Penny’s head spun as the vampire carried her in his arms while he sped through the woods.  Trees flew past her vision faster than she could process as Penny realized she didn’t even know where she was anymore.  The only constants in Penny’s vision were the moon and stars shining above her and the vampire carrying her, his handsome features focused and determined.  Out of all the vampires who had run with them, only he had survived.  The others were either shot down by the night hunters or were torn apart by those large animals.  In her muddled state, Penny couldn’t figure out what those creatures were.  Not that she was trying.  With what little willpower Penny had, she tried to jump out of the vampire’s arms.  However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t pierce the dark fog hanging over her mind.  She couldn’t even move her limbs.

            Suddenly the forest went still, or rather the vampire stopped in his tracks.  As Penny looked up, the unearthly creature looked down a certain path, his eyes wide with fear.  Penny felt a chill go down her spine.  Something was out there that made this creature afraid?

            “Master,” said the Vampire. “I have to keep running.  The hunters…” he shuddered violently, “No…no, my lord, I’m sorry.  I obey.”

            The vampire turned and walked down the path, slowly and reluctantly.  Penny tried harder to break through the pressure on her mind, but still, her body remained relaxed and unmoving.  Penny didn’t know who this vampire was going to meet, but she knew in her heart that she didn’t want to get any closer.  And yet, the vampire walked on.

            Soon Penny heard rushing water and could see a river before them.  The vampire stopped at the edge of the river as it ran white with rapids, and he looked up.  Penny followed his gaze to the sky where the moon cast its pale light over them.  All Penny could see were stars, clouds, and bats silhouetted against the moon.

            Actually, one bat seemed to be flying towards them, a tiny speck getting bigger and bigger.  It flew in from the left, on the same side of the river as the two of them, and flew lower and lower as it came closer and closer.  As it approached, Penny’s blood ran cold as she realized that it wasn’t a bat.  It was bigger.  Much bigger.  As this new creature flew closer, she could hear the rush of its wings beating against the air.  Penny could just barely make out a humanoid form attached to the wings but could make out no other features in the silhouette above her.

            Finally, this new creature landed softly in a kneeling position, making no sound on impact.  Then the monster stood up straight, wrapping its wings around itself.  By the time Penny could see him clearly, however, she could no longer make out some batlike monster but a tall, handsome man in an immaculate suit with a black cape covering his shoulders.  He had vibrant green eyes, a strong jaw, a cleft chin, and a muscular frame.  Though Penny found him striking, she was vaguely aware that this handsome exterior hid the monster she’d seen moments ago.

            She also realized that this one was different than the vampires that had attacked her father’s farm.  Those didn’t have wings, for a start.  Seeing this man’s…this monster’s piercing eyes, she somehow knew he was older, stronger, and more powerful than the others.  He was also angry, his eyebrows slanted with displeasure.

            It made her shudder.

            The vampire holding penny in his arms shrank back as he placed Penny on the ground.  As she lay on the ground, the vampire above her bowed his head as he fell to one knee before this newcomer.  The vampire that had taken Penny before had seemed boyishly handsome, but compared to the regal and princely lord before him, he seemed a mere boy.

            “Lord Victor,” said the kneeling vampire. “I’ve retrieved the target’s cousin.”

            “Stand up, Jack,” said Lord Victor.

            Jack stood, fear written all over his face.  Lord Victor walked up and knelt next to Penny, reaching down to examine her.  Penny moaned fearfully even as she lay there motionless, and even Jack seemed worried by this action.

            Lord Victor shushed her, almost tenderly. “Don't be afraid, my dear.”

            “Master,” said Jack., “I’ve already drunk much of her blood.  If you take too much...”

            “I know,” said Victor, the tone in his voice sharp and stern. “But for me, a single drop will suffice.”

            Lord Victor placed his finger at Penny’s neck, right where Jack had bitten her before.  She squirmed, unable to move away as he pressed down, squeezing out a drop of blood which he wiped up with his fingertip.  He raised his finger and closed his eyes, smelling the drop as if testing the aroma of a fine wine.  He then licked the drop off his finger.  His eyes rolled back into his head as he savored the taste for a moment, and then he swallowed.

            Penny gasped as a new pressure replaced the one that had held her mind previously.  Where Jack’s hold had felt like she was swimming through thick syrup, this felt like being wrapped in chains.  The simplest thought took so much effort.  She was only vaguely aware of the vampires standing above her as Lord Victor smiled down at her.

            “There,” said Lord Victor, running his fingers through her hair. “That’s better.  Isn’t it?  I told you there was no reason to be afraid.”

            It was true, Penny strangely didn’t feel afraid anymore, but at the same time, she wasn’t sure what she felt.  As she lay there, her eyes glassy and unfocused, she could see Lord Victor stand and look the other vampire in the eye.  Lord Victor stared with subtle anger while Jack looked away.

            “Master, I…” Jack stammered.

            “Go stand in front of the river,” said Lord Victor.

            “My lord?”

            “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

            Jack, reluctantly, walked up to the water.  As he stood there at the edge of the river, he had the look of a man standing at the edge of a precipice, fearing the lethal drop below him.  Were he still a living thing, Jack would have started sweating by now.

            “Jack,” said Lord Victor. “You’re a newborn vampire, aren’t you?  Been one for less than a year?  Do you know why vampires can’t cross rivers without help?”

             Jack swallowed nervously.

            “It was said that the Christ was baptized in a river.”

            Lord Victor smirked.

            “Ah yes,” said Victor. “Our ever present weakness to the Christian faith.  It’s a curious thing, but humans need not even believe in that faith to use its symbols against us.  If only they did, then whenever that faith fell in popularity, it would make our prey all the more susceptible to us.  Sadly, even when our prey is faithless, those symbols remain as significant to vampires as when they’re devout.  Seems a bit unfair if you ask me.  What do you think?”

            “I think you’re absolutely correct, my lord,” said Jack quickly.

            Lord Victor chuckled.

“You are certainly correct, Jack,” Lord Victor continued.  “But I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood my question, so allow me to rephrase it.  Do you know what happens to a vampire who attempts to cross a river unaided?”

            “N…no, my lord.”

            “Yes,” said Victor, his smirk replaced by a frown.  “Judging by your…astonishing performance tonight, I imagine there’s much that you don’t know.  Well, this is something you should know.  Reach your arm out over the water.”

            “My lord?”

            “Do it.”

            Lord Victor’s tone showed that he would not tolerate disobedience.  Jack turned to the river, his eyes wide with fear, and reached his hand out.  The moment his hand went over the water, smoke came up from it as Jack shuddered in pain.

            “Keep going,” said Victor.

            Jack reached his hand out and began shrieking as his entire arm began letting off smoke.  His whole body trembled violently as he struggled to keep his arm up, his legs threatening to fall out from under him.  The entire time Lord Victor watched passively, his eyes cold and merciless.  Penny lay on the ground, watching, her mind so burdened that she didn’t really understand what she was seeing.

            Finally, Lord Victor said, “You may step away.”

            Jack moved away from the river and cradled his arm.  Smoke still drifted off of it as he moaned in pain.  Lord Victor put his hands behind his back as he waited for Jack to recover.

            “My Lord,” said Jack. “I can explain.”

            “Can you?” said Victor. “I know exactly what happened.  I ordered Sebastian to capture the Hayes family, but you and your little friends, in your…heh…infinite wisdom, thought they could get the job done better.  You thought you could claim the glory for yourselves, didn’t you?  And now, most of the Hayes family is beyond our grasp except for this one.  As far as I can tell, this is nothing short of blind ambition mixed with sheer incompetence.  However, I’m nothing if not fair.  This is your one chance to justify your actions.  I suggest you choose your words carefully.”

            Jack shrank back from his master but didn’t dare attempt to flee.

            “We did everything we could to get the Hayes family,” said Jack.

            “Too much, if you ask me.  When only one of you managed to get an invitation into that house and was repelled by a cross, you could have sent in your thralls immediately.   A single newborn vampire can be defeated by humans who are prepared for them.  Throw an army at a small group, however, and it’s only a matter of time.  And yet, the six of you decided to wait for Veronica to be ready, giving the Hayes family time to contact the night hunters and thus give the hunters plenty of time to arrive.”

            “My lord, those humans were our food, and it took forever to enthrall so many.  We didn’t want to lose them.  We lost so many when they attacked the house.”

            “And you lost them all when the night hunters arrived.  If you had sent in the humans immediately, you could have escaped before the night hunters arrived.  Not only would you still have thralls to obey you, you’d have the Hayes family, and Veronica wouldn’t have been slain.”

            “That did occur to us,” said Jack. “But Veronica insisted she could handle it.”

“Oh, I see, Veronica insisted, did she?  And thus, your plan hinged on the most incompetent of all.  I don’t know which is worse; that you so grossly overestimated Veronica’s ability to take them or that Veronica actually tried to negotiate.  We’re predators, and predators do not negotiate with prey.  This is why little newborns obey their elders, Jack.  We know better than you.”

            Jack struggled to say something.

            “Please, my lord,” he said, pleading. “Forgive me.”

            “No,” came the reply. “Turn around and walk into the river.”

            Jack shuddered and turned to the rushing waters, his body moving as if a puppet on strings.  He walked forward, his face contorted in fear as he got closer and closer.

            “My Lord,” Jack whimpered. “Please…”

            “Be silent,” Lord Victor spat. “This is the last thing you will ever do, Jack.  Do it with at least a modicum of dignity.”

Jack went silent, though his face remained contorted with fear as he drew closer to the rushing water.  Soon Jack reached the edge of the river, and his body tensed.  For a moment, he hesitated, but his resistance only lasted that moment.

            Ultimately, Jack lifted his foot and stepped in, smoke and steam rising from where his foot landed.  His face contorted, and yet he unleashed no shriek of pain, bound to silence as he was by the word of his master.  Despite the terror and the pain, he kept walking in, and soon his entire body gave off smoke as steam rose from where his feet hit the water.  Lord Victor watched with cold, merciless eyes as Jack walked further into the river, getting more submerged with each step.  Soon Jack was up to his waist in water, and at that moment, his fell face forward, steam bursting up from where his torso and head hit the water.  Seconds later, Jack’s body floated out of the steam, heading downriver.

            Lord Victor watched him drift away for a moment, then turned back to Penny. 

            He spoke to her as he knelt, picking her up in his arms.

            “I’m terribly sorry, my dear.  A young lady as beautiful as you deserves better than a bed of dirt.  We’ll get you a proper resting place soon enough.  That I can promise you.”

            Penny just looked at him with blank, expressionless eyes as Lord Victor walked next to the flowing waters, Jack’s body still flowing downriver in front of them before fading into the distance.  After walking for a while, Lord Victor and penny came to a bridge that crossed the river.  Waiting there were two black vans with several men waiting next to them, all dressed as butlers.  As Lord victor approached, the men opened the side of one of the vans to reveal a long wooden box.  Within that box lay a coffin resting in dirt.

            “My lord,” said one of them, bowing as Lord Victor approached. “Your carriage awaits.”  This was a middle aged man with a distinguished air who bowed low to his master.

            “Thank you, Walter,” said Victor, handing Penny off to one of the other men. “You.  Take care of this young lady.  She wasn’t our primary target, but I’m sure we can get some use out of her.”

            “Yes, my lord,” said the man, taking Penny to the other van.

            “Do drive carefully, Walter,” said Victor. “Since Alice escaped, I’ll have to meet her in the only place the night hunters cannot hide her from me.”

            “Of course, sir,” said Walter.

            Lord Victor entered the first van, stepped to the coffin, and lay inside.  As Walter stepped to the driver seat, other men closed the lid on Lord victor and covered the coffin with more earth, moving it with their hands.  When they finished, they sat down and closed the van door.  Penny was shut in the other van, and moments later, the vans drove across the bridge and over the river.  They traveled away from that area as the moon shone above them, bats silhouetted against its light.