Ellie followed Jack along the narrow stone corridor until it opened into a large ravine that was nestled between two cliff faces. The ravine split into a large round circle, with giant cliff walls towering above on either side. Jack pulled her chain shorter, bringing her close and turned back to whisper to her. The sound of chaos floated from somewhere in front.

“Stay close, this is worse than I thought.”

The short path ended abruptly at a waist-high fence, to their right a set of wooden stairs led down into the main circle of the ravine. They were stood on a platform overlooking the border town. Ellie looked down at the scene below them and gasped.

Heavy rock music floated up from the pit below them, crossed with the sound of brawling, loutish laughter and chaotic fighting. Ellie stopped next to Jack and looked out, her eyes catching sight of insanity everywhere she looked. Men and women fucked out in the open, vampires dragged naked slave girls across dirt covered floors, bent them over bannisters and went to town.

The endless drone of heavy metal shrieked from a platform near the center of the bowl, on which a band stood thrashing the music out to an audience of brawling and blood-covered vampires. Ellie had never seen so many vampires in one place at once, and she had never seen chaos condensed like this. She felt the urge to turn and run, but there was nowhere to run, she was here now. She glanced over at Jack to study his expression, but his face betrayed no hint of emotion. He watched the scene below in perfect passiveness. A voice sounded behind them, catching their attention.

“I have to apologize, things aren’t always this crazy here.”

Jack and Ellie both turned to see a female vampire standing before them. She was tall, slender, and wore a tight leather outfit that was sleek and revealing. Her long hair was pulled back in a shiny black ponytail. She had a strange beauty about her, but there was also a wickedness in those bright red eyes that filled Ellie with a sense of dread.

“Monica Valentine,” the woman said and nodded at Jack. “What is your name?”

The vampire standing beside Ellie looked over at her briefly then addressed their host. “Jack. This is my blood servant, Ellie. We are travelling to the mountains north of the forest.”

A curious expression sprang on Monica’s brow, followed by a cursory smile. “The mountains? What takes you up there? There is nothing but snow this time of year. It is certain death for even a Super such as yourself. Your servant certainly wouldn’t last a day.”

“Our business is our own,” Jack growled in response. “I simply wish to pay the toll and pass through this… madness.”

Monica’s gaze floated past them to look at the chaotic town below. “Yes, as I said, things aren’t always this crazy. We are celebrating. My people have only just moved to this valley, and we are in high spirits. There is much to celebrate. Black Fang has subsided, and we have no fear to drink from humans again. There is also talk of there being many breeders within this part of the world. A lot of the men in my camp hope to find a mate.”

Jack said nothing in response. His eyes simply held the enquiring vampire’s gaze. “I’d just like to fight and move on. I care not for you or your coven.”

A cold smile flickered over Monica’s face. “Suit yourself. Fights are held hourly within the pit at the center of the bowl. I’ll gladly look after your slave while you are preoccupied. I must warn you that our fights are to the death. If you die, then your possessions belong to us. That includes your blood slave here.” The woman glanced over to Ellie, and she felt a pang of revulsion flare inside of her.

“That will not be necessary,” Jack growled in response.

“Confident,” Monica said and smiled. “I like that. Another thing, all servants passing through this gate are required to donate one pint of blood as an additional levy. It is required to pass through. We will do that now.”

Two guarding vampires stepped forward from Monica’s side and approached Ellie. Ellie barely had time to react when Jack did so for her. Her captor slid in front of her in a flash, holding one fist in front of him, ready to fight. The guards stopped in their tracks, looked at each other and glanced back at their master.

“You’ll do no such thing,” Jack growled. “The girl is mine and mine alone. She stays with me. No one touches her. No one drinks from her.”

Monica Valentine’s polite smile faltered from her lips, and her bright red eyes burned with flat intensity. “I’m afraid that’s not an option. If you wish to pass you must—”

Whatever the vampire’s threat was, they had little time to hear it. The guards began their approach again at their master’s insistence, taking two steps closer to Ellie before her captor responded with a flash of violence that took no longer than a second. Ellie wasn’t really sure what happened. One second Jack had been standing there before her. The next, a blur of black streaked across the air in the direction of the approaching guards, and then Jack was back at her front, holding her chain once more.

The two guards writhed on the floor, screaming and twisting in the mud as they held up their mangled looking arms. “My arm!” one of the guards shouted. “That fucker broke my arm!”

Fear flashed through the eyes of the female vampire in front of them as she realized her guest was no ordinary vampire. “Guards!” she shouted, looking around the space surrounding them for more backup. “Guards! Guards!”

This is bad, Ellie thought. This is very bad. They had barely been there ten minutes and things had already taken a turn for the worse. Jack shielded an arm around Ellie and stepped back until they were nestled against the railing behind them. Vampires appeared from all sides, springing to action at the call for assistance. Eyes flicked from the groaning masses of broken bones on the dirt and quickly flicked to Jack and Ellie. Within a few seconds there were fifteen vampires surrounding them at the front, waiting for their next instruction.

Monica Valentine’s ire was replaced with a salty smile now she felt she had the upper hand. She walked forward across the dirt, lifted a foot and twisted her heel into the arm of one of her broken men, causing him to shriek as she did so. She looked up at Jack and Ellie and smiled. “You’ll do well to remember where you are vampire. This gate belongs to the Valentine coven now, and you will follow our rules while you are here. Hand over your servant for letting now, or she will be taken by force.”

Adrenaline flooded through Ellie as she stood shaking behind Jack’s protective silhouette. Everywhere she looked she saw dull red eyes staring back at her, daring Jack to make another mistake, begging him to put another foot wrong. She’d underestimated her captor for sure. Even she hadn’t realized that vampires could move that fast. Jack had somehow surged forward, broken the arms of both men and flashed back to his original position in a fraction of a second. He hadn’t even broken a sweat.

His initial display of speed and strength had been terrifying, but surely even he couldn’t stand against a group as large as this? Ellie scanned her eyes across the faces of the men looking back at her. As far as she could tell Monica was the only super standing among them. The rest were regular vampires, but surely their large number was enough to subdue Jack. What would they do to her once they apprehended him?

Her mind cast back to the pit behind them and replayed the sights of the slave girls being mounted by vampires with fully black eyes. Was she doomed to live her life out here, stripped naked, lead around on a leash and used as some communal fuck toy? She felt herself shiver at the thought, swallowed hard and brought herself back to the current moment.

“She stays with me,” Jack growled. “Unless you want to lose a lot more men, I suggest you back down.”

The steely resolve in their host’s eyes wavered momentarily, but she quickly pulled it back. “Suit yourself,” she said with a carless snickering. “You can die up here. It’s a shame. It would have been good to see you in the pit.” Lifting her arm as if to give signal, the female vampire opened her mouth to bellow out an order of attack. Before she could speak a voice rang out from somewhere to the right.

“That’s enough!”

Ellie and Jack both looked to their right to see a man pushing his way through the crowd of guards. He stopped at the front of the circle, looked at the guards writhing in the dirt, looked to the female vampire standing opposite them, looked to Jack and Ellie and then rolled his eyes. “Christ Monica. What is it this time?”

The vampire strode across the dirt and pulled the two men to their feet, lifting them as if they weighed nothing at all. His eyes fired wordless commands to the men standing around him, who took the broken guards and escorted them away from the fight, presumably to be healed.

Indignation etched across the female vampire’s features. “This insolent swine attacked two of our men!” she shouted, her voice hoarse and desperate sounding. “Now he refuses to give his servant for blood tribute. He insults our family with his—” the female vampire broke off suddenly, her words ending abruptly as choking sounds filled her throat. She clutched at her neck, eyes bulging as her feet kicked at the dirt beneath her heels.

Ellie looked over at the man, seeing his hand held out in the air. He was tall, broad, with blonde hair that was slicked back on his head. He was somehow choking this girl without even touching her. Ellie tried to make herself completely invisible behind Jack, feeling that the situation was only getting worse.

“What have I told you about messing with vampires like us?” the man growled while keeping his choke held tight on her throat. The female vampire’s pale face reddened as she fought for air. “Our family were lucky snatching this gate. If we wish to hold on to it, you have to stop with these stupid little mistakes.”

The vampire held his grasp for a moment longer before releasing it, making the female vampire drop to the floor. He turned his head slowly and looked back in Jack and Ellie’s direction. “You’ll have to excuse my sister. She’s got a lot to learn when it comes to looking after guests. My name is Rourke Valentine, the idiot lying on the ground behind me is my younger sister, Monica. Welcome to the North Border.”

Jack nodded his head silently at the vampire’s introduction and for a brief moment he said nothing. “My servant and I simply want to travel through, we don’t want any troubles. I’ll happily pay the toll, but my servant will not offer a blood tribute. I will not negotiate on that.”

Rourke Valentine didn’t let the smile falter from his face. “And I wouldn’t expect you to. Servant tribute is only required from regular vampires. I can see from your eyes that you are no ordinary vampire. Tell me, Jack, what family do you come from?”

“No family,” Jack answered back. “I’m a lone nobleman, travelling back to my home in the mountains north of here.”

Intrigue flourished in Rourke’s face. Ellie caught a brief glimpse of his expression from behind Jack’s shoulder and sensed that the vampire didn’t fully believe the visitor. She also got the sense he didn’t want to press the matter. Jack was wild, unpredictable and his strength almost seemed to intimidate the man standing before him. “Very well,” Rourke said after a brief pause. “Your business is your own, I respect that. You are still required to fight, I cannot negotiate on that.”

“I’ve already demonstrated I am keen to fight,” Jack said quickly. “The only thing holding me up is all this talking.”

Another intrigued smile came to Rourke and he answered. “Very well then. We will put the civilities to one side and get straight to the main event. Fighting takes place on the hour, every hour, down in the main square. We have many criminals in our holding. You will fight against them.”

Them? Ellie thought. Just how many people was Jack supposed to be fighting here? She didn’t have any doubt that the vampire could stick up for himself, but she got the sense there was an undercurrent of something else lurking in Rourke’s words. There was a cocky arrogance in his eyes that seemed to indicate he knew something they didn’t.

Jack must have picked upon this, because he questioned it instantly. “How many?”

“Three,” Rourke said. “Regulars, but you will be required to take the Widow’s Draught. To balance things out of course.”

A dark bubble of chatter murmured across the group at Rourke’s announcement. Ellie looked at Jack, who remained perfectly impassive. Widow’s Draught? What was that?

“Then it’s settled,” Rourke said and clapped his hands together loudly. I’ll have my servant, Natalie, take you down to the fighting quarters so you can make your preparations. We normally don’t let servants accompany gladiators down there, but something tells me you aren’t prepared to let her leave your side.”

“Assumption correct,” Jack said, almost growling the words.

Ellie had to wonder where this defensiveness was coming from. The feral vampire that had taken her captive seemed awfully protective over her. In a way she found it endearing, but she also couldn’t forget that she was only here because of him in the first place.

A servant girl in rags broke through the ring of guards and approached Jack and Ellie, her dark eyes looking up at them in trepidation as she paused in front of them. “Follow me this way sir,” the grey-skinned girl said in a voice that was low but confident. “I will lead you both to the fighting quarters.”

Jack gave a curt nod, turned with some reluctance and followed the girl toward the edge of the circle. The guards at the edge parted quickly at Jack’s approach, giving him much berth on either side. Jack’s fist clenched tightly on the chain, keeping Ellie as close as he could. The servant girl led them to the tall wooden stairs that led down into the wide bowl below.

Ellie took hold of the handrail and gulped as the sound of heavy metal and chaos flared up from the pit of mayhem. They were stepping into hell itself, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.