A low rumble of thunder sounded above us followed by the click of a fresh magazine being loaded into a handgun. We were under attack, that what Michael had told us, but by who? Were these the people who murdered Emma, briefly I imagined Emma sat on her bed in pitch darkness wondering who turned the lights out? Michael moved steadily holding the gun in one hand and gently guiding me with the other.

In low whisper I asked, “Who is attacking us?”

“I don’t know.” Michael said softly.

I pressed up close against him and murmured, “I’m scared.”

Michael moved protectively in front of me, “I won’t let anything touch you.” He said.

 “What are we supposed to do?”

“Sit tight and try and not get killed.” Michael replied.

“Please tell me you have a gun.”

“One gun and only one clip..”

“That’s great!” I whispered feeling a little safer.

The door of the apartment swung open and both me and Michael went dead still. Michael moved in front holding his gun. The bathroom door opened and a beam of light filled the room.

“Sheldon!” I gasped as Sheldon ambled in with a flash light.

Sheldon held his hands defensively up, “Sorry, but there is some weird shit going on out there.”

“What did you see?” Michael asked.

“I don’t know, people I guess, but I don’t know  what the hell they are.” Sheldon replied.

“What did they look like?” Michael said.

Sheldon shrugged, “Kind of like zombies.”

“How many?”

“A group of them, seven or eight. I snuck past them in the corridor.”

Zombies?

“Ah great,” Michael said handing me the gun, he got his phone out , “Hey Barry I think we got some V-3s in here with us-”

“What’s a V-3?” Sheldon asked me.

“I don’t know.” I replied honestly.

“- the elevators are out, we are trapped here. How long until Raphael re-establishes power?” Michael asked Barry on the phone.

I didn’t hear the reply but by Michael’s expression I could tell it was not good news.

“Are there any other exit routes out of this floor?” Michael asked.

There was a brief answer which I guess was a no. Michael sighed and disconnected the call. Looking at us both he said, “I need to keep those things distracted until we get power. You two stay in here until I say it is safe to come out.”

“No, don’t leave! Stay here.” I said grabbing Michael’s arm.

“Sheldon will protect you.” Michael said handing the gun over to Sheldon.

“No problem. It will just like Call of Duty.” Sheldon said examining the gun.

“I’ll take a knife from the kitchen, don’t worry about me. Just stay safe.” Michael said to me.

“Michael, don’t you dare leave this room.”

Michael ignored me and turned to Sheldon, “Keep your voices down and only use the gun in a dire emergency. Once the other, V-3s hear the gun shots they will all come running.”

Sheldon nodded, “Your girlfriend is safe with me.”

“Good because if she is not, I will feed you to those V-3s myself.” Michael warned.

He left the room. I tried to go after him but Sheldon stopped me, “Let him go. He’ll be fine.”

I wanted to pull out my hair and cry, the worry of my mate getting injured was gnawing at my insides. Furiously I paced the bathroom floor listening out for any hint of sound. Sheldon watched and eventually snapped,

“For Pete’s sake sit down before you burn a bloody hole in the floor with all your back and forthing.”

Reluctantly I sat down, “Talk to me, distract me.” I said.

“What about?”

“Anything, tell me about your human life, your vampire life, do you have any gifts?” I asked.

 “I was working in a car factory near Cardiff before I became a vampire. I was so fucking stupid. No school grades or qualifications, I could barely read because I was so dyslexic. My teachers thought I belonged in one of those special schools. When I became a vampire everything changed. I wasn’t fast or strong but I was smart. Learning was my gift. From not being able to read my own name tag to reading ‘War and Peace’ in one sitting was mind blowing liberating.” Sheldon said clutching the gun.

“How did it happen- I mean how did you become a vampire?”

“Like you, I was chosen. A few evenings before ‘it’ happened, I noticed a big fancy limousine in the factory car park lot when I was going into work for the evening shift. When they actually bit me, I was walking home. It happened so fast I didn’t even realise I had been bitten. The rest is blurring. They buried me out in the countryside and dug me up three years ago when I had official baked.”

“Were the slayer team there when you woke up?”

“The slayer team is always there. I think they thought these monsters running round London were demented and deformed baby vampires.”

“What do you think they are?”

“I have no idea.”

Outside the bathroom door was a shuffling noise, Sheldon moved protectively in front of me pointing the revolver at the door. Both of us held our breath. I kept chanting over and over in my head, ‘please let it be Michael, please be Michael’. The door handle trembled and moved down. Sheldon and I shuffled back. I pointed the flashlight at the door and the door opened. A thin emaciated man appeared in the door way squinting at the flashlight. He held his arms up in the air defensively and stepped back,

“Please don’t shoot.” He said.

“Who are?” Sheldon demanded holding the gun steadily.

“My name is Matthew Hudson, I’m just a chemist. Please help me, I think I am lost.” He was frightened, terrified even, I could hear it in his voice and see it in his grey sunken eyes.

Sheldon dropped the gun and turned to me, “Look at his shirt.”

Blood stained his white shirt around the collar. Sheldon pointed at it, “Must be one of Keira’s leftovers. She often leaves them down here for the bell boys to clear up.” He said.

I breathed a sigh of relief, “God, I thought he was one of those V-3s.”

“Yeah so did I.” Sheldon added.

The chemist looked at us both with complete confusion, “I don’t understand.”

“Don’t worry pal. You are in safe hands, get in here behind me.” Sheldon said.

I patted the floor next to me and the man sat down, “What happening, why has he got a gun?” he asked.

“I’ll explain later.” I smiled patting his knee.

“I don’t feel so good.” He moaned clutching his stomach.

“Ah shit, Keira always gets them dead drunk. He’s going to barf everywhere.”

“Here,” I said lifting the toilet seat up. “Be sick in there.”

The man staggered across the floor but slumped over onto Sheldon before he could reach the toilet. Sheldon swore and put the gun on the floor. Looking at me he said, “We’ll stick him in the bath, He’ll be safe there.”

I helped Sheldon lift the unconscious drunk into the bath, Sheldon pulled across the shower curtain and sat back down. Hugging my knees into my chest I kept thinking, ‘hurry up Michael’, where the hell was he?

“How long do you think it will take for the power to reconnected?”

“I don’t know, it depends where the damage is.” Sheldon murmured.

“I feel sick.” The man in the bath tub mumbled.

“Take it easy mate, you’ve just had one too many.” Sheldon said.

“Please help, I feel really ill.” The man replied.

I pulled back the shower curtain and peeked in. Two black eyes the size of dinner plates were staring back at me, “Help” the man mouthed as his body began to contort and spasm. I let the shower curtain swing forward and backed away from the bath tub.

“He’s one of them.” I whispered.

Sheldon grabbed the gun, “I’ll kill him.” He said.

I grabbed onto his arm, “No don’t, the gun shot will attract the other V-3 attention. Remember what Michael said- only in dire emergency.”

“Then what do you fucking propose?” Sheldon snapped.

“We hide elsewhere.” I said.

Shutting the bathroom door behind us we crept into my bedroom closed the door. Sheldon climbed inside my wardrobe while I hid under my bed. Quietly we listened to the terrifying silence waiting for the sound of that bathroom door opening. Time passed unbearable slow. Outside the flat we heard nothing. Inside the flat we heard nothing. I wished Michael would come back.

“Hey, Lorna? How are you holding up?” Sheldon asked from inside the wardrobe.

“Okay.” I replied weakly.

The noise although nothing more than a hushed whispered must have echoed softly into the bathroom. There was a loud thud and the sound of wood splintering as the bathroom door was forced off its hinges. Suddenly the lights in my bedroom flickered on as the bedroom door burst open. I saw the V-3 standing on its hind legs in the door way sniffing the air. It moved past the wardrobe straight to the bed. I held my breath and closed my eyes. The monster paced around my bed sniffing and making low growling noises. Maybe it would go away- please go away. A cold clammy claw unexpectedly closed around my legs dragging me out from underneath the bed. I screamed as the V-3 pulled me across the floor. Sheldon literally fell out of the wardrobe shooting blindly at the V-3 who swiftly threw Sheldon ten feet across the room into my desk. The V-3 then hunkered down on all fours crawling over me, its disgusting face hovering over mine, sniffing and growling. The monster opened its mouth revealing a set of jagged vicious teeth. I closed my eyes believing this was the end but instead felt something warm and moist. The monster’s tongue ran over my face, it then looked at me and backed away out of the room.

“Sheldon?” I called, crawling across the room.

Sheldon murmured and opened his eyes, “Did I kill it?”

“No?”

“Are we dead?”

“No.”

“Why aren’t we dead?”

“I have no idea.” I replied.

Michael then burst into the room, he took one look at me on the floor and went pale. Instantly dropping to his knees he pulled me against him, running his fingers over me,

“Are you hurt?” he murmured urgently.

“No.” I said.

He breathed a sigh of relief, “What the hell happened?”

“A man staggered into the bathroom, we thought it was Keira’s evening snack but he turned into a monster. We hid in here.”

“You must of fooled it, no one ever survives a V-3 attack.” Michael said holding me tightly.

“It found us, Michael.” I said.

Michael went rigid, “What?”

“The V-3 pulled me out from underneath the bed, I thought it was going to eat me but it didn’t. It sniffed me and licked me.”

Michael swore loudly and let go of me, he snatched the gun from Sheldon, “Where did it go?” He asked.

“Relax it took off, the gun shots must have scared it away.” Sheldon said.

“It wasn’t frightened away. It went away because it got what it came for.” Michael said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“It came for you. It wanted your scent.” He said running out after the monster.

.