Vampire Sunrise

The scene was grotesque; three cute teenage demons were eating freshly killed witch vampires. I didn't know what to say about them eating the vampires and opted to talk about how they survived the magic.

"The vampires cast a barrage of spells at you; why were you not killed?" I asked.

"We 'fiends' as the other demons like to call us, are immune to magic. You see, we were cursed beyond that of regular demons. Once, we were mighty weavers of spells, but our ability to use and control magic was wiped from us when we were cursed. Bringing us through the veil has somehow broken our bindings. It is true that long ago, we were very unkind, but over the many thousands of years have come to understand our place.

"Angel is old like we are and knew that our abilities would break the witch magic and allow us to deal with the situation, so I guess that's why she suggested we come. We are quite happy that you called us; it has been ages since we've had a proper meal," Eleanor said, wiping her bloody mouth.

"When you're done with the bodies, please come find me, but don't show yourself to the humans," I said. The three nodded in unison and continued their banquet.

"Angel, let's go check on Charley, then head to Jackson Square for the vampire sunrise."

We walked back to the hospital and into the emergency department entrance. The hospital was in no better shape now than it was before the fiends dealt with the storm. The dead lay covered with sheets on gurneys, and most sheets were stained red through and through.

We managed to find Charley in the fray. She was in stable condition but still too weak to open her eyes. The paramedic did as I asked and didn't leave her side. I thanked him and told him we were going to find her mother.

We left Tulane Medical and headed back to Jackson Square. Witches were gathered around the soon-to-be pyre embellishing it with Harmony Lilies. One of the witches was Katie.

"Katie," I said, walking up behind her.

"Alice, it has been a hell of a night. I'm glad you're OK."

"We found Charley; she's at Tulane Medical and stable but has lost a lot of blood and was cut up pretty badly."

Katie responded, "Thank the goddess she's not dead; I'll let Sarah know so she can go take care of her." Katie finished positioning her flowers around the vampire bodies, walked over to another witch, and started talking. The other witch was probably the head of Sarah's coven.

Eddie Baker and his news crew seemed to be in high spirits; he was huddled under an extra-large open-sided tent with two others from the station laughing and carrying on. It wasn't raining any longer; the only weather event was steam that rose steadily from the pavement.

The storm was much worse near the hospital. The artificial storm that destroyed tents, flooded roads and threatened to invade Tulane Medical didn't happen at Jackson Square. The Square was wet, but there were no signs of severe flooding or significant wind damage.

I looked up and saw the clouds breaking apart, preparing to let the sun cast an impenetrable barrier against the vampires. Once the sunrise service was over, I needed to work out a game plan with the witches. We didn't need to have another disaster like last night.

It was almost 6:00 am and people had started to come out from their homes. The aftermath of last night was shocking, but the people of New Orleans were resilient and knew vampires were no threat during the day.

The area around Jackson Square fared better against vampires than most other parts of the city due to Anthelion piling up bodies and working the alleys.