For my beloved nieces and nephews,

the closest I’ll come to children of my own.

Wesley, Lauren, Patrick, Michael,

Matthew, Christopher, and Amy.

May all of you find your own happily-ever-afters.

Mencheres smelled blood even before he caught the earthy scent of ghouls clustered on the ground floor of the decrepit warehouse. They showed no concern when he walked inside. Another inhalation revealed it was vampire blood two of them stank of. The other four didn’t have that coppery aroma clinging to them, but from the predatory gazes they leveled on Mencheres, they intended to rectify that.

“A young vampire went missing from this area recently,” Mencheres said by way of greeting, ignoring the way the ghouls began to circle around him. They looked to be in their late teens, and from the energy in their auras, they were teens in undead years as well. “Short blond hair, tribal tattoos on his upper arms, silver piercing in his eyebrow. Goes by the name Trick,” he went on. “Have you seen him?”

“Not smart to be out so close to dawn, vampire,” the ghoul with the heaviest scent of blood drawled without answering Mencheres’s question. Then the ghoul smiled, showing he’d filed all his teeth to points.

Instead of inspiring fear, the sight annoyed Mencheres. These ghouls thought they had the advantage because of the impending dawn, but dawn would only sap the strength of a new vampire. Even with his power level cloaked to where it would feel like he was only a young vampire, if the ghouls were wise, they’d wonder at Mencheres’s lack of hesitation in confronting them.