The Medic was right. Anna did suffer from the withdrawal and as lucky as she was, the small emergency phone had beeped in the middle of the worst part. So she had had to put on her special clothes and her helmet and had had to run into a fight with yet another vampire.

She won, she always did, but it had a cost. A broken arm wouldn't have been a big deal for her regenerating ability on a good day, but the potion she took messed up her system. Of course, she hadn't called the Medic: Anna knew that the man could heal her in the matter of an hour or so, but she was way too proud for that. A little pain wasn't too big of a price to pay if she didn't have to say "you were right".

All things considered, the three days she spent in her room, waiting for her body to catch up, wasn't the worst thing at all. She finally had time to think, make plans, heal all the older wounds and bruises she half-forgot already.

After the drug withdrawal finished its business with her, Anna was able to think clearly, and whatever angle she looked at the things, the answer always had been the man at the Crossroads. As the Gentleman said, if someone knew who was behind the vampire-attacks, it was him.

Arranging a meeting with a crime lord as a well-known vigilante wasn't exactly easy, though. Every fool would have called a trap, and the man at the Crossroads pub did the same. The phone number Anna got from the Gentleman worked, but the call was pointless.

Now that one of her main skills, communication, failed, Anna decided to use the other thing she was really good at: kicking asses until she got what she wanted.

The pub named Crossroads was easy to find. Rather unsurprisingly, it was in Camden Town, a little further away from the Market and other tourist favourite spots. It was a boat, two-story, huge houseboat, obviously too big for the narrow and not really deep Regent's Canal, anchored next to a footbridge arching over the water.

Even though it was a front for some seriously illegal activity, it was a real pub too, with more or less innocent people drinking away their problems there, so Anna waited until some time after midnight before she walked up the ramp leading to the entrance. The pub officially closed at one in the morning, so the girl figured it won't be that crowded right before closing time.

Two men stood guard at the ramp, both in black T-shirts and suit jackets. One of them was short but extremely muscular, which made him look like a wall more than anything else. The other, as Anna noticed as she walked closer, wasn't even a man, but a woman dressed as a man, with a serious face. She was a little older than Anna with short black hair.

'I'm sorry, but it's the last call already, you will have to come back tomorrow,' said the woman.

Anna stopped in front of them, looked up and threw her hood back.

'Shit!'

The small, muscular man reached under his jacket to grab some kind of weapon, but Anna seized his wrist, pulled him closer and headbutted him with her metal helmet. The man collapsed with a bleeding nose and didn't get up.

A huge hit landed on Anna's shoulder, throwing her backwards. Her right arm went numb in seconds. The short-haired woman looked at her and said in a suggestive, calm voice:

'Stop right there. You don't want to move.'

Anna did as she was told, and the vampire walked up to her with a smirky little smile on her face.

'I was always curious who was under this thing,' she said. 'Take off your mask.'

Anna's left arm, the one she could still use, emerged. But instead of getting the helmet off, the hand closed into a fist and the vampire went down as the piece of chain crawling in the grass reached her ankles and swiped her legs.

Anna sent the vampire to sleep with a handy little instant spell she started to carry not long ago. It was ridiculously expensive and she had to break the little marble very close to the target's face so it worked best if they were already on the floor, but this time it worked out just perfectly.

Of course, none of that would have mattered if her helmet wouldn't make her immune to the vampires' mind control. A trick proved endlessly useful in the past months.

Anna went up on the ramp and opened the door. Inside the place looked just like any other pub in London, with a long bar at one wall, tables, jukebox. Next to the bar, there was a red door, with "staff only" written on it. Must have been the way to upstairs. She cut across the floor and her hand was already on the doorknob (thanks to her healing abilities the numb arm worked once again) when someone stopped her.

'Hey! You can't go up there!'

The thug must have been the kind who shoots first and only asks questions after because a ball of sparks hit the red door right next to Anna's head. She ducked which was a good idea because the next curse would have been a hit otherwise. The girl jumped behind a table, knocking it sideways as she went and it protected her from the third shot. Fortunately, the chairs around had enough metal screws in them for Anna to move them, and she did so, hitting the shooting bastard at the back of his head. He went down with a groan, dropping his baton.

From behind a bar, a bartender joined the fight: she threw a full bottle of rum at Anna's head with flawless aiming. The evening probably would have ended for her there if it wasn't for the fae helmet. She dodged the next bottle and got out another instant spell from her pocket. This was supposed to make fog thick enough so nobody can see through it but the eyes of her helmet. Just for some additional chaos, Anna made some of the metallic furniture fly around, then crawled back to the red door.

It was closed. That wasn't a problem: Anna learned the exact working mechanism of the most common locks and with the help of the helmet she picked the lock in seconds. She didn't even use tools: her mind was all she needed.

Behind the door, as Anna suspected, a narrow wooden staircase led up to a small landing, then another door. The problem was the sorcerer who stood in the landing, glowing wand pointing at Anna's chest.

She huddled up against the wall to avoid the incoming curse. There wasn't a second one: Anna pulled the swing-door on the top of the stairs open by its lock and it pushed the sorcerer towards the edge. He rolled down with a series of painful thuds and collapsed with the red door. Anna broke his wand just in case and up she went.

The room she arrived in was luxurious. Huge, leather couches, a small wood-burning stove, thick plush carpet, giant flat-screen TV on the wall, bookshelf with identical leather-covered books, two big men with batons…

Anna ducked and the first strike went above her head. She kicked her attacker's legs to swipe them but the man was so massive he barely noticed that. Anna rolled on the carpet and clashed with the other man. He was significantly smaller, small enough to fall down because of the impact. Anna gave him a quick elbow in the face as he fell, then made his metal baton jump out of his hands. He didn't need it anymore, anyway. It flew towards the huge man's forehead, but he moved faster than thought and simply cast it aside with his own baton.

'Oh c'mon,' busted out Anna in an offended voice. 'If you are this big, could you be at least slow?'

The answer was probably a hard "no" because the gorilla-like man was already onto her. Getting hit in the head with a baton from a strong man isn't fun, not even while wearing a helmet that takes most of the effect.

Anna was fast, too. She got in some good punches and the metallic parts in her gloves acted like a boxer. The man gave a huffed groan as a sign of displeasure but attacked again. Sure, Anna could have taken the fight, hand to hand, and she might just be able to emerge as a winner, injured and tired as hell. That was an option. She went to another way though and had the big man's baton hit its owner at his temple. The first one caused some surprise, the second made him stumble and the third brought the well-deserved concussion.

Someone clapped. Anna turned around, ready to fight, but the man had no intention to attack.

'Very impressive,' he said in a sonorous voice, with a perfect English accent. 'Very entertaining, too. You must be the one they call the Ghost.'

He was much younger than Anna imagined, barely even mid-thirties. That didn't add up: the Gentleman said he was on the scene for a long time now. Maybe a vampire?

Vampire or not, he was an outrageously good-looking man. A little taller than Anna, athletic but not heavily muscled, with dark hair and eyes. He had a shade of stubble around his chin. He wore an obviously very expensive black suit with a red shirt, but without a tie. His smile was almost too seductive. Of course, he wasn't perfect; his nose was a little too long and his mouth was a little too wide, but he possessed a kind of magnetic attractiveness that Anna found so irresistible in Jenna Carano. His stare was so intensive that the girl had to fight off the urge of turning her eyes elsewhere even though the man couldn't see her face.

'I need some information,' she said.

'Please, have a seat,' the man nodded towards one of the sofas, but Anna stayed where she was.

The man walked up to a minibar and poured an inch of whiskey into a crystal glass.

'I'd ask if you want something but I assume the answer would be no anyway,' he said, turning to Anna. 'Before we start, let me clarify the rules: if I possess the knowledge you seek, and I decide to share it with you, you will be in my debt. Said debt will be a favour I get to ask from you, whenever I please. Any favour I see suitable.'

Anna scoffed.

'I just beat up your entire security team, man. What makes you think that you are in any kind of bargain position?'

'Very simple, my dear,' the man answered. 'You want something I have, so you will have to pay for it. That's how the world works. It's always been the way.'

'You seem to forget the fact that I'm not only willing to use violence, but probably going to enjoy it, too,' pointed out Anna.

The man smiled mildly and shook his head.

'But of course, you are a strong, scary vigilante. By all means, please, use violence. Let's see if that would help with your chances to get what you want.'

His maniac gaze told Anna that he not only wasn't scared but actually wanted her to attack. Beating out information from people was an easy and honest way. Every now and then, however, Anna encountered someone who was just too stubborn or crazy for that. She learned how to spot them. The man in front of her was one of them.

'Bargaining, it is,' he said and took a sip of his drink. 'Are you willing to make a blood-pact?'

A vampire indeed, thought Anna. Blood-pacts were a particularly nasty and completely illegal way of making someone keep their promises. The one who agreed gave his or her blood to the one holding the debt. Blood held special power, beyond magic, at least for vampires. They could use it for a number of things; controlling, causing unbearable pain, even killing someone. It was an old trick, something only the oldest vampires knew how to do. And it worked the best if the blood was given willingly.

There was no way in hell that Anna would agree on that.

'Forget it,' she said. 'I will find another way.'

She turned around and aimed for the door. She wasn't playing hard to get, she really wanted to leave, but the man called after her.

'Wait!'

Anna turned back.

'Given your special circumstances,' he said, gesturing towards the helmet, 'I will make an exception. No blood required.'

Anna smiled. Apparently, he wanted this deal just as much as she did. The girl was wondering why. Not that it mattered: there was no other way.

'Someone in the city paying vampires in need to attack and bite people in the streets. There is a man, possibly Russian or something similar judged by his accent and a young-looking, redheaded girl, both vampires. They are the ones giving the orders and the money, but I think they are working for someone. I need to know who that is and why he wants vampires to flood the city.'

There was it. After months of struggling, failing and fighting, Anna was close to the answer. Even though asking this man's help was almost certainly the biggest mistake she ever made, she felt like it was worth it.

'I have no idea,' shrugged the man. 'This is the first time I heard about this.'

'What?' asked Anna. 'But… You are supposed to know everything! Your damn boat called the "Crossroads", for God's sake! What do you mean, you don't know?' she was closer to attacking him than ever before.

'Calm down,' he said. 'I didn't say I wouldn't help. In fact, that's sort of a personal issue, if I might add. I don't like it when someone shows vampires in a bad colour. Very rude. We are people, too.'

'Well, your people are up to something and I need to know what it is to stop it, so get on it, now.'

'Do we have a pact then?' he asked with a smile.

'No,' shook her head Anna. 'First, let's see what you can dig up, then we will see about your payment.'

'Fair enough,' nodded a man. 'Give me five days.'

'Three days,' said Anna, just to have the last word. Then she walked to the window. She had no intention brawling herself out if the guards downstairs were awake already. Stepping out of the window and flying-jumping up on the footbridge ahead was much easier.

This wasn't what she was expecting, but all things considered, the first contact went much better than she thought it would. She sighed and walked away.