The next three days stretched Hadley to her limits. It wasn't only that her escape plan required carefully fitting together several puzzle pieces of time and circumstance, it was also that Mrs. Smith insisted on inflicting on her every gory part of "The Craft" with Ruqwik. Digging through the vampire's insides came with constant commentary. To say it was difficult for Hadley to watch Ruqwik squirm and voicelessly scream in pain with every invasive procedure would be an understatement.

But Hadley had personally witnessed the worst of vampires in action in that cave months ago.

Vampires are evil beings.

They deserve no sympathy.

Humans are the true proprietors of the earth.

However, no matter how hard she wanted it to, the mantra didn't work anymore. Not when Hadley tried to apply it to Ruqwik. And she was haunted by the thought that, when it really came down to it, it might not work with any vampire. This realization was soul sucking, shaking every single one of Hadley's new views on everything.

"Did you know, Hadley, that humans made vampires in a laboratory," Mrs. Smith's said as she hacked out Ruqwik's left kidney.

This time Mrs. Smith wasn't bothering with the surgical precision she'd demonstrated with the spleen removal. Hadley gagged at the iron scent of Ruq's blood, her insides contorting and twisting painfully. She hoped that her morning sickness would get better over time, and was more than a little upset that, being a Medic, her trigger just had to be blood, guts, and surgical gore.

Sure that she wouldn't throw up, she pulled her focus back to Mrs. Smith.

"It was when genetic scientists first started designing babies, modifying them, like your pretty little Barn friend, downstairs," Mrs. Smith went on, completely ignoring Hadley discomfort, as always. "But these scientists of old didn't create cowardly, compliant bags of muscle and bone, like the sheeple that vampires breed for their Barns. No. These scientists mixed questionable, ethically dubious ingredients in their little witchy cauldrons and birthed two, very odd identical children. One of them had green eyes, the other blue. Both colours unnaturally bright. A lot like yours, come to think of it."

With that last statement, Mrs. Smith finally looked up, her head cocked and eyes narrow as she studied Hadley's face. She eventually shook her head, seemingly deciding against her trepidation for Hadley's blue eyes, and went back to hacking Ruqwik's insides.

Hadley stayed silent, her breath shaky and pulse racing.

"But you're human. No doubt about that. These children weren't. They wouldn't eat anything and within hours of being born, they needed blood transfusions because it was discovered that they weren't producing their own red blood cells. The transfusions helped and they grew up with them being administered regularly. After every transfusion, their eyes would change colour to blood red. The doctors didn't know what to make of them..."

Hadley didn't want to, but she hung on every word. Not even Aunt Zee had known where vampires came from. No Wildling did. How did Mrs. Smith? It didn't matter how. Hadley could have never imagined a more intriguing origin for vampires.

According to Mrs. Smith, the two laboratory grown children were the first vampires. They killed their caretakers when their fangs appeared, and it was decided they were to be killed after the incident, but they ended up being invincible to all humane methods of euthanasia. As they grew older in that secret laboratory underground, the scientists noticed the toddlers' sensitivity to UV radiation, which was being administered regularly for proper bone growth. That was when it was first posited by the scientists that they might have created "vampires" as they had existed in lore for millennia. This belief kept the children alive, under constant scrutiny and study.

Hadley wondered what happened to the children, but Mrs. Smith pivoted.

"I once captured one of the first few vampires to be Turned after the Human Error. They call these vampires 'New Agers'. They say the Shield makes them different from the Ageless, the vampires who existed before the Human Error. That it made them weaker." Mrs Smith said when she walked over to a drawer to pick out wood wool soaked in dead blood and a kidney shaped crocheted ball to stuff it into.

With Mrs. Smith's back towards her, Hadley took the opportunity to slice Ruqwik's forearm with a scalpel. The vampire whipped her head to Hadley, her eyes wide. Hadley placed a finger on her lips as the vampire's blood dripped into the tiny vial that had held Aunt Zee's apple seeds. The barely germinated seeds were currently carefully wrapped in moist gauze in Hadley's backpack upstairs. Ruqwik's cut slowly healed, sealing itself just as the vial was filled and Hadley stashed it back into her dress's pockets. At the exact same time, Mrs. Smith turned around and walked back to them with a wood wool stuffed ball that was soaked in dead blood. Hadley had figured that these balls kept the vampires from regenerating.

"That old fart stayed alive up to the point where I took out its eyeballs! Seven months. Very resilient," Mrs. Smith continued speaking, describing the vampire, but Hadley barely heard any of it through the pounding in her ears, blood rushing past them and her entire being focused on controlling her breathing and heartbeat, wondering if she was imagining it or if Ruq's blood really was burning a hole in her pocket.

"This one will last much longer than seven months," Mrs. Smith said, stroking Ruq's cheek with a long bony finger.

Ruqwik pinned her with a hateful gaze.

If only looks could kill.

"Vampires are evil, I understand that," Hadley said. "But how does this make us any different? The Craft is nothing but a way to subjugate and tyrannize the vampires in the same way they do us, maybe even worse! There has to be a better way to achieve The Cause."

"Are you feeling sorry for them? You think they deserve our compassion after everything they've done?" Mrs. Smith guffawed. "Don't be naïve, Hadley. There's no way we can 'oppress' vampires! They hold all the power. They determine and shape human destiny. Until we change that, anything we do to them is fair game in my books."

"What happens when the tables turn?" Hadley replied. "What happens when we're the ones on top? When we're the ones holding all the power? Will it be their turn to come after us then?"

With that reasoning, this was just a vicious cycle that would be infinitely perpetuated.

Mrs. Smith laughed. "When we hold the power, as we should have from the very start, we'll keep it forever. We deserve to keep it forever. And we'll make sure that they can never come up against us. Don't you see, Hadley? That's the whole reason for The Craft. They will fear us and what we can do to them! We'll never let them rise above us again, even if it means forcefully ensuring that it doesn't happen. When we win, Hadley, the fight ends."

How did Mrs. Smith expect the vampires to ever let that happen and just accept it sitting down?

"Why don't you just kill her?" Hadley said. "None of this is necessary for The Cause!"

Stoic, Mrs. Smith first looked up at Hadley then back at the vampire.

"This one deserves so much worse than this, Hadley," Mrs. Smith said in a sickly-sweet voice. She grabbed Ruqwik's hair and forced her head further back. "You know why, don't you, Ruqwik?"

Mrs. Smith didn't say anymore after that except to announce that the day's Craft lesson was complete. Hadley followed all her rules. She ate as instructed. She drunk the tonic of wine mixed with Ruq's blood, refusing to allow herself to dwell on the thought that she liked it. She showered with Mrs. Smith outside the bathroom door. She stood still as the shock collar was snapped back onto her neck. She raised no alarm. Displayed no dissention.

The perfect apprentice.

"Goodnight Hadley," Mrs. Smith called out before locking Hadley's door when she left the room.

Hadley forced herself to stay in bed for at least an hour. An agonizing exercise, but she had to be sure Mrs. Smith would be asleep. The collar was the immediate concern. She had to get rid of it. Her idea was to fight fire with fire. She would short-circuit it. It had taken the last few days to pry out a nail from the bed frame, but now she held it in her hands in triumph. All she needed was water. Overkill, but this had to work. She fetched some water using the trash basket from the bathroom and spilt it over a section of the floor near the wall, taking off her socks and grimacing at the cold as her bare feet walked over the puddle.

She took a deep breath. Then she stuck the nail into the power socket on the wall.

Every single one of her nerves caught on fire. Ten thousand papercuts from head to toe. There was a crackle, her throat burning before a loud snap ended the collar's hold on her. The house went dark and silent, the generator shorted out. Hadley dropped to the ground, fully aware that the sound would bring Mrs. Smith. She only had a few seconds at most. Hadley crawled to her packed bag, grabbed the vial she'd filled with Ruq's blood and downed it, trying not to gag against the astringent metallic tang that wasn't dulled with sweet wine. The effect was instant. She got the feeling back in her feet and her tingling fingertips didn't hurt as much.

Hadley grabbed her bag, headed into the bathroom, threw the window wide open and jumped onto the tree with branches that stood a few meters away from the house. She made the jump, celebrated for a second, then cussed as the branch she'd landed on snapped under her weight. On her way to the ground, she hit what felt like a hundred branches, twigs slapping and scratching her, chastising her for her audacity. The carpet of leaves on the forest floor received her like a bed of rocks. The air exploded from her lungs. She gasped for air, struggling to get back to her feet.

"I'm impressed."

Hadley whipped her head to the voice.

Mrs. Smith.

"You could have killed yourself with that stunt."

The woman was standing in front of Hadley. The half-moon's glow was barely enough to light anything, but her silhouette was clear.

"Thanks to your lovely tonic," Hadley wheezed. "I'm a little harder to kill than usual."

"So it seems."

Hadley wasn't going back to her puke green wallpaper prison.

Not without a fight.

"Don't make me hurt you, Mrs. Smith," Hadley said, having mostly recovered from the fall, revolted at the thought of how much vampire blood she'd ingested to make that possible. "Let me and Jamila go, and I won't."

Mrs. Smith laughed. But just as she was about to start monologuing about how foolish Hadley must be to think she could escape, or whatever, Hadley rushed at her, spearing the woman with her shoulder, and smashing her to the ground. The woman's head smacked the ground with a satisfying crunch. Hadley stood up and examined the unconscious woman. There was no blood, but she'd be out for hours and probably wake up with a massive concussion and one hell of a lump.

Hadley and Jamila would be long gone by then.

She ran to the side of the house, finding the small, rectangular window that led to the basement. She kicked in the window, clearing the smashed glass from the frame and slid in, pulling her backpack in after her.

"I'm here, Jay," Hadley said, quickly approaching the cage.

Jamila's eyes were barely open. She was alive but looked worse than the stuffed vampires upstairs. Much worse than when Hadley had seen her a few days ago. Before Hadley could find a way to free her, something slid in through the broken window, landing with unparalleled grace.

"That's not possible." Hadley whispered at the unmistakable silhouette beneath the window. "You can't be conscious..."

Mrs. Smith cracked her neck, side to side.

"In your own words, 'thanks to that lovely tonic, I'm a little harder to hurt than usual'," Mrs. Smith said.

Hadley immediately noticed a change in Mrs. Smith's stance. It was different from every other day she'd been with Hadley. Surer. The woman was tense, her muscles coiled, her fists balled.

"For the last century, I've learnt the importance of staying in shape," Mrs. Smith sighed. "But all you young'uns ever see is an old woman with nothing to show for her strength. I like to lean into that. Draw out your naivete. Teach you the lesson you all need to learn about respecting your elders."

Hadley stood her ground, ready to fight. She would knock the woman down as many times as it took. And next time, she'd make sure the woman didn't get up again.

"You need to let us go, Mrs. Smith." Hadley said, balling her own fists. "Find someone else to teach The Craft and lead The Cause. Because I won't do it!"

"I have waited for this moment for so long! You see, Hadley, I have finally found in you someone worth my time and talent. I didn't believe I ever would, but I'd hoped." Mrs. Smith continued, taking an attack stance that completely contradicted how she usually carried herself. "You, Hadley, are the real deal. I know it. I can feel it! But what else would you expect from a bonafide Fisher, am I right?"

"I don't know what you're playing at, Mrs. Smith," Hadley said, taking a defensive pose. "But whatever happens now is your own fault. I won't be sorry. And it will hurt. Even with the tonic. I'll make sure of it, Mrs. Smith."

Mrs. Smith sneered.

Hadley had never seen her sneer.

"I am going to enjoy breaking you." Mrs. Smith said.

Then she attacked.

She came in with a right kick. Hadley backed away, barely avoiding it, but Mrs. Smith fluidly followed the right kick with a back spin left kick, which caught Hadley in the jaw. The blow snapped her head to the side, and she didn't have time to even think of dodging the melee of punches that rained on her torso. She put up her forearms to block the punches, but Mrs. Smith switched it up on her and delivered a hay maker right punch that caught her in the jaw again and sent her spinning and slamming into the ground. Hadley slowly got up, spitting out blood and phlegm. She wiped her mouth and put her hands up.

Mrs. Smith feigned a right hook. When Hadley went to block it, the left hook hit her square in right side of her face, sending waves of pain from her right eye socket. Hadley ducked, dodging the next punch, and sending out one of her own, but Mrs. Smith easily evaded her slightly wild punch. As Hadley's body followed her punch forward, Mrs. Smith gracefully slid behind her and landed several blows to Hadley's back, targeting her kidneys.

As Hadley twisted her body to face her, she was gasping from pain, disoriented. In that state, Hadley caught a high kick to the mouth, splitting her lip, but managed to block the one that followed that would have shattered her left ribs. However, Mrs. Smith's next consecutive right kick connected with the inside of Hadley's right leg, throwing that leg outwards and forcing Hadley down to her left knee, where she received a spinning kick to the side of her face.

Hadley slid across the floor, defeated.

She smashed into a pile of four bodies. Vampires. Blood starved and dormant, but with their eyes still in their sockets. They hadn't been processed for The Craft! The body against Hadley's suddenly twitched, its teeth chomping for Hadley's arm, but unable to get to her thanks to the pile of bodies crashing it from above. Thinking fast, Hadley pushed her upper arm into the chomping teeth and quietly hissed as the creature bit through her sleeves, into her bicep and pulled on her blood.

For the few seconds that the vampire fed off Hadley, Mrs Smith had walked over to the other end of the room to grab links of chain from a box. Hadley heard her walk over and wrenched her arm from the vampire's mouth, hoping the blood would blend in with all her other injuries from the beat down by Mrs. Smith and that she wouldn't notice the fang holes in sleeve of her black shirt. Mrs Smith forced Hadley to her feet and shackled Hadley's wrists and ankles. As Jamila watched in despair, Mrs. Smith pulled Hadley up the basement steps and back to the paisley green room. She chained Hadley to the bed, forced the wine and blood tonic down Hadley's throat, then left without another word, locking the door behind her.

As she endured the ebbing pain from her already healing wounds, Hadley lay on the bed, thoroughly confused and unable to comprehend what had just happened.

There was no way she could have been prepared for Mrs. Smith to be able to move that way!

*

The next day was brutal. With the shock collar broken, the chains kept Hadley in line and Mrs. Smith was always watching her now, which was beyond awkward in the shower and bathroom. Even though the tonic of Ruqwik's blood helped heal wounds, some injuries, like the broken eye socket and a bruised jaw took a while to fully heal. It could also be that Mrs. Smith was giving her less of the brew to punish Hadley, while still making sure she force-fed her the blood.

"Now, where were we?" Mrs. Smith said in a sing song voice after dinner the next night, pulling Hadley towards the gurney. "Ah, yes! We'll take a lung today. Her right one."

"Why are you doing this?" Hadley asked, pulling at her chains as she did.

Mrs. Smith smiled down at the vampire.

"Usually, it's for research. To find their weak spots. To make sure we'll be able to instil fear in them when we finally hold the reigns to this world. But not this time. This time, it's just to hurt her," Mrs. Smith said. "Even though it will never come close to what she did to hurt me."

Hadley stayed silent as she watched the woman slice out an outline of Ruqwik's right lung. She was precise today. Careful. Surgical. Slow. Excruciatingly slow. Savouring every slice.

"You remember, don't you Ruqwik?" Mrs. Smith whispered, as if it was just the two of them, her and the vampire. "You remember reaching into their chests as they were still screaming. Breaking their breastbones. Crushing their beating hearts. Not because there wasn't another way to kill them. A way that would spare them the pain. There are many ways to kill. Humane ways. You just didn't care, did you? You liked seeing the pain. Enjoyed killing them."

Humane ways to kill. Hadley mulled over the words. You'd need to be human to be humane.

Ruqwik was born a vampire.

Not that Hadley could excuse the vampire's actions if Mrs. Smith was speaking the truth.

"Do you remember them, Ruqwik?" Mrs. Smith continued, pulling out the vampire's right lung and holding it up in triumph. "Do you remember my parents? Do you remember killing them?"

Hadley couldn't ignore the despair in Ruqwik's eyes. But there was more behind it than pain. Hadley felt it – Ruqwik's mind pressing against hers. Pushing. But the vampire was holding back. Fighting her own mind. Hadley hoped her face remained stoic as warring emotions battled for a place in her mind. She was grateful that Ruqwik stayed out of her mind, something Hadley had been worried about from the moment she'd learnt about their link, but she also wondered if the shared mind link would help Ruqwik through the torture, and if that was something Hadley would allow. If there was even a way to tell Ruq she could lean on her.

"My mind is bound to yours?"

"It's more the other way around. Mine bound to yours... Like the drowning man never letting go of the straw after he somehow survives."

But Hadley was also worried that maybe being connected to Ruq was a danger to her, especially with every layer of the vampire's past that she continued to uncover.

Her feelings for the vampire were horribly conflicted!

*

Hadley woke up with a start, her heart pounding against her rib cage, adrenaline coursing through her as she tried to get her bearings, pulling painfully at the chains that bound her wrists and ankles to the bed. Her mind swirled.

Pain. Desolation. Misery. Starvation. The edge of desperation.

The feelings weren't hers.

They were similar to what she'd been feeling for days now, but the intensity was all wrong. Hadley could feel her. Ruqwik. The vampire's mind was leaking into hers. Hadley closed her eyes at the almost visceral feeling of Ruqwik trying to pull back the emotions and failing. The seal was broken. Their mindscape was one.

Fear.

Hadley held her breath at the spike of fear. Ruqwik's fear.

Not of death.

Hadley let out a shaky exhale as she scrambled through the chaotic mindscape, following the source of the fear. What was it that the vampire feared so...

The bedroom door creaked open, pulling Hadley out of the mindscape.

A vampire stood in the doorway, her silhouette backlit by the light spilling in from the hallway until she slowly closed the door behind her. She switched on the bedroom lights and gasped.

"Jesus Christ! You're just a child!" the vampire quietly exclaimed. The pale, brunette vampire was wearing a pair of brown pants and a simple cream coloured tee, all covered in splotches of blood. Her short hair was untidy, messily parted to the side, with patches matted to her scalp.

"It's you," Hadley whispered, recognising the vampire who'd bit down on her in the basement. "I didn't know if you'd come."

"The name's Nagara. Thank you for saving me." the vampire replied, rushing to the bed, and unclasping the chains. "We need to leave right now."

"Thank you! But we can't leave without Jamila!" Hadley said, watching Nagara unlocking the chain clasps.

The vampire stopped and looked Hadley dead in the eye.

"There's no time. She knows who you are. That first night you arrived...? When she brought your friend to the basement? She read your diary out loud. She always... talks to us before..." Nagara paused, as if swallowing back a traumatic memory. "I couldn't believe it! Hadley Fisher! You're supposed to be dead. Fuck! I'm crazy for helping you, but I would be worse than dead if it wasn't for you. Come on! If we don't leave right now, we never will! She'll kill us both."

Aunt Zee's journal! Hadley didn't remember reading anything about herself, let alone seeing the words 'Hadley Fisher' in the journal. Mrs. Smith must have read the last page of the journal. It was the only page that Hadley had never been able to read because it was written in Wildling code. Aunt Zee said that only a Wildling Council member could read it and that, if Hadley showed it to them, they would immediately accept her, no questions asked. But Aunt Zee didn't explain the page to Hadley, except to tell her never to show it to anyone, but the members of the Wildling Council.

Hadley rubbed at her free wrists. "We're not leaving without Jamila."

"How is this even possible?" Nagara whispered, keenly studying Hadley's face and gazing thoughtfully into her eyes. "They told us all the Fishers were dead. That vampires had no reason to fear your family anymore. If you're alive, no human or vampire on this planet is safe! I shouldn't be doing this!"

Hadley had absolutely no idea what the vampire was talking about.

Didn't care.

"I saved you!" Hadley narrowed her eyes at the vampire, knowing one thing for sure. "You owe me. Please, we need to go save Jamila."

"You're right. I owe you my life, and I will pay the debt." Nagara said, with a heavy sigh. "But that only happens if you and I leave now."

"I can't leave without Jamila." Hadley finally.

"There's no time for that."

Hadley grit her teeth. "If you really want to pay your debt to me, Nagara, then make time for it."

Nagara sighed again. "Okay. Tomorrow night, I'll bring help. We can't beat her on our own."

Hadley nodded.

The vampire turned to leave.

"Wait!" Hadley called out. She pointed to the chains when Nagara turned around.

"Right."

Nagara clasped the chains back on to Hadley's ankles and wrists.

Hadley's heart was pounding as she watched the vampire slip out of her door. Her mind was racing. Hadley Fisher. That name yet again. And what had the vampire meant when she said that Hadley being alive meant that no human or vampire on this planet was safe?

It didn't matter. Not yet.

What mattered was, with Nagara's help, they would escape this hell tomorrow.

*

The next morning, Mrs. Smith decided to spend the day breaking Ruqwik's fingers and watching them heal, slower with each new break. And as she did, Mrs. Smith was regurgitating stories about the days when humans ruled and what she'd learnt about vampires, both from the past and from The Craft. The words dripped off Hadley, none of them sticking. She was more focussed on Ruq's soundless screams and their shared mindscape, where an inky black smoke of desperation, gloom and anguish enveloped the space. Mrs. Smith then began speaking about the vampire's birth.

These words, this story, finally captured Hadley's attention.

According to Mrs. Smith, only a pure Venom vampire can impregnate a human. But they are creatures of utmost violence and constant hunger. Their prey never survived the depraved encounter with them. However, if a human did find a way to survive the ordeal, like Ruqwik's mother must have, she would bear a child.

A Venom vampire hybrid.

Ruqwik was borne of violence, pain and depravity. Mrs. Smith posited that she probably killed her mother as a child, at the appearance of her vampire fangs, which affirmed that Ruqwik was pure evil. An abomination. Only fit for death. Yet, Hadley had felt the vampire's mind. Ruq had helped Hadley overcome a panic attack. She'd attempted to ease Hadley's mind of fear while she fed from her. The vampire had also protected her and her friends. Fought vampire dogs to save them. Hadley had even watched her tolerate and humour children, who seemed inexplicably drawn to her.

I was too late.

Ruqwik had killed Trisca – a close ally, and an Enclave Baron – to avenge the death of those same children and their mothers.

The vampire was a monster. There was no doubt about it. But that wasn't all of her. She was more. Hadley suddenly knew that it wasn't just Jamila that she would escape with later that night when Nagara came back. She would take the vampire with them as well.

Hadley reached into their shared mindscape and did something she'd never tried before. This whole time, it was Ruqwik who'd coloured the space, making her feelings known without pressing Hadley to do the same. She couldn't verbally talk to Ruq, couldn't tell her the plan about the escape, but maybe she could reach her in this way.

Hadley took a deep breath and focussed on one thought.

'Hold on, Ruq. It's almost over.'

The mindscape changed, the black smoke diffusing around them, dispersed and scattered. Hadley kept the emotion off her face as she watched Ruqwik's eyes turn to her, wide with surprise. There was another change in the mindscape. A flurry of emotion. Gratitude. And a promise. Ruq would hold on. And there was more. A lot more. As if Ruq's whole mind was pouring into the mindscape, revealing all and every secret. Surprised by how the vampire's prompt response, promise and naked unburdening touched and warmed every part of her being, Hadley was unable to contain her reaction.

The gasp was an involuntary reflex.

And it sealed their fate.

"What the...!" came the scream from Mrs. Smith. "It's in your head! Isn't it, you stupid girl? You let that filthy vampire get into your head!"

Mrs. Smith's eyes went wide, her mouth forming an 'O', as if something epic suddenly dawned on her.

"That's why you can't see reason!" the woman screamed! She then reached under the modified hospital bed and pulled out an eyeless, decapitated head of a vampire.

Nagara.

"This was your doing, wasn't it?" Mrs Smith yelled, smashing the head to the ground and stomping on it, crushing the skull, its contents soiling her moccasins.

In the hurricane of fury, Mrs. Smith grabbed a small wood axe and started to hack at Ruqwik. Pulverising her insides. Hadley screamed for Mrs. Smith to stop as she struggled against her chains. The vampire raised her head the inch or so that she could, looked past the flying gore and straight into Hadley's eyes. Hadley felt the winds of change in their mindscape. Felt the darkness seep back in.

The rage.

'I'm sorry,' Ruqwik mouthed, her eyes never leaving Hadley's.

Hadley immediately stopped struggling against her constraints, a chill running down her spine. The mindscape took on a new feel. A menacing bite. An explosion of blue. A burst of unbridled rage. Ice cold yet burning hot. Blue cold flames. Hadley couldn't stop it!

"No Ruq! Please, don't!" Hadley pleaded, tears in her eyes.

But it was too late.

Ruqwik's mind smashed through the mindscape into Hadley's mind and buried every emotion. Buried the pain. Buried the fear. Buried the uncertainty.

Buried everything but the rage.

Hadley's veins burned. Not figuratively.

She looked down and saw blood vessels glow impossibly blue through her dark skin. Venom. There was no mistaking it! Hadley's eyes burned too. She turned to face Mrs. Smith who was engrossed in reducing the vampire into minced meat.

Only one thought rang clear in Hadley's mind.

Mrs.Smith had to die.