Chapter 8

As soon as Tom neared the door to Sarah’s room, he knew instantly that something was wrong. There had been nothing obvious to alert him to trouble but as he strode across the hallway he could feel something from her room, and it felt bad. Quickly surveying the innocent-looking door he could tell that his warding was still in place. Still, something had gone very wrong.

Entering the bedroom, he wondered why he even bothered to check for her. She wouldn’t be there and any sign of what had taken her would be gone as well. All the creatures in the building were too clever to leave a path for him to follow.

He searched the room regardless. Nothing looked out of place but he reached his magic into every corner looking for a clue. As he had expected there was nothing left for him to follow, not even a sense that something had happened in the room. The strange feeling from the hallway had dispersed quickly and he knew that if he had returned a moment later he wouldn’t have felt anything.

He was relieved to see his warding was still holding in the room, it limited the list of creatures that could have taken her. It should have limited it down to none, but still, something had managed to get through.

Looking around he could almost believe she had just walked out the door by herself, but he knew that wasn’t the case. After everything they had been through, he didn’t think she would walk around alone and if she had gone for an ill-timed walk he would be able to sense her. He couldn’t sense Sarah anywhere in the building. Whoever had taken her was making sure to hide her from him, it was either that or they had killed her already. He quickly shifted the uneasy thought from his mind.

Leaving the room, he mentally sorted through all the creatures in the building. He knew them all and their abilities. Rapidly he dismissed the ones that couldn’t have pulled off an abduction like this.

The creature hadn’t been able to enter Sarah’s room uninvited and knowing her aversion to the creatures he assumed she wouldn’t have invited any in. The door had been closed and there had been no sign of a struggle, so something must have taken her out of the room without entering it themselves. That wasn’t an easy thing to do and there weren’t many creatures able to do it. There were even fewer that would have been able to overcome his warding to do so.

He thought briefly of the house itself and its ability to transport people without their consent. It was one thing he couldn’t ward against. He couldn’t stop the building from being close to Sarah as it was also the very thing standing between her and the monsters, keeping her secure. His warding was on the bedroom’s walls, ceiling, floor and door.

She might have gotten out of bed, touching the floor or the wall in the process and therefore unwillingly allowed herself to be transported but she would only have been moved to another part of the building and he would be able to sense her still. The house wouldn’t be able to hide her from him like this. This was a deliberate abduction, one that had been meticulously planned.

Tom had only been across the hall in his room and had only left for a few moments before returning. The creature must have been waiting for the opportunity to take Sarah and must have been ready to pounce when the time came. He clenched his teeth knowing that it wasn’t going to be easy to find her. The creature had to have a lot of experience and strong magic to have even thought of trying.

Going through the shortlist of remaining names he felt his anger continue to mount towards the unnamed creature that had betrayed him. He had made it clear that Sarah was to be left alone while she was staying in the building. Admittedly it had been a lot to ask but he couldn’t believe how many of these creatures had been willing to disobey him in the last few days. Even while they were in this realm and this house.

Focusing on the initial problem at hand he controlled his anger, barely, by thinking about what he would do to this creature once he had Sarah back safely. He would have to send a message. It had been a while since many of these creatures had seen him and they obviously had forgotten who he was, or that he wasn’t one to be played with or ignored.

The thought braced him. Sometimes he found himself forgetting who he was as well. It was any wonder they didn’t respect him when he spent most of his time performing tricks and pretending at magic. It would be good to fully embrace the sorcerer within him again.

It hadn’t taken Tom long to work out a list of suspects. He headed in a direction that he had no evidence was the right way but he trusted his instincts and his magic. Although he couldn’t sense Sarah, he could still sense all the other creatures in the building. Using his magic, he picked out the whereabouts of each one, shifting through the mental map to locate the creatures most likely responsible.

Tom ignored the new presence he felt in the building. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed it before now and wondered how long it had been there. This new presence was the most disturbing for him but he knew that it didn’t have Sarah so it was irrelevant for now. First, he had to get Sarah back.

There was no option of teleporting as he didn’t have a set destination so instead, he walked. He passed creatures and instantly dismissed them on sight while trying to hide the fact that he was looking for Sarah. If word got out that he had lost the human somewhere in the building he wouldn’t be the only one looking for her and whoever was hiding her wouldn’t be able to keep her hidden for long.

Tom felt a trickle of fear cut through his anger as he thought about what might happen to Sarah if he didn’t find her in time. He had never doubted his skills or his magic, had never had a reason to, but now he feared that it wouldn’t be enough. Biting down on the foreign emotions he kept his expression perfectly neutral as he passed more creatures, knowing they would have no reason to see through his performance. Shuffling through his mental map some more he continued onwards grimly.

Sarah awoke sitting up in a hard chair in a poorly lit room unaware of how she had gotten there. Trying to stand she realised she was bound, her hands tied to the arms of the uncomfortable piece of furniture and her feet firmly clamped to the legs. Glancing down at the bindings she noticed she was wearing a garment that reminded her of a dressing gown, one that she had never seen before, and she didn’t have to look to know that she was naked underneath. The knowledge added to her vulnerability.

The dressing gown was old and even the slightest movement released dust that had been locked in the thin fabric, accompanied by a thick musty smell. It made her want to recoil from the strange piece of clothing but she knew that it was something else about the garment that was making her skin crawl. The dressing gown only came down to her knees but it felt as if it covered her entirely. No part of her skin was immune to the creepy feeling the item possessed.

Sarah forced herself to dismiss the unease induced by her attire, and her nakedness beneath, as she was confident that she had bigger problems to focus on. It was never a good sign to wake up in a strange place tied to a chair, especially when you didn’t know how you got there. Twisting on the seat she tried again to move in the bindings but her feeble attempts proved useless against the ropes. She was secured tightly and the wooden chair she was tied to was old but strongly made.

Salvaging up every bit of mental strength she possessed she sat up straighter and looked around the room calmly as if she often found herself in this kind of unusual situation. Her breathing sounded loud and rough in her ears and she didn’t think her attempt at composure would fool anyone but she reminded herself that at least she was still breathing. Looking around the room her fake self-control slipped as she came to the horrible conclusion that she had somehow found herself in a dungeon. She had known the building was old but would never have thought it was old enough to include a torture chamber.

Fear clawed up inside her as she wondered where she had been taken. Was she even in the same realm let alone the same house that she had fallen asleep in? As her widened eyes became accustomed to the gloom, she recognised some of the features in the room and realised the error of her first impression. The room she was tied up in wasn’t a dungeon, it was a large bedroom but decorated in an oddly dark fashion.

Looking around carefully she realised that the bedroom was surprisingly similar to her own. Besides the alterations to the décor, the fixtures in the room were familiar to her, just like the ones she had noticed not only in her room but in other places in the mansion as well. She prayed that she was right and that she wasn’t as lost as she felt. Thinking of all the other realms Tom had spoken about she had nearly sobbed at the thought that she had been taken so far away that no one would be able to find her ever again.

Sarah wondered why anyone would darken the already dark, gothic tones of the mansion. Had it been done deliberately for her capture to scare her or did monsters like the gloomy, satanic-looking style of decorating? She couldn’t see anything specific to indicate what sort of monster the room belonged to but she wasn’t sure what she should look for. Would a vampire’s room lack mirrors or would a werewolf have a kennel instead of a bed?

Focusing on the familiar she calmed herself with the fact that she was still in the same building, it meant Tom wasn’t far away. She had no idea where in the building she was or how she had gotten there but her mind clung to the reassuring items in the room. Those items were telling her that she hadn’t been taken too far from him. Looking at them made her feel safe, even if it was a lie.

She wondered where Tom was and almost cried out his name before remembering what creatures this familiar building contained. If they didn’t already know where she was, she wasn’t about to let them know by screaming. Still, she had to alert Tom somehow. She sat there in agony over her indecision.

A noise in the corner of the room was her first indication that she was not alone. She peered into the gloom as she became aware that she could hear rhythmic breathing, the rasping wheeze she had heard earlier hadn’t been entirely her own. The dimness played tricks on her, distorting her senses as she strained to pick out details in the room. She hoped that whoever was there was asleep.

Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed as she heard a self-satisfied laugh emerge from the darkness. A shadow distorted, extended towards her and a figure soon followed the laugh from the blackness.

‘So, you are awake,’ the words were mumbled and disjointed and Sarah realised that an answer wasn’t considered necessary.

The figure moved closer to her, stopping a short distance away and as Sarah watched a light flared up upon a table between them. The suddenness of the light burnt her eyes and she tried to drop her gaze but found that she couldn’t help but look at it. The intense light was coming from an orb. It was similar to the ones Tom had made to light up her room but the colours were darker, swirling energies that reminded her of the banshee’s flames.

The light from the orb was sufficient to make out the other occupant in the room and Sarah clamped down on her fear as she recognised one of the hags. The woman slowly shuffled nearer, her deformed face close as she bent over Sarah to look at her. The dark swirling energies from the orb were reflected in the hag’s eyes and Sarah looked away quickly. She wasn’t going to let this woman hypnotise her, she had lost control of her legs once before and it was not an experience she wanted to repeat.

The old woman quietly chuckled at her defiance before she moved her hand, brushing her open palm over Sarah’s head in almost a caress. The touch turned Sarah’s stomach and she resisted the urge to close her eyes in revulsion, not wanting to take her gaze completely off the witch in front of her, while still carefully avoiding looking into the other woman’s eyes. The hag pulled her hand away slowly and Sarah could see a few of her hairs hanging from the gnarled old fingers. Her memory flashed back to when the hag had gleefully run away with a few of her loose hairs before.

‘Got some more in case I need you again,’ the hag mumbled.

Sarah watched repulsed as the woman turned back to the table and placed the hair carefully amongst the containers she had lined up. Even in the odd lighting, Sarah recognised some of the jars from her short foray into the kitchen. She realised that not all of the items she had seen in that room would have been food for the monsters, probably half of the monsters in the building didn’t need food, and some things might have been supplies. The thought filled her with fear and she wasn’t sure which idea repulsed her more.

Needing food for survival she could understand, no matter how gross the food was, but needing supplies for spells or other amusements gave the neatly stacked and organised containers in the kitchen a more sadistic quality that made her uneasy. She was reminded again how little she knew of the monsters she had been living with. She wasn’t sure how many of them would eat her or how the other monsters would hurt her if they had the chance. She just knew they were all dangerous to her and that she was helpless against them without Tom.

Biting down on her tongue she barely controlled the urge to scream for him. Instead, she focused on the dangerous situation she had found herself in while trying to understand as much of it as possible. She didn’t know anything about spells or magic but it seemed to her that the witch must have used some spell to summon her, and must have used her hair to do it. It made her feel dirty and used to be manipulated so easily by magic and she panicked at the thought of what other spells the woman was capable of. The fact that Sarah was tied to a chair made her think that none of it would be pleasant.

She watched as the witch picked up a jar from the table and started making her way back towards her. The gleam in the hag’s dark eyes and the evil smirk on her face convinced her of the other woman’s intent. As the hag gleefully danced closer Sarah held her breath, mentally wincing from the nearness of the evil creature, and bracing herself for what would come next.

Never in her imaginings would she have thought of being saved by a knock on the door. She had thought her rescue, if it happened, would be a bit more dramatic but was glad that the quiet noise had been enough to distract the witch from her plans. Praying it was Tom she felt a moment’s relief at the thought that he had found her, she was safe. As the hag moved away from her to answer it Sarah’s relief intensified with each step before it quickly plummeted at the sound of a child’s voice on the other side of the doorway rather than Tom’s.

The creatures at the door were behind Sarah and she had no idea what they were doing. She strained to make out their conversation but the little she could hear was indistinguishable to her fear-addled brain and she couldn’t even work out what language they were speaking. Soon the talking stopped, the door closed and Sarah nervously tugged at her bindings again as she heard footsteps returning towards her.

Feeling a light touch on her arm, and expecting it to be the witch again, she screamed with fear as she turned towards the invasion. Surprisingly her scream came out as a soft whimper, through no action of her own, and she eyed the child standing innocently beside her dubiously. The young boy smiled at her in an impish way making her reluctant to trust him. A thought that persisted as she watched him quickly produce a sharp knife.

Sarah held her breath as she eyed the knife that was moving steadily towards her. She tried to speak out but found she had been silenced. There was no physical evidence of how the words were being stopped from pouring out of her mouth but it was very effective and not a sound emerged from her. Sitting there helplessly and mutely she watched the wicked blade move in before slicing innocently through the bonds that tied her.

The young boy indicated for her to follow as he moved silently through the room. Knowing the witch could return at any moment, she realised she had little choice but to follow the child. There was an air of mischief about the boy that she didn’t like and she knew he had to be a monster of some sort to survive in the building. Pushing aside the instincts that were screaming at her to run, instead, she followed him deeper into the room.

Looking at the child she didn’t recognise him and she didn’t recall seeing him before in the building. Still, she hadn’t always taken notice of the monsters individually as she had usually seen them as an evil mob that was trying to eat her. She wished she had paid more attention to the creatures when Tom had been around to name them to her. It would be nice to know what sort of monster she was putting her trust into.

The young boy stopped at the wardrobe. Opening the door, he indicated wordlessly for her to enter. Sarah bit down on a laugh, she was trusting a child to hide her in a wardrobe in a witch’s room; it was beyond belief. Still, she moved as quietly as possible into the small enclosure, making room worriedly as he followed her inside and closed the door.

As they sat there quietly in the dark, she tried not to remember the sharp blade the boy was carrying and instead focused on what was happening outside their haven. Every one of her senses was straining to catch the slightest noise or movement either from outside of the wardrobe or within. She felt the little boy take her hand and hold on gently, although she sensed it wasn’t due to fear or for comfort as it seemed almost an absentminded gesture. She didn’t fight him for the use of her hand, she didn’t have anything else to do with it and she felt a small measure of security from the unemotional touch.

They waited in silence in the dark. They were like two small children playing hide and seek and the young boy was a very patient player. Before long Sarah started to wiggle and fidget as the moments stretched out, the pressure of hiding getting to her plus the bottom of a wardrobe wasn’t the most comfortable hiding place. The child beside her sat like a statue.

Taking a deep breath, she silently willed herself to be calm, or as calm as possible in the circumstances, when the choice was taken from her abruptly as she heard movement in the room outside and knew the witch had returned. From that moment she couldn’t have moved if she had tried, fear had her sitting as stiffly and statue-still as the boy beside her. She could hear the old hag’s shuffling steps and wild mumbling and Sarah’s heart beat wildly as she waited to be discovered. She knew it wouldn’t take long and wondered why she had trusted a child to find a good hiding spot.

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Suddenly finding his touch constricting Sarah tried to move her hand away from the boy but found she couldn’t. He wasn’t holding on tightly or gripping her, it was more like their hands were oddly locked together. She tried again to pull away and again received no success, although the child gave her no resistance. Looking over at him she could make out nothing in the darkness of the cupboard but she could feel that he was sitting as still as before, seemingly unperturbed by either her or the witch.

As she heard the witch rummaging around closer to their hiding spot she had to stop worrying about their strangely locked hands and concentrate on the other threat in the room. She was sure they would be discovered at any moment and felt her stomach turn at the thought of what the hag would do to her for trying to escape, let alone what she would do to the little boy. Sarah wasn’t sure if he could look after himself against a hag.

Suddenly the door was pulled open and as the strange light poured into the wardrobe Sarah stopped breathing altogether. She had known a lot of different kinds of fear over the last few days but strangely huddling in a wardrobe holding a young boy’s hand as they hid from a hag was one of the worst moments for her. Neither of the occupants in the small space moved, the boy as he was so good at pretending to be a statue and Sarah as she was too terrified. She watched as the hag looked over them, then through them.

It was as if the hag was staring at the bare floor of an empty wardrobe, devoid of the two bodies hiding there. Sarah continued holding her breath, worried now to start breathing and giving them away. She hoped that whatever spell was working to keep them invisible would continue to work as the moment dragged on. It felt like an eternity before Sarah gasped with relief as the door closed, again encasing them into the darkness; unnoticed and unhurt.

She could hear the witch still in the room beyond before there was a loud bang of a slamming door and then silence. The silence was almost as awful. There was no way of knowing what was happening in the room now and she felt like hiding away in the wardrobe forever. She wondered if the little boy would keep her invisible for that long.

They waited a few moments longer in the dark as she caught her breath before her hand was unceremoniously dropped by the child. She could hear him begin to wiggle forward towards the wardrobe door. Her heart was in her throat as he opened it a crack and peered into the room beyond. He turned back to her with the impish smile again on his small, innocent-looking face.

‘All clear,’ he spoke in an oddly musical tone. It was the first time she had heard him speak and she was startled by the sound.

Sarah stopped him before he opened the door completely. She still didn’t trust him and the mischievous look on his face, illuminated by the odd lighting of the room beyond, didn’t help to settle her frayed nerves.

‘Why did you save me?’ she asked quietly, her words little more than a whisper. ‘How did you know where I was?’

‘Catherine showed me,’ his musical voice was at odds with the matter-of-fact answer.

There was laughter behind the words and she resisted the urge to fall under the child’s spell and laugh along with him. For some reason, she didn’t think laughter would be a good idea. She forced herself to concentrate. It wasn’t easy, there was something so bewitching about the child.

She wanted to ask who Catherine was but had more pressing questions and limited time. ‘Where’s Tom?’

‘He’ll be here soon.’

The little boy’s laughter came forth and as promised it was a magical thing. Sarah felt herself smile at the musical sound, finding herself completely ensnared by his enchantment as he opened the door fully and beckoned her to follow.

‘What are you?’ her voice was tinged with wonder as she slid her way to the opening, carefully surveying the room behind the child. There was no sign of the witch but she reminded herself that the hag could return at any time.

‘A changeling,’ the boy answered as he helped her to her feet.

Sarah was glad of the small measure of help and resisted the urge to snatch her hand away at his words.

‘What are you going to change into?’ she asked hesitantly, wondering if the creature he turned into would be so accommodating.

The boy laughed at this, his laughter reminding her of music or bells, and she worried that the merriment would bring the hag back to her room quicker. Thankfully he quickly stopped.

Sarah wondered at these creatures and how they all seemed to think that their comments made perfect sense when the few words they used left her confused and reeling. She was sure she wasn’t the only person ignorant of all things supernatural but these creatures treated her as if she was strange for not understanding their ways. She supposed in this world she was the strange one. Her ignorance was frightening.

A wave of homesickness consumed her, not for the first time, and she resisted the urge to succumb to it as she focused on the little she did understand. The witch was bad and if Sarah was still there when she returned, she would quickly find out just how bad. She still didn’t know if the boy would survive the encounter either.

As they slipped quietly through the room, she decided it was probably best if she kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want any more confusing answers to her questions, and she was hesitant to fall under the boy’s spell, so instead, she focused on following him. Crossing the room didn’t take long but with each step, she worried that the hag would come in and discover her escaping, making walking the small distance an exhausting experience. Finally, they made it to the door and she braced herself, knowing the worst probably wasn’t over for her yet as there were still many uncomfortable steps to go before she reached the safety of her room.

As they moved out into the hallway, she realised she might be following the child from a bad situation into an even worse one. The hag wasn’t the only evil creature in the building. There were all sorts of monsters to be afraid of and she didn’t have Tom to protect her this time.

Her fears were suddenly confirmed as they manoeuvred a bend in the corridor to find themselves faced with the very witch they had been running from. Sarah gasped in fear as she recognised the wizened hag and wondered if this had been the child’s plan all along, to build up her trust and then bring her face to face with the witch again. Even though she realised how foolish that sounded she couldn’t help feeling betrayed by the child. She had trusted him. Which, she acknowledged, was also pretty foolish of her.

The moment stretched on as she eyed the witch in front of her fearfully. The hag had been in the process of returning to her room again and Sarah could see the woman’s surprise and delight in finding the lost item she had been looking for walking right up to her in the hallway. Numb with exhaustion and fear Sarah lost focus on anything other than the witch in front of her until she could no longer be sure the changeling child was still with them.

Sarah hadn’t been able to take her exhausted gaze from the hag’s eyes quickly enough and became mesmerised by the darkness she could see within. It was impossible to resist as the magic started to consume her vision. The moment seemed endless and it took her scared, confused brain a few moments to register the arrival of someone else in the hallway with them. With an effort, she pried her fear-locked eyes away from the hideous face and soulless orbs of the witch and felt relief wash through her as she recognised Tom. Her relief was short-lived when she saw the expression on his face.

Within a second of the fogginess lifting from her mind, Sarah found herself dressed and in the next moment, Tom was at her side, his hand on her upper arm not gentle in its touch but the magic that was thrumming into her was soothing. She looked down in bemusement at the new outfit she wore, again some hand-me-downs from the vampire, and wondered why dressing her had been the first thing on his agenda. She didn’t think the monsters would care how they saw her. She could walk the corridors covered from neck to ankle and she would tempt them the same if she was walking around naked. Her confused brain did notice that the outfit he had magically picked for her was quite cute, still something she would normally never wear, and very similar to the jeans and top she had chosen for herself previously.

Turning to him she noticed Tom’s expression was like granite as his gaze stayed fixed on the hag in front of them. She was surprised to notice the smooth mask of the performer had slipped away and as she surveyed his face she wished it back. Even though she knew his anger wasn’t directed at her it was still an intimidating thing to witness. She turned back to look at the hag and see how she was holding up under that stare.

The hag’s expression told her nothing of her feelings if she had any, but Sarah noted that there was some sort of struggle going on inside the creature. Within moments the woman was gone. There had been no showy smoke or mist to indicate her departure or the steady footsteps of her retreat, just instantly the spot where she had been standing was empty. Sarah couldn’t be sure if the woman had left of her own accord or not and was positive she didn’t want to know.

Her eyes skimmed over to the boy, almost worried for the child that had saved her. She was about to explain to Tom, although she wasn’t sure what she could explain, when she heard that tinkling bell-like laugh as the boy walked away. He didn’t look hurried or concerned as he strolled down the hall, it was as if the morning’s adventure was a common occurrence and he didn’t have a care in the world. It was creepy. Still, Sarah felt relief at his departure, as although he hadn’t seemed to want to hurt her there was something mischievous about the child that she didn’t trust.

The boy’s departure made her realise she was left alone with Tom in the hallway and she almost felt like calling the child back. Risking a look at Tom she realised his expression hadn’t changed with the departure of the monsters, although his anger didn’t seem to be at her which she was grateful for. Not that she was that scared of him but she didn’t feel up to an argument after all she had been through, especially as she could imagine what an argument with Tom would be like, or maybe she couldn’t. Thankfully she sensed that it was something else that consumed his mind and set his face into those hard plains that worried her.

She expected him to ask her what had happened, ask if she was alright and maybe even hold her while he promised to keep her safe. She sighed regretfully as the grip on her arm didn’t change to a caress when the monsters left and she knew he wasn’t going to be the shoulder to cry on that she needed. Instead, he moved, intent on walking down the hall and she had no choice but to follow.

As they passed through a small archway Sarah stifled a groan when she recognised the main entrance room of the building. Did every hallway and staircase lead to this one particular room? If so it would explain why it was always so crowded, as it was again.

Sarah eyed the familiar staircase that was practically on the other side of the room from her, knowing it would take her to safety. Not that she could consider her bedroom that safe after what she had just experienced but there would be fewer monsters in there at least. Still, one look at the scores of creatures in front of her told her that she wouldn’t get through easily. She would have to stick to Tom and hope they had the same destination in mind.

Tom moved forward in the room, but not to pass through it. It was more like he wanted to make his presence known to all the monsters in it as he moved slowly, surveying the crowd in front of them with the same intimidating look he had used on the witch. Sarah worried about him as a protector for the first time since she had chosen to believe in monsters. It was almost as if he had forgotten that she was with him, a nice tasty human in a room full of unholy creatures.

She noticed that the creatures hadn’t forgotten and there were a few hungry looks cast her way as she was led towards the beasts. Still, there was a hesitancy about them that she hadn’t seen before. Tom and Sarah only managed a few steps towards the mob before their path was obstructed. Sarah was almost relieved to see a familiar face in front of her before she noticed the hard lines of anger on Delia’s expression. She would never have described the monsters she had encountered so far as laid back but something had happened that had taken them all to a new level of terrifying.

‘I can turn Sarah,’ Delia started without preamble talking only to Tom as if Sarah wasn’t standing there as well.

It took Sarah a moment to work out what the woman in front of her was talking about. It was strange to hear her name spoken by the vampire and stranger still the content of what she was saying. Delia’s face continued to wear the hard lines of anger and there was a desperation about her that was beyond frightening, she looked more vampire than ever. Suddenly what the vampire was saying clicked in her mind and she choked back her bile at the thought of the vampire forcing her blood down Sarah’s throat to give her body immortality but destroy her soul.

She wasn’t sure where the offer had come from. The undead woman didn’t care about her or what might happen to her, she knew it had only been Tom’s persuading that had forced the vampire to rescue her the day before. All Delia had indicated so far was a hunger towards Sarah and she knew that given the chance the vampire would be drinking her blood and it wouldn’t be to turn her into an undead sister. There had to be another reason for the offer but although Sarah had spent a few days in their presence she was a long way from understanding anything about why these monsters did what they did.

She saw one of the young men that had helped rescue them standing in the crowd nearby. He was interested in their conversation and was just pretending that he wasn’t. She wondered if he was going to get involved but could tell from his body language that he thought he was better off where he was. Still, she could see his indecision. As he caught her looking at him, he maimed indifference with a deliberate roll of his eyes.

As Delia waited impatiently for Tom’s reply the other young man from the night before swaggered forward. Sarah hadn’t seen where he had come from and was startled to find him so close to them so quickly. He hadn’t been standing with the eye-roller and she wondered if they were friends like she had first assumed or if they were even the same species of monster. She didn’t have time to ask, even if she had wanted to before he cut into the conversation quickly with arrogance and confidence.

‘Or she could be a werewolf.’

Sarah recoiled in disbelief.

The young man’s tone had made it sound like he wasn’t interested in the outcome but she could see that Tom’s answer mattered. Looking at the werewolf she wondered at his interest in her, again she was sure it wasn’t a concern for her wellbeing that prompted the offer. Whatever had driven the vampire to offer her misguided attempt at help, the same force was pushing him as well. Sarah wasn’t sure if she should scream or cry at the vampire’s offer to turn her, doubled by the insane words from the werewolf.

The vampire turned and glared at the young man, an otherworldly snarl issuing from her fang-filled mouth. The young man held her gaze firmly, nothing about his countenance changed but Sarah noticed some of the other creatures in the room move to stand a bit straighter as they took in the exchange. The eye-roller was watching them again with interest. The air around them practically snapped with the tension.

Sarah knew she didn’t want to see a fight break out. She had a feeling that the argument had started before Tom had arrived in the room and that both the vampire and the werewolf had a strong motivation for wanting to win it. She couldn’t understand what the motivation could be and was terrified at the thought of these creatures fighting for the right to turn her into one of them.

She looked at Tom hoping he would save her from the serious offers, as well as from a fight that could break out at any moment, but the look on his face hadn’t changed from the focused expression he had worn since rescuing her from the witch. At that moment she had a chilling thought that he might consider the offers. All he had to do was agree and they could turn her into whatever monster they wanted, they wouldn’t need her consent and she would be powerless to resist. It hit her hard that all her trust was placed in one man, one that was only half-human.

Arguing it from his point of view she had to admit it would certainly make the job of protecting her easier if she no longer needed protecting. As a monster, she would be free to move around the building, safe from fangs and spells, and he would get his freedom back. Maybe the idea of being turned into an undead creature wasn’t as appalling to a half-blood like him as it was to a full-human like her. To him, it was probably a better outcome than her being killed.

To Sarah it was appalling and she would rather die. She hadn’t thought about being an undead, soulless monster before, why would she, but she had been giving it a lot of thought since finding out that those things existed. It hadn’t taken long for her imagination to set off, wondering what it would be like to be one of these creatures and there was no way that she could spin it to a positive. The thought of having an eternity living like these monsters was revolting, let alone the whole eating humans or drinking their blood thing.

As the moments weighed heavily on her, she was almost glad for Tom’s silence as she began to worry about what would come out of his mouth if he did speak. Any part of him that had seemed human to her in the past had been quashed, the intimacy of their night together felt like a dream. At that moment he was a stranger to her.

‘Thank you, Delia, I will let you know what Sarah decides,’ Tom’s voice was smooth but distracted when he finally spoke. It was as if Sarah’s soul was of little importance to him and the argument that had every creature on alert was nothing more than a childish squabble.

His eyes peered off expectantly towards the staircase on the other side of the room and Sarah wondered if he was even aware of what they had been talking about, and of what he had practically agreed to. His answer made it sound like there would be a decision between only those two options. She could see a hint of relief on Delia’s face and knew she had picked up on it too. Tom had said that it would be her decision though and Sarah held on to that, knowing that she would choose death first.

‘But she’s going to be a werewolf,’ the werewolf’s growl of a voice predicted with a chilling finality.

The voice that had issued from the seemingly young man sounded older, harder and deeper than she would have expected and she shivered at the thought that it had issued straight from the underworld itself. The look Tom cast in his direction had the young man stumbling back as he relented. His voice returned to its younger timbre as he moved away from them, muttering about the horrors of being a vampire and the virtues of werewolves. Sarah found herself sickened by the whole conversation.

Sarah couldn’t control herself physically gagging as she saw the woman that usually manned the desk walking towards them purposefully. She felt sure the woman was going to offer to turn her into a leech and knew that if she did Sarah would faint from revulsion. Then she saw the look on the other woman’s face and knew her purpose had nothing to do with her for once.

‘Tom, we have a problem,’ she started with a voice that crackled in the air between them like lightning. ‘Thaddeus is here, and he’s not happy.’ Sarah wondered about the comment but could see from Tom’s expression that he knew who the woman was referring to, he also didn’t look surprised by the information. The leech continued, ‘You had better get her out of here.’

She looked pointedly at Sarah as she said this. So, the topic had been about her after all only the woman hadn’t wanted to inappropriately proposition for her soul, but rather give them a warning that Sarah wasn’t welcome. Tom’s only answer was to move his hand down Sarah’s arm and clasp her hand tightly. The motion gave her more comfort than she would have expected and she wondered why he had chosen that moment to give it.

Anything Tom was about to say was interrupted by the appearance of a man. He strode down the staircase confidently, his large athletic body moving with speed and agility. He was unlike anyone Sarah had seen, power radiated from every inch of his imposing frame as he entered the room fearlessly. It was as if the room had become smaller with his presence, the monsters seemed less threatening and everything else became unimportant compared to him.

She didn’t need to be told that this was Thaddeus.

Glancing around Sarah was surprised by the sudden hush in the room. It was different to the strained silence that her arrival usually induced as the monsters tried to control their hunger for her. Instead, this was a respectful silence indicating that this man had everyone’s attention as he strode off the last step and stood at the bottom of the staircase. Looking at the creatures she realised with wonder how they regarded him. She wouldn’t have thought to see the monsters show fear, yet there it was mingled with respect stamped clearly on each of their hideous faces.

She looked again at the man that had entered and as she stared at him, he slowly turned his gaze to her and her blood froze cold. As his eyes probed into hers, she realised that his eyes had no end to their depth. Unlike the soulless orbs of the monsters in the room that always looked empty his were the opposite, infinitely full. Even from her distance, she could see the brown of his eyes, seemingly normal and human yet somehow dragging her into their depths.

Those eyes held everything in them and she could feel the power emanating from those endless orbs, both giving and taking from her in that look. Tearing her eyes away took a great effort and Sarah felt that everything she had and everything she was had been assessed at that moment. She resisted the urge to sob as she feared that it hadn’t been enough.

His depthless eyes moved on to Tom standing beside her and she knew he took in every part of their appearance together, including their still clasped hands. The two men stood on either side of the room looking at each other wordlessly. The tension between them was palpable as all the other creatures edged to the furthest reaches of the room unwilling or unable to compete with this silent battle. Tom stood beside her unflinchingly as he maintained eye contact with the man. He was the first to break the silence.

‘Hello, Father.’