POLOKWANE, SOUTH AFRICA
STERKFONTEIN CAVES

The cave rumbles violently as Quentin Blood stands before an altar, holding Kelli Anderson's near lifeless body in his arms. Her blood splatters onto the ground, forming a small pool between Akilah Moore and Chris Server.

"The ceremony will continue," Quentin says, allow Kelli's body to be drained of its blood entirely.

"I shall look upon the darkness, ready to join these two in an unholy matrimony..."

Chris takes Akilah's hand. She doesn't move, doesn't tremble, but in her eyes...he can see something slightly different. As if there's a part of her that isn't under Quentin's thrall. A part of Akilah crying out for someone to rescue her, yet knowing that help will never come.

"First, you must drink upon this sacrifice."

Chris kneels down, sliding his palm through Kelli's spilled blood. He raises his hand to Akilah's mouth, forcing her to lick the blood from him. Akilah follows suit, feeding Kelli's blood to Chris.

"I shall...look upon the darkness..." Akilah begins.



BENEATH THE STERKFONTEIN CAVES

"Are you all okay?" Vincent Moore asks, lying in the rubble from the recent cave-in.

Rocks continue to fall from the ceiling, surrounding Vince along with Alec Bale and the unconscious Julia Mitchell. Alec attempts to shield Julia with his body, keeping her from danger.

"Is she still alive?"

"She's fine," Alec says. "I think. But we've got to...we've got to get out of here!"

"Make sure she's okay!" Vince says, crawling toward the edge of the cavern. "I've got to get out of here and save Akilah."

"Can't you just...um...float out of here?"

"This isn't Heroes," Vince mutters. "But I can do this..."

He concentrates on the rocks, hoping that they will move with his mind...but they don't.

"Do what?"

"I'm trying to move them!"

"Why aren't they working?" Alec demands.

"I don't know! I don't...there's something different I felt about the caves up there, being around that ritual," Vince says. "Maybe that's waking up something in my mind that's not supposed to be awake."

"Then we need to get the hell back up there so we can save Akilah!"

Vince stares at Alec, still confused as to why Alec cares about anyone but himself. Perhaps he's spent so much time demonizing Alec, trying to make him into some kind of monster that he's not.

"They killed Kelli," Alec says softly. "And god knows what they've done to Sara."

Vince nods. "You're right. We need to —"

Before he can finish, they hear a loud hissing noise near the end of the cavern, followed by labored breathing and snapping teeth. Vince can feel the hair on his body stand on end as he stares at Julia and Alec in horror.

"Alec...I don't think we're alone."

OUTSIDE THE HUMAN RESCUERS COMPOUND

Leslie Hanley unties the ponytail she'd fashioned for her hair as they trekked to the Human Rescuers Compound, thankful that they were no longer standing under the sweltering heat.

"Where the hell are they?" Leslie demands. "The Hanley Jet was here, but the kids nowhere in sight."

"I don't know," Felicia Bale says. "But how about we be proactive instead of complaining?"

Leslie opens her mouth to speak, but her husbandMichael places his hand over her mouth gently. "Leslie...let's not."

"Whatever!" Leslie snaps, pushing Michael away. "I just want to find my children and get the hell out of here."

Felicia and Michael exchanged bemused glances as they continue wandering around the grounds of the Human Rescuers Compound. No one was in Sara's room, and none of the other people at the compound had any idea where they were.

Not that they were all too willing to be helpful anyway. There was a strange code of silence that hung over the village of Polokwane. One that terrified Leslie more than the prospect of danger befalling Vince and Akilah.

As they walk, they come across an abandoned, turned over jeep. Worried, Leslie rushes toward it. "Vince! Akilah!"

"Just wait," Michael says. "Let me check this out first."

He slowly approaches the jeep, crouching down.

"I think there's someone in here."

"Are they dead?" Felicia gasps.

"Please don't let it be my children..." Leslie begins. "I don't think I could handle —"

Michael opens the door to the jeep, attempting to get a closer look at the face of the person inside. As light shines on the body, he finds the person immediately recognize. "Oh God, it's..."

"Hey Uncle Michael," Matt Holden says, yawning as he rubs his eyes. "What the hell are you doing in South Africa?"



BENEATH THE STERKFOTEIN CAVES

"They're vampires!" Alec cries. "Vampires live in these caves!"

Vince attempts to pull Alec to his feet. "We've got to get out of here! Grab Julia!"

Their attempts to escape prove unsuccessful, however, as they soon find themselves surround a heaving black mass of vampires, growling and snapping at them, baring their fangs.

"It's like we're in the fucking Heart of Darkness!"

Vince narrows his eyes at Alec. "Barack Obama is going to be president, do we really need the racism now?"

"Vince! We're going to fucking die in here!"

Vince closes his eyes, attempting to think of the best thoughts he can muster while facing his certain doom. Naturally, these are thoughts of him and his family years ago...before his father was presumed dead. Before his life went into a tailspin.

"We're going to..."

Realizing he's not dead, Vince opens his eyes. He can sense the vampires staring at him, salivating. But they're not moving. "What's going on?"

"It's me."

Vince and Alec turned, surprised to find Julia has now awoken.

"They're under Quentin's thrall," Julia says. "And so have I been...so they understand that they are not to hurt me."

Julia weakly takes Vince's hand, smiling at him. "Now let's get back to the ground level and stop that freakshow from hurting Akilah."



STERKFONTEIN CAVES

"...I will have him drink of me, and turn me to the darkness," Akilah finishes, tilting her head and allowing Chris to sink his fangs into her.

Her eyes widen in fear and a single tear rolls down her eyes as Chris drains the blood and life from her body. Midway through biting her, he slides his fangs from her skin and kisses her lips.

"I shall look upon the darkness and accept Akilah Moore as my bride, my Princess of the Night," Chris says. "And I will have her drink of me, and turn her to the darkness..."

He cuts his own neck, moving Akilah's lips to the blood and letting her drink from him.

"Drink," Chris whispers softly. "Drink, and be mine..."

"And join us in the darkness," Quentin finishes.