For a newly made child, he hadn’t done too badly at all, and Kayra had her standards when it came to other vampires and how they did things, but this Ryan was perhaps worth keeping an eye on. A statue equal to the others around her, perfectly nestled in the fa?ade of the apartment building on whose high ledge she stood and merged with the shadows, Kayra had followed the young vampire. It was snowing lightly and her matte blue winter cape coat flew noiselessly with the wind in those heights, while her lined hood hung half over her face.

  Ryan was visibly under tension after a fight with four people on the forecourt of an abandoned, fire-damaged warehouse. Astonished, he palpated his right shoulder, where he had been shot and was now healed. Surprisingly, he hadn’t killed any of the four people who had fled, but he had done two of them pretty badly.

  Kayra was definitely curious about the why. Had Ryan really just been here to beat up a gang? She had tracked him to a private eye named Mitchell, whom she did not know, but she had noticed a very familiar smell about the private investigator and therefore suspected that Mitchell was a Tenebrae agent.

  That’s who Ryan seemed to be going back to now, because he left the grounds of the warehouse and walked down the street, but he wasn’t alone. Ever since he had left Mitchell′s agency in a car, a human pursuer had been on his tail.

  After the car had been dropped off at a workshop, the unknown man had followed him here on foot and continued to do so.

  Very bungling, in Kayra’s opinion. That the child was not yet aware of this stalking she bmed on Ryan’s inexperience, but it made the patriarch’s servant more than a little suspicious. Who was the spy working for? What vampire, or whoever, would send out such an amateurish scout?

  Moreover, the this spy at the end of the road now turned around and came back to sneak into the warehouse.

  I can’t quite figure this out, Kayra thought, and took a slight step forward. Her cloak coat fit perfectly and she dropped down silently. Her skill alone made her more than safe, but the time of day and moderate lighting of the surroundings alone hid the skilled servant very well. Before coming up, however, she used her telekinetic powers, her master discipline, to slow herself down and hover above the ground for a fleeting moment, and then step up onto cat paws.

  Just as Ryan had been previously unaware of his pursuer, the spy was completely unaware of Kayra’s presence as she glided across the street and leapt onto the wall of the warehouse compound. "They were talking about drugs," the stranger murmured gleefully. “And that guy put those bums on the run. Time for daddy to get himself a bonus."

  So that was what it was all about, Kayra realised. The dark-skinned man wanted to get rich and went into the half-burned warehouse.

  Where the damage was not so prominent, the former gang had made themselves at home, with an electric heater, television, sofa, cots and a table full of small calibres and two thick, pre-packed bags with a white powder film on them.

  "Oh baby, awesome," said the spy, his eyes widening as he cut open one of the packets for a taste and snorted the powder rapturously. "Premium stuff! They haven’t stretched that yet!”

  Indeed, a more than lousy scout, Kayra was now certain of that. To neglect one’s target for one’s own gain, that definitely appealed to the dutiful servant and the thought tempted her to simply sughter this human. However, a muffled hum interrupted that idea.

  "Great," the spy sighed, reaching into his jacket pocket where he pulled out a mobile phone and pulled himself together. "What’s up?" What he was told was incomprehensible even to vampiric ears, but he listened obediently. "Just now he broke up a gang of drug dealers and I’m following up on him. He’s probably going back to that private eye."

  It had clearly been the patriarch’s right decision to watch Ryan and Kayra lowered her eyes in humility as she was once again reminded that her devoted loyalty to Stein was fully deserved. Her father would always protect his family.

  "What?!" the spy felt caught. "I’m not high! What makes you think that?!" Any vampire with some experience could notice the spy’s change in voice pitch, which was probably why there was one on the other end of the line. "So what if so?! As long as I do my job!"

  The man was a bad liar, but Kayra noticed something unusual, a brushing warmth, like a warm breeze. Her eyes narrowed and she retreated more into the shadows.

  Meanwhile, the spy pretended to be more submissive. "I’ve never let you down before, right? I’m your man, I promise!" the man asserted and swallowed. "Yes, yes okay! I’ll report every little thing! I’ll get back to you tomorrow night at the same time!" Furious, he ended the call and stuffed his phone back into his jacket, just as he bagged the drug packets and grabbed one of the light submachine guns. "Fucking vampires! If they don’t give me some of their blood soon, I’m getting out!"

  Patiently Kayra waited, even long after the spy had disappeared. She was in no hurry to follow him and Ryan again. She was aware that the child was not in danger right now and besides, there was something much more important to sort out here. "Come out," the woman demanded in a gentle tone, but no one had better be fooled by that, for the fingers of her right hand became sharp cws. "Or my cws will turn the sinister bck to clear red and your glowing ashes will light the darkness."

  At first there was merely a dark corner from which the outline of a meagre shelf rose. Then came a fluttering, as of curtains moved by the wind. "Impressive," came slimily from seemingly nowhere. A pair of poison-green, glowing eyes without pupils snapped open, and from a defensive stance, the figure also showed its left hand, shaped into cws. Unlike the woman, however, this was the hand of a beast, with scaly skin peppered with a small growth on the back of its hand. "How did you know?"

  To Kayra there was no doubt - she was facing a Juda’aerith, or Maledictus. "Show yourself fully and perhaps I will do you the courtesy of an answer."

  "But then I would not be a good scout if I showed myself."

  "You’ve already been caught," Kayra noted relentlessly, with no intention of stirring up conflict. "It hardly gets any better than that."

  "I guess the same goes for you then, because I’ve been seeing you for a while," countered the slimy voice, in which there was a hint of gleeful malice. "Don’t you agree?"

  "You have the considerable advantage of shadowwalking and yet I have uncovered you," Kayra stated impassively, though this word py was becoming repugnant to her. "But enough of that, choose: words or deeds?"

  "Truly, the iron maiden," the voice opined, and as if the darkness were a moving mass, it pressed outwards and contours formed. The forms were typically human, but the surface was distorted, a creature anyone would immediately recognise as not human. The face alone, angur with a long, pointed nose and a horn embzoned over the left eye that had grown over the head. "Only what good is my face to you if you do not know who I am and whom I serve?"

  Sharp-witted, Kayra made her cws disappear and assumed a less threatening posture. "That you serve someone is already worth knowing to me."

  "Hardly worth knowing," the Juda’aerith waved it off. "What great vampire would go to that kind of trouble? Of course I serve someone."

  "Possibly," Kayra merely returned, taking a moment to contempte. No, she didn’t know this vampire, but that was true of most of his kind.

  They were the only vampires whose lineage could be clearly named. Juda’aerith came from the bite of Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus Christ’s apostles. Much was legend and hearsay, even for long-lived beings like vampires, but for Judas′ betrayal of his Master, Jesus had supposedly cursed him to bear the mark of shame forever, reflected in the hideous appearance of these beings. To compensate for this severe malus, the Juda’aerith had created the unique art of shadowwalking, a secret they had kept very well until now and which no vampire outside their kind had mastered.

  For this very reason, Kayra would not reveal how exactly she had discovered the scout, for the Juda’aerith kept their secret by any means necessary. "However, we face a bit of a dilemma," the woman said, for distraction and fact. "You know who I am."

  "The shadows just know a lot, daughter of Patriarch Stein, the iron maiden of Palestine," the stranger enumerated in a matter-of-fact tone, though equal to provocation. "Our very existence is a dilemma, don’t you think? So what could stand between us?"

  Kayra had disappointed her patriarch and been found out. "The fact that you know who I serve," the woman said. For her, there was only one alternative to fighting. "I’m afraid you won’t tell me who you serve."

  "A reasonable observation."

  "Regrettably, but surely you know something about our thief from before," Kayra surmised, because the Juda’?rith were masters of espionage. It was a cliché, but one that was normally true, and she believed the stranger had useful knowledge. "Who does he serve? Who would use such an amateur?"

  "Information has a price and you want me to tell you for free?" the spy asked doubtfully as he millimetres wisely readied his stance to defend himself. "Would you do that?"

  "The price is your life," Kayra offered, turning her body sideways so that she offered little surface for attack. "Don’t you j think you could escape with your shadowwalking or have any advantage now."

  "Yes, you are a resourceful being," the Juda’aerith stated, narrowing his poison green eyes so that the glow grew stronger. "I know something, you know something. My life is not payment enough. Put a cherry on top and we’ll trade."

  This was a difficult choice for Kayra. She was convinced she could defeat the spy. Only perhaps that would enrage its master and make watching Ryan far more difficult. On the other hand, she didn’t want to reveal that she had learned a weakness of shadowwalking from her father, a rare piece of knowledge that the Juda’aerith might want to bury. "My knowledge is far more valuable. A bad deal."

  "Then we are running out of options," the spy pronounced in a threatening voice. He was ready for a fight, but his eyes betrayed that he was bluffing and probably guessed himself that he would lose. "The Apostles. Our dark-skinned friend is a stooge of the Apostles."

  "The Apostles are in Great Kingston?" echoed Kayra in control. This was indeed surprising, if ungodly, information. In so far as it was true. "Then you do not work for the Tenebrae. If you were, it would have been known long ago that the Apostles were in the city."

  "Truly, your father can be mightily proud of such a clever little mind," the Juda’aerith praised honestly, but he was growing tired of waiting. "Only enough about me - it’s your turn."

  Now Kayra could have simply remained silent and the spy would have been powerless. However, House Stein had stood for honour for centuries and honour meant keeping one’s word and she did, conditionally. "The friction," she revealed. She concealed that Oskar had discovered this weakness. "I’ve met a lot of Juda’aerith, only they always revealed themselves before I suspected anything. Over the centuries, though, I noticed that just before they appeared, there was always a kind of warmth, a breeze around me, and I suspect it’s the shadows that your kind probably drape over themselves like a cloak. There is a minimal friction that creates warmth and once you know that and have distinct senses. Well, you saw the result."

  It now seemed to be the very motto of the House of Stein that satisfied the spy. "Honourable indeed," he said, but he was not yet finished and probed. "Who knows of this?"

  "Just me, or have you ever been caught or heard of by anyone else?"

  "Good call," the Juda’aerith extended his fangs in warning and was slowly swallowed by the darkness again. "Leave it at that or it won’t do you any good."

  Kayra narrowed her eyes warily but left this warning unanswered. She felt the Juda’aerith disappear across the shadows and she left the building. Once she was sure she had no other competitors, she walked along the pavement as a passerby.

  Near here, Kayra had a hotel room and was on her way there. That gave her time for her own thoughts. This bumbling person was a spy for the apostles? I wonder if she had been deceived by the Juda’?rith? No, Kayra didn’t think so. In fact, it made sense to her. The Apostles were rarely choosy about their members and they forced more than a few into their bondage, whether they left them human or transformed them.

  What made the Apostles so dangerous, despite their smaller size compared to the Tenebrae, was their nature. The Apostles stood for absolute power, for superiority and the promise of domination. Of course, the Tenebrae also pulled a lot of strings in today’s world and moved the levers of human politics to some extent, but the Apostles wanted to become so powerful that people would one day know who ruled them. That was the core of the apostles, the ideology of being a superior species and putting humans in their pce.

  It wasn’t entirely wrong, that was clear to Kayra and every of her kin. Vampires were better in many areas, if you broke it down to physical and certain abilities. Still, for them, there were enough scum among their kind who were lower than worms and now more such worms were supposedly in Great Kingston. Kayra suspected bad things if the Apostles were to gain a foothold in the city. All the possible influence, not just on the US, but on significant parts of the world, carried out by big companies and celebrities from the arts and politics.

  "No, I really don’t need any help," an uncertain female voice said, but its tone was a more than familiar one.

  Kayra stopped abruptly and turned her head barely noticeably to the right. The underlying tone of fear was not unfamiliar to her and came from one of the many side alleys, between the apartment buildings.

  "Great Kingston can be confusing," a deeper, male voice said slowly but insistently. "Especially for newcomers like you."

  Politely, the female voice dismissed. "My grandmother lives just a few blocks away. I know my way."

  "How shall I put it," the male voice pyed thoughtfully, and then it came, the smug tone of eagerness . "My offer is binding."

  Instantly, the usually controlled Kayra was overcome by unpleasant feelings buried deep within her, instinctively driving her towards the dark alley.

  The scene of the voices was almost on the other side, near a bend between the houses and there were more than two actors involved. The man had two more friends with him, but they kept away from the action, but all three convey the image of young wannabe rockers who go to the gym too often.

  In contrast, the woman, who not only symbolically had her back to the wall, looked very petite. She was not five foot six. "I appreciate your caring," she said, but she was not na?ve and aware of the situation. "But please, give me room now."

  "Fuck no!" her pushy counterpart retorted sullenly, kicking the nearby dumpster. "What are you thinking? That you’re too good for the helpful citizens of Great Kingston?!"

  "I didn’t mean that- "

  "Sure you did!" the bully cut her off. He and his friends reeked profusely of alcohol, but that was no excuse for the aggressor now pressing very close to the frightened woman. "But you can show how nice you are."

  As a surreptitious observer, Kayra could barely contain herself. She had to fight inside not to be overcome by the images and her traumatic feelings: Palestine, the Crusaders, no, not now! And most certainly what was happening in front of her would not take pce! Silently, Kayra slipped the loop of a chain from the sleeve of her cloak cape and, using her telekinetic powers, stealthily moved the loop like a snake across the night ground.

  "Come on Johnny Boy!" one of the onlookers bellowed. "Get a move on, so we ca-!"

  Quick as a fsh, Kayra threw the noose around the crony’s neck and yanked him towards her, only to fling him into the side alley trash with a broken neck.

  "What the?!" startled Johnny and the other bystander. "Frank?!"

  Terror, oh yes that’s what Kayra wanted to hear! The terror in the voices of these unworthy and remained mysteriously hidden. She let moments pass as mobile phones were pulled out and their lights shone light into the darkness Kayra had long since avoided. She was directly above the two, like the spider in the web that only had to dial and pull spectator number two up to her.

  Neither the frightened woman nor the previously pushy guy could follow that pace. "Guys, cut the crap!" he said in a panic, hastily searching every nook and cranny around him to no avail.

  Again Kayra let the situation work. Sorrow, she mentally feasted on the act.

  Johnny pulling out a switchbde was pure amusement. "Who’s there?! Show yourself!"

  Kayra wasn’t worried at all about this demonstration and what she was about to do. "Your undoing," she whispered ominously from the darkness she was leaving at a leisurely pace. "This night, will be your st on God’s earth."

  "What are you! Batwoman or what?!" roared Johnny, waving his knife in the direction of the hooded woman.

  Pathetically, that was what this knife game was for Kayra and it didn’t stop her steps. It was only when the panicked man reached for the other huddled woman and pressed the bde to her throat that Kayra paused. "Yes, I am acting correctly. You are dirt."

  "Shut the fuck up! I ssh-!" the man suddenly groaned painfully as his knife hand was paralysed. The vampire’s telekinesis was in full use, guiding his hand away from his victim’s neck. "WHAT’S GOING ON?!"

  That roar sealed Kayra’s decision and she twisted the wrist cracking loudly before she was beside Johnny with her superhuman speed and unceremoniously thundered his head into the bricks of the front of the house so that he had seeped several inches into the stone and she left him hanging there.

  This action, of course, did not leave the innocent woman unscathed as she staggered back between fear and gratitude. "W-what just happened?" she asked in an intimidated voice. "How did you ...?"

  There was no need for Kayra to expin herself. She simply looked to the stranger out of routine. "You shouldn’t worry about that," she expined, walking towards the woman. Surely she came across as no less threatening with her tall figure and after what she had done. "I am not your enemy. That’s enough to know."

  "Ne-No, certainly not," the stranger nodded, hunching her shoulders and hands together, but at least she remained standing. "T-Thank you for intervening. How can I repay you?"

  "Just let me do it."

  "W-What?" the stranger blinked in confusion as the taller woman stood close and looked down at her. "I don’t understand."

  "You don’t have to, either," Kayra whispered empathetically, already slightly befuddled. The bully had inflicted a gossamer cut on her dy in distress, through which Kayra could smell her sweet-smelling blood. She stroked the woman’s face and without any force, bit into the just inviting neck whose artery throbbed so tantalisingly.

  Blood, the lifepool of every vampire and intoxicant at the same time. It radiated a warmth that the children of the night could rarely experience and led them into ecstasies that the strongest drugs in the world could not induce. Especially the first moments were always the best and most difficult.

  Kayra let herself go completely in the first few seconds, the most vulnerable moment of any vampire and all her senses were overstimuted to the extreme. A more than orgasmic snort escaped her nose, her eyes fluttered and she wanted to grip harder. She was tempted to drink far too much, but that was never good and the tried and tested servant moderated and drank more slowly, almost able to read her donor’s history through the blood.

  The woman tasted sweet, though the fear from before had left a slightly bitter note. However, her life up to here must have been very carefree, well-mannered and nurtured, always diligent and determined, but no longer a virgin.

  Moreover, the source of the blood would not remember anything, neither the bite, nor the minutes before and after. Only the experience of pure ecstasy, that would hang hazily in the woman’s memory, for just as vampires were overwhelmed by the experience, it was no less a climax of emotion for humans.

  Kayra knew that from her own experience. One st gulp, then she detached herself from the paralysed woman’s neck and the two holes in her throat were already beginning to heal. "Don’t ever get lost in dark alleys again," she said rhetorically before pushing the innocent woman towards the street where she disappeared around the corner without a care in the world. Kayra didn’t look after her, but swung her chain loop around Johnny’s leg to drag him carelessly behind her. No, she didn’t see herself as a saviour and a hero. The other woman had merely been lucky, in many ways. Kayra had been thirsty anyway, and she killed Johnny and his cronies because she was still slightly charged from her encounter with the Juda’aerith and had experienced such intrusive treatment herself, and would have died hundreds of years ago because of it if Patriarch Stein had not rescued her and given her a choice so close to the brink of death - dying or eternity.

  For Johnny and his friends, that choice no longer existed and it was more than deserved. They were just lifeless, fleshy rubbish bags hanging from the chains that wrapped Kayra’s body beneath her clothes. Hanging from her coat, however, was an electronic voice kit called a Mouth Button and consisting of a receiver and insertable earbuds, a mini mobile phone so to speak, which now vibrated and identified the caller. "Ashford, what can I do for you?" asked Kayra calmly, even though she knew her Kn retive wouldn’t contact her at the moment unless it was urgent.

  "You’re not going to like this Kayra," Ashford announced, annoyed but composed. Every now and then he liked to beat around the bush or take a running start instead of just talking things out. "The Allister situation has got out of hand."

  Immediately Kayra stopped, but her tone remained moderate. "What happened?"

  "Last night an entire police force was massacred in the forest near Allister’s area," Ashford reported appraisingly. He liked to talk, but he was also mostly thinking. "I’ve sent out some scouts to find Raug and check out the situation."

  Cursory concern drifted through Kayra’s mind. "And, did they find him?"

  "Yes, he’s intact and to quote him: Raug cleaned up, zombies and police all buried."

  "Nothing else I expected from him," Kayra said with satisfaction, but she guessed that wasn’t all. "But I take it you weren’t finished."

  "Yes, no, Raug saved a policewoman, it seems," Ashford told her, less than enthusiastic. "My scouts wanted to take her out but, like many ghouls, Raug is stubborn in his own way and wants to take her to the Patriarch and the scouts didn’t want to mess with the stupid ghoul."

  "Raug may be acting for simpler reasons than you think, but leaving the policewoman alive is anything but stupid," Kayra raised, for even if Raug was a ghoul, she would not let him offend easily, for he had already given more to Patriarch Stein than most. "Questioning her might give us some insight into what happened."

  "Not much room for imagination, if you ask me," Ashford rebuffed the idea, but of course he obeyed. "Just as you like. Let’s just hear the story of how the zombies ate."

  "At least it’s confirmation, if that’s all it is - does the patriarch know?"

  "Sure, and has been summoned to Lady Gardner’s house immediately. The machinery is already in motion to cover it all up."

  "I suppose I should return," Kayra said irresolutely. It occurred to her immediately: was this already the first trap to harm House Stein?

  Ashford was prepared for that. "Patriarch Stein suspected you would say that and clearly said no. You are to take care of your assignment. He’ll be in touch if he needs you elsewhere."

  "Of course," Kayra murmured humbly, but not to Ashford. "Still, keep me posted on this zombie incident."

  "Sure thing. I’ll be in touch when we’ve questioned the policewoman. Goodbye."

  Now all to herself, Kayra allowed herself a deep sigh: a zombie massacre, a possible Apostle invasion, growing trouble with the Tenebrae, and who knows what else - was a Blood Moon child supposed to be the messenger of great evil after all?