KORU'S POV:

Scud returned after a few minutes, an annoyed look on his face. He didn't pay any attention to me as he got started hammering pieces of metal together.

Blade came in shortly after Scud, making a beeline to where I stood. "Follow me," were the only things he said before retreating up a set of metal stairs. He led me to a hallway with a few rooms branching off of it. He gestured for me to enter one of the rooms, the one at the end of the hall on the right.

"Forget what you think you know," he began in his naturally ominous voice. "Vampires are real."

Shock rippled through me. "What are you t-"

He silenced me with a wave of his hand. "If you want any explanations for what happened tonight, you're going to have to listen and not interrupt."

I shut my open mouth, nodding at him to continue.

"My name is Blade. They call me 'The Daywalker.' I was born half human, half vampire. I have all of their strengths, none of their weaknesses. Except for the Thirst."

I shfited uncomfortably; if this man really was half vampire, he could easily drink my blood and be done with me. But then, what had been the point of saving me? Were vampires territorial?

"Twenty years ago, I met a man who changed me. Whistler. He took me in. Taught me the rules. Gave me the weapons to hunt them with. Silver, garlic, and sunlight. Two years ago a vampire named Deacon Frost thought he could change the world, and bring vampires out as the alpha race. I killed him. He attacked Whistler, bit him. Since then, I've been travelling all over the world trying to find where they've been keeping him. That man in my trunk-"

"Was Whistler," I broke in.

He nodded.

"But why did they keep him and move him around?"

He whipped off his overcoat and draped it over the back of a chair. "Torture. They wanted information out of him."

"What kind of information?" I found myself asking, though I was frightened beyond all belief.

"They wanted to know where I was. There are a lot of vampires out there who want me dead."

"So what does any of this have to do with me?" I asked shakily, though I had a feeling I already knew.

"That man that attacked you earlier tonight," he glanced over his shoulder at me. "He was a vampire."

I surprised myself by nodding as though I had expected it. What other explanation was there for the insane things I had witnessed tonight? "What happens to me now?" I whispered, sure these guys wouldn't just leave people who knew too much wandering around.

He shrugged, seating himself on the edge of the one bed in the center of the room. "That's your decision. You can either go back to your college, go back to living your life... or you can stay with us and help us fight them."

I felt myself panicking. Help them? How could I help? I was just a computer engineering major at a fancy school in Prague that I only got into because of outrageous amounts of scholarships.

"But I should warn you," he continued, taking his glasses off for the first time. His eyes were the same hazel as that man (vampire, I forced myself to think, at least call that thing by its name.) "If you do go back to the college, things will never be the same for you. Vampires will know you've been exposed to their world. They will target you and you will be in near-constant danger."

I lifted a weak hand to my forehead. "What choice do I have? It sounds like the only way I stay alive is if I join you guys. And even then you can't guaruntee that I'll live."

He gave a slight nod. "If you want to look at it that way."

"So, what- I just drop out of college, give up on everything and come join the vampire hunters?" I gave a hysterical little laugh.

"I understand this is a big decision for you," Blade spoke in his customary monotone. "But it would be helpful if you made your decision quickly."

I ran a hand over my face. What did I have in my life anyway? I had been orphaned at age 2, so I had no family. I didn't have many friends, just the few people I could tolerate speaking to in class. Really, my grades were average and I was running out of money to pay my tuition.

Besides, if I went back to what now seemed like a very empty life, there was a strong chance I would be getting stalked by vampires. Sure I ran the risk of meeting up with them while helping Blade, but I would much rather be near him when the carnivores came knocking.

"Okay," I nodded. "I'm in."

WHISTLER'S POV:

THE NEXT MORNING:

"How'd you find me?" I asked, drying my hands off on a towel.

"Started off in Moscow," Blade related. "Then Romania. They kept moving you around."

"How long was I gone?"

He hesitated in answering, so I looked up him. He was gazing down at the ground with a scowl.

"Months?"

"Too long." He slid his sunglasses on over his eyes and walked past me.

"Years," I nodded to myself, shutting the water in the sink off. I finished cleaning myself up and exited to find Blade standing in the hallway, a young girl standing next to him.

"Whistler," Blade called to me. "This is Koru. She was attacked last night. She's our newest recruit."

I walked closer, a frown on my face. "More strays?"

The girl turned and I staggered, stunned. She looked just like my daughter. High cheekbones, with pale skin dotted with freckles, impossibly long black hair. She was a bit older than my youngster had been, but she resembled her so startlingly, right down to the hazel eyes and thick lashes. Confused, I met Blade's eyes over her shoulder. He held my gaze steadily. That was why he had saved her and brought her back. He recognized her features from the picture of my daughter I had shown him years and years before.

"Hi," she said, smiling and holding her hand out, calling me back to reality.

Shocked beyond speaking, I shook her hand.

"Whistler, right?" she asked when I didn't speak.

I cleared my throat and released her hand. "Uh, yeah. I'm Whistler."

She nodded. "I've heard a lot about you."

The girl's smile, just the same as my daughter's had been, reminded me of my life... the one the vampires had ripped away from me. My daughters, my wife... "My ring," I blurted, grabbing at my left hand and feeling for my wedding band.

"Come with me," Blade spoke.

The girl, Koru, followed us.

My ring was taped behind an old junky machine from the 70s.

"They torutred me almost to death," I grumbled to Blade as I ripped the tape with my ring off the machine. "And then left me to heal in a vat of blood so they could go at it again. Sorry sons of bitches could've at least fixed my goddamned leg while they were at it." I stood, the metal brace on my left leg creaking. "Where's my arc welder?" I asked, looking around.

Blade raised his eyebrows then nodded his head in the direction of a blue glow through the doorway.

A young guy with long, dark hair was welding on a big hunk of metal, an unlit joint beneath the welding hood he pulled away from his face. He turned the welding handle toward himself, using the end of the stick to light the drugs hanging from his lips. He straightened up upon seeing the three of us enter the room, tossing the welder down onto the metal bulge.

"What's up, Whistler? Nice to meet you, man. Heard a lot about you," he sent a wave over my shoulder to Koru. "Good morning, sunshine. Good to see you're on the team." After giving her a wink, he turned his attention back to me. "I'm Josh. You can call me Scud, though, everyone does."

I turned to give Blade a dry look before following after him as he walked through various hulking metallic projects. We caught up to him to see that he was watching cartoons on a tiny monitor, toying with the joint in his mouth.

I lifted the plastic over what looked like a motor vehicle in the making. "Tell me something, Skid-"

Koru snorted behind me, holding in laughter.

Scud glanced at her blandly, a slight bitter tightness near the corners of his mouth. "No, man, it's Scud. Like 'stud'. Scud."

"Whatever. What are you doing here?" I nodded beneath the sheet of plastic.

"The pimpmobile?" he asked, waving dismissively at it, though he was trying not to look too pleased with himself. "Just a little aftermarket modification. Nitrous oxide. Shit like that."

"Oh yeah," Koru chuckled, stepping up beside me and looking over it. "You gave it a more aggressive exhaust profile ramping."

Blade, Scud, and I all looked down at her in amazement. "I like her," I mumbled under my breath to Blade.

"Yeah," Scud said, smiling a little at her and stepping closer. "The whole package will crank that Betty up, maybe 300 horsepower."

I watch with a frown as Koru smiled back. Though she appeared less than impressed with him, I knew how quickly that could change, and she looked enough like my daughter that the way that sleaze-bag was watching her worried me.

"And you'll burn the damn thing out before your next oil change," I scolded him. "Where'd you dig up this shitbird, anyway?" I asked Blade, who merely shook his head.

"What the fuck is your problem, Poppy?" Scud asked, slapping an arm into my chest as he walked by.

I chased after him, berating him the whole way. "My problem is I've been sucking blood clots for two years and I get out to find some jerkoff fucking with my life's work."

Backing up defensively, Scud barked, "We jeopardized our whole operation to save your puckered old ass!"

"Our operation?" I yelled over him.

"Yeah," he nodded indignantly.

"Our operation? I built this operation, you ass-wipe!" I grabbed him by the jacket threateningly. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Blade hold a hand up to keep Koru from jumping toward us. I threw him forward, disgusted.

We were all distracted suddenly by the blaring of an alarm.

I've got some big ideas for this fic, but I may have to stretch out the time frame of the movie :P I'm sure you guys won't mind. Thank you for reading and reviewing! Go ahead and do that some more ;)