“So what do you know about vampires?,” Alysa asked as they sat in an underground parking garage, far from prying eyes.

“I fought one a while back,” Creed explained, “Someone was stealing blood samples from the hospital. I investigated and found an orderly was taking them. When I followed, it turned out he was a Familiar.”

“Familiar?”

“Vampires apparently have humans doing work for them during the day. Called Familiars.”

“That would be why the guard was at the compound all alone. He’s the Familiar?”

“More than likely. So anyway, the orderly was taking orders from this old ass vampire so I went to the library at the Winghaven Museum to check up on the lore and understand what I was dealing with. They seem to be vulnerable to crosses, fire, silver… everything you heard about. I ended up putting a stake through the sumbitch’s heart and it worked just fine.”

“Ok but why are these guys going after this music box?,” Alysa turned the kalliope in her hands.

“I read that some vampires are drawn to nostalgic shit from before they turned. It’s like they lost their souls so they are stuck holding on to something that served as a connection to their living selves. It’s called their echo and apparently the older they get, the more attached they get once they have one.”

“Okay, the music box is from the 1940s so that means someone in that compound owned it back in the day and they’re trying to get it back.”

“Chances are, it was whoever was sleeping in that coffin downstairs. Now, when you have a group of vampires, it’s called a Coven and as you might think, there’s always a Master who’s usually the oldest and was the one who turned the younger ones. Like you said, the guy is probably an OG Nazi and he’s gonna be sending his boys all over town to find this thing.”

“So we wait for them to come to us?”

“Nope. We take the fight to them.”

The Sun would be coming up in a few hours and his coven was no closer to finding the kalliope. The German officer knew they were simply following orders and couldn’t understand the importance of an echo. These men were mostly in their 30s and 40s, not quite old enough to experience the gnawing sensation of an echo; the yearning for a memory of another life. Sometimes, a vampire will find an old book they once possessed or manage to hold on to an old wedding ring. In the case of Max Reinhard, his echo was an old German music box called a kalliope. It played Wagner’s Symphony in C Major and was a gift from his mistress with an inscription at the base: To the glorious Aryan race and to the man I shall always cherish. Reinhard was a German captain and a high ranking official in the Nazi Party during World War II who had been involved in the taking of France. After a run in with the heroine known as Femme Phantom, he was forced to flee and came into contact with the man whom he would come to know as his vampire master. He was turned and Reinhard likewise turned his men and fought the Femme Phantom many times under the name of Blood Thirst. Eventually, Germany would lose control of France and subsequently, the war and Reinhard’s men would all be slain. He was far from his homeland when Allied Forces took Germany and apparently an American GI entered his private estate and took the music box to the US as a souvenir. He fought against the Phantom, Rex Robinson and the firts Cavalier over the course of the next few years but soon went underground and eventually found himself taking a leadership role in the Neo-Nazi movement in the US. Once he reached 100 years of age, he found himself yearning for some semblance of his past life, as his old master had warned decades earlier. It was happenstance that he found himself in the town of Winghaven where his music box was eventually rediscovered. Then again, Winghaven was a strange place.

Reinhard spoke in front of his Coven while Bobby (Mr. Tats) held a flag firmly in his hands and stood next to him. “Unfortunately, not all of you were alive during the reign of our glorious Fuhrer. He was a man of strength and I’m sure if given the chance, he would have taken the gift that had been given to me. You are fortunate, however, to have taken it. Not just as pure blooded Aryans but also as Lords of the Night, given glorious purpose, immortality and immense power! We are beyond even our Aryan brethren. But, by the standards of vampires, you are all very young. Because of this, some of you may not understand the great pains I am taking to find this kalliope. You may wonder why I would search for a relic of my past life. When you are as old as I am, believe me, you’ll understand. It’s a hunger that strikes me just as strongly as the thirst of blood does. If that still confounds you, just know this: enemies have come into our home and defiled its sanctity. This cannot stand. We will comb the town tomorrow and we will feast on every warm body in this city until we find them and then… we’ll show them that we are the master race!”

It was Saturday afternoon and considering the previous night and the plan she had in place with Creed, Alysa decided to take a nap. The knock on her door woke her up, however. When she answered the door, she saw Papa Abadie standing on the front step.

“Good afternoon, Alysa,” he greeted her.

“Hi, Papa Abadie.”

“Did I wake you up?,” he checked his watch, “It’s 1:35.”

“I’ve been doing some extra work for Farrell Creed lately,” she said but privately, she thought “Why the hell is he always obsessed with the time of day?”

“You graduate in a few weeks, don’t you?,” he looked in her eyes like a scolding parent even if he didn’t raise his voice like one, “Maybe you could spend more time studying?”

“I’m ready for my finals,” she told him confidently while once again biting her tongue.

“I know Mama Johnson told you this already but our new community center will be a great place to work and finish your training.”

“Thank you but my mom had a specific idea of how she wanted me to train and I kinda wanna honor that.”

“Find your own way, of course, but it’s imperative you stay out of danger,” he appeared concerned, once again reminding Alysa that they had good intentions even if she resented the intrusion, “We don’t want to lose any more of our people to recklessness.”

That last word made Alysa curious, “Papa, what do you mean by recklessness?”

“We believe certain events in the past could have been averted and we don’t want to see mistakes being repeated,” he turned to leave, “Have a good afternoon and please get some sleep.”

At Winghaven Antiques, Creed met with Larry amidst antique furniture, toys, electronics and other items with the music box prominently on the front counter.

“Vampires, huh?,” Larry said tiredly, “I had no idea it would get this complicated.”

“Yeah, well, word if advice: take that music box and sell it out of state. Or maybe just burn it. It’s not safe to keep in this area.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“Me and my partner are gonna make sure those things don’t bother nobody else.”

“Anything I can do? I feel like this is my fault.”

Creed took a quick scan of the store, “Now that you mention it, we can use a few things.”