"I can’t stand arrogant bastards," Noah said.

"Nobody likes them," I replied. "Especially other arrogant bastards."

"Are you looking for trouble, boy?"

"I’m just keeping the conversation alive. It’s not like anyone’s offering tea."

"I see Lucas still hasn’t taught you a lesson."

"That was supposed to be a lesson? Now, back in ‘27, that was a lesson. Remember?"

Valentine didn’t immediately understand what I was talking about, but when it clicked, his eyes began to fill with bloodlust. Back in ‘27, bloodsuckers killed my parents, and my grandfather went on his revenge rampage. Nests burned across the country, princes vanished. Bremshire stayed relatively calm during that time, but the bloodsucking society was thrown into chaos. Many power struggles ensued, with factions scrambling to fill the suddenly vacant positions.

The death of my parents had always been a painful subject for me. I remember very little about that dark time and have never tried to dredge it up. But Valentine must remember that period. Then again, who knows if my grandfather ever set foot in Farnell. He mostly tore through the South.

"I remember," Valentine nodded. "I remember Gregor Kinkaid. A powerful warlock… he was… an exceptional leader. The current head doesn’t quite measure up."

I laughed. Uncle Bryce could put cocky little pricks like Valentine in the ground by the dozen. Valentine wouldn’t survive a meeting with him.

"He just needs a chance to prove himself," I hinted.

Noah was suddenly next to me. Kate was hurled against the wall, and the vampire’s hand collided with the "brick" shield. I had expected something like this but couldn’t sit still and reflexively flinched to the side. A mistake – it didn’t save me from ending up "in Valentine’s embrace." His grip on my throat was brutal as he lifted me off the ground with one extended arm.

"You, brat, do not threaten me!"

To respond, I grabbed the vampire’s forearm and pulled myself up. There was no way I could break free of his merciless grip, even if I wanted to. And yet, I felt no fear. After that gesture, everything was clear. Valentine wanted to put me on my knees without laying a finger on me. He would demonstrate his power without actually causing harm – leaving me with no grounds for complaint. The perfect plan… and such a failure. So now he’s pretending to have lost his temper. Pretending, because unhinged lunatics aren’t allowed to establish a nest.

This was a game – a calculated performance to show off his power and scare me. I probably shouldn’t provoke him further, but backing down wasn’t an option.

"Threats are for the weak," I rasped.

"From your position, those words sound ridiculous," Valentine sneered. He threw me against the wall. The stone-like skin granted by my cufflinks softened the blow somewhat, but my head still rattled, and my ribs didn’t come out unscathed.

I struggled to focus through the spinning vision and couldn’t get back on my feet immediately. While I tried, Valentine kept talking.

"A pathetic boy with an overinflated ego. A weakling hiding behind his family. A burden to both your clan and your kin. Why does Lucas even bother with you?"

Kate helped me to my feet.

"Maybe for the same reasons you bother with Simon?" I shot back.

Noah didn’t reply. Instead, he turned to his goons.

"Escort our guests out and throw out the trash," he ordered. His men grabbed the bound girls by their legs and began dragging them toward the exit. "Will you leave on your own, or should we throw you out too?" he asked us.

Kate latched onto my shoulder with a bulldog grip.

"We’re leaving," she said.

A shame. I would’ve liked to look around a little more. But, of course, no one was going to let me.

"Then follow the gentlemen," Valentine ordered proudly, turning back to the window.

This was it – the chance! My hand darted under my jacket, reaching for the dagger. One touch was all it took to confirm my suspicions. The blade burned my finger with rage. Noah spun sharply, as if sensing it, but at the same time Kate yanked me toward the door. Reflexively, I swung my arm to keep my balance. The contact with the dagger broke, and now Valentine was staring at my back.

"Good day to you, sir," I said without turning around. "It’s been a while since I’ve met such hospitable hosts."

Kate yanked my shoulder hard. That could’ve dislocated it!

We weren’t taken out through the front entrance but through a side door, right to the dumpsters, where the bound vampire girls were unceremoniously dumped. Valentine’s goons grinned at us smugly as they walked back inside. Kate kept her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses, but her clenched fists gave her away. Once the "boys" shut the door behind them, Kate unclenched her fists, revealing deep claw marks in her palms. A human’s hands would’ve been bleeding, but as a vampire, she simply flexed her fingers and got to work freeing her sisters.

Carefully, so as not to get dirty, she hooked the first girl and yanked her onto the asphalt, then did the same with the second. After that, Kate fished an empty whiskey bottle out of the dumpster, smashed it against the metal, and began using the jagged glass shard to cut their bonds.

I reached for my dagger but froze. Valentine had acted far too strangely the last time I touched it. What if the bloodsucker was still watching? Better not risk it. Besides, Kate seemed to be managing fine with the glass. She freed one girl’s hands, and the other quickly disentangled herself.

I looked around. We weren’t alone in this alleyway. Closer to the street, leaning against one of the walls, was James Flower... no, not staring – he was blind, after all. But he was watching us. His lordship didn’t need his eyes to see, not with his well-developed third eye.

The moment he noticed my interest, he began walking toward me with a confident stride that no one expects from a blind man. I didn’t just stand there like a pole, either. Something about the expression on his face bothered me. It was hard to read anything through those lifeless eyes, but one thing was certain – it wasn’t joy.

"My lord," I greeted him, stopping three meters away.

James didn’t reply. He raised a hand, and it was instantly engulfed in flames.

"Care to explain what’s going on?" I asked cautiously. My 'brick' shield would hold against The Dragon Flame, but even Finella had demonstrated techniques far more devastating. And James wasn’t just an average wizard – he was a full-fledged battle fire sorcerer. That fiery hand looked a lot like the beginning of a beam attack, the kind Spark used to slice through Martin’s hood.

I recalled James’s threats and prepared to bolt. Even Valentine hadn’t scared me as much as Flower did.

"If you don’t explain the reason, it’ll just be plain abuse," I said. "The lesson element will go to waste."

"Apologies, but I don’t intend to teach you anything."

I bolted left, but a needle-thin beam struck the shield in front of my face. If not for the "brick," my head would’ve been burned clean through. Even so, the heat seeped through, scalding my cheeks and eyes. Flower really wasn’t planning on ‘teaching’ me. I jumped back, but the damn beam stubbornly tracked me until a large shard of glass struck the crazed sorcerer’s hand, disrupting his aim. The beam grazed the wall, leaving a black streak of charred brick.

Bottles and other garbage began flying at James with machine-gun speed. He shielded himself with a variation of a fire barrier. Normally, this type of shield wouldn’t stop slow-moving objects, but the glass didn’t just stop – It bounced off him like it hit a rubber ball. The difference was, at the points of contact, the bottles melted, and anything flammable ignited.

The lull in the fight was brief.

"This way!" Kate shouted.

The vampire girls pushed against a wall and shoved a dumpster. It wobbled, rolled, and toppled over, landing perfectly between the two walls of the adjacent buildings. In that moment, I sobered up and assessed my chances, darting for that miserable excuse for cover, while the girls continued bombarding Flower with garbage, disrupting his aim. It didn’t help much.

The gap between us grew to ten meters. Something behind me exploded, and instead of vaulting over the dumpster as I’d planned, the shockwave hurled me into its open mouth, burying me in flaming trash. I grabbed the edge of the dumpster and hauled myself over to the other side, landing in relative safety.

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Then instinct kicked in. I don’t remember pulling out the pistol, but I clearly saw how the first armor-piercing bullet burst into sparks of molten lead as it hit James’s shield. The heated quartz core, however, punched through his thigh. Before the sorcerer dropped to one knee, three more bullets shattered into molten fragments against his shield, and a tiny fireball hissed over my head, crossed the street, and blew a hefty chunk out of the corner of the building opposite us.

"Arms!" Kate commanded.

Her sisters lunged at James, burning themselves on his shield, catching fire, but still managing to grab his arms and drag him to the ground. Kate leaped after them, aiming a heel stomp at his lower abdomen – where his elemental source was located.

Maybe that would’ve worked on someone else, but James was experienced in dirty deathmatches. Her heel slammed into a thick veil of fire that consumed her shoe along with the skin of her foot.

Kate screamed. James ignited like gasoline, and a shockwave flung the vampire sisters away. The man, now a human torch, jumped to his feet, seized Kate by the throat with his burning hand, and lifted her off the ground. Her red scarf burst into flames, fluttering away, followed by her hair catching fire. In a voice that roared like the flames themselves, Flower said:

"I’m starting to think Lucas lied to me."

What? What did Lindemann have to do with this?

From around the corner, tires screeched. My Cooper appeared in the narrow gap between the buildings.

"Doors!" I yelled.

A vial of dense fog potion flew toward James’s feet. It shattered against the asphalt, and thick gray smoke engulfed the elemental sorcerer. Sure, he was blind and saw the world through his third eye, but the potion had been specifically crafted for escapes. Some of its ingredients came from the altered with water magic fish of Thunderloch – I hoped that would be enough.

I dashed for the car as Knuckles kicked the front door open.

Three quick steps, and something heavy slammed into my back. I hit the ground, rolling, and Kate landed nearby. We scrambled onto all fours, facing each other. I raised my pistol, but the vampire girl, moving on three limbs, lunged for the car.

Fire beams struck the ground nearby, and I bolted after her. Noticing both of us, Knuckles leaned over the seat and shoved the back door open. Kate made it first and climbed into the front passenger seat. I dove into the back.

Sparrow didn’t wait for us to close the doors – he slammed the axelerator pedal to the floor.

"When I saw the explosion, I just knew it was you guys. Who’d you piss off this time?" Knuckles asked.

"Flower," I said, pulling a rotting potato peel from my pocket. I used it in an attempt to clean the scorched green slime from my sleeve.

"You mean James? What’d you do to him?"

"You can turn around and ask him," I said, opening my satchel and sorting through the ammo. Thunder rounds wouldn’t work – too much risk of shocking Knuckles. The armor-piercing rounds had performed well, but the ‘fire apple’ round would be better. I loaded a round into the magazine, chambered it, then pulled out my dagger and leaned forward toward the seat in front of me.

"And now," I said, pressing the muzzle against Kate’s burned head and holding the dagger at her throat, "what did he mean? What did Lucas lie to him about?"

"Hrrrssss," Kate hissed in response.

"One more time," I asked.

"Yahrrrssss," she repeated.

"Speak properly!"

"Uh, Duncan," Knuckles said, "I don’t think she can. She’s got a hole in her throat."

"Goddammit!" I cursed. "Home. Quickly, before she loses her mind."

To recover, vampires need blood and meat. While the former could, with some effort, be substituted by magic, the latter posed a problem. I’d been too hasty pressing the gun to her head – I should’ve stopped by a butcher shop first. She’d have to settle for the last scraps of bacon at home.

Kate shifted slightly.

"Stay still!" I barked. "Don’t move."

The vampire froze but resumed moving smoothly a moment later.

"Do I really need to shoot you?" I asked.

"She’s pulling a pen and notebook out of her pocket," Knuckles said.

Kate shifted again, then raised a small notepad where I could clearly see the text written in perfect handwriting:

"Idiot! I just saved your life!"

"It all started with your brothers trying to kill me, and now somehow I owe you something. You and Lucas. Was this your plan all along?"

"Call my father. I’ll stay as your hostage," Kate scribbled a few more lines. "If I survive. Tell him to buy fresh ground meat and blood."

"You’ll manage without it."

"Then I’ll eat you instead. It’s hard to control myself!"

"You won’t have time," I shot back.

"Then you’ll lose your hostage. My father won’t forgive you for that."

"I don’t care about him."

"And what about answers? I’ve saved your life twice now."

"Damn you!" I growled. "Knuckles, stop by a butcher shop and grab some ground meat and a pint of blood."

"10 kilograms. Plus 10 liters."

"You can’t fit that much!"

Kate underlined the note twice and added three exclamation points.

"Fine! Ten kilos of ground meat. No blood," I said, removing the dagger from her throat and fishing one of Lindemann’s bloodstones out of my satchel. "Here. This’ll work faster."

I still hadn’t lowered the gun, though my arm was starting to go numb.

Kate was a compliant hostage, calmly sucking magic out of the blood stone and patiently waiting for Knuckles to return from the butcher shop. But the moment she got her hands on the package of ground meat, she began shoving it into her mouth as fast as possible.

Knuckles turned green immediately, gulping for air as he bolted out of the car.

"What?" I shouted.

"It’s… it’s coming out… the hole in her throat!" Knuckles gagged, barely holding back vomit.

Thank God I didn’t see that.

"At least cover it with your hand," I asked the vampire. In response, she flashed me a thumbs-up, smeared in meat.

We got home quickly, though Knuckles’s condition worried me. We drove the car into the stables, and I stayed to stand guard while Sparrow ran to get Harry.

“I see even at the post office you managed to get into trouble.” The wizard remarked sarcastically, peering into the car from the driver’s side. Kate, meanwhile, continued devouring the ground meat with desperate greed.

"Harry, it’s not my fault!" I protested.

“Did you send the telegram at least?"

"I even called."

"At least that’s something. Now talk! And lower the gun – I’ve got her under control. And you, 'lady,' don’t leave the car; I’ve activated fire seals."

We stepped aside, and Harry activated a silence dome. I laid everything out, just as it happened. Harry refrained from commenting, understanding that if I hadn’t gone looking for Simon, I might have been waiting for reinforcements until the second coming. In the end, it all worked out for the better – except for Flower, of course.

"I know James," the wizard said grimly. "Are you certain it was him and not someone using his shape?"

"No," I admitted honestly.

"Well, isn’t this a puzzle," Harry muttered. "Someone could’ve set him up, but I can’t imagine anyone else in this city capable of replicating his techniques or creating a fire veil of that magnitude."

"Not even with artifacts?" I asked.

"The Fairburns?" Harry mused. "Pitting you against Lindemann would be right up their alley."

"Mahrrrn," Kate croaked, cleared her throat, and repeated hoarsely, "Nonsense."

"What?" Harry asked, surprised.

"I read lips," the vampire said, and I exhaled in relief, realizing I’d been speaking with my back to her. "I don’t know Lord Flower’s motives, but he was genuinely trying to kill Duncan."

Harry cursed and dismissed the silence dome.

"Maybe it wasn’t James after all."

"It was," Kate insisted. "I know everyone in this city who’s worth anything. And I’m not so easily deceived."

Her confidence was unwavering, but her appearance was pitiful. Only a single, miserable strand of hair remained intact atop her head, and even that was singed by heat. Her eyebrows and eyelashes were entirely gone, her cheeks were peeling, and her neck was covered in a hard, scabby crust. The entire package of ground meat had made its way into her stomach, making her look pregnant. She’d had to unbutton her jacket and tear her shirt open, leaving her pale, bloated belly exposed.

Kate Lindemann wiped her greasy fingers on her ruined clothes.

"My apologies, but I’ll need a lot of fluids and a ladies’ room soon."

"Keep an eye on her," Harry said. "If she survives getting out of the car, finish her off."

The wizard left the stables with a grim expression, leaving me alone with the scorched vampire.

"I’d recommend calling my father," Kate said. "The sooner he hears about this mess, the sooner he can start cleaning it up."

I said nothing, so she kept pressing.

"Duncan, if this is his doing, he already knows."

"Not necessarily. He might not know about your condition – or mine."

"If it was an intrigue, he’d have made sure to have a watcher!"

The vampire spoke with irritating logic and clarity.

"You know, I have questions too!" she continued. "For example, who is Simon, and why is Valentine so concerned about him?"

How does she know!?

"You mentioned the name in Davie’s apartment," the vampire reminded me. "When Valentine asked why your father puts up with you. And I’m absolutely certain I’ve never heard of a man by that name in Noah’s circle."

Damn it, I’d let it slip and didn’t even notice. That vampire must’ve slammed me into the wall harder than I thought.

"Still," Kate continued, "he didn’t correct you."

True, he hadn’t corrected me! That meant Valentine knew his real name – and who knows what else. Not that it mattered; given the dagger’s reaction, there was no reason to doubt anymore. I might’ve just found the vampire whose blood was given to my grandfather. The one behind his murder. Uncle Bryce would be pleased.

"...Duncan!"

"Huh?"

"Davie is your Simon, isn’t he?"