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“She will give your mother a fatal dose of insulin if we say the word. We are keeping her children until we know you are cooperating. So, it’s not only your mom’s life at stake here, but also those of Sister Hunter’s children.”

He shrugged and came closer, his voice becoming more menacing.

“It’s all up to you, Ruby. Down here, the vampire can’t find you but we’ll take you up, above ground, where he can find you. Then we’ll find him, trap him. All you have to do, is to get him to come to you.”

“How?” My voice was cracked, dry.

Tomás gave a nasty laugh. “Oh, when he feels you’re in trouble, he'll come. Vampires like to bind their victims to them that way. You fuck ‘em, you belong to them,” he sneered.

I thought of Danny and how he had treated me like I had belonged to him. Like I was his property, shoes he could throw across a room if the mood took him. Luc had never behaved that way towards me. We had been equals and he had been respectful and decent with me. More decent than any man I’d ever known.

But I couldn’t let them hurt my mother.

I nodded. “I’ll do it,” I said. I was surprised to see tears dripping onto the table.

I didn’t think I had tears left.

Chapter 18

Luc

I stop outside a large property in the heart of the Capital.

This is the address that Harris gave me, asking me to meet him here.

I look again but it is the right place.

There is a bell, I press it and after a while the gate is buzzed open.

There is a paved way with fountains and a well-maintained garden with beautiful shrubs and roses. It looks like a private residence.

The door is opened by a handsome man with a floppy blonde fringe and blue eyes. He extends a genteel hand.

“Luc, welcome,” he smiles charmingly. “I’m Michael. Jon Paul will be back any second, he’s gone to fetch some wine. He says the evening calls for it,” he winks at me.

He opens the door to a foyer with a stunning marble floor and large paintings on the wall. Ferns in gleaming copper pots line the walls. Antique furniture and hand-woven carpets adorn the floors.

“What a beautiful home,” I say and mean it.

“Thank you, it’s mostly my doing, even if I say so myself.”

Michael is obviously Jon Paul’s partner. A young girl comes down to ask him about a sleepover and they have a brief discussion. When she leaves, he rolls his eyes. “Kids!”

“You have more than one?”

He laughs, “Two more, twin boys!”

I didn’t realize that Harris had invited me to his house. It is obviously a show of good faith. He wouldn’t have done that if his plan was to kill me.

“Crazy, right?” Harris says, coming in from behind us.

“Luc, glad you could make it,” he says with a tight smile.

The wine he has brought is blood-based, a product that is extremely expensive but highly rated, especially in some circles.

“Let’s go out to the patio,” he says, taking me through an elegant sitting room and out onto a veranda bordering a green garden with lush plants. I take a seat and when Michael comes round with the wine, I take the glass.

“I wasn’t expecting this,” I admit when Harris looks at me and raises his glass.