James gasped for breath as he bolted upright as if he’d been holding his breath underwater for a very long time. His hands went up and down his body in a blur as he checked himself over. For some odd reason his wounds were all healed. There was a sudden pang of pain in his gut as hunger overwhelmed him. Off to the side of the bed he was on he spied a couple of bottles filled with clear liquid and reddish liquid that looked strangely appetizing to him. His hand closed around the first one red bottle. Ripping the cork out, he brought it to his lips and guzzled the whole thing down. The second bottle followed just as quickly as the first. Soon the hunger pangs eased and James felt a hundred times better.”I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” a man’s voice said that reminded James of the actor Sam Elliot. James’ head whipped around to see a man actually looked like the old actor standing in the shadows at the foot of the stairs leading up. “I also wonder what they’re going to make of you whenever you return to them,” he mused as he stepped forward.”A priest?” James said, dumbfound, as the man came into the dim light. “Where… where am I?””You’re in the basement of the City Center Cathedral. You know; the place where you had that massive battle royal three nights ago,” the priest said with a bemused expression. “You all created quite a stir.”Blinking the grogginess from his eyes, James looked at him. “That was three nights ago? I’ve been knocked out for three days?” All he could remember was Ashley crying over him before the blackness overtook him. The priest was shaking his head as he walked over. He took a pen light out of his pocket and flashed them into James’ eyes and then looked into James’ mouth. “Not… exactly,” he said grimly as he poked and prodded at James’ canine teeth. James gave him a questioning glance. “You were killed. MPD released a statement about your untimely demise. Your Vampire lady friend tried to turn you and when you didn’t stir after she fed you her blood she eventually left you lying in the middle of the sanctuary upstairs. Apparently after trying to change you, she’d used up a lot of her energy to the point that she didn’t have the strength to move you anywhere else before sunrise came,” he explained. “She barely made it back to the towers before daylight broke.”James frowned. “How do you know all of this, Father?””Because I was watching and trying to stay out of everyone’s way when the bullets and bolts started flying,” the priest motioned for James to follow him up the stairs. “Once everyone that was supernatural was gone I moved you down here and put those two bottles of my own blood there for you in case you turned. Once I had you safe and secured, I called the police and reported the vandalism. Naturally they want to keep you all off of the front page of the newspaper so the break-in was chalked up to a local gang war.” He let out a rueful chuckle. “Hopefully that’ll get the city council to actually put some damn funding into cleaning up this neighborhood.””Cussing in your own church?” James asked with a sly grin. “I think that I like you already, Padre.” He paused. “So are you new here or something? I haven’t seen you at mass here before. What do I call you, anyways, other than ‘Father’ or ‘Padre’?””I go by many names. But for today’s purposes you can call me Father Gabriel,” he said as he led the way back into the main sanctuary. James could see that a lot of the damage had been either boarded up or covered up. A lot of the broken glass had been swept into piles if not removed along with all of the damaged pews. Gabriel took James over to a side door. “I am wondering about one thing; I wonder if you’ll survive this door being open.””Why wouldn’t I?” James asked as he stood in front of it. Father Gabriel let out a harrumph as he looked James over. With a sly grin of his own he threw the door open and James was instantly bathed in the blinding rays of the morning sun. When James didn’t disintegrate into ash immediately, Gabriel looked shocked. “Interesting,” he said as he walked in circles around James, pausing every so often to check him out. At one point, Gabriel opened up James’ mouth again. Sure enough, two distinct fangs had now grown out completely. Well, there are three things that are extraordinary about your condition, Mister Parker,” Gabriel said. “Aside from the fact that you’re awake during the day and have not died from the sun hitting you, that is,” he chuckled. “One; you didn’t actively request to be turned into a vampire. Two; your girlfriend attempted to turn you out of love and not out of any selfish desire.”James gave him a dubious look, “And the third?””The third is that you may possibly be the first vampire in history ever to be born on Holy Ground,” Gabriel said, looking pensive. “All of these things taken together may be the reasons why you can be up in the day and withstand the sun’s rays.” Gabriel shrugged. “Or the Almighty could just have one really warped sense of humor. Who knows for sure?””Great, nothing like having God use you as a punch line,” James muttered as he started to pace. “But I now need blood to survive like any normal vampire though, right?”Gabriel thought it over. “I’m inclined to say yes in this case since you downed those bottles right when you woke up. However, you might not require it as often as normal vampires under everyday conditions. Sure, you’ll probably have to consume more if you exert yourself, all vampires have to do that, but for normal feedings I’d say that you’d need it half the time that is required. Who knows? You might only need to feed every six months to a year as opposed to once every month. This might be the beginnings of the next stage of evolution for vampires. I’d have to study this more.”James arched an eyebrow at him, “Funny how a Holy Man finds all of this interesting,””What can I say?” Gabriel shrugged, “A guy’s gotta have a hobby.”*Zoe stormed up to Michael the moment he entered the Vampire’s inner sanctum. “You have got to talk to her,” she said point blank to him the moment they were close together. “She’s sinking further into depression and is refusing to feed. I’m afraid that she’s wasting away.””And a fine hello to you too, doll,” Michael said, leaning in and puckering up for a kiss. They’d become closer in the past couple of weeks since James was killed and Michael was named the new Hunter by Conrad.”I’m serious,” Zoe said, leaning back to avoid his kiss. “No vampire nookie for you until Ashley is better. Let her feed off of you if need be but I want my friend back.””Don’t we all,” Michael said, his eyes narrowing and his voice becoming hard. “Not all of us have the gift of immortality like you all do sweet cakes. Not all of our mortal friends and family last forever.””Excuse me for trying to save the friends that I have left.” Zoe retorted. “I loved James too. But he’s gone and Ashley is still here. Do what you have to. Slit your wrist on her fangs and force feed her if you have to.” She said, grabbing him by the arm and hauling him down the side halls.”Why the hell does she need to feed anyways?” Michael asked, wrenching his arm back from Zoe before she pulled it out of socket. “She should’ve got enough blood from James to last her for a good month, if not two.””She’s been crying nonstop,” Zoe said evenly.”So?””So when a Vampire cries, they go through the body’s natural water first. Once that’s depleted, they go through their blood supply next as their tears turn from water to blood. It’s the equivalent of you humans being severely dehydrated.”Holy shit,” Michael breathed, quickening his pace.*Dimitri and Cade were on the roof on basic patrol, both of them feeling sullen. Ever since that fateful night when The Mistress nearly killed him for his mistake, he’d been busted all the way down to basic grunt work by Zoe at The Mistress’ insistence. Unlife sucked right now. As he walked his route on the roof of the tower, he gave a casual glance over at Dimitri who kept pace with him about ten feet off to his left along the roof’s edge. Cade had heard that Dimitri had failed The Mistress as well in being unable to contain Zoe and Michael as those two had headed off part of the werewolf herd that was supposed to help kill Ashley. He too had been regulated down to grunt but thankfully his part in everything was a secret as well. Perhaps, Cade mused, there might be a chance at redemption for them both in the nearby future. There was a slight, sudden movement to his left. Cade’s head whipped in that direction as he brought his assault rifle to bear. Dimitri was no longer there. In his place was an expanding cloud of ash that was being blown away by the wind. A man clad completely in black stood there glaring at him with a silver stake in his hand gleaming in the moonlight. “HALT!” Cade ordered the man. There was something familiar about the way he held himself. Cade could not see the man’s face due to the hood pulled up over his head. “Identify yourself!””Dimitri was an ass whose final death was long overdue,” the man said, his voice hard. “I’ve been waiting here all day for you two.” The man’s wrist flicked slightly. Dimitri recoiled slightly as the stake embedded itself into his right shoulder. The weight of the rifle felt heavy all of a sudden as he lost the use of his arm due to the silver. The man calmly walked forward and pushed Cade back until he was flat against the nearest wall. “You, however, I wanted to have a quick word with. You’ve been a bad boy, Cade, conspiring with The Mistress to overthrow the Coven.”The man reached back and drew his hood back and Cade’s eyes went wide with fear. “No… You’re dead! I saw your body.””Some take longer than others to wake the fuck up,” James said, glaring at Cade. He yanked the stake out of Cade’s shoulder with his bare hand. Cade looked at James and swallowed hard, resigned to his fate. “I-I wouldn’t blame you in the least little bit if you decide to ash me.””Good,” James said coldly as he shoved the stake right through Cade’s heart. Cade looked down at the stake in bewilderment and then back up at James with an uncomprehending look on his face right before his body went grey and exploded into ash. James pocketed the silver stake and walked through the nearest doorway he could find. It was time to get down to business.*”Dammit!” Zoe cursed, not for the first time. They’d tried everything to get Ashely to feed but nothing was working. Ashley simply lay there on the bed naked looking pale, more so than she already was with her ancestry. The first thing they’d done was remove her skimpy lingerie that’d started to smell as it was the same thing she’d been wearing when James was killed. Once they’d gotten rid of that and cleaned her up, Michael and Zoe tried everything from bottle feeding to putting skin right up against Ashley’s mouth. Ashley continued to lay there catatonic. “Well, I guess we could always fuck her…” Zoe said, as she contemplated the situation.