When Ben awoke the following night it didn’t take long for him to recall the macabre swarm of bats that had gone charging past his balcony, but a good deal of commonsense stopped him from behaving stupidly. Those bats obviously heralded the arrival of another vampire or several vampires, and they were obviously not in town for him since nobody knew he existed. The newcomers were likely responding to Erin’s murder spree at Maidstone Hospital. While Ben was curious about what the hell she was up to over there, he didn’t want to do anything to attract any attention his way. Therefore he was not going to pull the thread to see where it led, and he was instead going to keep his head down and stay well out of the way. That way he would not draw the ire of whatever or whoever had flown into town on a host of black wings.

Free of the weight of whatever the bat colony was all about, he decided to treat himself to a bit of late-night shopping. It was time to replace his cheap and outdated wardrobe with some swanky new designer labels. He picked up Izzy on the way to Bluewater Shopping Centre and the two of them took a tour around all the best designer stores, hypnotising the shop assistants to give them whatever they wanted free of charge. To his relief, Izzy was not at all judgmental about his method for obtaining the designer garbs. It seemed that as long as there was no individual victim she wasn’t too fussed.

"It’s not like Hugo Boss is going to miss the money, is it?" she said as they entered the aforementioned shop. "Besides, the company made shirts for the nazis and used slave labour during World War Two, so they deserve no sympathy."

Ben wasn’t sure what logic she applied to the other stores they ripped off, but he didn’t really care. It turned out that shopping was a lot more fun when you weren’t constrained by a budget.

They were piling their haul of clothing into the back of Ben’s car when he noticed a figure standing under a nearby tree just outside the white glow of the streetlight. The figure may have been standing in the dark, but Ben’s newly acquired supervision counteracted the masking powers of the darkness. He couldn’t make out much detail, only that it was a man with grown-out hair who was dressed in a dark suit.

Ben was pretty sure that he’d seen the man tonight already. He’d been present inside the shopping centre. He’d always kept his distance and never stared at them the way he was now. Ben would have just written off his continued appearances as coincidence were it not for his final creepy appearance. The way he was dressed made Ben think that he might be a manager for one of the stores they’d just stolen from, but if that were the case then he would’ve brought security.

"Are you okay?" Izzy asked. The concern in her voice did not pull Ben’s attention from the man. He somehow knew that if he looked away the man would vanish. There was a distinctly supernatural vibe emanating from him.

"Yeah, there’s just something I need to do. Wait for me in the car, I’ll be back in a sec," he said. He stepped toward the man without waiting for a response. He did not hear Izzy make a single move and knew that she was staying outside the car. She would never hide away and leave Ben to fend for himself.

He’d gone no more than three steps when he felt a familiar sensation. A kind of icy sensation that fell over him from above and swept down to his feet like the rapid arrival of winter. It was the same feeling he’d experienced when the bats had gone by last night. He stopped moving and swallowed hard, no longer wanting to approach the man.

There was no doubt in his mind that this man had arrived with the bats.

Squeaks emitted from nearby confirming Ben’s suspicion. He glanced at the tree the sounds had come from but did not see a single bat let alone a swarm of them.

He turned back to the man only to find that he was gone. Not a trace of him remained in the car park. The only thing missing from his vanishing act was a big puff of smoke.

"Who was that?" Izzy asked, her voice was undeniably shaken.

"I’m not sure. Listen, I’ll have to cancel watching a movie at your place," he said as he climbed into his car with her. "I’ll drop you off and then go."

"Okay, where are you going though?"

With a heavy sigh, he replied. "I need to go to the hospital."

Despite the more pressing urgency of the situation, Ben still stopped off at home to change into one of his new outfits. By the time he arrived at the hospital he was dressed in the finest clothes he’d ever worn in his life. Vanity was not the only reason for the upgrade in his attire. Erin had told him that he was the lowest of the low. He was determined to prove her wrong and nothing would do that more than a bold new image.

He didn’t want to be seen by any of his old colleagues, or any of the police who were stationed around the hospital. He moved quickly through the corridors, shooting past members of staff in a blur. Even though he was moving at a faster speed than he’d ever imagined was possible there was something incredibly tranquil about it. The feeling was not so much within him as it was around him; the people who he passed. Their movements were slowed down so much that they were almost frozen in time. They were like photographs that he saw in passing. For the briefest of moments, he was present in their stories, and yet they would never know it; he was but a passing character. A shadow in the background of an old photograph.

The hospital security was still tight. Every time he turned a corner, Ben saw another security or police officer on watch. Clearly, they had made no progress with the case. And they never would. They had no chance of catching Erin. Even Ben, a baby vampire, had managed to outwith Castling. Erin would be able to run rings around them.

Ben arrived at the abandoned ward and once he was on the other side of the doors that separated it from the main hospital, he felt safe enough to move at normal speed. The lights were still on and nothing looked remotely different. He didn’t bother to mask the sound of his shoes on the vinyl floor, he wanted Erin to know he was coming.

When he reached her room she was not in it. It was clear that she was still using it, however. She’d cleaned up the mess from their last encounter and had restocked her supply of silver nitrate solution. The metal trolley held several glass bottles, even more than it had held before. He wondered what the staff thought about all their missing supplies.

He checked the bathroom to be on the safe side but Erin was not in there either. She was probably out in the hospital somewhere searching for her next victim.

Ben paced the room as he tried to decide on his next move. He could either go searching for her and risk being seen in the hospital himself, which would not look good if the murders were still taking place. Or he could wait in the room for Erin to return.

He let out a sigh as he glanced over at the window. The blinds were open and pale lights from the courtyard outside shined in. He noticed that there was another string that had been discreetly placed next to the string that opened and closed the blind. He followed it up to the ceiling where he saw a huge net that had been filled with glass bottles of silver nitrate solution. Erin had set a trap.

And suddenly her ridiculously obvious hunting behaviour made sense. She was leaving bodies and fang marks all over the hospital as a broadcast signal. She was trying to lure somebody to her.

The swarm of bats. It was here for her. She had summoned it.

Was the creepy man in the suit Erin’s intended victim?

Ben had unwittingly got himself involved in something far more sinister than he’d ever anticipated and now he didn’t just want answers from Erin. He needed them. Because that man had been watching Ben which meant he likely thought Ben was involved in all this.

Being seen in the hospital no longer seemed like such a big issue. All that mattered at that moment was finding Erin. Ben left the abandoned ward and began a systematic search of the hospital. Room by room, ward by ward, he searched for the vampire whose blood had turned him. Every now and then a security officer or nurse would confront him about what he was doing and he hypnotised them to forget they’d ever seen him. The mind control ability was quickly becoming his favourite new skill.

Ben was beginning to lose hope that he would find her when he entered the surgical ward and found a police officer slumped on the floor. He’d never been so happy to see a dead body before. The cop’s back was propped against the wall. Ben stood over the body and listened to the faint heartbeat that revealed Erin had not killed him. There were two little fang marks on his neck so she had fed from him. Ben wondered why she had chosen to leave this victim alive when she had killed all the others.

Leaving the officer on the floor, he pushed open the nearest door and stepped inside. It was a single occupancy room with space for only one patient. The television was showing some gardening show but the patient was no longer watching it. His eyes were closed and Erin was lying on the bed beside him, her lips stuck on his neck like a suction cup.

"You left that cop alive," Ben said as he closed the door behind him.

Erin ignored him and continued to feed as if she had not heard him. Ben knew it was a power move; she was letting him know that she didn’t consider him to be a threat. Although it did annoy him he refused to let her see that. He wanted to show her that he was not the unworthy nobody she’d accused him of being and in order to do that he had to keep his cool. He strolled across the room and fell into the chair trying his best to project an air of nonchalance. After all, he was immortal, it wasn’t like he didn’t have time to wait.

After another minute or so, Erin lifted her head and then wiped her mouth on the patient’s bed sheet.

"That was by design," she said, at last, brushing her fiery hair from her face. She turned and perched on the edge of the bed. Ben could hear no signs of life coming from the patient behind her.

"All part of the master plan?" he asked.

She cocked an amused eyebrow. "Exactly. I see you’ve upgraded your wardrobe." She nodded in his direction, indicating his new threads.

"Yeah, this hypnosis power is pretty rad."

"Rad? Really? Aren’t you a little old to be using slang like that? And it’s not called hypnosis is called mesmerisation. Vampires mesmerise people," she said.

"If only I’d had somebody to teach me these things."

"If only you hadn’t assaulted me and stolen my blood you wouldn’t need to be taught these things."

Ben grinned, enjoying the verbal jousting, but ultimately conceding defeat. "So what is the master plan? Who are you trying to lure into your big room of silver?" He tried to sound casual and hide his need for answers but he was pretty sure he’d failed. Fear had a habit of showing its head no matter how much you tried to dress it up.

Annoyance flashed across her face as fast as a stroke of lightning. "That’s not for you to worry about."

"This time yesterday I would’ve probably agreed with you, but then a massive swarm of bats flew bast my balcony and now I’m feeling a tad worried," Ben informed her.

Her eyes widened and she sat up erect on the edge of the bed. "A swarm of bats? Last night? You’re sure?"

Ben couldn’t believe she was actually asking him that. "Am I sure that a swarm of bats flew past me? Yes, of course, I’m sure."

Erin jumped up, her fingers twitching nervously like she’d drunk too much coffee. "Then he’s here," she said quietly to herself.

A flash of the man in the suit came to the forefront of Ben’s mind.

"Who? Another vampire?"

She suddenly turned her head and fixed her alert eyes on him. "What time did this happen?"

Ben shook his head as he thought back to the night before. "I don’t know, just before sunrise maybe. Who is he and why are trying to trap him? And how can he travel by bats?"

She stared at him intently, thinking hard about how much, if anything, she wanted to tell him. "Benedict, the vampire you saw last night is incredibly dangerous. You should avoid him at all costs. You wanted to be a vampire and now you are one. You’ve got what you wanted and if you want to survive to enjoy it then you need to stay well away from me. Things are about to get dangerous."

Ben stood up, all of his cells tingling with alertness. She wasn’t bluffing to scare him, she meant what she was saying. "You’re scared."

"Yes. Anybody with half a brain is afraid of Theo."

"Theo? If you’re so scared then why lure him here?"

"It’s a long story and one that I don’t have the time, nor the inclination, to tell. He’s probably already on his way here. Get out of here as fast as you can. If he sees you, you’re dead." Erin rushed out of the room in a blur. The door opened and closed so fast that anybody but a vampire would never have noticed it had moved at all.

Ben wanted to chase after her and force the answers out of her. He wanted to tell her that it was already too late and that Theo had already seen him. Whoever Theo was, Ben did not want to stick around to meet him properly. Only a moron would ignore Erin’s warning, and Ben was no moron. He needed to find someplace to hide until all this blew over.

Ben pulled open the door and exited the room hastily. He didn’t dare use his vampiric speed; if Theo was in the hospital he did not want to do anything that would give him away as a vampire. For all he knew, Theo had followed him back from Bluewater.

He was only halfway down the corridor when two police officers came around the corner in his direction. He glanced up at the camera above him and knew what had happened at once. Somebody had seen the downed officer on the security feed and sent them to investigate. Ben turned and strode quickly in the other direction.

"Hey, stop!" called one of the officers. Ben did not stop. He picked up speed, but before he got far more officers appeared at the other end of the corridor. He heard one of them calling for backup on his radio.

Ben looked around at the rapidly advancing officers. He couldn’t mesmerise them all so his preferred tactic was ruled out. He could run, but he’d been seen now, and it wouldn’t take them long to identify him.

He could attack them, but that would only end in him having to go on the run, so it wasn’t any more preferable than straight-up running. He could kill all four of them and then wipe the security footage. That would leave him in the clear, but murdering four innocent police officers would probably take quite a toll on his conscience.

That only left surrendering to them. Once they arrested him and he was in a room with only one or two officers he could mesmerise them to release him without charge. It was the smartest option.

Ben raised his hands above his head and sunk to his knees, just like he’d seen criminals do on the television. The officers reached him and one of them pulled his hands roughly behind his back and forced a pair of cuffs onto his wrists. Ben felt secure in the knowledge that he could break out of the handcuffs at any given moment. The officer read him his rights as he pulled him back to his feet. Then Ben was carted off through the halls of the hospital.

As Ben was marched through the hospital he wondered if he was the first vampire to be apprehended by the police before. Surely at least one other creature of the night must have been in a similar situation to him. It would be a shameful embarrassment to learn that he was the first vampire to allow himself to be arrested.

His former colleagues watched with surprise and excitement as he was paraded before them like a common criminal. The officers walked him slowly through the halls, letting everybody see that they had finally apprehended the killer. He wondered how many of his former colleagues thought he was the actual murderer. He had to admit that it did not look good. He had no reason to be at the hospital since he had resigned, and he had literally been caught at the scene of the crime. The only way he could have looked guiltier was if he’d had the victim's blood all over his hands. Of course, Erin had left one of her victims alive. As soon as that fallen officer woke up he would clear Ben’s name and corroborate his claim that the true killer was a red-haired woman.

None of that really mattered to Ben. He just wanted to get out of the hospital before Theo arrived for his showdown with Erin. Yet the police officers seemed to be relishing in escorting him through the building with agonising slowness. He felt like a criminal in the old days being taken through the town in a cart so they could all get a good look and throw old veg at him. Thankfully, nobody was throwing any old veg his way, but he did get a lot of disgusted looks.

When they finally made it outside the hospital, the police officers made him stop right outside the doors where everybody could get one final good look at him.

"We’re just waiting for the van to arrive," the officer who had cuffed him said.

Ben nodded and wondered why they hadn’t arranged for the van to be here already. It hadn’t been a fast walk through the hospital.

After several long minutes, Ben lost his patience. "Why are we standing here like this? Are you trying to make an example of me or something?"

"It wouldn’t hurt for people to see that we’ve made an arrest," the officer replied.

"Oh, I see. So, it’s all about making you look good. Well, you won’t look so good when everyone finds you out you arrested the wrong guy and let the actual killer slip right by you. Again."

The officer’s face soured. "You should probably exercise your right to remain silent."

Ben was seriously considering exercising something else, but just then the police van pulled up. He was ushered into the back and locked in a crude cage like a he was a savage beast. There was a basic bench for him to sit on instead of an actual seat, and there wasn’t even a seatbelt. The safety of criminals was obviously not a concern.

All the way to the station, the officers in the front spoke loudly about what a scumbag Ben was for preying on the vulnerable. Ben didn’t even bother telling them that they had arrested the wrong guy. He kept reminding himself that he was the bigger person and he didn’t need to respond. If only they knew how much power he truly held. If they were lucky then they’d never found out.

The desk sergeant was nothing but professional. He refused to indulge in the petty comments the other officers made and even ordered them to stop.

"I need you to put any belongings you have on you in this tray, including your belt. If you have laces you’ll need to remove your shoes too," the sergeant said in the politest tone Ben had heard from any of the officers so far.

For some reason, having his shoes taken just did not sit well with Ben. The rest he could have handled but not his shoes. When he’d been a little boy his mother had always taken his shoes away from him as a punishment and ever since he had disliked being told to remove his footwear. It was an odd thing to carry with him but carry it he did.

"That won’t be necessary," Ben told the sergeant staring directly into his eyes and exerting his will over the older man.

The other officers snickered but the sergeant simply said, "No, it won’t be necessary. Let’s show you to a cell."

The two officers who were still present shared a bewildered look but neither of them questioned their superior. Ben shot them both a smug smile and followed the sergeant down the long corridor of jail cells.

Ben was left for over an hour in his cell which would have been excruciatingly dull, but thanks to his little mesmer trick, he had his phone on him. He passed the time by scrolling Instagram and TikTok. Every now and then he would glance at the reinforced door and wonder if he was strong enough to break out of the cell. He didn’t know the limits of his strength and had not gotten around to experimenting yet. He put it on the mental to-do list and then returned to the video he’d been watching.

Ben was, at last, escorted to an interrogation room and was joined by none other than D.I. Castling. Castling looked like he’d been doing some serious overtime. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, his tie was hanging sloppily around his neck, and his top button was undone. Ben suspected it was all part of an act. A little bit of theatre designed to disarm. Behind the tired demeanour was a wide-awake and keen detective. Ben would not be fooled by the same tricks as common criminals were.

"Good evening, Benedict. Sorry to keep you waiting, I’m sure you can understand how busy I’ve been with all that’s been going on. We’ve never had a case like this in Maidstone before," he said. He placed his notebook on the metal table. Then he took his chair and pulled it around to the side of the table so there was nothing between the two of them.

More tactics, Ben mused.

"I told you before, I’m innocent," Ben said. He tried to meet Castling’s eyes, but the detective inspector was looking down at his notebook.

Castling nodded in agreement. "Yes, yes. I know this wasn’t you. The officer who was attacked survived and he corroborated your description of a red-haired woman. Most peculiar."

"Oh, well, good," Ben said. That had happened faster than he’d expected it to since Maidstone Police seemed to work at the pace of an overweight snail on a particularly dry day.

"Yes, indeed it is good. Tonight she got sloppy, it would seem. Didn’t even erase the security footage."

"So why haven’t you let me go?"

Castling’s eyes met Ben’s for the briefest moment before darting away again. "Because I need to know why you were at the hospital. I saw you on the cameras. You searched every room you passed. And then when you found the woman you were in that room for a rather long time. And then, the most bizarre part of tonight’s debacle, she never left the room and yet she wasn’t in it when the officers arrived. The windows inside don’t open. There aren’t any other doors. Where did she go?"

"She left before I did," Ben said honestly.

Castling nodded again. "The door opened and closed but no person emerged."

Ben was starting to wonder if Detective Inspector Castling knew more than he was letting on. "Is there a question you’re trying to ask me?"

"Are you working with this woman?"

There was no way of explaining the situation to Castling without ending up in a mental health centre. The best thing he could think of was simply to say nothing. "Do I need to call a lawyer?" he asked.

Castling grimaced. "I don’t think you did this, Benedict. But right now it looks very much like you are in cahoots with the woman. So tell me what you know and I will do my very best to help you."

Ben knew that he could end this whole thing so easily with just a little bit of eye contact, but Castling was looking everywhere in the room except for into Ben’s eyes. Ben could grab the policeman’s head and force him to look into his eyes, but there was a camera in the room and things would very quickly spiral out of control if anybody was watching the monitor.

"Am I being charged with anything? I think if not then you have to let me go," he said. He felt like he was in some kind of crappy police soap opera.

Castling sighed and shook his head in resignation. "Do you know where I wear this?" he pulled the chain that hung around his neck and a little silver cross came out from beneath his shirt.

"Because you’re religious," Ben said with a shrug.

Castling snickered and shook his head. "No. Because it’s made of silver. Silver is supposed to offer protection against certain esoteric manipulations."

Ben’s brow dipped and he straightened up in his chair, suddenly he was slightly more interested in whatever Castling was getting at.

The detective reached into his pocket and produced a small length of light-coloured wood that looked like a comically large pencil. Ben would have thought it was a stake if it hadn’t been so small. Castling placed it carefully down on the table and then his hand returned to his pocket. This time, a bag of pale-grey powder came out.

"Do you know what this is?" Castling asked. He poured some of the powder into the palm of his hand.

Ben looked on, totally bemused. This interview had certainly taken a turn. "The stuff you use to stay awake?" he joked.

Castling smiled politely. "Funny. No, this is ash from burnt blackthorn."

Ben shook his head. "You’ve lost me." Maybe Castling was just a bit mad.

"You’re not much of a botanist?" Castling asked in the same conversational tone.

"Not at all."

"The blackthorn tree has many uses. Its wood makes excellent walking sticks. They believed that witches and wizards made wands using blackthorn." Castling held up his palm to show Ben the ashes of the tree. He took Ben by surprise when he suddenly blew heavily on them. The ashes shot out of his hand and fell over Ben’s face. Each little grain of ash felt like a tiny dagger piercing his skin. Ben winced in pain and whipped his head back as if he’d been punched. Castling grabbed the little slither of wood from the table and plunged it into Ben’s hand. This time Ben screamed, but Castling remained completely calm and composed. "It’s also deadly to vampires."

The detective inspector sat back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other casually while he waited for Ben to recover from the attack. The pain from the ashes fell away as soon as he wiped them from his face, but there was still the matter of the enormous length of wood sticking out of his hand and sending waves of piercing pain through the appendage.

"I’ve never heard of a vampire who can mesmerise a human wearing silver."

"I’m a special kind of vampire," Ben growled.

"There must be a lot of thoughts running through your mind right now," Castling said.

"Actually, there’s only one," Ben said. He grabbed the little stake, and after a deep breath, he yanked it out. The hole in his hand was bright red and throbbing. It took several beats before it slowly began to heal.

"And what’s that?"

Ben spoke through his teeth, still feeling the pain from the stake. "If you’re willing to attack me so blatantly, that camera must not be recording."

Castling’s eyes widened as Ben shot out of his chair. Before Castling could utter a word, Ben had him against the wall by his throat. Ben glared furiously into the detective’s eyes, but Castling squeezed them shut before he could mesmerise him. ‘I could peel your eyelids off,’ Ben threatened.

"You could, but I don’t see that ending very well for you."

"No?"

"Do you think you can fight an entire station full of police officers? I’ve checked your birth records, they’re legitimate. That means you are a fairly new vampire. You don’t have the power to take on a whole police force." Castling spoke confidently, but Ben could hear the subtle tremors beneath the bluster. He could hear his heart thumping at double time.

"It won’t matter much to you if you’re already dead, will it?"

"You’re not a murderer, Benedict. I don’t think you’ve ever killed out of malice. Necessity, maybe, but never cold-blooded murder."

"Then why am I here?" Ben demanded.

"Because I know you can help me find the actual killer."

Ben let out a snort of laughter as he released Castling’s throat. "You don’t know anything about me." Ben turned and retreated to the corner of the room, where he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. The pain in his hand was a distant tingle.

Castling massaged his throat which now sported inflamed finger marks. "I’m pretty good at getting a read on people. I believe you are a decent person despite what you are. Lead me to the vampire who is responsible for the callous murders. Please."

"And then what? It’s not like you can arrest her and I doubt your little ash trick will work on her."

A shadow fell over Castling’s face. "Don’t worry about what happens next. That’s between me and her."

"You’ve got some kind of personal qualm with her?"

Castling shook his head. "I’ve never met her. I don’t know her at all, and I’m not going to discuss this with you."

"So why should I tell you anything?"

For the first time since Ben had met him, he saw Castling bristle with annoyance. "This is not a tit-for-tat situation, Benedict. We’re not negotiating. I have you under arrest. Tell me what I need to know or I will charge you."

"Charge me with what? And so what if you do? What happens then? Do you think I won’t be able to mesmerise my way out of it? I mesmerised you before."

He nodded. "I know. As soon as I got back to my office, I realised what had happened. Obviously, I had no memory of the act, but that little voice in the back of my head kept reminding me you were innocent every time I thought about your connection with the murders. It gave you away."

Castling sighed wearily and collapsed into his chair. "I need you to tell me where to find her, Benedict. That’s all I need."

There was a sad desperation on Castling’s face that Ben was powerless to ignore. Even though the detective had attacked him, Ben could not deny the pity that he felt. He felt no loyalty to Erin; she’d been nothing but horrible to him. But if he gave Castling the information he wanted, he’d just be sending the man to his death.

"She’d snap your neck as soon as she saw you. And there’s another vampire on the scene now. I don’t know anything about him. Only that Erin lured him here and he terrifies her. You’re better off staying away from it all."

"So that’s why she’s been so blatant," Castling said, banging a victorious fist on the table. "Who has she lured here?"

Ben shook his head. "I don’t know. Some guy called Theo."

Castling jumped to his feet as if he’d been bitten on the backside. His eyes were wide and hungry. "Where is she, Benedict? Tell me where to find her and you have my word that your name will be cleared of any suspicion. You won’t have to worry about further police investigation."

Ben didn’t want to give up Erin. He wondered if the mere fact that she had sired him made him feel a subtle hint of loyalty to her. But the offer was too appealing to turn down. "She’s been found before and she just made the officers forget. But if you want to try your luck then go for it. She’s in the abandoned ward."

Castling nodded in gratitude. "Thank you, Benedict. I’m a man of my word. I will strike your name from the investigation."

"How do you know about vampires? Who is Theo? Why do you want him?" Ben asked, rattling off all the questions on his mind, but Castling was clearly not going to get any answers.

"Come on," Castling said. "Let’s get you out of here."