Despite his words, Bramble didn't drop us off at a police station but left the car in the parking area in front of a huge supermarket at the edge of the town. We left the car as far from any other vehicles as was possible.

Once the engine stopped, I unstrapped myself and got up to fetch Plume from the other door. I was already dragging out his limp form when Nettle rose from the passenger seat and came to watch my efforts.

I was supporting the vampire against the car, going through his pockets one by one. I had already stripped him of the watch, but I wanted to make sure there was nothing else on him he might lose, or something that could be stolen.

"What are you doing?"

I decided to leave the earrings. They didn't seem excessively expensive.

Only once I was absolutely sure there wasn't anything else hidden on his persona, did I raise my eyes to Nettle and Bramble who were both staring at me with arms crossed.

What had she asked?

"I just want to make sure there is nothing in his pockets."

"Like a driver's license that could be used to identify him?" Bramble asked.

I sighed. Then looked around me for a hiding place where I could leave Plume.

I probably couldn't make it to the men's toilet without someone getting curious.

My eyes hit a ditch. It ran along the edge of the parking lot, separating it from the road on the other side. Chances were very low that someone would look into it during the next few hours. Much better than the toilet.

I made to hoist Plume back up to my shoulders.

I had just forgotten that vampires came with a safety mechanism for threatening situations.

Nettle let out a squeal and bramble cursed as Plume's unconscious body suddenly took hold of my arm. I tried to get it back. Very stupidly and in vain, because somehow he got a leg in my way, and before I knew it, we had both stumbled onto the asphalt.

Plume was both a vampire and had thirty years of martial arts experience on me. While I doubted either of us had ever been in a real fight, compared to me he was a seasoned freestyler.

"Plume! Stop! I'm not putting you there! Danger over! Stop!" I screamed when he set his legs so my arm almost snapped in two. My face was against the rough pavement and my arm in the air. I felt his knee between my shoulderblades and an immense pressure on my elbow.

Plume stopped twisting it.

"Timothy!" Bramble said. I heard him and Nettle somewhere close.

"Don't!" I shouted to them. "Get back!"

Everything seemed to stop for a moment. Nettle and Bramble didn't do anything that I could perceive. Plume was clearly, unconsciously, deciding if I was still a threat to his clothes. I only heard the general humm of the traffic.

I let out a breath.

"Get into the car," I told my friends. "And do not come out. No matter what happens. Actually. Preferably. Drive away."

"Ti-Timothy," Nettle breathed.

"Just, please. Whatever you..."

I never got to finish. My words turned to a surprised and muffled argh when Plume suddenly ducked over me again, pressed my head against the hard surface beneath and sank a pair of needle sharp fangs into my neck.

I had forgotten many things. For instance the fact that Plume was a vampire with the venom.

It took me hardly a heartbeat to pass out as the substance from his fangs connected to my circulation and I fell to a deep coma, knowing this trip had gone terribly wrong.