Naomi took Arran's outstretched hand and let herself be pulled forward. She still couldn't move properly but could just about keep her legs underneath her while Arran provided the momentum. She could hear shouting from the storage facility behind her but didn't dare look over her shoulder.

Whatever was going on she had to trust Arran to know what to do. For now at least.

She could see his car a few meters in front of them. She had never been more relieved in her entire life. It wasn't until she was inside with the door closed that she looked back to see who had been chasing them.

But there was no one there. Regardless, Arran moved like someone was hot on their tail, accelerating at an alarming pace and not bothering to put his seatbelt on, causing the dashboard to beep reproachfully at him until they were back on the main road and he finally seemed to notice.

He looked awful, like he hadn't slept in days. His usually pale skin was so thin looking that she could his veins on his cheeks. The bags under his eyes were so deep that his eyes stood out in contrast, even though they were less white and more yellow.

"Did James tell you where I was going?" she asked. How had he found her? Did he know what those vampire had been doing and that they'd be there?

"Eventually. It's hard to explain. I had a vision that you were in danger, James said you'd gone to a hotel but that wasn't where I saw you. I've been driving around trying to match what I saw and to come and save you." With this, his eyes briefly flitted to hers and the smallest of smiles pulled at his lips. "But when I found you, you'd done most of the saving yourself, so I guess I'm just the getaway driver."

She pulled her feet up onto the seat and hugged her knees, the last dregs of the potion still swirling in her head. She absolutely did not believe for a second that Arran could see the future. He must have been connected to the other vampires somehow.

"Pull over," she said.

"We should get back home, talk about-"

"Pull over, Arran. Now."

He nodded without looking at her and pulled into the hard shoulder, pushing the hazard lights on. With every passing vehicle the car shook a little in the slip-stream, sending Naomi's swimming head sloshing a little more.

Arran reached out to touch her shoulder but she slapped his hand away. Part of her wanted nothing more than to reach across and collapse in his arms but she couldn't trust him.

"I tried to tell you..." he began, but he didn't finish his sentence.

"How did you know where I was? Do you know those vampires?"

"Naomi, you have to believe me. I was going to class and I was worried because you weren't there and I could tell James knew why but he wouldn't tell me. Next thing I know it's like I'm in two places at once: the languages corridor and also surrounded by broken parade lights. And I could see you and fucking Gavrail Valentinov and oh my god, are you okay? Just please tell me he didn't hurt you. He's a total psychopath."

"A psychopath that you know."

"There's nothing I can do about it though, we have laws but he doesn't really tend to break them-"

"He kidnapped me and drugged me and..." she trailed off. In all the personal peril she had forgotten about the band of vampire-believers back at the hotel. Surely they were still in danger. If they were still alive.

"Our laws don't cover that. That's not something that I agree with, obviously, but that's just how my world works."

"Well then I'm calling the police."

"You can't."

"There were other people. He put something in their drink and I made it out but I could hear screaming, Arran. We need to get help. I'm going to call the police, give me your phone."

"You can't. All the law enforcement in my world care about is exposure, if you go to the police my lot will come to shut you up before the cops can take a statement. And they won't try to reason with you, they'll just kill you and cover it up. A noisy human is a dead human."

Naomi hugged her knees even tighter. She had no doubt that Arran was telling the truth. From what she'd seen of the supernatural world today, it wasn't pretty. But there were people in danger and she knew she couldn't leave them.

Arran groaned and shook his head.

"You cannot go back there, what are you going to do? Reason with a band of psychopathic vampires?" he asked.

"Are you...are you in my head?"

"Yes. I try not to but it's the whole future-seeing bullshit. It broadens my psyche and I can't reign it in properly, it's fucking horrible. I feel all..." he waved his hands around his head, unable to articulate what he was feeling.

Going on what she now knew about vampires, if Arran wanted to take her home then there would be no way she could fight back. But if he was really willing to abandon innocent people then he was just as bad as he feared.

"Yeah," he said, responding to her unspoken thoughts. "As if I could live with my damn self either. Tell me you at least have some sort of plan?"

She shook her head. She just knew that they had to go back.

"Right, we go back and see what's happening. My mother's on a flight right now back into the country, so we take a look around, see if there is any way we can help and the moment she touches down and turns her phone back on we put this in the hands of someone older and more capable. Okay?"

"Okay."

Arran put the car in gear and they drove off toward the hotel.

---

They drove up to the hotel only to be greeted by a police blockade. Arran continued driving past as if they hadn't been planning on going in and pulled in around behind the attached, empty petrol station.

"This isn't good," Arran said as he killed the engine. "If the police are here then the witch council won't be far behind."

"I still want to know what's going on."

Given that he had parked up and turned off the car, it seemed like Arran did too.

"I don't suppose that I can convince you to wait here while I scope things out?"

"No way," she said.

"Right, we go in and see what's going on and if I think you're in danger I'm grabbing you and we're leaving, okay?"

She nodded and they got out of the car together. She stayed close to his side. She wanted to take his hand but she still didn't know how she felt about him.

At the back entrance Arran paused and closed his eyes. Naomi wondered if that helped him concentrate on reading minds and then nearly laughed because that was such a ridiculous thought.

Eventually, he opened the door, pushing through the lock with some difficulty. He didn't seem as strong as Gavrail had been, but he definitely wasn't human.

Inside this end of the hotel smelled fusty and old, like it hadn't been cleaned properly in a long time. The two of the crept along the worn down carpet toward the front of the building. Arran did take Naomi's hand, but only to pull her into an alcove without talking. From there she could just about see the edge of the foyer.

A few police men were standing around talking and there were rows of the chairs from the function room pulled out, each seating one of the meeting attendees. They pretty much all were wounded and either bandaged or receiving attention from paramedics.

"Does that look like everyone?" Arran whispered.

Naomi nodded, not entirely sure, but it looked like the right amount.

"Someone must have called the cops and interrupted them before they could finish whatever they were planning. This is really fucking bad, there's like thirty witnesses."

Naomi stiffened. All these people had been hurt, but Arran was worried about exposure. Granted, no one seemed to be really injured but it still seemed insensitive. There was no point in hanging around and making suspects of themselves so she tugged on his hand to turn back and leave.

They made it out undetected but as they walked through the exit Arran stopped still and held his arm out to keep her behind him. She craned her neck around his body to see what was going on.

Gavrail was leaning against Arran's car, looking for all the world like he belonged there.

"Hey man, this car is sweet," he called to Arran. "You really do have the nicest things. Speaking of, hello again, Naomi."

"Go away, Gavrail," said Arran. His voice was low, as if he were talking to Gavrail across a distance of a few feet and not twenty.

"Come on Arran," Gavrail replied, loudly, "it's been months since we had a chance to catch up. You didn't let me talk to anyone at your party, your mum straight up killed a friend of mine and now you won't share your toys! Is that any way to treat an old friend?"

"The police are here, Gav, the human police. You and all your friends are going to get in a lot of trouble so you should probably be running."

"Nah, I'm fairly confident that I'm good."

Gavrail stepped away from the car and made a show of taking large steps further to the side. It felt like a trap, but Arran started to advance slowly, pulling Naomi behind him. It occurred to her that he might not know how fas Gavrail really was. If they had differing strengths they might have differing speeds also. She tried to get his attention by squeezing his hand, but he must have thought that she was just scared because he returned the pressure reassuringly.

She tried to think loudly, but wasn't sure how.

As they passed under the canopy of the petrol station Gavrail disappeared. Arran reacted faster than she could, following the movement that Naomi couldn't see. She followed his eyes and just saw Gavrail stop behind one of the support columns and push it right in the direction of Naomi.

Arran had time to push her clear with a firm shove to the chest but that took up all the time that he had to get clear himself.

Naomi screamed as Arran was hit. She was dimly aware of Gavrail laughing and disappearing again but her eyes were glued to Arran.

She tried to push it away from him but couldn't shift it at all. He managed to push it clear of himself but she could see that his arm and leg were broken and blood was starting to appear from numerous cuts.

"Oh my god, Arran. You can heal yourself right? You'll be okay?" she asked desperately as she helped him to his feet.

"You need to get me home, right now."