There was no sense in wearing body armour.

Unlike other public services that dealt with human related crimes who had perhaps a necessity to protect oneself through any means, the type of armour that would be required to protect against the Vampiric simply did not exist.

There had been cases where armour had been proposed, normally by some billionaire looking to enter the Vampire hunting game, but inevitably it was always deemed to be more of a hindrance than a support.

Weapons on the other hand were very important.

Ashyer, for instance, walked with the weight of a katana at his hip.

This was the standard Dentist blade taken from the headquarters armoury and had seen many owners in its time. The blade was sharp thanks to a recent inspection, but the grip was damaged and worn from the many hands who had held it over the years.

The scabbard was attached to a belt attachment and was comfortable against his hip, but it was still an odd additional weight to have on his body. In comparison, Reginald looked far more comfortable as he walked with a pair of hand axes holstered and gleaming with anticipation.

Ashyer wondered how Reginald’s magic would have associated with the weapons, and then wondered how his could manifest with the katana.

“We’ve had no calls,” Reginald explained suddenly; “So, there is a possibility that there are no Vampires at all.”

“Or they cut the phone lines?”

“This isn’t an eighties movie. People would still have their mobiles phones.”

“Or, they’re dead.”

“…True.” Reginald said, pushing the door open to the apartment block open with a squeak.

“We have back-up on its way, and we’re going to do this floor by floor. You understand?”

“I do.” Ashyer said, his heart hammering in his chest, but his body wanting nothing more than to push forward regardless.

He wanted to go inside, he wanted to see that everyone else was okay. He had trained for thirty weeks, he had passed the interviews, he had pushed in all his academic circles across his entire life all to be here, in this moment.

He wasn’t going to back down now.

“Tell me if you’re afraid.” Reginald said; “It won’t change what we have to do, but I’ll respect your honesty.”

“…I am afraid.” Ashyer acknowledged; “But I still want to go in.”

Reginald smiled.

“You’re going to go far in this job.”

And they entered.

***

Dentists often refrained from using lights when on foot.

Lights tended to be absent in locations where Vampires were, so the only reason to use something to illuminate your surroundings would be to either advertise that you needed assistance (and thus you would become prey), or you were a Dentist (and thus they would become prey).

A smart Vampire didn’t just rush towards any idiot waving a torch around. They could see and hear through most surfaces up to several metres away so they could easily suss out if the person stumbling meant them harm.

Society was used to more night than daylight and there was an evolutionary advantage to being able to adapt to the change in shade better, though the creation of lightbulbs did mean that those who would have died sooner were living longer.

Back at the academy many lessons had taken place in the dead of night without screens and no torchlight. Your ability to function was based on how quickly your eyes adapted to what was available.

It also had the bonus effect in training students to get used to sleeping during the day, since their enemy was only available during certain working hours anyway.

The sun was something that wasn’t required for Dentists anymore.

***

Entering the tower block, Ashley kept a grip on his sword and walked in time with Reginald.

The layout was quite simple. According to a map on the wall, with the exception of the ground floor, every level of this apartment block had four apartments which surrounded the staircase. The staircase resided in the building centre, as it’s beating heart, though their was also a pair of elevators in the corners for quick access to the twenty-fifth floor.

Standing in the centre and looking up it was possible to see, in the far distance, the roof.

They cleared the ground floor with no issues, neither observing nor hearing anyone requiring their assistance, and after moving up to the first…

“Go on then,” Reginald said suddenly; “What is the difficulty with apartment blocks in terms of Vampirism?”

 “You’re asking me again? Now?”

“I am. No better time than when under pressure to answer.”

“…Okay?” Ashyer sighed, following up and scanning into the darkness; “I mean… a tower block, or apartment block, or however you want to call it… they’re locations with locations on the inside.”

“The individual apartments are defined easily as dwellings, so if you walked into your own individual apartment and left the door open then a Vampire would not be able to follow.”

“But the trouble is with the rest of the building. Whilst it is true that you may need a key to gain entry to the outside entrance there is also an option that allows people gain access through a Traders button.”

“People like postman and other essential services can enter to perform maintenance if they need to and, in a lot of cases, a different one could gain entry on a day by day basis. So, this means that in theory anyone can gain entrance to the main apartment block.”

“So whilst Vampires don’t have access to the main apartments, they do potentially have access to the main building itself, and that means that all they have to do is reside in the hallways and wait for people to come outside- at which point they’ll hunt. It’s a practise known as Nesting.”

“Nice. Ten points.” Reginald said, flashing a thumbs up. Throughout that explanation they had searched the next floor and were already moving on.

“Only ten? I lost fifty for not liking hot drinks.”

“So you see how important that is as an issue to fix. But, going back slightly... based on where we are, where do you think would be an ideal location for a Vampire to Nest?”

Ashyer thought about it, looking around the corridor they were currently walking through, then with the idea clicking as they passed by; “…the elevator shaft?”

“Exactly. No points, but we’ll get pizza later.”

“What is with this grading system!?”

“Hiding in a tower block is an easy location for a Vampire, but the elevator shift provides complete freedom from the sunlight and also provides a great place to hide the bodies. It’s… a problem. Some apartments are trying to deal with Vampires using them to Nest by having a special living space on one of the floors so that technically the actual apartment block is considered a dwelling and they are the ones who let people gain entry, but… it’s not a perfect system.”

“Why?”

“People, mostly. I think in one case the person tried to charge people every time they wandered through the hallway because it they considered it trespassing.”

Ashyer frowned. It was bad enough with the Vampires but for people to take advantage…

His tutor stopped him, pointing for Ashyer to walk down one side of the corridor.

“On this floor, let’s walk around separately.”

It was important to get used to walking in the darkness alone.

“You sure?” Ashyer wondered, still holding the grip of his sword.

“It’s an easy route. I’ll go left, you go right, and we’ll bump into each other in the middle if we walk at the same pace. That way we’ll get around faster.”

“Not… really? We’ll both have to walk around back to the stairs again anyway, so…”

“Oh, wow, looks like someone just lost twenty points.”

“What?!”

Reginald turned left, laughing to himself, and Ashyer sighed and turned right.

This was the fifth floor and, just like the others there were no concerns as he travelled. It was slightly concerning that there was such heavy silence save for the thudding noise of his boots on the slightly hollow flooring, but there were multiple reasons why this may have been the case.

The civilians may have gone to sleep early to get past the night faster, or they had travelled to another person’s home to have a “No Moon Party” to get through to the dawn in a collective. Potentially, and even more simple… perhaps nobody lived on these lower floors at all, and the apartment block was just lacking in tenants due to the economy.

He turned the next corner and, sure enough, he ran into Reginald who approached with a slight increase in speed.

“Any issues?”

“Nope. You?”

“I killed like fifty Vampires by myself. It was pretty badass.”

“A shame I missed it.”

“Yeah. That’s another ten points gone for not paying attention.”

“Hey!?”

They returned to the stairs once more and continued with the same routine for the next several floors.

Sometimes they’d swap sides, sometimes they would walk around together, and on one occasion Reginald walked by himself and asked Ashyer to wait at the entrance. He half expected his colleague to tell him to do the same on the next, but Ashyer wasn’t subjected to that and instead they travelled together.

At least, until…

“Right,” Reginald said, stopping; “The other Dentists are about to arrive.”

“The back-up?”

“The back-up, yes. They’re doing a quick patrol outside, so we will continue going up and then they will block the elevators downstairs and make sure the shaft isn’t used as an escape.”

“Sounds good.”

“It really does, doesn’t it? That’s why you’re going to do this floor by yourself.”

Ashyer paused physically mid-step, and then pushed forward.

He was almost certain that it was noticed, but Reginald didn’t say anything or deduct any points for the hesitation.

To save himself, he said;

“Yeah. Sure. You got it. Easy.”

There was no difference in what they had already done with each floor.

They weren’t even going to be, really, separated. He was going to turn the corners just like he had done before and, worst case scenario, he had a few seconds before his colleague would help him out.

So, really, there was no concern here.

And yet his heart continued to hammer in his chest-

“Hey,” Reginald said, catching his attention; “It’s just walking. You’ve done that most of your life, right?”

“Right.”

“Just don’t trip over. On my first shift, I ended up walking up a flight of stairs to a hotel and then tripped over.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah, I tried to pretend I hadn’t by continuing upwards and crawling like a panther.”

Reginald looked away, recalling the memory fondly as Ashyer walked into the darkness.

***

This corridor was the same as all the others.

The wall to the side of him separated him from both the staircase and Reginald whilst, on the other, he could see the distant door.

There was no sound nor light coming from inside, nothing to indicate that anyone even lived up here anymore. It was just… empty.

Whilst alone, the shadows did feel heavier, but that was surely just the paranoia talking right?

The quicker he moved, the better everything would be.

So he moved to the end to turn right, stepping faster to get through quickly- and then froze.

This time there was a variation.

A stream of light emerged from the interior of the next apartment doorway. A pale blue beam of light shone through the rectangle gap, making the space feel visually… unnatural.

Eerie.

There was no sounds coming from the apartment, no flickering of a TV, nor the activity of someone in the kitchen or the rustling of a burglar.

It was merely open.

It seemed empty, but it was open.

It was… lifeless.

But it was open.

The fact that the power was active meant that someone had likely been living here, which meant that they would potentially have some intelligence about what was going on with the apartment block.

But why was it open?

He wondered about approaching, and then turned back to consider calling for Reginald, stuck in this state of uncertainty-

Squeak.

The floor made a noise.

One unlike the heavy pressure of his own boots.

This was the sound of someone without the benefits of training, someone clumsy in their movements.

Someone who didn’t care about being heard.

But someone powerful.

He turned back to see a silhouette had now engulfed the doorway to the apartment and was facing him directly.

It held onto the doorframe, as though the act of standing was difficult, with bones twisted abnormally.

Twinkling white dots shone in the distance, reflective from where a pair of eyes should have been.

There was a low, hungry groan.

And he could see the outline of an open mouth, and a pair of fangs.