00137. That’s one way to do it.

00137. That’s one way to do it.

“Did you really just quote, They Live?” Blade asked.

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “What? It's a classic...” Before he mumbled to himself, “Maybe I should have saved it in case the Skrulls tried to invade.”

Ezekiel quickly shook his head before he said, “What are you all standing around for, we have vampires to hunt. Kaecilius you're with me. Blade you group up with Mordo. Alexei and Melina are already a team, so that leaves Jarvis with...”

Ezekiel glanced at Sanhildr and the ten Valkyries she bought and asked, “Sanhildr will you partner up with Jarvis?”

Sanhildr nodded before she split up the other valkyrie’s into groups of two. As they finished more vampires rushed out of the stairwell. This time a few of them carried guns and immediately opened fire on the group. A magic shield flickered to life as the bullets slammed into it, saving the group. Ezekiel glanced at Kaecilius who nodded at him with one hand raised in the air.

Kaecilius then quickly chanted a spell and with his other hand a red colored whip appeared, which he swung at the group of vampires on the roof. The whip split them all in half at the waist but didn't kill them, so Ezekiel quickly moved towards them and shot a round through each of their hearts.

As all of them but one started dissolving away Ezekiel glanced at the man as he said, “Looks like he wasn’t a vampire.”

Blade walked close to the man’s body and lifted his hand up to show a tattoo. He glanced at it for just a moment before he showed it to everyone else and said, “This is a familiar mark. If you find normal humans running around inside, they’re most likely a vampire familiar. Don’t hesitate to kill them.”

“What if they aren’t running around? Or they look like a victim?” Jarvis asked.

“I would suggest not wasting time with anyone you think is a victim. Just knock them out and tie them up. We can sort them out after we deal with the vampires.” Blade said.

Ezekiel glanced at the group as he said, “Stay with your teammate and watch each other's backs. I’m going to head to the ground floor with Kaecilius and clear it out before going into the basement.”

Ezekiel glanced at Kaecilius and said, “Have a shield ready as I make the portal.”

Kaecilius nodded and created another shield before Ezekiel opened up a portal to the street below as Blade said, “Me and Mordo should join you. The basement will have a heavier concentration of vampires.”

Ezekiel shrugged as he said, “Be my guest.”

Kaecilius moved through the portal with his shield up before Blade and Mordo followed behind him. As Ezekiel stepped through the portal he glanced back and said, “I’ll try not to bring down the building.”

After the portal snapped closed Jarvis asked, “That was a joke right?”

Down on the street below Ezekiel said, “Stay behind the shield, I’ll get the door.” He then sucked in a lot of air quickly as he made some hand signs before he breathed out as he said, “Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!”

Flames shot out of Ezekiel's mouth which formed a fireball about fifteen feet in diameter before it flew towards the main entrance of the building. As the other group on the roof moved towards the roof stairwell access Alexei patted Jarvis’s shoulder as he said, “It’s Ezekiel, he always jokes around.”

Before anyone could reply two valkyries ran past them and joined the fray. Before long all of the women were laughing as they cut down the stream of vampires coming up the stairs. Within a few minutes all of the valkyries were in the cramped hallway killing vampires as they laughed with glee.

Alexei glanced at his wife and asked, “I don’t think we’re needed here...”

Melina nodded in agreement before Jarvis said, “How about we clear out the other apartments as they... Have fun?”

Back downstairs, Blade would be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed with Ezekiel and the people he brought with him. They cleared out the first floor in minutes and were now fighting the swarm of vampires that flooded down from the floors above. Mordo and Kaecilius were together near the stairwell and acted as a funnel to help thin out the swarm as it moved towards Ezekiel.

Ezekiel stood alone in the middle of the hallway and only used the knife Blade gave him earlier. With quick and efficient moves he cut down every vampire that moved close to him. While Blade covered the other end of the hallway near the hole Ezekiel made as some vampires were jumping down from the second and third story of the building.

As they fought, Ezekiel asked Blade over the sound of battle, “Is this what normally happens when you attack a nest?”

“No! This is anything but normal. I’ve never seen vampires act like this before.” Blade said before he shot another vampire.

Mordo, who just sliced a vampire in half with a conjured sword said, “They are honestly acting more like zombies than vampires. It’s like their only concern is getting to us at any cost.”

Ezekiel killed a few more vampires before he asked, “What would be able to control vampires like this?”

Kaecilius crushed a group of vampires into paste with a spell before he said, “It could be a greater vampire, but with this amount of mindless vampire thralls... It’s most likely a vampire lord and it should be somewhere below this building.”

“Vampire lord? What the hell is that? I’ve only fought lesser vampires and greater vampires before.” Blade said.

“Vampire lords are powerful vampires who have lived for at least a thousand years or more. But their main threat is normally from the horde of vampires they use to protect themselves with. We should still be cautious when we face them though, since they are powerful in their own right.” Kaecilius said.

Ezekiel killed another vampire as he asked, “So should we wait for the others, once we finish here?”

Kaecilius shrugged as he conjured a sword and used it to slice down a vampire before he said, “We won’t really need them. Plus depending on where the lord is, we might have too many people to properly fight them.”

Blade moved closer to Ezekiel so he could reload as he asked, “Won’t a bullet to the heart kill them?”

“Possibly, but vampire lords can become immune to silver and garlic if they live long enough. The best thing to do is to restrain them and kill them with sunlight.” Kaecilius said.

After that they continued to fight off the vampires until the swarm trickled down to almost nothing. Then they went around and killed any vampire that didn’t dissolve. As they were almost finished, Sanhildr and the rest of the upstairs group joined them. While Alexei, Melina and Jarvis looked pretty much clean. Sanhildr and the other valkyries were completely covered in grime.

Ezekiel glanced at the women for a moment who were covered in blood, ash and dirt before he asked, “What the hell happened to you guys?”