Ruby lay on Jay’s bed, eyes fixed on her phone, reading the online article that had been written about Halloween night. Jay was sitting cross-legged next to her, his excited eyes devouring the words on his phone screen. Ruby was finding it hard to contain her temper; not only had Jay refused to leave town but he had even given a statement to the local newspaper.

  “What’s the point in running? If this Nytarch group is half as powerful as Scott said, then they’ll find us wherever we go. And what about our families? They’re not going to believe us if we tell them that a group of deep state vampires are after us. Should we leave them here so the vampires can use them to lure us back?” Jay had said, and Ruby hated to admit that he was right. There was no way in hell that she was going to leave her mom behind to get caught up in all this. And Ethan couldn’t run since he was trussed up in a hospital bed.

  “I suppose you are right,” she’d said, chewing the inside of her mouth.

  “Of course I am. Trust me, Rubes, I know best.” He’d stroked her cheek gently as he always did when she needed reassurance.

  “Yeah, I guess. But what if they do come?”

  “It’s gonna look a bit suspect if we all vanish or turn up dead, isn’t it? These guys are supposed to be smart and value secrecy. All we have to do is show them that we won’t blab their secret all over the internet. If they turn up, I’ll talk to them and convince them we’re not a threat. Trust me.”

  And Ruby had trusted him until the reporter had called. She’d phoned Ruby first and Ruby had declined an interview. Speaking to the press, even the local press, didn’t seem like a good idea when they were trying to prove they weren’t a threat to the vampires’ secret. Jay had other ideas.

  “You’ve got it all wrong, Rubes. If I do the interview and don’t say anything about vampires that will prove that we can be left alone.”

  Jay had been on the phone with her for over an hour, recalling the story in hugely exaggerated detail while also dropping the channel name at every opportunity. Ruby had sat next to him, listening to all his hyperbole, and while he never uttered the word vampire, everything he did say implied that the attacker was more than human. It was obvious to Ruby that no matter his intentions, he could not resist spinning a web of drama that would lure people to the channel.

  “She cut pretty much the whole interview!” Jay shouted, looking at Ruby in disbelief as if she was somehow responsible. “The only bit she printed makes me look like an idiot.” He flung his phone down on the bed, and it somersaulted in the air before landing facedown. “And why did she make it look like Ethan’s the lead guy and not me? He just shines the light and opens doors.”

  Even if the reporter had written out the whole interview word for word, Jay would still have looked like an idiot. Not only had he tried to make out that he was the tough guy of the situation despite having spent most of the fight on his ass, but he’d done everything he could to convince the reporter that they had fought a vampire without actually using the word vampire — and true or not, nobody was going to believe it. Not to mention the constant plugs to the YouTube channel.

  “She didn’t even give our channel details,” he moaned. He crossed his arms over his bare chest and stared sullenly at his feet. He’d not long had a shower and had only bothered to put on a pair of loose boxer shorts. Ruby, who was quite chilly, was wrapped up in her bathrobe with cotton pajamas underneath.

  “It’s a news article, not an advert,” Ruby reminded him as she put her phone down having finished the short article. “And she said the channel name.”

  To be perfectly honest, they didn’t even need any publicity from a local newspaper that only the residents of Mistwood would see. Even though the video had been taken down, their channel had still gained 10,000 subscribers. Jay had spent most of the day bouncing off the walls while he tried to decide where their next location would be. Ruby didn’t want to even think about doing another video until Ethan had recovered. And Tyler wasn’t faring too well either. He was so shaken that he wouldn’t even leave his bedroom. Jay was the only one who seemed content to carry on like normal.

  “That’s true, that’s true,” Jay said, smirking. He lay down fully on his bed and rested his hands behind his head.“Maybe I should do a new video blasting that dumb bitch. That’d teach her for making me look stupid.”

  Ruby grimaced. She’d told him numerous times that she didn’t like it when he referred to women as bitches, but he maintained that she was just being overly sensitive.

  “You really shouldn’t post anything for now. Not until we know we’re in the clear,” she said for the hundredth time. “The longer we stay silent, the more mystery it will create.”

  Jay stared up at the ceiling, a dreamy look on his face. “Yeah. Just think about the reaction when I finally resurface after lying low for however long.” His brow furrowed. “But I don’t like her portrayal of me.”

  “It could be worse,” Ruby said. “She referred to me as the girlfriend of Hickey.”

  “What’s wrong with that? You are my girlfriend.” Jay said. He grabbed her by the wrist and tugged, attempting to bring her down on top of him, but she yanked her arm away in a surge of anger.

  “That’s not all I am, though, is it?” she snapped. “I’m the lead presenter on the channel, and I’m the one who stabbed the vampire.” The image of the pale monster lunging for her flashed into her mind. She’d seen him in her dreams the last two nights, and both times, he’d been in that monstrous, wasted form and not the human visage he’d appeared in last night. Even though she’d met the vampire and learned his name, referring to that thing that had attacked them on Halloween night as Scott just felt unnatural.

  “I would have staked him if you hadn’t gotten there first. It’s not like it was hard,” Jay said, his voice prickly and defensive.

  Ruby scoffed in disbelief, staring down at her boyfriend. It was just like him to try and take credit for something she’d done, and belittle her in the process. “Jay, my love, you were flat on your back with the vampire about to rip your throat out. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be in the hospital with Ethan right now.”

  “He took me by surprise, I was literally about to throw him off me.” He sounded like he actually believed the bullshit that was spewing out of his mouth. He’d make a great politician.

  “Ethan’s at least twice as strong as you. If he couldn’t fight a vampire off, then neither can you,” she retorted, folding her arms over her chest.

  Jay scowled at her, his ginger hair falling over his forehead and casting an angry shadow over his eyes. “He’s not twice as strong as me. Why do you have to be such a bitch? Do you want me to feel like less of a man? Is that it? Well, mission accomplished!” he threw his hands up in the air in exaggerated defeat.

  “Don’t call me a bitch.”

  “I couldn’t protect my own girlfriend. I’m the worst boyfriend in the world.” His voice cracked on the last word he spoke, and he turned away, burying his face in his pillow as his shoulders shook in what looked like silent sobbing.

  You didn’t protect me, Ruby thought to herself. I saved you. She didn’t say it aloud because it would only make things worse, and as she sat watching him cry into his pillow, her anger faded and, in its place, slithered guilt. She hadn’t intended to, but she had emasculated him and made him feel weak. She’d wounded his pride.

  “I’m sorry,” she said gently, reaching out and rubbing his arm soothingly. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I know you would’ve killed that vampire. I didn’t even mean to attack him; it was a fluke.”

  “You’re just saying that,” he whined.

  “I’m not.” She wrapped her arms around him and nestled her face in his neck, planting soft kisses on his warm skin. “You were protecting me, and I know you would have killed the vampire if you’d had a bit more time.” The words leaving her mouth were complete lies, but she wanted him to stop crying, and she wanted to stop feeling bad. “I’m sorry.”

  “You mean it?” he asked, turning his body to face her. His hand slid over her leg and settled on her behind.

  “Of course. Please stop being sad. Let me make it up to you.” She’d order him an XXL pizza from his favorite place. That always cheered him up. She’d even sit and scout haunted locations with him all night.

  “There is something you could do,” he said, the sadness in his tone suddenly extinguished.

  “What?”

  He rolled onto his back and pulled down his shorts so his semi-erect penis popped into view. Why he had a semi when he’d been crying literally seconds ago was a mystery to Ruby and not one she wanted to solve.

  “Seriously?” she said. That was not what she’d had in mind when she’d said she’d make it up to him. A shimmer of annoyance passed over her, but she wasn’t quite sure why.

  “I don’t want sex. I just want you to blow me.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her hand down to his manhood. Sitting up, he pressed his lips against hers before she could object. Ruby felt his tongue dance with hers, and she knew if she didn’t give him what he wanted, he’d just go back to sulking. It wasn’t like it would take long to get him off. At least he’d not long had a shower, so it was clean. She broke the kiss and rolled her eyes as she lowered her face down to his crotch.

  A couple of hours later, Ruby and Jay were both in higher spirits as they made their way out to the car. Ethan had texted to say he was allowed visitors, so they were going to see him. Jay had texted Tyler to see if he wanted to join them, but Tyler hadn’t bothered to reply.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Jay drove and Ruby stared out the window, the music too loud for them to talk anyway. The sun had set, and darkness had fallen over the city. The nighttime looked different now that she knew what lived in it, it felt less familiar, more cold and unwelcoming. She found herself peering at every shadow and wondering if Scott had left town or if he’d stayed a little longer to make sure they didn’t try to upload the video again. They couldn’t if they wanted to. It had been a live video with the only copy saved on the YouTube servers and it was long gone now.

  They stopped at a red light, and as the pedestrians crossed in front of the car, Ruby noticed a bat hanging upside down from a streetlight. The light was on, casting a warm glow over the furry black night-flyer that was licking diligently at its abdomen. “That’s weird,” Ruby muttered, and to her surprise, Jay heard her.

  “What?”

  She pointed out the window at the hanging bat. “Don’t bats normally avoid lights?”

  “Obviously not. It’s just having a wash.” Jay shrugged as the light turned green, and he got the car moving again.

  By the time they reached the hospital, Ruby had forgotten about the unusual bat. That was until she saw two more bats dancing around each other over the entrance to the hospital. “Look!” she said, pointing at them.

  “It’s just bats, Rubes. They come out at night,” Jay said, giving her an exasperated look.

  “What else comes out at night, Jay?” She stopped walking, staring at the bats as a foreboding chill swept over her. These were not just bats, her intuition told her so. Her mom always told her she should listen to her gut without exception, and her gut was telling her to get away from the bats.

  “You’re acting like you’ve never seen a bat before.” When he saw that she was genuinely frightened, his annoyance abated, and he took her face in his hands, gently stroking both cheeks with his thumbs. She felt her cold face reacting to the motion as her flesh filled with warmth. “I get that you’re scared because of…well, everything. But you can’t jump at every shadow, Rubes. It’s just a couple of bats. You’ve probably seen bats every night for your whole life, but you’ve never paid them any attention before. Don’t let all this vampire stuff get in your head, or you’ll be too scared to leave the house. Ethan’s waiting for us inside; you don’t want to let him down, do you?”

  She hated that he was right. They were just bats. If she let her paranoia win, she’d see everything as a dark omen. She wrapped her fist around the black tourmaline that hung from her neck. It was supposed to provide protection. She let Jay take her other hand and lead her under the bats and into the hospital.

  Inside, doctors and nurses hurried about, weaving between visitors who wandered around like lost children. The ER was packed to bursting, full of dejected looking people, some visibly sick or injured, others who looked outwardly fine — all of them looked like they’d been waiting for years. One frail old man looked like he’d vacated his body some time ago, and Ruby wouldn’t have been surprised to see a layer of dust had settled on his shiny, bald head.

  Jay stopped a passing nurse, flagging her down like he was hailing a cab on a New York street. Despite being clearly annoyed by him, she still pointed out which signs to follow to find Ethan’s ward.

  Ruby had never liked hospitals. They had a weird smell that had always bothered her. Underneath the strong chemicals that the cleaning staff poured all over the place, she could smell an overwhelming sourness that she’d always called the smell of sickness. Her mom told her it was just in her head and hospitals simply made her anxious, but Ruby knew the smell was real. Sometimes, she smelled it faintly when someone had a cold. As she followed Jay through the corridors of Mistwood Hospital, the smell pressed in on her from all sides, and she held her mouth in a constant grimace.

  As they made their way down the sterile hallway, Ruby couldn’t help but notice a man sitting in the waiting area who seemed completely out of place. His dark hair flopped down, framing his forehead, and his skin was so pale that he could blend in with the walls. Everybody around him was bustling around busily but he was sitting totally still like a statue.

  “Jay,” Ruby hissed. She stopped dead and tugged on her boyfriend’s arm. The man wasn’t looking their way, he was staring at the nurses who stood chatting outside a nearby door.

  “What?”

  Ruby nodded at the man who looked like the embodiment of death come to reap some souls. She’d never seen somebody fit the bill of a vampire so perfectly, not even Scott.

  “Oh, Ruby, come on. You think a vampire is just sitting around in a hospital waiting area? Really?”

  The man turned slowly, and his piercing blue eyes pinned Ruby in place. His lips quirked up in a slight smile, and then he looked away, flicking a speck of dust from his black clothing.

  “See. A vampire wouldn’t smile,” Jay said, before pulling her away again.

  Mistwood Hospital was unofficially divided into two parts; the part for the people with money and the part for everybody else. Most people who met Ethan for the first time assumed he was poor because he worked in a bar, what they didn’t know was that he did that job through choice and not necessity. Ethan’s family was rolling in money.

  Ethan was trussed up in a luxury room in the posh part of the hospital. When they walked into his spacious room, Ruby was relieved to find that the only thing she could smell was bleach. Ethan was sitting up in bed, tucking into a cup of jello whilst watching some car program on the giant TV that hung on the opposing wall. He beamed radiantly when he saw that Ruby and Jay had come to visit him.

  Ethan’s entire neck was wrapped in a thick white bandage that hid Scott’s handiwork. He was a bit on the pasty side, but otherwise, he looked okay. His eyes had lost none of their usual shine, and Ruby smiled wider when his gaze met hers.

  “You look good,” she said, relief flooding through her words.

  “Yeah, to be honest, I don’t really need to be here. They gave me a transfusion to replace all the blood I lost, and they patched me up. Time should take care of the rest. But you know my mom. She threatened half the senior staff when they tried to discharge me, so here I am, staying at the Hotel Mistwood. At least they let me wear my own clothes.” He pulled at his t-shirt to show that he wasn’t dressed in a horrible hospital gown.

  “Could be worse. You could be on a ward with the pedestrians,” said Jay. Like Ethan, Jay came from money. Jay and Ethan became friends because their parents rotated in the same circles. It also meant that Jay had a habit of saying dickish things about people who didn’t come from money. Jay seemed to forget that Ruby and Tyler were both from poor households. Ethan was never like that; money didn’t mean much to him.

  “Here, have a seat,” he said, pointing at the singular chair in the room.

  Jay jumped in the chair before Ruby even had a chance to move, he was chivalrous like that. Ruby knew he wasn’t deliberately inconsiderate; he was just absent-minded.

  “Here.” Ethan patted the edge of the bed. Ruby immediately became aware of Jay’s eyes on her. If she sat on another man’s bed, even with Jay in the room, he would see it as a betrayal. As much as she wanted to sit there, she instead opted to perch herself on the arm of the chair.

  Jay’s arm slid around her waist, and his fingers rested on her thigh. She draped her arm around his shoulders and leaned into him. Outside the window, a bat flapped past, its leathery wings reflecting the silver moonlight. Ruby tried not to react to it. It was just a bat. And the man in the waiting area was just a man.

  “Tyler couldn’t make it,” said Jay. “He’s too scared to come out of his room. I’m gonna go and see him tomorrow.”

  “I can’t say I blame him, to be honest,” Ethan said. He reached up and scratched the back of his neck. “I had to see a shrink today since the doctors and my mom think I’m crazy. They don’t believe that a vampire did this. Half my neck was shredded, and they all think it was some bum.” He touched his bandages to indicate the wounds beneath. “What did your parents make of it?”

  “Haven’t told them. They’re out of town at the mo, and I doubt they’d believe me anyway.” Jay’s parents spent most of their time out of town. They were either away on business or off on vacation.

  “I didn’t tell my mom. She’d think I was on drugs,” Ruby said.

  “Fair. I’m just glad I never got that neck tattoo done. It would be ruined now,” he said with a laugh. Ethan was covered in tattoos; they ran up both arms and over his chest. Jay called him a walking canvas.

  Ruby and Jay caught Ethan up on their meeting with Scott. Ethan’s face became gloomier with every word they spoke, and by the time they were finished, he was scowling at his bedsheet.

  “It just seems wrong that that thing has a name. And such a normal name, too,” he complained.

  “He’s gone now,” Jay reminded him. “We’ve got thousands of new followers too,” Jay launched into a full update of the YouTube channel. Ethan listened politely without protest and even looked like he was genuinely excited. Ruby had never gotten the impression that Ethan was passionate about the channel. She thought he took part for fun and that its success was of no interest to him.

  Her attention again drifted to the window. There were two bats now, flying around above the hospital courtyard outside. They flapped around each other, almost like they were trying to dance. She could hear their faint squeaks and found them almost cute. As the moon disappeared behind a thick cloud, a third bat emerged from the shadows and soared toward the window. Its piercing screech echoed through the night, soon joined by others until the sky was filled with a writhing swarm of dark wings. The air inside the room grew colder as the bats multiplied. One by one, they landed on the glass, their tiny clawed feet clinging to the windows like suction pads. Their beady eyes fixated on Ruby through the glass, dark and odious. These were no ordinary creatures, she could feel their malevolent presence falling over her like a heavy blanket.

  All three of them jumped to their feet, eyes trained on the seething swarm of bats that stared at them through the windows.

  “What the fuck?” Jay whispered.

  “I told you they weren’t just bats,” Ruby hissed, her voice trembling.

  “Oh fuck,” Ethan said, backing up. Goosebumps spread up his arms.

  “We need to go,” Ruby said, but she was rooted to the spot, too scared to move.

  “Agreed,” Ethan said. Every time they’d visited some allegedly haunted house when the other got scared, Ethan had always kept his cool. Now, he was afraid; Ruby could hear it in his voice and see it in the crumpled way he held his body. And it terrified her.

  They fled the room, slamming the door shut behind them. Outside the room, the hospital was the same as it had been before, with staff and patients carrying on as normal, unaware of the colony of bats outside. The trio hurried down the corridor.

  “Mr. Weller!” a nurse called after them.

  “I’m checking out,” he yelled back without turning her way.

  “You have to sign the discharge forms!”

  When they reached the elevators, Ruby went to press the button, but Ethan grabbed her hand and dragged her away. “We’re not waiting around for an elevator. The stairs will be faster.”

  Ethan kicked open the door to the empty stairwell, and their three sets of feet pounded the concrete as they made their way down.

  “Jesus!” Ethan yelled, stopping so abruptly that Ruby and Jay crashed into him. They were mere feet from the door that led to the lobby.

  “What the fu—” Jay’s words died on his tongue. His eyes were so wide it was a wonder they hadn’t fallen out and rolled down his face, which was the color of milk. Ruby followed his gaze up to the ceiling, her heart pounding as she dreaded what she was about to see. When her eyes fell on the far corner just above the exit, she screamed.

  There, clinging to the ceiling like a giant black spider, was a vampire. His dark clothes blended with the shadows which he wore like a cloak. His skin was white and stood out in the darkness; his eyes shone like blood rubies as he stared down at the three of them with alien interest.

  Ruby felt like her blood had turned to ice. It was the same man she’d seen in the waiting area. Her chest tightened, and her heart pounded against her ribcage as if it were trying to break free from her chest. She was certain that any moment now, her heart would give out from sheer terror, and she’d drop dead on the spot.

  Without warning, the vampire dropped to the floor. He fell like a deadweight, yet he landed nimbly and soundlessly with the grace of a ballerina. He rose out of his crouch, straightening to his full height, the movement fluid like water. His eyes were as cold as the temperature of the room. He looked over each of them in turn, silently assessing them.

  Ruby balled her hands into fists at her side and managed to shuffle closer to Jay and Ethan even though she knew they could not protect her. Despite the chill, she was drenched in sweat. Her breath came out in short gasps. As she stared back into those crimson eyes she felt like he was rifling through her head, peering into her soul.

  “What do you want?” Ethan demanded, but his fear had reduced him to a child. He sounded petulant and afraid, all of his usual masculinity gone.

  The vampire turned his blood-red eyes on Ethan, who shrank under their intense scrutiny. This vampire was nothing like the last one. When they’d first met Scott he’d been so bestial he’d seemed like an animal. The second time, he’d seemed almost human. There was nothing human or animalistic about this one. This one felt alien, like an ancient menace that humans were never supposed to witness.

  The vampire swept his arm out, and a black envelope fell to the floor with a heavy thud. Jay flinched as it landed as if he expected it to explode. They all stared down at the envelope with suspicion. Ruby didn’t want to touch it, she didn’t want it anywhere near her. Whatever was in it was something she did not want to see.

  “What is it?” asked Ethan.

  There was no answer, and when they looked back up, the vampire was gone.