These vampires were especially vicious. As soon as one was staked through the heart, three more flew in to take its place.

There was a certain sadness about it - I knew some of these creatures had lived for hundreds of years, only to be brought down by a monster-hunter on their favorite night of the year. Halloween was when we got the most incident reports, though, and these suckers hadn't exactly celebrated safely. There were five blood-drained corpses that we would now have to explain away.

The newbie was actually pretty good. He moved almost impossibly quickly through the horde of the undead, wielding two stakes - which was a pretty ballsy move, seeing as they were kind of difficult to drive through skin and bone and muscle. He seemed to be holding his own, though, as I hadn't seen him lose control all night.

Suddenly, a howl pierced the nighttime air. I felt my heart thud to the bottom of my chest as my companion's face turned white.

Werewolves and vampires all at once? I was beginning to feel tendrils of fear in my stomach.

They were coming from his side, entering the alley at full speed.

"Mark!" I shouted, digging out my silver dagger. "Catch!"

The blade arced gracefully through the air, and he raised his hand to catch it without taking his gaze off of the vampire he was decimating.

When the hilt met his palm, he roared in pain. The blade clattered to the ground.

For a moment, the fighting stopped. The werewolves drew to a halt at the mouth of the alley and the vampires hissed uncertainly.

"Are you...?" I breathed, not sure I was seeing things correctly.

But no, it was clear - Mark's palm was red-hot and bleeding, burned open by the silver.

"You're a werewolf," I growled, launching myself at him.

I would have to talk to corporate about this. Something had seriously gone wrong in the screening process.