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out anything.” Ok, he kind of had a
point. Lee was perpetually broke and a world-class dumpster diver, he wasn’t
spending money on any of this stuff.
    I was trying to do
something about his financial situation, and had sent a note to my benefactor
asking if funds were available for him. I was still waiting to hear back. The
war on vampires had traditionally been funded by behind-the-scenes networks
that raised money to support those of us that hunted. But Lee had stopped
getting financial assistance a few years ago.
    His theory was that because
of budget cuts, only full-blooded hunters were getting money these days, since
I was still receiving checks. I was one of less than a dozen full-bloods in the
state of California, while Lee was only half. That meant both of my parents had
been true hunters, born with the ability to recognize vampires at a glance, and
only one of Lee’s parents had been, so his second sight was a lot weaker than
mine. His theory made sense. We were only guessing though, because the
benefactors never actually bothered telling us what was going on.
    Eventually, I pulled to
the curb and parked. Though the warehouses down by the waterfront were really
busy during the day, at night they were dark and still. I got out of the car, picked
a direction at random and started walking. Normally, this wouldn’t be my first
choice of hunting grounds. But after stumbling across that mysterious warehouse
with a bunch of vamps on the premises, I kept coming back here. I thought there
was a chance the vamps might take over another warehouse, since they’d abandoned
that first one.
    After wandering the
entire warehouse district twice over the course of a couple hours, I was bored
out of my mind. This was pointless. Nothing was going on down here, nothing at
all. I gave up and headed in the direction of my car, my hunter’s sight still
engaged.
    Suddenly, I got one of
those feelings, the hair on the back of my neck bristling. I looked all around
me, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Impulsively, I climbed a rusty fire
escape at the back of a condemned brick building. If there were any vamps in
the area, maybe I could spot them from a higher vantage point. I picked my way
across the torn-up asphalt tiles and peered over the edge of the roof.
    My adrenaline spiked
instantly. Moving this way from three directions were half a dozen vampires.
They were lit up in the darkness, converging like planes on a collision course
on an air traffic controller’s screen.
    I ducked down quickly,
wondering if they’d seen me, then ventured a glance over the short retaining
wall at the edge of the roof. Dread bloomed cold inside me. They were headed
right for this building. And all of a sudden, I realized what was happening.
    They were hunting me.
    There was no way to get
inside this building from the roof, so I sprinted back to the fire escape. Two
vamps were already halfway up it. I drew a big stake and a gun and fired a
couple shots at them, but the vamp in the lead had thought to pick up a metal
trash can lid, and was using it like a shield to deflect my shots. I frowned at
that and whirled around, frantically assessing my situation.
    Oh man, this had been
stupid – I’d totally cornered myself. But I’d had no idea there were a bunch a
vamps on my tail. And since when did they hunt in packs?
    I wasn’t expecting the
vamp that suddenly landed right in front of me, jumping onto the roof from the
taller building next door. Reflexively, I thrust the stake into his chest,
putting so much force behind it that I fell with him as he disintegrated.
    Immediately, I was hauled
to my feet by one of the vampires that had come up the fire escape. Another
punched me in the stomach, so hard that several of my ribs shattered. The pain
was intense, but I still struggled wildly as the vampire holding my arms
tightened his grip and said, “Well, that was just too easy.”
    I looked around, my
heart thudding in my chest as fear coursed