"Now go and stake some vamps. Especially the sparkly emo ones."
-Kevin Hearne

Anna looked from the white statue to her scratch-pad, absently tucking a curly lock of hair behind her ear. She was not surprised when Lisa sat next to her on the soil. The grass of the Botanical Garden was wet, it had probably just rained. Anna was sketching the statue in front of her; a man with a beard in old-fashioned clothes. Lisa wondered why, by the Angel, Anna wanted to make a drawing of an old man. But she knew it was a way of relaxation for her.

"How's it going?" Anna shook her head and pushed the sketchbook away from her in frustration. Lisa wanted to say the sketch looked nice, but she wouldn't believe that anyway. "About what you said this morning," Lisa hesitated for a moment, "about becoming a parabatai?"

"Have you changed your mind?" Anna didn't sound disappointed or she could hide it well.

"No, that's not it," she quickly said, "did you really mean you want to be my parabatai? I mean it's something big and important, it's for life-"

"Lisa." She held her hand in the air to silence her, then paused herself. "I would not want anything else." Her voice was firm, which made her smile.

"I guess we should go and tell your parents." Anna's face clouded and she opened her mouth, but she would never know what she had to say. The sound of her ringtone came from her bag, Anna looked over her shoulder at the screen. It was Edwyn, she knitted her eyebrows and pressed the green button.

"What is going on?" She and Edwyn were good friends, but he never called her, she didn't even know he had a phone. Anna gave her a questioning look, apparently neither did she. Lisa's heart was beating faster than usual. He wasn't the kind of person to call for small talk. Something must be seriously wrong. She listened to Edwyn's hurried explanation and continued to listen to the beep when he hung up in a daze.

A pair of cool blue eyes stared at her thoughtfully. "Did something happen?" Lisa swallowed and nodded slowly.

"Yes, there is a problem with the vampires. Edwyn asked if we could come as soon as possible." Anna had already gotten up, took an elastic band from her wrist, and made a ponytail. Lisa saw her whip - which was twisted around her waist like a belt - shining in the dim sunlight.

"What exactly did he say? Is it something serious?"

"He didn't give any further explanation, but he wouldn't call for a trifle." Anna turned a page in her sketchbook and tore it out, she hastily started drawing on it.

"Now is not the time to start drawing," Lisa shouted more frustrated than intended. Anna shook her head, Lisa only understood what she was doing when Anna drew a rune at the bottom of the page which turned it into flames.

"A fire message to warn mom." Lisa nodded, picked up her bow as they walked out of the garden together.

*

The white building loomed before them, it always reminded her of those chic apartments in Paris. They crossed the cobbled roundabout and walked past the imposing Monument Schelde Vrij, but she didn't notice that now. She stared at the building in focus, looking for something that shouldn't be there. Everything seemed pretty normal, the windows were taped to block the sunlight, the place wasn't on fire. The door leading to the vampires' quarters was open and creaked as always.

Lisa stormed in with Anna on her heels, Edwyn was waiting for them. They had a good alliance with the vampires of Antwerp, at least better than with the werewolves. Edwyn's age-old eyes looked at her with concern, she had never dared to ask how old he was, but she must have estimated him older than Moira. Although he looked like he was in his early twenties, like all vampires - and warlocks - his appearance was petrified. He would never look any different from what he did now. Without greeting Anna and Lisa, he beckoned them.

"Come on, I've never seen this before." He climbed the wooden stairs, Anna and Lisa exchanged glances and then stormed after him. It was dark on the first floor; all windows were covered with cardboard or thick curtains. Lisa couldn't see a thing, Edwyn apparently could because she heard him wait impatiently as they trudged up the stairs. He had vampire vision, they didn't need lighting. Although she had welcomed a lamp. Lisa took her witch light from her bag, the stone gave off white light as soon as she took it and felt cool in her clammy hands.

She saw a group of vampires standing in a circle near the wall, many looked confused and a girl was sobbing silently. She had very long, black hair and was wearing a pink top. Shivers ran down Lisa's spine when she looked at her, they had no heating in the house as vampires do not feel any heat or cold. The girl's mascara had smeared and she seemed to come straight from a horror movie. Her tears were of water mixed with blood. She recognized some of the faces in front of her, the circle gave way as Edwyn, their clan leader, passed.

Lisa now realized what they were looking at, at first she thought it was a lot of dust, but when she got closer she saw that it was a body. A charred body. It was as if he came straight from Pompeii. You couldn't clearly distinguish the sex of the corpse, but according to the clothes, it was a man. His mouth was wide open.

"By the Angel," she whispered, Lisa lowered herself next to the body, "what happened?" Anna and Lisa immediately looked back when she heard footsteps on the stairs, it was Marianne. Her hair was in a bun, she was wearing a uniform and had two katanas on her back. She looked pretty cool for a mom. Sometimes she wanted Marianne to be her mother. Edwyn and Marianne greeted each other formally when she came to stand next to her daughter.

"I read your fire message and came right away. What's up the-" Her voice trailed off as she looked down. "Who is that?"

"That was Daniel," Edwyn said, looking away as the girl started crying louder at the sound of his name. Anna swallowed, Lisa wanted to give her a hug so badly. She looked at the body instead. He had already been dead - or undead - but now his eyes were staring up blank. His eyes. It was strange that they hadn't burned away as well, but the colour of his irises was even stranger; they were blood red.

"Did he stand in the light?" Marianne looked like she could throw up and then jump out of the window in shame. If a vampire came into the light, they'd burn, but normally not turn directly to ashes. Edwyn scratched his long black hair.

"It could be, but he would just burn to ashes and disappear, he shouldn't keep this structure." Just like with demons, Lisa thought. Fortunately, she was able to stop herself quickly enough not to say that out loud. Lisa nodded, and a vaguely familiar vampire turned to them, eating tiny pieces of garlic - which would have been ironic in any other situation - that made his breath smell.

"I saw what happened." He took another bite, Lisa suspected he was trying to learn to eat again because the food seemed to make him nauseous. Young vampires cannot eat or even drink anything except blood. They had to learn to eat solid food. "Suddenly Daniel screamed and fell down just like that." He pointed to the figure on the floor. "I don't know if he saw sunlight, but maybe the curtain has come off or something."

"That doesn't explain this yet." Anna seemed wary.

"I'll take some to examine back at the Institute," Lisa suggested. Edwyn nodded and mumbled a thanks. She reached for the body as Anna looked for a bag.

When she touched the charred body, the entire structure fell apart, only a little pile of ashes remained, the eyes had disappeared. Lisa pulled her hand back in shock and looked at Anna who shrugged. Marianne gave her a bag and she still put a small pile of ashes in it.

They got up, some vampires had taken the crying girl away, she suspected it was a friend of Daniel's. She wanted to say sorry that Daniel had collapsed, but Edwyn didn't really seem to be paying attention. She put the pouch away. After an "I'll let you know something" to Edwyn, they let themselves out. She couldn't help but think back to yesterday, to the werewolf who had seen a bright red light. She hoped the two things had nothing to do with each other. Lisa left with a sick Anna and Marianne and a piece of vampire ashes back to the Institute.

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Do you think this incident has anything to do with the mad werewolf?
There will be a new chapter tomorrow -->
And remember: Don't trust anyone