Hadley instructed the others to help her move items around in the Harvest Room, clearing the space in front of one of the walls. She started scraping off the wallpaper from the wall. The others joined. Before long, they had revealed the outline of a door with no knob or keyhole. Even Aunt Zee didn't know about this door. Hadley had read about it as a reference in an old, gnarly medical instruction stuck beneath one of the Clinic drawers. This was the entrance to an old loading zone the vampires used to supply the Compound more than a century ago. Hadley turned to Ruq, knowing this was more forbidden knowledge she shouldn't have. The vampire regarded her curiously before sitting cross legged on a crate in the back of the tiny room.

"Let's find something to pry it open," Hadley said, turning to the other girls.

In the end, they decided to try leveraging a machete blade jammed into the outline of the door. There was some progress, but it was taking way too long. Hadley knew the dogs would eventually hunt them down and wasn't confident the Pantry door would keep them out. A river of perspiration poured down her neck, making tracks down her back, and a cold dread settled at the pit of her stomach as she began to accept that this wasn't going to work.

"Here, let me," Ruqwik said, jumping off the crate.

Hadley looked up at the vampire and gave her an appreciative nod. Ruq turned away from her. She punched her hand through the door and yanked it back. The door hinges crumbled like paper in her hands, dropping Hadley's jaw as the door swung open. A light breeze blew in from the dark, instantly cooling Hadley off. She grabbed her new harvest bag – Jamila had switched everything from her old, patched bag to a new one – and secured the heavier bag on her back. Jamila had added a few more supplies, including more food, a tarp and a set of harvest clothes that Hadley could change into later.

Before she followed Jamila and the others out of the door, she turned back to the vampire.

"Thank you," Hadley breathless as she said the words.

"After you," Ruqwik replied, motioning to the outside. Her crimson eyes pierced Hadley's own and suddenly the breeze creating lazy eddies around them wasn't nearly enough to cool Hadley down.

Behind the door was a gravel roadway that led from the Harvest Room to a different section of the Barn. This closed off section was overgrown with weeds, shrubs, and small trees. It would take some time for all the girls to make it around the outgrowths to the section of the Compound wall on this side. Hadley hoped they would make it there before the dogs found them.

Ruqwik was sure footed as she led them through that abandoned area. Hadley didn't know how, but she could tell that the vampire was worried. At first, she thought that she was imagining this knowledge, but this wasn't the first time she'd felt like she could read the vampire. There was something happening between them. Something that Hadley wasn't sure about but couldn't ignore. The same thing that told her she was safe in the vampire's company and that Jamila and the others would be too. Told her, if it was needed, Hadley would defend the vampire with her life.

That last thing worried Hadley.

There was a large sliding door at the end of the abandoned section attached to a part of the Compound wall. It was similar to the gate that Ruqwik had led Hadley into just a few hours ago after they'd left the cabin in the woods. However, this back door gate was as equally unused and rusted over as the hidden door behind the harvest room. Ruqwik didn't attempt to force the gate open. Instead, the vampire broke into the empty, unused security booth connected to the gate. She helped Hadley and the others through the booth to the other side.

Despite everything she'd been through in the last few hours, Hadley couldn't help the thrill that ran through her at the realisation that she was once again beyond the Compound wall, though guilt did follow close to the heels of that feeling.

Guilt and grief.

"The mansion isn't far from here," Ruqwik said. Hadley had explained to the others that the vampire was leading them to a place where they could stay until the dogs were killed. "But it's close to the centre of the Enclave, so stay together. You're only safe if they see me with you."

"Mansion? What's that?" Jamila questioned.

"If who sees us?" Crystal asked.

"Don't worry Jay. Ruqwik says it's a safe space," Hadley replied. Then she turned to Crystal, who hitched the bag on her shoulders higher before slipping her hand into Billy's. "It's okay Crystal. We might see some other vampires. But as long as we stay close to Ruqwik..."

"Ruq," the vampire said, cutting her off.

"What?" Hadley asked, a little flustered as she turned to the vampire.

"Please, call me Ruq."

Hadley nodded. She turned back to Crystal, who smirked.

"As long as we stay close to Ruq, we'll be fine." Hadley finished, ignoring the smirk from Crystal.

"Here's what I'm wondering," Billy said. "What kind of steak would you like to be cooked as? If they do me anything more than medium rare, I will be pissed!"

"Vampires don't eat people," Hadley rolled her eyes. "They drink blood. That's it."

"Besides, if we're talking about eating people," Crystal drawled. "I mean... come on Billy."

Billy laughed. "Touché! By that logic, I'm a vampire by proxy."

"Queen of them all, if they have that position." Jael replied in her quiet voice.

Even Hadley couldn't stop herself from smiling at that.

As they walked to the "mansion", whatever that meant, Hadley wondered why Ruqwik had been frazzled by the prospect of walking them through the vampire settlement. It was empty and boring for the most part. If anything, the settlement looked uninhabited. Most of the buildings had broken windows, there was trash tumbling all over and not a single vampire in sight.

Did anyone even live here?

Hadley felt the sudden crackle of Ruqwik's power in the air. Just like at the Compound.

"We need to run!" Ruqwik ordered.

A trill of fear ran through the group. The mothers grabbed the young children and a panicked run ensued. Ruqwik was already way ahead. Hadley wanted to catch up, but she stayed back, keeping at pace with the slowest in the group to make sure everyone was okay. She was the only one who had carried a machete from the Harvest Room. The others refused to arm themselves when they heard Ruqwik's offer to get them to a safe space. If they had accepted to carry weapons, it would have meant accepting the chance that they would have to use them.

"Go!" Jamila suddenly said, running beside Hadley.

"What?" Hadley asked.

"You keep looking at her and tripping! Catch up to Ruq. Find out what's going on," Jamila replied. "I'll stay back, keep them safe. We're right behind you."

Hadley nodded and raced forward past the group. Crystal was leading them, her tall and athletic frame easily outpacing them all. She wasn't running at full speed though, always looking back to make sure Billy was right behind her. Hadley raced past her too.

"Ruq, what's wrong?" Hadley called out between breathes as she ran after the vampire.

"We need to get to the mansion right now!" Ruqwik replied. Hadley almost took a tumble when she sensed panic in the vampire's voice, only just catching her balance. Her stomach dropped. So far, there was only one thing she knew was able to spook the Ageless Venom hybrid this much.

Vampire dogs.

Were they running straight to their deaths after Hadley had just promised to deliver the others from bloodshed and tragedy?

Hadley's legs were pumping hard to keep Ruq's pace and slowly failing to. Until she wasn't. Ruqwik had slowed down and was looking behind her often.

"Keep up," Ruqwik instructed Hadley. "We need to get to Lujeo now!"

But the vampire didn't increase her pace. She slowed down even more, keeping abreast with Hadley until they finally reached their destination. Hadley froze when they reached the end of a long stone pathway. It wasn't the massive, opulent building before them that caught her attention. It was the grassy area in front of the building. Lights spilling from the mansion as well as white, fluorescent bulbs on gazebos in the grass lit up areas of shimmering red grass, coloured by swathes of blood oozing from a gory collection of body parts scattered across the grass.

Crystal's scream added a new layer of horror to the nightmarish scene.

"Stay here!" Ruqwik instructed Hadley, who nodded curtly, her eyes still glued to the carnage. Hadley didn't know what to feel anymore. The tightening grip on her machete hurt her knuckles. She didn't even remember unsheathing it.

"We shouldn't be here, Hadley," Billy said. She was holding Crystal, comforting her.

Crystal was muttering under her breath. "Life beyond the wall holds nothing but heartbreak and pain."

Crystal kept repeating the phrase, her voice cracking every time she did, unnerving Hadley even more.

"Billy's right." Jamila said. "Why are we here, Hadley?"

Hadley didn't know what to say.

"And the vampire..." Billy asked, becoming agitated. Hadley had never seen Billy agitated. "It's like she knows you. How? What is this? What did you get us involved in?"

Jamila didn't wait for Hadley to answer. Instead, she pulled Hadley to the side, away from the main group.

"You weren't at the Clinic, like you said you would be. I checked. And you didn't join us at Physical Arts." Jamila whispered. "You left the Compound, didn't you? You got caught."

Hadley stayed silent.

"You left..." Jamila's voice broke. "You didn't even say... I don't... why? And what is this?"

Where was Hadley to start? She didn't know how to explain what was happening to her mind. How she was disconnecting. Not to Jamila who felt everything so strongly and whose passion, empathy and love pressed solidly against you when she was around. Even now, eddies of her deep disappointment and sadness swirled around Hadley, swallowing her whole. It wasn't exactly a physical feeling, like with Ruq's crackling power, but it affected Hadley just the same.

"You left me," Jamila continued. "And you didn't even say goodbye. And now this, which you won't even give me the courtesy to explain."

Jamila walked away and joined the others. After a few minutes consoling and assuring everyone, she picked up a few rocks and blew out all the bulbs of the gazebos that lit up the gore to plunge them further into darkness, hiding the blood. She left only one unbroken bulb, which is where she led the others. She checked on the mothers again to make sure the children's faces stayed hidden from the carnage and then went to stand with Jael, Billy and Crystal, talking and comforting each other. Crystal looked a lot less distressed, and Billy even got her to smile.

Hadley tried to ignore the feeling of being left out, but it stung.

She sighed.

She deserved worse.

A sound caught Hadley's attention. She watched as several people slowly walked out of the mansion, from the door Ruqwik had disappeared into. She immediately knew they were human – vampires had a distinct feel to them – but there was something off about these humans. The one leading them was tall, flat chested, too square around the face and shoulders, and too straight down the hips. It was a man. Exactly as Aunt Zee had described them. There were others following behind. Other men. And there were younger ones too. Aunt Zee had called them boys.

"What's wrong with their bodies?" Crystal whispered as the men walked closer.

The leader had fair skin and sleeked back dark hair. It wasn't black, but it was hard to distinguish its colour in the synthetic light pouring out of the mansion. He was a head taller than Hadley, about the same height as Crystal, and built almost as wide as Aunt Zee. But where Crystal and Aunt Zee were blessed with ample bosoms, his chest was unfinished, and his overly broad shoulders tapered down in a triangle to his narrow hips and straight down. He was dressed in a black button shirt, red blazer jacket and pants that matched the jacket. His black shoes glistened where the light hit them, and they seemed disproportionately large.

He walked up to Hadley, who readied her machete.

The subject of 'men' had broken up Hadley's family. Aunt Zee was fine with discussing them, but Hadley's mother was vehemently against it. Despite how much she hated to admit it, Hadley was exposed to so little of her mother's attention that she revered every second her mother took to personally take her aside and express a thought or share a lesson with her. For that reason, the first thing that came to Hadley's mind this very first time she saw a man was the last thing her mother had told her about men the only time they ever discussed the topic, right before the sisters stopped speaking to each other.

'You were never meant to suffer men, Hadley. Not here. Not ever. And that's a good thing. That was my gift to you. You're a woman. You're talented, powerful, smart, and beautiful. Men will only punish you for all that. They'll try to control you and keep you under their thumb because you present too powerful a threat. And they will always betray you to satisfy their primal urges. Be grateful that you will never have to deal with that.'

"Are you Hadley?" the man leading the others asked.

This close, Hadley noticed a pronounced, disconcerting protrusion on his throat that moved up and down as he spoke, and it was difficult not to stare. His voice was deep. Rich. It filled the space between them. Like she could reach out and touch it. Hadley hadn't heard a human voice sound like that before.

It tugged at something primal inside her.

"What's wrong with your throat?" That was Billy.

Hadley tried not to roll her eyes and sigh.

"How do you know my name?" she asked instead.

"Ruqwik told me your name," he replied, his voice low and his smile genuine and slightly awkward. "What she didn't tell me was to be careful when I came out here because your beautiful eyes just stole everything inside me worth a damn."

This time, Hadley did roll her eyes. She knew a flirt when she met one.

"You have never said anything like that to me," Crystal whispered behind Hadley, loud enough for everyone to hear, presumably towards Billy.

"If I had a voice like that, I'd be saying it to every girl I met too," Billy replied, in a whisper that was just as loud.

Hadley hung her head, rubbed the bridge of her nose, then turned to the girls.

"Are you done?" Hadley asked the girls.

The girls gave Hadley naughty grins then shrugged.

Hadley may have been acting exasperated, but she was happy to see Crystal trying to be a little funny again. They were still in sight of the mansion's door, but Jamila had made them all move away from where most of the gore was. The only bulb Jamila hadn't broken threw a small circle of light directly over them and kept everything outside the circle in deep shadow. Everyone seemed better, but Hadley knew this place would be a source of nightmares for years to come.

"Is Ruqwik coming?" Hadley asked the man, sidestepping his flirting. She had more than enough on her mind.

"I'm right here," the vampire said, walking into their little circle of light like a silent ghoul.

The vampire could move without making a sound when she wanted to, something Hadley had figured out from their meeting in the forest. A few of the boys who'd accompanied the man jumped at the vampire's sudden presence. That's when Hadley noticed their faces. The little boys weren't just skittish. They were terrified. Something had happened to them in that house. What Hadley and the girls had seen out here was the aftermath. Those boys must have watched it happen. Been a part of it.

Talk about a lifetime of nightmares.

"What happens now, Ruq?" the man asked. The question irked Hadley. Or rather, it was how he said it. Like he was asking for all of them. Speaking for her.

"Have you even introduced yourself?" Ruqwik asked him. She was ruffling the hair of one of the little boys. He seemed a little less frightened than he had a moment before, the ghost of a smile on his lips.

The man deflated a little, which Hadley didn't mind. In the span of mere minutes, Hadley had noticed an air of brash confidence around him that rubbed her the wrong way. Like he thought he was better than them somehow. He turned back to Hadley, with that sheepish grin from before.

"I'm Teroi," he said to her, then he turned to the other women. "It's good to meet you all."

The other men and boys followed suit. One of the younger ones, Drew, was the last to say hello. He was the one whose hair Ruq had been ruffling. The seven-year-old was a sweetheart, and the younger girls from the Compound immediately took a liking to him and his three, equally adorable, young friends. After the men and boys had introduced themselves, the women and girls from the Compound did the same.

"Okay, we all know each other," said Hadley to Ruqwik. "But like Teroi asked, what happens now?"

"We can't stay here." Ruqwik explained.

"What?" Billy spat. "You said we would be safe here! If we can't stay here, what are we supposed to do now?"

Ruqwik turned to Hadley. "You said you had a map?"

Hadley raised a brow and cocked her head. "The Wildlings?"

Ruqwik nodded.

"All of us?" was Hadley's incredulous response. "That wasn't the deal."

"We can't stay here." the vampire insisted.

"Because of the vampire dogs?" Hadley asked.

"Much worse." Ruqwik replied, gravely.

Ruqwik was being too cautious, and that freaked the hell out of Hadley. What had happened inside that mansion? What could be worse than an imminent attack by a pack of vampire dogs?

"Our Master, Lujeo, is dead," said Teroi, his voice still utterly distracting, but now tinged with more than a little condescension. "Other Masters will come to stake a claim for this Enclave. Only Masters can survive that. Not New Agers or Progenies. And definitely not Barn humans."

He said 'humans' like he wasn't one, even though he clearly was.

"The Wildlings are your only option," Ruqwik said, mostly to Hadley. "I'll guide you back to the forest. You can get your bearings and lead us to them. Is that okay with you? I'll stay with you until we get there. Make sure you're all safe, like I promised."

Hadley nodded, taking note of the surprise on Teroi's face at how Ruqwik spoke to her.

"I can find them." Hadley said, hoping her voice was steady.

She wasn't being completely truthful. Aunt Zee's diary was tucked in her fresh new harvest bag and Hadley had studied every square inch of the journal for years, memorizing every line and curve, but she had already been struggling to find her bearings when Ruqwik had found her earlier that morning. Had it only been that morning? Anyway, she wasn't going to show her uncertainty. Not when so much now hang on this.

"We move in a tight group and stay close," Ruqwik said, looking at everyone in turn.

As they walked, the vampire barely looked at them, gave one-word answers and had her head on a swivel. Something took away her attention from them every so often. She'd been trying to be discreet about searching the shadows beyond their little group, but Hadley had noticed it. She noticed everything about the vampire. Noticed her presence and how it pulled people in and convinced them to stay even though it was much too intense, like bath water that was just a little too hot. Noticed her power and how she wore it like a tailored, well-worn pair of jeans stretched to perfectly fit every curve and bent knee so that it would look odd on anyone else. Noticed her unapologetic confidence in every movement, without it coming off as brash or ironically insecure as it was wont to in others.

The vampire fascinated Hadley as no one else had before. Almost obsessively so. Having only known her for less than a day, this unnerved Hadley. She tried her best to keep the feeling from consuming her, chalking it up to curiosity and nothing more. The others probably felt the same. Vampires didn't associate much with humans at the Compound. This was nothing but the innocent effect of a novel experience.

Hadley pulled her focus back to the present. They were walking through streets of what Ruqwik referred to as an Enclave. After the gruesome sight that had met them at Lujeo's mansion, the atmosphere was a lot more menacing than it had been when they were walking from the Compound. They walked in silence. There were no walls hemming them in, but the Enclave still felt like the Compound – contained. Hadley could infer boundaries beyond which something else began. Maybe another Enclave? Maybe the jungle, where the Wildlings lived? Hadley was lost in these thoughts when she felt it once again.

A crackling of power in the air around them.

Ruqwik.

Hadley walked up from the back of the group to the vampire who was leading them. "What's wrong?"

Ruqwik turned to look at her curiously. "You can really feel it when that happens, can't you?"

"It's like the feeling of chewing a woollen sweater between your teeth. Or a metal spoon scraping deeply against a metal pan. Who wouldn't feel that?" Hadley replied.

"Look around you," Ruqwik said.

Hadley did and saw what the vampire meant. The others walked and conversed unfazed.

"No one else is as concerned as you are."

"Okay. That may be so. But I'm more worried about why it's happening," Hadley said, keeping her voice low so the others would stay oblivious to whatever this was. "Every time I've felt it coming off you, something happens. And it's never good. The last few times, I'm pretty sure you almost flayed my girlfriend."

The word had rolled off Hadley's tongue subconsciously, but now it was bouncing through her mind.

Girlfriend.

She'd never thought to use the word before, but it sounded right.

Ruqwik shrugged.

"When it comes to her, I can't help it." the vampire said, nonchalantly.

Hadley wasn't sure if that was flattery or a threat.

"But it feels different this time," Hadley said, trying to kill the chaotic butterfly swarm having a ball in her stomach. This vampire was doing things to her that she wished she couldn't feel, which was the first time she'd ever really made that wish. With her mind slowly disconnecting, she was usually trying to feel everything. "This time it's not about Jamila, is it?"

Ruqwik went silent for a moment.

"We're being watched. I can't tell how many, but they're out there, using the shadows to hide," Ruqwik said, whispering back so low that Hadley almost missed it. "Get back to the children. Make sure they're..."

There was a scream from the back of the group, where Hadley had left the children walking together under the watchful eye of one of the mothers. Hadley and Ruqwik stopped and turned. The group at the back was in a scuffle. It was one vampire, a crazed look in its bright red eyes. The man had shoved the adults out of the way and grabbed Drew, pulling him out of the pack. It happened in a blur. Hadley remembered Ruqwik mentioning "hyperspeed" and how it worked best after a deep feeding.

As if to prove the point, Ruqwik was at the back of the group before Hadley could blink.

"Don't." Ruqwik said.

She was no more than two meters away from the vampire who held the squirming boy in his tight grasp. Her voice raised the hairs on the back of Hadley's neck.

"Lujeo is dead! This Enclave belongs to no one! Certainly not you!" the vampire shrieked as he cradled a sobbing and struggling Drew on his bended knee. His fangs were out. He lowered his head to the child. Before he sank the fangs into Drew's neck, he shouted, "No Baron, no rules!"

Hadley, who had finally made it to Ruqwik's side, was suffocating on the power radiating from the vampire. Buckling under the weight of it, weaving on unsteady legs.

Ruqwik turned to face her.

"Get them out of here!" the vampire ordered.

Hadley didn't need to be told twice.

"Run!" She yelled at the others. They did, leaving Ruqwik behind with the vampire that was feeding on Drew.

Hadley kept turning to look behind her. Ruqwik's gaze was pinned on the other vampire, who suddenly shuddered. He ripped his fangs off Drew's neck and let go of the boy. The vampire's head then snapped backwards forced to face the heavens. Hadley slowed down, almost to a stop, and watched as the man's mouth fell open in a voiceless scream. In the light of a streetlamp, Hadley watched blood pour in thick rivulets from the man's ears, eyes, nose and mouth.

Ruqjust stood there, her unwavering gaze stuck on the man.