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I didn’t want to accept that the person I’d begun to care for could be capable of causing pain to the extent Alistair had suffered; yet the logical part of me insisted that after all, he was avampire. Torn between my heart and my head, I struggled toaccept the gaping chasm of distance between the Nicholas I knew, and the Nicholas I’d read and heard about.

Eventually, my head pounding from the combination of the gas, the injuries to my face and a swirl of racing thoughts I couldn’t quieten, I succumbed to exhaustion. The dull throb of pain in my shoulders and the growl of my empty stomach followed me down into darkness. In those final moments before unconsciousness, Nicholas’s face floated in my mind – not the monster Alistair described, but the man who’d looked so vulnerable, so… broken, when he’d told me about his past. The contradiction made my heart hurt more than my wounds.

???

Upon waking, I knew immediately something was different. Before I’d fully reached consciousness, the sharp scent of wet earth and rust filled my lungs, bringing with it a cold that reached deep into my bones.

I was cramped into a corner, my back against cold metal that seemed to curve upward and away behind me. My arms were still restrained above my head, but the icy bite of steel and a hollow jangling when I shifted told me my plastic ties had been upgraded. The sound bounced back at me oddly, as though the space was enclosed. Contained.

Some of the feeling had come back to my legs, though I almost wished it hadn’t, since pins and needles had given way to stiff, aching muscles. Stretching them out into nothingness, I found I was raised above the ground. The rough surface under my thighs caught my skin when I moved – some kind of woodenplatform or bench. My bare feet found something solid when I stretched, too. Another bench, maybe, or a cabinet.

In pitch darkness, I couldn’t even begin to guess where the hell I was. The air was heavy with a dampness that reminded me of the chill I’d once felt exploring caves by the beach with Jon and Tom. But that wouldn’t account for the uniform ridges at my back, cold and unyielding.

Time passed without consequence or acknowledgement, as I gave up tugging at the restraints bolted to the wall. The gloom pressed in closer with each passing minute. To keep the panic at bay, I sang David Bowie songs under my breath, focusing on the thought that if they needed to hide me this well, someone must be getting close.

A scraping sound made me jump. A crack of light split the darkness, and I finally saw my prison for what it was – a metal tunnel barely wider than my stretched arms. The curved ceiling was so low that even lying on the bench, my head nearly brushed it. No wonder the air felt so close.

The sliver of light widened. For a moment I glimpsed the starry night beyond before Émilie’s silhouette filled the doorway. Moonlight flooded in, making me squint, but I could see she still held her mutilated arm close to her body. Closing the door behind her, the blue light of an electric travel lamp cast twisted shadows on the walls. She placed a small tin on the cabinet by the door before settling on an identical bench across from me.

As my eyes adjusted, my prison revealed itself. Metal walls arched overhead in corrugated ribs. The benches weren’t benches – they were makeshift beds, and I recognised the basic design ofan Anderson shelter, flashing back to images on a slideshow I’d seen at a school assembly decades ago. The weight of the earth above me suddenly felt much heavier – this place was designed to withstand bombs. Which meant my chances of being able to escape unaided had gotten exponentially smaller in the last five minutes.

Émilie tilted her head, studying me. The harsh light hollowed her cheeks and made the shadows under her eyes seem deeper than ever. Even wounded, she’d be stronger than me – drinking vampire blood would do that to a girl. But maybe if I found the right moment, the right weapon…

She watched me for a long while, a predatory look of anticipation on her face. Slowly, she slunk closer, resting her right hand heavily on my knees, pinning my legs in place.

“You’ve been struggling.”

I gave her the filthiest look I could muster, though I suspected the full force of my malice was lost amid the bruising on my face. My fingers flexed against the manacles.

One hand, Erin. That’s all you need.

“You’re wasting your time, you know. There’s no way out of here,” she added. “How long do you think we’ve been preparing for this?”

“My friends will be here. Give them time.”

She shrugged. “I’m sure they will, eventually.” Her quiet laugh bounced off the curved metal walls, coming back at me from all sides. “Probably Tommy boy first – yes, okay, you caught me – we don’t have him. But don’t worry, he won’t get to you. I’ve got special plans for him.” She waved her stumpmeaningfully. “Can’t let him get away with this, can I?

“And then there’s that creepy blonde you’ve begun associating with.” She squeezed my knee sharply with her fingernails. “What a strange, selfish attempt at humanity he is. I thought you had better taste. I mean, at least Murray and Wyatt are… legendary. What’she?”

I said nothing. I hadn’t learned enough about Adam to get into a battle of words with her – but I knew enough to know she was wrong about him. All I could focus on was my relief that Tom was safe.

“Now, shall we begin?” she asked delicately. “Alistair wants you to kill Murray, as you know – and I strongly support that plan. But that’s not for today.” She paused, waiting.

“I’ve thought a lot about what Murray did to Alistair. I mean, you’ve seen him – he may walk and talk, but he’s amess,” she whispered, as though confiding some secret.

I remained silent, watching her for a way in. Orthrough. She seemed to enjoy the sound of her own voice, and the longer she talked, the more she revealed. But there was something unhinged in her eyes that made my skin crawl way beyond the usual chills and shivers. A deeper, darker kind of cold.

“It seems only fair,” she continued, sliding her hand down my calf and gripping my still-bound ankles, “that Alistair’s suffering should be paid back in kind.” She nodded to herself, eyes blank in the lamplight.

“It’s difficult to make Murray suffer in the usual ways. He’s old, and he heals so quickly… it’s why we’ve had to get a little creative, you know?”

“If you want him dead anyway—” I began.

“Theywant him dead,” she snapped. “And so they should.Iwant him to hurt first,” she smiled to herself. “I want to watch the torment on his face when he sees what I’ve left of you – because for some reason you’re the only thing he sees.” She flashed a quick, vicious grin at me.

“Of course, I can’t do so much damage that you’re incapable of killing the wretch – don’t worry. We need you in good enough condition for that, at least. But—”

She yanked my ankles hard, forcing me flat against the icy wooden bench. The ceiling seemed to press lower, the walls closing in as she leaned in to whisper in my ear. “That still leaves plenty of soft, vulnerable hunter flesh to work with.”