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I found it hard to believe that none of the board members had been able to talk to me about this.

“He threatened us, made us promise to keep everything secret,” Troy said. Even the chairman, Marcello, was in on it, as I’d feared.

“You must be careful,” Troy said, urgently. “He knows you are onto him and he wants to get rid of you before the next board meeting.”

I decided to let Troy go, making sure to erase his memory of the evening and my meeting with him.

I checked in on Kaya but she was safely at home.

I knew now that we were in more danger than ever before. I flew back as soon as possible and as the sun was beginning to break in the east, I arrived in Hawston.

I found my way to her house straight away.

She opened the door, dressed in a T-shirt, her hair tousled, looking adorable.

“We need to talk,” I told her.

“I think I’ll need coffee for this,” she said, but didn’t sound surprised to see me. I didn’t want to talk in the house in case it was bugged but, at this point, I didn’t trust anyone any more.

When she was dressed and she’d had her coffee, we went for a drive. I took us down to the coast; we watched the sun come up over the rocks and the deserted shore. I told her what I had found out about Da Salle and she listened to all of it.

“I know you asked for some space after the explosion,” I said to her. “I understand that and I’m willing to give you all the time in the world. But I can’t walk away from us, even if I wanted to, I just can’t do it.”

She looked down and didn’t answer.

“I was working in the city when I felt you were in danger. It was such a strong impulse, it was like I was being attacked myself. I had to get to you, I couldn’t have stopped myself even if I’d wanted to.”

She nodded.

I took her hand, and she didn’t pull away.

“I still have feelings for you,” she admitted, refusing to look me in the eye. “I don’t want to have them but I do. I think about you all the time and when you were there yesterday, I was relieved.”

“Kaya,” I said, pulling her close.

There were tears in her eyes, as she bit her lip.

“I don’t want to love you but I do,” she said. “I’ve been fighting it for weeks but it’s useless.”

“Then stop fighting me,” I said. “Let’s fight Da Salle instead.”

She looked at me and before she could say anything, I kissed her.

Chapter 23

Kaya

After the incident at the side of the road, I felt nervous and on edge. I kept going over the incident, wondering how that vampire had been so fast and why I had struggled to fight him, even without weapons.This worried me. Either there was a new drug out there or I had become weaker and lost my edge. I didn’t like either of these scenarios. Then there was the way I had felt about seeing Jack again. I wanted to think about him even less but sooner or later I would have to deal with him too.

I drove past Tina’s house on the way home and saw a strange car outside. I decided to drop by for a quick visit, in case Pearl had come home. I knew she was due back any day now.

I parked in the street and walked up to the front door, which was open. I could hear voices laughing and chatting from inside. It sounded like a party. Pearl was obviously back home.

Tina’s tiny living room was full of people I didn’t know. Pearl was sitting on the sofa and Princess was on her lap, looking very happy. Pearl was telling stories, grinning from ear to ear, very much in her element. I couldn’t help looking around for bottles of beer, or whiskey but I couldn’t see any.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Tina said, suddenly next to me. “But they’re all sober, for now. They came by to drop Pearl off an hour ago.”

I knew that we were thinking the same thing, wondering how long this spell of sobriety would last.