At the edge of Hell's Kitchen, near the docks, JJ parked by the roadside. A short distance away, several Giant Wolves circled a warehouse like ghosts, avoiding the dim streetlights.
Alvin noticed a figure in a red-and-black bodysuit atop a nearby warehouse. It waved in his direction.
Alvin mentally complained about the guy's fashion sense. Was it really a good idea for an unmarried young man to wear a bodysuit?
He ignored the backup member who just had to come along.
Alvin contacted Crow and frowned. The place was a gathering point for illegal immigrants, and quite a few people were staying there. Several target creatures were picking them over like livestock. Those chosen were even following them upstairs, delighted.
If you've got the means to sneak into Big Apple City, what are you still doing here?
The targets were in an office on the second floor. He hadn't counted them closely, but there were probably around ten.
He explained the situation inside to JJ and Frank, then asked what they should do.
Frank asked with a sinister grin, "Do you want to capture all of them alive, or will one live captive do?" His expression was like that of an experienced slaughterhouse worker asking whether you wanted tenderloin or ribs.
Alvin thought it over. "Let's capture two, just to be safe."
Frank nodded. "JJ and I will go upstairs and drive a couple down. You lock the warehouse door first, so nobody inside can escape in the confusion by blending in with the crowd." Frank said it so casually that he seemed to be going to catch chickens.
Alvin shook his head. "I'll go upstairs with you. Thor and the others can stay outside. I thought we'd only be dealing with one or two little fry, but it turns out the little fry are having a convention. I'd like to play around with these things." He waved his Bowie Knife, looking just like a gang thug eager to chop someone up.
Frank had no idea how well Alvin could fight. He glanced at JJ, who was obviously one of his own kind, and saw him gazing at Alvin like a starstruck idiot, practically drooling over the huge Bowie Knife in his hand.
So there shouldn't be a problem.
Frank pulled a U-Lock out of the car, crept over to the warehouse entrance, and locked the door from the outside.
The three of them climbed the metal stairs on the outside of the warehouse to the second floor. Alvin closed his eyes and reached out to Crow. There was someone behind the door dressed like a Punk Rock Singer, leaning against the wall and smoking marijuana.
Those scarlet eyes and fangs showing at the corners of his mouth—if he wasn't a vampire, Alvin figured, he might as well give up his eyes.
He stopped JJ from kicking the door in. Come on, if you break the door, how are we supposed to shut it in the vampires' faces?
Alvin signaled for the other two to take cover beside the door, then straightened his collar. He knocked lightly. "Hello, your pizza's here!"
The iron door cracked open from the inside. The Punk Rock Singer pursed his lips and peered out with scarlet eyes. Alvin took a look. Great, no security chain. His smile widened.
JJ reacted swiftly, darted in front of the door, and rammed it with his shoulder. The entire iron door burst open. The tremendous force sent the unfortunate vampire flying along with it, slamming him against the wall.
Pinned between the wall and the iron door, all that was visible of the Punk Rock Singer was his mohawk. The body cushioning the door had kept the impact from making much noise.
Frank looked at the hapless fool, crushed and bleeding from every orifice, unable to make a sound. He gained a whole new appreciation for JJ's strength. The guy was practically a human pile driver.
The three of them went inside and shut the door. Alvin grabbed the fallen Punk Rock Singer by the hair and gestured for the other two to watch.
He lightly drew the Bowie Knife across the Punk Rock Singer's neck. An orange-red glow spread from the wound. Within seconds, the Punk Rock Singer burned to ash from the inside out, like a paper effigy burned at a Qingming Festival grave visit. It was about as environmentally friendly as could be.
JJ and Frank were a little surprised. JJ looked at Alvin's Bowie Knife, compared it with the small kitchen knife on his belt, and gazed at Alvin with even greater resentment.
Frank checked the floor and found only a tiny bit of black ash. He asked quietly, "Are they all like this? They're awfully fragile."
Alvin glanced toward the corner ahead and said in a serious whisper, "Don't let them bite you. Ordinary weapons can't kill them. Use the weapons I gave you."
Frank and JJ didn't question him. Alvin wouldn't lead them astray. They tightened their grips on the Remingtons.
They crept up to a room glowing red. Through a window in the hallway, Alvin saw a sight that made his blood boil.
In the dim red light, about a dozen vampires were each embracing a woman who seemed to be an illegal immigrant, holding a full-blown orgy. In the corner, two vampires who seemed to have finished early were feeding. The two women being drained wore strange smiles as they slowly died.
Alvin signaled to JJ, and they went to the door. Frank took Alvin's Glock 17 and covered the window.
Alvin pulled JJ back from kicking the door down, then angrily stomped on it himself. Crack! The entire iron door flew into the room under the force of his kick, slamming a vampire who had just finished feeding into the wall.
The unlucky vampire's newly filled belly burst under the tremendous pressure, spraying blood in a fan across a wide section of wall. And still the creature didn't die. Its body writhed beneath the door.
The women in the room screamed in terror and huddled in the corner. With them in the way, the shotgun wasn't much use, so JJ simply wielded the Remington in his left hand like a club and held a 1911 in his right, going on a rampage.
Frank smashed through the window and fired precise shots with the Glock 17.
The runes inscribed on the guns—Eth—made them devastating against vampires. There was no need to aim carefully. As long as a shot hit one, it turned to ash.
A few quick-reacting vampires didn't dare face JJ, who looked like a god of slaughter. Naked, they charged at Alvin instead.
Alvin gripped his Bowie Knife, cast Spirit of Thorns on himself, and charged forward. There were no fancy moves or special techniques. He saw you, and he chopped at you. If an attack was dangerous, he dodged. If it wasn't, he took the hit. Twenty points in Strength and twenty in Agility were no joke.
Of the five vampires who leaped at him, three turned to ash. The other two realized their attacks had no effect on Alvin, while fresh wounds kept appearing on their own bodies for no apparent reason. They screamed in terror, trying to summon their companions to attack the terrifying enemy together.
Alvin had no time for their futile resistance. He rushed after them with his knife. He grabbed the hair of a vampire trying to hide among the women and savagely drove his blade into its lower back. The creature screamed and trembled as it was set off like a firework.
While Alvin was stabbing its companion to death, a vampire used every ounce of its strength to rake its claws across his neck. But a strange ripple passed through the air, and a massive wound appeared on the vampire's body.
Alvin turned with a bandit's vicious grin and sliced the vampire clean in half. It turned to ash.
Seeing that there weren't many vampires left, Alvin took the net gun off his back and fired, ensnaring one.
He walked up to the struggling vampire and kicked it in the face. Its two red eyeballs popped out of its head like they were on springs and bounced across the floor. JJ, now worked up into a frenzy, stomped them to pieces.
The vampires finally realized that Alvin was the scariest one when he wasn't holding a gun. The last three vampires huddled together and charged desperately toward the door.
JJ guarded the entrance. With a sinister grin, he shot one dead. The other two immediately veered toward the window.
Frank, who'd been stuck playing support, was furious. What, I'm not scary, huh?
Before you continue