Shuffling her deck, Lydia menaced Gamey with her gaze, her eyes locked on his tense figure. Her blood smouldered at the irritating voices behind her.

“What’s with all the banners?” said Jack, his tone unsure. “Is it someone’s birthday?”

She let her vision wander, noting purple streamers strung up along each of the walls. The number ‘17’ was repeated on all of them.

Groaning, she dropped her forehead on the table. “Seventeen. It’s the seventeenth chapter. Why now? I was finally getting serious!”

Jack licked his teeth. “More importantly, why are we celebrating the seventeenth chapter? What’s so special about the number seventeen, and what about it makes it okay to steal jokes?”

Hannah cleared her throat. “Actually, it’s not just that it’s the seventeenth chapter; seventeenth is also our Moonquill rank for last week.”

His mouth made an ‘o’, his pitch ascending. “What’s good about that kind of rank? Just because the numbers match up doesn’t mean you have to do it; come back when you’re at the top of the page, dammit!”

Raising her head, Lydia growled, long and low and guttural. She had finally made it. She was almost within touching distance, and she needed no more distractions. “Shut up, both of you! I came here to find my sister!”

“And yet you’re about to play a card game!”

“Hmph. Yes, well.” She raised her nose, flicking her wrist and sending Gamey smashing into the wall. “There’s no Ward here, is there?”

His chair flew aside as the wall splintered, a choking gasp escaping from his lips. She stood up, strutting over with a twisted smile.

Every breath stoked the fire spreading from her chest. “Where is the staff room?”

Gamey groaned, his ribs creaking. “Out of here… augh. Take the right, right at the end, then left.” He grunted painfully. “The door’s marked.”

Turning on her heel, she strode away, giving Jack and Hannah pointed glances as she passed. She left the room, and they moved to follow.

“Lawrence… was a good man, once,” said Gamey, coughing.

Jack looked down, frowning. “Yeah, they usually were.”

“He says he’s fighting for liberty, but it’s nothing more than tyranny.” Silent tears tracked down his cheeks. “Stop him. Please.”

“Yeah,” said Jack. “What is the vampire liberation, anyway?”

He smiled mirthlessly. “You strike me... as a perceptive sort. I’m sure you can see it.”

Sighing, Jack nodded. “Yeah, I suppose so. I hate it when the bad guy has a point.”

Hannah tugged at his sleeve, staring at him with watery eyes. “What are you talking about? Just before, you said you had no idea.”

“Sorry, kid. I lied.” Giving her a soft smile, he patted her hand. “I didn’t wanna lump you with big, complicated problems when we’re already in the middle of one. But when we get out of here, you’re gonna have a lot of hard choices to make, and a lot of harsh realities to face.”

She frowned, her eyes drooping. “But.. I…”

“Haven’t you noticed? Vampires don’t do well with sun. And yet here you are, completely fine.”

Her face lit up with realisation. “You’re right… how?”

He sighed again. “You haven’t drunk yet. Your body is being sustained by vampiric blood, but it’s not yours; you’re still living between vampire and human. No special vampire skills, no sun weakness, and no trace of the human you were. Just thirst. Until you drink, and then it’s settled. And don’t ask me why, because we need to move.” He stepped out, pausing with a look over his shoulder.

“Oh, and Gamey,” he said. “Jack Of All Trades has accepted your request. I’ll find you later with the bill.”

They left, turning the corner and entering a hallway around twenty feet long, the walls blue and three doors in a row on the left wall, with one ajar at the end. The right was covered with bulletin boards, ancient scraps of paper still hanging.

Lydia was standing halfway down, finishing the incineration of a vampire, flames flickering shadows along the dark corridor. Hearing footsteps behind her, she spun round, nose twitching. She saw them, and relaxed. “Oh. And here I thought you’d run away.”

Jack cocked an eyebrow. “And miss all the fun?”

Striding away, she sighed. “Or maybe realise how stupid a decision you’ve made.” She turned her head, aiming a sharp glance at Hannah. She wondered, for a second, how it might affect her to watch these strangers die.

But they weren’t really strangers anymore, and they were still there. Still with her. Neither of them had once shied away from her name, or her power.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She couldn’t decide if she cared or not, but she knew that they were basically asking to get themselves killed. At best, they’d be a burden.

Narrowing his eyes, Jack noted the direction of her gaze. “She has every right to be here, and it’s a decision she made herself. Same as you or me.”

Hannah nodded, the look in her eyes giving the impression of being somewhere else.

Scoffing, Lydia advanced, turning right and passing the open door without noticing the shadow within.

“Watch it!”

She whirled round in time to see a spotty vampire being bludgeoned with a sheathed sword.

Craning his neck, Jack said, “do you think you could pay a bit more attention?”

She was astounded. “And here I was, under the impression that you didn’t like me.”

He gave her a bemused expression. “Just because I don’t like you, doesn’t mean you deserve to die.”

She looked at him, and realised that her assumptions had been wrong. It was as though her world had folded in on itself, reversing perspectives repeatedly until she spun, and couldn’t think straight.

She had thought him a loser, someone so pathetic that they couldn’t even climb onto the bottom rung of society, but that wasn’t it. It wasn’t that he couldn’t; he just refused to. He ignored the ladder the same way she had ignored the tortured look in his eyes, and forged his own path, wherever it took him.

But why? What was it that drove him?

She had more important things to worry about.

“Hmph,” she said, continuing on. This corridor was shorter, with fewer doors and no ambushes. She wondered about the New Bloods, briefly, and about vampires.

If she had been wrong about Jack, what else was she wrong about?

She cast a quick glance at Hannah, but said nothing.

***

Hannah’s mind was racing, though she didn’t want to show it. Her mad adrenaline rush had died, and she was becoming contemplative.

She had to fight not to bite her lip. She wasn’t human anymore, and she didn’t even know what that meant.

They turned the final corner, to a corridor with only two doors, both at the end. The air hung heavier, there, like the building itself was warning them.

Waves of chill pulsated through her being, every moment, every beat of her heart punctuated by a quiver in her shoulders. Her leg hair stood erect.

What was she even doing there? She eyed Jack, his face set to a mask of grim determination. He had pulled her from that building, kept her alive, and asked no questions when she’d decided to follow him. If she stuck close to him, she thought, she may figure out what her life was meant for.

The second one, anyway.

They approached a door marked ‘Staff Room’, blistered paint peeling from the cracks, the sign itself hanging on one nail.

Thinking about his words earlier, she understood why he’d lied; she already knew, after all. She just didn’t want to admit it.

Even Ness had said it, that very morning: “nobody’s gonna give a fuck.”

And nobody would. Even though vampires were accepted by the Supernormal Accords, there were still people alive who remembered The Revelation. People whose lives had been filtered by stories of monsters who preyed on humans, who hid in the night and struck at those who were most vulnerable.

As a human, she had barely noticed. She had listened to the stories, like all the other children, and felt relief when the vampires were staked.

It had never occurred to her that they might have feelings too.

They were protected from discrimination by law, yes. But nothing could protect them from an ignorant attitude.

***

Lydia burst into the staff room, as empty as all the others aside from a single chair, to which a girl was tied. Her heart lifted, her chest filling with fluff as a pleasant tingling ran down her fingers.

“Jessie!” Running over, she immediately started on the ropes. Her sister’s hair was tousled, and streaks stained her face, but she was okay. Lydia took the gag from her mouth.

Sputtering, Jess looked at the two in the doorway. “What took you so long? Don’t tell me you’ve been cheating on me with another straight man!”

Jack chuckled.

Lydia waited for the inevitable retort, but it didn’t come. Shrugging, she worked at the stubborn knots around Jess’s hands. “Don’t be such a bore, haven’t you ever heard of polycomedy?”

“Uh, no.” Jack’s mouth was twisted in confusion. “No-one’s ever heard of that; it’s not a real thing.”

Jess stared at him, her mouth open. “See, you are cheating on me!”

“Jessie.” Lydia moved around the chair as Jess flexed her arms, clasping her cheeks. She was unable to contain her grin. “Shut up.”

She grinned back, stroking Lydia’s forehead.

Everything melted away. She had what she’d come for, and nothing else mattered. They could finally go home, forget about Blackpool and the New Bloods, and return to their comfortable lives.

Slipping the ropes binding Jess’ ankles, she rose along with her sister, and clamped her arms around her in a hug. She nuzzled her shoulder. “What did they do to you?”

Jess buried her face in her chest. “Nothing much. They just tied me to that chair.” She started bouncing on her feet with a strained expression.

Disengaging, Lydia eyed her strangely. “Then what are you doing?”

Jess looked away, blushing. “Um, well…”

Jack rubbed his forehead. “It’s a punchline, isn’t it?”

Sighing, Jess put a hand between her legs. Her tone was miserable. “I really need a wee.”

Lydia looked at him expectantly.

Flailing an arm, he said, “what are you looking at me for? Go in the bloody corner!”

He grabbed Hannah - who was almost catatonic - by the arm, and dragged her out, slamming the door.

***

“Alright, kid,” said Jack, giving her his most empathetic gaze. “You’ve been stuck in your own head the entire time we've been in here. What’s going on?”

She smiled bitterly. “You were right. Now isn’t the time.”

He shook his head. He’d been patient, but he couldn’t just watch anymore - he knew what the shattering of a soul looked like. “Now is precisely the time. What did you even come here for? Why do you seem to trust me so much?”

She stared at him, her eyelids quivering. “Because you saved me, and not just from the New Bloods. They turned me into a vampire, and I had no clue what came next - it was the same as always, just dragging my feet without a reason to carry on. But then you came, and you showed me what it looks like to do something meaningful.

“My entire life, I’ve been in the background, trying my hardest to find the thing that makes living feel worth it. But now I’m wondering if anything’s worth it. What if they’re right?”

Sighing, he rubbed the back of his head. It was a lot to take in, but it was something he’d struggled with himself - existential crises were actually one of his monthly appointments.

“Remember the others at the warehouse?” he said. “Does that seem right to you?”

She opened her mouth and shut it again, the words on her tongue fading as the door opened and Lydia emerged.

Following her was Jess, who looked as though she’d achieved enlightenment.

Wordlessly, they set off back down the corridor, Jack noting to himself that he had a conversation to continue.

“So,” said Jess, her tone bright, “who are your friends?”

Lydia’s answer died in her mouth as a scarred figure rounded the corner, striding towards them with his face contorted in simmering rage.

“Well,” said Crispley, “I believe it’s time we put an end to this.”