Castling was true to his word. He released Ben with the promise of wiping his name from the investigation. He was not kind enough to drive Ben back to the hospital where his car was parked. Apparently, the police force was not a taxi service. They were happy enough to pluck people up wherever they deemed appropriate, but not put them back after.

Ben didn’t mind so much. It was a pleasant enough night and he thought the walk might be refreshing. There was something serene about walking through town at night. The sky was dark, the roads borderline empty, and the streets quiet. He’d always enjoyed night-time walks but since becoming a vampire he’d found even more pleasure in them. Vampirism had liberated him from the fear of being attacked. He could walk freely without the worry of somebody jumping him from behind to steal his phone or just to beat him up. There was still some trepidation about the suited man who’d been watching Ben at Bluewater, but he no longer seemed like such a threat. Time had passed as well as a good deal of distance. Whoever the man was, Ben had surely lost him.

He walked the streets content to listen to the sounds of his brand new designer boots hitting the pavement. It was a weeknight so he encountered only a few other people on his travels and they all kept to themselves. The unwritten rule of walking the streets at night was that if you encountered another person you pretended they weren’t there.

As he neared the Mughal Dynasty, a popular Indian restaurant, he noticed a group of rowdy men who had obviously been drinking. Either that or all four of them were obnoxiously loud by default.

Ben crossed the road to avoid them and kept his gaze dead ahead, hoping that they wouldn’t notice him if he simply didn’t look their way. It was a tactic that had served him well in the past.

But then he remembered that he had nothing to fear. It was they who should hope that he didn’t notice them. He was the predator and they were the prey, despite their numbers. He glanced back their way and saw the object of their unruliness.

The four of them were shouting and whistling at a young girl who couldn’t have been older than eighteen. She was stuck in the middle of their circle, trying to walk on, as they danced around her, making stupid comments and trying to elicit a response from her.

The girl, whose blonde hair was knotted into two braids and who wore a SpongeBob backpack that had been designed for somebody much younger, kept her eyes on the floor as she tried to carry on regardless of her assailants.

“Come on, give us a smile,” one of the men said, crooning over her.

Those men would’ve intimidated Ben in the same way that they were intimidating her not so long ago. Perhaps so much so that he’d have been too scared to offer her any help, shameful as that was. They’d almost frightened him tonight until he’d remembered that they posed no threat to him. And now there was no question of if he should help her, the only question was how he should go about it.

“Are you okay?” he called to the girl, realising as soon as the words left his mouth just how stupid they sounded. Of course, she was not okay.

Her eyes widened and she looked up to see who had spoken. As soon as she saw Ben the hope that had flooded her face gave way to despair. He couldn’t blame her, his average height and scrawny physique didn’t cut the most imposing image. Especially not against four rather large men. Well, three large men and one short and fat one.

“She’s fine,” one of the men replied. He half turned his head Ben’s way and when he spoke a spray of spittle flew through his lips.

“I wasn’t asking you,” Ben replied. He walked across the road slowly, exuding his newfound confidence.

The men all snickered as they turned his way, bemused disbelief alighting their faces. It probably wasn’t very often that a victim offered himself up to them; not that Ben was a victim, as they were about to learn.

“Jog on,” the same man said again. Apparently, the other three were content enough to let him do all the talking.

“Have the four of you been drinking or are you just repugnant by nature?” Ben asked.

That got their hackles up. The front guy rolled his shoulders as he turned fully to face Ben. The others fell into position around him. They moved forward together like a pack of wolves.

“I told you to jog on,” the ringleader said again, more firmly this time. Ben got the distinct impression that he did not know what the word repugnant meant.

The girl was no longer surrounded and could easily have fled, but she was too afraid to try and get past them. She remained in place, watching and no doubt expecting to see Ben get his arse handed to him.

Ben stopped in the very centre of the road and spread his arms wide in an invitation. “Why don’t you make me?” he said, flashing his cockiest grin. They had asked for a smile, just not from him.

“All right then,” said the guy as he advanced with his friends at his back.

Ben allowed the four of them to fan out and surround him and then waited for one of them to make the first move. A fist came at him and he moved nimbly around it. In a matter of seconds, he had dodged every attack that came at him and knocked all four of them to the asphalt. It had been even easier than he’d anticipated; alcohol had made them clumsy.

He could smell the blood from their fresh wounds and found that it did not have the same pull as it had done previously. Though the smell was tantalising it was easy enough to resist tucking in. The ravenous pull of the red stuff wore off after the first couple of nights it seemed.

“Come on lads, surely you can do better than that?” Ben asked as he gave them time to climb back to their feet.

They shared bewildered looks before attacking once again. He put them all down one by one. He’d never experienced anything as exhilarating as this. The feeling of power was comparable to nothing he had ever felt; he would have been content to do it all night.

The men continued to climb back up only for Ben to throw them back down. This repeated until they finally got the message to stay down. Even drunken idiots had the capacity to learn when to give up. Three of them did anyway. The ring leader of the group refused to admit defeat, even when a blind man could have seen that fighting was pointless.

He pushed himself off the ground again and swung a fist. Ben grabbed his arm and snapped it at the elbow, relishing in the vomit-inducing crack. Breaking the man’s arm had been as effortless as snapping a twig. The man screamed and fell to his knees, clutching his deformed arm. His ulna bone was sticking right through his skin, and the pale complexion of his face revealed that he would not be conscious for long.

His friends stared up from their positions on the floor, their faces as white as death. Ben soaked in their terror as he turned to address them.

“Is that it? Does nobody else wish to try their luck?” He gave them a moment but none of them rose. “Good, so you’re not all as stupid as you look. Next time any of you feel like being a massive cock, I want you to remember what happened here tonight. Now, take that twat and get out of here before I snap every bone in your bodies.”

The fat man grabbed his injured friend and helped him to his feet but the other two took off the moment Ben gave them permission to leave. So much for loyalty among friends. He watched them go and delighted in the scent their fear left on the air.

Ben turned back to the girl who was still standing exactly in the same position. Her eyes were wide but not with terror. No, she was impressed and intrigued, but not afraid.

“How did you do that? You moved so fast!” she said, the words tumbling out of her mouth. Her hands were grasping her bag straps tightly enough to turn her knuckles white.

“Well, I would tell you I’m a vampire but I doubt you’d believe me,” Ben said with a smirk.

“It’s not like I’ve got a better explanation,” she replied with a bob of her eyebrows. “Thank you, by the way. I don’t want to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t turned up. I probably should’ve just smiled but—”

‘No,’ Ben said, cutting her off. “If you gave them what they wanted once they’d only ask for more.”

Her cheeks reddened, in shame or anger, Ben did not know. “True, but most of the time there isn’t somebody like you to step in.”

Ben could think of no decent reply to her. She was right and nothing he said would change that. “Are you headed home?” he asked instead.

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“I’ll walk with you, make sure you get there safely.” He doubted she would encounter trouble twice in one night, but he wouldn’t feel right about sending her off on her own.

“Oh, I, erm..” she shifted awkwardly on the spot, clearly wanting to turn down his offer but not wanting to be rude.

He cottoned on to the problem fast. “Oh, I understand. You probably don’t want me to know where you live. After all, for all you know I could be a worse predator than those guys.”

She smiled with gratitude. “Well, you are a vampire,” she joked, though Ben thought she might not be joking at all.

“How about I just walk with you until you feel safe enough to carry on by yourself?” he offered.

She smiled and accepted his proposal. She didn’t need him for long and after just ten minutes she felt safe enough to part with his company. He watched her vanish around the corner and then he turned back to the hospital and finished his own journey without further issue.

Ben stood by his car and stared at the hospital. He’d never seen it looking so quiet. Castling had explained that most patients were being diverted to the other hospitals in the area, and the only patients being admitted to Maidstone Hospital were those who didn’t have the time to get to another hospital.

He considered sneaking past the security so he could warn Erin that Castling knew where to find her. She had done nothing to earn his loyalty, and yet here he was thinking about putting himself in jeopardy to help her. Ultimately, warning her would be unnecessary. Castling had only just managed to get the jump on Ben, who had only been a vampire for a few days, and Ben had turned things around pretty quickly. If Castling was foolish enough to go after Erin then he was probably going to get himself killed. Besides, Erin would not have spared Ben a second thought if their roles were reversed.

None of it was Ben’s problem. Castlin, Erin, and Theo could all fight it out among themselves. Ben wanted nothing to do with it. All he wanted to do was go to his fancy new apartment, make himself a nice drink, and figure out exactly what he wanted to do with his eternal life.

He would’ve left town and started a new life elsewhere, but there were things that kept him from doing that. Chiefly his father. Ben’s dad was in a local nursing home and there was no way Ben was going to leave him behind. Ben was the only family he had left even if he didn’t recognise his face when he visited. Not that he’d visited for a while.

Ben’s father had been diagnosed with Withdrawn Catatonia following an accidental head injury five years ago. He’d fallen down a flight of concrete stairs on his way home from work. He’d spent two weeks in a coma and when he did finally wake up again it was like he was still unconscious. He sat in silence staring off into space. Every now and then he’d mumbled some nonsensical phrase and then reverted back to silence. For six months Ben’s mum had tried to bring him out of it, but eventually, she just gave up. She put him in a home and resumed her life. She’d visited him every week and always stayed faithful, and when she’d died Ben was his last living relative.

Ben’s dad would never notice if Ben just packed up and skipped town, but Ben knew that his mother would never forgive him. As long as his dad was in Maidstone, Ben would be too.

When he got home he couldn’t relax right away. First, he had to call Izzy to explain what had happened. She’d found out not so long ago since his phone had been ringing nonstop for his entire drive home.

He ended up on the phone for well over an hour, but at the end of the call, Izzy was feeling much better about the situation. Especially after Ben had promised that he was not going to get involved in whatever Erin was up to at the hospital. That was a promise he had no trouble making; he didn’t want anything to do with that. Whilst he was curious about what secrets Erin and Castling were hiding, he was not curious enough to risk his own life by poking his nose in. They rearranged their movie night and then ended the call. She had work in the morning and Ben wanted to unwind after a pretty stressful night.

He was just thinking about going out for a stroll when his doorbell rang. He turned in the direction of the door, brow furrowed in confusion. Nobody knew he’d moved so whoever was at the door couldn’t possibly be here to see him. It was probably somebody looking to score a bag of cocaine or something.

Ben trudged to the answer the door, reminding himself not to subject the poor unsuspecting drug user to any vampirism on his doorstep. One rule that he was going to adhere to was not to attack people in his own home. That kind of behaviour was just shitting on his own doorstep, as his father would have said.

Ben pulled open the front door and immediately knew that the man on his doorstep was not here to buy drugs. He was dressed in an exquisite velvet suit that had obviously been custom made. The designer clothes that Ben had got off the peg seemed cheap in comparison. His hair was styled tidily despite its wild curly nature and even his short beard didn’t detract from his overall neatness. There was no doubt in Ben’s mind that this was the man who had been stalking him around Bluewater. He could feel the malignant power emanating from the suavely dressed man.

“Good evening, Mr Blake,” he said. He had a crisp English accent that sounded like it was from a very polite era that had long since died. Ben knew from the moment he looked into the visitor’s eyes, that the man on his doorstep was none other than Theo.

“How do you know my name?” Ben asked. He tried to hold off the rapidly rising feeling of dread that was seizing his insides, but he knew it was a fruitless battle.

Theo smiled in a way that was supposed to be friendly but had all the pleasantness of a hungry shark. “I’ve done my research. I never walk blindly into any area. I first take the lay of the land. I discover what vampires are in residence. I do so very much hate nasty surprises. Which is precisely why I have chosen to visit you first. Would it be too much trouble for you to invite me in?”

Ben’s grip on the door tightened. He wanted nothing more than to slam it in Theo’s face. If only the old myths about vampires being unable to enter a home without an invite were true. But Ben had already disproved that.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Ben asked. He couldn’t let Theo know that he’d heard of him because that would only lead to a more awkward conversation. His best tactic was to feign total ignorance.

“My name is Theodric. And I very much want to come inside and have a conversation with you,” he said. His voice was light and gentlemanly, but danger and threat seeped around the edges of every word he spoke. Ben knew that the outcome of this encounter stood on a knife’s edge. One wrong step and Theo could and would tear him to shreds. Denying Theo the invitation he had requested was not an option, so Ben stepped aside and invited the older vampire into his home.

“Most gracious of you,” Theo said as he crossed the threshold.

Ben was tempted to bolt out the front door and run as far from Theo as he could get. He was under no delusion that Theo was here to make friends. But he also knew that he wouldn’t get far. Theo was older than him, much older if the way he spoke was anything to go by, and he would catch Ben before he got far. Ben’s best bet was to go with the flow and hope everything played out as well as it could.

“Hmm. White decor. Lots of windows. An interesting choice for a vampire,” Theo said, as he entered the living room.

“I made a rule not to eat in the house,” Ben explained. He hovered near the door, ready to try and run if he needed to.

“And the sunlight doesn’t bother you?”

In actual fact, that was a bit of an issue. It hadn’t been until Ben had gone to bed the previous morning that he had discovered one entire wall of his new bedroom was made of glass. Luckily it also sported a rather thick set of curtains.

“I close the curtains,” he said. Only after he’d said it did he realise how sarcastic he’d sounded.

Theo seemed not to notice as he smiled politely. He slipped his long coat off and draped it over the end of the sofa. He moved so smoothly and with such elegance that Ben couldn’t help being impressed. There was also something oddly familiar about the man, even though Ben was certain he had never met Theo before.

“Let’s sit down and talk,” Theo said. He eased himself down into the small cocktail chair. He rested his arms grandly on the arms of the chair as if it was a throne, despite its small size. He waited expectantly until Ben had taken a seat on the sofa before he spoke.

Ben sat on the edge of his seat, tense and ready for action. Even though Theo looked completely relaxed in the little chair, Ben knew he could be up and across the room in the blink of an eye.

“What can I do for you?” Ben asked, attempting to project a confidence that he did not possess.

“An excellent question. I am here to investigate the recent murders at Maidstone Hospital. I have very good reason to believe that a vampire is responsible.”

“Investigation? What are you, some kind of vampire detective?” Ben asked. The very idea seemed ridiculous, but he knew very little about the vampire community.

Theo chuckled. “We don’t have detectives or police officers as such, however, I do represent the Black Veil,” Theo pronounced the last two words with reverential importance as if the Black Veil was a universally known thing.

“What is that? It sounds like a bridal shop,” Ben said.

Theo raised an eyebrow. “Oh dear. Your sire has taught you very little it would seem.”

“She’s taught me nothing at all in fact,” Ben said, letting his resentment towards Erin slip out.

Theo shook his head in sympathy, his expression turning into one of false pity. “It is absolutely unacceptable for a vampire to let a sireling loose in the wild without adequate training.”

Ben shrugged, neglecting to mention that Erin had sired him unwillingly. He feared that might get him into some hot water. “It is what it is.”

“Indeed. The Black Veil is an establishment designed to protect vampires.”

“Protect them from what?”

Theo shrugged. “Anything that poses a threat.”

“So it’s a government?” Ben groaned internally. Becoming a vampire was supposed to provide him with the freedom that humans lacked. The idea that he now had to answer to a different kind of government filled him with despair—a despair that had the potential to last an eternity.

“A loose government. Rules and restrictions are terribly human. The Veil was established to foster a peace between the warring bloodlines.”

“Bloodlines?” Ben asked.

“Goodness me. Your lack of knowledge astounds me. I mean no offence, of course.”

“Of course.”

“There are five vampire bloodlines and each bloodline creates different kinds of vampires. You’ll forgive me, but I do not have the time to conduct an induction at present. I am here to put a stop to the murders before they expose our kind and set us on a path that will lead to untold destruction.”

Ben resisted the urge to tell Theo just how dramatic he sounded. He had an uncountable number of questions hurtling inside his head but he knew that it would do no good to ask them. His primary objective was to get Theo to leave and that meant saving his questions for somebody else.

“I understand,” he said.

“The Veil only gets involved in matters that pose a direct threat to the vampire community. These murders have gained far too much attention. They have made the national news. The matter must be put to rest at once.”

It suddenly occurred to Ben that he might be a suspect since he was a local vampire. He threw up his hands, exposing his palms in a gesture of innocence. “I had nothing to do with any of it,” he said hurriedly. It was just his luck that the police would clear his name only for the vampire police to suspect him instead.

Theo smiled with amusement. “Of that I quite sure, Mr Blake. Do you mind if I call you Benedict?”

“Sure,” Ben said, relief flooding through him.

“Benedict, I know you are not responsible. As I said before, I did my research before arrival. Erin Bellicose is the culprit.”

“So why are you here talking to me?” If Theo knew Erin was behind the whole thing then it made no sense for him to waste his time with Ben. Unless he did believe that Ben was involved.

“You mean, why did I not simply walk blindly into the hospital and attempt to apprehend Miss Bellicose?”

Ben knew better than to answer that question. He waited in silence for Theo to continue.

“I was not sired yesterday. I can smell a trap from a hundred miles away. Whilst I do not believe that you are directly involved, I do suspect that you know more than you would care to admit. I implore you to tell me everything. It would be in your best interests to do so.”

Ben found that he did not want to serve Erin up to Theo. Maybe it was because he knew that Theo would tear her limb from limb, or maybe it was something else. Either way, he didn’t want to set her up to fail in her confrontation with Theo. Theo had obviously done something to provoke Erin, not that Ben was brave enough to ask him what that was. Ultimately, it came down to the simple matter of preservation. Ben’s life versus Erin’s. And when Ben considered it that way there really was no contest.

“She’s stockpiling silver nitrate solution and using the murders to lure you into a trap,” Ben told him. The words felt like dirt on his tongue.

“Interesting.” Theo’s eyes flicked to the side as he pondered what he’d heard. Then they flicked right back to Ben, alert and calculating. “Does she have any other weapons in her arsenal, or is it only the silver nitrate solution?” he asked.

Ben shook his head and shrugged. “I only saw the silver.”

Theo nodded before lapsing into deep thought. He rubbed his chin absently in small, circular motions, as he stared down at the ground. Finally, he looked back up at Ben. “Here’s what we will do. We will go to the hospital and you will disable her traps. Once she is sufficiently distracted by you, I shall enter and put a stop to her machinations. Then I shall leave this town and you will be free to live your life however you see fit.” He stood up and took hold of his coat, content that he had settled the matter.

Ben very much wanted Theo to leave, but his proposed plan was simply unacceptable. “No, I don’t want to get involved,” Ben said, standing up.

Theo stared at him in silence. His eyes seemed to be staring through Ben rather than at him. “That was not a request.”

“Listen, I really—”

Theo moved so fast that Ben had no time to counteract his attack. The older vampire’s hand gripped Ben’s throat and slammed him against the wall. Pain reverberated up and down Ben’s spine. He beat his fists against Theo’s forearm and tried to prise his fingers off him, but his attacks were completely ignored as if Theo couldn’t even feel them.

Theo loomed over Ben, his eyes had turned completely black and his face had twisted animalistically. When he spoke again the posh refinery was gone and a savage growl had replaced it. “You will do as I command or I will tear your spine from your body and use it as a whip with which to beat your corpse. Do you understand?”

Ben nodded rapidly, eager to be free from Theo’s attack.

Theo released Ben and stepped back. Ben slid down the wall, slumping against it, and massaged his aching throat.

“Tomorrow night I shall return. You will accompany me to the hospital. You will then enter and disable Miss Bellicose’s traps. I will then enter and deal with Miss Bellicose. Once that is done you will be free to continue existing however you see fit. Do you find this agreeable?”

Ben almost laughed at the final question. There was, after all, only one answer that he could safely give. He nodded once, too ashamed to look Theo in the eyes.

“Excellent. It would have been a shame to get blood on your pretty white carpet.” Theo pulled on his coat and then looked back at Ben. “If you do anything in excess of what I have commanded, I will murder you.”

Without another word, Theo sauntered back through the apartment and outside into the darkness of the night.

Ben slid all the way down to the floor, trembling with fear, and fighting back tears. Becoming a vampire was supposed to liberate him from encounters like that, but it had only exposed him to bigger bullies than he’d ever imagined. He was not going to start his new life by being forced to do the bidding of somebody whom he despised. One thing was certain, Theo now had three enemies in Maidstone.

Ben’s alarm woke him up at midday. He’d barely got any sleep due to the stress caused by Theo’s visit. He’d remained awake for hours staring up at the ceiling and wondering if he really wanted to follow through on his stupid idea to try and set up Theo.

The much safer option would have been to do as he was told and help Theo catch or kill Erin. But the vampire had come into his home and attacked him. If Ben wasn’t going to start standing up to bullies now that he was a vampire then he never would. He’d go through the rest of his life being exactly what Erin had told him he was, the lowest of the bunch.

If he stood up to Theo and won then it would send out a message to any other would-be bullies, that Benedict Blake was not an easy target. Hopefully, this Black Veil group would leave him alone. Of course, there was a very good chance that they would instead come after him in force. He didn’t really know what they would do because he didn’t know anything about them. For all he knew, everything Theo had said could have been a lie.

He needed to speak to Erin. She hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with information so far, but he believed that now he’d had a visit from Theo things might be a tad different. After he’d spoken to her, Ben would decide which vampire he was going to side with. When the chips were down, he would do whatever ensured his survival. Even if that meant swallowing his pride and bowing to Theo’s orders.

He heated up a pint of blood in the microwave. He’d stolen a stash of blood from the blood bank as a backup in case he was unable to get the fresh stuff. Or for if he needed to be out and about in the daylight when he wasn't strong enough to subdue a victim.

Ben had to cover up as much of his skin as possible in order to go out in the daytime without the sun turning him into a pitiful slug of a vampire. Even beneath his hood, he could feel the sun sapping his energy.

He’d forgotten that the hospital was locked down. Getting in the night before had been simple because he had full access to all his vampiric abilities, but during the day that was not the case. He doubted that security would let him in since they were diverting as many people as possible.

He called Izzy, hoping that she was working today, and was thankful when she answered.

“Ben this had better be important, you know I’m not supposed to be on my phone in the pharmacy,” she hissed.

“Thank God you’re at work,” he said with a relieved sigh.

“What? Why? What’s going on?” Panic stole her voice.

“No, nothing to worry about. Seriously relax. I just need you to get me inside. Can you open one of the fire exits?’

There was a moment of silence. When Izzy spoke again her voice was flat. “Why? Why do you need to get into the hospital?”

“Izzy, trust me when I tell you that the less you know about this the better. I’m not up to anything bad, I just need to talk to somebody.”

Another silence. This one was longer. “If I let you in is anybody going to get hurt?” she asked.

This time it was Ben’s turn to fall silent. Her words cut him deeper than he would have cared to admit. “Do you seriously think I’d do that?”

“No!” Izzy said at once. “I don’t think you would. But several people have been killed and although you didn’t kill any of them, you have been mixed up in it all. I just want to make sure that me letting you in won’t tie me to any criminal activities.”

“Oh.” He was still a little hurt, but less so. “Of course not. I’d never do anything to cause you trouble. I just need to talk to somebody. That’s all. If everything goes well then there will be no more murders.”

Whatever happened, the murders should be finished. Erin’s murder spree had been for the purpose of luring Theo to her. That was now done. Tonight either Theo would stop Erin, or she would stop him. Either way, there would be no more need for Erin to murder any more patients.

Izzy directed Ben to a fire exit near the back of the hospital and helped him slip inside unseen. Some of the fire exits were being monitored but since none of them could be opened from the outside they weren’t high priority locations.

Regardless of whether or not Castling had cleared his name, Ben had still been arrested in the hospital last night. That was the kind of thing that stuck in people’s minds, as was evidenced by the looks that Ben garnered as he walked through the hospital at Izzy’s side. Now that there were fewer patients who needed care, the staff had much more time to stare at Ben.

“I want to know what all this is about, Ben. You’re my best friend, you can’t keep things from me,” she said with a playful smile. He was glad she was in such a good mood and not one of her concerned friend moods.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, bestie,” he said, smiling back. Friendly little moments like this made him forget, at least for the moment, that he had been attacked and threatened by a menacing vampire last night. “This will all be over tomorrow. We can have a catchup then. You can come round and see my new place.”

“The one you stole from the drug dealer? Yes, I can’t wait to see the cupboard where you keep the crack,” she joked.

“I didn’t steal his job as well as his apartment. And he took all the drugs with him.”

They reached the abandoned ward and Izzy reminded him to be careful before she returned to the pharmacy. Ben made no such promise since the night that was approaching was probably going to be the least careful night of his life. Instead, he made an agreeable noise before vanishing through the doors to find Erin.

Ben was surprised that no security had been placed outside the abandoned ward, but since there were no patients on the ward there was nobody to protect. The police had searched the ward more than once and found nothing. At least, they didn’t remember finding anything.

When Ben reached Erin’s room he found her sitting on the edge of the bed at the far end of the room. She was trying to tidy up her hair and it was clear from the sluggish look on her face that she had been sleeping before he’d arrived. He’d clearly woken her up.

“You again. You don’t give up do you?” she grumbled. She flopped back onto the bed, writing Ben off as being no threat to her.

“If I’d been a little quieter then I might have snuck in here without waking you up. What if I was Theo?” Ben asked. He sat down in the cheap, plastic chair by the blind-covered window.

“Theo wouldn’t come in the day, and I’m a light sleeper,” she replied. She turned her head to look at him without sitting back up. “Why couldn’t you wait until tonight to annoy me with your incessant questions that I am not going to answer? Honestly, I’m starting to reconsider my decision not to kill you.”

“Why won’t you answer my questions? If you just gave me the information I need to survive on my own then I wouldn’t have to keep coming back to you.”

“I never wanted you to be a vampire in the first place. You’ve got the wrong temperament.”

“What does that mean?” Ben tried not to take offence, but it seemed like she was critiquing his personality. Again.

With an aggressive sigh, Erin sat back up. “You’ve got a massive chip on your shoulder because of the way you’ve been treated your whole life. You’re weak, bullied, and downtrodden. You were powerless and pathetic. And you’re a man.”

“I don’t see the correlation,” Ben said. His voice was cool, but a burning tempest was kicking up inside him.

“When powerless women get power they become stronger. But men have too much testosterone. All those years of wounded pride have built up inside and they just have to settle the score. The power goes to their heads and twists them into something cruel.”

“That seems awfully sexist.” He wanted to say much worse things but he knew that if he allowed even a little of his anger to break through then there would be no holding back the rest of it. And yet, he couldn’t help but wonder if Erin had a point; after all, Izzy had said something remarkably similar when Ben had told her that he had become a vampire.

“Sexist?” Erin laughed humourlessly. “I gave my life to secure rights that snivelling wimps like you were born with. So don’t talk to me about sexism. But if you think I’ve got you wrong, it shouldn’t be too hard to prove it.”

So many questions arose from the very brief statement that Erin had made, but Ben knew he would get no answers if he asked. Instead, he decided to get to the point of his visit and ask the most important questions.

“I didn’t come here to debate equality, I actually came here to ask you about bloodlines and the Black Veil.”

Erin was shocked into silence. She blinked twice rapidly as if trying to dislodge something from her eyes. “Where did hear about that?” Her voice was faint.

Ben raised a smug eyebrow, pleased that the tables were finally starting to turn. “Oh, look who has questions now.”

“Tell me where you heard about the Black Veil?” She jumped to her feet and drew her lips back in a vicious snarl.

“Careful now. This room is full of silver nitrate solution and I’m the only one who’s immune to it,” Ben warned her. He was doing a good job of masking his fear. He knew that if it came to a fight she would win. He wasn’t even a week old and she had decades on him judging by what she’d said about dying for women’s rights.

“Now you’re threatening me?”

She took a step forward and Ben stood up, whether to run or defend himself he wasn’t sure.

“You’ve got questions. I’ve got questions too. You give me answers and I’ll return the favour,” he offered. It was nice to finally have something over her even if it had put him in a spot of danger.

“I will not be blackmailed,” she said through her teeth.

“Okay, fine. Have fun with Theo,” Ben said and made his way to the door.

Erin let him get all the way into the corridor before she spoke. “There are different vampire bloodlines and each one has different abilities,” she said, defeated.

Ben turned around and faced her, but he didn’t reenter the room just yet. “Which bloodline are we?” he asked.

She crossed her arms with a haughty sigh. “Dinferi. We can mesmerise people. Apparently, the most powerful of our bloodline can completely enthral people and even mesmerise other vampires. Pray you don’t meet one of them, I doubt they’ll like you.”

Ben did not like the sound of that. It was all fun and games being able to mesmerise other people, but having it done to himself was not a comfortable thought. “I take it you’ve never met one of these powerful vampires?”

Erin shook her head. “This may come as a surprise to you, but I haven’t met that many vampires at all. Now you answer my question. Where did you hear about bloodlines and the Veil?”

“Theo told me about them. He didn’t tell me much. He was quite disappointed in you for turning me and not teaching me anything.” Ben meant his words playfully, but the joke was lost on Erin who simply glared at him.

“If he found out how exactly you became a vampire, he would chain you up, drain your veins, and then bury your desiccated husk of a body deep beneath the earth.”

“Lovely,” Ben said, trying not to picture the image that Erin had so vividly painted in his mind. “He’s a bit more focused on dealing with you at the moment, though. All these murders go against the rules of the Black Veil. He’s here to put a stop to them, and he knows you are responsible.”

If Ben’s words bothered Erin she didn’t show it. Her eyes slid around the room as she processed the information, but at no point did she look worried or pleased, or anything at all. She was masking her thoughts expertly.

“Tell me about this Veil. How big is it exactly?” Ben asked.

‘Not that big,’ Erin said with a dismissive shake of her head. “Ten, twenty vampires. Something like that. Five top dogs; the heads of each bloodline, and the rest are all minions.”

“So there are five bloodlines. What is Theo, top dog or minion?” Ben remembered the power that had radiated from the swarm of bats. He felt again the strength of Theo’s hand around his throat. If Theo was a mere minion then he did not want to feel what a top dog felt like.

“Minion,” Erin said. She had no idea of the terror she had instilled in Ben with that single word. “What exactly happened between you and Theo?”

Ben told her of the entire encounter from beginning to end. He explained that tonight he was going to have to do as Theo had commanded unless she could come with some way out of it. At the end of the day, Ben was going to do whatever he needed to do to ensure his own survival.

Erin didn’t seem annoyed by what Ben said. She accepted it easily. After he’d finished speaking she turned and returned to the bed where she once again sat down. She said nothing. She was deep in thought.

“The Black Veil, are they just here in England? If we go to America or somewhere will we be out of their reach?”

Erin laughed drily. “Their reach is never-ending. There is nowhere to go. And why would I run? I wanted Theo to come here and now he has come. Tonight you will lead him here and I will kill him.”

“He’s not going to just mosey on in here like a plonker to get caught in your trap.’ Ben pointed up at the hanging net of silver nitrate solution. “I have to disable all your little booby-traps first.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen.”

“He can control bats, right? What bloodline is that?”

“He’s of the Volakas bloodline. Also known as the beasts. The oldest and most powerful of their lot can even turn into bats. None of this matters. We need to strategise how we are going to outfox Theo.”

“You seriously don’t have a plan b? You really thought that this net of silver was going to work without a hitch?” Ben had thought that with age came wisdom, but apparently, that was not true in Erin’s case.

“Mocking me won’t do you any favours,” she warned.

“It isn’t me that wants a favour. If you want me to come in on your plan to take down Theo then you need to tell me exactly what he’s done to upset you so badly.”

Erin stopped pacing. For a moment she dropped her hostility and a watery sadness stole her features. “He murdered my brother.”