The sun would rise soon. Susan was curled up on the sofa, about half-way through her book. She'd been unable to sleep. She was worrying about Tom, who should have returned by now. She was worrying about the people in Depada, who she'd seen on the news. She was worrying about what had happened that day at the town hall. As hard as she tried, she couldn't concentrate on her book. The lamplight flickered on the aging oak-panelled walls. This had been a beatiful house, back in its day. She looked up at the circular stained-glass window. One of the small panes was missing. She walked over to the desk and removed a small tube of glue from the top drawer. She crossed to the window, and was about to pick a blue pane up off the floor, when there was a knock at the door. She tossed the tube of glue onto the sofa and headed for the hall. She opened the door as far as the chain would allow, and saw that it was the council leader.
"Hello, Mr. Dalton!" she exclaimed. She was about to comment on the pleasentness of his surprise visit, when she saw his expression. She removed the chain and opened the door. "What's wrong?"
"Hello, Mrs. Bradhurst. Is Tom back?"
"No, why?"
"I'm calling an extraordinary meeting of the council. You'll see why. Come as quickly as possible. You'll have to tell Tom about it when he gets back. See you there." With that, he left. Susan closed the door. This was a worrying development.

Tom was a notoriously bad riser. Barely conscious, he was unaware that anything was wrong. Without opening his eyes, he turned over in an attempt to find a comfortable position. Something was wrong. His bed felt different. Blearily, he opened his eyes. Above him were the beams and planks of an uncovered wooden ceiling. The morning sunshine blazed through a modest window to his left. A familiar looking grey buck and an unfamiliar female rabbit were looking down at him. The latter's hand passed his eyes and he could feel her mopping his forehead. It hurt. He tried to call out, but all he could manage was a brief guttural sound.
"Shhh," murmured the girl. Memories of the previous day's events started to return. He cleared his throat, and croakily asked what was going on.

Susan entered the council chamber by the rear door. The wall behind her curved around on either side until the two halves face each other, then a straight wall ran between them, forming a half-moon shape. Two long desks, one on either side, curved around with the wall. Like everything else in the town, they were showing their age. Between them and the wall councillors were standing in small groups, murmuring quietly to one another. In front of her lay the central aisle. Beyond the desks there were two steps down into a lowered area, at the end of which stood leader's desk, three steps up. On the wall behind hung the coat of arms of the town. It was a curious feature. It had been granted to the town in a previous age, by a king whose name nobody could remember. It was in recognition of the arduousness of being a frontier town. Right now, the town was about as far away from the frontier as you could get. Susan had pondered this the first time she had gone to see her husband speak. Now her attention was caught by something quite different. On the leader's desk, facing her and the councillors, was a monitor. The computer it was attached to was turned on, but the screen itself was turned off. Behind it sat Dalton, quietly observing the scene.
Susan walked over to two of her acquantances and asked what was going on. It appeared everyone had a theory about why the meeting had been called. Nobody knew anything conclusive. Finally, the last sleepy colleague entered the chamber. Dalton called for order, and they all took their seats.
"Ladies and gentlemen," began Dalton, "we have two serious problems on our hands. A few hours ago I was watching television. Not at home, but in a Channel Eight news van. I have a recording of what I saw." He stopped, and made sure he had their undivided attention. "I think you should all watch it." He switched on the monitor. The first frame was showing, an eager Channel 8 presenter in front of the Greenthorpe mansion. Dalton pressed play. The councillors watched intently: the rats, the paintings, the marines, the figure in the kitchen... A few of the councillors couldn't stand the sight of blood, and had to leave hurriedly. When they returned, the hall was silent. As they sat down, Dalton continued, "That's not the only problem. Most of you will know about the incident at the town hall yesterday. Some of you were there. A few of you will have recognised the gentleman involved."

"The name's Tony Waterbeck. I'm a pilot. I crash landed near Greenthorpe. I was trying to get back home to Technoir when I came across you lot in that forest." Tom had heard of Tony Waterbeck, of course. A sporting celebrity.
"So, how did you come to be chased by those thugs?" asked the girl, who had introduced herslef as Majo.
"I don't know. One minute I was riding along - " Tom stopped as the door opened and Louie walked in. There was something about him, something familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Uh. Hi."
"Good morning, Mr. Bradhurst," replied Louie. He drew a chair up to Tom's bed and sat down. "How's your head?"
"It's been better. But I'll live. Hey, did you ever go to Relwick University? It's just that you remind me of... of..." Tom trailed off.
"No. I never had the chance to go to university. Not that I never studied. I've... spent a lot of time in a library."
"I'm sorry. It doesn't matter. You must be Louie."
"Yes."
"Thanks for coming to my rescue last night."
"Well, I do have a vested interest in your safety."
"What's that, then?"
"You are Thomas Bradhurst. Councillor Thomas Bradhurst. You're in charge of property and planning in Greenthorpe."
"Yes. But you could buy property or get planning permission or whatever without me."
"I don't think many people in Greenthorpe would be willing to sell me anything. Besides which, I may already own the property in question." Louie stopped and looked at Tony. He'd already been told. "Mr. Bradhurst, I wonder if you know more than me about the property rights of the deceased. Or, rather, the undeceased."
"The undeceasad?" It clicked. A textbook from his first year at Relwick. How to Recognise the Undead.

Susan couldn't believe what she was hearing. When she first heard the rumours, she had thought she could believe in vampires. But now that she was actually being told that there was a vampire on the loose, it was too incredible.
"But we can't be sure the vampire in the video was Louie. We should be prepared for the possibity that there are two, maybe more." said Dalton. "Mr. Parker, you'd like to speak?"
"Yes sir, thank you. Our first action should be to demolish the Greenthorpe mansion. The vampire or vampires should have nowhere to hide or set up a base of operations."