Bran Malakeni glanced from the human security guard to his advisor. The imbecile shrugged at him, which frustrated Bran.

"Fine," he spat. "You two, bring him with us."

"This is what they stole?" the guard asked with confusion. "A vampire?"

"Yes, but as your master commands."

The group followed the guard to Garlet's restaurant, taking the long path to avoid anyone seeing Keoni, who was now starting to wake. His sluggish body was not strong enough to walk unassisted or even stand, so Bran's goons carried him between them.

When they reached the end of the loading dock, the guard was already waiting for them to give them the pat-down.

Garlet glanced at Ana, who hadn't stopped pacing. He was curious about this vampire and why he was so important to Ana, though he suspected why. It was amusing and heart-warming. Garlet liked that Ana had someone to connect with, someone she could be herself with and not the cold and indifferent creature that stalked these streets for him.

A vampire, though? That was intriguing. Garlet didn't think Ana had it in her to be so liberal with her affection. To be fair, they never discussed that side of their lives, so Garlet had no idea what she wanted.

The doors opened, and his guard gave Garlet a nod. Bran and his advisor walked in, soon followed by the two goons who were carrying a vampire that was awake but not entirely coherent.

Garlet turned to his associate.

"Find a shirt for the poor thing. He'll catch a cold if he's not careful."

The associate nodded. Garlet leaned back in his seat, smiling with his supreme attitude showing.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice though I suspect that you did so knowing the dangers you face in what has happened. Theft from one of my employees is prohibited, and please don't tell me that you were unaware. I have seen the security footage. You opened the shutters with a device that was designed specifically for the locks that were installed by my security team. You knew exactly who the place belonged to."

"Vampires and humans are not possessions. We cannot be accused of theft in this instance."

"I disagree because, in this, we are talking about one of my employees who are protected under the agreement. It includes everything, living or otherwise, that is within their premises. The vampire falls within that statement, and therefore, I demand that you return the vampire to my employee immediately."

Bran glared at Garlet but knew that he would not budge. He hated that Garlet was right too. With a frustrated flick of his hand, the goons let go of Keoni and stepped back. The advisor returned with a white shirt that the cooks often wore under their jackets. Keoni was a little sluggish. With Ana's help, the shirt was put on Keoni. The advisor returned to Garlet's side, remaining silent as the conversation continued.

"I find this rather curious, and I'd like to know why you went to all this effort."

Garlet had seen the hesitation and wanted to know what was going on.

Bran looked at Ana, figuring out who she was. A little older than the last documented image, obviously, but still the same princess. The pieces fell into place, and now he understood a lot more about the previous conversation he'd had with Garlet.

Bran knew more about the bigger picture than what he let on. He was not going to blurt out how much he knew, not when so many vampires depended on his silence. What he had to do, though, was get Keoni and, to a lesser extent, Ana away from Garlet. Bran didn't know if that was possible.

Regardless, this was not the time to overthink things, not when a gangster wanted information.

"Pierre Normace paid Keoni to abduct the princess at the time of the coup so that he could marry her and take the throne."

Ana thought that it felt like the blood had drained from her face. She couldn't believe what the vampire leader had just said.

"He knew that to have proper leadership, he needed one of the royal family under his thumb, so the princess was the ideal option. Normace would keep her subdued and take over the ruling. The rest of the family would be dead, so she'd be queen. I don't know exactly what happened. That morning I watched the news and heard the reports that the entire royal family had been killed in the coup, so I assumed something had gone wrong. Then Normace turned up with Keoni and told me to kill him in the most painful way possible. I didn't kill him because I needed a metaphorical leash on another vampire who I had no choice in taking in. Marama was the daughter of another leader. She was sent to us in an attempt to keep the genetics diverse. When faced with two problems, I solved them with this."

"And his memories?" Ana asked.

"Can be returned with a pill."

Reaching into his pocket, Bran pulled out a box and flicked open the lid.

"Memory returned," he murmured, flicking through the coloured pills. "There it is."

Picking it out, he handed it over to Keoni.

"Once you take it, your memory will return. Anything that you've created since then will remain there so you won't lose it. Give it about an hour, and the past that you've once lived will be back, and you will be yourself again. I know you'll be angry but understand that I kept you alive when I was ordered to kill you. Taking your memory was the only thing that I believed would keep you safe."

Keoni nodded gratefully. He'd have his memories back.

There was just one problem, though. Ana.

He looked up at her and saw the fear in her eyes. She knew that once Keoni had his memories, she would be faced with the vampire that had taken money to abduct her. He knew that her family was about to be attacked and murdered.

The vampire that could have saved them did nothing.

Tears welled in her eyes. Ana knew that she couldn't be here anymore. She couldn't face him with the thoughts rolling through her mind.

All those years ago, she'd seen him as a pain in her backside, but Ana never thought that Keoni would betray his leader.

Walking out, Ana ignored Keoni's plea to stop. Garlet stood, anxiety filtering through him. The guard at the door saw the look and gave his boss a nod.

"Ana,"

She stopped, wiping the tears away.

"I can't stay here. I have to leave."

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know."

With that statement, she turned and walked away. Ana didn't know where she would go or what she would do but staying here and watching Keoni take the pill was not in her future. Watching him return to the monster that had destroyed her family was not what she wanted.