Alain ran through the night as fast as his legs would take him, racing to the last place he'd seen Sable and their mysterious watcher before she'd knocked him off the roof. He tore through the streets, blowing past a few city blocks faster than he'd thought himself capable of, before finally stopping at the entrance of a nearby darkened alley, from inside of which he heard a mixture of pained moans. Alain didn't hesitate; he drew one of his revolvers and began to unsteadily advance, his eyes sweeping across the shadows within the alleyway.

  "Sable?" he breathed. "Are you okay-"

  Before he could finish calling out to her, movement from within a darkened corner of the alley caught his attention. Alain whipped around just in time to see a figure clad in black launching themselves towards him; in the dim moonlight of the alleyway, he was just barely able to make out a set of fangs bared and aiming for his neck. His eyes widened as he brought his revolver around and fired off a single shot into his would-be assailant; their face contorted in pain as the bullet ripped through them, but it wasn't enough – the figure collided with Alain, the two of them falling to the ground and Alain's revolver slipping from his grasp and sliding into the nearby shadows.

  Alain ended up on the ground, wincing in pain as his ribs screamed at him, feeling every bit like someone had just taken a sledgehammer to them. He didn't have any time to worry about that, however, as the figure perched over him suddenly reared back, and in the moonlight, he was able to see one thing for sure.

  This vampire, whoever they were, was not Sable.

  Alain began to struggle as the vampire on top of him suddenly bared his fangs again and leaned down to bury them in his neck; out of desperation, Alain struck out with one hand, trying as hard as he could to keep the vampire from sinking its teeth into him, while with his other hand, he fumbled for his second revolver, attempting to rip it from its cross-body holster.

  Just as the vampire began to overpower him, Sable emerged from the shadows in the alley, then reached out and took hold of the undead's head and pulled it back, keeping it from drawing any closer to Alain; Alain, for his part, seized the opportunity he'd been given. He tore his second revolver from its holster and brought it around for a quick shot just as the vampire wrenched its head free from Sable's grasp. The bullet ripped through the vampire's jaw, tearing off the bottom right quarter of it. Black blood and bits of broken teeth rained down on Alain as the vampire reeled from the hit, and Sable was finally able to overpower him and pin him to the ground. Now newly freed, Alain hurriedly jumped to his feet, leveling the barrel of his pistol at the vampire, just in case he needed to take another shot. They proved to be unnecessary, however; the vampire was currently lying on the ground, his face contorted in pain, and his tongue darting out to prod at the empty space where a quarter of his jaw had been just a few seconds ago.

  "Alain!" Danielle announced as her, Az, and Father Michaelson finally stepped into view at the opening to the alleyway.

  "I'm fine," Alain confirmed, even as his heart reverberated against his ribcage. "Fuck me, that was close…"

  "Speak for yourself," Sable hissed. "Feels like I just lost a fight to a train… how bad is my leg, by the way? It feels messed up, somehow."

  Alain blinked, then turned his attention towards her legs. In the dim moonlight pouring into the alley, he was just barely able to make out that her right leg was bent at a very unnatural angle, and that the white of her bone was jutting out of part of it. He blinked again, then turned back towards her.

  "Well?" she demanded without looking at him. "How bad is it?"

  "It's a good thing vampires are undead," Alain said slowly. "Because if you were mortal, you would absolutely be screaming in agony right now."

  "Great… guess I'm going to need to drink a bit more than usual to fix it."

  "That's an understatement." Alain turned his attention towards the vampire pinned underneath her, who seemed to have realized that continuing to try and fight back was useless now that the rest of their friends had shown up; he'd ceased his struggles entirely, and was instead content to lie on the ground as blood continued to pool around his head from the missing part of his jaw. Alain couldn't help but motion to him.

  "What should we do with him?'

  "I'll take over from here."

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  At the sound of his mother's voice, Alain couldn't help but frown. He turned towards the entrance to the alley, and found her standing there, just behind the rest of his friends.

  "Nice of you to join us," he greeted. "I was worried you were going to make us question him as well as draw him out and capture him."

  Heather let out an annoyed huff. "You've got your father's sense of sarcasm, that's for damn sure."

  "Is that supposed to be a compliment? Because it would have landed a lot better if you'd told it to me fifteen years ago."

  "Enough!" Sable spat, silencing both of them. "Heather, if you intend to question this one, I suggest you do it soon, because I would very much like to get my leg fixed before the pain goes from discomforting to completely unbearable."

  "Very well," Heather replied. She motioned to Az. "You, take her place and hold him down while I question him. This shouldn't take long."

  Az frowned. "I do have a name, you know."

  "I'm aware. Are you going to help me or not?"

  Az's frown deepened, but he did as Heather requested, even as Alain let out an exasperated sigh.

  "Az, I'm sorry, she's clearly having a moment," Alain offered.

  "No offense taken, Alain," Az told him as he swapped places with Sable and began to hold the wounded vampire down.

  Alain was about to say something else in response, but Sable cut him off by suddenly latching onto his neck. Alain winced as he felt her fangs pierce his skin, and she began to drink from him. A few seconds later, and the alley was filled with the sounds of bone cracking and shifting back into place, while Sable let out a few pained gasps and groans even as she continued to feed. Finally, after a few more seconds of intense enough noises of bone reshaping, Sable peeled herself off of him and licked a few stray drops of blood from her lips, while Alain began to fashion a bandage around the puncture wounds on his neck.

  "Sable, I don't mean to talk down on you, but I'll be honest – that was the most disgusting thing I've ever listened to," Alain deadpanned.

  "Believe me, as horrible as it was to listen to, feeling it happen was even worse," Sable told him.

  "Quiet!" Heather hissed as she knelt down next to the wounded vampire. She looked him up and down for a few seconds before focusing on his injured mouth and grimacing. "Seriously, Alain?"

  "What?" Alain asked exasperatedly. "Mother, come on, you really think I meant to shoot him in the mouth?"

  "Well, where did you intend to shoot him, then?" she demanded. "Honestly, we're lucky you didn't put one in his heart or brain – at least we can still question him this way, even if he's going to be mostly unintelligible from the pain and missing chunk of jaw."

  "Speak… for yourself…" the wounded vampire suddenly gasped out. "I've been through worse…"

  Heather blinked in surprise. "Well, that's certainly nice to see, I suppose. And here I was, thinking I'd have to actually loosen your tongue a bit more."

  "Heh… I have nothing to hide… because I have nothing to tell you..."

  "That so?" Heather asked. "You make a habit out of tracking people for no reason, then?"

  "Only when… they're as influential as you all…"

  "Yeah, that's bullshit," Heather deadpanned. "You really expect me to believe that you opted to follow me around purely because you wanted to?"

  "It's the truth."

  "That's as true as the Confederacy is still active." Heather's eyes narrowed. "Who do you work for?"

  The vampire didn't say anything, and in response, Heather drew a knife from her belt, then sank it directly into the joint of his right knee. The vampire's face contorted in pain, and he let out a sharp gasp, which quickly turned into a full-on yowl as Heather began to twist the knife.

  "I can do this all night," she said almost absentmindedly. "I just sharpened this knife and I've got absolutely nowhere else to be and nothing better to do. Are you going to tell me something useful of your own accord, or are you going to make me keep hurting you first?"

  The vampire glared at her. "I am going to enjoy… watching you be devoured… from my position in the Underworld..."

  "See? You didn't intend it, but now we're getting somewhere. Who is going to be doing the devouring, exactly? Another vampire?"

  "Heh… you truly don't have a clue," came the response. "I almost feel bad for you all…"

  Heather scowled. "Alright then, let's start smaller. What's your name?"

  "Trying pleasantries now, are you? Heh… you must be desperate…"

  Heather shrugged. "Not really. Sometimes I just like to give the vampires I kill a chance to tell me a bit about themselves before I actually bury them. Makes it more satisfying when I finally do the deed."

  "Now who's lying, human?"

  "I'll put this bluntly," Heather said, unfazed by his comment. "You have until the count of five to make yourself useful to me before I decide you're never going to talk and send you straight to hell instead. One."

  The vampire said nothing; Heather's brow furrowed.

  "Two. Are you really going to stonewall even in the face of your own demise?"

  "I told you, I have nothing to say," the vampire replied.

  "Then you'd better actually convince me of that if you want to continue to live. Three."

  "Why would I do that? You've already made up your mind to kill me. Nothing I say will convince you otherwise."

  "Won't know unless you try, will you? Four."

  The vampire said nothing for a moment. Finally, Heather let out a small sigh.

  "Alrighty, then," she conceded.

  In that moment, she drew a revolver from her hip, and in one fell swoop, thumbed the hammer back and pressed the barrel flush with the vampire's head. His only response was to stare her down as her finger hovered over the trigger. Slowly, a manic grin crept across his face.

  "Just as I thought," he taunted. "You're too soft, just like the other-"

  Heather cut him off by pulling the trigger, spattering the wall behind him with brains.

  "Five," she said, as even-toned as possible. She stayed rooted to the spot for a moment before holstering her revolver and rising to her feet. Alain, for his part, stared at her in shock for a moment before breaking out of his trance.

  "What the fuck was that?!" he demanded. "We went through all that trouble to take him alive, just for you to fucking waste him after a few minutes of questioning?!"

  "Apparently so," Heather replied. "Don't act too annoyed about it, though – he was never going to talk."

  "You can't know that!"

  "Believe what you want, Alain," she replied. "I could see it in his eyes, though – he was afraid of me, sure, but not as much as he should have been. If I had to guess, something else was occupying that particular part of his mind, at least before I spread it across the bricks behind him. Whoever had a hold over them, he was willing to die to keep their secrets, that's for damn sure."

  As Alain stared at her, she reached into her pocket for a cigarette and lit it up, then took a long drag before exhaling.

  "Now then," she stated. "Does that hotel have for one more in it for tonight?"