I smelt the blood immediately. Vampire blood and a lot of it too.

It floated through the corridors of the asylum, carried on the cold night air as it flowed through the open door and was accompanied by the sound of pained cries and loud voices.

I jumped up from the corner of the study, where I had sat with my knees pulled in tight to my chest, watching Lucius with wild-eyes and a terror that draped itself around my shoulders and back like the coldest of angel wings. I’d felt almost in stasis since I had thrown myself away from the little boy and crushed my body against the bookcase. As seemed to be Lucius’ way, he had simply shrugged as if my reaction were completely normal and gone back to reading the next book in the pile. Only this time, he hummed a tune, almost under his breath, his voice soft and sweet breaking through despite the furious crackle of the fire that roared in the hearth behind him.

Running from the room, I followed the scent and noise to find Harper rushing down the passageway carrying a female vampire in his arms and she was screaming, clawing at his shirt in clear agony as blood drenched her stomach and saturated the fabric of her jeans at the thighs. Garrick and the others, including Edward, Benjamin’s old friend, trailed after Harper and quickly I caught the putrid stench of Varúlfur blood marking their clothes and skin.

Entering a side room, Harper put the woman down on the floor and quickly ripped open her shirt, revealing an expanse of what was no doubt once smooth black skin, now ravaged by the claws of some beast, the skin all raw and puckered with deep open welts. She instinctively pulled her legs up, trying to deal with the pain that must have raged throughout her body and her hands knotted into claws of their own and hovered above the wound as if she wanted to clutch at it to soothe the pain, but knowing that she would only find ripped flesh and gaping bloodied holes. Garrick, his face pale and mouth set in a grim line, wrenched open a cupboard and pulled out an old greying towel. Kneeling by the woman’s side, he pressed it against her stomach, trying to stem the blood flow but soon that dry grey fabric was soaked red.

“Another,” he groaned through gritted teeth, small beads of sweat scarring his forehead. Paige threw him another and he did the same again, cursing as the blood continued to seep through and even forming small pools on the floor beside her as it trickled down her waist. She was sobbing now, tears staining her cheeks as she writhed on the cold floor, smearing blood into the stone beneath her.

After a while, Harper stood up, his face stricken as he backed away from the injured woman, his fists clenching and unclenching by his side. Eventually he reached the doorway and his back hit the frame hard, before he disappeared out into the darkened corridor.

“Harper?” I cried and Edward quickly caught hold of my wrist as I tried to follow him.

“Let him be, girl,” said the old bearded vampire gruffly, his dark brown eyes framed by the wrinkles around the edges that he had clearly worn back in his human life. “There is no entertainment in watching Death stalk these rooms and we have seen plenty in our time to know it always plays out the same.”

I stared wildly at the woman. “There has to be something we can do?” I gasped.

“What can we do against such foul afflictions? The hand of the Varúlfur strikes hard and deep in the gut," he shook his head solemnly. "Nay, there is no hope for this one."

I uttered a strangled cry and rushed to Garrick's side, clutching hold of his arm. "There is always hope. Isn't that what you said?"

Garrick turned his dark eyes upon me and I saw the sorrow and pain etched deeply on his face. I dug my fingers into his flesh and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling my face close to his.

"God damn it, Garrick. This place was a hospital! You saved our kind here, so save her!"

He sat back on his heels, releasing the pressure and raising a blood-stained hand to my face to wipe away the tears that fell freely and angrily. "Oh Megan, don't you see? We lost more than we ever saved. Edward is right. There is nothing we can do now for her, it is too late."

"No," I croaked in despair. "We have to. We have to."

I crawled to her other side and took one of her hands, feeling it squeeze mine tightly in return. She stared up at me, with eyes red-rimmed with abject fear.

Her dyed-red hair was cropped short at the back, with a long straightened fringe that was now caked in mud and blood. With full lips, long black lashes and a diamanté stud nose-piercing, I knew that in human years, we would have been a similar age. I wondered whether she had a past life similar to mine, one that was like a duller shade of grey compared to the one she had now. I wondered whether she had been as blind as I had, stumbling through the day as if her eyes were constantly shrouded by shadow, betrayed by all those around her. I wondered if, when she was changed, had she howled in triumph as her eyes were opened, bringing life to what was once dead.

"What's your name?" I whispered, touching a hand to her head and stroking her hair.

"Gina," she replied, her lips trembling. "I'm scared."

I felt the pain rip across my chest as I desperately tried not to let the sob bubble up to the surface. "I know." My voice cracked. "We're here. We won't leave you."

"Lucius!" I heard Garrick cry suddenly and I looked up to see the small blonde boy, his head peeking around the frame where Harper had stood. He blinked as if digesting the scene in front of him, drinking it up in small snapshots.

"Get him out of here, Garrick," I hissed, glaring at Lucius who seemed unfazed by the broken and bloody girl dying on the floor.

"I'm quite sure he has seen far worse horrors than this, Megan," Garrick replied.

But it wasn't what he was seeing now that worried me. I knew exactly what Lucius had seen and could see and the fact that it didn't faze him, made me fear his presence here even more.

"He needs to leave now," I growled.

Instead of turning on his heels, upset at my insistence that he leave, Lucius approached and when his little Buzz Lightyear socks reached the pool of Gina's blood, soaking his toes, he did not flinch or shriek. He looked down at me and I glared right back at him.

"Don't you dare," I warned with a snarl. "She doesn't need to see what awaits her."

Lucius turned his attention to Gina, whose chest was heaving in and out now in frightened gasps. She stared up at him in wonder, confused as to why this small human-like boy was here amongst the vampires and the stench of death.

"Take my hand, Megan," he said simply and reached out his tiny hand.

I stared at it as if it was a cobra about to strike. "No," I pleaded. "She deserves some peace, Lucius. Let her have that before she leaves us."

"Then give her some. Take my hand."

He locked eyes with me and I felt myself drowning in the blue, drowning like I had in my dream and unable to stop my hand from reaching out and grasping his. With his other hand he took Gina's in his and as soon as he did, her eyes widened, her lips peeling back off her teeth in a frightened grimace.

"Stop it," I moaned. "Please Lucius, please."

Suddenly her blood-shot eyes fixed upon my face, only I knew she couldn't actually be seeing me, but something terrible that he was forcing her to see. My brow wrinkled in alarm as she continued to look at me although what she saw, I had no idea.

"Look Gina, I don't know what you see, but it's not real, okay? Don't be scared."

My confusion deepened even further when I realised that she was no longer grimacing, she was smiling, revealing beautifully straight white teeth stained slightly with her own blood.

"I will look for you," she whispered, squeezing my hand and staring at me with an expression close to stunned awe. "I will find you."

I shook my head, not understanding what vision clung to her in her last moments.

"Oh," she gasped, reaching out with one hand, her fingertips twitching as if drawing pictures in the air. "Oh, I see them. They're....they're just beautiful."

As she said that last word, she coughed and the blood bubbled into her mouth as she choked on the tide that had swelled into her throat, finding its way out anyway it could. Her hand dropped to her side and her eyes froze, glazing over as Death took her, her mouth fixed in a small, peaceful smile despite the blood that dripped over her lips and down the side of her face.

In that moment, it seemed as if everyone in the room had been frozen by Death too, as they stood perfectly still, staring at the dead vampire. Only Garrick was staring at me, his dark eyes wide as if he too was seeing whatever Gina had.

"What the hell was that?" he gasped. "What did she see?"

"I don't know. I didn't see anything." I turned back to Lucius, who was surveying me warily, as if waiting for me to strike. "What did you show her?"

"I showed her the way out," he said in a small voice.

"The way out of where?" Garrick urged.

"Out of the dark of course," the little boy replied, smiling now.

"The path out of the Underworld?"

"Not the path. The way."

Garrick turned his gaze back to me and I flinched under the intensity of his stare.

"What?" I frowned. "What is it?"

He swallowed hard and when he spoke his voice was dry and hoarse. "At the end....what she saw....." He trailed off as if unable to find the words.

"Oh for fucks sake, Garrick, what?" I snapped, irritated now, but I felt the small seeds of panic flickering in the base of my stomach, making my muscles tense painfully.

"She wasn't touching Lucius," he whispered, his eyes searching all around me as if he were looking for something in the air. "Whatever she saw didn't come from Lucius. It came from you, Megan. It came from you."