"Oh, hell no," Renie burst out.

"No way," Jason cried at the exact same time.

Their objections didn't surprise Roux – she'd expected them – but the only reaction she really cared about was Ludovic's. If they were going to do this, then he needed to be onboard with it. They couldn't work together if he resented her even being there. But she did need to be there, and she hoped he understood that.

"I'll go," Edmond cut in.

"Not without me, you won't," Renie promptly said.

Roux held up both hands. "Neither of you are going." She pointed at Renie. "Some of this might have to be done by day so that rules you out. And you" – she pointed at Edmond now – "are not charging off on some mission and leaving Renie. You two have more than done your bit; you are entitled to take a step back now."

"Shouldn't that be for us to decide?" said Edmond.

"Nope, because you will always try to do the hero thing. It's okay to let someone else handle this one."

Ysanne appraised Roux again, her eyes searching, calculating. "Why you?" she asked.

"Because I'm smart, because I know and understand how both the human and the vampire world works, and because I can be oh-so-charming when I want to be. That opens a lot of doors," Roux replied.

"I don't need you to open any doors for me," said Ludovic, his voice curt.

Normally, Roux would have responded with something flippant, but instinct told her that that wasn't the right thing to do here. While it seemed like Ludovic was dismissing her offer of help because he didn't think she was up to it, Roux wasn't so sure it was as simple as that. In all the time she'd been at Belle Morte, she'd rarely seen Ludovic interact with anyone who wasn't Edmond. He'd done a lot for Renie in the days after her turn, making sure that she was safe and fed and looked after, but Roux suspected that that had been more for Edmond's sake than Renie's own. Perhaps Ludovic's dismissal wasn't because he didn't think she could handle it, but because he didn't know to take help from a relative stranger.

Roux had always trusted her gut instincts, especially when it came to judging people. Ludovic wasn't the easiest man in the world to read, but none of the vibes that Roux was getting from him were bad. Awkward, maybe, but not bad. That had to count for something.

"Actually, you do," she said.

Ludovic's expression darkened, and Roux hurried on before he could say anything.

"Besides the fact that you've been in Belle Morte for so long that you've lost touch with the outside world – don't look at me like that, you know it's true – you're also one of the most recognisable faces in England. How are you going to get around that?"

Ludovic had never seemed too comfortable around cameras, but even he couldn't avoid them. When photographers or TV crews were allowed into the House, all vampires were expected to be present. Ludovic was a celebrity, whether he liked it or not.

"Not only do you have a mob of fans out there, all clamouring just for a glimpse of you, there are also a lot of people who really don't like vampires right now, and what happens if they recognise you? What if your cover is blown by something as silly as a squealing fan?"

Ludovic's mouth flattened, but Roux wasn't sure if it was the reminder that people were out for vampire blood, or the mention of his squealing fans. From what little she knew of him, the latter wasn't something he would have given much thought to.

"I can keep you disguised, keep you hidden," Roux said. Already she was studying his face, carefully appraising each line and angle and deciding how she could change it, how a little shading and contouring could alter the shape of his face, his eyes, his nose. "Makeup can do a lot of things, and I'm very good with it. I bet I can make you look like a whole different person."

Ludovic didn't say anything.

"And let's not forget about feeding," Roux continued. "What are you doing to do when you get hungry? You can't just go around chomping on strangers' necks, but people will notice a guy hunting down rats in the city. You need a regular donor."

"You can't feed him all by yourself. It's way too much – he'd drain you dry," Jason objected.

"I don't have to feed him every day. Vampires in the UK are getting by on bagged blood for the time being; we can take some of that with us."

"It's not the same as fresh human blood, though," Edmond cautioned, and several vampires around the table nodded in agreement.

"Then I'll save my blood for special occasions." Roux turned to Ludovic. "I know you can handle a bunch of newly turned vampires, but please don't forget that they outnumber you five to one. If you want to stay at full-strength for those occasions, that's when you'll take my blood."

"I'll come too," Jason said. "Two donors are better than one."

Roux shook her head. "It'd be better if you didn't. If we want to stay under the radar, then the fewer of us the better. There's much less chance of someone recognising us."

"But this is dangerous," Jason said, frustration colouring his voice.

Roux didn't point out that both of them had already thrown themselves headfirst into danger since they'd come to Belle Morte. "I won't get involved in any of the violent bits. I'll just be there to steer Ludovic through the human world, to keep us both under the radar, and to stay in touch with the mansion." Her eyes flicked to Ysanne. "It would be completely insane to send Ludovic out there with no link to Belle Morte. No one here will have any idea what's happening to him, which means that no one will know if he needs help."

At least this time Ludovic didn't object to the possibility of his needing help.

"Plus, I'm going to make an educated guess and say that McGellan's given us a time limit," Roux added.

"Two weeks," Ysanne said.

It was more than Roux had expected. "I'm also guessing that she'll expect to be updated of any progress."

The tiniest frown appeared between Ysanne's perfectly arched eyebrows. Maybe that was something she hadn't considered.

"Unless he's suddenly going to learn how to handle a mobile phone overnight, Ludovic won't be able to report in, which means you won't be able to pass on the reports to the PM."

"You raise some excellent points," Ysanne admitted.

Jason made a spluttering noise, and out of the corner of her eye, Roux saw Renie tightly gripping Edmond's hand. None of them were happy about this, but that wasn't going to change her mind.

For a heartbeat or two, no one said a thing. Ysanne gazed at Roux, her eyes like drills, and Roux gazed right back. She was confident in her own ability to help Ludovic, and somehow this was something she needed to do. She and Jason had both joined the fight to reclaim Belle Morte a few days ago, but their contributions hadn't made much difference in the face of angry vampires. They had managed to get the surviving donors safely out of the mansion, so it wasn't as if they'd been completely useless, but this time Roux felt like she could be a key player. Now that the idea was in her head, she couldn't shake it. She needed to do this. She had no idea what the future held, for vampires or for herself, but everything inside her told her that her time with their world wasn't over yet. There was more she had to do here.

"Roux, Ludovic," Ysanne said at last. "Would you both come to my office? I'd like to speak with you in private."

Roux sat in Ysanne's office, looking around at the surprisingly modern decor – the leather-and-chrome furniture, and the white carpet that looked even brighter beneath the black desk. The room didn't fit the rest of the mansion.

Ludovic occupied the chair next to her, sitting straight-backed and stiff, refusing to look at her. His hands were tightly folded in his lap. Roux's instincts still insisted that he wasn't mad at her, per se, but he also wasn't happy, and his unhappiness made the small room feel thick with tension.

They'd probably only been sitting there for a couple of minutes, waiting for Ysanne, but it felt like so much longer.

Several times Roux considered saying something to break the silence, but it really wasn't the time for small talk, and she couldn't think how to broach anything else.

If Ludovic didn't want her with him, then she wasn't sure she could go. Yes, Ysanne had the final say, as Lady of the House, but even if she forced Ludovic to work with Roux, it would be a strained and difficult couple of weeks. Roux had hoped that everything she'd said in the dining hall had persuaded Ludovic to her way of thinking, but now she wasn't so sure.

The door opened and Ysanne strode in. She took a seat behind her desk, and Roux breathed a tiny sigh of relief. Now that Ysanne was here, they could really get on with this.

In one hand Ysanne still carried the sheaf of papers that she'd brought into the dining hall. It hadn't been addressed at the time, but it looked like it was about to be.

"Let's get right to this," Ysanne said, flipping open her file. She took out several sheets of paper and slid them across the desktop to Roux and Ludovic.

They both leaned forward to look.

Each sheet contained a photograph, an address, and what looked like a dossier. Roux's eyes slid over the snippets of information. She was more interested in the photos.

"These are our targets," Ysanne said. "Stephen Johnson, Delia Sanders, Neal Schwartz, Jamie Smith, and Kashvi Patel. As best we can tell, they come from all walks of life, and there is no correlation between them except for the fact that they wanted to become vampires."

"How do you know they wanted to?" Roux said. "Jemima blackmailed humans into helping her, so how do you know she didn't blackmail these people into becoming vampires?"

"I have sources. I shall explain everything in due time, but for the moment, I simply need you to trust me," Ysanne replied.

"Okay."

Ysanne looked vaguely startled, as if she'd expected Roux to argue.

Moving on, she tapped the middle sheet of paper with one fingernail. Absurdly, Roux noticed that Ysanne's nails were unpolished, and slightly ragged around the edges. It was a silly, tiny little thing, but when it came to Ysanne it spoke volumes. The vampire Lady was the epitome of elegance, never appearing in public without being polished and primped and coiffed to within an inch of her undead life. Her nails being in a less-than-perfect state was just one more indicator of how life inside Belle Morte had changed.

"This man, Neal Schwartz, was the one who abducted Renie when she got into his taxi," Ysanne said, and Roux's mind catapulted back into what was happening.

She stared down at the photo, at the overweight man looking back at her, and felt fiery rage coil in her stomach. After escaping from Belle Morte when it was invaded by Jemima's minions, Renie, Roux, and Jason had stopped off at a pub a few miles away, desperate to get to a phone so they could warn their families what was going on. When Renie had phoned her mum, she had instead found herself talking to Etienne, who tricked her into thinking he was holding her mother hostage. Desperate to save the only family she had left, and terrified of getting anyone else she cared about into trouble, Renie had fled the group and thrown herself into the back of a taxi, intending to rescue her mum singlehanded, and therefore not endanger any of her friends in a rescue attempt.

But it had all been a con.

Etienne had never had Renie's mum; he'd just wanted to separate her so he could catch her and torture her for information. And this man, this stupid, selfish bastard Neal Schwartz had helped him do it.

Roux had volunteered to help because she genuinely thought that she could. Right now, looking down at the face of the man who'd kidnapped her best friend and delivered her into the hands of the people who had brutally tortured her, she was more interested in being part of the operation that delivered Schwartz to justice. Renie couldn't go after him herself, but Roux could help make sure that he never hurt anyone again, and that he paid for what he'd done to her.

Ysanne was still watching her, and with an effort, Roux swallowed her rage. If she was going to do this, then she had to remain neutral. It had to be about justice, not revenge. If she went into it just to get revenge on Schwartz then her judgement would be compromised, and she'd be no good to anyone. This was bigger than her, bigger than Renie, bigger than what had happened.

Ysanne gave the tiniest nod, as if she had guessed what was going through Roux's mind and she approved.

"Schwartz's brother reported him missing four days ago. A police investigation had already begun, but McGellan has ordered it to be put on hold. Smith and Patel do not appear to have any relatives, or even friends that we have been able to locate, and the families of Johnson and Sanders were unaware that their loved ones were missing until McGellan's people contacted them. They have been told what's happened, and they are sworn to secrecy regarding that. Once we have captured these vampires then we can discuss how to reveal this latest travesty to the human public, but we cannot let it leak out before we are ready. It is absolutely imperative that people do not know these vampires are out here among them."

"What guarantee do we have that they will remain silent?" Ludovic said, and Roux almost applauded him for speaking at last.

"They have all been made to sign the Official Secrets Act," Ysanne said.

"Wait, seriously?" Roux blurted out. She knew this was important, and she understood why, but it had never occurred to her that it was important enough to invoke legislation related to national security.

Ysanne gave a single nod. "It was McGellan's idea. It may seem extreme but it really is the best way to ensure that no one breathes a word of this before we are ready. Now, if you are going to do this then you will need to visit the families of each of our runaways, and see what you can find out about them. As you can see, we have already collected some basic information, but I feel it would be extremely beneficial for you to visit with the people who knew them best, and see what you can discover. It has only been two days since we contacted these families, and a lot can happen in two days. Schwartz, Sanders, and Johnson could all have made contact during that time. Their families may be hiding them. They must understand how serious the situation is, which means they must understand that their loved ones will have to face the consequences of what they have done."

These families might not have any understanding of vampire justice but, like the rest of the world, they now knew what had happened inside Belle Morte. They knew about the plots and the treason and the slaughter. Roux could understand why any parent would want to shield their child from that, even if it meant breaking the law.

"Wouldn't it be better to let the police question these people and then pass the information onto us?" she asked.

"The more people who know about this, the harder it will be to keep it all contained," Ysanne explained. "If you and Ludovic are going to be tracking these vampires down, then I want you to be the ones talking to their families. They don't know who you are, only that representatives from Belle Morte will be coming to see them. And of course, they are under the impression that those representatives will be human. We can't have anyone knowing that vampires are investigating."

Roux wondered how, if Ysanne had gone ahead with her original plan to do all this herself, she would have disguised the fact that she was a vampire – and probably one of the most famous in the world. Her makeup was always flawless, but that only meant she knew how to highlight and accentuate her best features. It didn't mean she knew how to alter them so she wasn't so recognisable.

But that was another point that she didn't bother making. It wasn't worth the time and energy questioning Ysanne on something that simply didn't matter anymore.

"I assume that, if most of these people haven't even been reported missing yet that we have your source to thank for putting us on the right path. Do we get to know who that person is?" Ludovic asked.

"Our prisoners in the cells have been very talkative."

"Phillip?" Ludovic said, his voice clipped.

"Among others." Ysanne's voice was equally short.

Up until very recently, Phillip had been one of Ysanne's vampires, supposedly loyal to Belle Morte. But then he'd shown his true colours as a traitor, willingly betraying his friends to join Jemima's side. During the final fight to take back the mansion, an enraged Gideon had dealt Phillip some serious damage. His injuries hadn't been fatal, though, which meant he was recovering down in the cells. Whether or not he'd ever be allowed out of the cells was another matter.

Roux had no idea how this would be handled. Up until a few days ago, nothing like this had happened in the ten years since vampires had revealed themselves to the world. They had laid down a lot of laws to govern themselves, and transgressions were swiftly and brutally punished, but Roux bet that no one had thought to create a law that decided what to do if one of the Council members turned on the others and tried to take over all their Houses. Ysanne hadn't foreseen circumstances like these, and if she hadn't then the rest of the Council hadn't either.

Not that it mattered now, when most of them were dead.

"But Phillip is not the one who has provided us with all this information," Ysanne said, and Roux's ears pricked up.

"Then who is?" she said.

Ysanne looked past Roux and Ludovic, focusing on the door behind them. "Bring her in," she called.

Just a quick heads-up, my dears. Although I am back on Wattpad, it's still not working properly for me. I've been told that people are trying to fix this, but for the time being I'm not being notified of any messages, comments etc. So if I don't respond, it's not because I'm ignoring you :)