The thralls were using an old police building as their base of operations. The sheer size of the three-storey building was intimidating. It seemed to loom over Reiss and his men. The building overlooked a small square in front and smaller, one-storey buildings abutted it to either side. All the windows had bars on them and Reiss could see figures behind the frames as well as on the roof.

The square was completely clear of any debris, and the two hundred yards between their current position and the building was the perfect killing ground.

"Jenkins!" shouted Reiss. "Go round the back and cause enough of a diversion to take some of the heat off. Rodgers; see if you can find anything we can use in that entrenchment we passed."

Reiss risked a quick glance around the corner and recoiled violently as dust and debris flew into his eyes when bullets slammed into the wall. "Shit," he muttered, looking up at the sky, "only another ten minutes till dawn. We're running out of time."

Just then he heard a whoosh behind him, followed by a loud explosion, and finally a rebel yell. He looked around the corner again and this time the door to the building was in pieces. In fact, plaster and metal littered the entire area in front of the door.

"Look what I found!" The excited yelp came from a still grinning Rodgers who knelt to Reiss" left holding a smoking bazooka.

"Quick everyone!" Reiss shouted. "Let's get in there before they recover."

The men ran from their various hiding places and swarmed the building. The thralls recovered quickly, however, and bullets began to rain down from the upper windows and rooftop entrenchments. Men scattered under the ferocious assault. Reiss heard two more of his men scream and he watched helplessly as they fell to the ground. Anger blinded Reiss; he crashed against what was left of the door supports and threw a grenade inside. He waited impatiently for the explosion and then dove through before the dust had time to settle.

The interior was dark. Dust from the explosion filled the air and he could hear intermittent coughing as more of his men entered the foyer.

"Spread out!" he ordered. "Rodgers, take three men and clear out upstairs. Perkins, check out that door at the back. The rest of you, come with me."

Reiss was headed for the basement stairs when he heard a strangled cry behind him. He whirled in time to see a dark figure appear from the alcove, holding Perkins by the neck. The figure held the struggling man three feet off the ground by only one hand. Reiss blanched.

He looked out at the night sky and saw the first tentative rays of dawn appear over the horizon. Shit, he thought, at least another five minutes before the bustard's in any danger. Christ, he could kill all of us and be back in his coffin in plenty of time.

The sudden, sharp snap focused everyone's attention on the figure; Perkins ceased struggling and went limp. The creature threw the body across the room indifferently, with sheer, awesome power. The men watched in shock as the body crashed through a boarded-up window and hung limply over the windowsill, half in and half out of the room.

Then the vampire simply disappeared.

Reiss heard a cry behind him and turned to see the creature attacking Jack Walton.

Fuck, he's fast, Reiss thought. But before the thought was completed, another of his team flew across the room like a rag doll and crashed heavily against the wall.

He's playing with us! Reiss glanced up again at the brightening sky.

Three men remained standing. Reiss looked around frantically for something to shoot at. Then the man to his left simply disappeared as if the floor had swallowed him whole. Reiss ran straight at the only other figure left standing. Just before he reached the man, a dark shape suddenly appeared between them. He got a quick impression of a pale face and impossibly long teeth, and then he felt the impact.

Reiss crashed into the vampire. Both of them went reeling across the room and hit the wall hard. Reiss felt the wind driven from his lungs. He slid to the ground and lay gasping on all fours. His chest hurt where he had collided with the vampire and he forced himself to take small breaths to ease the pain. Dust filled the air and Reiss cried out when the chalky dryness forced him to cough. Fresh pain racked his body, but it served to focus his mind. He suddenly remembered the vampire and he looked up frantically as he searched for where it had gone. He saw the creature across the room impaled on the remains of the boards covering the window where Perkins" body still lay over the sill. It had gotten stuck at an awkward angle till now but was just now pulling itself free as Reiss regained his feet.

Despite the multiple punctures it had received the creature merely grinned as it pulled itself away from the wooden shards with a sickening, wet sound and Reiss was frozen to the spot in terror. Suddenly, it stopped, shuddered, and then howled as a large hole appeared through its upper body. The hole expanded and blood poured from the wound in torrents. Reiss watched as more holes began to appear until the whole body came apart and literally melted in front of him.

"What the hell?" Reiss exclaimed. His mind raced, and then the first tendrils of sunlight pushed against the shadows around the window as they crept into the room.

Of course, he thought, sunrise, and not a minute too soon.

Reiss looked around and sighed in relief when some of his men began to rise from where they had fallen.

"Thank God he was playing with us, eh?" The question came from Rodgers, who was the only man who hadn't been attacked. Reiss looked over at the young man. He was tall, that was the first thing anyone noticed about Rodgers, that and his idiotic grin of course. Reiss considered himself a good height at 6-foot-2, but he had to look up to this kid. He couldn't be more than twenty-five, Reiss thought, and had to smile himself when he saw Rodgers break into another wide grin.

"Can I ask you a question?" Rodgers asked.

"Go ahead."

"How did you know he'd go for me next?"

"I didn't."

Just then the door to the basement burst open and thralls poured in.

Bullets flew everywhere and both sides dove for cover. Rodgers staggered back, clutching his left arm, and collapsed against the stairs. Reiss felt a bullet fly past his cheek before he was able to move and he brought up his own weapon and fired a sustained burst blindly towards the thralls before leaping behind the nearest cover. Two of the guards were caught in the hail and they pirouetted wildly with each impact.

"Shit!" Reiss looked at his watch again. The two-hour window restriction and the threat of reinforcements from other barracks made the timing of this whole operation very tight. The nearest barracks of any size was twenty miles across town and they had factored in a twenty-five-minute response time.

That left only ten more minutes before they would be over-run.