'What's the plan here, Xavier?' whispered Ray as they climbed the stairs.

'In case of a security breach, the building is put on lockdown. We need to make it to -2. There's a service corridor that leads straight to the garage.'

'So what? The building is on lockdown. Are we just supposed to sit in the car and sing fucking show tunes?'

Xavier didn't even turn at her sarcastic remark. 'When the second team arrives to provide backup, they'll enter through reception. They'll lift the lockdown temporarily in order to activate the doors, and when they do, we leave through the garage.'

'Shouldn't we be going for help?'

'For a reason I don't understand, I think this is due to you. The vamps want you. And that means we need to get as far away from here as possible.'

Ray's step stumbled, but she righted herself quickly. Mari had never said it, but that didn't mean she was blind. The way they'd lived. The close calls with vamps. They'd been hiding from something. But it hit home when Xavier said it out loud.

A bang echoed above them, and the sounds of shots and snarls rang out for a moment before the door banged shut again.

Xavier didn't hesitate. With his gun raised high, he motioned for Ray to step behind him.

Following his orders, she shuffled behind him; her own gun raised and ready.

They slowed as they neared the door to -4. The door that would lead them to the containment unit. Though she'd disliked the guard Davidson, she wondered where he was.

In a blindingly fast move, Xavier shot upwards and an answering scream responded. The scream cut off, and they heard a loud thud.

As they reached the door, she saw an agent sprawled out on the floor. Her stomach had been ripped open. The now dead vamp had been feeding on her.

Xavier stopped her from rushing forward. He shook his head, holding a finger to his lips before pointing towards the door. But he didn't need to warn her.

Vampires had incredible hearing. They were lucky that whatever was happening beyond the door had drowned out his gunshot, but they couldn't risk any more sound.

Xavier kept his gun trained on the door as Ray advanced a few steps in front of him. He reversed backwards up the steps until he lost sight of the door.

Once again, he took point as they made it to another floor. The door on this level hadn't survived the attack, it had been ripped off its hinges, its final destination a mystery.

Ray looked at the bodies on the floor just outside the stairwell, all of them unmoving and bloody. Her hand holding the gun grew sweaty, and she had to look away. She focused on her breathing and Xavier's back as they made it up another flight of steps.

Halfway between floor -3 and -2 was a human sized hatch two feet above the floor. Guided by Xavier, she opened it and stared at the corridor made of steel and concrete. The sounds of more intense fighting from above made her decision to step inside much easier than it would otherwise have been.

Xavier closed the door behind them, plunging them into darkness.

She clamped her mouth shut, keeping her scream to herself, as Xavier took her hand and put it on a rope line at shoulder height.

Her breathing evened out as they followed the thin rope through the corridor, though she cringed whenever her foot encountered an obstacle. In her mind's eye, she was stepping over bodies, carelessly thrown by hungry vamps that lurked at the end of the tunnel. But the more rational part of her mind knew it was only rubbish bags.

The rope stopped after five minutes of continuous walking, and occasionally climbing, and Ray began to panic before Xavier brushed past her and felt for the second hatch. With a small click, he pushed it forward, and she glimpsed shiny cars. He dropped a few feet before turning and offering her a hand, which she refused, choosing to jump the distance instead.

'That one.' He crossed the forecourt and brushed his hands against a sleek black car.

'Is it yours?'

'Nope,' he said without explaining. 'I need to get the doors ready. Keys are in a lock box over there. Number on the floor relates to the keychain.'

'Got it.' She watched him walk away before going for the lockbox. She silently thanked the studious agents as she picked the key out with ease. A big number 27 hanging from the keychain.

She was making her way back to the car when the hairs on her arm stood up. Her mouth ran dry as she held her gun in both hands, the metal keys digging into her palm.

'What are you doing?'

She whirled at Xavier's voice as he popped up from behind the car. His eyebrows rose, when she didn't lower her weapon.

'What's wrong?' he asked immediately.

'I don't know. Just something.'

'What do you mean?'

'Blood. I can smell blood. And it wasn't here when we arrived.'

A blur shot out from behind a car and tackled Xavier to the ground. The vamp was a large woman, her hair greying and wild. Blood covered her face and had soaked into her clothes, staining it all a rusty red.

Xavier's gun went off, and the vampire snarled, but relented, choosing instead to scurry behind another parked car.

'Get in the car,' he ordered.

'But-'

'Now!'

She did as he said, choosing to get behind the wheel. Mari had shown her how to drive when they'd still owned their little beat up Ford KA and she only hoped she could remember everything.

Through the tinted windshield, she watched as Xavier stepped away from the car with sure steps. His shirt was ripped and there was a bruise on his cheek, but thankfully no bite marks.

'Xavier,' Ray screamed as she saw the vamp dash out of her hiding spot, heading straight for him.

He fired repeatedly, but she was agile and dodged. She swiped out her hand and caught his gun, tossing it so it slid under a car. With another swipe, she scratched down his face, narrowly missing his throat only because of Xavier's quick reflexes. But the quick reflexes of a human couldn't hope to compete with those of a vampire.

Ray didn't hesitate. She left the car, her gun held high.

'Hey bitch, I thought I was the one you were after,' she yelled as she fired.

The first bullet thudded into the vampire's back, the second into her leg, but the third and fourth went wide, giving the vamp enough time to drop Xavier and round on her.

And then the vamp did something Ray never expected. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

'You. The one he wants. The girl with no scent,' she said, her red eyes snapping open.

She snarled and advanced as Ray emptied the rest of her clip, but it didn't even slow the vamp down. The woman's eyes were wide as she ignored the bullets in her body and collided with Ray.

The vampire tossed the gun aside and reared up to strike, but Ray deflected the blow with her arm. She scrambled back to her feet, bracing herself as the vampire came at her again, but this time she returned the blows with some of her own. The vampire cried out and staggered back, clutching her broken nose.

'What are you?' she whispered. For the first time, she looked nervous.

But Ray never got the chance to answer as a lone gunshot echoed through the garage. The woman froze and dropped to the floor.

Xavier stood behind her, his gun raised. 'I told you to go.'

'You were on your arse. What was I going to do? Let you die.'

'I had it handled,' he replied gruffly.

'Sure you did.' Ray took his arm and helped him limp towards the car.

'Step away from the girl, Xavier,' Dylan said, stepping out of a parked car.

'You were there the whole time? Why didn't you help?' demanded Ray.

'I have my orders.'

'And what orders would they be?' Xavier said.

'This goes beyond me. Just do what I said and walk away.'

'I can't do that.'

Dylan's face hardened. 'Why can't you just do what I say? I told you that the girl needed to stay in her cell. If you'd just left her there, then all of this could have been avoided. But she wasn't where she was supposed to be when they attacked.'

'This was an inside job,' Xavier accused.

'You have no idea what's going on here. This is bigger than us.'

'And yet it's just you and me here.' Xavier stepped in front of Ray, and Dylan fired.

Ray caught Xavier as he staggered forward.

'I warned you to step away. They only care about the girl. Us. The other agents. We're all just collateral to them,' Dylan argued.

'You fucking shot me,' he complained.

'It's a UV bullet. One won't really do much to a human, but you already know that.' She looked between him and Ray critically.

'Dylan, we just need to get out of here. You don't have to do this.'

Her grip on her gun tightened. 'That's where you're wrong. I have no choice. None of us do. Not now.' She advanced, but stopped when Xavier collapsed to his knees, taking Ray with him.

'Let's just talk about this.'

'You're not in a position to negotiate, Xavier. For what it's worth, I'm sorry how this ended. You were a good man.'

'I'm sorry as well.' He fumbled for the little dial and pressed a button, watching as the car accelerated, crashing into Dylan, sending her sprawling.

Ray watched wide eyed as the car doors opened and a voice came over the speakers asking about their day.

'Remote activated cars. I'll never make fun of the tech team again,' he vowed.

Xavier pushed her towards the driver's side as he staggered to his feet. She got behind the wheel as he pulled Dylan's gun from her unconscious hand.

The shutter doors roared to life on their left and Xavier dove for the car.

'Go! The second team has released the building. We have fifteen seconds.'

Ray threw the car into reverse, before accelerating forward hard, narrowly avoiding Dylan still laid out on the floor. The vamp's body wasn't so lucky and she screwed up her face as the car bounced over it.

The shutters began to reverse, but it was too late as they hit the ramp and shot up into the open air. Agents scattered in their wake. But by the time some of them had thought to shoot, they were already out of range.

'What now?' she asked frantically, crunching the gears as she tried to blend in with traffic.

'Take the third exit at the roundabout. We need to get off the road.'

'Maybe we should go to a hospital,' she said.

He looked at her sharply, pressing his hand over his blazer.

'I can smell the blood, Xavier. UV bullets aren't designed to kill us, but that doesn't mean it hasn't done some damage.'

'We can't go there,' he said finally. 'It's the first place they'll look once Dylan says she shot me.'

'The first place who will look?'

'The Bureau.' He silenced her with a look. 'Listen to me, Ray. What happened back there was impossible. There are emergency protocols. The vamps should never have made it out of the containment unit. Someone high up in the Bureau knew about this.'

Ray was silent for a long time as she silently followed the road. 'So what happens now?'

'Now we put distance between us and the Bureau. We change cars. We disappear. And we're going to figure out what the hell Mari was trying to tell us.'

Ray tried not to let the relief show on her face. She'd half expected Xavier to drop her the first chance he got.

'Okay. Let's do this.'