The air was still and sticky. Nights were getting hotter, but that gave the Moroi the advantage. Revenants were far from fresh corpses brought back as vampires, and the hot summer nights gave away their position from stench alone. Thane brought his nose into the air and inhaled deeply. Nothing but pine needles and black dirt were noticeable.

     "I doubt they'll attempt another swarm tonight, but let's remain cautious," Thane stated. Drae nodded in agreement and popped the button for the trunk. Inside, the corpse laid in a loose fetal position with a brown envelope tucked near his back. Drae reached the envelope and placed in carefully inside his coat pocket.

     Grab his feet and I'll get his shoulders," Thane reached down and moved the kid around to face straight up into the sky. Drae moved the end where the stuff legs were and showed off a grimace. Thane paused, "What's wrong?"

"Man, you know how much I hate feet, especially hairy man feet."

"Stop acting like a female and grab him. We don't have time for your bullshit."

     Drae's grimace thickened while he wrapped his hands around the kid's muscular ankles. With one large heave, they managed to get him out of the trunk and began their walk to the farmhouse. No illumination was visible in the old building, save for the red reflection of the brake lights from the Challenger.

"For a human this kid's pretty fucking heavy," Drae stated behind clenched teeth. They walked through the dirt path, sending up a whirlwind of stale earth.

     "Doesn't help that he's a corpse, Drae," Thane raised an eyebrow and shook his head gently. He looked down at the kid before him: stiff, pale, and tall as all hell. What was his name again? Jason?

During the earliest of times, the concept of transformation from human to Moroi was never very selective, sending waves of freshly born bloodsuckers that would eventually outnumber humans in the world. That is, unless the person attempting the change could hold back their thirst before killing the human. If the Moroi could indeed stop before draining a human entirely, what would then happen? They'd exchange blood and be left with a perfect new born Moroi? Only if the human's body accepted it. Otherwise, what was left would be nothing more than a body suffering the rejection while slowly becoming a decaying revenant.

Unfortunately, rejection was more often the case, but it still didn't outweigh the number of drained corpses from any Moroi attempting to convert someone. The pendant that Rune had in his possession was the only loophole to transformation and still continued to be so.

     "Back into the house?" Drae asked.

     Thane adjusted his grip on Jason's broad shoulders, "Yup."

     They walked up wooden stairs leading to the entrance, sending loud creaks through the air. It was debatable how the small farmhouse still stood, but the craftsmanship of every board and panel was a good indication. Thane lifted his boot and kicked open the door. Inside, the dust caked on to everything that remained in the abandoned home: photo frames, boxes, and even an old armchair that appeared to have been reupholstered more than once.

The men carried him carefully and with ease down a flight of stairs leading to the basement. They walked through old trinkets and furniture that sat piled up to almost the ceiling, covered in sheets and miscellaneous pieces of cloth. Beyond the pathway sat a small corner of the basement. A hole had been dug out of the ground level, exposing the cold earth it rested on. They would place Jason back into the shallow grave wearing the amulet, until the following morning when they would dig him up and find him alive and kicking. Four chairs sat around the perfectly shaped hole with a small end table, still holding a half drunken beer that Drae had never finished.

"At least we don't have to dig the hole again," Drae added, looking down. Thane and Drae placed Jason carefully into the circular area.

"You have the pendant?" Thane asked.

      "Got it right here," Drae patted his jacket pocket.

      "Good, get it out so we can't finish this crap. Rune will be calling us soon."

Drae reached into his pocket and pulled out a now wrinkled envelope. He opened it and took out its contents one by one, throwing them to the ground without a second thought, but Thane watched as Drae's face turn white.

"What is it?" Thane asked with panic lacing his tone.

Drae lifted the envelope and turned it upside down, shaking it profusely. When nothing fell out he opened it and peered into it one last time.

"The pendant," he crinkled the envelope into a ball, "it's not in here."

"What do you mean it isn't in there?"

Drae freaked out, "I mean, it's not in the fucking envelope!" He walked quickly back and forth, bringing his hands up to face to shield his eyes, "what the hell do we do now?"

"Check the surrounding area here. Maybe they didn't take it with them," Thane replied.

"What if it they did take it?"

"Then we have only twenty four hours to back track and find it before our pal Jason here," Thane motioned to the corpse lying in the hole, "winds up nothing more than what he is now."

"Fuck!" Drae ran up the stairs with Thane closely following behind.