The male vampire who had patronised her so well when he woke up, was the next to be taken from his cell. He did not come back.

Reggie kept an eye on Magda and waited. When lights began flashing outside her cells she smiled.

"Hello, Big Sis," David's familiar voice sounded in her head.

The implant was installed just behind her ear for emergencies such as this one. It was only short range, but it did its job.

"Took you long enough," she replied.

"Cell opening in 3,2,1," was her brother's only response.

The sound of sirens greeted her as the clear front slid back.

"I need the werewolf too," Reggie said as she stepped into the hallway, "they made me claim her."

"You have been busy," David replied. "Give me ten seconds."

Once David was into a security system there was little that could stop him, Reggie had perfect faith in her little brother. When David had been born with brittle bones, everyone had assumed he would stay well away from the family business, but he had made a place for himself. All he needed was the rest of the family to drop a few pieces of technology here and there and he could run the whole show from his mobile command centre.

"Which way?" Reggie asked as soon as Magda's cell opened.

"Right, down two, left, right, to the end, left and second right," was the quick response.

"Who are you talking to?" Magda asked.

"My brother," she replied. "Follow me and don't attack anyone unless I do first."

Magda nodded. She seemed to have accepted what had happened, but Reggie knew they were going to have to have a long talk about it at some point. Claiming wolves was a gift of only one line of vampires-Dracula's. What Magda had to be thinking Reggie had no idea.

The vampire left in her cell pressed herself to the clear front as Reggie passed. She was shouting something, but Reggie could neither make it out, nor cared to try. The door at the end of the cell block opened as she reached it and she stepped out into the corridor.

Almost immediately someone in a black uniform with lots of Kevlar lifted a gun and pointed it at her. This time she was prepared, and she ducked under the dart that flew at her. Everything around her came into sharp relief as she leapt at the unfortunate individual. With vampire strength Reggie relieved her opponent of the weapon and floored them with a kick to the legs.

She heard the crack, even with all the sirens, but she had no time to feel sorry for what turned out to be a man when his helmet fell off as he hit the ground. A broken leg was better than being dead, which he would have been had she been what they thought she was.

Magda growled, hovering over the man, but he stayed down. At least he had the sense he was born with.

The gun was loaded with special ammunition, completely useless to Reggie, so she dismantled it in a couple of seconds. Pocketing a vital part and the mechanism and the cartridge, she discarded the rest and continued on her way. She and Magda managed to traverse half of David's directions before they ran into any more resistance.

What Reggie definitely did not expect was the patronising male vampire from the van to run out of a side door in a uniform identical to the man she had already taken out. They both stopped dead and stared, he looked as shocked to see her as she was to see him. She wasn't given respite for long, however, as he went for a very similar gun to the one she had just dismantled.

The problem was the older a vampire was the faster they were. She dived for him, but she barely made it in time. If he hadn't had to deal with the holster she would have been a heap on the floor a second time. As it was she pushed the gun to the side, surprise giving her an edge, because he was clearly not expecting her to be fast enough to make it remotely close.

He was strong, very strong and it took everything she had. This was no young vampire, he had to have several centuries, if not more. What the hell he was doing in a uniform she had no idea, but she had no time to wonder about it as she reacted on instinct. It wasn't her strength or her speed that made Reggie a vampire's worst nightmare, it was her other gifts.

Leaping, she wound herself around the other vampire, going straight for his neck. He tried to grab her, but she had surprised him again-she should have been running, not attacking. The moment she sank her fangs into his neck she flooded him with her power and he had no chance. He froze, arm around her as if supporting her where he had been about to rip her away.

She was hungry. The claiming had depleted her reserves, and the monster that dwelled inside her rose up as the blood hit her throat. It wasn't the blood she wanted, but what it linked her to. All that vampire power was right there for the taking, so much it made her shiver with delight. This one was old alright, and his life force sang to her.

"Reggie, no," David's voice dragged her back from the edge. "Not now."

She wanted, she badly wanted, but her brother was one of the few people who could get through to her when she was desperate.

"Reggie, you'll be vulnerable."

The logic made it through the haze of hunger. She grabbed desperately at her self-control.

'I am greater than my instincts,' she told herself silently. 'I am in control.'

It was a mantra so ingrained that she felt her power receding immediately. Of course, that didn't help with the fact she had a powerful vampire at her mercy that would immediately go back on the attack if she let him go. She could have just killed him, it would have been easy, a twist of his neck before he recovered, but he was a conundrum. Had he been a regular vampire she wouldn't have hesitated, but the uniform made her pause. It wasn't hurriedly put on as if stolen, it looked like a perfect fit, well worn in. This vampire was more than he seemed.

"Drop the gun," she forced into his mind through the blood link.

Resistance came back at her; he was strong, but, in this, he was no match for Reggie. He struggled for a second, but then the weapon clattered to the ground.

Finally Reggie ripped her mouth away from his neck.

"Magda, pick up the gun and cover him," she instructed as she unwound her limbs from the other vampire's body and jumped back.

"You should kill him," Magda said, but Reggie knew her instructions would be followed.

Reggie kept her supernatural traits right at the surface, all of them. As the other vampire slowly came back to himself, she could see him reacting to what he was seeing. When she wanted to, Reggie could look like any other vampire, when the apex predator was revealed she was a little different. Her eyes glowed white for a start.

"What are you?" he asked.

"Evolved," she replied. "Now, what are you doing in a uniform?"

He hesitated.

"If you'd rather be unconscious," she said and nodded towards where Magda was standing just behind her.

"I work here," he said after another couple of tense seconds. "I'm the inside man."

"A vampire working for vampire hunters?"

Reggie didn't buy it.

"There are some dangers worth changing sides for," the vampire said.

"You're old, what do you fear?"

"Dracula."

That was possibly the one thing she would have believed.

"Then just stay out of his way," she tested.

"We both know that won't work for much longer."

"Don't fancy being a conscript?" Reggie asked.

"Not much," the vampire replied.

"What's your name?"

"Sorin Munteanu."

"How old are you?"

"One hundred and sixty three."

Reggie laughed.

"Try again," she said and nodded towards Magda a second time.

"None of your business," was the short reply.

"Reggie," David spoke in her ear, "you need to get going."

"Well, Sorin," she said, "I could stand here and argue, but I have things to do. We're going to your control room, so be a good boy, put your hands on your head, turn around and start walking. If you twitch wrong I will let my werewolf friend here enjoy shooting you."

She watched him assess Magda. Werewolves had very good reflexes and instincts, the odds were not in Sorin's favour. He must have come to the same conclusion because he did as he was told.

"Let's go," Reggie said.