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“Hi, may I join you?”

David looked around and saw a pretty young woman with short dark hair and dressed as a flapper.

“Of course!” He nodded and moved up to make room for her. “Hi, I am David Carter.” He extended his hand.

“Elizabeth Rayne.” She shook his hand. “My friends call me Ellie. Leisa has a nice garden doesn’t she?” She smiled at him and her deep brown eyes lit up.

“It looks okay,” he agreed. “Though perhaps not at its best in this weather. It must take ages to keep tidy. I hope the storm doesn’t ruin it.” He looked outside again and noticed a woman in an iridescent blue silk dress and peacock feathers in her strawberry blonde hair dancing with a man dressed as a knight on the covered patio. “I must have been a kid the last time I was at a costume party.”

“Really? But they’re such fun.” Elizabeth was also looking at the couple. “But I am not sure what she’s supposed to be.” She opened the window. “Hey, Helen! What on Earth is that outfit supposed to be?”

“Nothing specific, Ellie.” Helen stopped dancing and grinned at her. “I couldn’t think of a costume idea, so I decided just to do something unusual and alluring.”

“Hey, Ellie!” The knight took off his helmet and shook out his red brown hair. David blinked in recognition – he was one of his suspects. He really shouldn’t be so surprised that there was more than one vampire at this party.

“This is David,” Elizabeth said. “David the woman with the feathers which clash horrendously with her hair is Helen and her knight in shining armour is Karl.”

“Hello.” David said and and then winced at how inane that sounded, but he was far too nervous to say anything else without squeaking and he knew it. Just how many of the guests at this party were vampires, for all he knew it could be most of them.

“You seem a little jumpy,” Karl noted. He was leaning on the window-sill. “Are you always like this at parties?”

“Well actually I don’t go to that many.” That was true in so far as it went, but he suspected that Karl knew exactly why he was nervous. He wasn’t sure about the other two. They might be vampires, at the very least they knew they existed he was sure, but he wasn’t sure if they knew about him. He sort of hopes Elizabeth wasn’t a vampire because she was nice and cute, then again he wasn’t sure if he cared any more. He certainly didn’t know if he should.

“Are you saying that you are always like this at parties? You really need to get out more.” Karl might well sound amused David realised. Even if he did continue hunting vampires – and the way the Order was he would have to do some hunting to keep up appearances – Karl was ready for him now and would most likely move.

“I guess that I am a little jumpy.” David emptied his beer. “Excuse me but I need another beer.” He rose to his feet and headed to the other room. “I’ll be right back.”

“May be it’ll help you relax more,” Elizabeth called after him.

There was still plenty of beer in the cooler and for a moment he thought no one else was indulging. Then he noticed that the stack of four-packs in the corner was lower. Someone must be refreshing the supply regularly.

Sarah was standing in the corner talking to a young man who was dressed as some superhero David didn’t recognise. David caught her eye and she saluted him with her can of cider, made her excuses and walked over to him.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Dave?” she asked.

“Actually I am a little tense,” he admitted. “I’m chatting to some people but I don’t think I get out enough. I keep getting all tense.”

She laughed at that. “I’ll have to invite you to more parties then, bro.”

“Bro?” he asked with mock incredulity as she walked in to the other room with him.

“Well you call me sis so it’s only fair.” She laughed again. She gave a grin when she saw who he was talking to. “Hey, Ellie! I see that you’ve met my brother.” Helen and Karl were no longer outside. David guessed that they were making their way back inside.

“Yeah. He’s jumpy.” She looked Sarah up and down. “I like your costume, Sal.”

“Thanks.” She twirled to show off the Kimono. “So how have you been? It’s been a while.”

“Okay, busy.” Elizabeth stretched. “You?”

David sighed to himself. It looked like his sister had hijacked his conversation. She and Elizabeth must be old friends, so he left them to catch up. He was starting on his third can of beer when he noticed Karl and Helen ducking out of the kitchen with a wine bottle. Something seemed odd about the bottle and his curiosity got the better of him. He looked around then slipped into the kitchen while no one was looking.

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