It was quiet when Ben arrived at All Saint’s Church. It was close to midnight and there wasn’t much in the way of nighttime activities in this particular area of town. Ben could hear people on the other side of the river leaving the cinema complex, but they were the only people he could hear, and they were some distance away.

A cobbled brick wall separated the church from the footpath. It wasn’t a fancy church, just a regular one with a small graveyard outside it. Although the church was still operational, Ben doubted that anybody was buried in the graveyard these days. What little space there was for bodies must have been filled way back around the time the church was first built. The graveyard had probably been larger back then, but in modern times the graves would have been relocated to make way for the crossroad that brought cars into the town centre from all over Maidstone and the surrounding areas.

Ben chuckled to himself when he realised that he was standing outside the graveyard thinking about its mundane history because even that was preferable to handing himself over to Theo.

But Theo had Izzy, and that meant Ben didn’t have the luxury of time. He approached the slender archway that led into the graveyard. A fox moseyed past, not in the least bit threatened by Ben. It had lived around people for so long that it wasn’t even bothered by them anymore. Ben realised that he was about to slip into another distractive thought cycle and he quickened his gait.

When Ben stepped into the graveyard it was like stepping into a pocket universe that was separate from the rest of Maidstone. The distant sounds of people across the river ceased abruptly. The faint hums of occasional cars going by vanished. The only thing Ben could hear was his own blood pumping around his body. Except it wasn’t really his blood since he’d stolen it. That thought elicited another chuckle.

He was at the narrow back door of the church and the door was closed fast. If he forced his way in through that entrance then maybe he could take Theo by surprise. And maybe Theo would slaughter Izzy as a punishment. Fanciful ideas of beating Theo were nothing more than pipedreams. The only option Ben had left was to surrender.

Ben turned and began walking along the concrete path towards the front of the church. He peered at the graves but even with his enhanced vampiric vision, he couldn’t make out the eroded letters and numbers that were engraved on the stones.

“Well, well, well. It would appear that you followed the rules this time,” Theo said from up ahead. He was standing beneath the bare branches of a Beech tree. He’d changed into a fresh suit and had even chosen a deluxe scarf to match. Ben bit back the urge to call him an obnoxious ponce.

“Where’s Izzy?” Ben asked, stopping and leaving a good few metres between them.

The darkness shrouded the top half of Theo’s face so Ben could see only his deep red lips when his mouth curled into a smile. “Come on, sweetheart. Let young Benedict see you for himself.”

When Izzy stepped out from behind the tree, Ben nearly cried at the sight. She hadn’t been hurt as far as he could tell, but she did not look herself. Izzy had always carried herself with confidence and the few times Ben had actually seen her look uncomfortable or out of place in public, he could count on one hand. Now she was hunched over, lost inside herself. Her shoulders trembled and her head was turned down to the ground like somebody who was terrified by what they might see if they looked up.

“Iz,” Ben croaked, heartbroken by the change in her. Because of him. In all the years that he’d dreamed of becoming a vampire, he’d never considered how it might affect those around him.

She raised her head just enough to look at Ben and her eyes were filled with yearning for safety and the comfort of a world before she believed in vampires.

“I’m sorry, Izzy. I’m so sorry. I will do whatever it takes to make this right,” he promised, trying to convey how much he meant it with each word.

“The only thing you can do now is surrender,” Theo said.

“Ben, you don’t have to do anything for this man,” Izzy said, voice shaking with fear. Ben didn’t think he could love his friend anymore, but then she went and offered to sacrifice herself despite her terror. She’d do anything for him, and he for her.

“Oh, yes he does,” Theo said, his voice taking on a guttural growl. “Otherwise I’ll kill everyone.”

“Let her go and I’m yours.” Ben spread his arms wide, displaying himself like a prize.

Theo considered Ben for just a second. “Kneel down, Benedict.”

“What?”

“Show me that you are willing to surrender to me. Show me that you will follow my orders. Otherwise, how can I trust your word?”

Ben nodded to confirm his understanding. Slowly he dropped down to his knees, and as he felt the cold stone slabs through his trousers, he hoped that he was right to trust Theo. The very act of kneeling before the older vampire filled Ben with revulsion, but it was for Izzy.

Theo moved faster than Ben could see and suddenly his hands were on Ben’s shoulders, holding him down on his knees.

“Thank you for your assistance, Miss Butler. You can leave us now.”

Izzy turned her wide and terrified eyes on Ben. She was not going to leave him in the hands of a monster without Ben telling her to do so. Ben offered her the feeblest of reassuring smiles and nodded his head.

“Go, Izzy. Everything will be fine. Trust me. And trust my friends.” That was the best way he could think of telling her to do as Erin said when she arrived. He needed to know that Izzy would go to safety.

As fresh tears rolled down her face, Izzy nodded quickly, and then, with a great reluctance, she hurried out of the graveyard. Ben watched her disappear into the night and wished that he could follow. Instead, he was being held on his knees, Theo’s considerable strength was bearing down on him.

“Don’t worry, Benedict.” Theo stroked Ben’s hair slowly as he spoke filling Ben with the urge to rip his hair out at the roots. There wasn’t enough shampoo in the world to make him feel clean again. “As long as you do everything I tell you, your friend will never have the misfortune of meeting me again.”

“And what are you going to tell me to do?” He closed his eyes, dreading the answer.

“Oh, this and that. For now, I would like you to tell me where I can find Erin. I’m sure you can understand that I have to kill her. Her actions are far beyond the pale.”

Several arguments swam to the forefront of Ben’s mind, but he held them all back. He was in no position to do anything other than comply. Thankfully, he didn’t know where Erin was. He’d been smart enough not to ask where she would go, and she’d been smart enough not to tell him.

“I don’t know where she is. Last time I saw her was at Brenchley Gardens,” he said truthfully. That had been the place they’d parted ways.

Theo released Ben from his hold and walked slowly around to stand before him. Almost seductively, he touched the tips of his fore and middle fingers to Ben’s chin and tilted his face upwards so he could gaze into his eyes.

“Is that the truth, Benedict?” Theo asked softly. Theo’s eyes seemed to smoulder and he pouted his lips just a fraction, enough to make Ben think that he was actually trying to seduce him.

“That is the truth,” Ben replied, recoiling from the other vampire.

“Good. I’d hate to think you were lying to me.” With an airy sigh, he withdrew his hand. “Up you get then. Let’s leave this place.”

Ben didn’t bother asking where they were going. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like he had a say either way.

Theo did not take his phone or make him leave it behind, and that ignited a little spark of hope. Maybe, just maybe, Erin would be able to put together a half-decent plan, and then Ben could escape.

Theo led Ben to his waiting car, and Ben watched the older vampire the entire journey. He watched to learn Theo’s habits and mannerisms. He wanted to find some kind of weakness that he would be able to exploit at some point.

Erin’s plan to trace his location and rescue him was only half a plan. Unless they killed Theo they’d never get him off their backs. He would hunt them forever, and he would hunt Izzy too. The Veil ambassador had to die.

Ben knew how strong and how fast Theo was. Now he was wary of hidden threats, he was even harder to kill than he had been before. He was on the lookout for unexpected attacks. Ben would have to be sneaky, and he would have to be smart.

The car pulled up on the driveway of a large, grey-stone house. It wasn’t quite big enough to be a mansion but it wasn’t far off. As they exited the vehicle a meek man, who’d parted with most of his hair, shuffled out of the front door. He kept his eyes on the ground, too afraid to meet Theo’s gaze.

“Leon! It was so good of you to wait up for me!” Theo shouted.

“You told me to,” said Leon, just a hint of rebelliousness in his tone. This man was not a Theo fan. That might be useful down the line.

“Ah, yes. So I did. And where, may I ask, is Cindy?”

“She went to bed. You didn’t say she needed to stay up.” Leon’s eyes flicked fearfully upwards for a second before darting back down to the ground.

Theo sauntered toward Leon, enjoying the growing fear with every step that he took. “That’s quite right. Be a good man and prepare one of the basement rooms for our new guest.” He extended his arm in Ben’s direction.

Leon looked Ben’s way for the first time and his brow furrowed in annoyance. Clearly Ben was not a welcome guest in Leon’s opinion.

“Which room would you like him to have?” Leon asked curtly.

“Either. I don’t care. Whichever one you and your lovely wife are not occupying.”

Leon’s face darkened with shame and he nodded.

“Come and find us when the room is ready. We’ll most probably be in the sitting room.”

Theo strolled into the house beckoning for Ben to follow him. As Ben passed Leon, the middle-aged man made a little grunt as if in protest at Ben’s presence.

“Hey, I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me to be here,” Ben told him. It was one thing to be pushed around by Theo, but he was not going to let some moody servant make him feel bad about a situation that he had no control over.

“Don’t take it to heart, Benedict. Leon doesn’t want any of us here,” Theo said.

He led Ben into a spacious sitting room. Ben had thought that his own living room was big, and compared to his previous apartment it was. But this place put them both to shame. The ceiling was higher than most ceilings Ben had seen, and hanging from it was an exquisite electric candle chandelier; the metal looked like it was made of genuine gold. Two expensive looking sofas stood around a finely-woven rug; the sofas and rug had a fancy red and gold design. The walls were cream which was odd considering that Theo had criticised Ben’s apartment for having a white decor. And then the penny dropped.

This was not Theo’s house. It was Leon’s.

Theo flopped down on one of the sofas and spread his arms over the back as if it really was his.

“You stole this place from Leon, didn’t you?” Ben said.

Theo’s eyebrows rose as the corners of his mouth curled. “I’m merely borrowing it. If Leon accommodates me fully then he can have it back as soon as I leave. And the sooner I kill Erin, the sooner we can pack our bags and go. And, I don’t think you’re in any position to judge. How is that you came by such a lavish abode yourself?”

That little nugget had slipped Ben’s mind when he had been judging Theo. But it still wasn’t the same.

“I didn’t keep the old owners around to be my servants,” he argued.

Theo chuckled. “Technically, since I’m not paying them, they’re slaves. But let’s not get pedantic.”

“Is this the guy who didn’t die?” said a short, slender man, with dyed blond hair. His eyebrows were thick and brown, and he flashed Ben a warm smile as he entered the room. He dragged his feet across the carpet as if it was just too much effort to lift them properly.

Rather than going around the sofa, he did a lazy roll over the back of it and landed next to Theo.

“It is indeed,” Theo replied. He slipped his arm around the newcomer’s shoulders. “He doesn’t look like much, does he?”

“Rude,” Ben muttered. Under the scrutinising gaze of them both, he felt akin to an animal in a zoo.

“Oh, I don’t know. He’s got a kind of working-class aesthetic to him.”

Ben had no idea what that mean but it sounded insulting, so he decided to take offence.

“And you’ve got a twink porno aesthetic about you,” he retorted.

Both of them laughed at Ben’s remark. “That sounded a bit homophobic,” the little blond one said.

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with being a twink, just that you like one,” Ben said in an attempt to clear his name.

“Considering what young Benedict has been through, I think we can cut him a little slack, Aiden. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I didn’t mean anything homophobic by it.”

“I was just playing, chill your beans,” Aiden said with a wave of his hand. His fingernails were painted black and they looked like he’d been chewing on them.

“My beans are sufficiently chilled.” He turned back to Theo. “Is he a vampire or some kind of human-pet you travel around with?”

“You don’t need to speak about me as if I’m not in the room,” Aiden said, tutting and pursing his lips.

“That was very rude, Benedict. Aiden is a vampire. I don’t keep pets. Only prisoners.” He turned to Aiden. “Benedict will be staying with us until I figure out how a freshly turned vampire managed to survive a stake directly to the heart.”

“Perhaps you missed,” Aiden suggested airily.

“My aim is never anything less than perfection.”

“Mmm, now that’s something I can concur with,” Aiden said with a knowing grin. “Aren’t you worried, though? I mean, he survived a stake to the heart. What else could he be capable of? Do you really want him under the same roof as us?”

“Don’t be scared of him. Cockroaches have tremendous survival skills, but they can’t do us any harm.”

“I’m not a cockroach and do you seriously expect me to stand here and listen to you insult me?” Ben demanded. He was starting to think that death wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“You’re more than welcome to sit down.” Theo waved his hand at the free couch.

“Should we call Darius? He might be better—”

“No.” Theo sat up and withdrew his arm from around Aiden. Aiden shifted away from Theo as if he’d been bitten. “Nobody from the Veil is to know about Benedict. I need to know what he is first.”

“I was only asking.”

“I know.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room and Ben wished he had sat down when he’d been offered the opportunity. Moving now would only draw their attention to him, and given the tense atmosphere currently filling the room, their attention was not something that he wanted.

‘Andrea!’ Theo suddenly shouted, making Aiden flinch.

Moments later a gangly looking woman came in. She looked seriously ill and Ben suspected that had something to do with Theo.

“You called?” she said, her voice weak and barely audible.

“Pour me a drink,” Theo commanded. “And for goodness sake, Benedict, sit down.”

Ben walked over to the vacant sofa and sat on the far end putting as much distance between him and everybody else as possible.

Andrea crossed the vast room to the table by the window where several decanters of liquor were housed. She turned over one of the crystal whiskey glasses and then picked up the paring knife that was used to cut lemon slices. However, Andrea did not reach for a lemon. Instead, she sliced open her own wrist and held it above the glass. Ben watched in open-mouthed horror as dark red blood poured from her artery into the glass. Somehow this way of consuming blood seemed more grotesque than simply chomping down on somebody.

“Don’t forget to pour one for Aiden,” Theo added lazily. “Benedict, drink?”

Ben shook his head, unable to stop watching Andrea. “No, I had one before I came.”

When Andrea was finished pouring the drinks, she grabbed what Ben had thought was a cloth. Instead, it was a stack of folded bandages. She wrapped one around her wrist and then grabbed the glasses and turned to face the room. Ben wondered how long Theo had been forcing her to do this before it had become second nature to cut herself open to feed her boss.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Theo said as he took his drink from her trembling hand. Her eyes betrayed the pain that she was trying to hide and Ben wondered why she wasn’t crying.

Theo noticed Ben watching and grinned. “It takes a while to train them to this degree. A few more weeks and she won’t show even the slightest hint of pain.”

Ben’s lip curled in disgust. “Why don’t you just mesmerise her? You could tell her not to feel pain or something.”

“Indeed I could. If that were in my skill set. However, Aiden and I are not of the Dinferi bloodline. We are Volakas. Our powers are a bit more…animalistic.” The swarm of bats came to Ben’s mind and he remembered what Erin had told him about the different bloodlines.

“But that doesn’t mean we leave our staff in pain,” Aiden said. His voice contained a touch more sympathy than Theo’s. After taking his drink, Aiden took the knife that she still held and used it to cut open his own wrist before offering it to the woman. She took the wrist in her hands and tentatively lowered her face until her lips touched the wound.

“Are you turning her into a vampire?” Ben asked.

Aiden and Theo both laughed before Aiden pulled his wrist away. “Not at all. It takes a lot more blood to create a vampire.” He pulled the bandage from Andrea’s wrist and held it out on display for Ben. “But a just a swallow will heal any wound.”

“We’ve been training Andrea to be one of our donors for weeks now. It wouldn’t do if we turned our donors now, would it? Did Erin teach you nothing when she turned you?” Theo asked. He dismissed Andrea with a wave.

“Well, she didn’t exactly turn me. I kind of turned myself.”

He suddenly had their full attention.

“I think it is time that you told us the full story of how you were introduced to our world. Start from the beginning and leave nothing out.”

“Oh goodie, and I thought I was going to have a boring night,” said Aiden. He curled his feet beneath him and rested his head on Theo’s shoulder as Ben began his story.

Theo had asked for the whole thing from the very beginning and that was exactly what he got. Ben started from the night he’d first seen Theo all those years ago, and ended with the night Theo had arrived at his apartment.

“Do you see my fascination now?” Theo asked Aiden once the story was told.

“Oh yes. I see it,” said Aideen. He seemed unable to take his eyes off Ben. It was like he was a teenage boy seeing a naked person in the flesh for the first time. “How do we figure out what’s going on inside him then?”

“Well, since cutting him open isn’t a viable option I’m going to have to ask the expert.”

“The expert? As in the Veil Expert?”

“Yes, I’ll go now and bring her back here.” Theo shrugged Aideen off him and stood up. He buttoned up his jacket as he prepared to leave.

“I thought the Veil weren’t to know about him?”

“I’ll be discreet.” Theo winked at Aiden. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Aiden, under no circumstances can you tell anybody about our guest.”

“Who would I tell?”

“Oh please, you’re always on your phone when I’m not around. Don’t pretend otherwise. But while Benedict is with us, we are on a communications lockdown. No Snapchat, no Instagram, no TikTok, and no Facebook. I don’t want you accidentally putting something damning online.”

“First of all, who even uses Facebook anymore?” Aiden looked at Ben for support, but Ben simply stared on. He was having a hard time digesting the idea of a vampire who was so entrenched in social media in the first place. “And second, I’m not an idiot. Anyway, nobody knows he exists.”

“And for now that is how it must stay.” Theo bent over and cupped Aiden’s face in his hands. He stared into his eyes, but not with the usual malice that Ben had come to know, he was looking at Aiden with affection. “If he proves to be what I think he is then he could be my key to rising up from being a mere minion of the Veil. Think of how different everything will be for us.”

“I like things how they are,” Aiden said.

Theo shoved Aiden’s head out of his hands and tutted in annoyance. “You’ve always lacked ambition. That’s fine. I have plenty for the both of us. Keep an eye on him. Lock him in his room if he misbehaves.”

“I’m not five,” Ben protested, but nobody cared.

“I’ll be back very soon.” Theo shouted for his driver and then exited the room leaving Ben with a sulky Aiden.

Ben’s phone dinged not long after Theo had left. He glanced at Aiden, who was fixated on his own phone, before pulling it out to see who it was. It was a message from Izzy.

I’m with your friend. Hope you’re safe too.

He sunk into the embracing cushions of the sofa and let the relief wash over him. He typed out a quick reply letting her know that he was fine and asking her to thank Erin for him, before deleting the message and slipping his phone back into his pocket.

Aiden was now staring right at him, eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure Theo would want you to have a phone, you know.”

“If that were the case then wouldn’t he have taken it off me himself?” Ben asked, trying to make his tone as nonconfrontational as possible. Aiden seemed like an affable enough guy and if Ben could get him on his side then his chances of escaping might just improve.

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true.” He lifted his own phone up from his lap and began scrolling once again. Well, that was easy.

Erin had surprised Ben with the modern language she often used, but Aiden was something else entirely. He didn’t just speak like a modern guy, he embraced every aspect of the gen z stereotype. Nothing about him seemed at all vampiric.

“Do you mind if I ask how old you are?” Ben said.

“No. I mean, you kind of have asked already now, haven’t you?” he giggled and waved his hand dismissively. “I’m eighteen.”

“You’ve been a vampire for eighteen years or…”

He shook his head. “No, I’ve been a vampire for, like, six months. I am eighteen.”

“Wow, okay.” Ben hadn’t been expecting him to be that young. “How old is Theo exactly?”

“Oh, he is old!” Aiden said and then laughed. “Like five hundred or something.”

“That’s some age gap,” Ben said. He’d never been judgemental about age gaps before; he’d always believed as long as it was legal and both members of the relationship were happy, it was nobody else’s business. But he’d never encountered an age gap of 482 years before. It was legal, but it still seemed weird. Then again, there were probably going to be a lot of things that he found weird now that he’d entered a community where people lived for centuries.

Aiden rolled his eyes. “That’s the glory of being vampires. Nobody can tell how big the gap really is. At most, they think he’s about thirty and some people have still given us funny looks when we’re out.”

“And how does Theo take that?”

“He usually kills them.” His gaze dropped down to his lap, clearly, he was not a fan of Theo’s murderous tendencies. Perhaps that was something Ben could use to his advantage.

“I take it you're not too keen on Theo’s violent reactions?” he said carefully. He didn’t want to upset Aiden, he just wanted to get him on side.

“Well, I’m keen on them in the bedroom,” he flashed a sultry smile that put images in Ben’s head that he did not want to see. “But he could learn to restrain himself everywhere else. I mean, it doesn’t matter so much when he gets a bit rough with me. I’m a vampire and I can take it. But when he kills people for giving us funny looks…well that’s irreversible. And it’s kind of an overreaction.”

“He hits you?” Ben asked, unable to keep the judgment out of his voice. Aiden picked up on it.

He closed up in an instant. “We shouldn’t be talking about this. In fact, I should just put you in your room.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“Leon!” he bellowed, his voice ringing out through the huge house.

Leon appeared far too quickly, as though he had been standing outside the room eavesdropping. A moment later, Ben was being shown to his new room by Leon. He would’ve used the opportunity to do some digging, but Aiden was following closely, and he’d already caused enough bother with Theo’s boyfriend. He couldn’t risk any more.

He was glad to see that the rooms in the basement were fully furnished bedrooms and not prison cells. The little room that he was shown to had a double bed, and a vanity table with a plush, velvet stool. As soon as he was inside, Aiden slammed the door shut and locked it.

“You can stay there until Theo gets back,” he called through the door. Ben heard his footsteps climbing the stairs.

At least he still had his phone. However, when Ben pulled it out saw that he was unable to get any signal in the basement. His phone was useless in all practical ways. He flopped down on the bed and tried to distract himself from his depressing situation by playing Crossy Road.

The game could only keep him occupied for about five minutes before he tossed his phone onto the mattress beside him. He shouldn’t be wasting time on silly games, he should be strategising his way out of his predicament. He knew that Erin was going to come for him, but that was only half the plan. They would still need to kill Theo, and now there was a second vampire to contend with. Aiden might only be six months old, but that was still a lot older than Ben was.

Aiden didn’t seem that bad. He didn’t deserve to die. Ideally, Ben wanted to turn him against Theo, but if he was honest, he didn’t have much hope of that happening. If it came to choosing between Aiden’s life or his own, he knew who he was going to choose.

Ben glanced over at the door, an idea occurring to him. Aiden had locked him in the room, but the door had seemed no different than a regular wooden door. If that was the case, then that lock was for psychological purposes only, and Ben would easily be able to break free.

He hopped up off the bed and crossed the short distance to the door. He ran his hands over its surface, feeling the material. It was definitely wooden. He grabbed the handle and gave the door a little shake. It moved just like any other door. There were no deadbolts or added security measures. Aiden had locked him behind a wooden door that he could easily rip off the hinges. Intelligence was not strong in that one.

But Ben didn’t break free. Not yet. Escaping was pointless until he had a full plan. If he broke the lock now then Theo would install stronger security devices and that would hinder any future plans. He had to wait until the moment was right. He had to wait for Erin.

Ben returned to the bed safe with the knowledge that if he felt so inclined, he could escape from this house. He was there at his own leisure. If he just told himself that a few hundred more times then he might just start to believe it.