For all living creatures, sleep is a mandatory occurrence. It provides recuperation for both body and mind. Exhausted minds and bodies are bound to make mistakes by missing important details, or having slower reactions, or a fatal combination of both.
Which made it rather out of the ordinary that, on top of a hill, the lights of an old manor were lit.
Inside the manor, a dark haired woman with blue eyes was humming as she set the dark cherry wood table. The woman, Saldis, smiled as she carefully placed each of the ten wine glasses from her tray on the table. Each glass was unique, its style representing the whims of their owners. As she picked up a heavy glass with a wrought iron handle, Saldis smiled deviously, putting it next to a taller glass with an intricate pattern of interlocking swords and scrolls carved into it. Saxa and Raginald had this whole will they won’t they thing going on for literally centuries now, and Saldis decided it merited a little meddling.
Saldis nodded to herself. Yes tonight would be a night to remember. It had to be after all the effort and sleepless days she’d put into it.
It had taken Saldis the better half of a decade of social media stalking, bribing, and a frankly insane amount of travelling before she finally managed to get every member of their group in a group chat to invite everyone for the dinner. After that was done, the real challenge began: setting a date. Even though forming the group chat had taken years, actually settling a date with ten people seemed to take forever. For as eager and excited everyone seemed about the “what”, they seemed equally reluctant to respond to the simple question of “when”.
Octavius would not be available for the first three months, but then Meinrad and Rhoxane were only available during those months, at least for the first year, so they decided to postpone it. At least until Octavius stated he was available during February after all, but then Raginald said he’d already made plans for that month, and-
Saldis sighed.
They were her closest friends, but sometimes she felt like strangling the ever living daylights out of them.
There was a knock at the door, causing Saldis to perk up.
She undid the latch on the door and slowly pulled open the heavy dark oak door.
The cold air of the night pushed its way inside the house, as Saldis swiftly beckoned her first guest inside. It was clearly Meinrad, judging by his shoulder length blonde hair, and smug smile.
“Am I late, Sal?”
Saldis rolled her eyes as she checked the time on her phone. “You are perfectly punctual, as always.”
He grinned. “I know.” Then he lifted a large leather briefcase. “Where do you want me to put this?”
“You made the proper preparations, I presume?”
“Do I ever not?”
Saldis smiled. “I can’t believe I missed this.” She said, shaking her head. “You can just put it on the table there.”
As Meinard put the briefcase on the table another knock sounded on the door.
Saldis opened the door again, revealing a tall dark haired woman whose eyes sparkled with joy.
“Hey Saldis, it’s been a while.” She said, smiling widely. “How’ve you been? Watcha been up to? Oh nice house, how did you get it?!”
Saldis smiled back. “Good to see you too Phoibe. Let’s wait till the others are here so we can catch up.”
Phoibe nodded. “Makes sense. Sappho should be here shortly, we came here together, but she got distracted by “the night sky” or something boring like that.”
Someone cleared their throat. “Boring? Hardly.”
Saldis and Phoibe turned around to see Sappho standing in the doorway scowling.
Then she smiled. “But I won’t bore any of you with my dry musings of the night’s sky.”
Saldis smiled as her phone vibrated.
It was Octavius.
“Bringing a friend, that’s okay right?”
Saldis groaned.
“What’s wrong?” Phoibe asked.
“Octavius is bringing a friend.”
“Oh nice! The more the merrier, right?”
“Right.” Saldis answered, sarcastically.


After a while everyone had arrived, including Octavius’ friend, Theron.
Saldis eyed the man suspiciously. Something about him felt off.
Waldo, as expected, wasn’t present.
“Hey Saldis?” Raginald asked, leaning closer to her with a big grin on his face. “Where’s Wal-”
She grabbed him by the collar, and whispered in his ear. “If you finish that question, I’ll tell the aloof, and sharp-tongued, Sax over there, exactly how you feel about her.”
Raginald opened his mouth, then closed it.
“You win this round, Saldis.” He said, as he sat back into his seat. Saxa asked him what she’d said, but he refused to answer.
“Now then, who wants to go first?” Saldis asked.
Meinrad raised his hand. “I have a fine young maiden’s blood, kept preserved for over 80 years using only the highest grade of preservation liquid, of course. It has a nice sweet aftertaste.”
Octavius chuckled. “Sounds very impressive my friend, but I think my newest friend here has something no one can top. Why don’t you show them, Theron?”
The man, Theron, was wearing a long brown cloak, which he’d refused to take off. The hood was down, showing a bald man looking to be around 30.
He set a wine bottle on the table. Inside was a dark red liquid, a few shades darker than the red in Meinrad’s bottle.
Theron grinned toothily. “Dragon’s blood.”
The other vampires at the table gasped in awe. Even for them this was a very rare treat.
“Well? What are we waiting for?” Exclaimed Raginald. “Let’s have a drink!” He said, as Theran began to pour the drinks.
Saldis smiled, taking in the sight of all her good friends, and one outsider, finally being together again. It had been decades since their last gathering, it had been before both world wars.
A loud thunk snapped her out of her thoughts. It was swiftly followed by several other thunks, as the heads of the vampires around the table slammed into her cherry wood table.
She looked around the table, as Theron, the only one awake besides her, drew a wooden stake from his coat.
If Saldis hadn’t already been as pale as paper, she would have blanched at the realisation.
This man was a vampire hunter.
And he was going kill all of them.