“How? How could you do this to us? You’ve been loyal to our coven for decades. We protected you! We hid you from your enemies!” Douglas cries.

“I was loyal to my food source, Father. I did not need your people or your protection. You have bored me much longer than I can tolerate and deprived me of my rightful payment.”

“Payment?! You think I will give you anything now? You breached our contract! It’s null and void! You will get nothing! Nothing—”

“‘As long as I live, you will serve me by providing sustenance to my people. You may not leave. You may not call others of your kind. You may not injure or kill me.’”

“That’s, that’s—”

“That was our contract, agreed to by you 50 years ago. Correct? In what way have I breached the terms of our agreement?”

“They’re dead! All of them, because of you!”

“They were waiting for an opportunity to kill. If all it took was the temptation, they were never your family, Father. Such beings cannot change their nature. Not even you. A less selfish soul would’ve certainly added a clause to protect their family.”

Douglas covers his mouth, tears watering in his eyes. “What do I do?”

“As my contractor, that is up to you to decide.”

Douglas’s eyes search around the room, landing on where Caspar is attempting to struggle to his feet. He hisses, fangs bared. Caspar weakly struggles as Douglas stalks over, dragging him by the back of his shirt toward the altar.

“Will you rebuild your flock?” the demon asks.

“No. You can’t replace family. You can’t bring back what the Lord has taken.”

Caspar groans as he’s placed on the altar. Douglas rips open Caspar’s flannel, exposing his neck.

“Will you kill him?” the demon asks.

“No.” Douglas bares his fangs. They glint dangerously in the moonlight as suddenly his head dips to Caspar’s neck.

Caspar screams, writhing as Douglas sinks his fangs in. “Stop! No!” He opens his eyes, searching for an escape. They land on the demon, watching intently as Douglas injects fire into Caspar’s veins. 

He reaches out, hand shaking. “Help—help…”

The demon watches with detached interest, head cocked. 

Caspar’s hand falls limp. His mind goes blank, filled with nothing but pain as the venom begins to spread. The world starts to spin, vision blurring. 

Finally, after what must be an eternity, Douglas is finished. He stands, mouth dripping red as he glares down at where Caspar gasps and writhes.

“See how high and mighty you are when you are one of us,” Douglas spits.

He turns to the demon, wiping his mouth. Caspar watches on, shivering as he begins to go into shock.

The demon swirls a lock of her dark hair. “What now?” she asks.

“There’s nothing left for me. I don’t want to live anymore.”

Her eyes flash. “Do you wish to conclude our contract?”

“Yes.”

Douglas takes a breath in as the demon caresses his face, pulling him close. Their lips touch as they both sink into a kiss. 

Caspar could almost mistake it for being romantic, if it weren’t for the expression of horror and agony that suddenly paints Douglas’s face. He jolts, his shoes scuffling hopelessly as he attempts to pull away. The demon’s eyes glow with power, the lights around them flickering. She holds him in place, delicate hands gripping impossibly tight. Douglas grunts and groans, shivering and twitching until with one last push from the demon, his eyes roll back. He goes limp, dropping to the floor dead. 

Caspar can only stare in dread, hyperventilating as the demon carelessly steps over the body. She saunters up to the altar, looming over him. Dark brown hair falls like a curtain as she leans down, trapping Caspar’s line of sight on her inexplicably placid face.

Her voice is sweet. “Tell me, Caspar. What do you want? What can I give you?”

“I—you can’t, you can’t take my soul. I didn’t give you my soul.”

“True. Our deal has concluded. All the vampires of Redpine are dead. Would you like to make a new deal?”

Caspar gasps as a wave of pain rolls across his body. He cries out, back bending and limbs seizing. “No. You can’t give me anything I want.”

“Of course I can. I could save you. I could make the pain end. I could find your mother and your uncle. I could kill your enemies. I could find your true love. I could give you anything. All you need to do is ask.”

Caspar is delirious now, mind swirling with venom. He wants to laugh. Since when does asking get you what you want? He can’t hold back his tongue. “Maybe I want to die and get this bullshit over with. I don’t need you to for that, I can do it by my fucking self!”

The demon stares. She reaches out, smoothing a strand of blond hair back from Caspar’s forehead. He jerks away, but she catches his jaw with much more strength than should be possible for such a petite hand. Her eyes widen, staring with a predatory gaze. Caspar can’t look away, even as his eyes start to roll back and his body convulses from the venom.

He falls into a deep sleep.

Before this case, the worst injury Caspar ever got from a monster was when he came face to face with a succubus. It's always easier to underestimate a pretty face. So when a beautiful woman invited him back to her room, he stupidly followed with a pep in his step. Suffice to say, he was walking with crutches months after. 

Unfortunately, getting bit by a vampire is even worse than a succubus bite. A vampire bite is excruciating and dangerous. If you survive the initial venom coursing in your veins, your consolation prize is eternally damned life, roaming the earth as a sociopathic bloodsucking parasite. A fate worse than death, some would say.

In Caspar’s nightmare, then, he’s a vampire. The scent of blood is thick in the church’s air as he corners his victim. He sinks his teeth into some faceless woman, unable to control his hunger. All the while, he hears himself scream internally. Begging for someone to end his misery. Next comes someone he recognizes, his uncle. There’s a short struggle before he’s on the ground bleeding with his throat torn out. The cycle repeats with Jacob and Delilah. Until there's only one person left standing. 

The demon. She stands among the dead, unaffected. 

Caspar lunges for her throat. Despite the strength he knows her to have, she allows herself to be pinned to the ground, not even flinching as Caspar digs his fangs in. If she was human, she’d be dying right now. Instead, she’s warm beneath him. Their hands interlock and she’s leaning into his bite like he’s giving her a hickey rather than tearing into her carotid.

She caresses the back of his head, ticklinghis nape. He wants to sob at the soft brush of fingers. When was the last time someone touched him so gently? 

“Do you really want to die like this?” she asks. “I could give you something kinder. Don’t you have something you want to have before you die?”

Kinder? Something like you couldn’t be kind, Caspar thinks.

Her hand eases down his nape, following the path of his spine. Caspar feels his entire body shiver, pressing his mouth back to her bloodied neck. 

“We’ll see,” she whispers into his ear.

The dream starts to fade. The cold, unsettling ambiance of the church falls away. He smells cigarettes. 

Caspar begins to wake, his first thought being relief at a very distinct lack of bloodlust. In fact, even with the raw ache that seems to have sunk into his very soul, his mind seems to clear by the minute. What’s happened? 

He shifts in the bed. Oh. He’s in bed? 

He takes a moment to listen. He hears the buzz of the RV’s AC, crickets outside his window, and someone in the kitchen. Shakily, he moves his hand to his neck. There’s gauze there, trapping some kind of poultice against his wound. Someone is here with him, someone is taking care of him.

“Mom?” he groans.

Someone approaches. A soft male voice speaks lowly. “Not quite. It’s okay now, just rest.”

Well it's definitely not someone Caspar knows. If it was Jacob, he would be mocking Caspar for being such an idiot. Even Uncle Duncan would be saying something snide, telling him what a dolt he is for going at this alone. Plus, he’s not in a hospital, so it’s someone who had the sense to not bring a potential vamp to a buffet of weak humans packaged up like to-go orders. 

So, it’s a hunter?

He shifts his eyes to the window. Outside, tall pine trees sway gently in the wind. “Are we in Redpine still?”

“No. I drove your RV outside the town. Just in case.”

“Did you come for the vampires? Or are you hunting something else?”

“I came for something else. I happened to come across the vampires by chance.”

Caspar's heart jolts. He attempts to crack his eyes open as he sits up, but a firm hand pushes him down. “What is it? What are we up against?” He pants.

“Don’t worry about that right now. Just rest.”

Caspar knows he needs to ask more questions, needs to prepare for the next fight, but he’s so tired. Too tired to resist when he’s finally in someone else's company, finally being the one protected for once. He sighs, slipping into unconsciousness.

The stranger returns to the kitchen, humming. Absent-mindedly, Caspar notes a familiar melody. A hymn? No… he recognizes it. Wayfaring Stranger. 

Caspar smiles. It’s his favorite, too.