“What?!” we all said together – Zac, Alex, myself, even Anna.

William spun round, smirking at us all, proud of his big ridiculous lie. “You haven’t even heard the best bit, yet,” he grinned, his fingers toying with that bushy, black beard. “I did some digging on you, Jess. You have quite the potent family tree if you go back far enough. Your ancestors were of the Morena coven.”

Zac and Alex both snapped their heads round to me. I gave them a wide-eyed questioning look. I’d have shrugged if I wasn’t chained up.

Then everything fell into place in that foggy bit at the back of my brain.

Witch.

I was a witch.

“That’s not possible. That whole bloodline was wiped out,” Zac said in a voice so quiet that I started worrying about the amount of blood pooled at his feet. Surely he could get free if he fought harder?

“A delicious twist of fate, isn’t it? And all true, I assure you. I’ve checked and triple checked. Seems some witches sneaked through the net and stopped practicing, but continued to breed. Until, here stands Jess. Descended from the very witch who created your Elwood Legacy bond.”

This time it was my head that whipped round, so hard it made my eyes throb.

“I checked her history,” Alex said. “I never found anything pointing in that direction.”

“You didn’t look in the right places. The covens are exceptionally adept at keeping our particulars hidden from those who have no business with them.”

Zac let out a snarl and pulled so hard on his chains that one of them snapped. My heart leaped with excitement. Though he was still stuck, it looked like two sets of chains had been used. He yanked again, and Alex followed suit. Anna shrieked and jumped back into a corner.

“Whoops, power’s running down,” William said, calmly drawing a blade across his palm. He clenched and released his fist, squeezing out further blood until it was dripping down his arm. Then he pressed his hand to the centre of the pentagram on the wall. As the blood smeared into the rough brick, he bellowed magical words.

And then they were gone again. The vampires were subdued, heads slumping with a glazed look.

“Enough talking,” William grunted.

Without pause for thought, he grabbed a stake and pressed it over Alex’s heart.

He didn’t flinch. Not even as William stared him in the eyes, pulled his arm back, and drove it straight through him.

“Tough boy, Alex. Who’s going to get the double-staking?” He picked up another pole. Where the fuck did he get so much silver from?

“Jess? I asked a question? Which one?” He pressed his knuckles into Alex’s forehead and the chunky, gothic rings hissed and smoked as the silver skulls burnt his flesh, leaving angry red welts. He held them there, the smell of burning flesh making me gag, and this time Alex flinched. Satisfied, William walked over to Zac and did the same thing.

Anna whimpered from the shadows.

“Come on, Jess. How many times have I got to burn them? I can keep going all day…” He took the stake and pressed the shaft against Zac’s forehead, causing him to shudder – his head forced up by the burning bar, eyes half-closed.

Witch. I was a fucking witch. Do something, Jess.

The buzzing thrummed through my ears. I closed my eyes and focused on it, willing it to take form, for something to happen. I’d conjured fire, sand, I could surely hurt William if I tried.

I opened my eyes and directed all my rage towards him, all the buzzing, and the pain in my head. A flimsy layer of static seemed to ebb over my skin, but… nothing. There was nothing.

William took that stake and forced the tip into Zac’s mouth. He gargled and choked, head thrashing, as threads of smoke traced up his face.

“Alex! I choose Alex!” I cried.

“Of course you do. Poor old Zac isn’t looking too healthy, is he? I guess that slit wrist really did speed it up. Good idea to even things up,” William said, all sing-song and cheery, as he ploughed another stake into Alex’s stomach.

“You can’t take us all on, you’ll never get off this island alive,” Alex coughed.

“I don’t need you all. Your clans are confused and unable to trace us thanks to my spells. I’m satisfied with you two, since you’re the big guns. Your men will disband. You must be stopped before you succumb to the lure of your damned Legacy.”

“Ha!” Alex spat blood straight into William’s face with an amused grin. Did he even care that he was chained up by some psychopath that was going to drain all his blood and kill him? Zac managed to raise his chin an inch to give him an exasperated look. “Trust me, there is no threat there. Trying to break Zachariah on the Legacy is about as effective as trying to mine gold out of your ass. Although… that would be a brutal experiment. One I might just try out later.”

“Sorry, I should have said I’m happy to take out the three of you, not two,” William dismissed Alex and allowed his glare to rake over my body, his face a vision of disgust.

Zac and Alex growled simultaneously.

“She’s not a vampire,” Zac mumbled.

“Yet. But she’s as good as. Vampire whores always end up dead, or turned. I’d rather ensure it’s the former.”

This time the growling from the vampires was drowned up by the yelling of Anna as she marched across the room. “You promised, not Jess… you can’t.”

William produced the bloody knife from his back pocket and ran it across my collar bone, pressing hard enough to make a sharp sting. Zac yanked at his chains, albeit with a lot less gusto than ten minutes ago. He barely had the energy to speak let alone break free.

You’re a witch. Do something.

I felt the power behind my eyelids, sweeping through my core. I focussed everything I had onto the bearded-goth-witch-man in front of me.

“I gave you a chance, Jess,” he said. “I told you to leave.”

“Those useless bits of paper taped to my bike?” I almost laughed. “Why didn’t you just sit me down and talk? How long have you known, Anna?” I turned my glare onto my ashen-faced best friend.

“I… not long… how long did you know?” she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. I should have told her long ago, before this lunatic worked his warped charms on her.

“I couldn’t risk revealing my identity before I was ready.” William dragged the blade over my chest, drawing blood. “The notes served two purposes. One, to distract my boys here, and two, because when I realised you were a witch I owed it to your coven to try and protect you.”

“This is protecting me?” I looked down at the knife that was still trailing lazy paths across my skin. Zac and Alex were too quiet. Their chests didn’t even seem to be moving with breath.

“Well,” he smiled. “Then I dug deeper and found out you were Morena. Now I owe it to my coven to destroy you. You better not have vampire blood in your system… you been doing any kinky bloodletting with your boys? If so, I guess I’ll just have the pleasure of killing you twice.”

William dragged the blade back across my breast and circled it on my stomach. “I think you should join them in the same death. I’m going to watch you bleed out, you filthy fang-loving whore.”

The knife dug deeper, the point almost breaking through. The buzzing built in my head and surged across my skin.

Anna launched herself onto William’s back and he swung around, grabbing her by the throat and throwing her across the room. She skidded on the increasing puddle of blood underneath Zac and crashed into him, landing in a heap next to his dangling body, his blood all over her.

“Don’t disappoint me, Anna-doll. You knew the plan. Get your shit together,” William spat in her direction, crinkling his face as she tried to wipe the blood away, only smearing it further.

“Not this… this isn’t right…” she stumbled over her words, and over the blood, falling back on her ass.

I stared at Zac for help, willing him to look at me and give me a fucking clue. William already had his attention focussed back on me, playing with the knife over my skin. But Zac was staring at Anna, saying something to her. She stood shakily and tried to reach up to his chains.

We’d all been strung from some sort of hooks, hanging down from the ceiling beams. She was on her tiptoes, slipping around in the slick, red gloop; chains clanking.

Seriously, was this how I was going to die? It was hardly surprising, given my penchant for chasing down danger. But it sucked. If anyone in this room was going to have the pleasure of killing me, it should at least be an Elwood. Not this bearded fuckwad.

And yes, I was aware how fucked up that was. But it was the truth.

No one is killing you! Do something!

I had to keep William distracted, which didn’t seem like it was going to be a problem. He was chuntering on about what a whore I was, about what a waste it was to kill a part-witch. The diatribe spewed forth relentlessly. The whole while, the knife nicked and cut across my body, searing and stinging pain accompanying his words.

A tide of rage built inside me. It seemed to blast out into a wall before me, thickening the air, turning it into something more tangible. Growing and consuming.

A flicker of confusion passed over William’s face, but I was too lost in his torrent of abuse to focus on it. However, I was shocked back to the present when sudden pain erupted like fire in my core. I looked down and watched, like I was no longer inside my own body, as he slowly drew the blade back from my abdomen, crimson spilling down my legs.

* * *

Zac let out the loudest roar and the bricks themselves seemed to tremble. The walls groaned and shifted, dust filling the air as cracks split upwards towards the roof. Was that me? Did I shake the very foundations? It felt like an energy from my core had churned the earth, but then it was gone…

William’s eyes grew wider, analysing me, perhaps fearing me…

He turned round, only to find a silver stake swinging through the air, straight into the side of his head. Anna dropped it immediately with a sharp clang on the dirty floor and William slumped to the ground unconscious.

Standing over him, Anna stared at his head.

“Anna!” Alex yelled.

She snapped herself into focus and grabbed a stool from near the wooden altar. With a skittering of nervous mumbles, she climbed onto the stool and began working on my chains.

I looked hard into her eyes, but she refused to look back at me. Instead she continued her twittering, this time clear enough to be understood. “What’s a vampire’s favourite holiday?” she squealed.

Her hands were shaking so hard that she couldn’t get a decent grip on the chains. My weight bore down and prevented her from getting the leverage she needed to free them from the hook. The ends around my wrists were fastened with a padlock.

“You need the key, Anna,” I urged.

She looked down at William and he twitched, a small groan escaping his lips.

“Check his pockets,” Alex called out.

William groaned again and Anna jumped. She shook her head violently from side to side.

“Fangsgiving,” she shrieked.

I swear I heard Zac snort, but when I looked there was no sign of acknowledgement.

“You need the keys, Anna.”

She stepped down from the stool and cautiously moved towards William. He groaned again and kicked out a leg. She yelped in fright and backed away.

“Now, Anna,” Alex ordered.

“Please,” I said. “Hurry, Anna. But release Zac first, before William wakes up.”

She jolted at the sound of William’s name and finally looked into my eyes. Her face crumpled. The normally rosy-red cheeks were deathly white, teeth chattering.

“It’s OK,” I said gently, the pain in my belly begging to differ. It didn’t seem to have gone too deep, and I was pretty sure I’d have bled out already if it had hit anything major. But still, the blood trickled away. “Quickly.”

She took a deep breath and thrust a delicate hand into William’s pocket. He grunted.

Alex watched her like a lion, ready to pounce. Zac was practically unconscious. She should release Alex first, he was more able-bodied, but I couldn’t go along with that notion. I needed Zac free from those hideous chains that were sizzling into his perfect skin.

“Why does Dracula have no friends?” she trilled, her hand fumbling deeper into his pocket. She drew out a set of keys and made back towards me. William mumbled and rolled over.

I shook my head frantically at her and she looked from me, to William, and back again… before grabbing the stool and hurrying over to Zac. He lifted his chin to re-assure her as she climbed up and fumbled with the lock.

Before I could comprehend it, William was back on his feet and lurching towards her. Alex growled and yanked on his restraints.

William grabbed Anna and dragged her down from the stool, pressing the blade against her throat.

“I warned you not to let me down, Anna-doll,” he groaned into her ear.

“Because he’s a pain in the neck,” she screamed as he threw her against the altar.

“Let’s use your blood for this next spell,” William hissed, raising the blade above Anna’s trembling body.

* * *

The static noise inside my head exploded… along with the small window at the back of the room, and the chains around Zac’s wrists. Fragments of the metal flew through the air, some of which embedded into my skin with a brief, searing pain.

“Fucking cunt!” Zac scrambled across the room, the silver stake still protruding from his chest. William slashed out with the knife and shouted random magical words that didn’t make sense to me. They came out in a desperate chant, but they didn’t help him.

Zac got hold of his throat and snapped his neck without a moment’s hesitation. Quick and easy like he was a ragdoll. William lay face down, except his head was twisted the wrong way on his body, staring up at me.

Then Zac fell to the floor at my feet, gasping for air. I yelled at Anna to get me down. My blood dripped onto Zac’s leg.

He was a mess. I was a mess. Fucking hell, everyone was covered in blood.

“Thank fuck he’s dead, that magic was a bitch,” Alex growled, staring at Anna. She took a step towards me, but he called her name and she faltered. Even my own stomach dropped at the low, icy voice he used.

He cocked his head and she hesitantly walked over to him with the stool. She was shaking her head, like she didn’t want to do this, but one foot kept going in front of the other. The zombie-shuffle step continued, her glazed eyes locked onto his, even with me shouting at her to stop and let me free first.

She wobbled around on the stool, trying to release Alex from his shackles, and all the while he stared forward; serene, patient, a lazy smile on his lips. Double-skewered. One stake through his heart, the other through his stomach. He hadn’t lost so much blood, the puddle beneath him was meagre compared to that where Zac had been.

With a final clank, he was free. Anna jumped back and cowered in a corner, sobbing. Deep, red stickiness covered the whole of her right side where she’d landed beneath Zac. She was the only one of us without any major injury, and yet the most covered in blood.

I expected Alex to release me right away, since Zac was still slumped and gasping in shallow half-breaths at my feet.

Instead he stalked silently towards Anna. My blood turned to ice at the predatory way he moved.

“Alex,” I called, but his slow approach in her direction didn’t halt. After the momentary relief from William’s death, fear once again clawed back up my throat.

“Run, Anna!” I screamed, but instead of fleeing she pressed her back to the wall like a mouse trapped by the cat. Nowhere to run or hide.

* * *

“Alex, get me down, I’m bleeding out,” I yelled, my head spinning. The pain and seeping sensation from my stomach was nauseating. At least my arms had gone numb, I couldn’t feel anything other than pins and needles there, which was some consolation.

“Alex!” I screamed again. “Zac!”

Standing right before Anna, Alex slowly and deliberately pulled the stake from his heart, and tossed it aside. As it left his body a powerful red stream spurted out onto Anna’s chest. She finally tried to make a run for it, but it was too late.

He pulled her back into an embrace, and in doing so, the bloodied stake that was sticking out of his stomach went straight through her back and out her front. Her mouth opened in a silent and strangled cry.

“No!” The yell got lost somewhere in my constricted throat, coming out as a gargled whisper.

Alex glanced at me, before his teeth clamped into her neck. She carried on screaming in silence as he drank from her. The sound found its way out this time, my own screams echoing around the damp room and making up for her lack of noise. Her terrified and remorseful eyes locked onto mine, begging me to help her. Yet, I could do nothing other than watch.

I couldn’t even muster any of the buzzing energy in my head. There was just helplessness. Emptiness.

He drank, and drank, and drank some more. It felt like the nightmare would never end. I kicked my feet at Zac, shouting at him to do something, but he didn’t show any sign of life.

When Alex finished, he pushed Anna forward so that she came away from the stake with a disgusting tearing sound. Then he dropped her to the floor like she was trash. Her body hit the ground with a strange thunk. Dead meat on a hard surface.

He drew the remaining stake from his stomach and moved to stand before me, pressing a hand to my own abdomen.

“You’re right, he missed vital organs or you’d be dead already,” he said, removing his blood drenched t-shirt and tearing it into strips. He knotted them together and then around me, stemming the blood flow.

Fucking asshole could have done that after unchaining me. Why was I still tethered up?

He was waiting. He cocked his head and wriggled his fingers in a ‘come on’ gesture.

“She was my best friend,” I sobbed.

“She was a traitorous bitch. She colluded with a hunter to set us up in a trap and have us killed. And nearly got you killed in the process. There’s no version of events where I’d have let her live.” His shining, blue eyes had never looked so dark.

Zac groaned at my feet and tried to move. Thank God, he was alive. But holy shit, he did not look good. Nevermind me, we needed to get him fixed right away.

“He’s dying.” Alex nodded casually at him. He reached up and grabbed my chains, snapping them with his bare hands. Guess mine weren’t silver. The numbness left my arms in a vicious barrage of agony. It raced from my shoulders, down my biceps and erupted out of my hands. Alex took hold of me to steady my feet.

“He’s going to die unless he feeds,” he said.

I stared at him blankly. Anna’s blood was smeared all over his lips.

A devilish grin crept over his face as he took my chin in his fingers and pressed those lips into mine, forcing them apart with his tongue. The metallic taste of blood made my skin crawl. Not because of his lips, or his tongue, but from the taste of her blood.

Then something even more unsettling happened. A surge of excitement swept through my core and settled in between my legs.

He heaved a satisfied sigh and withdrew. “Welcome to the dark side, darlin’.”

The moment his touch left me the world hammered back in to view with force. The bubble popped. The haze cleared. And I wanted to vomit.

Zac groaned and tried to stand. He half charged and half fell into Alex, but ultimately ended up gasping on the floor again.

“Chill out, brother, I won’t run off with your girl yet. I made a promise, I should at least keep it for longer than a few days,” Alex crooned.

I dropped down, the stone floor biting into my knees, and wrapped myself around Zac. Taking hold of the stake, I was about to start pulling it out, but Alex stopped me.

“Not yet,” he said. “He has little more than an ounce of blood left, you pull that out now and he’ll lose it all.”

I felt him hovering over us while I tried to cradle the slippery, bloody mess of Zac’s body, tears blinding me. I let the sobs drown me, choke me. All of our pathetic fights seemed so insignificant in that moment. There was no life without this man.

“Fucking hell, Jess! Do I have to go out there and grab a random girl off the beach to fulfil his need?” Alex stormed.

It finally clicked what he was waiting for. Jesus. How stupid was I?

I moved my wrist in front of Zac’s face. He made a feeble effort at pushing it away, but his head lifted and his eyes changed, darkening with hunger. A low hiss came from somewhere deep inside him and I pressed my wrist to his lips again.

A sharp pang shot through me when his teeth sank into the delicate skin, immediately followed by a pleasing sensation. It ebbed throughout my being, this bewildering mix of sensual pain, as if it were me being healed. His body began to straighten, his muscles tightened. Strength eased its way back into him.

I watched, fascinated by the sight of him drinking from me, but his face became more blurred as humming filled my ears.

“Alright, Zachariah, stop. She’s already lost too much blood herself,” Alex said, placing a hand on Zac’s shoulders.

Zac gave an angry shrug and grabbed hold of my arm tighter. He buried his fangs in deeper and growled like a fucking lion. I pulled my arm back, but his grip was too tight. He yanked me closer. Shit. He wasn’t going to let go. The room spun, the whooshing in my ears intensified.

I kicked and wriggled, bucking my whole body away from him. The pleasure diminished and left a burning ache through my arm as tightness closed in around my chest.

“Enough,” Alex bellowed, this time landing a fist into the back of Zac’s skull and pulling him away. He stood over him, a foot pressed into his ribs, and a hand on the stake. They stayed like that for a while, neither moving, a silent conversation passing between them.

“You got your shit together?” Alex still had a foot pressed firmly over Zac’s chest.

Zac nodded, wiping a hand across his mouth.

“Good, because our men are arriving and they are confused as fuck about what they’re suddenly sensing. William was fucking powerful if his spell only just dropped. I’m out.”

And with that he was gone.

Alex fled from one door, as Eva and Leon burst in through the other.