Ian barged into Damien's mansion.
'Did you know?' He asked, panting in anger.
'If you really want to stop me from entering your house anytime I want, then perhaps you should stop entering mine to accost me for things I'm clueless about.'
'You really want to lie to my face and say you didn't know.'
'Didn't know what?'
'Oh my God! You didn't know, did you?'
'Know what?'
'Julian is alive!'
'That's not possible! He died in 1642.'
'No, we were told that he died in 1642. We were obviously fed wrong information because I saw him two hours in the subway station.'
Upon hearing this, Damien stood up in complete shock.
'So they lied to me? The Night Circle assured that Julian died in 1642.'
'They played you, Damien. To be honest with you, part of the reason why I hated you being in the Night Circle was because Julian was there. I feared you'd become just like him which you did.'
'No, I'm not him. I have never and will never rob people of their families in their very eyes. But are you sure it was him?'
'I swear on our parents' graves that I saw him with my own eyes.'
'Then we have to kill him.'
'We?'
'This man killed us and parents. He took away our lives. I don't care if I have to burn the whole Night Circle down to stop him.'
'Then let's go right now.'
'I have you to warn you first. Julian won't be as easy to kill as the Night Circle lackeys that you've been tossing around. Do you know what I'incendiaire means in french.'
'It means the arsonist.'
'That was what they called Julian in the 15th century. He was responsible for a series of murders in a small town in France called Monasque. According the folklore, he would kill his victims and burn their bodies to cover his tracks. But most times, he'd burn them alive, making sure that their screams could be heard for miles. Sometimes he forced their loved ones and neighbours to watch them burn alive slowly, and to tell everyone what they have seen after. It wasn't just Monasque. It happened all around Europe. In Portugal, Russia, Germany, and let's not forget our hometown in old England. I don't mean to toot your horn, but this guy is a serious notorious psychopath.'
'I'm not afraid of him and neither should you. So are coming or not?'
'Of course, I'm coming. You think I'll let you kill this guy alone. Besides, revenge was always more of my thing.'

At that moment, members of the Night Circle started whooshing into the mansion. All holding guns loaded with wooden bullets. Ian tightened his fist as wanting to fight his his way out of there. But there were too many of them. They were more than twenty vampires in the living room with them. All pointing guns at them.
'What is the meaning of this?' Damien asked.
'Sorry, man. We're under Julian's orders to bring you in.' The vampire in front of him said.
'So you knew you too, George?' He said pointing at the vampire. 'You all knew!' He shouted in anger.
'It's nothing personal. We could do this the easy way or the hard way. The choice is yours!'
Ian snatched a gun from one of the vampires, but before he got the chance to use it, he was shot in the head by George.
Damien came at George and put on the floor. Then he was shot in the head by another vampire, knocking him out cold.

Ian woke up in a cold room where livestock were kept. He was once again sedated with holy water, but not as much as the last time.
Ian touched his forehead and felt a hole in his head. It hadn't healed because the wooden bullet was still there.
Ian had to stick his fingers into his own head and remove the bullet before he healed.
He could feel himself regaining his strength even though his hands were in shackles.

Two vampires opened the bolted door of the cold room and dragged Ian out.
They took him into a larger room in the warehouse where them put him on his knees.
The room was full of vampires including George who stood in a corner at the end of the room.

Julian came out of the shadows, standing in front Ian as he smirked.
'Ian, it's been such a long time. How have you been?'
Ian made no reply. He could barely look at Julian without fantazing about killing him.
'Oh, I see. Someone's still upset that I killed mummy and daddy.'
Ian stood up and spit right into his face.
'You're going to die for that! You've cost me a lot trouble these past weeks you've been in town. I intend to make your death excruciating.'
'Go to hell!'
'We're already there.'
'I've already experienced hell. Compared to the last one, this is quite mediocre. Why don't you let out of this chains and show you what hell really looks like.'
'I'm a hundred years older than you, boy. You couldn't beat even if you're dosed with holy water.'
'Let me out of these chains and we'll find out. Or maybe you don't want to embrass yourself in front of your army.'
'I'm not going to lie. You have balls! Not only have you thwarted my plans, but also, you had the audacity to think of killing me. The one they call I'incendiaire De Monasque. The one has has burnt down cities far older this one.'
'I'm not afraid of you, Julian.'
'We'll see about that.'
The two vampires put Ian back on his knees, and Julian landed a heavy punch on his face.
Ian smiled and chuckled sarcastically as he spewed out blood.
'That kind of tickled.'
Julian drew back his fist to punch Ian again. George then walked up to him and said;
'Wait! What you're doing isn't fair. The boy is shackled and full of holy water. We have ways of dealing with prisoners in the Night Circle and this isn't one of them.'
'Well, life isn't fair, George.'
'This doesn't show strength. It shows weakness. Your weakness!'
Now all the vampires' eyes were on Julian were on Julian, waiting to see his next.
He placed his hand on George's shoulder and looking him in the eye, said;
'I'm not weak! You can release him from his. shackles and then we can fight like men.'
'Thank you!' Ian said as George took off his shackles.
'Don't thank me, thank your brother.' George secretly whispered into Ian's ear. 'And when you see him, tell him we're even.'
After unshackling him, George went back to his corner.
As Ian stood up, Julian took off his jacket and roll up his sleeves.
'Let's make things interesting. If I win, you will leave New York and never come back. If you win, I'll do the same. Is that fair enough to you?' Julian asked.
'Yeah, it is!'
All the vampires went into different corners, giving Ian and Julian enough space for their fight.
Ian and Julian circled around each other, waiting for who would make the first move.
'You think you're so tough? You think you've gone through hell?' Julian said before giving Ian a quick jab on the face to throw him off balance. 'I was born in it!'
Ian punched him back and pushed him away. Then he jumped up and came down with a punch which put Julian on the ground.
He quickly got up and grabbed Ian, throwing him into a wall. Before he could stand up, Julian carried him and threw him on top of a glass table which scattered to pieces on impact.
Ian didn't get up. He laid on the floor pretending to be weak. When Julian came towards, he grabbed his leg and fell him down.
Then Ian got on top of him and held him down with one hand which he had on his throat. He used the other hand to release a series of hot punchs on Julian's face. Each punch had more impact than the last. He didn't stop punching him until blood ran from his nose and mouth.
Afterwards, Ian rolled behind him and wrapped his arm around Julian's neck, strangling him tightly.
Julian tried to break free but the grip was too strong from him to escape, and he was still weak from the punches.
'Yield! Yield or I'll rip your head off!' Ian shouted.
Julian pulled out a stake from his pocket and stabbed Ian in the gut with it five times before he could break free from his grip. Then he stood up, his face covered with blood, and stumped Ian's chest vehemently. Again and again till he could hear the sound of his rib cage breaking, and Ian coughed out blood.
Julian looked at George who watched the whole in awe.
'Was the stake part of the agreed fight?' George asked.
'It's just like I said, life isn't fair! Get this guy out of my sights!'
The two vampires took Ian back to the cold room and bolted the door.

After a few hours, the door was opened. Damien came in and helped Ian up.
'Damien, how did you escape?'
'Let's just say George came through for me.'
They both whooshed out of the warehouse together.

When they got home they found Lucas and Lena in the parlour, waiting for them.
'Ian, what happened? Who did this to you?' Lena asked upon seeing him with dried blood on his face and shirt.
'You okay, dude? You look jacked up.' Lucas said.
'I'm fine by the way. Thanks for asking.' Damien said sarcastically.
'You didn't show up to school. And when you didn't answer my phone calls. We came here.'
'We've been here for hours.' Lucas chipped in.
'It's way past midnight. You guys should go home.' Ian said.
'Not until you tell us what happened.' Lena said.
'Long story short,' Damien said, 'we were captured by Julian whose not dead. Ian was tortured and that why he looks crappy. The Night Circle wants both of us dead. Also, we will all be dead by morning.'
'What do you mean by that?' Ian said.
'Three months ago when the Night Circle resettled in New York city. We were told to retrieve a weapon. Probably the same weapon that the Night Circle was looking for in England, 1492. But I'm just guessing since our superiors didn't tell us what it is. All we know is that it's very powerful and old. That's the main reason we're here in the first place. Our superiors also gave strict orders to destroy the city if couldn't find it.'
'How?' Lucas asked.
'Through a manmade earthquake device. So that the weapon would never be found. After all, nobody else will come looking in a levelled city. We called it Project Quake. Unfortunately, George has told me that Julian has ordered them to set the device off tonight. The good news is since Ian and I are vampires, there's a big probability we'll survive it. You two on the other hand, are very screwed.' He said pointing at Lena and Lucas.
'Guys, please tell me we're not actually going to let this happen.' Lucas said.
'We're not! Damien and I will stop it.'
'We're coming with you.' Lena said.
'No, it's too dangerous.'
'Ian, I am not going to let you do this on your own. I'm coming with you. You'll need all the help you can to stop this.'
'It's my city too. If there's an imminent threat, I'm going to stand and fight.' Lucas said.
'Then we better start moving, kids. It's happening in Manhattan.'

Ian went up to his room and opened the box under it.
He pulled out his hood and whooshed downstairs.

They all got into Damien's car and he drove as fast he could to Manhattan.

The fate of New York city now lied in their hands.