Cheryl demanded I visit her house the following day. I hurried there, wondering if I might catch Kyle, and manage another 10-second hug of Mirac but there was no sign of his car when I arrived.

Ninety percent of the time, Cheryl lived in the official house reserved for the prime minister of Dunrovia—an iconic address on a busy city centre street—but she'd held onto her former home in the suburbs, a non-descript detached house with a small garden back and front and Christmas lights all around it to mark the season. The police officer outside wrapped the knocker on the black-painted door. Cheryl, her hair messier than usual, and her specs perched on her nose, opened it. I tried to read her expression—dismay, anger, worry. All three.

Inside, she'd gone to a lot of effort with the décor – colour-coordinated tinsel matching the baubles on the tree. I stared at it, wondering what I would be looking at this time next year. The bars on a cell window?

Cheryl sank onto the sofa, indicating I take the armchair opposite, and let out a sigh. "What's going on with you and Kyle? He won't tell me."

Ah. The conversation wasn't going to start where I thought it would. Kyle's relationship with his mother had never really recovered, and if I announced 'I left him because he's an overbearing jerk, who will hit me one of these days', that wouldn't help at all—especially as Cheryl would need to spend a lot of time looking after Mirac for him if I ended up in the clink.

"Temporary thing," I muttered.

Cheryl let out another sigh. "Stolen goods, Maya!"

"What else could we do? When I was campaigning to get elected, I kept promising people we would be the party who brought in mass vaccination. And we can't. Because Sunshine Health has a monopoly on the supplies. It's not right."

She pushed her fringe out of her eyes—the gesture pure Kyle. Mirac would likely to do it too in the years to come. "I know, but my hands are tied. As members of the assembly, we must stick to the rules in this country."

Did I tell her about James Hamilton's accusations and the explosion? I might have broken Dunrovia's laws, but I hadn't killed anyone, unlike the people doing all they could to prevent the establishment of a mass vaccination programme.

I had no proof, though. Only two grainy films, which Sunshine Health and Vampire Security would claim were merely the ravings of a mad man, who died of complications related to dementia.

The door opened discreetly. Marc Andre, the MA who shared my office, and the party's chief whip—the guy responsible for discipline. Jilly was with him too. She'd be here to discuss what the party said about me. Easy enough to guess what was coming.

"We need you to resign, Maya." Marc said. He held out a sheet of paper. A done deal then. I took it from him. Ah well, goodbye political career. There were plenty of things I wouldn't miss. Maybe Shayla would be up for doing vampire makeover films again if I asked nicely.

"I'll be in touch," Cheryl called after me as I let myself out of the house. "I'm sorry, Maya, but I couldn't do—"

Unable to listen to anything more, I closed the door.

What now?

*****

"Maya!" Rosie stood at the living room window, Woofy with his front paws on the sill and both staring at the view below. "There are two Justin's out there!"

She tapped the glass and I hurried over. I'd been holed up at Sharon's for the last few days feeling sorry for myself and coming up with wild plans then discarding them straightaway. Sure enough, Justin and Lewis were making their way to the main tower block entry. Grabbing my coat from where it lay on the back of the sofa, I told Sharon I'd better see what they wanted.

She shook her head. "Invite them in."

Wow. I pressed the entry key and the doorbell jangled minutes later, setting Woody off on a mad barking frenzy.

"Woofy!" Sharon's bark matched his. "Be quiet. Now!"

The command worked, astonishing me. They'd had that dog six months, and he still jumped on everyone, never came when he was called and pinched food off the table and plates all the time. But animals hated vampires and all the intensive training in the world wouldn't change that.

I opened the door anyway, my heart doing that little skippety-skip thing it always did in Justin's presence. Even though they were dressed identically, that same shade of green on the tips of those short dreads, I knew Justin straightaway.

The guy on the left whose small secretive smile whisked me away from the present for a few seconds to a place where we were all on our own.

Naked, too.

Lewis cleared his throat, and I felt my cheeks burn. Blast him—I kept forgetting he could read both me and Justin's minds.

"Can we come in?" he asked, smiling blandly.

Behind me, Woofy whimpered and about turned, bolting into Sharon's room—the one farthest from the doorway. Oh, well. Better than him barking his head off and annoying our neighbours. Sharon stepped into the hallway.

"Come in! Maya tells me you can't eat, but I can make you some teas, right?"

Justin nodded. They followed me into the living room. Rosie flung herself at Justin. "Hi, Justie! I missed you."

Shameless. When Justin and I had been together, he hadn't spent that much time with Rosie for the obvious reasons. Those few times he did see her, though, he always brought cakes with him. Five-year-olds are notoriously fond of cake. He ruffled her hair. "Hey, small stuff."

"We'll leave you to it," Sharon put a tray in front of us. "I'm not sure I want to hear what you've got planned, as I'm sure it will involve dead risky stuff that puts my daughter in extreme danger."

Justin glanced up. "No, just me and my brother, and we're kind of good at looking after each other."

The words seemed to reassure her. Rosie, bribed with the offer that Sharon would buy her a cake at the little pop-up café in the park, agreed to go with her. Woofy, coaxed out of Sharon's room, slinked past us, whimpering once more when he took in the sight of two vampires in his living room.

I waited until the door closed behind them. "Well?"

Justin rested his elbows on his knees and leant forward. "There's a much better witness to what happened years ago. Someone who was at that actual meeting."

"A witness? But that meeting took place more than..."

Duh, Maya. Cordelia had attended that meeting and agreed that she and her cronies would begin the process of transforming more and more of the population into vampires until numbers became impossible to control.

She could vouch for what was in the film James Hamilton had recorded, confirm what had been agreed at the time and expose Sunshine Health, Vampire Security and the National Conservatives for their bloodsucking leeches they were.

The big bad queen of vampires who'd tried to kill me the last time I saw her. I doubted she was any fonder of Justin and Lewis, the latter particularly after he betrayed her a year ago.

"She won't do anything!"

"Yes, she will," Lewis piped up. He sat opposite his brother, pose mirrored. Did they know they did that?

Yes.

God, two voices in my head at once.

"How do you know?"

Justin outlined the plan they'd been working on, making my eyes pop out on stalks. First, they would need to find Griffin as Griffin would lead them to Cordelia and from there, he and Lewis would force her to come with him using their combined strength and mind control abilities. Two heads were better than one and all that.

"Three," I said, making both brothers squint at me.

"You two have the physical strength, but I've got mind control powers too, so you'll need me too."

No way. It's too dangerous.

Only Justin this time.

Lewis leant back in his seat, smirk slapped in place. His brother stood up, crossed to where I sat and squatted in front of me.

"I know you want to help, but me and Lewis will tackle Cordelia on her own."

The begging note in his eyes almost persuaded me. Please, Maya. I've already seen one girlfriend destroyed in front of me. I can't go through it again.

I picked up my coat once more. "I need to be there, Justin. The three of us are stronger together, aren't we?"

Some moments are made for a kiss. This wasn't one of them. Blame it on the adrenaline rush and the pent-up frustration of the last few days when everything had seemed bleak and me powerless to change anything.

When I reached for Justin, pulling him towards me, he met the gesture with equal enthusiasm. We kissed as Lewis pretended to throw up, Justin's arms wrapped around me, one hand lightly pressed to the back of my head. 

AUTHOR'S NOTE - thanks for reading! Next update, Sunday 22nd August, 2021.