He stared at the mirror, studying the lines on his face. For a man over ninety years old, he had the appearance of someone more than half that age. He pulled out a straight razor and held it to his throat. With long and careful strokes, he removed the series of shaggy hairs that invaded his neck. He washed the blade clean as he focused on his next target, his goatee.

He had supported his patch of hair for years, but it was time for a chance. He trimmed it in the past and kept it tidy, but never removed it. The main reason was that Helen, Ciara's mother, loved the look and over the year Ciara came fond of it as well. But like the morning Sunlight beaming through the bathroom window, all things didn't last.

The sound of sharp steel cutting at the coarse hair of his chin. The water running over the blade as it washed the hairs down the drain. The razor struck with the same proficiency as his katana.

Memories blasted his brain as the final strains of his goatee disappeared into the watery grave. Memories of his love, Helen. The regrets that caused her death. He regretted bringing Helen into this life. He regretted bringing Ciara into this life as well. There were other regrets, like not telling Ciara that he was her father and not killing Lilith when he had the chance. Regrets were funny things. It was better to regret things that you had done than to regret things you hadn't done.

A warm hand came to his bare shoulder as he noticed the pretty of his daughter staring in the mirror at him. "Great," she sighed. "Now, what am I going to yank on?"

He stared at her reflection. "The same thing you always yank on, my heart's strings."

She kissed him on the cheek. "Sometimes, you say the sweetest things, Sambuca. I mean Dad."

"How's your ankle?"

She looked at her leg and put some pressure on it. "Perfect!"

"You are lucky she didn't rip your foot off," he warned.

"I know." She dropped the lid to the toilet and sat down. "I was totally off my game. That bitch got lucky."

He put away his razor and turned and faced Ciara. "We can't afford to make rookie mistakes."

"Shit!" She groaned. "I knew a lecture was coming."

"But you and Sarah didn't get killed, which is always a good thing."

"Yeah, but you are still pissed about your car."

"Would be furious if you were killed." He walked up closer and stroke the side of her face. "You are all I have left, Ciara. I don't want you to become a memory.

"Like Mom?"

His eyes lowered, like a child experiencing a loss for the first time. "I still carry that with me. Like you would have carried Sarah's death."

"Sarah? Where is she?"

"Like most adults, she had to go to work. Several homicides were reported."

"This is going to be hard for her, knowing the real reasons."

"It could be a blessing in disguise," he explained. "Having her on the inside."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She snapped back. "I didn't want this for her. She is not ready by a fucking longshot."

"We all have our unique learning curve, Ciara. She is now apart of this. They know who she is and she knows what they are."

"You let her go out there!" She cried. "Unprotected?"

"Relax, little one. I gave her a small course on how to protect herself and her home from vampires. She should be ok, but time can't be wasted. We need to find the Mistress's lair."

"We've been shooting blanks," she joked. "You haven't been picking up anything. Normally, this isn't a problem for you." Dhampirs had a candid ability to track down vampires, but Sambuca was having trouble in this case. He expected magic played a role in covering the vampires' tracks. Sambuca had no weakness against blood magic, which was the magic that most vampires employed, but true dark magic, the type of magic that Carville and Kendra used, could present a problem for the Dhampir.

"Normally." Sambuca leaned on the wall next to Ciara. "These arrogant bastards would just telegraph their location. Always trying to draw me out. I'm puzzled by their action lately. It is like they are trying not to kill me."

She stood up from the toilet. "You are getting paranoid, old man." She walked out of the bathroom and Sambuca followed. She stood in the living room staring at the picture of her mother. "What a timeless beauty." Her hands traced over the picture. "I missed her so much."

"I know," Sambuca added. "I missed her as well."

"What was she like?"

A sinister grin came to his face as his eyes came back to life. "She was bold, sassy and sexy. Sneaking out at night, getting high and dating some crazy characters. So much like you, it's scary. She mellowed out after having you. Well, just a little."

"My aunt did a lot of sitting while you and mom played vampire hunters."

"Your mother saw her gift as a blessing, not a curse. She loved the hunt. The thrill. That feeling that one gets in the pit of their stomach. She was born to be a hunter. She was smart, strong and a little crazy, in a good way." He told the picture off the wall. "I could have left. The vampires would have followed me, but my love for your mother was greater than my duty as a hunter. So, I stayed. Things were quiet for a while until the council sent Rosier clan after me. Lilith was the perfect weapon to use against me. She knew my tactics and my habits. She was battle tested and had no problem getting down and dirty."

"She knew your tactics and habits?' Ciara asked. "Sound like there is some history between you and Lilith. What are you not telling me, Sambuca?"

He sat down on the couch. "There is a history of between Lilith and myself."

Ciara plopped next to him. "Why is this the first time I'm hearing of this? What type of history?"

"Lilith and I tangled in the past," he explained. "This was before I knew your mother. We fought against each other for years. I killed several of her key allies and she did the same to me."

"So," she said. "Y'all been in conflict for decades. Why couldn't you tell me that?"

He took in a deep breath and his body tensed up. "We just didn't fight against each other. We fought side by side when the occasion called for it."

"What?" Ciara sickened by the idea of her teacher, her father working with that monster. "What occasion would this be, dad?" She tossed the word Dad in the question like an insult.

Sambuca leaned back on the couch. "There have been threats to both Lilith and myself. Threats that required an alliance between her and me. The council nor her clan knew about this. During this unholy union, I did things that I'm not proud of. Let's just leave it at that."

"You love keeping secrets from me." Ciara stood up from the couch. "Do you trust me?"

"I never told your mother!" He snapped. "Somethings you don't need to be known."

"Bullshit, Sambuca!"

"We have other things to worry about!" His voice increased in volume. "I don't want to talk about it!" His brown eyes had a red hue to them. His chest expanded and his breath increased.

Ciara placed her hands on his chest. "Calm down, Sambuca." Her voice was soft and soothing. She didn't want to upset him anymore. "It is not important. I don't need to know." Even though the two have been friends for all of her life. There was so much about Sambuca's past that she didn't know. She loved him and cared about him. She knew this burden would have to be released one day, but today was not the time. She decided to let this battle go.

"Sorry." His eyes return back to it beautiful brown and his breathing return to normal. "I didn't mean to get upset."

"You got some demons, Sambuca," she said. "Sooner or later they need to be exercise, but like you said, 'We have other things to worry about.'"

###

Night had fallen on the city once again. As a car raced down on an old side road just a couple of miles just outside of the city. The two detectives had been following dead leads all day, and now their work had carried over into the night. One of the detective's mind was millions of miles away, thinking about the truth that she learned over a twenty-four hour period. A truth that she couldn't tell her partner, but her partner wanted to talk about other things to pass the time.

"You and Roger are breaking up?" Detective Hansen asked.

Sarah's minds snapped back to the here and now. "Why?" She quickly shooked her head. "It is more complicated than that."

"All I know that white chunky moon has a chance," he said with a cheesy smile on his face.

"Do you enjoy making situations awkward?" Sarah responded.

"Calm down, sweetie," he said. "Just trying to pass the time, since we are going nowhere fast. We have been talking to people all day and are going nowhere. People are dropping like flys and disappearing like fucking donuts at a police station."

Sarah stared out the window, she knew they were wasting time. She knew the only people could solve these cases were Ciara and Sambuca. Everybody else was just prey. She couldn't share this with her partner, he would just call her loco. He liked to throw in some Spanish words for Sarah's benefit from time to time. It was a little racist but cute in listening to him butchering her native tongue.

"This bitch is totally loco?" He said staring at a woman standing in the middle of the road.

"What the hell?" Sarah's eyes focused on the dark-haired woman staring back at their car. "Slow down, Hansen."

"Shit," He replied back. "This bitch just needs to get out of the road. We got places to go." He turned on his grill lights and popped the sirens. "That should get her ass moving." The woman stood her ground and held her arms in the direction of the car.

"What the fuck is she doing?" Sarah asked.

A strong forced struck the front of the car, sending it flying in the air. The car landed, flipped and rolled several times, before coming to a complete stop couple of feet from the woman.

Sarah was still awake, but her head was spinning. She heard the sound of ripping metal as the car door flew off. A blonde woman peeked through the opening.

"Hello, Sarah!" The blonde woman words crawled out of her mouth.

Sarah's head didn't need to be clear to know who the blonde was. "Madison!"

"You remember, how sweet." Madison grabbed Sarah's gun and tossed it in the woods. "No need for that." She grabbed Sarah by the throat and rip the detective out of the car. "I'll never forget you, Sarah. Those fucking bullets hurt! Now, I'm going to show you real pain you Mexican bitch!"

"I'm Puerto Rican, asshole!"

"I don't give a shit," Madison replied. "Your blood is still red."

Sarah spat in the vampire's face. "Fuck you!"

Madison's grip tightened around Sarah's neck. "You are going to be sweet." Her fangs extended as she was getting ready to feed.

Kendra's fist lit up the area as she threatened to strike Madison. "The Mistress wants her alive."

"Dammit!" Madison dropped Sarah down on the street.

"But, you can have the other," Kendra said.

"Sweet," Madison said with a smile. "I coming fat boy," she yelled. "I hope you didn't poop your pants." Madison walked to the other side of the car. The other two heard the screams of Detective Hansen as Madison's fangs ripped into his soft flabby neck.

Kendra and Chloe looked down at Sarah. Kendra held out her hand and gentled touch Sarah on the forehead and said, "Sleep." Sarah's eyes closed as she slipped into somber. Chloe picked up Sarah and place the detective over her shoulder.

The sound of locking breaks could be heard as a car stop to provide some assistance. "Oh my God, do you ladies need help," a young man with his wife and two children walked out of the car.

Madison smiled showing her blood-drenched fangs. "I guess we all feed tonight."