Ruby climbed out of the car. The temperature had plummeted, and the sidewalk had grown a thin coat of frost. She pulled her coat around her and shivered as she looked at the house in surprise. The address the vampire had given them was a run-of-the-mill house, complete with a well-kept garden and squeaky-clean windows. It was a big house in the wealthy part of Mistwood, but it was hardly the gothic mansion she’d been expecting.

  “We all know what to do?” Jay asked. “Everybody has—”

  Ethan’s phone cut him off, the shrill sound of the classic ringtone singing in his pocket. Everybody turned to look at him.

  “You don’t keep it on silent?” Jay asked, looking amused.

  “The vibrations are too weak for me to notice,” Ethan explained. He pulled his phone out and sighed when he looked at the screen. “It’s my mom. I better answer it.”

  “Absolutely, it’s not as though we are doing anything particularly important,” said Scott. Ethan ignored him.

  “Hi, Mom. Yes—” Ethan rolled his eyes and turned away from the group to give himself a small amount of privacy. “Mom, I left the hospital because I’m fine now. I’m with my friends.” A long pause. “Mom, I’m an adult. I can do what I want. No, I won’t come home right now.” The argument dragged on for a minute more until Ethan finally convinced his Mom to get off the phone. Ruby and Jay smirked with amusement, but Scott glared at Ethan.

  “Are you finished?” the vampire demanded, as though it was Ethan’s fault his mom had called. Ethan’s only response was a surly glower.

  “We all ready? Everybody has all—” This time, Jay was cut off by Scott.

  “Ssh,” Scott hissed, bringing his finger to his lips. His eyes were wide, warning Jay to say nothing about the weapons they had stashed on them. They had agreed they were a method of last resort. They would try to negotiate their way out of this mess, and if that failed, they’d resort to fighting their way out. Scott had assured them they would lose any such fight, but none of them were willing to abandon hope. If Ruby was going to die then she was going to do so under extreme duress.

  Each of them had one wooden stake and one silver knife, except for Scott, who couldn’t touch silver; he only had a stake. Ruby’s stake was tucked in her waistband, pressing against her lower back, and hidden beneath her coat. The steak knife was concealed inside her boot. She still wore the silver cross even though she knew it was useless. She thought that a silver chain around her neck might stop any vampires from biting her like Scott had done to Ethan and Jay.

  “We’re here to cooperate. Remember to let me do the talking and speak only if Conrad speaks directly to you,” said Scott. His movements were jittery; he was as anxious as the rest of them.

  Scott had warned them that if they did resort to fighting their only hope was to act without hesitation. Even one second of delay would cost them the element of surprise. All of them had to attack as one. If the word “kangaroo” was uttered by any of them, they were all to attack without thinking. They’d chosen a word that was not going to come up in the conversation, or at least it was unlikely to. If any of them ended up innocently saying kangaroo, Ruby would be astounded.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Despite the cold, Ruby felt a sheen of sweat growing over her body as they approached the house. Huddling behind Scott with Jay and Ethan, she held her breath as the vampire knocked three times on the door.

  Jay’s fingers laced into Ruby’s, and his warm hand enclosed around her frozen one. She almost melted into him, lapping up the small comfort he offered, comfort she didn’t even know she needed until it was offered. Her eyes flicked to Ethan, who was staring intently at his own feet, his lips tightly pursed. His hand was at his side, balled into a fist, tensing and relaxing repeatedly as he prepared for whatever was about to happen.

  The lock clicked, and the door opened. Warm light spilled out of the house, and a very ordinary-looking man stood before them. He was definitely not the vampire who’d ambushed them at the hospital. He was shorter, with longer hair that came down to his ears, and he had an unkempt coat of stubble over his jaw.

  His brow dipped as he cast his small but attentive eyes over the group on the doorstep. “There’s only supposed to be three of you,” he said.

  “Yes, I am…representing them,” said Scott, sounding like a state-appointed lawyer.

  The man looked past Scott and settled on Ruby. “You were told to inform nobody.” He dragged his gaze over the three of them accusingly.

  “I am the vampire who was inadvertently featured in the video. Please go and tell your master,” Scott said, taking only a moment to gather his thoughts and muster some confidence.

  The man narrowed his eyes. “Alright then.” He closed the door on them. Ruby assumed he was going to deliver the message, and he wasn’t barring them entry for breaking the rules.

  “Master?” Jay asked.

  “He’s either a familiar or a thrall,” Scott said.

  “A what?” asked Ruby.

  “A familiar is a willing servant of a vampire, and a thrall is an enslaved one.”

  The door opened again, and the same man stood on the other side. “You can all come inside,” the man said, stepping back and pulling the door all the way open.

  Ruby gave the man a thank you smile as she passed him, momentarily forgetting why she was there. There were no creepy gargoyles, gothic candelabras, or velvet-lined coffins on display; the inside of the house was as ordinary as the outside.

  “Mr. Sinclair has asked me to take your cell phones while you are here,” the man said. He held out his hand expectantly.

  “Look, dude—” Jay was stopped by a warning glare from Scott.

  “Do as he says. He has your friend, remember?” Scott said, reminding them all that they were here to cooperate.

  Jay handed his device over reluctantly, like he’d been forced to give up a limb. “I better get that back,” he said, as he placed it into the host’s hand.

  Ethan handed his over next, and then Ruby. The back pocket of her jeans felt hollow and strange without her phone in it. She hadn’t been without her phone since she was 15 when her mom had confiscated it. Even then, she’d given it back when Ruby needed to leave the house. It was a weird sensation to be without the device through which most of her life operated. This must have been how her grandparents had felt all the time.

  The man showed them through to a stylish dining room complete with a crystal chandelier and a polished oak table that could easily fit ten guests. Standing at the head of the table was the vampire from the hospital.

  The vampire stood unnaturally still as if carved from unyielding stone. There was no rise and fall of his chest, making him appear utterly lifeless. Unblinking red eyes stared down the table, and once again, Ruby felt like they were peering into her soul. His dark hair was swept back, some hung down over his brow like vines claiming the walls of an old house. He was dressed all in black as he had been before; the silver buttons that adorned his jacket sparkled under the light from the chandelier. Unlike Scott, who seemed to be a fairly modern vampire, this one was truly a creature from the old world.

  “My name is Conrad Sinclair,” he said in a crisp English accent that only accentuated his old-world image. “If you do everything I say, you will all survive this night. If you disobey, I will kill you all. Now, be seated, and let’s begin.”