Cold Open.

“Are you sure you’re not Marta Barr?” the man asked, looking up at the woman who had him pinned to the bed.

“Would you like me to be this ‘Marta Barr’?” she purred. She nuzzled his neck and softly blew warm breath up the side of it. He whimpered in enjoyment, closing his eyes.

“Noooo, no I wouldn’t,” he managed to get out. “I can’t have my wife know I’m with another woman, let alone she turns out to be the deadly illusive vampura Marta Barr. That would not look good for me.”

“Well, it wouldn’t seem like you’d be alive to explain yourself… You know, if I was Marta Barr.”

“That’s true,” the adulterer agreed.

“What makes you think I’m Marta Barr anyway?” she asked as she circled her hips on the man. “Do I look like her or something?”

The adulterer raised his head off the pillow. “Well, there aren’t pictures of her. She’s a vampura after all. But you know, from what I could see of you and what I’ve heard, there’s a slight resemblance.”

She let out a soft chuckle. “Lots of women have hair like me. It’s only if I had greyish skin, that you might need to start worrying.”

The man sighed. She wasn’t wrong. However, the lights to his hotel room had been off, plunging the room in darkness, by the time she had arrived, having answered his call on the hook up app for a booty call.

“But I’ve not seen you in the light,” he conceded.

“But that excited you remember? The dark… Relax. Let Mamma here look after you. Forget about Marta Barr.”

“Shit, I wish I could now,” he grumbled, visibly irritated. “It would just be my luck that this is my first time out of town doing something like this and that bitch kills me.”

“Errr excuse me,” the woman’s tone changed suddenly and she stiffened up. “Enough of the name calling alright?!” Her accent had also changed. She was now talking in a soft Scottish accent.

“Wha- oh fuck…! You are Marta Barr aren’t you?”

“Well of course I am ye nob, but I don’t go around advertising it, nor do I particularly like hearing people slag me off to me face.”

“Oh God oh God oh God oh God,” the man ranted, thrashing at the ties that had bound him to the hotel bed posts. “Please don’t do this. Please not me. Please, please, OH GOD PLEASE!” he yelled, getting more and more desperate as the situation he found himself in dawned on him more.

She, Marta Barr, slapped him round the face, causing him to go deftly quiet. “Will you just stop that? People are going to hear me kill ya.”

“I’ll give you anything, just please don’t bite me or kill me. Oh shit, please don’t sire me either. I don’t want to be one of you! Please no! Oh shit I knew I should have downloaded Grindr!” he continued to thrash his arms, trying to get free, but Marta had tied some strong knots. He wasn’t going anywhere. You don’t get to be over a hundred and fifty and not learn a thing or two about tying knots.

“You don’t have anything I want. Except for the liquid gold running through your veins, being pumped around your body as we speak. Radiating warmth from within as it flows all around you.” Her voice had become a bit more seductive again as she thought about the blood just waiting for her.

“I have HIV! You don’t want my blood!” he argued.

“Bullshit. Besides, I’m not actually alive right now. Bad blood isn’t going to actually do me any harm now is it?”

“Damn it,” the panicking adulterer said under his breath, hoping that his lie would have worked.

“Now, if it helps to think of your wife while I bite you, you may. I won’t take it personally…” She giggled softly as she leaned down towards his exposed neck. She used her hands to keep his head still, and titled it to one side to elongate the side she was going for. She slowly bit into his neck, savouring the moment as her teeth punctured through his skin. He yelled out but she drowned it out as she felt his warm blood flood her mouth.

Over a hundred years of being a vampura and she still had it. She wasn’t like the new generations nowadays who went out hunting for their blood. The amateurs, too excited by the thrill of the chase. No, she’d adapted to the times, and made her prey wait for her. It was perfect. And it was this, that made Marta Barr a renowned dangerous threat.

A knock on the hotel room door interrupted her feeding. She came away from the neck of the now lifeless cheating bastard she was drinking from and looked to the door. “Come in…. if you dare,” she teased.

Chapter Two.

It was a week after Mark and Henry’s first shift for the Pin Corner Neighbourhood Ancillary Stakers Corp, and they had worked four of the last seven nights. Mark had paired up with Stanley again a couple of the nights and with Bridget Panshawe the other nights, whilst Henry had been teamed up with David Warren every time.

Bridget had the position of Sergeant within the Corp and with that, had the nickname ‘Rigid Bridget’. She was a tough woman in that she just expected the best and she followed protocol. But she also loved finding vampuras and staking them, which was fast becoming Mark’s favourite thing.

He’d been having a successful few nights, the most vampuras he had come across in a given night so far was three, so he was getting the practice in. Henry wasn’t coming across as many but he was enjoying going out with David who was just a couple of years older than the twins. David was the cricket captain for Tarmsworth St Jude’s local team and was very chatty. David was an Officer in the Corp where Mark and Henry, as newbies were officially ranked as Privates.

“I hate being referred to as Privates, don’t you?” Henry complained as the boys brushed their teeth together in the bathroom at their home. “It makes us sound like we’re willies.”

“It’s not something I tend to dwell on… but the thought had occurred once or twice,” he said chuckling. “The sooner we get through our probation period, the better,” Mark agreed after he spat out the spent toothpaste. The only requirement to come out of probation was to rack up twenty stakes. Each time a member of the Corp took out a vampura, a tally was made on the shaft of their wooden stake.

“How many more do you need?” Mark asked Henry as he hopped into the shower.

“Fifteen,” Henry shouted out over the noise of the water in response. “You?”

“Twelve. I’m going to my room, but I’ll meet you downstairs, alright?”

“Yeah!” Henry shouted back.

***

“It’s our turn to send help to the Town Centre Division tonight,” Alistair announced later that evening at the start of the briefing. It was met with an audible groan from Nadheera. “You don’t need to worry, after last time’s shit show Nad, you won’t be going again. I have a reputation I want to uphold.” Nadheera didn’t mind showing her relief at that news. “You’ll see we’re without Stanley and Bridget tonight so we’re going to be stretched thin ourselves. Lana and Mark, you’ll be going to do Town Centre duties. David’s with Henry again and myself with Nadheera will be staying in Pin Corner.”

Mark excitedly looked at Lana, someone he’d not had the chance to be with yet. She smiled politely, but in a way that didn’t necessarily exude joy at being with a Private.

“Be careful around the Town Centre though you two,” Alistair continued. “Three people were murdered last night in a hotel in the centre of town and it had all the hallmarks of a vampura attack.”

Mark’s enthusiasm began to wane a little but he didn’t let it show. Except Henry could tell, and he gave his brother a reassuring nod.

“Be smart out there guys, let’s go.”

The group filed outside into the carpark. “Good luck Mark,” Henry said. “You’ll be fine.” He put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and ran off to catch up with David who had already started walking off.

“So hey, I’m Mark,” he said to Lana.

She rolled her eyes. “I know, dummy. Come on, we’ll take the bikes into town.”

“The crap ones?”

“Yeah, and the only ones. So unless you wanna walk by yourself, let’s go get you one.” She led him round the back to the bike shed and fiddled with the numbered lock. Once in, she shuffled to the back and pulled a bike from its lean against the wall. “Here, take this one, then help me with the other.” Mark propped the bike against the outside of the bike shed and readily took the other one.

“Can you ride a bike, puppy?” Puppy was a nickname all the newbies in their probation got.

“Of course. I can even do no hands,” he winked.

“Oooh, impressive,” she said sarcastically.

“Have you had to work the Town Centre much?” he asked her as they rode through Tarmsworth St Jude together.

“A couple of times, yeah,” she answered. “I know some people don’t like doing so, but I don’t mind it. Sometimes nothing happens on our patch, but there’ll always be something going down in Town.”

The pair pushed on through the Victoria Moors part of town, which quite frankly was the arse end of Tarmsworth St Jude.

“Keep your head down and keep cycling,” Lana had warned him.

“I have lived in Tarmsworth all my life you know. I know all about this area.”

“But do you know about it at night time? It’s worse. Vamps and druggies and thugs just crawling through the streets.”

After five more minutes they came to the top of the High Street which took them straight into town.

“Do we need to check in with anyone when we get here?” Mark asked.

“I’ll let them know on the radio but we’re good to do our thing,” Lana explained. “Here, let’s stop up ahead at the statue.”

Mark dropped down from the bike’s seat and rested gently on the cross bar. While Lana called through on the radio to let the other Town Centre Nasscies know that they were there, Mark got his phone out.

“Who are you texting?” she asked.

Mark didn’t look up from the screen as he typed. “Gosh, you’re a bit direct, aren’t you? I’m texting Henry if you must know. See how his night is going.”

“I just don’t want you on that all night, that’s all. Not round here anyway.”

“It’s one text,” he said clicking the screen off. “See, all done.”

“And don’t forget you’re still a Private.”

Mark couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “You’re right, I’m sorry Ma’am,” he said sarcastically.

Lana laughed back. “God, I can’t believe I pulled rank.. That was cringe of me. I don’t want you thinking I’m like Rigid Bridget!”

“Heavens forbid!”

“Come on. Let’s go,” she said climbing onto her bike and pushing off in front of Mark. “Your brother will be fine. David will be taking really really good care of him,” she called back.

“What do you mean by that? I heard you smiling! Hey, wait up!” he said catching up.

“Just that David will be looking after Henry, that’s what I meant.”

“You definitely smiled, like it was funny.”

“Ok, so David clearly has a crush on Henry. I’ve know David for a long while and I know the signs. He used to crush on me when he first joined.”

“Ohhhh, right. Oh well Henry’s bisexual too, so he’s probably enjoying all the attention!” Mark said laughing.

“Well I was not expecting that…!” Lana said.

“Did you ever get with David, when he crushed on you?”

“No, I have a boyfriend so it wasn’t going to happen.”

“Oh ok.”

“This is where I work during the day,” Lana said, moving the conversation on as they cycled through the pedestrianised shopping area.

“At the bank?”

“Yeah, I’m a manager there.”

“Oooh, fancy!” Mark enthused.

There was some drunken shouting from behind Lana and Mark. Mark checked his watch. Chucking out time.

“There’ll be more people about now, so we’ll have to keep an eye out for vampuras,” Lana said, going serious again.

“Roger that,” Mark mumbled as they coasted through the streets.

“Back up needed on Barkers Road!” came a transmission on the radio.

“Right, come on let’s go,” Lana instructed, as they both picked up the pace.

“The old multi storey carpark is on Barkers Road!” Mark called out as he pedalled more furiously.

Within two minutes, due to a lack of cars on the roads, the pair arrived on Barkers Road, heading for the multi storey carpark. Stood outside on the street were four Nassices for the Town Centre Division.

“Hey you two,” an Italian sounding man said greeting them. “Thanks for coming.”

“Hi Gillo,” Lana said back. “This is Mark everyone, he’s new to Pin Corner. Mark, Gillo is the Captain for the Town Centre, and there’s Zoe, Brandy and Ontrel,” she said quickly making the introductions. “So what do we have here?”

“Brandy and I chased two vampuras into here after they tried to attack a bloke walking his dog,” Zoe explained. Zoe looked to be the same sort of age as Mark, and had long black hair tied in a pony tail. Mark thought her eye make-up made her look like a muted goth.

“We’re sure they were vampuras?” Mark asked.

“Well, the bloke screamed ‘Ahhhh vampuras!’ when he saw their faces, so yeah I’m pretty sure,” Brandy said, giving Mark a look up and down as she spoke.

“And one of the arseholes dropped this,” Zoe said showing a video recorder.

“Did they steal it?” Lana asked.

“No,” Gillo said. “It’s definitely the vampura’s. I’ve had a look through it and it looks like they’ve been filming a movie. A death movie. And it’s very disgusting. Do you remember that drag queen who died last week coming from a gig in town?”

Mark nodded, he remembered it was mentioned on his first shift. “That was when Nadheera and David were here, wasn’t it?” Mark whispered to Lana, who just nodded in confirmation.

“Well his death is on here,” Gillo finished. “So let’s get these pricks. Lucas and Cora are round at the other exit in case they try escaping.”

“If Lana and your pup stay here, we’re all going to go hunt them down,” Ontrel said.

“Are you sure? We can come in too,” Mark said optimistically, disappointed he was relegated to look out and missing the action.

“This is our patch, we’ll go in,” Brenda said annoyed.

“Right, let’s go,” Gillo said, leading his lot through the open boarded up door, leaving Mark and Lana by themselves.

“Do you think they’ll still be in there?” Mark asked.

“I don’t know do I? Just be quiet and listen out for any shouting,” Lana said seriously, looking up at the old three storey carpark.

Mark started to get a bit bored of waiting. He wanted to be in there, going up each level checking for the vampuras. And then staking them. Mark took out his stake from the holster and tossed it between each hand.

“Are you concentrating?” Lana hissed his way.

“Yeah yeah, I’m just ready for action,” he said impatiently, looking up and down Barkers Road. It was quiet.

A few shouts from up high made Mark and Lana suddenly jump. Mark ran to stand next to Lana and they looked up, desperate to know what was going on up there.

“Should we go in?” Mark whispered.

“No, we wait. Just a bit longer?” she said, unconvincingly.

Another shout, this time a lone one, followed by a body tumbling from the fourth storey. Mark and Lana separated just in time for the body to hit the ground. The two Pin Corner Nasscies stood there, frozen in shock and almost in fear.

“Well go on!” Gillo shouted from above. Mark looked up at him leaning over the edge. “Stake the bastard and finish him off!”

Mark looked down at the body as it rolled over onto their back. “Fuck, that hurt,” the male vampura grumbled to himself.

“Fuck!” Mark shouted.

“Ah fuck!” the vampura cried out in shock when he came to his senses. “No don-” he started to say as Mark lunged down with the stake through his heart. The vampura turned statue, frozen in position.

“Phew, that was close,” Mark said. He reached for his mallet and hit the vampura’s body which shattered before completely disappearing.

Gillo and the other Town Centre Nasscies came back out. “Oh, you did it then?” the Captain said, slightly out of breath.

“Yeah. Sorry, it all just happened so quickly,” Mark said. “I just didn’t expect to see someone fall right in front of me.”

“And still be talking…” Lana muttered.

“We got the other one in there,” Ontrel said. “And I’ve called the police who are coming to collect the camera.”

“Right, let’s get back out there then,” Gillo said. “There’s still plenty of night time left.” The crowd started to disperse and Mark and Lana picked up their bikes.

“Quick thinking there,” the girl called Zoe said to Mark.

“You should have seen him panic though,” Lana chuckled. “Ah fuck!” she said, doing an exaggerated impression of Mark’s response.

“Well, briefly,” Mark stuttered, blushing slightly under the street lights.

“Don’t forget to mark it up, Mark. On your stake. I’m sure you’ll be out of your probation in no time.” She smiled sweetly before catching up with her partner.

“She’s nice,” Mark said as him and Lana pedalled off to resume their patrol.

“Yeah, she is,” Lana agreed. “Come on, let’s go and find something to eat before I’ll take you to the old church in town.”

“Ohhhh no no. That place has always given me the heeby jeebies.”

“Don’t be scared,” Lana laughed.

“I don’t care, I’m very scared!” he said laughing. “But if we do, I’m choosing the food.”

“Fine, let’s get going.”