Mark checked the note again, making sure he had the right place before shoving it in his back pocket. He was in an abandoned industrial park, outside an old warehouse that hadn’t been used for much else than storage for a long time. Felix called him while he was at work, telling him the location of a nest in L.A., and that it was tied to the increase of new vampires. He didn’t tell him how, either it was knowledge he hadn’t been given or just couldn’t tell Mark about it yet. He called just long enough to pass along the info before hanging up, leaving Mark scrambling for a pen and paper to write it down before he forgot. After work he went home to change, and get some information on the location. Once the sun began to set, he made his way to the warehouse.

Mark was relieved to finally be getting somewhere with these occurrences, partly so he could put it to an end for the sake of people's safety, but also because it served as a distraction from Sean, who had taken residence inside his head since Saturday. It was half way through the week and he found himself distracted at work, making dumb mistakes and zoning out in meetings. It was very out of character for him and his boss took notice right away, asking him if everything was alright and if it had anything to do with his request for time off.

Mark spun a small white lie, saying there had been a bit of a family emergency and that it was heavy on his mind. His boss told him he could take his holidays starting next week if he desired, and could take the full six weeks. It had been very welcomed, knowing he wouldn’t have to worry about work with everything else that was going on.

Mark was pressed against the wall of the warehouse, between it and another building as he edged along, listening for people around. As far as he could tell, there were no scouts posted outside, and he could pick up on at least three vampires inside the building. He worked his way quickly and quietly to the back of the building, up to the door. He couldn't hear any heart beats near the entrance and based on the undisturbed ground beneath the door, it didn’t look like anyone had been using it for a while.

Mark tested the knob, not really surprised to find it locked. It had a deadbolt which with the flick of his wrist he easily snapped back into place and as quietly as he could. Turning the handle, breaking the lock with it, and opened the door slowly, listening for anyone who may have been alerted to his presence. He still heard only the three heart beats somewhere across the warehouse. Now that he was in, he focused on slowing his heart rate as much as he could to try and avoid detection, since they most likely wouldn’t be expecting any intruders. He could faintly hear the others, so they likely couldn't pick up on him, even at a normal rate. He had always been stronger than the average vampire.

The warehouse was essentially one big room, with multiple shelving units that stretched to the roof all fully stacked with different boxes and cases, some littering along the floors. There was a thick layer of dust further confirming Mark's earlier suspicions that this place hadn't been used much if at all over the years. Mark could hear what sounded like something being dropped or moved echo through the building, but other than that he couldn’t pick up on anything else besides the three heart beats. He skirted through the shelves, following the sounds he could pick up on, weaving through the maze of boxes in the aisle as he began to hear chatter.

As he approached he could make out two more bodies, who would go in and out of range, while the other three stayed stationary. Patrols maybe? He was nearing a clearing in the warehouse, where the three seemed to be hanging around. Thinking of the best vantage point, he climbed up a few shelves and situated himself behind a large crate, peaking around to look into the opening, slowing his heart as much as he safely could.

Two guys were slowly hauling in boxes of stuff, they didn't have any logos or descriptions, but they'd drop the crate off and go out and grab more. The other three were in the room, one was directing them where to put stuff and checking each box as it was dropped off before writing something on a clipboard while the other two were near the edge, a few rows down from Mark's location talking quietly.

“Is this really the best place for this? There are certainly more remote and cleaner places we could get.” The first guy, a tall redhead with a hooked nose and pursed lips complained to his companion, who was slightly shorter, with blonde hair pulled into a loose bun, dark eyes and large lips.

“It's about the location. It's abandoned but still close to the city. We need locations that have easy access.” The blonde replied, dismissing hooked nose with heavy annoyance.

Mark focused his hearing on the two of them, eager to get as much information as possible. This didn’t sound like a regular nest set up.

Hooked nose scoffed before replying. “I know why we have this location. I'm just saying there has to be better places. Rich and his group have an old hospital, and Chelsea has an old hotel. We get a grungy old warehouse that hasn't seen a broom in decades and smells like a rotting corpse.” He turned his nose up, mouth curling as he spoke. “Just doesn't seem fair, considering our rank in the clan.”

Blonde looked at hooked nose out of the corner of his eye. “Our rank?”

Hooked nose winced, before amending. “Sorry, your rank.” He fell silent. What the hell is going on? Felix told him this was a nest not an outpost or base of sorts. And what was all that about location and easy access to the city? What were they planning? He looked at the crates still being hauled in, trying to find some sort of indication as to what their contents were, but they had nothing detailing any specifics. Hooked nose kicked the ground bring back Mark’s attention before starting up again. “You’d think she'd still want everything in a nice place. The work we’ll be doing does need a fairly sterile environment.”

“Which is why I had the material to set up a quarantine area in order to proceed with the work.” Clipboard said as he walked over to them. “We could be set up in a pig farm and it would still be sterile.” He looked over at blonde. “They've almost brought everything in. We’ll start setting up immediately, if you want to contact Esma and tell her to start sending over subjects, we can be ready within the hour.”

Mark's breathing stuttered. Esma. Of course that bitch is involved. That meant she was here in the city. Last time Mark had crossed paths with Esma was in the early to mid 1960’s. He had been in Nigeria, traveling there to help other hunters take down a stronghold of sorts, of one of the largest nests in Africa. At the time he hadn’t been given much information on the take down, just that it needed to be down quickly and efficiently. They had set up in a small town that was about forty miles out from the base, and had been met with a warm welcome as the people had been subject to regular attacks being so close to the nest. It was how he met Jumoke, a young man who was part of the group that had been scouting the base and had offered their help in guiding them. Also the most recent reincarnation of Jack.

Mark had almost left there and then, knowing how this was going to end. But he had made a commitment to help take this nest down and no one would understand why he left except Felix, but he had yet to show up since he last passed, about a decade previous. He couldn’t afford to tarnish his name either with this group, as he was already fairly isolated as it was in the world of vampire hunters, completely by choice, if maybe not the best choice. Abandoning the group would not do him any favours, regardless of how high he was regarded in the ranks due to his skill and strength. So he stayed, and participated in the attack.

When they did attacked the nest, he had found Esma, who it seemed had been residing there. When she had seen him in the midst of the first wave into the building, she fled, with Mark pursuing her immediately. He followed her outside the nest, where more people were fighting, including Jumoke who had followed with the others in his town after being practically ordered by the hunters to stay back, as they would only get in the way and probably get themselves killed. Mark had been able to catch up at the time, pouncing on Esma’s back, but he hadn’t been prepared for him to be there and Esma took his distraction as the chance to get away, launching Mark off with her legs and jumping back up. She looked over at Mark before speaking, “Sorry hun, it’s not time yet.” Before running off. Mark sprang to his feet, beginning to take after her but was stopped by the sound of his name, his real name, being cried out. He spun to see Jumoke kneeling with blood covering his neck from a bite that ripped half his throat out as a vamp behind snapped his neck.

No matter who he was, how he met him, or how long he knew him, Mark would always agonize over losing any form of Jack, never being any less, because even though he had barely spoken to Jumoke, in his final seconds, his eyes conveyed to Mark his fear, his pain; and also his unadulterated love, that had been there for centuries before the light vacated them.

Mark made a valiant effort to keep his heart calm and to keep listening. He barely had any information to go on right now, and he needed to know what Esma had planned, and where she was

“Good. She’ll be glad to get this running. So far the ones we’ve turned have been keeping that hunter busy and off our trail the last few months, but we need to get started on the trials.”

That answered his question about the new vamps in the area, but what trials were they planning to run? Experiments on vampires? It wasn’t uncommon, he knew some people who had perform many of tests on vampires through the years, typically to learn their weaknesses, but this sounded like a different type of objective.

“Agreed.” Clipboard turned away, stopping for a moment before turning back to continue again. “Has she given you any further instructions on the human she's been watching? I know she has tasked you with his retrieval when the time comes. When should I have the containment area set up?”

“No, I'm still awaiting her orders on that. She's being very tight lipped about him. This guy is apparently pretty important to her plans and she doesn't want to risk anything. All I know is that once we get through the trials she’ll probably want him in next before we go to the next phase.”

Clipboard nodded and continued directing the other two while hooked nose complained about everything with blondie ignoring him. Mark’s brain froze when they mentioned the human Esma has been watching. Was that Sean? Was she tracking Sean? He couldn’t think of any other human that would be of any interest to her, unless it had to do with whatever these experiments were, in which case, it could be anyone. But with Mark's past with Esma and Jack, he couldn’t ignore the high possibility of Esma being after Sean. But what for? If she had already found him, she would have easily recognized him as Jack, and Mark knew she had some information on Mark's situation, how though, he had no idea. He tried to keep it very under wraps. She had never, to his knowledge, had any other encounters with him since the first time, but for all he knew she could have been tracking him for years. She had been in areas that he’s met Jack in, which Mark always just accounted to coincidence since he had spent a lot of time pursuing her in the past, so he was bound to run into Jack during those times.

Mark was lost in thought and with his concentration focused on Esma’s plans, he was no longer paying attention to his heart rate, which had started to spike at his fears of Sean being a target, and it was too late to amend his mistake as blonde’s head snapped to the left, in Mark's direction and his stance went from disinterest to alert instantly. “Someone’s here.”

Mark mentally swore as he hid himself behind the crate, holding his breath and trying to calm his heart again, as he started to plan out his escape. He wasn’t all that keen to take on five vamps, and if they knew he was here, they will pack up and leave and Mark would be back to square one.

“Where?” Clipboard responded, and Mark heard as the other two ran back into the room.

“I don’t know. For a minute there heart was clear as day but it’s faded.” Blonde spoke, still alert.

“Someone passing by? This is still a work place. Maybe it’s night staff.” Hooked nose dismissed there agitation, clearly not concerned with the situation. Mark heard someone start to move closer to him and he had to resist the urge to check on the group. Looking out on the warehouse, Mark had few options. Jumping down was a no go, too many chances of being seen and recognized, as one of them, most likely the blonde, had seen him before if they have been tasked with keeping him busy the last few months. He could try climbing up higher, jumping across the shelving, but he was worried about the stability of the racks, if they could manage it. Mark could hear more footsteps following the first pair as they neared his location, the first set going past. As the seconds ticked down, Mark figured his best course of action was to beeline it across the level he was on. He would have to move slowly, and wait for them to move past. If he just made a break for it, they’d be on him immediately, and even if he managed to get out unseen, it would be easy to narrow down who he was.

He listened as the footsteps passed him, as hooked nose whined that they were overacting which was helping hide his movements as he began to slowly make his way across the shelving. It was a slow process, practically minutes passing for every step, but he was managing to make as minimal noise as possible. Being such an old building, it was creaking and groaning constantly so it seemed any sounds he may have been making were being thrown into that category.

Mark was almost to the end of the shelf, about halfway back to the door when the wood beneath him creaked, and gave way, the boxes crashing through the shelves below and to the ground. Mark had managed to grab the shelf above him, hauling himself up and using the cover of the crash to book it down to the end and jumping to the next shelf, swinging himself around another crate and all but halted his breathing as he listened for the others.

They ran to where the boxes had fallen, and he heard someone clamber up the shelving unit, to the spot that had fallen and moving around beneath him.

“What the fuck?” Hooked nose exclaimed from below. “How they hell did these fall?”

“This is an old building Trent, it is possible that strain of the boxes over time wore down the wood and it merely crashed on its own.” Clipboard spoke, sounds fairly convinced of his own hypotheses. “Please, Cole. It was probably nothing, can we continue with the task at hand? These two will tidy up then continue on setting up the containment unit up while you contact Esma. I’d like to keep on schedule if you don't mind.”

The footsteps that had been roaming around the shelving halted, before Mark heard blonde speak. “Really? This happening right after I picked up on another body, and it’s nothing?”

Mark heard clipboard sigh before responding. “You had said yourself, it had been strong for a moment before dissipating, easily meaning it was someone just walking by the building. And even if there was someone in here, we would have detected them. They wouldn't be more than a few meters from us.” Mark, as he had many a times, thanked himself for putting so much work into perfecting this technique, as he continued to keep his heart rate as slow as possible. “Can we please get back to work? You know how... Agitated, she gets when we fall behind.”

Blonde, or Cole as he overheard, mumbled under his breath a bit before he heard him leap off the shelf and land back on the ground.

“Thank you. Now, back to work, yes?” He waited as they made their way back to the area they had loaded before Mark began to move again. He slipped down the shelves, sliding out the back door and booked it back to home.