Hadley reached into her backpack and pulled out a small mason jar stuffed with the last of her cotton gauze. It was early morning, a few days after Kiara had given birth. Hadley was sitting outside her and Jamila's tent having thrown up everything she'd tried to put down for breakfast when she'd woken up starving. Warm water was the only thing she could ingest now.

Jael and Yuvan were the only other two awake and it was only because they were the last on night watch duty. The two were talking and laughing and occasionally making out. Hadley wasn't worried though. She could feel Ruqwik in the shadows beyond the camp circle. Anything that attempted to attack them would be sorry. Despite the gulf between them, Ruqwik would die for Hadley.

She directed her focus back to the jar.

The mason jar was filled almost to the brim with wet gauze and covered with a canning ring closed over more gauze to allow for air flow. Around the sides of the clear jar were her five sprouting apple seeds. Her living connection to Aunt Zee. After waking up in that tent from the nightmare that was Mrs. Smith's house and rummaging through her bag for the first time, Hadley had expected to find the dead, dried apple seeds wrapped in the wad of dried out gauze that she had left them in. What she'd found was the seeds carefully transferred into this mason jar, thriving. But Jamila had no idea about them. The only other one who could have done this was Ruqwik.

Hadley didn't ask the vampire about it.

Couldn't.

As she studied the seeds, marvelling at new root hairs and tiny green buds reaching out from the seeds, Hadley wanted to feel how she did when she'd studied the seeds before. Wanted to feel the heartache when her thoughts went back to Aunt Zee. Wanted tears to prick the corner of her eyes as she recalled how she'd found her. But the feelings felt so far removed from Hadley. The fact that she knew what she was supposed to be feeling but was unable to annoyed her, which admittedly was a feeling, just not the right one. Maybe her mother was right.

'Feelings are for the weak. Feelings aren't fact. Never rely on feelings, Hadley.'

Why did she never remember any of Aunt Zee's words? They were the ones that had shaped her more than anything. Why was it only ever that one voice?

"Hey?" Jamila hugged Hadley from the back, kissing her cheek. "You okay?"

Hadley nodded. She replaced the mason jar into her backpack and pulled out Aunt Zee's diary. She opened it to a few pages past the middle.

"Look." Hadley said, pointing out the landmark. She hadn't shared the book with anyone before, not even Jamila, but she was trying her hardest to make sure she didn't come off as distant to Jamila. She needed Jamila to like her. This seemed an appropriate way to keep her close. "We passed this spire yesterday."

Jamila studied the image. "You're right. It's not far from here."

"Exactly," Hadley replied. She pointed to the Wildling camp she was leading them too. "According to Aunt Zee, at this time of year the Wildlings will be at this camp for a few more days. We can use the trails and approach the camp that way, but I'm worried it'll take too long, and we'll miss them."

Jamila traced a straight line from where she assumed they were at the moment, to the Wildling camp.

"You want to go straight through the brush." Jamila said.

Hadley nodded.

Jamila immediately spotted a problem with the plan. One that Hadley hadn't even considered.

"What about Kiara?"

Of course. The mother of twins. Twins. That was still an insane reality to Hadley. At the Compound, new mothers were encouraged to rest for at least a week to recover. So far, to accommodate Kiara and the newborns while still allowing the group to keep moving, Jael had remade one of the sleds that once pulled the children so that it would fit Kiara. Ruqwik had offered to pull the sled for the last few days. However, they wouldn't be able to drag the sled through thick undergrowth if they went through the brush as Hadley was suggesting they do. But if they didn't do this, they'd miss the Wildlings.

"We'll need to hack our way through the undergrowth. Our pace should be slow enough for her to keep up," Hadley said, returning the diary to her bag. "And I know a way to help her feel better if the need arises."

Hadley still hadn't told Jamila about Mrs. Smith's tonic. Hadn't told anyone. Mrs. Smith demonstrated just how dangerous that knowledge could be in the wrong hands. But if Kiara did get hurt, Hadley knew she could convince Ruqwik to help. Knew she could convince Ruqwik to do anything. She even had leverage: she could promise that she'd let Ruq turn her. She obviously wouldn't, but Hadley was confident in her ability to keep that to herself until she acquired the vampire's blood, if Kiara needed it. Or if she needed anything else from the vampire.

"The same way you healed impossibly fast?" Jamila asked. Hadley noted the hurt in the statement, Jamila was feeling left out again, but Hadley would worry about that later. This wasn't something she could tell her yet.

"Let's find the Wildlings, get out of danger, and I promise we'll sit down, and you can ask me anything." Hadley said.

Jamila sighed. "I'm going to take you up on that."

Hadley nodded.

Jamila would ask, but Hadley hadn't promised she'd answer.

Once they were all safe at the Wildling tribe, Hadley would be able to increase the safety net for her daughter's upbringing. Jamila would always make the core of her caregiver circle, but Hadley would find others – backups from the Wildlings – just in case she lost Jamila's allegiance. All that mattered now was that her daughter was safe, free from the Compound walls and away from the influence of her grandmother and her mother, which was best for the little one. What's more, Hadley could finally focus on The Cause. She would work her way up the Wildlings' social status ladder, become a Council Member and eventually lead the humans against the vampires and claim their place as rulers of the world, as it had was always meant to be.

Until then, these simple placations would have to work to keep Jamila on her side.

"I'll stay with Kiara. Make sure she's safe." Jamila said. "Ruq will help."

That Jamila was now so close to the vampire was something that Hadley was overly curious about, and slightly irritated by, if she was being honest, only because she wasn't being clued into it yet. Her and Jamila weren't even bonding on their pregnancy. After what had happened at Mrs. Smith's cabin, Hadley had been comatose for a week. It was a relatively short time, but apparently enough to create this... thing between Jamila and Ruq. Hadley really wanted to discuss it with Jamila, but she wondered if it might make her seem... jealous. Or weak. So, she kept her curiosity to herself. Jamila was her own person. She was free to do whatever she wanted and would involve Hadley if she wanted to. Besides, they had never claimed exclusivity.

Jamila stood up and stretched. Hadley had been right all those weeks ago at the Compound. Jamila's body wore pregnancy beautifully. You couldn't even tell she was pregnant, Hadley never having seen her struggle with morning sickness, complain about bloating, become moody or fatigued – all conditions that currently dominated Hadley's life. Jamila was truly built for this!

"In the meantime, I'll wake the others and get them ready to leave." Jamila said, giving Hadley a quick peck on the cheek.

"Thanks Jay." Hadley replied.

As Jamila walked away, Hadley picked up her machete and a fine-grained river rock that Ruqwik had found for her to use as a whetstone, using the time to sharpen the machete blade in preparation for their hike through the thick brush. Hadley turned the rock a few times in her hands. The vampire could be useful sometimes. Maybe Hadley wouldn't completely cut her off in the end.

But she would never let her daughter meet the vampire.

*

It was in the late afternoon, after hacking through brush and undergrowth for hours, that Hadley finally made a breakthrough!

After clearing one particularly gnarly knot of bushes, exhausted beyond belief, Hadley almost collided into a woman who began yelling at her.

"What the fuck are you doing!"

The woman was simultaneously gorgeous and fear inspiring. Her long, dark, straight hair was tied back without a single strand out of place, and she held herself up with exceptional poise and impossible grace. Her back was ramrod straight, shoulders down, feet shoulder width apart and left hand resting on the black leather scabbard that would have held the shimmering sliver blade in her right hand. Her dark brown eyes were lit with a fury that commanded attention as they bore into Hadley.

Hadley felt Ruqwik's presence close in towards them as the vampire walked up to them from the back of the group.

"Are you Wildlings?" Hadley asked. The hope and relief in her voice was difficult to hide. She wanted to sound confident and purposeful. Like she'd meant to be here. "We've been searching for..."

The woman cut her off, pointing her blade at the slashed-up trail Hadley had created to get here.

"Are you out of your fucking mind? You just created a clear path that leads straight to our tribe's settlement! What is wrong with you?" the woman yelled at Hadley.

Hadley tried to speak up again, but the woman didn't let her.

"You might as well just go ahead and bring a vampire along with..."

It was then that Ruqwik arrived at Hadley's side. The woman's eyes went wide and what happened next happened faster than Hadley blinked. The woman twirled, swished her blade, and stabbed Ruqwik, the thin, silver blade reaching deep into the vampire's chest. Hadley's body reacted faster than her mind could catch up with the action. Her machete's blade was suddenly pressed up against the woman's throat, clearly catching the woman off guard.

"Pull it out, slowly, or the last thing you'll see is your body from the vantage point of your boots as your head rolls away," Hadley said, pouring menace into her voice.

The woman obliged.

Once the silver blade was out of Ruq's chest, the vampire fell to her knees, gasping and clutching at the wound. Hadley turned to face her, while still holding her own blade against the woman's throat.

"Are you okay, Ruq?" Hadley asked.

"Dead... blood..." the vampire spit out, along with a mouthful of blood.

Hadley looked back at the woman, who swished her blade and returned it to its sheath against her hip with that unnatural, unparalleled grace she effortlessly embodied. A simmering rage boiled inside Hadley. She was seriously considering pushing her blade forward and making the woman pay for her callous actions.

Ruq was Hadley's to kill, no one else.

"This sword is drenched in the blood of a thousand other predators who've dared attack my family over hundreds of years," the woman said, sneering. She gave Hadley a smug smile before turning to Ruqwik. "That and a few other choice toxins I'm a fan of. I hope it hurts like a bitch, blood sucker."

Ruq groaned. Hadley turned back to face Ruq and gasped. She dropped her machete, rushed to the vampire and knelt, getting down to her level.

"Your eyes..." Hadley whispered.

...And, in case you haven't noticed, I can use your help too. I'm not doing so well, Hadley. Sealing our bond will help us both heal...

The words played in Hadley's mind as she gently lay a hand on Ruq's cheek. Hadley wasn't just watching the vampire break; she could feel it in their shared mindscape. As Hadley had requested, Ruqwik had gone silent, keeping her feelings from seeping into the space, but it still connected them, and the effect was heavy against Hadley's mind, especially when they were this close. And thanks to the attack, Ruqwik's control was now gone. The vampire's mind was a broken dam, spilling everything into the mindscape. From the chaos, one thing stayed unjumbled and clear.

An energy that Hadley had only tasted once, but immediately recognized.

Memories raced through Hadley's mind. Mrs. Smith hacking at Ruqwik's body. Ruqwik mouthing an apology to Hadley before crashing into her mind. The rage taking over.

Venom.

And once again, it was reaching for Hadley's mind, though slower than it did that night at Mrs. Smith's. Ruqwik was fighting it, trying to push it back, away from their shared mindscape.

More repressed memories played through Hadley's mind.

She saw herself wielding the chains Mrs. Smith had used on her to hang the woman up by her dislocated arms on the sturdy handles of the kitchenette cupboards, her back facing the room. Hadley saw herself walking over to the workshop area, grabbing a scalpel, and then walking back to Mrs. Smith's body and slicing the tendons on the back of her knees, reinforcing the woman's immobility. She then tore the back of Mrs. Smith's puritan dress and used the scalpel to slice the woman's skin on either side of her spine before opening the flaps of skin like a book as the woman screamed bloody murder. Hadley sliced deeper, cutting through every rib joint connected to the woman's spine, and then widening the rib cages out, giving Mrs. Smith a macabre pair of wings.

The memories wrecked Hadley.

She would never do anything that gruesome!

Not even on her worst, darkest days.

The Venom laughed, taunting her. It knew the truth. Knew what Hadley was really capable of when nothing really mattered. Had given her a hand at it even.

The Venom!

Hadley felt it savour her mind, an entity all on its own. She looked down at her arms and saw it. The faint blue glow of her veins.

My blood will work itself out of your system soon.

But Ruqwik's blood still coursed through Hadley's veins and the Venom was reaching out for it. For Hadley's mind. Hadley looked back up at Ruqwik. In horror, she watched the blue from the vampire's right eye slink across and swallow the green of her left eye.

The Venom engulfed their shared mindscape.

Covered everything in iridescent blue.

Ruqwik mouthed the words again.

I'm sorry.

Two blue eyes looked back at Hadley.

A pure Venom vampire.

And as her dark mind welcomed the Venom, Hadley wasn't afraid anymore.

She was fascinated. Intrigued by the raw power dancing on the periphery of her mind. Eagerly grabbing for it. Graciously receiving it. She sensed a similar impatience from the blue energy. A desperate excitement. All she had to do was...

A group of people burst forth from the shadows of thejungle, breaking through Hadley's trance. Severing her connection with theVenom.

Irritated, she turned to face them.

"What's with all the shouting, Uriko?"

This new voice came from one of the men who'd materialised from the trees. His skin was as dark as Hadley's, but he was a head shorter than her, his hair cut short, and thick facial hair that framed his features perfectly. He carried the same weapon as the woman he'd called Uriko. She'd called the weapon a sword. Everyone who had walked out of the jungle and surrounded them carried a sword and quite a few were drawn. The look on the speaking man's face was stern, but not ruthless. When his gaze finally fell on Hadley, it held a look of genuine curiosity.

Curiosity and...

...familiarity.

The same look Josal had given Hadley the first time they'd met. The same as Trisca's look at the party. Not to mention Mrs. Smith and the vampire who'd tried to help her, Nagara.

"You don't know who you are, do you, Hadley Fisher?"

Before she could make any move or reply, Hadley's skull felt like it caught fire, reeling from the intensity of the battle still being waged by the Venom in the shared mindscape between her and Ruq! The vampire was still trying to pull it back from Hadley, even though the dark abyss in Hadley's mind was more than willing to house the blue rage.

"Venom vamp!" Uriko suddenly gasped, her eyes glued to Ruqwik. "That's impossible!"

Unprepared for the Venom's bite, Hadley wavered on her feet, rocked by the force of rage that swirled inside them both, the air forced out of her lungs as it banged against her mind, pushing in. Ruqwik had lost the battle. Hadley choked on the metallic bitterness of Ruq's power as it surged around them, thicker than ever before. The Venom was ready to strike. The woman who stabbed Ruq would be the first one to die. Ruqwik's neon blue eyes turned away from Hadley to Uriko.

It was this that shattered Hadley's readiness to meld with the Venom!

They couldn't kill Uriko.

They couldn't kill any of the Wildlings!

She'd found them. She'd finally found the Wildlings. All she had to do now was convince them to let her and the others join their tribe. Then she would share Aunt Zee's diary with the Council Members and everything else would into place. She would have a new home for her daughter and a central place to begin The Cause. No matter how much she too wanted to make Uriko pay for her insolence, Hadley couldn't let the Venom kill her!

The situation was bad, but it wasn't lost. Even as the Venom raged against the walls of her mind, Hadley leaned into the darkness, using it to hold back the blue rage as she considered how she would use this situation to garner favour the Wildlings. She would make sure they would have no choice but to invite them into their tribe.

It was a simple plan.

Hadley would let Ruq attack the woman, then Hadley would get in the way, taking the brunt of the attack and saving the woman. Even under the Venom's influence, Ruqwik would rather die than harm a hair on Hadley's head. The vampire would balk, allowing Hadley to overpower her and – voila! – Hadley would be an instant hero and the woman, Uriko, would owe Hadley her life. Hadley would use the goodwill to ask to join the Wildling tribe and convince them to take the others in too.

A simple, effective plan.

But before the plan would play out, they heard a sound that stopped Hadley's blood in her veins.

Everyone turned towards the howls.

Vampire dogs!

"You led them here," Uriko said, ominously pointing her bloody sword at Hadley. The woman then turned to Ruqwik, fear glazing her eyes. "You led them all here to kill us!"

Hadley ignored her and turned to Jamila. "Run. Take the others and hide. We'll hold them off then come find you when it's done."

Jamila didn't need to be told twice.

Hadley picked up her machete and faced Ruqwik, her hand on the vampire's shoulder.

This changed everything!

"I know you're in there Ruq," she whispered to the vampire. "If you can hear me, we need your help. Me, Jamila, Drew and everyone else! Fight it, please."

Ruqwik could fight the dogs, protect them, but not in this form. Not with the Venom in control. As tempting as the blue energy was, it was laced with chaos, malevolence, violence, and destruction. It left no space for care and compassion. Hadley's memory of the Compound cafeteria was emblazoned in her mind, as clear as crystal. When the dogs attacked, Ruqwik had joined them. She had killed those Compound girls with little remorse. Hadley had avoided the thought for weeks, but the reality of it came crashing down on her in this moment. The instant Hadley had heard the dogs, she wasn't sure what side the Venom-controlled Ruqwik would pick – hers or the monsters.

But Hadley's pleas were futile.

Ruqwik was gone.

And the blue-eyed monster left in her place grabbed Hadley's throat and squeezed!

"Ruq! What are you... I can't breathe... Ruq... please..." Hadley struggled to push the words out of her throat as her machete fell and her feet slowly left the ground. She helplessly clawed at Ruq's hands. "Fight it... Ruq... Fight it!"

Uriko stepped in, slashing the vampire's torso with her sword. Ruq's hold loosened ever so slightly, but it was enough for Hadley to pull in a desperate breath. Without pausing, Uriko swung her blade again, aiming to decapitate the vampire. Hadley's feet were dangling as she struggled against Ruq's hold, trying to reach the ground with the tip of her toes. The vampire's eyes never left Hadley's, and the stoic expression didn't change, even as the vampire caught Uriko's sword in mid-flight, the blade eating halfway through her palm's flesh.

"Ruq... fight it!" Hadley tried to say, but her voice could no longer cross past Ruqwik's chokehold. Hadley's head was swimming, fumbling the words she wanted to speak.

There was only one more thing Hadley could do now. She closed her eyes and surrendered to their shared mindscape.

Then she pushed back against the Venom.

Hadley felt a crack in the solid blue.

She was getting through!

But the crack quickly sealed itself and the Venom gathered into a whirlwind that Hadley knew was about to push into and shatter her mind again, just like it did that night at Mrs. Smith's. Hadley had lost everything to that last attack. The darkness of her mind had helped her, swallowing the rage, and leaving her an empty, disconnected, emotionless shell. But that was a trick she could only pull one time.

It was one thing for her disconnected mind to welcome the Venom in, like she'd been trying a few moments before, but she'd lost that chance by pushing back and challenging its power. And this time, when the Venom forced its way in, her mind wouldn't survive.

Hadley would die here.

The premonition was so clear, it made her pause from struggling.

She was at the end.

Was this how it was for everyone at the brink of death? Did they see the end this clearly? Did memories of what they should have done plague them as they did her? Did they mourn the 'if onlys' and 'what ifs', as she did? Did they fight their destiny?

Did any one of them win?

Cheat death?

Just before Hadley closed her eyes and abandoned all hope, a vampire dog crashed into her, Ruqwik and Uriko!

The four fell in a tangle of flailing limbs, snarling teeth, swinging blades, and piercing shrieks.

Unfazed, Ruq stood up, grabbed the dog by its upper and lower jaws and pulled the two apart in a horrific snap and tear. She dropped the dead creature and raced towards the other vampire dogs, forgetting about Hadley and Uriko. Uriko recovered fast, grabbing her sword and following Ruqwik into the carnage. Hadley took a moment to breathe, revelling in the ability to pull air into her lungs once more! Eventually, she got up too, grabbed her machete and joined the others.

"You led them here! You led them all here to kill us!"

For the sake of her daughter, Hadley couldn't let that be the report that went back to the Wildlings.

The fight was short lived. Uriko and the others were fierce, moving like smoke, their swords like molten metal, working together to kill half of the dozen vampire dogs. The other half were taken down by Ruqwik, and Hadley couldn't help but stop and watch the Venom vampire in action. When Aunt Zee had described the dangerous nature of a pure Venom, she hadn't even scratched the surface. Ruqwik moved like a woman possessed, which Hadley now understood more than she ever thought she would. The Venom showed no compassion, no mercy, and no remorse in its impossibly fluid, impossibly fast movements. Its sole purpose was to kill!

No. Not purpose.

Need.

There was a desperation in the movements. An enthusiasm. Every new kill more elaborate than the last.

She was enjoying this!

When the last of the dogs fell, Hadley saw that two of the humans who'd come from the trees were among the dead. Uriko was kneeling next to one of them, sobbing. The man in charge, the who seemed to recognise Hadley, instructed the others to tend to their two dead colleagues, before he walked over to Hadley. His face was stone. Hadley had tried to help with the fight, but Ruqwik's attack, both mental and physical, had hurt her more than she realised. She kept getting in the way of the Wildlings and Ruq, so she had stepped aside, watching them, still recovering from a half-crushed trachea.

But before the man reached Hadley, Venom-powered Ruqwik stood up from the last dog she'd been tearing apart and rushed to attack him.

Hadley didn't even realise she'd moved until she felt the pressure on her right shoulder. She had moved between Ruqwik and the man, and Ruqwik had attacked her instead. The vampire bit down hard, crashing through Hadley's clavicle. She kept biting down, crunching through bone, muscle, and sinew. Ruqwik was drenched in dogs' blood and covered in deep cuts, long slashes, and penetrating bites. She needed to heal. Only human blood could heal her. Hadley put up no resistance, letting the vampire feed off her.

Ruqwik pulled long draughts of blood from Hadley, but it didn't worry Hadley. Her plan was still going to work. She had saved the man. She was a hero. She'd garnered her good will and would later cash it in to join the tribe. Her daughter had a new home. It was everything that Hadley had worked so hard for.

All that was left now was to hope she was right.

That Ruqwik, Venom possessed or not, would never kill her.

So, why did Hadley feel, with absolute certainty, that she was going to die here?

There was a clarity to the thought that stung, but Hadley fought it. This was Ruq! Ruq would never hurt her! Would never kill her. The vampire would stop when she'd had enough.

She always did!

'It's okay, Ruq. Just drink.' Hadley sent the words through their shared mindscape.

Ruq would stop.

She always did.

But as darkness hemmed in around Hadley, it occurred to her that she might be wrong. Not about Ruq not being able to kill her. She was right about that. What she was wrong about was thinking that Ruq still existed somewhere inside when the Venom was in charge.