"Roll up, roll up, roll up. Come get tickets to see the Circus of Tzas," the young boy shouted whilst pestering as many adults as he could to buy some tickets. Only one responded to him however, and it was really out of pity more than anything else. She certainly wasn't going to see a Circus of all things, but she didn't want to leave the poor little urchin to go hungry.

The young urchin however was somewhat intimidated by the sight of this strange lady who he knew from reputation. She was quite unlike anyone else in all of London. She was dressed in completely dark, strange, yet fancy clothing, whilst her skin was whiter than snow. She had a long thin nose, piercing green eyes, and a massive beehive haircut. She was also smoking too which the young boy thought was most unlady like. When she smiled, the boy could see what appeared to be sharp teeth, though only for a few seconds.

Despite her somewhat elegant if unusual appearance when she spoke it was in an extremely gutteral, thick cockney accent.

"Awright Darling, ere have one on me." she said in a friendly tone as she handed him some money. After a few seconds hesitation the boy accepted before running away. He may have been scared of this eccentric lady, but this was more money than he'd ever been given before. He shouted thank you at her as he ran away, almost too intimidated to even look back.

The lady in question, Carlene, had built up quite a reputation in the local area. Despite being here for over 6 decades since 1824 (where she had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.) She seemingly hadn't aged a day and still had the appearance of a woman in her 20s. Any time there was something weird happening she was always there. Still despite the fact that many suspected her of witchcraft or worse, she had the full protection of the police force.

The truth was Carlene didn't belong in this city, or even this time. She had been pulled from her own era by a supernatural force far greater than even she could comprehend and thrust into the early 19th century. She had never really adapted well to this era, but even in her own time Carlene had never really fitted in.

She was a Vampire, specifically of the breed known as the Heklox. Unlike almost all other members of her kind however, Carlene had learned to control her bloodlust many years ago (or rather many decades in the future.)

Over the decades Carlene had helped the police defeat many dangerous adversaries and monsters, but even they still didn't entirely trust Carlene either. Nevertheless the Vampire was too useful to them as she had a greater knowledge of the paranormal than anyone else in the city. Carlene often had a similar relationship with the authorities wherever she stayed for any given period of time.

Even with the protection of the police, many people in the local area would still throw things through Carlene's windows, or refuse to serve her in a local resturant.

Carlene had just been to the police station to help them crack a case involving the zombified corpse of the former criminal mastermind, and evil wizard Doctor Masterik. Carlene had been fighting Masterik for many years (and had even foiled an attempt by the Wizard to condemn all of England to a horrific curse.) She had personally killed him too, but unfortunately the criminals servants had found a way using his own black arts to revive him.

Carlene was sure she had seen the last of him this time however. "Even that bugger couldn't put himself together again after that" she thought as she walked home through the foggy streets of Victorian London.

Carlene just wanted to get home, have a cold glass of cow blood, and then have a long days sleep after the night she had. However when she got home she found two children sitting anxiously on the steps outside her front door.

One of them was a girl about 16 or 17 years old, whilst the other, a boy couldn't have been older than 12.

"Awright is there something I can do to help you both?" Carlene said, wondering if she was going to have get her windows fixed again.

"Please you have to help us" the little boy mumbled through tears as his sister hugged him tight.

"Now, now darling don't cry" Carlene said as she comforted the boy.

The sister spoke more firmly with Carlene.

"Look I know who you are. You're, you're not human are you mam. Normally when we see you in the street we give you a wide berth like everybody else, but please, our little brother, he was. He was taken, by something. I don't know what, but it wasn't human. It snatched him and it went into the underground. I looked but I couldn't". She had to stop there to regain her composure. Carlene put her hand on the young girls shoulder and she continued.

"Please I know you don't care about us, no one does, but I need your help. I'm begging you" the young girl broke down and got on her knees.

"You're right darling I may not be human, but I still care. Of course I'll help you both. You can stay at my house for as long as you need and I'll search for your brother right away, but I'm going to need some more information about this creature that took your little brother. Okay darling."

The girl was shocked by Carlene's answer. She had heard rumours about her being a Demon, and had always thought she looked quite creepy. She had only gone to this strange lady in black because she felt the police wouldn't know how to deal with the monsters. Still the girl thought she would have to bargain with Carlene or even blackmail her by revealing that she was a Demon to the police (as if they didn't already know) but to her surprise Carlene was extremely gentle and sympathetic.

"What's your name darling."

"Ashlei, Ashlei McKay".

"Awright Ashlei, let's get you and your little brother inside, can I ask what your name is young man?"

The little boy was still too upset to properly speak and so Ashlei told Carlene her little brother's name. "He's called Tom" Ashlei said softly.

"Well don't worry Tom, I promise I'll find out what happened to your brother okay. Let's just get you somewhere warm first."

Carlene took them inside and told them both to remain here until she got back. She assured the two children that they would be safe. Carlene had placed various protection spells around the house for Demons, though she couldn't guarantee that the villagers wouldn't attack the house, she felt sure they would never harm the children.

The Vampire still had some questions about the creature that had attacked them. She didn't push too hard as she could see how difficult it was for Ashlei to even acknowledge what had happened.

"We were sleeping in Paddington, where we always sleep, next to the tube station. It's a good place to beg. So many people come and go, you're bound to hit on one who's generous. We were all huddled together as usual when suddenly."

She had to pause for moment. Carlene put her hand on Ashlei's shoulder to comfort her.

"It's okay love, I understand, but please I need more information on the creature. Was it a Vampire? A Demon?"

"I don't know" Ashlei snapped through tears. "I've never seen anything like it. It ripped through the gates of the underground. It was strong, strong and huge. Its skin was slimy, white, and the stench that came from it. I was almost sick. It looked bloated, but it moved so fast. It cornered us before I could even wake the boys. We'd have all been dead if it wasn't for some poor old bugger that distracted it.

Ashlei continued "He was an old drunk who used to wander round the neighborhood at night. Sometimes he'd shout at us to give us the money we'd been given by strangers. I'd generally just ignore him. He was never violent or threatening towards us. To tell you the truth I pitied him. I sometimes did give him any spare change I had. He wouldn't get it from anyone else that's for sure. The boor blighter probably thought it was someone giving us money instead of him again and he ran towards that thing to plead. It, it tore him to pieces. There was nothing we could have done. We ran as far as we could down the street, but the monster chased us. Eventually me and Tom managed to lose him, but when I turned around I saw that my youngest brother, Brian was gone. I thought he was right behind us, but obviously that monster got him. I was too busy running to even look out for him. I left him. I was a coward and left the person I should have been looking out for the most."

Ashlei collapsed into Carlene's arms.

"Don't worry I promise I'll find that creature" she said.

Tom spoke up "Do you know what it was?"

"No, but from your sisters description it sounds like a Vampire."

"You mean like you" Tom replied somewhat nervously.

"No, nothing at all like me love. I am a Vampire yes, but there are hundreds of different breeds of Vampire. They're all monstrous, except for me. I'm a one in a million Vampire, but from the sounds of things though this could be a whole new breed. I should be able to track it. I can't imagine it's got that far and even in a place as big as the London underground, a Vampires stench still stands out."

Carlene fetched her various anti Vampire weapons and placed them inside her beehive. Carlene had always worn a beehive, even before she became a Vampire. It was in fashion when she was alive in the 60s, but she had kept wearing it in the decades after and before, which often made her stand out from the crowd.

Carlene made the two children promise a final time not to leave the house under any circumstances before setting off through the foggy streets of London. It was still dark, though there was probably only half an hour or so of night left. Carlene hoped that this Vampire was vulnerable to sunlight.

The Beehive topped Vampire's house was not far from the tube station where the three children had been attacked. She was able to get there in about 10 minutes. The beggar's corpse lay by the stairs leading down to the gates that had been torn open.

The beggar's body had been mutilated beyond all recognition and his guts had been torn out. One leg had even been ripped clean off and scattered across the other side of the road. Carlene placed her dark fur coat over the mangled body as a sign of respect.

"Poor sod" Carlene said to herself "I wonder if there's anyone out there that'll even know the right name to put on your grave stone."

Carlene tread slowly down the stairs into the underground. She could pick up a very faint sent of something unnatural. Vampires of her breed had an incredibly enhanced sense of smell. Ironically Carlene had always been picked on for having a huge nose growing up. (During her days as a singer, some critics had made unflattering comments about her big nose too.)

Carlene traced the scent down the railway. As the stench got stronger and stronger Carlene found tiny drops of yellow slime on parts of the rail. Many Vampire breeds, particularly the stronger types dripped slime. In the dark Carlene could see what looked like a large hole by the side of the railway track.

It looked big enough for two people to slip through. On the other end of the hole was a long tunnel, filled with water, ankle deep.

Carlene wadded through the water, constantly searching round for any sight of the monster or its possible victims. As she climbed further and further down the abyss Carlene started to pick up the scent of human blood as well.

When she reached the end of the tunnel she saw that it led to a small waterfall on the other side, which in turn led to a massive cavern. In the middle of the cavern was a massive pile of mangled body parts. All that was left of the previous victims. Just behind the mountain of human remains however Carlene could see two people chained to a wall. One of them was an a teenager aged about 18 years old, whilst the other was a small boy who couldn't have been older than 9 years old. The older boy was struggling in his chains, whilst the younger boy was just crying. 10 feet or so to the right of them was another tunnel.

"Why had they both been spared" Carlene thought? She didn't like the look of this at all. Using her Vampire agility and strength, Carlene jumped from the top of the waterfall to right in front of the boys. She must have leaped over 80 feet in one jump!

The two boys recoiled in horror at the sight of Carlene when she landed in front of them without making a single sound.

"I knew it" the elder boy said in terror. "I knew you was in on it. We've always thought you were creepy. I bet that thing's your pet or your son or something"

Carlene rolled her eyes. She didn't have time to bother to explain her full life story to them, and hoped the two boys would see she wasn't there to hurt them by her actions.

As Carlene went to try and rip the chains off the wall she heard a thumping noise. It was coming from the tunnel to the right of the boys. Carlene jumped onto the wall above the tunnel, which her Vampiric powers allowed her to stick too.

She waited patiently for the monster to emerge. The boys kept quiet as they weren't sure what she was doing and didn't think anyone could help them anyway.

The monster slowly crept out of the tunnel. Ashlei wasn't lying in her description. The monster must have stood about 8 feet tall. It had to crouch when walking down the tunnel. Its body was completely white, whilst there were horrible, yellow, wet patches all over its body. Its hands were also dripping with yellow slime too, whilst its claws ended in yellow, rotting, but very sharp talons. The monster's eyes were bright green meanwhile with a red pupil, whilst its hair was white, thinning and scraggly.

The monsters mouth was filled with massive razor sharp fangs like any Vampire, whilst a putrid green slime dripped from its mouth and down its chest.

Its entire body was bloated, but its stomach in particular was massive, whilst tiny green and yellow warts and spots littered its entire body.

As the monster moved towards the two boys, smiling with sadistic delight at how petrified they both were. Carlene reached into her beehive for a weapon. Her beehive had become more than just a fashion choice over the years. It was in fact a magical weapons chest, bigger on the inside than the outside, and created by the strongest magics. Carlene pulled out a long wooden stake, a common weakness of many Vampire breeds (including Carlene's.) It would be a safe first option to test as a weakness on this new breed of Vampire.

Carlene jumped on the bloated Vampires back with a tremendous speed. The beast, completely taken by surprise tried to shake her off, but Carlene dug her claws deep into its flesh. The monster was every bit as disgusting to touch as it was to look at. Its skin was ice cold, so much it was almost burning! It was also wet and slimy. Carlene probably couldn't have pulled her hand away even if she wanted without some force the slime was so thick.

Carlene rammed the stake straight into the monsters back and pushed it with all her force through the layers of fat and into its heart. The monster didn't even react!

Carlene then reached into her beehive for a silver sharp, but the monster reacted by ramming backwards into a nearby wall. Such an act would have crushed an ordinary human into nothing but paste, but Carlene's Vampiric constitution allowed her to survive. It was still a most unpleasant experience however as the monsters slimy, warty fat filled her mouth.

The monster would ram her again and again a few more times, but Carlene after having become practically embedded in its back used all of her strength to pull herself off of the monster.

Carlene ran towards the waterfall and immersed herself in it. The slime that covered her body from the monsters back was painful as well as revolting. It stung all over her body.

If it had been the sewers, Carlene would still have dumped herself in the sewage to get the slime off!

Carlene next pulled out a gun from her beehive loaded with silver bullets and fired 3 shots into the monsters heart. Again it did little to deter it, with the monster simply twitching for a few seconds before laughing at Carlene's latest attempts to hurt it. Carlene then pulled out an axe from her beehive. It was made from Bronsicate, a metal forged by the gods themselves, and was capable of piercing the skin of just about any creature on earth.

With one swing of her blade Carlene took the bloated beasts hand clean off. Within seconds however it completely regrew its hand. Carlene was more than a little shocked. She'd never seen a Vampire with that kind of healing capability before. It must be a very old, or perhaps even an Alpha Vampire.

The monster charged at Carlene. It was fast, faster than any human could possibly be, but fortunately Carlene was faster. Carlene went for the monsters stumpy leg next with her axe which took it clean off. Though the leg regrew again, the monster still stumbled to the ground. Carlene then struck the Vampire in the back of the neck.

Unfortunately however before Carlene could fully part the beasts head from its shoulders, the beast managed to grab the axe, whilst it was in its neck!

With its other hand the monster then threw Carlene about ten feet across the room, whilst it still clutched her axe.

The Vampires strength absolutely dwarfed Carlene's. It would probably take about 30 of Carlene's breed to arm wrestle this Vampire.

"Oh bollocks" Carlene said to herself when she saw the monster wielding her axe. She fished through her beehive again but before she could pull anything out the monster ran at Carlene swinging her own axe. She managed to dodge it in time. Her greater speed allowed her to continue to dodge the monsters attacks but only just, and she wasn't able to pull anything out of the portable weapons chest on her head in the meantime.

The larger Vampire was getting visibly frustrated. It wasn't used to an enemy that could evade its attacks. Carlene tried to keep the monster away from the children. She lured it back towards the waterfall, and her chance came when the monster briefly stuck its axe in the wall. It was only for a moment, but that was all Carlene needed to flip back 20 feet in the air and stick to the wall next to the waterfall.

This Vampire didn't look like a jumper so Carlene could safely test which of the weapons in her beehive would work on the monsters from up here. First Carlene threw a gold dagger straight into the monsters throat which did nothing. Then she shot it several times using a gun loaded with iron bullets. Then she dropped a magical bomb on the monster, only dangerous to who the user wants it to be. The bomb created a massive blue explosion which enveloped the entire room. When the blast faded however, the bloated Vampire stood there perfectly fine.

"You pathetic coward, you stand there throwing trinkets at me, because you are afraid of a fair fight! Come down and face me!"

"I hardly think a bloke who picks fights with old beggars and children can call anyone a coward love".

The monster started throwing things at Carlene. It threw back her gold dagger, and started ripping out slabs of concrete from the ground itself and hurled them at Carlene who effortlessly dodged the monsters clumsy throws. Eventually however the beast made a mistake and threw Carlene's axe at the beehived Vampire which she caught instantly.

Carlene then jumped towards the two boys again and using her axe broke their chains. "Get behind me boys". They still didn't trust Carlene, but they could see she was at least, the lesser of two evils compared to that monster.

The monster circled Carlene and the boys, waiting for the right moment to strike. As Carlene reached into her beehive for another weapon, the monster paniced and tried to attack the beehive topped Vampire, but it proved to be a mistake. Once again Carlene sliced the monsters hands off, but whilst it was regrowing, Carlene pulled a bottle of holy water from her beehive and threw it in the monsters face.

This time there was a reaction. The colossal Vampire sank to its knees as its flesh began to sizzle.

Carlene walked calmly towards the bloated Vampire knowing it wouldn't put up much of a fight now, and raised her axe to part its head from its shoulders.

Just as she was about to strike, Carlene suddenly heard the two boys scream. She spun round and to her horror, stood another Vampire similar to the beast she had just fought, holding the two boys in the air by the back of their necks.

This Vampire was much smaller than the previous one, and it was a female.

"Drop the axe NOW, and take that stupid thing off your head." The Vampire had clearly been watching from the tunnel, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"But it's my actual hair"

"Really?" the monster said, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah look I'll show you" Carlene said as she reached into her hair and threw two smoke bombs in the monsters direction. The gas startled the Vampire enough to make her drop the two boys allowing Carlene (who could see through the gas clearly) to grab the two boys. With the two monsters blocking the way to the waterfall, Carlene was forced to run down the tunnel with the two boys.

At the end of the tunnel was a small room which led to three different tunnels. A figure began to emerge from down the left one.

Carlene kept the boys behind her whilst she went to confront it. The figure looked like an ordinary man. He certainly wasn't one of those hideous monsters, but he didn't look well at all.

"Don't be afraid. Everyone might think I'm a bit creepy darling, but I'm here to help. Just let me"

The man interrupted Carlene shouting at her "Please get away. Those things they" he suddenly coughed up a hideous, steaming yellow liquid from his mouth as he clutched his sides, and sank to his knees in agony.

The same yellow liquid began to burst out of other parts of his body including the palms of his hands. His arms, legs, torso and face all began to swell too. He screamed, but there was nothing Carlene could do except try and put him out of his misery.

These creatures had infected him and there was no way to reverse the process of becoming a Vampire. It was better he died now. Carlene pulled a sword out of her beehive, but just as she prepared to strike, she was distracted by a singing voice coming from the other end of the tunnel. She turned round to see a strange blue skinned woman standing slowly walking towards her.

The blue lady had flame red hair, and was dressed in a long flowing white dress. She was incredibly beautiful and her voice seemed to have an effect on both the two boys and the man changing into a Vampire, who seemed to forget the pain he was in as he wandered closer to this strange woman. Carlene had to hold the boys back meanwhile. "I don't get what all the fuss is about." "Her voice is nice, but it's kind of limited. I doubt she could sing anything by Sinatra or Billie." She thought to herself.

Carlene watched as the blue Siren lured the young man near to her. She didn't know why but Carlene didn't think that the creature was evil. Maybe she was falling under its hypnotic spell too. Carlene didn't think so however. Whatever this creature was, she didn't seem evil, and maybe she could help this poor soul.

When the man came close to the Siren however, she stabbed him through the heart with a strange knife. Carlene instantly ran towards the Siren, with its victim falling into Carlene's arms.

The man began to change back into a human after being stabbed in the heart. At first Carlene felt like attacking the Siren but then she realised that she had only done what Carlene herself was about to do a few seconds earlier. Carlene pulled the knife out of the victims heart. The blade was made of copper, obviously a weakness of this breed of Vampire. The Siren snatched it back out of Carlene's hand.

"That's alright I've got my own" Carlene said as she ruffled through her beehive. She was sure she had a copper weapon of some kind in there. Copper was a common weakness among certain breeds.

The Siren suddenly pushed Carlene down as she ran towards the two boys. The two giant Vampires had made their way down the tunnel and were preparing to advance on the children. Carlene quickly jumped back up and joined the Siren, pulling a silver sword out instead as it was all she could reach in time.

The Siren slashed at the face of the female Vampire who reached out to grab the boys. Carlene meanwhile went for the larger male. She swung her sword at the monster but it managed to dodge her attacks before grabbing the blade, which it then pulled out of Carlene's hand. Carlene jumped onto the creature's chest and using her full body weight knocked it back into a wall, causing it to drop the sword. She delivered a flurry of punches to the monsters face before it batted her across the room.

The Siren meanwhile had been overcome by her Vampire. She wasn't anywhere near as skilled a fighter as Carlene. The monster had made the Siren drop her knife and had also managed to pin her to the ground. The two boys stood cowering in the back. There was nothing either could have done, and if they had tried to interfere they'd probably just have made things worse.

Carlene attacked the female Vampire. She grabbed the brute from behind and pulled it off of the Siren. The female Vampire however instantly shook Carlene off, but the beehived Vampire had managed to distract it long enough for the Siren to grab her copper knife and stab the female Vampire in the heart. The female Vampire crumbled into nothing but a pile of ash on the floor in a matter of seconds.

Carlene and the Siren stood in front of the two boys, both brandishing weapons. The male Vampire didn't look scared however.

Several more of its kind soon came trundling down the three corridors. About ten in total. Carlene headed for the two boys whilst the Siren jumped into the crowd of monsters. Carlene called at her to stop, but within a few seconds the monsters were on top of the Siren. Carlene tried to help the Siren. She lifted a bottle of holy water from her hair and splashed it over several of the Vampires, scattering some of them. Carlene could see fleetingly through the mess of Vampires that the Siren had managed to escape thanks to her actions down the middle tunnel, with some of the Vampires pursuing her.

Carlene didn't know if the Siren could escape that way, but sadly she didn't have time to worry about her mysterious blue ally. She had to think of the boys who were completely defenseless against the monsters. Grabbing the two boys, one under each arm, Carlene darted back down the corridor to the room with the waterfall, with most of the Vampires in hot pursuit.

Fortunately Carlene could outrun the Vampires no problem and once she reached the waterfall she was able to jump to the top with her Vampiric strength. Carlene reached the other end of the tunnel above, back onto the railway. With the monsters right on her tail having managed to climb up with their claws. Carlene however was ready for them. She lifted a bottle of holy water out of her hair and poured it into the ankle deep water which filled the tunnel. (Once she was free, as holy water was lethal to Carlene's breed of Vampire as well.)

The holy water affected all of the water in the tunnel, and it instantly began to glow yellow and burn the Vampires feet. Some of the Vampires fell face down in the water from the pain. Others tried to run, but the holy water burned their feet away into nothing and they fell into the water too. Only a few, including the original Vampire Carlene had faced (who she was sure had to be the Alpha, as he was the largest and strongest) were able to make their way to the end of the tunnel.

Only the Alpha had the strength to hurl himself from the top of the waterfall to the other end of the room. The other Vampires, too weak from the pain, and their feet having virtually been eaten away, simply fell down the waterfall which burnt them away to nothing.

The Alpha meanwhile couldn't stand once it reached the cavern below. Its feet were burnt to a crisp!

Carlene told the two boys to wait behind whilst she crawled along the roof of the tunnel, avoiding the holy water. She told the two boys that if any creatures come up the railway line they are to jump into the holy water where they would be safe. She didn't like to leave them, but she had to make sure there was no one else in the Vampires clutches. All of the Vampires in the tunnel had been consumed by the holy water. All that was left of the Vampires were a few bits of burnt flesh floating in the water.

When Carlene made her way into the room with the waterfall, she could see the former Alpha lying on the floor, clutching what was left of its feet, screaming in absolute agony.

It would be an easy kill now, but Carlene almost felt pity for the beast. She would make it quick.

She jumped from the ceiling she had clung too, onto the monsters chest. The beast was too weak to fight back, but it spat at Carlene in a final act of defiance.

Carlene calmly took an axe from her beehive and parted the monsters head from its shoulders, after which it crumbled to ash instantly. Carlene then searched through the entire underground area. She didn't find any other survivors however, and only one other Vampire, which she decapitated with her axe.

In the three rooms at the end of the three tunnels were the chained and mangled corpses of various street urchins. "Poor sods. They were easy meat for these monsters." Carlene didn't find any traces of the Siren however. In the centre room, which the Siren had ran to, Carlene found a massive hole in the ceiling. When she investigated it she saw that it led to another part of the London underground. There was seemingly nothing around. It was possible the Siren had escaped this way, but Carlene didn't have time to investigate. She couldn't leave the boys any longer.

The two boys had huddled together in the dark, too scared to even move. Neither were sure if they wanted Carlene to return or not. In spite of everything she had done, they still didn't trust her. Nevertheless the two boys couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they saw Carlene crawling back down the roof of the tunnel.

"All right loves, let's get you both home" she said as she descended from the roof.

"I have no home" said the elder boy with regret.

"You do now. You can stay at my mansion for as long as you need."

The two were still unsure of Carlene.

"You can trust me" she said with slight frustration. "I did just save you lives. Also do either of you have a sister and a brother."

The youngest of the two boys suddenly spoke up. "Yes, yes," he said excitedly. "Ashlei and Tom. I tried to keep up with them, but I".

"It's okay" Carlene said. "She and your brother are fine. They sent me here to rescue you. They're at my house waiting for me to come back. Let's not keep them anymore shall we?"

Carlene led the two boys back to her home. The elder boy, whose real name was Daniel had been part of a group of boys and girls who had survived on the streets for years. In fact he had risen up to become the leader of his gang. They had all been slaughtered by the Vampires however. The monsters in their cruelty had saved the leader for last.

By the time Carlene returned home with the two boys, it was light. Ashlei and Tom had sat anxiously by the door the entire time for what felt like hours for the two orphans.

They couldn't believe Carlene had kept her word and after hugging their little brother so hard they almost crushed him, Ashlei would hug Carlene too. Both of her brothers were somewhat surprised at her reaction. Their sister had always seemed somewhat hard faced and angry on the streets. To see her cry and show outright affection to anyone or anything was almost as unusual a sight for them as the Vampires!

"I'm sorry I was wrong about you. You, you're a hero" Ashlei said through tears.

"Thanks, but trust me if you saw me when I'm pissed out of my head you wouldn't be saying that"

Carlene was thrilled she had been able to keep her promise to the kids. Seeing them together had almost made having the Vampires slimy fat in her mouth worth it. Almost. Still Carlene knew that the presence of a new breed of Vampire was serious.

"This is not good, not good at all." She said to herself as she searched through her beehive for something.

"What are you talking about" asked a confused Daniel?

"Oh sorry darling, I just meant that if there is a new breed of Vampire out there then that means the book of Khastran must have fallen into the wrong hands."

"The book of what?"

"Let me explain. You children clearly don't know much about Vampires. You're the lucky ones."

"Yeah we've really led a charmed life" Ashlei said. "Oh right eh sorry about that."

"Anyway" Carlene continued. "The first member of any Vampire breed has to be created from the book of Khastran. Khastran was the first Demon ever to exist. He was said to have been created by the Creator of all things himself. He was also the most evil and powerful Demon. He and his race the Kardons, fed on the blood and the souls of their victims, and they came to this world thousands of years ago before being banished in a great war with Gods and Angels. Khastran left behind a book however, bound in his flesh, and inked in his blood. Each page of the book has the power to turn any human into the first of a new breed of Vampire. It is said that when Khastran's children, the Vampires, outnumber humanity then he will rise once again. The book was here in London a few years ago. The last I heard Van Helsing had hidden it somewhere. He didn't tell me where though. To be fair I don't think he trusted many people with it, but still it looks like someone's got it now and is creating new Vampires."

"How many pages are there in the book". Asked Ashlei, who was clearly petrified. She always tried to appear tough for the sake of her boys, but the thought of there being more creatures like the one that chased her and her brothers being out there, chilled her to the bone.

"Hundreds of thousands I'm afraid, and they are capable of creating a lot worse than that creature we encountered today. Whilst there are hundreds of Vampires, they can all be divided into 3 categories. Soul Vampires, Savage Vampires and Pure Vampires." Carlene said.

"What's the difference" asked Tom.

"How they are born. Vampirism is spread in many different ways, through a bite, mixing of blood, scratches, but the evil Vampires infect their victims with always takes them over in three different ways.

In the case of a Pure Vampire the evil corrupts the human soul in the body and turns their human soul into a Demons soul. All positive aspects from a person's personality, love, compassion, are purged in the process, and all negative aspects are heightened. They are the most common Vampires. They must account for about 85 percent of Vampire breeds. What we encountered tonight was a Pure Vampire.

With Savage Vampires meanwhile, the evil ejects the human soul from the body and grows into a Demon that reanimates the corpse. There is nothing human about a Savage Vampire. They are the most powerful and evil of all Vampire breeds, if not Demon species on earth. They are often as single minded as animals.

Finally my breed belong to Soul Vampires. In our case the evil grows into a Demon, that doesn't expel the human soul from the body. Instead it influences it. All emotions like love, compassion, remorse are repressed, our darkest desires are heightened and we are turned into killer monsters. Unlike with other Vampire breeds however there is a possibility, no matter how remote for us to fight the Demons influence. Its the strongest form of mind control in the world. I am not the only person to ever fight the Demon however. There have been a few other isolated cases throughout history, but most Soul Vampires are evil bloodthirsty killers too."

Carlene paused for a minute to drink a glass of cow blood, much to the others disgust. " Relax it's just cow blood. I've been waiting all night for that. Anyway the fact that we do still have our human souls causes other Vampires to look on us as pathetic, low life mongrels. Some Pure Vampires will even hunt us down and kills us. We are the rarest type of Vampire."

Just then Carlene pulled what she had been looking for out of her hair. It was the leaflet for the Circus.

"Yes" she said triumphantly.

"I wouldn't have thought you went in for that rubbish" Ashlei said in surprise.

"I don't love, but I knew I had seen that blue woman before."

She turned the page around, showing that among the many colourful characters on the leaflet was the blue woman with flame red hair that had helped Carlene and the two boys in the sewers.

"It's her, the blue lady with the beautiful voice" Brian said in amazement.

"Yes clearly there's more to this Circus than meets the eye. There was a blue woman in the sewers Ashlei. She helped us. I'm not sure, but I think she was a Siren. I've heard vague stories about them, they're also a bread of Vampire apparently. Whatever the case, she was already there before me. She must know more than us about who is creating these new Vampires. Looks like I'm going to the Circus after all."

To Be Continued