"You'd better do it." "Wouldn't want any vampires running around the countryside, now would we?" "P-please." "God..." "God's off playing with himself." "It's just you and me now, lunchmeat." "Ripped By mstoll" "If they've figured out how to neutralize garlic and silver, we're up shit's creek." " Any sign of Krista?" " Nothing." "Good morning, sweetheart." "You must be hungry." "Mom?" "You can't be here." "I know." "It's all so confusing." "But it will calm down, you just need to eat." "Get out!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Krista." "No." "No!" "Oh, God." "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" "Bloody newborns." "You had night terrors for 10 years." "She won't last that long." "The bitch is gone the first chance I get." "Oh, God." "What's different... in this world?" "What's new?" "Besides you deciding to work with a revenge-crazed vampire chick?" "Ash." "Vampire ash." "You think Marcus is juicing his own troops?" "I'll have to ask Fritz when I catch him." "You mean kill him." "Catch him." "Dissect him." "Then kill him." "Does the silver burn?" "No, it tickles." "Beginning to think you like this." "Marcus." " Pleasant flight?" " No complaints." "Heard you raised a few eyebrows." "The new girl?" "An essential addition to the fold." " Oh." " And how is Prague?" "Missing you." "I'll never understand what you see in this despicable city." "It has a special place in my heart." " Hello, Winston." " Chase." "Fritz." "Drenched in blood as always." "And how are you?" " Feeling like a rock star?" " I'm feeling like a rematch." "Blade." "I see." "Is that wise?" "No." "Not yet." "Aurora works." "We should take advantage of it." "Fritz." "Blade's interference must be making things difficult." "We're moving RD to the West Coast." "Trucks carrying test subjects should be arriving now." "Well, that will be welcome news for the board." "You're sure the vaccine is stable?" "Yes, it's stable." "Then perhaps a new day is dawning." "I haven't done ash in two days." "It's so hard." "Okay." "You spend this on the aspirin, antiseptic and food for your baby." "Shari?" "Shari?" "Are you listening to me?" "Yes, sir." "There's a meeting tomorrow at noon." "You stay off the ash until then." "And keep your fingers out of your mouth." "Thank you, Reverend." "Sorry for the interruption." "The church let you back in?" "They call me Reverend out of respect." "You don't have to be ordained to have a calling." "As you already know." "Having much success?" "Some." "Vampire ash ain't like the usual junk." "That stuff hooks you bone deep." "I was wondering if you'd ever return to your old stomping grounds." "Now I can start worrying that my recovering ashers are going to get caught up in your crossfire." "Your ashers?" "All they need is a little help and I offer it... empathy, support, love." " You should try it sometime." " Back to the question." "There's some vampire moving in on the ash trade." "Wouldn't surprise me..." "feeding off their own." "But you've heard nothing concrete?" "Experiments... on vampires." "Might be ash related, might not." "How would I find out?" "You know an ash dealer named Cain?" "Not yet." "So maybe Cain can give you some answers." "How do I find Cain?" "Try asking one of his customers." "But watch yourself." "If they're amped up on vampire jolt, you might find yourself in some serious shit." "Where's Cain?" "How much ash did you snort?" "All of it." "Like I got time for this." "I hear you're having a difficult time." "Yeah." "Death's a bitch." "You're not dead, Krista." "My life is over." "Who I was, where I was going, all that's gone." "Your life... is just beginning." "My life as what?" "Some sort of a prisoner?" "My door's locked." "It's just a precaution." "Newborns sometimes snap." "It's only until your mind and body reconcile certain metabolic changes." "Here I was thinking it was because nobody trusted me." "Perhaps I haven't given you the proper respect." "Yeah, throwing me off a building was a little rude." "Well, you were trying to kill me, let's not forget." "I haven't." "You will." "We should talk." "Aren't we?" "I mean over dinner." "I'll collect you in one hour." "And what's on the menu?" "Leftovers courtesy of Detective Boone?" "We're not all monsters, Krista." "This will get easier..." "I promise." " Yes?" " Fritz complicates things." " Immeasurably." " Is Chase in on the joke?" "No, only the doctor, but he's more surprised than I am." "It's all I can do to keep him on track." "Well, maybe this is fate trying to tell you something." "Well, there is a bigger picture, Winston." "Much bigger." "Yes." "Let's just hope the board never sees it." "Well, I'll leave that up to you." "Safe journey." "And to you, my friend." "We're making a detour." " Take me to Mina's." " Yes, sir." "Who's this?" " Asher." " Is he high?" "Oh, yeah." "You son of a bitch." "One more time." "Where's Cain?" "Go to hell." "Who's Cain?" "A lead that Carlyle gave me." "What about Fritz?" "Fine." "Then I won't tell you that Marcus made reservations for two at Lotus." " How'd you find out?" " Hey, it's what you don't pay me for." "Is he with Krista?" "That I can't tell you." "But it is his usual table, and from what I hear, a nice one." "Keep your fingers away from him." "Anything here tempt your palate?" "What are they tranqued with?" "You won't taste it." "It's a new herbal recipe." "Too many complaints with the other stuff." "Hmm... good." "But I was hoping for something a little more... corn-fed." "It's not every day I get to sample American cuisine." "You're in luck." "I just took possession of an honor student from Illinois on her vacation, plucked from a Cancun beach." "Blonde, big-boned..." "Carpet matches drapes?" " Hardwood floor." " Oh, kids." "Don't look so surprised." "I-I just wasn't expecting..." "Food?" "Thank you." "Nutritionally its effects are negligible, but it is pleasurable nonetheless." "You have noticed your senses are heightened." "Is that what we're living for now?" " Pleasure?" " Some of us." "As in most families, there are the breadwinners and the freeloaders." "What are we?" "If I'm successful, the House of Chthon is going to be something different entirely." "What's that?" "Eternal." "You were thinking we were already?" "That barring sunlight, silver and garlic, we'll live forever?" "No." "Granted, our years on this earth are generous, but like most life, we're subject to nature's occasional culling." "And your experiments in the slaughterhouse?" "I'm ensuring we're not subject to anything, least of all nature." "What about?" "Blade?" "Ashers." "You know about them?" "I know that there's a drug trade based on dead vampires." "I'd imagine that's a problem for you." "Increasingly." "Well, maybe one day they'll take out Blade." "Blade isn't a vampire." "He's a daywalker, half human, and he is the bane of the Twelve Houses." "Twelve Houses?" "Oh, yes." "Your new family is quite extended." "Is everyone here?" "No." "Just us." "Are you all right?" "I don't think so." "Krista?" "It's the serum." "Food will make you sick." "That's nice to know." "Marcus is up there." "I know." "I need information on Fritz." "Like what?" "He's not your average vampire." "Find out what you can." "How they did it." "Hurry." "Krista?" "Feeling better?" "Next stop hell." "♪ Need soul medicine from the sole veterans ♪" "♪ Already struggling', my heart keeps bubbling' ♪" "♪ The system is the trouble but it always has been ♪" "♪ I'm a mad man thinking about the bad men ♪" "♪ Probably didn't have a father so he's kinda sad, man ♪" "♪ Seeing pimps and hustlers is coming up big ♪" "♪ And that's the only influence for these truant kids ♪" "♪ Know you've got to get paper somewhere ♪" "♪ Somewhere, anything's better than nothing ♪" "♪ I'm not frontin', want to be somethin', somethin' ♪" "♪ Bend your knees, start jumpin', it's a breeze, up and lovely ♪" "♪ There's a breeze and a dozen of my cousins feel peace, spread love ♪" "♪ Hip-hop, it's shots on the block ♪" "♪ Struggle concentrated down in one particular spot ♪" "♪ Tales of young males and how they got got, what is said... ♪" "Yo, Cain." "The product's in back." "It just fed, so step on it a few times." "How many times?" "23." "Just make it last." "Dipshit." "We keeping the car?" "Crush it." " Is there a problem?" " Winston missed his flight." "We can't raise the driver." " GPS?" " The signal was terminated." "But we did get a final fix." " Where?" " Mina's." "You're driving." " You are staying here." " I don't think that's a good idea." "You said what?" "If Blade took Winston..." "In all likelihood, you're Blade's number-one target." "If you cross paths, either you'll kill him, he'll kill you, or quite possibly, he'll take you down and carve you up, thereby discovering and ruining all of our considerable efforts." "I'm not willing to risk that." "And neither should you." "Is that quite clear?" "Yeah." "Can I get something to drink now?" "You haven't told me where Cain is." "I don't know anything." "I swear to God!" "You know." "Please, can I get some blood?" "I'm going to chew off my goddamn leg." "How about an appetizer?" "What happens now?" "He wakes up in a ditch and leads me to Cain." "That's positive thinking." "He's an addict." "I'm a threat." "He needs to protect his source... something I know a little about." "We found him maybe 30 minutes after Winston left." "But Blade is in town, right?" "Maybe Blade got him." "Blade got Winston." "The man's a scourge." "You really should do something about him." "This wasn't Blade." "Blade wouldn't have just stopped at Winston." "He would have come in here, slaughtered you, and then freed the poor souls you sell to people like us." "Where would Chase find a towel?" "There's a closet in there." "So how is your asher problem?" "It's not so bad." "Okay... okay, so we've had a little trouble lately." "Please, Marcus, don't shut me down." "Look, I'm upgrading security." "I've got a vested interest in keeping my clientele as safe as possible." "And how many of your clientele have you lost so far?" "This month?" "Four, um... five, if you want to count Winston." "If I must." "What's with the towel?" "He's shutting you down." "This a private party?" "Yeah." "Get out." "I thought you were Marcus's right-hand man." "Seems strange, him not letting you... do what you do." "He has his reasons." "Which you don't agree with." "Not sure I do either." "Things change." "Take you... one day you're home from Iraq..." " the next thing you're the boss's new plaything." "You're walking around asking questions." "So I'm asking you, what happened?" "I mean, I don't get why Blade would want to carve you up." "What's he going to learn?" "Nothing." "He'd be dead, and I'd be the one to kill him in broad daylight." " That's not possible." " Like I said, things change." "One day you're scared shitless of a pizza topping." "Of the silver fillings in some old man's teeth." "Of the dawn's early goddamn light." "Then suddenly it doesn't matter anymore, because you're different, because you believed in something, you helped make something happen." "What happened?" "Project Aurora." "Five years and millions of dollars and 1,000 dead vampires later you get me, the vaccine's first success." "And where am I?" "In the basement, beating meat." "Shari." "Honey, it's okay." "Shh." "It'll be over soon, I promise." "We just need to talk about this." "I'm sorry, I don't know." "I swear to God, I don't know anything." "We know you use it, that you use us, that your blood smells so bad it makes me want to drown you in it." "I'll quit snorting ash." "I will, I promise." "I've got a baby." "I've got a little boy." "Please." "Does his blood reek too?" "No no no no, please, no!" "You tell me who took my friend Winston and your boy grows safe and sound, cross my barely-beating heart." "Give me a name or I'll eat him in front of you." "I think we must assume that Winston is gone." "Yes, Charlotte." "Yes." "I'm taking care of that problem." "Yes, but as I outlined in the proposal," "Blade's involvement is inevitable." "I'm just surprised it took him this... yes, Charlotte, absolutely." "Everything will be handled." "All assets will be secured." "They want proof of Aurora's success." "I'm right here." "But they're not willing to send another evaluator." "They want you in Prague." "And you want me as far away from Blade as possible." "I know you're eager to finish what you've started, but Blade must wait." "I am beholden to those above me, and they demand caution." "We have done an amazing thing, but no one must know how we did it." "Fritz?" "Fritz tells me you caught him in a weak moment." "Aurora?" "I want it." "You what?" "We should all have it." "If it's everything Fritz says it is..." "Fritz has no idea what it is and neither do you." "And you will not discuss it anymore, especially with Fritz." " What did you do to him?" " He's going away tonight," " someplace safe." " Marcus." "The girl, she knew who took Winston." "You're certain?" "Dead." "His name's Cain." "He deals in ash." "We hit him, we hit the largest ash lab in Detroit." "I can have a Red Team ready in an hour." "Good." "Let's take the war hero." "I'm sure you'll find it invigorating." "That's a splendid idea." "Krista, keep your head down." "Enjoy the show." " Where are you going?" " A warehouse on West 9th." "Where you ate the raver?" "Don't start with me." "You best get packed." "See you in a few days." "Kill everything." "Burn it to the ground." "Hey!" "Let me in!" "Hey, let me in!" "I got to see Cain." "I got to warn him." "Shit's coming down." "Blade." "I didn't tell him anything." "You didn't have to." "You stupid son of a bitch!" "Man, I did you a favor." "Thanks for that." "Get me the belt." "You guys down there." "Stay with me." "This way." "We got movement on the north side." "Say again." "Repeat:" "Movement inbound!" "Get a fix and pin it down." "Will do." "I'll investigate, and report back." "Let's get going." "Sorry, sir." "Just listening to the assault feed." "Sounds like Chase has got her hands full." " What's happening?" " Not sure." "Something inbound." "Really?" "Go." "They're gone." "There's something over here." "Where's Cain?" "Chase?" "Shut up." "Don't, don't!" "I can't move my leg." "So much for the frying pan." "Welcome to the fire." "Fritz!" "Stop Fritz!" "Let's finish this." "Krista, don't let him take Fritz!" "Krista, kill him!" "Do it now!" "You think she's gone native?" "No." "She killed the golden goose." "Fritz was the key." "She did what she had to do." "She's the key." "She's the way in." "What about Cain?" "Another day." "Hey." "Wake up." "Dispatch, I need a coroner on County 319, two miles east of the Buxton overpass, and a tow truck." "Better tell the crime lab, too." "What you got, Sharon?" "Body under a blanket in a silver Dodge." "South Dakota plates:" "36-Adam-479, current." "Body appears male." "No obvious signs of foul play." "Hardware's rolling." "ETA in 15 minutes." "Thanks, Danny." "Somebody in there?" "I'm a Kansas State Trooper." "I am armed." "Come out hands first." "Dispatch, I need an ambulance, ASAP." "Did you say ambulance?" "Come back." "It's a little late for that, sweetheart." "Ripped By mstoll"