Mrs. Costas put her hands in the air and screamed. The other woman leapt towards her and she turned to run, her short legs working overtime as the red headed woman reached out to trip her.

Jenner tried to yell out again, this time for the safety of his mother, but the sound was muffled by the tape. The knife in Mrs. Costas' hand flew free as she fell to the floor and the red head climbed on top of her, a crudely carved wooden stake gripped tightly in her hands. Jenner kicked his legs, knocking over the bucket he was standing in, and with another swift kick of his heavy boot the bucket flew threw the air and hit the woman in the head, sending her falling to the floor. Mrs. Costas took advantage of the distraction to try to climb to her feet, but the other woman reached out and pulled her back.

Jenner worked his jaw furiously, trying to force the tape free of his face as he screamed into it. As his mother was punched in the face, he swung his legs in the air and pulled at his restraints in an attempt to be free.

"Stop!" Jenner finally managed to say as a corner of the duct tape peeled free, "Don't hurt her, please!"

"Why the hell not? Obviously she's a fucking vampire!" The woman said as she punched Mrs. Costas again.

"What? She's not a vampire, she's my mother!" Jenner's voice was growing more clear as the tape peeled away.

"She was your mother man," the woman said, then gestured toward the blood staining his stomach and the leather tying his wrists, "She clearly isn't anymore!" She punched Mrs. Costas again, her face was bleeding and her eyes swollen as she seemed to lose consciousness.

"Look, I don't know who the fuck you are but if you keep hurting my mother I swear to God I'll fucking hunt you down and slit your pathetic throat myself you freaky ginger bitch!"

Satisfied that the target of her aggression wouldn't be escaping anytime soon, the woman stood up to examine Jenner, bloody fists on her hips and anger in her eyes. "Do you honestly think you're in any position to fucking threaten me? You're tied up and bloody, not to mention I'm saving your useless skinny ass from a blood sucking vamp!"

"I'm telling you she's not a vampire! She's my mother and I won't let you hurt her."

"Hurt her? Buddy, I'm gunna kill her!"

"No!" Jenner screamed as the woman bent over to pick up her stake again, "Leave her alone! We'll tie her up or something, interrogate her, just don't kill my mother!" Jenner was crying now, he could feel the leather loosening as he tugged against it, he looked up and noticed the spot where the strap was anchored into the ceiling was cracking. He tugged harder, feeling the strength return to his arms and with a cloud of dust the drywall came loose; he leapt for his mother's knife, hands still tied, and brandished it in the woman's direction.

"Fuck man, what's your deal?"

"What's my deal? What the fuck is your deal lady? You break through my window and attack my mother, you accuse her of being a vampire!"

"Buddy, have you noticed that your hands are tied and you 'mother' is about to bleed you dry? I know it's hard to believe but she's a fucking vampire!"

Jenner took a deep breath, he looked down at his bloody, unconscious mother and pushed back tears. He could still taste his 'drippy sammie,' he was surrounded by things that reminded him of how much he was loved, how could he accept that the woman who brought him into the world now wanted him dead? There must be another explanation.

"I'm going to tie her up, when she recovers from your beating!" He emphasized the word and glared at the woman. "I'll figure this shit out."

"You must have a death wish," the woman said.

"How do I even know you're not the damn vampire?"

The woman tossed the stake at Jenner's feet and sucked her teeth. "I'm a fucking hunter you dumbass, I hate these mother fuckers and if you can't see that then you're a bigger asshole than I thought."

"So why were you following me? How did you find me here?"

"Following you? I wasn't following you! I was following that vamp loving sociopath you had coffee with!"

"Mohammad?"

"What ever you want to fucking call him, he knows too much about vamps, he's probably one of them too."

Jenner's head was spinning, but he could see the woman was watching for a break in his concentration. He kept his eyes on her, and considered his options. "I don't believe you."

"Of course not! Vampires are manipulators!"

"Is that what you're doing now? Manipulating me?"

"Fuck man, I'm just trying to SAVE YOUR LIFE!"

"How did you even find me here?"

The woman slowly lowered her hand toward her pocket and Jenner jerked forward. She pulled her hand back and raised it into the air, watching the knife closely. "I had a tracker on the vamp lover's car, it led me here but to my surprise it was just buried in a muddy tire track in the lawn."

"Sit down on the bed!" Jenner yelled, losing his patience.

"Cool man, I'll sit down but you gotta watch that vamp mother of yours!" The woman edged toward the bed and Jenner approached her slowly.

"So you think Mohammad is a vampire? Why would he be helping me then? Why is he trying to save my life?"

"I told you, vamps manipulate people, it's what they do!"

"Well, you'll find I'm not manipulated easily. Mohammad's told me more about what's going on than any other person I know, he's had me alone in his car for God's sake! If he was a vampire, why wouldn't he just kill me right then and there?"

Just then Jenner's mother began to stir, she groaned and rolled over, prompting Jenner to rush to her side.

"Man...you're fucking screwed!" Jenner heard the woman's voice and turned to see her straddling the smashed window's frame, "When you're ready to listen to fucking reason I'm sure we'll see each other again."

"Get back here!" Jenner moved quickly to the window, but the woman was gone before he reached her; already tearing down the street before he even got close.

"Uuuuugh...." Mrs. Costas moaned again and Jenner began to cut the leather from around his wrists.

"Be quiet mom," he huffed, moving back to her side, "save your fucking energy."

"Car...los..." Mrs. Costas' face was swollen and bleeding, her words were muffled by oversized lips and her eyes were nearly completely closed over.

"Yeah, that's me!" Jenner said, rolling his mother onto her stomach to tie her hands with the leather that once restrained him, "Your son, remember? The one you just tied up and tried to bleed out? I'm that fucking Carlos."

"Please...don't..."

"Don't what mother? What don't you want me to do? Drug you? Tie you up? CUT YOU!?"

"Don't...swear..."

Jenner couldn't help but laugh a dry and bitter laugh, "Well mom, I don't fucking believe you're in a fucking position to fucking tell me what to fucking do!" When he was done tying her up he flipped her back over and stared down into her bruised face. "How's that for not fucking swearing?"

Jenner moved to sit on the bed, watching his mother slowly roll back and forth and lament the pain in her face. He pulled out his cell and stared down at Mohammad's number, finger hovering over the call button and skin crawling with nerves. That woman, the 'hunter' as she called herself...she could have been telling the truth. His mother was acting suspiciously like one would assume a vampire would, and Mohammad did know a lot about vampires. If the hunter was right...if Mohammad was really just manipulating him, he'd have to be smart about it.

Finally, he pressed the little green phone and listened to the other line ring. "Hello?" Mohammad's stuffy voice said and Jenner gulped.

"Hey Mo!" He tried to sound casual. "Just checking in. Anything new to report?"

"Mr. Costas, it has only been two hours since I dropped you off at your mother's house. I am an intelligent man, and a hard worker, but the questions we are trying to answer are vast and unfathomable. It would be impossible for me to know any more information than I did this morning."

"Right, well...I guess I'm just anxious, what with my life being on the line and all."

"Mr. Costas, I assure you, as soon as I have any new information I will be in touch."

"What about the red-haired woman from the cafe?"

"What about her, exactly?"

"Any idea who she is?"

"I am afraid not, but I will warn you not to engage in any sort of contact with her should you see her again."

"Why not?" There was a long pause, Jenner could hear papers shuffling as Mohammad whispered to himself. "Mo, are you listening?"

"Yes, of course. I am afraid I am simply in the middle of a rather rousing journal I discovered in the archives, what was your question?"

"Why shouldn't I talk to her, that red headed woman?"

"Well Mr. Costas, if she is in fact the vampire she will use any means to lie to and manipulate you. She will want you to believe she is on your side so she can get close to you."

"Right..." Jenner glanced toward his whining mother and sighed.

"Was there anything else you wanted to talk about Mr. Costas?"

"No...not really..."

"Need I remind you, this is a very dire situation you are in?"

"No, I get it, I do."

"And I am currently your greatest ally in the fight to save your life." Jenner didn't say anything, he watched his mother writhe and moan on the floor. "Withholding information from me could be dangerous, even the most minute detail could be the tipping point to save your life."

"Yeah...I know..."

"So...is there anything else you would like to tell me? I assure you I am interested only in helping you."

Jenner thought for a moment about it, he stared down at his mother and stood up to pace the room. "Let's say I was told I couldn't trust you...how would you respond to that?"

"Well...given your current situation I would say it is smart advice, you should not trust anyone easily. However, I feel I have done nothing but concern myself with your safety in order to win your trust. If I have not succeeded...if you do not fully trust me, then I would advise you to follow your gut on this. You need to get into the habit of trusting your intuition, Mr. Costas, you are a man of great insight, you need simply to embrace that fact."

Jenner mulled over Mohammad's words in his mind, he seemed to be genuine enough. While his mother struggled to get up, Jenner pressed her back down onto the ground with his foot and chewed his lower lip.

"Was there something else you would like to say to me?" Mohammad asked.

"Yeah...uh...maybe you should come over here...like...now-ish."

"Is there something wrong?"

"How very astute of you Mo." Jenner imitated Mohammad's tone again and rubbed his face, looking up at the ceiling as he pocketed his phone and waited.

"Carlos, please, don't be mad at me."

"Don't be mad?" Jenner lowered his face to hers, "Don't be mad!? Don't worry mother, I'm not mad -- I'm FURIOUS!"

"Please, I was only trying to help you!"

"And how, exactly, were you planning on helping? By bleeding me dry?"

"I never would have done that! I was told I just had to get some of your blood, then hand it over. I was told I'd see a change in you, that you'd grow up and have babies and forgive me for all of this."

"Mom, I'm NEVER going to change! This is who I am! As for forgiving you...trust me that will not be happening anytime soon..."

"But you defended me! That woman wanted to kill me and you fought her off."

"OF COURSE I DEFENDED YOU!" Jenner felt something inside of him snap as he lunged forward and held the knife against her throat. "You're my mother! I would never want you to get hurt, and you're SUPPOSED to feel the same way about me!"

"I'm sorry Carlos."

"I don't care." Jenner reached out for the roll of duct tape that had fallen to the floor and put a long strip over his mother's mouth. "And I don't feel comfortable talking to you on my own right now."

Mrs. Costas squirmed and cried for a while, then fell silent as they waited together for Mohammad to show up. It took him about half an hour but finally Jenner heard the squealing of rubber on pavement as the rusted old car pulled up to the house.

"It's about time you showed up, heaven forbid this was a real emergency or anything," Jenner said as he opened the door for his guest.

"I am truly sorry, what happened? Are you okay?"

Jenner had put his shirt back on, and blood was staining the front of it. He look down and brushed aside Mohammad's concerns. "I'm fine man, minor flesh wound."

"What is wrong then? What happened?"

"I...my mother...I think maybe she's the vampire?"

"What?" Mohammad perked up, staring around and pulling Jenner close. "Where is she?"

"She's tied up in my bedroom, where she tried to bleed me out."

"That does sound like quite suspicious behaviour..." Mohammad allowed Jenner to lead the way to the room and Mohammad stood over the woman with disbelief in his eyes. "I must say, if your mother is in fact a vampire then she is absolutely one who is unique as far as I can tell. A vampire rarely chooses someone who is...past her prime, so to speak."

"Well, is it possible that maybe she's just my regular mother, maybe she's just doing the leg work for a vampire?"

"That is absolutely a possibility, vampires have always been known to toy with the minds of mortals and make them do their bidding. I would say a woman as advanced in age as your mother, and so...shapely would not even be chosen as a faithful."

"Faithful?"

"A potential host, one who has offered their body to be possessed in the event of the current host body's death. A faithful would go through the ritual of exchanging blood on a regular basis, taking in a small portion of the vampire spirit to ease the transition when the day comes. From simply the sight of your mother I would say she's merely a toy, a pawn used to achieve some greater purpose."

"She was trying to take my blood, does that mean we were right? That the vampire wants my body?"

"I would say, Mr. Costas, that we were absolutely correct. There is hope for your mother to recover from the spell of this particular spirit, she should be her regular self in a day or two as long as the vampire does not have contact with her." Mohammad turned to approach the broken window, glass crunching underfoot. "What, exactly, happened here?"

Jenner stared at the mess, his mind spinning. "It uh...it broke in the struggle I guess."

"You guess?"

"I was drugged man! I barely remember much of what happened, really I'm just lucky to still be alive, whether my memory is intact or not isn't relevant."

Mohammad cocked a brow as he looked Jenner up and down, Jenner could see he wanted to press the matter but instead he changed the subject. "Have you questioned her yet?"

"No...I didn't want to talk to her without you here. I figured if she was a vampire she'd be able to talk me into letting her go."

"You learn very quickly, Mr. Costas. It was smart to wait for me." Mohammad stepped toward Mrs. Costas and gently removed the tape from her mouth, "Mrs. Costas, my name is Mohammad, I have a few questions for you."

Mrs. Costas whimpered and looked at her son through the slits of her swollen eyes. Jenner looked away and the woman looked back to Mohammad with a nod.

"Very well, Mrs. Costas, what is your first name?"

"Con-..." Her voice cracked with sorrow and she cleared her throat. "Consuela."

Mohammad looked to Jenner for confirmation and when he nodded Mohammad continued. "Mrs. Costas, can you tell me why you attacked your son?"

"She...she told me to...she told me I would have grand babies if I did."

"It is important to you, then, to have grandchildren?"

The bit of eyes that were visible flashed with joy as she nodded in response to the question.

"Very well, and can you tell me who it was that asked you to do this?"

"I...I can't seem to remember her name..."

"What does that mean? Does that mean she was the vampire? Did she make my mother forget her name?"

"It could have been the vampire who approached your mother with this task. However my research suggests that a faithful, being possessed of part of the vampire spirit, can manipulate others nearly as effectively as the vampire itself."

"What is all this talk of vampires? Is this one of your vulgar blog postings Carlos?"

"No, mom, this is about the VULGAR way you tied me up and cut me open! Kind of like a vampire would do!"

"Oh my...oh my my my..." Mrs. Costas shook her head and looked away from the men.

"Mrs. Costas, can you describe to me the woman who spoke to you?"

Mrs. Costas' brows furrowed as she struggled to recall the woman. "Well...she was short...she had beautiful blonde hair. Carlos you should really meet her, she was a gorgeous woman, and so pleasant."

Mohammad looked back to Jenner. "Does this description sound familiar to you at all?"

"Yeah." Jenner nodded, thinking of Gloria. "It does."

"Mrs. Costas, this woman who spoke to you, do you recall what she said? Her exact words?"

It was clear that Mrs. Costas was thinking hard, she mumbled to herself and started to cry. "I don't know, I don't know! Oh God, what have I done!" She started to mutter The Lord's Prayer in Spanish as she rocked back and forth.

"Mr. Costas, I do not believe we will be getting much more information from your mother at this time. Will you be able to stay here with her until she recovers from the spirit's spell?"

"Uh..." Jenner could feel the pain in his torso, mirrored in his heart by the feeling of betrayal. "You said it would only take a day or two right?"

"Absolutely, I have yet to meet with a person who has recovered from such a state, however I am partly inclined to tell you she may not even recall what she has done to you."

Jenner sighed, he wasn't sure how to react to this revelation. Part of him wanted his mother to forget the terrible things she'd done, but a darker part of him wanted her to remember it forever.

"I would advise you to keep her tied up for the next two days, it wouldn't do to have her run back to the woman who did this to her."

"What will you be doing in the mean time?"

"This woman promised your mother grandchildren...this may have been a lie, but it could have had some truth to it. Vampire spirits and their faithfuls are skilled at spinning half truths in their effort to recruit humans to their cause."

"So...the vampire wants me to...what? Impregnate her?" Jenner's tone was nervous, he thought of that night in the trees with Gloria, how she led him to the dead body and they fucked in the moonlight.

Mohammad stared at Jenner. "Perhaps, I will have to look into it to see if there are any records of vampires bearing human children. I would assume that you don't have anything to worry about however, just refrain from...well...making love until we have more answers."

"Yeah..." Jenner could feel himself getting hard as he recalled Gloria's cleavage and the way her thighs gripped him as he thrusted. "Sounds like a plan..."