vampire to the one leading Alice.

            “What’s the matter, Sebastian?” said John, smirking. “Mad I stole your thunder?”

            “Oh, I’m angry,” said Sebastian. “But only at your incompetence.”

            “Excuse me?  We got what we came for.  It was easy.”

            “Oh really?” said Sebastian.  “Where’s Veronica?”

            John snarled.

            “So she’d dead then.  So that’s one of our own killed, scores of our thralls dead, and you gave the prey time to call for help.  Sounds like a loose definition of the word easy if you ask me.”

            “I didn’t ask you.  The bottom line is we have our prize.  Let’s get out of here before the Night Hunters show up.”

            “If you were worried about the night hunters, you should have worked more quickly.”

            Sebastian was clearly agitated, his eyes fierce, his fangs showing, and his chest heaving.  Then Alice noticed vapor rising from his right eye as his vampiric disguise fell away a little.  Within moments, the vapor revealed his red eye and leathery skin, a circle of mist widening as it rose from his face.

            “Master,” said the human behind him. “Please, don’t stress yourself.  Here.”

             He pulled back the collar of his suit to reveal his neck.  The angry vampire turned to him and came close, biting into his servant’s neck.  The human didn’t even cry out in pain but smiled contentedly, and moments later, the vampire pulled away, licking his lips clean as his eye returned to normal.

            “Thank you, Charles,” said the vampire. “I needed that.”

            The Human, Charles, seemed delighted that his master was pleased.  The sight filled Alice with unyielding disgust.  As she tried to back away, the vampire John stopped her, his hand clenching her arm.

            “I know what you’re thinking,” he said, whispering into her ear. “You’re wondering if that’s going to be you.  You’re asking if you’ll soon be begging one of us to drink your blood.  The answer is yes, Alice.  That will soon be you.”

            Alice felt herself trembling, even as she walked forward as if by invisible strings.  A tear fell down her face at the thought of Alice and her family becoming this.  The vampire started walking her towards one of the cars, where a human opened the door.  Somehow Alice knew that once she entered that car, it was over.  She’d be lost forever, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.  She started to breathe heavily, struggling to break away even as her own body betrayed her.

            “Don’t fret, Alice,” said the Vampire. “You’ll learn to like it.  You’ll see.”

            “For darkness’ sake,” said Sebastian. “Stop playing with your food and get in the car.   We’re running out of...”

            A loud series of sounds rang in Alice’s ears, and Alice abruptly felt the vampire’s arm leave her shoulder as he covered his ears and shrieked.  Almost every vampire there began shrieking in pain.  Those that didn’t, including the vampire in a suit before Alice, stood stock still.  That vampire convulsed for a moment before mist fell away from his entire body, revealing the vampiric monster underneath wearing a tattered suit.  As he fell forward, he started turning back into a human.  He hit the ground face first, now fully human.  As he lay there, Alice could see a hole in the back of his suit.  He was followed by several other vampires falling to the ground, each with a hole in their back that started leaking blood.  Alice had barely recognized that sound in her daze, but now she remembered.

            Gunshots.

            Before Alice could process this, John threw them both to the ground as more gunshots rang out.  The Vampires that hadn’t been shot ducked for cover, taking the Hayes family with them.  The humans that served the vampires also ducked for cover, and Alice noticed some of the cars’ tires going flat as bullets tore them to shreds.  After a few moments, the gunfire stopped.  Alice could hear the faint, unintelligible sound of someone shouting orders, and then a new sound rang out.  It was a shrill whine, like from an alarm.  Alice, lying on the grass, found it mildly uncomfortable, but the Vampires held their ears in pain.

            The vampire next to Alice, John turned to the human Charles and shouted, “Take the rest of the men and attack.”

            “Yes, sir,” said Charles, nodding as he stood.  The vampire servant then shouted, “Attack!”

            Every human not related to Alice stood and rushed to where the sound came from, screaming in defiance.  More gunfire rang out, but the vampires, bracing themselves from the pain of the sounds, stood up.  Alice felt herself being lifted as the vampire John carried her in his arms.  Alice could vaguely make out the other members of her family in the arms of other vampires.  With the humans attacking the gunmen, fewer bullets flew in their direction.  Taking advantage of this, the vampires turned and ran.  Alice saw the world move past her faster than she thought possible as the vampires carried them away, heading towards the field of crops in the distance.  Alice looked back to where the gunfire came from.  She reached back, hoping, begging, and praying for them to help her, to help all of them, even as the sound of that alarm and the gunfire began to fade.