I stood on the Holstadtler's single-step porch, unmoving, as I contemplated what had just happened to their daughter. A beautiful future lost to evil and for what, why? I couldn't understand it and it tore every fiber of my being apart. I willed the Master to come for her that night, I wanted it. Had the coward shone, his death would have been assured swiftly. Instead, I stood on that porch in vain, and he lived another day to torment yet another innocent.
I walked down the icy driveway with ease and made a right onto the sidewalk beyond the gated yard. As I walked, I thought of the many vampires that I had killed. That night, it wasn't the killing that bothered me. Oh no! Staking vampires. Killing them. Fighting them. Saving humans from the immortal beasts. That's what I do. I am a Vampyre Paladin, a protector of humans and champion of justice. However, not all humans can be saved, like the Holstadtler girl. I've had to kill newly-turned vampires before, but that girl was just thirteen years old. Too young for most fiends to be interested in. It was curious that she would have garnered any attention at all. What God-forsaken fiend would dear mark her with a tragem? That is what churned my hatred.
I've been a Paladin for so long that I'm usually immune to the sensitivity of mourning for lost souls. But for some reason, Sara's transformation made my blood boil. I wanted the fiend who ruined her life and… I found myself with a desire I hadn't felt in a long time. The desire to avenge her.
As I walked down Hughes Street, I started making a plan in my head. First, I would backtrack to find where Sara was found or likely bitten. Second, I would talk to the neighboring businesses and families. Third, I'd inhabit the haunts that a fiend might occupy in order to spy on young girls. Fourth, I'd sit and wait for anyone remotely suspicious and especially of Transylvanian breed. Though the weakest of vampires, Transylvanians are the most cunning; they have to be since they have little else to support them. The problem was that a Transylvanian vampire would avoid danger, and I might very well frighten him away. It would be a predicament but one that I needed to worry about when the time came. That night, I just didn't care.
I rounded the corner onto Piccadilly, a usually busy street that wasn't much busy at two in the morning. The streetlights were on, one every twenty-five feet or so, and the ground still glistened from the rain that fell earlier, but it was the snow that captured my notice. Mounds of snow, from naturally fallen to mechanically plowed, lined the street. The light above gently bathed the snow in yellow hue, creating a majestic, surreal moment that warmed my very soul. I felt like I was at home, in church, wrapped in the Lord's way. I continued to take in the imagery, my eyes closed, as I began to pray a silent prayer for Sara. After a moment, something cold melted on my forehead, then my cheek and my nose. Opening my eyes, I saw unique crystalized water falling from the sky. The free snowfall in the yellow light calmed me as I stood there, just breathing in the cold air, filling my lungs with the fresh bite of winter. I exhaled a deep sigh of frozen air and the regret I felt for Emily left me. Emily! I suddenly knew why I was so agitated, which meant that I needed to move on.
Though I was wide awake and alert, I decided to go back to my hotel. Check-out was at eleven o'clock and I still had so much to do before going back home. I looked up to the night sky, thanked the Lord for strength, and continued down Piccadilly to the Sentrigard Hotel & Suites.