Dawn sat alone in the darkness of the basement, doing her best to steady her breathing. A muffled, rhythmic ba-bump, ba-bump echoed in her ears. Had her heartbeat always been this loud? She wondered if this was how she sounded to the vampires. Would they be able to hear her if they made it past Cal and Sasha and Lee? She gripped the knife a little tighter.

In an effort to calm herself, Dawn looked down at the weapon that Lee had given her. It was a simple thing, with a comfortable grip, a small crossguard, and a vaguely triangular blade a little over twice as long as the handle. Even in the darkness of her hiding spot, so dark she could barely make out the outline of her own fingers, she could see the slight shimmer along the dagger. It had a strange iridescent quality, almost like oil on water, yet the strange glimmer cast no light. Dawn cautiously poked the stone floor with it, and her eyes widened factionally as the blade slid into the hard rock as though it were soft clay. She decided to leave it there with her hand tight around the grip. If she dropped that knife on herself, she would be sliced to ribbons.

Suddenly, a horrible, metallic screeching sound tore through the silence of the basement, and Dawn’s heart nearly beat its way through her ribcage. That rhythmic ba-bump, ba-bump echoed in the back of her mind. Leaning forward, careful to avoid cutting herself upon the blade, she peered through the thin sliver of space between two barrels. The storage room was still dim, and she could see little in the darkness, but there was still more light out there than where she was. Faintly, she saw the shimmer of the other knife moving around, and once her eyes adjusted, Dawn could make out the sight of Lee dragging the cot upright to barricade the entryway to the room where she had slept. As soon as he made sure the room was adequately sealed, he took off towards the stairs.

Straining her ears, she tried to track where he was. Silence. Not a single footfall could be heard. Dawn listened closer, doing her best to ignore the pounding of her own heart. The softest step on tile. A slight metallic grind. The dripping of a faucet. A blade being drawn. And then silence, as though he was no longer there.

Beyond the basement, however, she heard the sounds of the others. Cal was grumbling, Cyrus was saying something, and Sasha grunted before stomping noisily back into the kitchen. Running water. A pan being lazily scrubbed. And beyond that, only the faint squeaks of a glass being polished.

The air was tense with anticipation.

Ba-bump.
Ba-bump.
Ba-bump.

The strangely muffled jingling sound of a bell told Dawn that someone had entered. The entire space above her suddenly felt heavier, more oppressive, and for a moment, she was terrified that whoever just walked in would come crashing down into the basement before she shook her head and dislodged the thought. That was silly.

Then the talking began, and Dawn heard the indistinct sound of conversation drifting down to her. The rhythm of Cyrus’ soft lilt sparred with the sliminess of an uncomfortably familiar cadence. A voice that sounded wrong when she listened to it. She gripped her knife tighter.

Above her, the droning back-and-forth continued for what felt like an eternity, and with each passing moment, she could feel her hope cautiously returning. Perhaps it was nothing. Maybe they were just all on edge. Just as Dawn was about to let loose a sigh of relief, the world exploded into chaos. A sudden, cacophonous clash upstairs sent a ripple of terror through her, and she scrambled back against the wall. The sounds of furniture being smashed and bones being broken pealed through the basement, bringing with them every horrible image she could conjure up from the back of her mind. Dawn’s thoughts filled with myriad sights of what violence might have been taking place above, slowly drowning her in own mind.

They were back. They had come. There was no escape this time. Her one way out was the knife. Quickly now, while she still had a chance. Sharp as it was, it probably wouldn’t even hurt. Now wa—

Dawn was shocked out of her panic by a thunderous, rumbling roar, a savage roar that only seemed to grow louder, shaking the wall behind her back and rattling her very bones. It was a bestial sound, filled with rage and fury and wrath, and in that moment, it was louder than the chaos in her mind. It pushed aside her terror, filling her with rage and fury and wrath as well. Who were these people to attack them? To hell with them, Dawn thought as she drew the dagger from the stone floor and adjusted her weight. She had fangs of her own now. If she was going to die, she would die sinking this knife into one of them, not herself.

Then just as quickly as it all started, the chaos above was replaced by the hiss of water spraying, and before she knew it, nothing at all. Everything was silent, save the thundering of her own heart.

A laugh echoed down the stairs, sounding like Cyrus and yet anyone but. Cal shouted something back, and a loud growl replied as well. Dawn cautiously leaned forward to peek between the barrels again, listening closely to the footsteps walking through the kitchen and plodding down the stairs.

“Alright, I think it’s safe now,” Cal called out as he entered the storage room. The knot of tension deep inside her loosened and all her limbs suddenly felt like jelly.

Cal, however, kept walking towards the barricaded makeshift bedroom, oblivious to her relief. It was then that Lee rushed in, back to his trembly, harried self once more. “Wait, wait! She’s there,” he cried, pointing at her corner. “Let me disarm this,” he said while carefully maneuvering a perplexed Cal away from the apparently booby-trapped bedroom.

Dawn rapped loudly on a barrel to get his attention, and barely a second later, he was lifting the containers away with that unusual speed of his. Before she knew it, the makeshift barricade had been cleared. She stood up on sore legs and took in the sight before her. There he stood in the dim light, clothes torn, drenched with water and blood, but otherwise unharmed. A sob of relief bubbled up and she flung herself forward into him, clinging on tightly. Cal’s arms moved cautiously, with deliberate restraint, and he slowly returned her embrace. Dawn clung to him tightly, trembling as the terror slowly poured out of her and washed away in the swirling current beneath the cracking ice, only letting go when Lee cleared his throat to get their attention some time later.

“I have removed everything. The room should be safe now,” he said, idly hiding away various sharp implements on his person. He was already turning to leave when Cal looked down at her hand and Dawn suddenly realized she still had the knife.

“Lee! I, uh, your knife—” Dawn stammered, trying to hold out the blade in a way that wasn’t threatening.

“Oh, yes, that, well, uh. I’m sure you’ll need it more than I will,” he stuttered back. Reaching behind his waist, he unbuckled a sheath and handed it to her with a small, shaky smile.

Cal watched the exchange curiously and looked at him with a strange expression while she tucked the weapon away. “Sharpened a lot of knives?” he asked.

Lee chuckled, looking mildly surprised for a moment, then pensive. “Dulled a few too,” he said, slowly shaking his head ruefully. “Cooking’s easier.”

Whatever that meant, it seemed to satisfy Cal, and Dawn got the sense that Lee wasn’t inclined to share, so she held her tongue and watched as the trembling cook heaved himself up the stairs. He seemed smaller, somehow, and older. A guilty part of her was glad that she wasn’t the only one shaken by the ordeal.

Once he was out of sight, she turned and looked up at Cal inquiringly. “What was that all about?”

“I’m pretty sure he has a very particular set of skills,” said Cal.

Dawn rolled her eyes at the reference, glad for the distraction, however momentary. “Great, so one chef’s a beast and the other’s a super-spy, and a vampire runs the place. What’s next, there’s a succubus next door? ‘A werewolf, a spy, and a vampire walk into a bar…’”

Cal leaned down and picked her up gently, effortlessly carrying her. “You work on that punchline,” he said as he carried her into the makeshift bedroom. “I need to make a call, so sit tight for a minute.” With that, he set her down again on the little cot and began rummaging through his bag. Dawn sat cross-legged, watching curiously as he pulled out a silver flip phone and opened it. He pressed and held the big button in the middle for a few seconds before holding it up to his ear.

Huh. A phone that didn’t need to be dialed. Neat.

Dawn caught Cal’s eye and silently mouthed M-A-G-I-C? at him with a raised eyebrow, and he nodded with a brief, toothy grin before turning his attention back to the phone.

An indistinct, staticky voice buzzed inquiringly on the other end.

“It’s me,” said Cal. “It happened again.”

A short and terse buzz.

“Yeah, everybody’s fine.”

Bzzzzzzz.

“Yeah, same guys.”

Bzzzzzzzzz.

“At The Bog, down Morlake’s. Cyrus’ place, if you remember him.”

Bzzz.

“Yeah, in Oaks. No clue how they found us here.”

Bzzzzzzzz.

“Quite.”

Bzzzzzzzzzzzz.

“That would be a mess.”

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Cal breathed an audible sigh of relief. “Thanks. I’ll put her on.”

Dawn snapped to attention, suddenly aware that she was now part of the conversation. She received the phone from Cal, who flopped heavily onto the bed next to her, and gingerly raised it up to her ear.

“Hello?” she said timidly.

“And you must be Dawn,” responded a rich baritone voice.

“Y-yes?”

“My beloved is keen to speak to you,” the voice informed her.

There were muffled sounds of shuffling and movement on the other side, and a moment later, a light, feminine voice spoke up.

“Hello? Can you hear me alright?”

Something about her put Dawn at ease. Perhaps it was the distinct lack of female company in the last few days, which felt more like the last few months. Perhaps it was just nice to hear a sympathetic voice.

“Yes, I can hear you,” she replied.

“Lovely. And your name is Dawn, yes? You can call me Mary.”

It took Dawn a moment to realize that Mary couldn’t see her nodding, but by then, she had already begun to speak again.

“I know that a lot has happened, and I’m sure you’re feeling rather scared and confused right now.”

She could suddenly feel a lump in her throat.

“I know it’s all a lot, but it’ll be fine, alright? I promise, everything will be ok.”

Dawn could feel the icy facade crack again and fought to hold back the tears threatening to blur her vision.

“Dear?”

“I’m ok,” she choked out in a hoarse whisper.

Cal stirred on the bed beside her, looking up with concern. Dawn did her best to avoid his gaze.

“Oh, you poor thing,” murmured Mary. “Hang in there for me, alright?”

Dawn drew a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself. “Ok,” she breathed out shakily. “Ok.”

There was the sound of movement on the other side before the connection faded and she was left holding a silent phone. She dropped it on the bed by Cal and flopped back, suddenly exhausted despite the early hour.

Wrung out before the day had even begun.

Beside her, Cal rolled over and draped himself over her, giving her a languid peck on the cheek. Dawn closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight like a teddy bear. A large, cold, damp teddy bear with sharp fangs and no pulse.

Close enough.

After several more quiet moments, Dawn’s breathing was finally even again. She was calm. Present. In control.

And just as she was about to speak, Cyrus loudly entered the room.

“There you are—oh. Am I interrupting something?” Without waiting for an answer, he strolled over to tease Cal as he was hastily sitting up. “Quite the phone call, I see. Are you sure now’s the best time to be canoodling again?”

“Oh, piss off,” growled Cal. “I just laid down.”

“Sure, sure,” Cyrus chuckled.

“Ugh. What do you want?”

Cyrus’ cheery countenance snapped back to dead serious. “I want to know how we handle this. I don’t imagine it’ll go over well if I just call in Enforcement or Security. God knows how the Guild responds. I have Sasha sitting his fat ass down on the one we took alive, but any minute now we’re going to have to fend off the neighbors. No way in hell they didn’t hear Sasha screaming his head off back there. Even with the Sun out, it’s anyone’s guess as to how long we have, someone’s bound to get curious. And then there’s cleaning up the place itself, I reckon we might need to keep it the way it is for now, but then there’s the issue of when we can reopen and—”

Cal cut him off with a loud, unenthused groan before standing up. “Alright, alright, all hands on deck. I’ll be up there in a bit,” he sighed, rubbing his face. “The Guild should be notified soon, by the way, and the cavalry’s on the way. Hopefully their investigators or something.”

Cyrus peered at his friend incredulously. “You got those corrupt bastards to spit out investigators, plural, with a phone call? Did you have your tongue silver-plated recently? Who did you have to suck off?”

Cal just rolled his eyes, but Cyrus was undeterred. “Orrrrrrr… if it’s dirty secrets, do you think you could let a buddy in on a few? My interest is purely academic, I assure you,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“I did not blackmail Guild officials,” Cal grumbled.

“Friends in high places then?”

Cal shrugged. “Something like that.” His gloomy expression softened as he turned his attention back to Dawn. “Stay down here, ok? It’s not a pretty sight up top. Will you be ok? Should I get—”

“Go help Cyrus,” said Dawn, “I’ll be fine. I’m not made of glass.”

“Tough lass you are,” Cyrus remarked with a chuckle. “Seein’ what these bastards are like with me own two eyes, I’m impressed you made it out alright the first time. Wonder why the gobshites are after you two.”

“Sorry to have brought all this trouble to your doorstep,” she said apologetically.

“Ye need be sorry for nothin’, lass,” chirped Cyrus. He grinned, revealing his fangs. “That was the most fun I’ve had in ages. Haven’t fogged it up like that since I left the old sod. See, back in the day—”

Dawn nodded along, bewildered by far more than just the new accent, yet too drained to inquire. Thankfully, Cal grabbed Cyrus by the shoulders and walked him out of the room as he rambled. Within moments, the basement returned to silence.

Blessed, cursed silence.

There she sat, alone with her thoughts. Soon, she found herself weighing the risk of venturing upstairs against Cal’s warning. On one hand, there were fresh horrors to witness above. One the other, there were old ones to haunt her down here. Decisions, decisions…

Some indeterminate amount of time later, Dawn was pulled out of her reverie by a polite cough at the door. She tore her gaze off the wall she hadn’t realized she had been staring at and looked to see Lee step into the small room, the bags under his eyes emphasized by his missing glasses. In his hand was a small bottle of something green that she suspected was absinthe, or perhaps a potion. Maybe both.

He caught her gaze and gestured, offering, but she declined with a small shake of her head. Lee shakily shrugged and shuffled over to the wall across from the cot, slumping against it tiredly and sliding down until he was seated. He popped open the phial and took a long sip before letting out a bone-tired sigh. It seemed that today’s scare had taken a toll on not just her.

There they sat in silence, interrupted only by the small sounds of the drinking and breathing and the occasional creaking of the bed under Dawn. With Lee sitting right there, her thoughts inevitably drifted towards the cryptic words he had exchanged with Cal earlier, and she gladly seized the distraction, letting her mind conjure up increasingly fanciful explanations.

He sold knives. No, he made knives. A blacksmith. A legendary blacksmith who forged blades that killed thousands. No, hundreds of thousands. Wait, Cal had implied he was some kind of secret agent. A secret agent who made knives?

Dawn’s well of creativity was eventually exhausted, and soon the question was sitting impatiently on her tongue as she tried to find a way to politely broach the subject. She must have stared at him for too long trying to phrase it, because she realized he was gazing back expectantly, waiting.

“What did Cal mean earlier when he asked you about… that?” she asked, gesturing vaguely.

Lee took a distinctly thoughtful sip and regarded her pensively. “I was… reckless, in my youth,” he said slowly. “Frustrated by my impotence. I felt… powerless. Even a kind world would feel hostile when you can do nothing, much less an unkind one. And so I tried to take what control I could.”

He paused, sunken deep in recollection. Dawn watched in fascination as his tremors seemed to have subsided some. Whether from the drink or from the memories, she could not tell.

“Without magic, you are not seen as a threat, because you are not. I wanted to matter, you see, and a certain kind of folk came and taught me that if you are a threat, you can matter. And if you are a threat that is not seen as one, you can matter a great deal, at least to the right people.”

He took another swig.

“The wrong people, I later learned. But by then, my mistakes had already carried me far and deep,” Lee said, gesturing at the knife he had given her. “I have come to regret much, even if I know that there were no clean hands where we were involved.”

A shiver crawled down Dawn’s spine. She could only imagine what that wickedly sharp blade had done in the hands of someone beneath suspicion.

“What I learned too late, you see, was what it meant to matter to some people. If you are a threat, you matter. It made for hollow respect and empty admiration. The saying is ‘honor amongst thieves,’ but there is little between killers.”

“So you left?” asked Dawn.

Lee shook his head ruefully. “It was not quite so easy. If you are not with them, then you are against them, and even if you are with them, you may still be against them. You leave by dying. That also means that you die by leaving.”

Suddenly her troubles seemed so very small.

“It took a great deal of effort to… convince them not to pursue me, and even then I know they’ve changed their minds and replenished their ranks since. Many have tried to leave, and it is a point of pride for them that none have succeeded. It was only by a miracle that I got out of the continent at all.”

“And so you’ve been evading… ‘them’ ever since?” she asked carefully.

“All one hundred and seven of my brothers and sisters,” he replied without looking up.

With that, they lapsed back into silence. Dawn let her hands idly fiddle with the phone on the bed as she tried to make sense of everything. Yet try as she might, she could not see the small, tired man before her as a seasoned killer. Then again, she hadn’t imagined that Cal would be a vampire either.

After all, the evidence was hard to ignore now that she looked back. The strange knife he had handed her, the way he had apparently rigged the room with traps in mere minutes, the fact that he had noticed the assassins hunting them. It made sense. She remembered the way Lee had entered the bar. That inhuman calmness he had displayed when he alerted them. The immediate analysis of the situation. The tactical commands he had issued.

And yet, the weary old man resting his bones before her looked like a different person altogether.

Much was not as it seemed.

~~~~~~~~~

Dawn woke with a start to the overpowering scent of blood echoing in the back of her mind. She scrambled up and looked around drowsily, shaking away the sleepiness. Lee was sitting meditatively about a pace to the side of where he had been, eyes lidded yet somehow still projecting the air of utmost vigilance.

Dimly, she remembered curiosity getting the better of her and trying a sip of the strange concoction that he was drinking, as well as retching at the foul taste of that herbal war crime. Whatever had been mixed into the tincture was both indescribably vile and incredibly invigorating. Dawn couldn’t remember the last time she had woken up from a nap feeling refreshed.

But why had she woken up?

Not a moment later, she felt the faint breeze as Cal appeared in the doorway in a blur, as though he had heard her question and come to answer it. He must not have expected her to be awake, because he did quite a double take when he saw her staring up at him expectantly. Dawn would have laughed any other time.

"Alright, so a slight change of plans," he said gingerly. "Aunt Mary showed up—"

Cyrus burst into the increasingly crowded little room, laughing raucously and slinging an arm over Cal to jostle him. "You weren't joking about the cavalry coming! That mage back ther—"

Cal tried to shove him off, cursing furiously at having been interrupted again.

A laugh echoed through the basement, light and clear, cutting through the din. The very same voice she had heard over the phone. A flash of red caught Dawn's eyes, and she watched as one of the most beautiful women she had ever laid eyes upon strode into the room in a flowing crimson dress. Her presence seemed to fill the room as Cyrus stopped messing with Cal and even Lee struggled to his feet with some effort.

"Hello, dear," she said cheerily. "Fancy a change of scenery?" she asked, looking around pointedly.

Dawn stared and nodded like an idiot.

Mary looked pleased with herself, gesturing towards a man who had been following behind. Between the graying hair, round glasses, and voluminous mustache, he would have looked something like an old-timey butler if not for the wizard robes and clearly-magical artifact he carried. He stepped forward, bowing to nobody in particular, and then began setting up the strange device where Lee had stepped aside to make space.

When Dawn looked back, she saw that Cal was now by the bed packing a handful of loose items into the backpack he had brought. "As I was saying, she's offering us a place to lay low for a while," he explained as he shouldered the bag. "One of the safest places I know of." Turning around, he offered her a hand. "Come on."

She blinked in surprise at the sudden turn of events and scrambled to get out of the bed. Just as she managed to clumsily fit her shoes on, the mustachioed man rose from the device and took a step back. Mary and Cal did as well, causing everyone else to follow suit as best they could in the cramped room.

Several long moments passed before Dawn noticed anything happening. At first it was just the tiniest speck in the space before the man, but it grew steadily from an infinitesimal point to a small ring of light before stopping. The man drew a labored breath, and with one final invisible push, widened the small ring into a full-sized portal. Dawn stared in wonder at the circle of faintly purple light that led to a different place entirely. A real-life portal.

"Thank you, Talen," said Mary with a warm smile.

Talen turned and bowed unsteadily, face ashen from the effort. Even his mustache seemed to droop a little. Without another word, he staggered through the portal and was immediately replaced by the fresh face who stepped through.

"Is he alright?" Dawn asked quietly, watching the man disappear from view as he turned a corner down the concrete tunnel.

The young man receiving them smiled in that politely corporate manner that people adopted when no other expression seemed appropriate. "Master Trismen will require rest to recover from the exertion, but is otherwise well. This was no small working, even for a mage of his talents."

"Indeed," nodded Mary. "His services are appreciated, especially on such short notice." She turned to address— "Cyrus, was it? This is the liaison the Guild has arranged for," she said, gesturing at the young man. "He shall handle all matters civil and political regarding the cleanup. As for the investigation itself, Inquisitor de Lucerne should be arriving with his team within the bell. Do remember to make sure it's him."

Cyrus grinned broadly. "I thank ye, fair lady," he said with a small bow.

Satisfied, Mary nodded politely and stepped through the portal.

Dawn glanced at Lee and Cyrus. She thought of Sasha upstairs, restraining a captive.

Had it truly been less than two days?

Cal was standing in the portal with a foot on either side, waiting for her. Dawn waved her farewells, took a deep breath, and stepped through the portal.