VSF

Shouting, sobbing, screaming, and, moaning were the only distinguishable sounds in the confusion of the battle. The chaos in the dank cavern might have seemed unbearable to anyone who wasn't used to it. But for those like Jack Kaler, this was just an every day occurrence. Once again, Agent Kaler led his small army of recruits in the pointless pursuit of a flawless enemy.
For two months, they had been tracking a vampire named Adam Calamar, the sole survivor from a past mission. When he used to work with Jack in New York, he was human. They were as close as brothers. Then they were sent on a suicide mission. On the brink of defeat, Jack fled from the battle, but not Adam. He had tried to finish the mission, but before Jack could talk some sense into him, a group of vampires had gotten to Calamar, along with a dozen other unfortunate soldiers. All of the soldiers had died, except for Adam. He had been turned into one of the undead, a creature of the night.
Ever since, he has sworn revenge against Jack and the world that betrayed him. Jack still had trouble believing that Adam, his old friend and partner, could be the same person as the monster they were hunting. But, Jack reminded himself, this wasn't the same person at all. This was a monster that had been unleashed within his friend. This wasn't Adam, this was a threat, and all threats had to be dealt with the same way: eliminated. And Jack had to keep that in mind when it came time to face Adam.
A thread had led Jack to this location; a five story storage company in the heart of Los Angeles. A captive had told them of the location of which he had recently seen Calamar, but Calamar was good, very good.
Racing through the rat-infested basement, Calamar was nowhere to be found. He wasn't there and Jack knew it. Jack knew coming into this operation that they wouldn't find Calamar. Everyone did, but they just didn't want to admit it. After two months of hunting him, no luck had come out of it. In fact, it seemed as though they were actually getting further and further away. You would think that after so many defeats, they would try a different, more organized approach, and if Jack had his way, that's how it would be, but Marks had insisted that this was the way it was to be done.
David Marks, head of all of the VSF agencies in the United States, was a man with bright credentials, but was also the most bullheaded man Jack had ever known. Stubborn in his ways, once he made his mind up about something, no one could change it. Jack didn't like taking orders from Marks, but he didn't have much of a choice. It would mean his job if went against his orders. Most of the time, he was free of orders, but the entire VSF system had been alerted of the situation and it had been put at high priority. Marks returned to his decision making state and his own methodical scheme for catching Calamar, commenced.
"This is Alpha team. Calamar is nowhere in sight," Jack sighed into his radio transmitter. "All teams head out. He's gone." Jack lowered his pistol, and added more rounds of holy water filled capsules into the slot. He placed it in his shoulder holster and progressed down the stairs, letting his team take out the rest of the vampires still in the building.
"We lost him didn't we?" Jonathan Bentz, Jack's partner, had been working at VSF for two years. He wasn't one of the more involved agents, but his money and class had gained him his position, and also his nickname. That and because he wanted to join. Bentz had all the connections VSF needed. He could get them in touch with high ranking officials and even the President of the United States due to his father being on The Cabinet. He knew how to fire a gun and how to fight the vampires, but if he got too deep into the mess, he could turn into quite the coward.
Slim, with slick black hair, Bentz was quite handsome. One might wonder why a man of his standards would be interested in the fight against the vampires, but Jack knew that a tragic death in the family at the hands of a vampire had inspired him to join. Jack needed all the help he could get, so Bentz became a valuable asset to the team. Also, Bents always had had a need for speed. He participated in many car races in his numerous sports cars, and held over a dozen records.
Jumping into the back of the squad car, Alpha team sat silently, contemplating their recent defeat. Alpha team consisted of five agents. There was Jack and Bentz, but also agents Nathali Cross, Dan Mathews, and Emily Alders. Mathews was the computer guy out of the group, and had a habit of bring humor into the most serious of situations. Nathali Cross and Emily Alders were also close to Jack. Jack and Nathali once had a relationship even, until she was sent overseas and they went without contact for months. When she came back, she had another agent in tow, whom she recently broke up with.  "Are you sure you've checked everywhere?" Cross asked," It's a big building and he could be anywhere."
         Jack wanted to believe that Adam was actually in the building. Even if they couldn't find him, it would be enough to prove that their efforts were actually getting them somewhere. But Jack knew that Calamar would be long gone. "Yes the building and perimeter have been thoroughly searched," Jack answered, annoyed at their failure, "If he were here, we would have found him."
Dan Mathews, staring at a laptop computer, finally roused. "I'm not so sure about that. I'm getting a reading on the fifth floor on the west side. It looks like someone is in the venallation shafts, and moving supernaturally fast. It has to be a vampire," he sat there clicking the keys at a rate faster than Jack thought possible. Jack slid over to get a view of the screen, Sure enough, a cool blue shape was moving across the screen on a blueprint of the warehouse.
         "Alright," Jack announced, climbing back out of the van, which had yet to leave the site. "You guys wait here for me. I'm going to check it out." He went to the trunk of another armored car and opened a silver case filled with his own personal weapons perfectly shined to a gleaming silver. He pulled out his prized possession, a pistol firing pencil sized stakes. If aimed correctly, a single shot firing one of these can kill any vampire. He gripped it in his hands, and made his way back into the building.
         He spoke into his headset, "Where is he now?"
         A voice responded in his ears, "He's still on the fifth floor and heading west."
         Jack ascended up a staircase and arrived at the fifth floor. He turned left and stopped when he heard a clang coming from ahead. He stood, listening closely for the slightest sound and watching for the slightest movement. Sure enough, he saw a shadow pass over a metal grating above him and down the hall only a little ways. It stopped on the grating.
         Gun raised, he cautiously walked towards it and pressed himself against the wall.
         "Jack, he's right above you," Mathews voiced into his ear.
         "Come down now Adam. You've got nowhere to run."
         The shadow stirred slightly. Then it moved over to the right, disappearing. Next to Jack, a vent on the floor was removed and Calamar emerged. He looked the same as he always had, except for how he was dressed and two sharp fangs extending over an inch. Next to Adam, was a cluster of barrels probably containing foam for storage. Calamar stood there with his hands outstretched in surrender.
         "My, my, my. What a pleasure it is to see you Jack. I was hoping you would be here."  He inched toward the barrels.
         "Stay where you are, Adam. I don't wish to kill you, but I will if I must." Jack was on edge, poised for any sudden movement.
         "No Jack, you don't understand. I didn't know what I was doing. You know I'm not a killer. It's this thing inside me. I can't control myself. Please help me Jack. Please." He buried his face in his hands.
         Jack softened. Could it be true? Was it possible for a vampire to feel sorry for something he did? But in that moment of time, when he relaxed himself, Calamar acted. He dodged to the left, towards the barrels. Sliding behind them, he shoved them at Jack, who was still gathering what was happening.
         Jack swung his gun around, but as soon as it aimed in at its target, a barrel slammed into him, knocking him off his feet and onto the hard floor. The barrel definitely didn't contain Styrofoam packaging. In fact, it seemed to be filled with some kind of liquid. He heard it sloshing around inside.
         He tried to get a shot at Calamar, but all he hit was another barrel hurling towards him. A red liquid shot out the side of the barrel-blood. Although he tried to move out of the way of the oncoming collision, the barrel slammed full force into his temple. He tried to fire off another shot, but his gun was wrenched from his hand. He briefly saw Calamar standing over him when the image faded and went dark.

Ch 2



         Jack woke up on a comfortable bed. He stretched and looked around. It was his room, or at least his room at headquarters. He looked at his alarm clock, and it read 7:00pm. 7:00! He shouldn't have been dozing, he should have been working. There was so much work to do. But wait; something happened earlier.
         His memory started coming back. Within seconds, he remembered everything. The raid on the warehouse, Calamar, and the barrels. Suddenly, a sharp, throbbing pain hit him in the head. Oh, the barrels. Sitting up, he reached into his night side table and served himself an aspirin and went into his bathroom to glass of water. Looking in the mirror, he realized how horrible he looked. Blood was caked on his face and he had a bump the size of a melon on his forehead.
         He washed his face and walked out of his room, into the familiar hallways of the agency. Heading to the main office, he couldn't help but think how foolish he was at the warehouse. He should have shot Calamar when he had the chance. And as a result of his foolishness, he lost Calamar, and they would be back to hunting him all over again.
         It was when he entered the main office, that he started thinking about his next approach. Nathali, seeing him, rushed forward.
         "Jack, how are you? Are you feeling alright?" She gave Jack a hug, and hid a blush.
         "Yes, a little sore, but I'm doing fine. How is the chase coming? Do we know where Calamar is?" He sat down in an office chair at his desk.
         "Well we know he is on a motorcycle heading east. Unfortunately, that's just about all we know. We don't know how he got past the barricade. I've been monitoring all of the main highways, but I haven't seen him," she sighed and looked at Jack with concern. "Are you sure you're alright? You were hurt pretty badly. If it hadn't been for Dan, you would either be dead or a vampire right now. When he came in looking for you, Calamar was about to drink from you.
"Wow, Dan saved me. Now that's something I never thought I'd hear," Jack turned on his company computer, hoping to catch a glance of Calamar.
"We've been looking for him for two days now but without any luck."
Jack whipped his head around and glared at Nathali. "Two days? You mean to tell me that I've been asleep for two whole days?"
"You were injured Jack. Not to mention mention unconscious for most of the time. You're no invincible Jack, no matter how much you think you are," Nathali was concerned. Her boss rarely ever lost his cool, and always hid his emotions. Losing Calamar so many times was really getting to him.
Suddenly, Jack jumped up from his chair and started to stride out of the office, attracting many glares from employees. Then he started to feel a pain in his head. It increased more every second. Jack howled in pain and he crumpled to the floor writhing in pain. As Nathali rushed over to him, it was too late. His vision blurred and he passed out.
The last thing he remembered hearing was Calamar's laugh echoing through his mind. And even through all the pain, he could feel it chilling his bones.

It was 7:00 in the afternoon when Jack woke up. He was sweating and covered with bandages. As his eyes got used to the lighting, he could see shadows in the room. Immediately, Calamar came to mind and Jack drew back in fear. But then a light came on, subduing his fears, and revealing Nathali. More lights came on, exposing the rest of his team.
Jack cursed himself for being so cowardly. After all, this facility was very highly secured and the chances of Calamar bypassing security were slim to none.
"It's ok Jack, it's only us," Nathali reassured him.
Jack tried to sit up, but all he managed was a groan, and he lay back down.
"Hey, take it easy Jack, you had quite a spill back there," Jonathan said, and offered another pillow to Jack, who pushed it away.
"I don't need your charity Bentz, I just need to know if you've made any headway in finding Calamar."
Nathali stood up quickly and come closer to Jack. "Calamar? You nearly died, and all you can think about is work? You lost a lot of blood Jack. The doctors didn't think you'd live to see another day, but we told them to keep operating. With you attitude, you might not survive," Nathali looked at him like she had before they broke up. There was something in those eyes, and it made Jack feel like there was still hope for them.
"I'm sorry," Jack said, both flattered and annoyed at everyone's concern.
Dan spoke up then," Don't worry about it boss. We'll take Calamar down. We're doing everything in our power to find him."
But Jack couldn't hear him, because a ringing started to fill his ears. Every second it intensified, numbing his ears and blurring his vision. He clawed at his ears, trying to find a way to make it stop. Jack felt someone trying to push him back down onto the bed, and Nathali trying to calm him down. Jack's body became numb and now he was completely blind. His mind felt as though it were being split apart. His skeleton being stretched apart in his head, trying to escape its prison.
Then, finally, when he felt like his head was about to burst open, it stopped. The pain in his head, the blindness, it all ceased to exist, and felling returned to his body.
"It's ok Jack, you're going to be fine," Nathali reassured him, "Emily has called the doctors. Just hold on."
Jack sat up groggily, and tried to clear his head. "I'm fine guys, it's gone. The pain is gone."
Nathali and the rest of his team looked at him, confused. "Jack, what happened?" Nathali asked.
He rubbed his face in his hands, and tried to recover himself, "I don't know. The pain it was so intense, but then it just stopped."
The doctors ran into the room, frantically reaching for their medical equipment, but stopping when they noticed that their patient was perfectly fine. The lead doctor looked at the team, "What happened? Is he alright?"
Nathali looked down at Jack, and then at the doctor, "I'm not sure. He just started clawing at his head and yelling, but he stopped suddenly."
The doctor looked Jack in the eyes and frowned. He looked as if there was something he knew but he didn't want to say it.
Spit it out Doc, I can handle it," Jack spat, looking very irritable.
The doctor looked down at his hands, which were being twiddled in front of him, in an effort to avoid eye contact with Jack.
"Sir," the doctor said hesitantly," We took a closer look at your x-rays and found something interesting. There was a cut in the tissue of you neck." The doctor fell silent, once again fiddling with his fingers. "Sir, do you know what this means? Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Jack's mind went blank. The only answer he could find was too horrible to imagine.
"No this is impossible," Jack stood up from the bed.
"The must be some mistake," Nathali exclaimed, her face blank with fear.
The doctor spoke up again." There is no mistake. All of the finest doctors have been inspecting the x-rays and all have come to the same conclusion," he looked down at his feet. "Agent Kaler has been turned into a vampire." Nathali gasped, and Alders fell into the arms of Jonathan Bentz. Dan stood beside them his head buried in his hands.
Despite the mood, the doctor continued to speak. "The only strange thing is why there was no entry wound. From the outside, the neck looks perfectly fine. But all of symptoms fit. The headaches, the ring in his hears, the unexplained temper tantrums. It all fits with the symptoms exhibited when someone is with going the transformation."
Jack couldn't think. It was as if his mind had been completely whipped clean of all though. As for what he felt, he felt anger, confusion, despair, and hopelessness, like everything in his life had been pointless.
"Oh Jack," Nathali bent down in an attempt to give Jack a hug, but he pushed her away.
"Get away from me, I'm too dangerous now, "Jack was shaking but his voice was firm. "You know what you have to do."
"No Jack, we still have time right? We'll figure something out," Nathali looked at the doctor with pleading eyes. How much time do we have?
He looked down at his watch. "Well, Agent Kaler was bitten at the warehouse. That was six days ago. A transformation occurs seven days after being bitten. It's 7:00, so we only have five hours before his transformation starts. After that, it will take about an hour for the transformation to be complete," he looked at Jack. "It will be the most painful hour of your life."
The words rushed past Jack before he was able to comprehend them. All he could think about was that he would be dead in six hours, and he was going to turn into the thing he had devoted his entire life to hunting down and destroying. And there was nothing he could do about it. He was going to be a vampire for the rest of his life, unless he did something about it.
Jack looked at his team. He looked a Nathali and Emily whose eyes were filled with tears, and then at Jonathan who was trying to console Emily. Then last at Dan who was staring at the opposite wall, sadly aware of the fact that no joke in the world could lighten the atmosphere in the room.
Jack cleared his throat. "Well then, you know what you need to do. As of tomorrow, I'll be just like Calamar."
"Jack, we're not going to kill you. There are still things that we can do," Nathali told him. "We will find a way to prevent the transformation."
"Damnit Nathali," Jack shouted. "There's nothing you can do. You know that. Nothing can stop a transformation once it has begun. You need to accept the truth. In five hours, my transformation will begin and there's nothing you can do about it, except to kill me." Jack fell silent. "You have to do it, or else I will be a danger to everyone here."
The room was silent except for the muffled gasps of Emily trying to gather herself.
"I'm sorry things have to be like this, but they are," Jack looked at his team. "You guys have been the greatest team I could ask for, not to mention great friends. I hope you can understand everything that you've done for me," Jack sighed. "And that's why you have to kill me. I don't want you to see me as a vampire, and I don't want to see myself as a vampire either. Not to mention that after the transformation, I will need to feed immediately for me to survive it. You could contain me, but for how long. I'm sorry, but you have to do it, and you have to be strong."
"Jack," Dan said softly, facing his boss. "I think I speak for everyone when I say that no one is going to kill you. I say that we should spend with you what precious minutes we have together, and before the transformation begins, contain you in a cell," He took a deep breath. "After that, you can leave it up to us to choose what to do." Dan looked at his teammates, hoping that someone would agree with him.
Emily and Jonathan walked up beside Dan and stood firmly. "Jack we also think that we couldn't bring ourselves to harm you in any way," Bentz said softly. "I agree one hundred percent with Dan with all of my heart."
Jack looked at Nathali, and put his hand up to her cheek. Nathali raised her chin and looked at Jack, their eyes locking and becoming one as they met. Then, Nathali bent towards Jack and kissed him. It wasn't a very long kiss, but to Jack, it felt like it lasted an eternity. Even when her lips were gone from his, he could still fell them lingering.
Once again, their eyes met and Nathali whispered to him so that only he could hear. The words whispered through the air like a calm wind over the ocean "I love you," and then they were gone as suddenly as they had appeared, for when Nathali arose, she looked just as composed as she did on a normal day. All signs of emotion gone from her face.
"Well," Jonathan spoke, "I think that we all deserve the day off. What do you say team?"
"I say lets go for it, I know the best places we can go," Dan exclaimed, all traces of sadness gone from his face. "Come on don't just sit round, we've got places to go, things to see, and only five hours to do it." Jack had to admit, Dan really could make the worst day of the world bearable.


Ch 3.

Fifteen minutes later, Alpha team was sitting outside of a McDonalds, crunching on burgers and French fries, savoring their time together as best as they could. When the team first converged, McDonalds was their common hangout a place where they could go to escape all of the horrors of the world. However, with all of the recent havoc, they had almost completely forgotten about it.
Jack sat on the hood of his car, trying to eat, but he had no appetite. Finding out that he was going to turn into a vampire soon was not something that encouraged celebration, but nor could he transform without spending quality time with his friends. "Thanks a lot guys for treating for the meal."
Jonathan glanced up from his milkshake and eyed Jack. "Well, I would say your welcome, but you've barely even touched you food. Come on Jack, everything's going to be fine. We'll have everything under control."
"Jonathan, Jack," Emily scolded. "We agreed that no one would talk about this tonight."
"Yes, I know I'm sorry," Jonathan sighed, crumpling up his bag and throwing it into a trashcan. "Ok then, where to next? The arcade?"
For the next four hours, they tried to have a good time, but in the back of their minds, they knew that it was all just for show.  The only way they could make the situation any brighter was if they could somehow stop the inevitable from happening, but that was impossible. As it approached midnight, they got back in the car and headed back to the office, dreading their arrival.
         Sitting in the back seat of the car, Jack tried to calm his mind, but he couldn't get the nagging feeling out of his head that his life as he knew it would be over in less than half an hour.
Deep into his thoughts, he didn't even realize it when he began to taste something strange and copper tasting in his mouth. He reached his hand up to his lips, and when he pulled his hand away, blood stained his fingers.
"Jack!" Nathali, in the seat to his right, noticed the blood. "Jonathan, pull over! Something's wrong!"
Searing pain hit Jack in his upper gums. He cried out, and reached up to his teeth. His canine teeth had grown to over half of their original size and blood was trickling down the corners of his mouth. Emily, who was in the passenger seat fumbled in the glove compartment and pulled out some gauze in a first aid kit and handed it back to Dan. "Here, take them. They might help stop some of the bleeding," she looked beside her at Jonathan and pointed straight ahead. "Hurry we're almost to VSF, and midnight is in ten minutes."
Jonathan sped down the road, going well over the speed limit, narrowly avoiding cars and he dodged between them. He hoped that there were no cops on the road. Although they had a perfectly good excuse, and the cop would let them proceed, it would crucially slow them down. 
As blood seeped down Jack's throat, he coughed it up and blood sprayed the back of the seat in front of him. Nathali put the gauze up to his mouth to stop the bleeding, but it didn't stop, and eventually she gave up. "It's not working," she said frantically. "We'll have to wait until we get back to the agency. Come on Jonathan, cant you go any faster? You aren't living up to your nickname."
Suddenly, the car lurched forward as it sailed over a construction ramp and touched back onto the pavement. "Whooooo!" Jonathan hollered, "What about now!"
As the car entered the VSF garage, it skidded to a halt, and a team of medical surgeons rushed forward. The doctor that had come to Jack's aid earlier, was in the lead, wrenching open the ream car door.
"Where have you been? He should have come back earlier. There's not much time." Nathali leaped out of the car and the doctor dove in to grab Jack whose shirt was stained with blood. "Hurry up," he said to his medical team. "Get him into containment room three stat." They hurried into the building, carrying a wounded Jack between them. The doctor looked at the remaining Alpha team members. "You'd better hope that they can get him into containment. It he starts to turn before then, there will be no stopping him-" He was interrupted as there was a cry from in the building and then a woman's scream. He glared at the team and dashed into the building, quickly followed by the team.
Upon entering VSF, there were more screams. Jack was fighting off the doctors and police officers were drawing their weapons, and trying to calm him down. Jack grabbed a nearby woman by the throat and pulled her in front of him, acting as a shield.
"Get away!" he was screaming, clearly beginning his transformation into a vampire. Blood was dripping from his mouth, and foaming around it. Suddenly, he doubled over and yelled in agony, losing his grip on the woman and she slithered from his grasp. "Ahhhhhh," he yelled, collapsing to the floor and convulsing.
"Get a tranquilizer!" someone yelled. An officer came from behind with a needle and thrust it into Jack's neck. After several seconds, he ceased to move and he lay still on the floor.
The doctor ran up to Jack and pushed his way through the crowd. "Everyone, get out of the way,"
he yelled. "Move!" He summoned his medical team and motioned for them to pick up Jack. "Take him to containment room three. The tranquilizer will only last a couple of minutes. Hurry!" The medical team whisked Jack away and down a hallway to the containment rooms. He looked at Alpha Team who had been standing back in the doorway watching the entire scene.
"I hope you're happy. You almost caused the death of this entire office. If it hadn't been for the tranquilizer, he would have killed everyone, including you. Maybe not now, but once he changed, there would be no stopping him." He glanced down the hallway where Jack was being placed in a room, "Come on, let's go."
They walked to containment room three and looked through the glass wall into the room. It was a large white room with nothing in it except for the walls themselves. Jack lay sprawled on the floor in a deep sleep.
Nathali lowered her head, and tears glossed over her eyes. The doctor noticed her and looked at the team. "You don't have to be here you know. You don't need to watch his transformation. Come back in an hour and we can talk about what to do."
Dan looked at Nathali and took her by the arm. "Come on Nathali, let's leave." As Dan led her from the hall, Jonathan took Emily by the hand and also led her away.
Once out in the main room, Nathali whipped away her tears and stood before the confused agents and officers. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Agent Jack Kaler was bitten by Calamar last week in the warehouse raid." Although her voice was shaky, she strained to keep calm. "Right now, he is going through his final transformation. Once it is over, his fate will be decided.