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After treating Jalen's wounds from the previous night's battle, Ethan turns his attention
to his other patient, the wounded vampire-hunting commando. Noticing that the commando, David, was healing
faster than expected, Ethan examines his blood and finds some distinctly non-human elements. After showing
the results to Dana and Patrick, Ethan concludes that the commandos are injecting themselves with something,
presumably to enhance their combat abilities even though the effect is temporary. When David awakens, they
question him but he does not know what it is he and the others inject, just that it gives them an edge when
hunting vampires. He won't divulge much detail about his group but he does thank the team for their help
and leaves to report back in to his unit.
Hoping to identify the nature of the demonic elements in the commando's blood, Dana heads to UCLA
to talk with her demonology professor. After listening to Dana's questions, Doctor Rutherford suggests she
check out some of the volumes in the UCLA library's restricted section. He writes her up the necessary
permission forms and Dana heads to the library to check out the recommended tomes. Her search leads Dana to
a 19th century book titled Evolution of the Vampyre. In addition to notes on common vampires the book
also refers to two other creatures. The first is a vicious vampire-like demon called a Turok-Han which is generally
considered to be a primitive or primeval form of vampire. The second variant described in the book is what
really gets Dana's attention, a creature called a Dusk Lord. According to the book, a Dusk Lord is believed
to be the next evolutionary step of the vampire. The powers the book describes - able to survive decapitation,
telekinesis, and predilection for magical abilities - matches what the group observed in Talan and Keri,
leading Dana to believe that the two are Dusk Lords.
Meanwhile Patrick and Ethan have been doing some research of their own, each in their own
unique style. Patrick searches the demon underworld of Los Angeles, looking for any clues as to the location
of Talan. Unfortunately he learns that Talan is too "high-class" to deal directly with any of the
lower beings. The demons Patrick does get to talk all point him to Wolfram & Hart as the best source for
any information on a creature like Talan. Elsewhere Ethan is trying a more dangerous method of information
gathering. Heading to the Paradise Theater, Ethan attempts a seance to contact the spirits of Patrick's
former partners. He succeeds in contacting the spirit of 'Helsing', but the young man's ghost is unable
to give Ethan any useful information, other than the gruesome details of his own death. Helsing's soul had
moved on after his death and did not stay around as a true ghost. When Ethan tries to summon Peter St.
James' spirit he encounters a demonic presence that tells him that Peter belongs to it. As the demon's
presence fades Ethan sees a symbol he recognizes from the sword Patrick carries with him.
Ethan returns to the house, where Dana has already filled in Patrick and Jalen about what
she has learned about the Dusk Lords. Ethan tells the group what he did and asks Patrick about the sword.
Patrick tells the others that the sword was Peter's and that Peter came from a family heavily involved in
Black Magic. It is likely the sword is tied to the family and that is why the demon manifested the same
symbol as is on the sword. The
information still moves the group no closer to locating Talan and Keri, but they do learn something else.
Dana has come up with means to identify the mysterious substance in the commando's blood. After a couple of
tests she determines that the commandos are injecting themselves with a form of vampire blood.
Dana is not the only one to have discovered the source of the commandos' powers. At his
base of operations, Talan has discovered the vampire blood as well; after dissecting one of the commandos
he and his minions killed at the theater. Enraged at what he sees as a violation of the natural (or
unnatural) order he uses necromancy to interrogate the dead commando. His questions about who is responsible
for the "abomination" elicits a single response: Maalik.
At the commando base, the aforementioned Dr. Maalik is seen entering a secure lab. Inside
is a bank of computers and a large circular device. The device is spinning and it appears to be generating
a portal of some kind. Within the portal can be seen a group of snarling creatures: the Turok-Han.
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