text: [Themes: horror, horror]
  
  You retreat to the car, calling into the Lodge. They report back that they've a spare Hunter to send out, one who is only acting on stand-by. Father Paul Féval. You know the man well, and have worked with him before. The man's a representative from the Vatican, a priest even, and as adamant in following the laws of the Bible as you are in never leaving the Lodge without a spare, but the man's a professional and an experienced Hunter. The man's permanent cold, professional demeanor means you'd be hesitant to call him a "friend", but you feel it'd be disrespectful to like anything.
  
  You get in your car, driving back a minute away from the house just for some extra space. Once you're out there, you wait outside your car, your weapons ready in case the vampire or his thrall emerge. The wait is long, but after fifteen minutes, you see a pair of dazzling head beams approaching you. A blackened sedan seems to almost form from the shadows, pulling in behind you.
  
  The sedan's driver door opens, as a tall, gaunt figure with spectacles and a black jacket and pants steps out. His long, bizarrely slender fingers tap against his side as his lips turn upwards very slightly in the barest facsimile of a smile. You know it's simply a polite sign, the man's professional nature means he takes no joy in this, instead simply seeing it as his religious duty.
  
  "William," Father Féval nods. "The Lodge informs me we're dealing with a thrall and a youth, correct?"
  
  "Correct, Father," you nod. "But they might be up."
  
  "Best not to take risks, William. We have enough risks inherent to our job, don't we?"
  
  Father Féval leans into the car, pulling out a vile of holy water. He dribbles it into his hands, blessing himself, before leaning back in and grabbing a silver crucifix. He affixes it to his belt, before flipping his jacket tails back, pulling out a pair of shining pistols. He looks at them both, examining them for a moment, before nodding.
  
  "I'm ready and willing, William."
  
  "Let's go."
  
  The pair of you begin walking down the street, ready to strike. You soon come up again to the house once more, walking up the path towards the house. You know from surveillance that the house has the main entrance as well as a back door. The lounge, dining room and basement are located near the front door. The sitting positions would give anyone in there the sight of the door, but it would allow for the quickest contact. If the vampires awake, eliminating the thrall would give you far better chances against the Vampire shortly afterwards.
  
  "You did the ground work. Suggestions?" Father Féval says unemotionally, seeming entirely focused on the situation with no fear, dread or anticipation.
  
  > go in together, through the back
  "We both go through the back, take the fucker out quickly so we'll have time to get the drop on the main target. Get the drop on the Thrall, finish him, The longer we take with the thrall, the more likely that the night haunt will wake up and get the drop on one of us."
  
  "I understand. Best of luck, William."
  
  "And to you, Father."
  
  The two of you walk towards the house, weapons at the ready. Surprisingly for a vampire's lair, your surveillance has said that the house is completely lacking in any serious security measures. Locked doors and windows, sure, but they're lacking the reinforced doors, security cameras. It's a young vampire, so you're not expecting legions of Thralls protecting him or runic blood magic protecting the house, but clearly the power's gone to this creature's head.
  
  Moving slowly and softly through the garden around to the back, you still your breaths and do your best to be as soundless as the shadows. You creep through the rose bushes, whose petals look almost eerily beautiful in the moonlight. The sky's light brightens your path, but also makes it harder to sneak, and you just stay low and hope that if the Thrall happens to be looking out the window, he isn't looking too hard.
  
  Edging around to the back, you draw close to the wooden door. You look to Father Féval, who nods to you almost imperceptibly slowly. You move to the door, standing ready, before striking. You raise your shotgun, firing through the door's lock as you boot it open, quickly stepping through the now opened doorway and into the house.
  
  The Thrall stands in the kitchen, his back turned to you.The Thrall is a short, bearded man, growling and shaking his head repeatedly as he divides a pile of crushed and broken white crystals, no doubt a substitute between his feedings on the vampiric blood he's heavily addicted to. The man quickly turns, his crazed, blood-shot eyes bulging at you as he sees you.
  
  His eyes dart up to you as he growls, an animalistic sound that could only come from a beast. With a roar, he charges for you, as you pump your shotgun and put a round into him, firing straight through the thrall's chest. He screams, his clothes lighting into flames as he screams, catapulted into the wall. He slides down the wall, screaming out in anger and pain, a noise of such intense rage that it chills you. Father Féval walks in quickly, his guns raised. He stands over the bleeding, burning man, raising his pistols to aim at his heads.
  
  "Les flammes les plus méritées brûlent le plus chaud, pécheur. Que Dieu ait pitié de ce qui reste de votre âme misérable et trouve la miséricorde sur votre âme," Father Féval says calmly.
  
  The two pistols fire, the Thrall's face exploding as blood and gore coats his wild hair and thick beard, his head caving in as the bullets carve their way through.
  
  "Let's kill this Vampire and be done with this place," Father Féval says to you.
  
  "Let's," you say, pumping your shotgun as your next shell enters the chamber.
  
  > take out the coffin
  You quickly head down the staircase of the basement, descending into the dark basement, lit by a dim candle. You slow down as you notice the counters piled with jars filled to the brim with red liquid. A bloody metal table sits there with unopened leather straps, a series of tubing and IV's connected to it. You're certain that it's equipment to drain the blood of victims the Thrall captures, to feed his master when he doesn't wish to hunt for himself.
  
  However, the highlight of the room is a large, ornate coffin, leaning against a concrete wall. You've seen enough coffins in your life for any man, but this one is a fairly nice one. It's solid wood, cherry, with brass handles, sitting up on its side so its resident can sleep standing up. The face on the front of the coffin shows a grinning, gargoyle-like face made of brass, its eyes shining at you. You flinch at the sight of it, nervous about what lies behind it.
  
  "Let's do it," Father Féval says.
  
  You hurry up to the coffin, readying your shotgun as Father Féval takes the other side.
  
  "I take the chest, you take the head," you say, as Father Féval nods.
  
  Quickly, the two of you perform the breaching mechanism. Swinging around and standing back, you quickly measure the size of the coffin and roughly calculate where the center of its heart is. You aim, your fingers tightening on the trigger as you fire the weapon, as does Father Féval.
  
  Your shotgun bucks, firing lead and magnesium shards directly through the heavy wood of the coffin. You fire three times as the wood splinters and explodes away, your shells bursting through them as they tear through the coffin. Father Féval's rounds tear through where the head of the vampire should lie, bursting through the wood and hitting through inside. After a few seconds, the sound of gunfire calms as you look at Father Féval.
  
  "Let us confirm the kill," Father Féval says.
  
  Stepping forward, you grab the handle of the coffin and wretch it open, tearing open the splintered and almost destroyed door. Staring inside, you find splintered wood and torn apart coffin... but no vampire, or no ash to show a clean kill.
  
  "That was expensive," a dark, chilling voice says. "You'll pay for that."
  
  Your voice chills when you hear the voice, but you know it's not the time for tears. Turning your head, you find yourself staring up at a tall, deathly pale figure standing behind Father Féval, its arms wrapped around him, baring a pair of ivory daggers that descend from its upper jaw, fangs so sharp and long they could tear out Father Féval's throat in an instant. It's skin seems almost entirely hairless except for the thick black hair that hangs down from its head. Its eyes, however... its blood red eyes betray an inhumanity that you'll never be able to comprehend.
  
  "Don't move, or your friend gets it," the Vampire says. "Drop your weapons. Slowly."
  
  "Shoot it!" Father Féval gasps, as the Vampire steps almost perfectly behind the priest, obscuring your shot.
  
  Surrender isn't an option. This creature needs to die, or neither you nor Father Féval will ever get out of here.
  
  > shoot through Father Féval
  You fire your shotgun straight through Father Féval's chest without a moment's pause, knowing the way of the Hunter. You're going to do what's right, not what's empathetic, and you'd expect Father Féval to blow you away in a moment in order to fight the good fight.
  
  However, the blast fails to completely burst through Father Féval's chest, the burning magnesium shards lacking the penetration power you require, and the few lead balls tearing their way through his flesh are simply incapable of killing a Vampire.
  
  Father Féval's dying corpse is tossed into you, and you shove the body aside with a yell. However, it's far too late, and the vampire rams you against the wall. His fangs tear through the air and into your throat, biting down and tearing it out of your neck with a burst of blood. You gasp for air, but only blood fills your throat and lungs as you find yourself incapable of breathing. You paw desperately at the Vampire's face as he laughs again, before dipping his face into your bleeding neck and beginning to drain your blood.
  
  Soon, the blood loss and shock snuffs the light in your eyes, and your body goes numb.