She heard something beep in the cupboard, and it was very faint. She wondered what the sound was, and when she opened the cupboard door, her mouth slightly fell open. She noticed the surveillance monitor, and it had little windows that showed the footage of some parts of her house—the main door, the kitchen, the backyard and then the basement.

  "Shit," whispered Melanie. "When did they install these things?"

  She had hovered in front of the basement, and her parents would know once they would check it. She had to erase it before they would come.

  She heard someone tap on the window of her parent's room, and for a moment, she felt her heart thunder by thinking that her parents were back. Noticing Simon waving at her, she quickly opened the window to let him in.

  "We have a problem," said Melanie, turning her head to look in the direction of the opened cupboard.

  "Oh wow, looks like your parents run tight security. Which they should, considering they do keep vampires as hostages. You know we should probably have them work for Veteris," replied Simon. He walked towards the cupboard and came to stand in front of the monitor. "Imagine if the police were to find out that a couple was holding humans in the basement. It wouldn't look that pretty now, would it?"

  "Is there a way to erase the footage and replace it so that they don't find out?" asked Melanie, and Simon nodded.

  "Sure. But first let us go and check the little treasure vault in the basement," said Simon, and they both made their way towards the basement.

  The basement door looked just like a wall if one didn't turn on the light to better look at it. Simon took a closer look and said, "Knife."

  Melanie quickly provided him with the knife that she had gotten from the kitchen earlier. Simon inserted the tip of the knife inside the lock and turned the lock carefully, and when he pushed it a little further, he felt a zap of electricity shoot up in his arm, spreading to his entire body.

  "They have turned the security tighter than I expected it to be," murmured Simon, shaking his head to remove the jolt of electric current that he felt a moment ago. "Let me try again."

  But when Simon tried to push the knife harder, this time, his body couldn't handle the current, and he threw up blood.

  "Simon!" Melanie moved closer, wanting to help him, but he raised his hand.

  "Don't come near," and when he turned, she noticed his green eyes had turned red. "This isn't just human proof, but vampire proof." He wiped the blood with the back of his hand and licked the corner of his mouth with his lips.

  "I don't think I can open it," Simon confessed because he knew the probability of being electrocuted with a higher voltage wasn't too far if he tried to probe in further.

  "Is there no other way?" asked Melanie, biting her bottom lip.

  "Well we could break the door, but I don't think it would be good for you," replied Simon. He stared at the door carefully, looking at the corners before fishing his phone from his pocket and making a call. When the person on the other end picked it up, he said, "We don't have a key, and too much probing and poking might lead to my last electrocution…… yes it is……" He heard what the other person said, while Melanie, who couldn't hear what the other person was speaking, picked up her phone to look at the time.

  She quickly texted Conner and asked him, 'Where are you guys? Did you guys reach the residence?'

  'We should be there in 5min,' read Conner's text, and he sent another text, 'Your parents are right behind us. I am keeping an eye. How are things there?'

  'Not so good,' answered Melanie. 'We are trying to get through the door.'

  Melanie heard Simon speaking through his phone, "No, they aren't here…… I don't know," he paused to look at Melanie and asked, "How long until your parents return home?"

  "Probably two hours from what I know," she responded, and he passed out the same information.

  "Alright then," said Simon before hanging up his phone. "Dante said she will send someone with the locks."

  "But Veteris is far, and it will take an hour just to come here," replied Melanie, and Simon smiled at her.

  He leaned over and kissed her lips, "I missed you."

  Melanie received his kiss, kissing him back before she pulled away from him as she was worried.

  "Frown doesn't look good on you," stated Simon, pushing the hair on her forehead. "How about you get me some good food, while I will fix the footage recordings," chimed Simon, stepping away from the door and making his way up the stairs.

  Melanie had an apprehensive look, and she asked, "And the door."

  Coming to stand behind Melanie, Simon placed his hands on her shoulders and nudged her forward, "Leave that to the vampires," he assured her. "Now a strong coffee with snacks."

  Melanie sighed. Going to the kitchen, she prepared some sandwiches and coffee for him. Every once in a while, she looked at the door and then at the corridor that led to her parent's room. And when she was done plating the food, she heard a loud clatter, and she quickly took a look at the hall and saw two more vampires standing in her house.

  There stood Elder Donovan and Roman Moltenore. Donovan, who still could apparate except for using his smoke like flames on people, and Roman, who had a key that opened locks, walked through the hall.

  Simon quickly stepped out of Melanie's parent's room and informed them, "The door is down on the left."

  Roman, who was already there before, walked towards it, and Donovan followed him, who gave a smile to Melanie. But Melanie's smile came out stiff.

  When they both went to check the basement, Melanie asked, "I thought the Elders and the others lost their abilities recently. How is he still able to apparate?" she asked Simon.

  "He is the powerful one out of the four Elder vampires. I guess that is why there's still resistance from whatever happened, but I heard he cannot apparate in and out as easily as he did before," explained Simon before picking up the sandwich from the plate and putting it in his mouth.

  Melanie hoped for everything to go well and her parents would not find out what she was up to.

  Simon then said, "I have got the footage fixed until now. I will fix the rest once Rome and Azazel leave."

  "You did?" asked Melanie with surprise in her voice.

  Simon gave her a nod, "I don't mean to boast, but I am pretty good at it. The times when all of us had to sneak out during the first year, I was the one to fumble through these things so that we didn't spend much time in the detention room."

  It was good to know that him breaking the rules had come in handy right now, thought Melanie to herself.

  Outside the basement of the Davis family, Roman and Donovan stood in front of its door.

  "Can you try apparating to get into the room?" questioned Roman, as he pulled his key in one hand and placed his other hand on the metal door.

  "Unfortunately no, if I do it now, I won't be able to get us back later. I mean I wouldn't want to travel that far," complained the Elder vampire. When Roman gave him a look, he added, "Yes, I do know there are vehicles, but they are still a hassle. Either way, you have the magical key, so everything is good."

  The metal rings that belonged to Roman slowly started to mold, forming into the key shape required, and he pushed it into the lock before opening the basement door with a click.

  "Mm, I smell something more than the acidic smell inside," hummed Donovan when Roman pushed the door.

  "Blood of vampires," replied Roman, and he stepped inside with Donovan closely following him. Once he turned on the light of the place, he noticed ten vampires in there. Five of them looked good as dead, while the other five had needles and other things inserted into their arms or attached to their temples.

  "Who is that scientist who creates people? Or the person with all these bolts. I was just watching that movie last week," Donovan clicked his tongue as if unable to remember it.

  "Frankenstein?" asked Roman, and Donovan smiled.

  "That's the one. It looks like we have some crazy scientists here," commented Donovan, looking at the number of bottles that were racked up on the shelves, and his eyes brightened up. "I would like to take each of them to have it in my collection. What do you think, Rome?"

  "Maybe some other time. Right now, we are looking for the one which causes instant death to the vampires," answered Roman, and he started to look through the labels. When he found one of the vials that had the recent date, he poured the substance inside another glass vial he had brought before pouring water into the original one. He then placed it back on its shelf as if it had been left untouched.

  "I think we are done here," said Roman, and when he caught Donovan shaking one of the glass vials, he asked, "What are you doing?"

  Donovan almost dropped the glass vial, and he said, "Oops." He placed it back from where he had picked it. "I am curious what these bottles do? Imagine the prized possession of the hunters, who even made sure there was a secure lock. It is like a treasure vault for the hunters. I will come for them later."

  Taking another look around the basement, they finally closed the door and heard it lock.

  When they stepped out, Melanie, waiting outside, asked them, "Is it done?"

  Roman gave her a nod, "Yes. Everything is, thanks for your help."

  Donovan brightly smiled at Melanie, and before she knew it, both the vampires disappeared in thin air.

  Simon was still sitting in front of the computer, changing the files and scenes from the previous days to clean the evidence and once he finished, he grinned. "There you go. Everything is done, and there is nothing to worry about anymore."

  When Simon left Melanie's house through her room's window, she was glad that everything had been handled without any damage. She wondered what was going on from Conner's side because she hadn't received a text from him.