"Mommy, the monster is back again." Vanessa opened her eyes to see her five year old daughter standing beside the bed in her tinkerbell sleeping gown.

"Faith, there is no such thing as monsters." Vanessa replied with a sigh. For the last three nights her daughter had been waking up several times a night complaining about a monster. Vanessa blamed it on her ex-husband and the highly inappropriate movies he let Faith watch when she visited him (which wasn't very often).

"But mommy, he says he's going to kill me." Faith replied and Vanessa could see the fear in her wide green eyes. She sighed and sat up throwing her legs over the side of the bed and slipping her feet into her bright pink bunny slippers.

"Get in my bed." she sighed. "I'll go get your blankie and I'll be right back." Faith happily jumped up into her bed and snuggled up under the covers. Vanessa stood and ran her hand over her messy shoulder length chestnut hair and walked slowly to her daughter's bedroom with her sleepy shoulders slumped and her feet dragging.

Twelve hour shifts, six days a week at the hospital combined with taking care of her home and her daughter on her own while taking online courses through the community college were taking their toll on her and making her feel much older than her twenty-five years.

She walked into Faith's room and clicked on the light. She couldn't help but feel a little bit of childish fear as she looked around the room. Her daughter had never complained about monsters before. It had started suddenly three nights ago and Vanessa kept imagining that her daughter's closet door was going to fly open at any moment and a big hairy monster with lime green eyes and lots of drool was going to burst out and get her.

She jumped and nearly screamed when she felt something cold and wet press against her bare leg and she turned to see her German shepherd Scout standing behind her. He kept casting nervous glances at the closet and whining and Vanessa felt her nerves come back full force.

"What is it boy?" she asked in a shaky voice. She wanted to run and find someone to open the closet door for her but a single mother living on her own did not have that luxury. There was no big strong husband in the next room that could protect her or Faith from danger. It was all up to Vanessa. She saw the big metal bat that her ex-husband Steven had bought for Faith's last birthday. Yet another drug induced gift that made no sense for their five year old little girl who liked tea party's and princesses.

She grabbed the bat, happy that she had finally found a use for it, and walked on shaking legs to the closet door with Scout standing behind her and peeking between her legs.

"You darn coward." she whispered at the canine. She grabbed the doorknob and let out a long breath before squaring her shoulders and throwing open the door. She let out a nervous laugh when she found herself staring at nothing but a closet full of toys and wrinkled clothes.

She scolded her over active imagination and closed the door before leaning the bat back against the wall. She grabbed Faith's pink blankie off of her tiny bed and walked back to her own room with Scout following close behind.

"Here's your blankie." she said as she crawled into bed and handed it to her waiting daughter. Faith snuggled up to the silky pink blanket and closed her eyes. Vanessa knew her daughter was too old to still have a blankie but the poor kid had been through a lot in her life with a drug addicted father and a mother who was forced to work long hours because she was supporting them herself and she had not been able to bring herself to force Faith to give the blankie up.

Vanessa's nerves were still on edge and she turned the combination on the cabinet next to the bed and looked reassuringly at the black pistol inside. She left the cabinet open so the gun would be easy to grab and then she curled up with her daughter to try to get some sleep because she only had four more hours before it was time to get up and get back to work.

Scout's growls and whimpers woke Vanessa some time later. She heard Faith crying beside her and looked over at her daughter.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she saw the fear on her face.

"The monster is back." she whimpered and she pointed a shaking finger toward the end of the bed. Vanessa looked where she was pointing and screamed. There was a man standing there. He was tall and he was broad. He was dressed all in black and his pale skin glowed in the moonlight shining through the window. He locked his violet eyes with Vanessa's and she felt a shiver run down her spine. He smiled then and it was a cold smile that seemed to freeze her blood. She nearly screamed again when she saw his sharp white fangs and then she did scream when he ran his tongue over one of them.

"I told you there was a monster!" Faith exclaimed. Vanessa cried out when Scout jumped through the air and the vampire swatted him away as if the seventy pound dog were no more than an annoying fly. She used that split second of distraction to grab the gun from the cabinet. She clicked off the safety and aimed the gun at the vampires face. She squeezed the trigger and he let out a snarl of pain. Vanessa did not waste time trying to shoot him again. Instead she grabbed Faith in her arms and ran. She could hear him coming behind her and she fired a blind shot over her shoulder and heard a wet thud as it connected with flesh.

She grabbed her keys off the table by the living room door and ran out into the moonlight. Faith was sobbing in her arms as she jerked open the driver door to her car and threw her daughter into the passenger seat.

"Get in Scout!" Vanessa cried when she saw the dog come running out of the house. Scout jumped in the open door and took his place in the backseat. Vanessa saw the vampire standing in the doorway of the house. His head and his chest were covered in blood and his face was a mask of rage and pain as she brought her car to life and pulled out quickly, squealing the tires and praying like hell the vampire would not follow.

She drove in circles for hours. Both Scout and Faith were sound asleep as the sun began to rise. Only with the appearance of the sun did Vanessa begin to relax. She let herself cry for the first time as she realized just how close she and her daughter had come to dying. She couldn't go home. He could be hiding anywhere in the darkness just waiting for her and her daughter to return.

She had to go to the police. Vampires were supposed to follow the same laws as normal people. They were not supposed to break into people's homes and try to kill them. As far as Vanessa was concerned this world would be a better place if all vampires were sent on a vacation to Hawaii during July... Plenty of sun would put an end to them in a hurry.

She pulled up to the police station and that's when she realized that she was only wearing her blue, knee length sleeping gown. Her hair was a mess and she was barefoot and probably looked like hell. Faith was in her satiny tinkerbell gown and her blond hair was also a tangled mess... Oh well what did people expect from survivors of a vampire attack.

She climbed out of the car and scooped Faith up into her arms. Faith barely twitched and remained sound asleep as she threw her arms around Vanessa's neck. Scout jumped out of the car as well and the three of them entered the police station which was pretty empty this early on a Wednesday morning.

"Can I help you?" a female officer asked from behind a counter and a glass window that Vanessa figured was bulletproof. The female officer's eyes widened when she the gun in Vanessa's hand.

"Put the gun down ma'am!" she warned and several other officers in the big office behind her looked up. Vanessa rolled her eyes and sat the gun on the counter.

"My daughter and I were attacked." she said. An older man with a big belly, red face and veiny nose walked up to the window.

"Attacked by who?" he asked in a gruff voice. Vanessa's eyes were drawn to his wiry gray mustache that reminded her of some kind of millipede or caterpillar sitting there on his lip.

"A vampire." Vanessa said looking back at his unfriendly blue eyes and swallowing hard to fight back her tears as the terror of the night flashed back through her mind.

"Let her in." he said and the female officer nodded. She pressed a button on the other side of the counter and Vanessa heard the door buzz beside her. She opened it and walked into the crowded main office room with Scout on her heels.

"No dogs allowed." a male officer spoke up from across the room. Vanessa looked down at Scout but before she could reply another man said,

"Guess that means Kaylee and Kayleb gotta go!" Laughter followed this statement and Vanessa readjusted her still sound asleep daughter in her arms and walked toward the millipede man who was waving her toward a desk in the back.

A woman with curly dark red hair, freckles and friendly brown eyes stood up from the desk and smiled at Vanessa.

"Hi, my name is Kaylee." she said holding out a hand. Vanessa smiled in greeting and shook her hand.

"Kaylee Thomas is one half of our supernatural division. The other half has decided not to grace us with his presence today. Tell her what happened last night and she'll see what she can do." Millipede man said and then he walked into an office that had a brass plate on the door that read Chief Theodore Michaels.

"Have a seat." Kaylee said pointing at the hard wooden chair on the other side of the desk. "She looks heavy." she added smiling at Faith. Vanessa nodded and gladly sat down. The weariness of being up all night after working all day was finally beginning to catch up with her as her adrenaline wore off.

Scout lowered his head and growled low in his throat as he looked at Kaylee. Vanessa looked at he dog with shock. He was usually so good tempered, he was useless as anything other than a friend for Faith to play fetch with.

"Scout no." Vanessa scolded as she snapped her fingers and tried to get the dog to come to her. Still he stared at Kaylee and growled with his ears flat against his head. Vanessa looked up at Kaylee to see how mad she was but instead Kaylee was staring back down at Scout with an almost animalistic look in her brown eyes.

Much to Vanessa's shock she heard a low growl low in Kaylee's throat and Scout whimpered loudly before running behind Vanessa's chair and cowering there on shaking legs.

Kaylee smiled as if nothing had happened and sat down across from Vanessa at the desk.

"So what happened to you?" she asked.

"What are you?" Vanessa asked suspiciously.

"A werewolf." Kaylee replied simply. "My twin brother is usually here with me but didn't show up today so.... It's just me." she said holding her hands up with a shrug. "Tell me what happened to you and your daughter." Vanessa sighed and then she launched into the story. Including the part about her daughter complaining for three nights about a monster in her room. When she finished Kaylee was looking at her with a mixture of admiration and shock.

"You got away from him?" she asked.

"Yes. Why do you act like you aren't surprised to hear about a murdering vampire that torments innocent children?"

"Because he's attacked before. The last attack was nearly a week ago. Haven't you paid attention to the news the last few months?" Kaylee asked. Vanessa shook her head.

"I am a single mother who works six days a week, twelve hours a day and take college classes online at night. I do not have time to watch the news."

"You and your daughter are very lucky. Sixteen children and their parents have already been murdered by this vampire. You are the first survivors." Somehow Vanessa did not feel lucky.

"He's killed that many and you haven't caught him?" she asked with horror. Kaylee nodded.

"But with your help we might. You can give us a description of the vamp which is more than we've ever had before. It could help. Will you sit down with a sketch artist and give us a detailed description of him?" Vanessa nodded.

"I'll try." she said. "My daughter and I need clothes." she added looking down at herself. Kaylee nodded.

"There is a room downstairs that has a bed where you can go to get some rest. Write down your address and I will drive out to your house and take a look around and get you both some clothes."

"Thank you." Vanessa said. Kaylee nodded and reached across her desk to lay her hand on her arm.

"We'll catch him." she promised.