Flat and Crested got out of the car. The school uniforms by themselves were lite for fall, so both wore Kevlar hip-high leggings. The boater's hats and blazer jackets had felt liners. The extra winter gear was almost too warm.

Police cars with lights running lined the street outside the home. Neighbors stood on their small green lawns talking. The patrol Sargent led them inside. Screams came from inside the house. Crested had taken the leather briefcase, the Vampire Kit.

It was an advanced human foster home. The front door hung off the frame. The steel door had bent where kicks had landed. Around the stairwell, chunks of the wall were missing from shotgun blasts. Splinters of wood stood on the end where buckshot had shredded the banister.

A body lay at the top of the stairs; throat ripped open. A shotgun tossed aside from a last stand lay on the floor. Only the lightest stains of blood remained. Crested's nose wrinkled, stepping over the body. The short hallway to the bedrooms had blood splatters on the walls, licked clean. Crested paused at each door. The scents led to the closets, hiding before they died. One room had a coffin. It was empty. The screams came from the main bedroom.

It took six police officers to hold him down. An eighteen-year-old boy, a vampire. Flat took a step back with a breath.

He was at the dance club last night. Marie danced with him, Flat thought. He was the only Vampire their age that Flat or Marie had run into over the previous month. Marie had gotten his name.

An officer held each limb and one on the head. The Vampire bucked wildly even with the feet turned out and knees locked down. He made no response to the pain compliance and being held. Flat looked at him, pale skin, a lean body, and beautiful eyes. If not for the mad rage, pretty. His pupils were wide open and now red with fresh blood.

Flat knew the blood taint and could see it on him. Crested climbed through the police to kneel on the Vampire's hips. She waved to Flat for the tools.

Flat reached into the pile to hand Crested the silver spike and hammer. Crested placed the spike over the sternum and moved it to the left, over the heart. She set the stake between the second and third ribs from the bottom. She struck the spike four times. Flat flinched with each ringing tap on the stake. The Vampire gasped on the fourth strike. Everyone waited. Then the officers slowly released his limbs.

"Don't remove the spike unless you want to fight him again," Crested said. Exhausted officers stumbled away from the young man.

As Crested talked with the detectives, Flat walked through the house to pass the time. In the coffin she found used glass ampules.

"That's not a street drug." Flat slipped on a glove. The ampules had the ends snapped off. All were empty but one. Inside was a small drop of a metallic violet liquid. She picked it up using the end of a swab as Maple had taught.

I'll send this to the lab, Flat dropped the ampule in a bag.

"I'm done." Crested from the doorway. She had the wrinkled nose of smelling something foul.

"OK, be right there," Flat said.

The Mecklenburg-Charlotte police would wait for the Medical Examiners. Flat had handed off the ampule to the detectives. The neighbors milled about their lawns. Crested tossed the vampire kit back in the car, slamming the trunk shut. She screamed in frustration, fists beating the trunk.

Flat waited until she stopped. "You registered to be a vampire hunter. Don't go complaining you have to do the work.”

"It's not the work. I hate what these vampires do, one taste of blood, and they need put down. It's such a waist," Crested said.

"You're too young to hate anyone.”

"Hate? Hate? Do you have a sister?" Crested said.

"I'm an only child.”

"I had a sister. I've been an only child for seven years," Crested said.

"A Vampire?" Flat said.

"He escaped to the Lunar colonies.”

"Not all vampires are like this," Flat said.

"No. The vampires ran away from the world. Too many of their best and brightest have gone to space. Luna is crawling with vampires.”

"Crawling?" Flat said.

"All that's left are the leaches and trash. No one here knew how to raise that boy. Go look at that mess again," Crested said.

"This was a professional foster home for advanced humans," Flat said.

"And their all dead," Crested said.

"Vincent is trying," Flat said.

"Yes, the Children of the Night police their own. He's the only Vampire in the Junior Hero program in the South." Crested checked the time on her phone. "Lets go, we can make the C.P.S. standby."

Flat and Crested answered a request for Hero Assistance during a scheduled home visit. A relative of the family might be a baseline. The social workers from Child Protective Services knocked on the trailer door. Flat and Crested stood behind the social workers.

"This is all new to me, it's nothing like television," Flat said.

"The only thing you could be certain about is boredom," Crested said.

"We're doing more paper work than work," Flat said.

"Ink is cheep, blood cost lives. Be happy two teams are out in the field. We only have half the calls," Crested said.

The four walked into the kitchen.

It should be our last call, Flat thought.

The baseline was not at home; the father, the parent of interest to C P S was home.

"What are they doing here?" He said, pointing at the two school girls.

"Mr Heath. The heroes are here for our safety, and as students otherwise," The Social Worker said.

"I don't want them in my house.”

"If they leave; we leave and you get a summons to court," The Social Worker said.

"This is bull."

"We can talk in the living room. The Heroes can wait in the kitchen," The Social Worker said.

The three adults left to talk. Flat gave the kitchen a look, it was not spotless but not a problem, old might be the word.

"Are Gyaru and Go-Go getting along again?" Flat said.

"Their tight, it'll take more than Go-Go having a bad patch. They'll come together after an arrest…" Crested’s tongue popped out, and she panted. Flat leaned down to her.

"Ya' smell something girl?" Flat said as Crested’s mouth closed.

"That's patronizing." Crested knelt to a cold air return.

"That dog will hunt," Flat said.

Crested turned on a flashlight and pulled up the grate. "Keep it up asshole." Crested sniffed, her head close to the vent.

She walked outside; the skirt had a crawl space. She peeled back the plastic edge to show the spider web-filled space under the trailer. The spot she peeled open had a man-size tunnel through the webs.

"What are we doing?" Flat followed the dog girl.

"Being nosy.”

"Good one. Are we aloud to do this?" Flat said.

"If I don't find what I smell," Crested said.

"What?"

"Something dead. If it's a squirrel or mouse we're good.” The dog girl disappeared into the darkness.

"Hey! Get out of there," Heath said as he walked outside, followed by the social workers. “They have no right to be down there. I want the police called," Heath said.

"Mr. Heath. That’s a County K9 Officer," The Social Worker said.

"You don't have a warrant," Heath said.

"I have a K9," the Social Worker said.

Crested came back from underneath the trailer to hand Flat a bundle wrapped with duct tape. Flat held the bundle for a second. Her finger sunk in a layer of slime beneath the fabric. She felt a head and neck roll loose in the wrap. Flat set the bundle down on a lawn chair, closed her eyes, and couldn't move. She couldn’t bring herself to close her hands. And wanted to run to the sink to wash. Crested covered with cobwebs, on seeing Heath, showed her teeth and made a growl.

Heath started to back up, but the social worker stood on the stairs. "We'll call the police for you Mr. Heath.”