Ray stopped at a fork in the road. There may have been a signpost in the past, but the harsh rain and wind had scrubbed the weathered remains clean. Not a single letter was legible.

'Xavier?' She patted his shoulder, but he didn't stir. 'Xavier?' she said louder, but his eyes remained closed.

His head rested against the car window and if it wasn't for his hot breath fogging up the glass, she would worry that he'd died. His skin had lost all its colour and his body shook uncontrollably. The smell of blood was all consuming.

She'd driven the last hour with the window open and a bag of blood tucked into the car door next to her. She didn't want to admit it, but the smell of Xavier's blood made her head spin, and her jaw was tight as she refocused back on the road.

Her hand twitched to grab at the bagged blood. It was only her revulsion at the very thought of drinking it that stopped her. It was like an invisible line. If she drank it, then it meant that she really wasn't human. Her life as she knew it would be over.

It was easy to overlook the blood she'd been consuming from Mari's flask. She had done that without knowing the truth, but picking up the bagged blood and tearing through the plastic was something she couldn't write off. That would be proof that she was a vampire.

'Shit,' she muttered.

She rested her head against the steering wheel, taking shallow breaths. Xavier moaned, the first sound he'd made in over an hour, and she looked up hopefully, but her heart sank as soon as she saw his closed eyes. For the last hour, she'd pretended to herself that he was sleeping, but deep down she knew he'd been lapsing into unconsciousness due to the loss of blood.

Fixing her gaze on the road, she tried to remember the directions he'd told her.

The fancy Bureau car had been equipped with all the modern technology, including a built in SatNav, but that car was long behind them. Instead, she was parked in a beat up old junker that she was sure the owners wouldn't miss. The springs in the seat dug into her bum and the fuel gauge had a suspicious trick of falling to red before soaring above the halfway point.

Thinking quickly, she turned left, and drove slowly down the one track lane. Hedges penned them in with only occasional gaps. Having grown up around London, she'd never seen so much green all in one place.

The darkness pressed in on them as they travelled through the inky blackness. Lonely farmhouses were the only pinpricks of light that she could focus on. They were her lighthouses in the unfamiliar land. Surely Xavier's friend had to be in one of them?

The track wore on as they climbed until there was only one shining beacon of light that remained.

'Please let this be it,' she prayed.

Pulling into a gravel driveway, the car's headlights shone over a man wearing patchwork pajama bottoms and an old music t-shirt. His curly hair was flat on one side and he was missing his left slipper.

'You lost?' he shouted when she cut the engine, but left the lights on.

'I'm looking for someone?'

'Ain't a lot of people on this mountain.'

'Do you know Krish Bakshi?'

The man pulled a long gun from behind his back and trained it on her.

'Who's asking?'

Ray put her hands up instinctively. This wasn't quite the welcome she'd been expecting.

'My name is Ray. I'm here with Xavier Kowalski. We need your help.'

The man remained on the porch. 'And why isn't Kowalski telling me this himself? It's not like him to let others talk for him.'

'He's been shot. Lost a lot of blood. He's not exactly in a talking mood right now.'

'Get out the car slowly,' he ordered.

She did as he said and read the moment of shock on his face when he saw her before he carefully concealed it. She guessed he had misjudged her age, as most people did. But if it meant he didn't shoot her on sight, then she would happily play along with his misconception.

'Open the passenger door.'

With her hands still raised, she walked in front of the headlights and around to the passenger side door.

'I want to see him,' the man said.

She opened the door and caught Xavier before he could tumble to the floor.

'What's going on?' Xavier said groggily.

'We're currently being held at gunpoint by a man I'm pretty sure is your friend Krish,' she muttered.

'Fuck, that really is you, isn't it, Xavier?' The man had moved closer to get a better look.

'Krish?' Xavier said before he slumped in Ray's arms once more.

'We'd better get him inside.'

'So you are Krish?' she demanded. 'Is this how you treat people who arrive at your house?'

'It's how I treat strangers who turn up in the early hours of the morning,' he replied. He made a big show of putting the gun down before helping her get Xavier from the car.

A sound snapped in the trees, and Ray went on the alert. It could have been the wind, but the sickly sweet scent teased her nostrils. She was beginning to understand what creature accompanied that smell.

'Vampire,' she stated, taking Xavier's full weight and backing away from Krish.

'What?' he said, shocked.

'There's a vampire here. This is a fucking trap. You're with the Bureau.' She backtracked to the car when a black shape dropped from the trees and knocked her to the ground.

Xavier landed in a heap beside her with a small needle sticking out of his neck. She felt along her shoulder and pulled a needle from her own skin as she glared at the woman standing next to Krish.

She stood a few inches taller than him, but fully dressed, with a pair of muddy trainers laced to her feet. There was concern on her face as Ray staggered to her feet and took up a defensive position in front of Xavier.

'What did you do to him?' she shouted.

'Easy. It's just a sedative,' Krish reassured her. 'We just need to make sure your story checks out. We're not going to hurt you.'

'Bullshit. Then what is she doing here?'

'Why haven't the drugs taken effect yet?' the woman whispered into Krish's ear.

'I don't know,' he answered her, ignoring Ray.

'Ray?' Xavier croaked.

She glanced down in time to see Xavier's mouth open and a torrent of blood come rushing out. The thick red liquid bordered on black and spread across the gravel. She stumbled back, tripping over her own feet as she tried to damp down on her racing desires.

'No. No. Get him away from me.' She screwed her eyes shut and used her hands to drag herself further away, but it was like her body was resisting. Her muscles felt pulled tight like violin strings, ready for the chance to vibrate into action. The skin around her mouth was taunt and her jaw ached.

'Looks like internal bleeding,' Krish said, kneeling over Xavier. 'We need to get him inside.'

The sound of Xavier's wound as Krish moved him broke Ray's hold over herself. Her canines lengthened in her mouth, and she breathed deeply as her eyes opened.

'That can't be possible,' the woman said slowly as she caught sight of Ray's glowing purple eyes.

'She's a First-Born,' Krish said.

'Ray, that's your name, right?' The woman held her hands up and got in between Ray and the two men. 'Ray, you need to calm down. You have to fight the blood lust. Krish needs to treat Xavier now.'

It was the sound of his name that allowed a small portion of reason to return to Ray as she gripped her head in her hands and swung it from side to side.

'The smell.'

'I know. When was the last time you fed?'

'I haven't.'

The woman and Krish shared a look as Ray forced herself to back away.

'Ray, you need to feed. You can't control yourself now because you're hungry. You'll be a risk,' Krish warned.

The pounding of Xavier's heart was so loud it almost drowned out their words, but Ray tried to focus on anything else.

'In the driver's side, there's a bag of blood.'

The woman didn't hesitate. She reached through the open window and pulled it free before tossing it to Ray.

Without even looking, Ray caught it and ripped open the top before swallowing the contents. She expected it to taste cold and thick, but it was neither. It eased down her throat, allowing her muscles to relax and the pain in her gums to recede.

She'd almost finished the bag when she felt the prick of another needle in her neck. The sedative was much stronger than the last one and the empty bag of blood slipped from her hands as she collapsed.

'It'll be okay,' the woman reassured her.

'Save him,' she whispered weakly, before her eyes closed.