As the two young men left the high toned modern klaxon rang out again. Vladimir sighed, he wanted a period of quiet to lament his beloved Leona. It was only Brian, Vladimir procured three packs of cigarettes and rang them up. "Evening Vlad may I please have three packs of....oh shit thanks." Brian placed the rest of his items on the counter. A two liter of mountain dew, a neopolitan ice cream sandwich, and a bag of flaming hot cheetos.

"Good evening Brian, how does ze night find you?"

"Kinda shitty, the new patch ruined everything. My main got completely nerfed into the ground, been on a losing streak since this morning. Chat's chill about it though and the donos have been good so I really shouldn't complain. Why would they nerf Crimson's sweep distance, it was already mid-tier if anything you would nerf....." As Brian rambled on two more people in hooded sweatshirts slunk into the shop. Vladimir sensed their ill intentions. He placed his hands on Brian's shoulders and stared into his eyes.

"Brian you are going to go lie down in ze employee break room and take a nap. Vile you slumber you vill have a most amazing dream. It vill solve this little problem you are having. You shall not vake from ze dream until I summon you."

"Yes my master." Brian disappeared into the break room behind the counter. Vladimir called out to the two people roaming the aisles of the shop.

"Good evening lady and gentleman. Is there anything I can do to assist you this evening?" "Give us all the money in the register and the safe! Now!" The gunman yelled. Vladimir smiled. He put his hands up and spread his black bat like wings out. "Take your best shots. Better assassins than you have tried."

Gunfire erupted, the two glocks were modified with giggle switches, they emptied their clips quickly. A swarm of bats surrounded the two robbers, every shot they fired missed. Vladimir reformed from the swarm and gently touched the female robbers lips. She removed her hood and pulled her mask down, her face pockmarked and scarred. She was frozen. Vlad did the same to her accomplice, he followed suit. The same pockmarked visage. Vlad floated behind the woman and smelled her hair, smelled like cigarettes. He opened wide and placed his fangs on her neck. Thunder clapped. The lights in the shop went out. Red emergency lights bathed the shop in crimson light. Vladimir floated behind the man and placed his hands on his shoulders. The man's heart was filled with conflict. He needed a good scare.

"Your partner vas beautiful once, vasn't she?" Vlad asked.

"She still is." The robber was compelled to tell the truth.

"I'm going to feast on her blood, vhen I do that she shall become my slave for all eternity. Every whim, every desire of mine she vill fulfill. I shall make you vatch that, you vill be powerless to stop it. Then I vill let you go, and you vill curse god as I once did. Then you shall know true cruelty, you shall know true punishment for your greed. That is the price you must pay for intruding in my shop. I've grown fond of ze mortals here, zhey do not know my true nature. Cannot have bandits robbing me blind, I need repeat customers. Not petty thieves."

The two thieves spoke in unison. "We're sorry, we'll leave."

"And you shall not return. Or my vengeance shall be swift." Vladimir gently led the thieves out of the shop, returning them to the rainy night. He snapped his fingers. The lights came back on. "You may arise from your dream Brian!"

Brian stretched and yawned loudly as he returned to the spot he had been standing in before the attempted robbery. "So where was I? Umm...you know I thought of a way around the sweep problem because the patch did charge his standing medium startup frames......"

Vladimir floated over to the slushee machine and poured himself a large cherry slushee. He listened to Brian rant, the mortals were nothing if not entertaining.