Chapter One: Aftershock

"It is done," Anastasia said after the purple light had exploded over the town. Erica watched sadly, hoping that Sarah wasn't down there. Rory turned to her.

"Nice explosion," he said with a grin, but then he remembered his friends. "Ethan and Benny will be sad if they missed that."

Rory and Erica exchanged glances. Something passed between them, a shared worry over their friends. Anastasia looked at them and gestured to the sky. Together, the three of them jumped up and flew into the night.

Ethan groggily sat up and moaned. He was lying on a landing of one the staircases in the Vampire Council's mansion. Pain filled is body and his head ached. He looked to his right and saw Benny sitting up.

"Dude, what happened?" Benny moaned.

"I think Stern did," Ethan answered and sat up.

He looked to his left and fear staked his heart. Sarah was lying on the ground, pale and sickly. Jesse was collapsed a little ways down the stairs. Ethan leaned over and grabbed Sarah's wrist. "Oh no, she doesn't have a pulse."

"Dude," Benny groaned as he stood up and stretched. "She never has a pulse. She's a vampire."

"Oh, right," Ethan sighed and relaxed a bit. "But why does she look like this?" He looked back at Jesse. The same sickly shade covered his skin as well. "Why do they both look like this?"

"Maybe it had something to do with the Lucifractor," Benny suggested.

"That would explain why we're not effected," Ethan said, catching on. But then he remembered something. "Stern."

Benny nodded and both boys raced up the stairs, down the hall, and into the Collar. All the flames had died and it was pitch black.

"Lux," Benny whispered and a beam of light shone from his hand like his own personal flashlight. Benny sighed in relief. "Last time I tried that spell I burnt a hole in my pants."

"Benny, look," Ethan said and directed his attention to a pile of ash behind a podium. On top were shards of purple glass. "Stern couldn't handle the power. He disintegrated. I think the explosion was caused by the Lucifractor breaking. It released a wave of power but wasn't strong enough to kill vampires."

"So Stern's gone?" Benny asked. Ethan nodded. "And Sarah and Jesse are in some weird vampire kind of coma thing?" Ethan nodded again. "How do we fix it?"

"Why are you asking me?" Ethan cried and stood up.

"Cause you're the one who has the ideas!" Benny said, standing up as well.

"Wait a minute," Ethan mumbled, thinking hard. "The library!"

"Dude, I don't think a library is gonna fix Sarah," Benny laughed. Ethan shook his head at his friend.

"No, not the library, the books. The Vampire Council has tons of ancient books. Maybe one of them has the answer," Ethan suggested and dashed out the door.

He found a spiral staircase and climbed around and around. He could hear Benny breathing heavily behind him. When Ethan reached the top it took him a moment to realize that this was the right room. Many of the books were gone, others littered the floor. The cupboards that covered the walls had their doors thrown open and the tea on Anastasia's desk was cold.

"Whoa," Benny said as he entered the room. "What happened in here?"

"The Vampire Council. They must have taken what they thought was most valuable and left," Ethan replied and began to read the spins of the books still on the shelves. "There's got to be something. Help me look!"

"Fine," Benny groaned. "But I doubt you're gonna find anything." Ethan glared and tried to squash his doubts. There had to be something. Something that could save Sarah. He had to save her. She would do the same for him. She already had.

"Where are we going?" Erica asked as Anastasia lead her and Rory down a path in some woods.

"Back to Whitechapel," she answered and began to walk faster.

"Why? I thought everyone was freaked out because of the marble thing," Rory wondered as he pounced on a squirrel. Erica gave him a look. Rory let the squirrel go.

"The Lucifractor has been destroyed. That is what caused the blast," Anastasia explained.

"How?" Rory asked.

"I am unsure. But we are going to the mansion to make certain it is safe for the rest of the council," she replied briskly, tired of the questions.

"So why are you taking us?" Erica asked in a bored town, hissing at a stray cat who was wandering to closely.

"Because I need guards," Anastasia answered a little too quickly. She was hiding something.

"But you have other guards. And why were we the ones who followed you out into the forest. Don't you have other vampires, older vampires, to do stuff for you?" Erica complained. Anastasia whirled around, her eyes a gleaming color of gold.

"You are my guards. Don't ask questions," she instructed then continued down the path. Erica and Rory's faces were blank, their eyes a matching shade of gold, as they fell in step with the short vampire.

"Yes," they whispered lazily.

"Dude!" Benny yelled as he rifled through Anastasia's desk. They had been searching an hour, but to Ethan it felt like longer. He kept remembering Sarah's unconscious form laying on the stairs and was spurred on to search faster.

"What?" Ethan sighed as he walked over to his friend.

"Check this out. Little Miss. Fang Thang has a secret stash of candy in her bottom drawer," Benny cried happily and shoved three pieces of chocolate in his face.

Ethan rolled his eyes and began to walk away when he noticed something laying beneath the bags of marshmallows and gummy bears. He reached in and pulled out a thin book with what looked a golden compass on the black cover.

"Oh, hey, I know what that is," Benny said around all the sweets in his mouth. He swallowed. "That's the symbol for locator spells."

"Really?" Ethan mumbled and flipped the book open. Names were at the top of each page, above a bunch of information. Ethan skimmed it and realized that it was similar to a book of records. He continued to turn the pages until he got to one near the end. "Sarah Fox."

"Why is there a page about Sarah?" Benny wondered. "Oh sweet, double stuffed Oreos!"

"I think this book keeps track of all the vampires in Whitechapel," Ethan said and looked down Sarah's page. A list of what she had been accused or brought in for was beneath the basic information. But at the bottom of the page was a black ink frame, like one around a picture. When Ethan looked at it, color began to bleed onto the paper until an image appeared. In it, Sarah was lying on the stairs of the Vampire Council mansion, unconscious and sickly looking, just like in real life.

"Hey, that's where Sarah is now!" Benny laughed as he looked at the image.

"That's impossible, vampires don't show up in pictures," Ethan protested.

"Wait, the symbol on the cover is the symbol for locator spells," Benny said as he licked Oreo dust from his fingers.

"So I bet this book can show the location of all vampires in Whitechapel!" Ethan cried in realization and began flipping through the book again. In all the images all the vampires were laying somewhere unconscious and sickly looking. "Benny, I think the explosion effected every vampire in town."

"So?" Benny said and shrugged.

"So they're vulnerable and at risk," Ethan explained and looked at his friend. Benny's face fell when he realized his friend's idea.

"No, don't say it. Please don't say it," he groaned.

"We have to help them," Ethan said and stood up. "They can't be on the streets, people will see them and take them to hospitals. And then they'll wonder why's there's a bunch of bodies on the streets with no pulses."

"Fine. But I wanna drive!" Benny declared.

"No way! You don't even have your permit," Ethan told him and they headed out. On the way down stairs they passed Sarah and Jesse. Ethan touched her hand, hoping for a vision, for answers. Nothing. He sighed. Ethan knew she wasn't dead because she hadn't disintegrated. But what if he failed? What if Sarah was dying?