My name is Neil Erben. I'm a vampire. And I feel like I'm about to piss myself.

Why do I say that? Because right now, I'm looking at the scariest bastard on the planet. He wears a robe of some sort, and he's got pinkish skin with long, white hair and a goatee. His eyes are white and vacant. He's got some sort of weird powers or something, too. He calls himself Hunger.

"The others," he says in that voice. The voice that talks to you in your nightmares. The voice that you picture as the voice of the devil himself. "Where are they?"

"They... they're gone," I tell him.

"What do you mean they're gone?" he asks. "Were you attacked by Silvereye?"

"Yeah... but Silvereye didn't take out Max, Lance, and Akemi," I reply.

"Who?"

"I heard the name Blade."

"Impossible," he says. "Blade's dead."

"No, I saw her, she killed them all and said her name was Blade."

His ears seem to perk up at my last comment. He slowly hovers down the stone steps towards me.

"What?"

"I said I saw her with my own eyes and she called herself Blade."

"She?"

"Yeah, it was a woman," I say.

"No matter, then," he says.

"What do you mean?" I ask. "I know I'm new to this whole vampire world and shit, but I thought everyone was piss-scared of Blade."

"Of Blade, yes," he replies. "But Blade was a man. This woman is nothing more than an imposter. Did you retrieve the materials?"

I pat the crate I'm holding under my arm with TCRI's logo on it. Hunger looks on it, and a small smirk appears on his stone face.

"Then we have nothing to worry about," he says.

"What's going on down there?" demands Dallas.

{{ Some woman showed up and took out several suckheads on her own. }}

"Who is she?" asks Dallas.

{{ She calls herself Blade. }}

"...what did you just say?"

{{ As impossible as that sounds, sir, she says her name is Blade. }}

"Bring her to the Silverfang."

"HALT!" exclaims Lieutenant Nathan Paul. He's keeping his gun trained on Blade as he and his men approach her. "By order of Silvereye, you're to come with us."

Blade simply smiles at Paul and lowers her sunglasses so he can see her green eyes.

"I don't think so, hun," she says. "I've got a job to do."

Paul lifts his gun up and fires a bullet that rockets past Blade's head.

"That was a warning shot," he says. "The next one won't be."

"Are you really that stupid?" she asks. "I just saved your asses."

"We have orders," says Paul.

"So do I."

"Don't make me pull this trigger."

Blade looks at the concealed face of Lieutenant Nathan Paul. She takes careful stock of his posture and his stance. He doesn't flinch for an instant, and she can tell that he's not bluffing when he says he will kill her. She raises her arms above her head.

"You win," she says.

"Have you ever heard the name Hrolf?"

Neil Erben looks at Hunger questioningly.

"I can't say that I have."

"No, I'm not surprised," says Hunger. "Allow me to explain. Hrolf served an associate of mine by the name of Drezan. He was quite unique, due to the fact that he was a cross between a vampire and a werewolf. It increased his natural vampiric abilities, particularly on nights of the full moon. Unfortunately, he failed in his task, and I saw to it that he was eliminated."

"Uh huh..." mutters Neil.

"I don't need my psychic abilities to tell me that you're curious as to what this has to do with anything," says Hunger.

"Well... umm... no disrespect meant, sir..." Neil says with a bit of a stutter. "But... um... what does it have to do with anything?"

"It gave me an idea," explains Hunger. "Instead of trying to improve upon the genetic structure of the vampires, why not try genetic splicing? Creating crossbreeds similar to Hrolf, but far more advanced?"

"Is that even possible?" asks Neil.

Hunger grinned and motioned for Neil to follow him. Neil picks up the crate and follows Hunger through a door. In the room is a large Cray computer. Hunger hovers over to it, with Neil following close behind. Hunger simply glances down at the keys, and they begin to press down as if invisible fingers were striking them. Images come up on the screen, of DNA strands. Hunger points at one strand.

"This is a typical strand of vampiric DNA," he says. "Our weaknesses are present on the genetic level. Our aversion to garlic, silver, and sunlight is due to something locked inside our genetic code."

"What about crosses and holy water and shit like that?" asks Neil.

"Contrary to popular belief, we are not products of some Christian devil," replies Hunger. "We are products of evolution, the same as mutants. Our aversion to holistic artifacts is due to a curse an eleventh century cleric placed on our kind. I cannot undo his magicks. I can, however, find a way to correct our genetic defects."

"What's any of this gotta do with crossbreeding, then?"

"By combining different sets of genetic codes, we can work around our defects," says Hunger. "TCRI specializes in genetic splicing. That is what I had you steal from their warehouse, genetic samples as well as the technology used to perform those tasks."

"So... what are you gonna do?" asks Neil.

The tak tak tak of invisible hands striking the keys was the answer Neil Erben received for his question. The DNA strands on the screen begin to intertwine, different parts switching around. New strands were being crafted.

"Play god."

Commander Frank Dallas strolls through the long halls of the Silverfang flanked by two Silvereye agents armed with rifles. He makes a sharp turn and opens the metal door there. Lieutenant Nathan Paul stands in the room alongwith other Silvereye agents from the Blackeye unit. The room is bare save for a table in the center and a chair where Blade sits.

"So, let's take a look at this imposter you've got here," says Dallas. He approaches Blade and looks her in the eye. For a moment, he is overcome with shock.

"Been awhile," she says with a grin.

"Elisa Hill?" he mutters. "What the hell are you doing? I thought you went back to LA after the last vampire incident."

"I did," she replies. "For training purposes. I've spent the past year travelling the world, training."

"You referred to yourself as Blade."

"It's my name."

"No, it's not," says Dallas. "Your name is Elisa Hill."

"Not anymore," she replies.

"Look, let's not play games with each other," says Dallas and takes a seat across the table from Elisa. "You're interfering with Silvereye operations here."

"How am I interfering?" asks Blade. "I helped your men out."

"Do you know who those vampires work for?" asks Dallas.

"Do I care?"

"Paul," says Dallas.

"When my Blackeye unit first spotted them, we immediately radioed back to the Silverfang," says Paul. He holds a file folder in his hand and drops it on the table before Blade. "We recognized them as agents working for a particularly nasty vamp."

"And who would that be?" asks Blade. "Drezan and Trent are both dead, there's no one who's been able to take up the head of the ranks since they were killed."

"Wrong again," says Paul. "Does the name Hunger ring a bell?"

"Not really, no," says Blade.

"Hunger is extremely dangerous," says Dallas.

"All vampires are supposed to be dangerous," says Blade. "I can handle myself."

"This one is different," says Dallas. "Look at that file."

Blade opens the folder and sees several fuzzy photographs. She can barely make out the outline of a person in them, but she can't discern any distinguishing features such as clothing or facial features. There's also several Silvereye reports in the folder.

"Hunger isn't a normal vampire," says Dallas. "He also happens to be a mutant."

Blade looks up at Dallas with a cocked eyebrow.

"You've gotta be shitting me," she says.

"You think I'm shitting you?" he asks. "Read the file if you don't believe me. He's what's known as a pyrokinetic. Meaning fire-based telekinetic abilities. He's also a mind-reader. This one is different from Trent, different from Drezan. He's taken on your predecessor several times and each time, the best Blade ever got was a stalemate. If Blade couldn't even stop Hunger, what makes you think you can?"

"I know what I'm doing," she replies.

"Listen lady, either leave this one up to the professionals, or we place you under arrest," says Paul.

"On what grounds?" asks Blade.

"How about vigilantism?" asks Paul. "Or obstruction of justice?"

"There's no need for that, Lieutenant," interjects Dallas. "Ms. Hill won't be interfering with our investigation."

"The hell I won't," says Blade.

"She won't be interfering because we've already taken her into custody," says Dallas.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, but this is the way it's gotta be," says Dallas. "Elisa Hill, you're under arrest."

"I don't think I gotta explain to you how important this mission is," says Whistler. "I know you're both good, but Blade's better. We need her back, an' we need to be at full strength."

<"Thinly-veiled insults..."> mutters one of twin sisters in her native Japanese. <"Tell me again why we shouldn't kill him now.">

<"Because he's one of us, Mikado,"> replies her sister.

<"He's a vampire, Mosha!">

"Damn straight I am," says Whistler. "An' the next time you wanna chuck insults at me, have the balls to do it in English, you slant-eyed bitch."

Mikado's hand instantly goes to her side to draw a dagger, but Mosha places herself between her sister and Whistler.

"Don't," says Mosha. "We have a job to do, sister."

"American dog..." mutters Mikado. "Once this is done, I will personally drive a stake through your dead heart."

Whistler reaches out for the pack of cigarettes on the bench before him. He pulls one out of the pack, places it between his lips, and lights it. He takes a drag and expels the smoke through his nose. He stares at Mikado through the smoke when he offers his reply.

"I'm gonna hold you to that."

NEXT: Assault on Silvereye!