What the hell was she doing? She'd never been in hospital before, but she was pretty certain that patients weren't supposed to just walk out without permission.

"Hurry up," Jess—or whoever the hell she was—hissed at her as she marched down the corridor.

For once, Ria had no issue keeping up. In fact, she struggled to slow herself down to some sort of normal speed. She had way too much energy for someone who had only just woken from a coma-like state. As she strode past doctors, nurses, patients, and visitors, the sounds, smells, colours, even their thoughts seemed far too vivid for her brain to process. Was she high?

They burst out of the main doors and into the ambulance bay. The sounds of the city thundered in her ears. Instinctively, her eyes scanned the horizon. The sky still held on to its inky blue tones, but a hint of orange smouldered along London's skyline. Everything in her told her to seek shelter soon. Dawn was on its way.

Why was that so significant?

"This way," Jess said as she moved from the bay and across the carpark.

They stuck to the shadows as they went, Jess leading her to the darkest corner. Jess approached an old model Ford and Ria watched aghast as she put her fist straight through the driver-side window.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Jess ignored her, unlocking the door and slipping into the driver's seat. She reached across and opened the passenger door. "Get in."

"You can't steal a car!"

"Will you just get in."

Ria crossed her arms. "I am not getting in a stolen car. We'll get arrested!"

Jessie's eyes seemed to come alive, a brilliant violet illuminating the interior of the car. "Get in the fucking car. Right now."

Something shifted in Ria's mind. Try as she might, nothing was going to stop her getting in that car. Even as she sat in the passenger seat she wasn't sure how she got there. She still didn't want to be there, but she couldn't refuse Jessie's request... No. It wasn't a request. It was an order. She stared at the other woman in horror.

The glow left Jessie's eyes as a hint of sympathy crept through. "I will explain everything, I promise." Her gaze darted to the horizon and then back again. "Right now, we need to leave."

* * *

It had been three hours since he'd woken up. Four hours since Soraya reluctantly discharged him from the medical facility. There was nothing wrong with him, so she couldn't keep him there any longer, but he knew she wasn't happy about letting him go. Apparently, despite feeling like a pantechnicon had slammed into his lungs and squeezed every last molecule of oxygen from his body, there never had been anything wrong with him. He still felt wired, like he'd taken an extra adrenaline shot that refused to turn itself off. It was like being hyper-aware. He could see much more clearly, smells were far stronger than they ever used to be, and then there was his hearing. Whether he listened with his ears or his mind, he felt sure he could hear a pin drop in Australia.

The Princess had run every test she could think of and still couldn't explain what had happened to him. As if he wasn't already enough of a freak with what Phoenix called his "mentalist thing," now he was victim of some mystery, non-existent illness. Great.

Kaden mumbled something about giving him a couple of nights off, but they both knew he didn't really mean it. The replies to Kaden's call were coming in thick and fast and they needed to make some decisions pretty quickly. There was too much to do in the lead up to the handfasting and they needed the extra manpower. Kaden wanted Ryver to help with the interviews. Of course, by "help" he meant read everybody's mind and decide whether any of them were Fallen spies or harboured any Fallen sympathies. Yippee.

Security was more important than ever so the interviews couldn't be held at House Blackwood. So it was on Kaden's instructions that he found himself outside House Bowman once again. With dawn approaching, he landed about halfway up the sweeping, gravel driveway. Taking a look around, the colours of the beautiful garden muted by the moonlight, he realised how much had changed since the last time he'd been here.

The last time he'd stood on this driveway, he was with his brethren, waiting for their King to emerge after spending the night hidden behind an Osmium door in some kind of safe room. It was also the night he realised what was happening between Lena and Thorn. He ran a hand over his hair. A lot had changed in eighteen months.

Knowing full-well he couldn't get out of doing the stupid interviews, he flashed to the front door.

It swung open before he could knock, and he was greeted by a middle-aged butler in full livery. "We've been expecting you, Sir."

Ryver nodded and followed the guy inside. As the butler shuffled along, Ryver could hear him complaining about the House being invaded by all and sundry. Granted, the Order commanded respect in most Houses, but this guy still wasn't impressed by the imposition the Keeper of the Watch had placed on the Maluth of his House.

Ah yes, the lovely Larissa. She may be on board with assisting the Order and the Crown with whatever they might need now, but that hadn't necessarily been the case last year. No one had quite forgiven her.

Despite his conviction that some of the family silverware was bound to go missing during this "exceptionally trying time," the butler definitely wasn't a Fallen sympathiser. Ryver crossed him off his list.

The butler ushered him through a door into the drawing room and promptly left.

Mercury and Kaden were already there. The Keeper kept his mind firmly focused on fucking quadratic equations as usual. Mercury was busy singing some terrible teeny-bopper thing from the charts. Ugh. Just what I need.

"About time you got here, sunshine. They'll be here any minute," Mercury said as he offered his hand.

Ryver shook his brother's hand and feigned a smile.

"I know it's not top on your list of fun things to do today, but I can't do this without you," Kaden said.

"I know."

Kaden nodded. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Mercury led the way back out of the drawing room, down a panelled corridor lit by faux gas lamps, past several dark, oak doors, to an office at the end. They reached that infamous Osmium door about halfway down and all three of them paused for a second, each remembering that night. Osmium was the only thing on earth impervious to Vampire powers. All powers except Ryver's telepathy, it would seem. He shuddered before moving on.

Once past the door, Ryver could hear the amount of voices in the House multiply as more Vampires began to arrive. This was going to be one long-ass day.

As they entered the office, a tall, blonde Vampire in a frock coat furnished them with an extravagant bow, causing Mercury's eyebrows to shoot skyward. "Keeper of the Watch, it is an honour to be of service to House Blackwood once again."

"Master Bowman, you honour us by inviting us into your House." Kaden barely kept the contempt from his voice.

"Crane. Please call me Crane. And it is our honour. My mother wouldn't have it any other way, even if it does mean having our House full of strangers in the middle of the day."

Kaden gave a nod. "Some things are unavoidable. We are grateful nonetheless."

Crane beamed at them though the smile didn't really reach his eyes. There was a disingenuousness about him that Ryver didn't like. He listened carefully, expecting some sort of complicated man behind that artificial smile. As it turned out, Crane of House Bowman was as transparent as glass. He harboured resentment towards the Order for failing to protect his family and for the loss of his father. Stronger, though, was his sense of entitlement and his bitterness at not being invited to join the Order. Everything about him said he should be the perfect recruit: he came from nobility, his father was a well-respected historian, and his mother's ancestors were warriors. He'd never received the call though, and this new recruitment drive flew in the face of everything he held dear. Respect. Honour. Entitlement. There was an order to everything.

The guy smiled again as he turned and left.

Ryver frowned as he watched him go.

"What's up with you?" Mercury asked.

"We need to keep an eye on that one," he whispered.

Kaden didn't say anything, but Ryver still heard his reply. Thorn warned me about him.

Ryver wasn't surprised.

"Shall we get this show on the road then?" Mercury asked.

"No time like the present, I suppose," Ryver replied.

"Go and find the first one then," Kaden said as he moved the chairs so he and Ryver could sit behind the huge mahogany desk and stare at the poor sod being interviewed.

"Still reckon you should 'ave let me rig up that buzzer," Mercury said as he turned to leave.

Ryver couldn't contain his snort.

Kaden didn't look amused at all. The waste paper basket Kaden launched at Mercury’s head narrowly missed him as he ducked out of the door. "This is not the bleeding X-Factor," Kaden called after him.

Mercury's booming laugh echoed around Ryver's head as the guy made his way back up the corridor. At least someone's having fun.

* * *

Ria had a lot of questions but she couldn't voice any of them. It may have been nearly six in the morning, but London's streets were far from quiet. If that attack last night hadn't killed her, Jessie's driving would. She was sure she was about to meet her maker. Her heart had skipped a beat so many times since they'd left the hospital that she was surprised it was still ticking. Jessie took yet another corner far too fast and Ria's stomach flipped, her knuckles whitening as she hung on to her door with everything she had.

She thought she might actually throw up when Jessie stamped on the brakes and narrowly missed a double-decker bus that pulled out in front of them. "Bloody hell, Jess!"

Jess ignored her, instead hitting the gas pedal hard and fishtailing around the bus. The woman kept one eye on the skyline the whole time and Ria found herself mirroring her actions. Every time she glanced skyward, a little more light had crept across the horizon. It seemed impossible, but with every new shade of orange, Ria felt her core temperature rise.

Jessie made it across the rest of town in a blur, Ria only realising where they were when they came to a stop not far from Jessie's flat. Her friend leapt from the car. "Hurry. We don't have much time."

"Much time for what?" she asked, but Jess was already halfway down the street.

Sighing, Ria pulled herself from the passenger seat and stumbled out onto the pavement. As soon as she was outside, she broke out in a sweat. Heat rushed over her so quickly it took her breath away. "Wow."

"Get a move on, Ria," Jess called out.

Swallowing hard and ignoring the hot flush as best she could, she staggered after her friend. She caught up with her about a hundred yards away from the car. She was exhausted.

Jessie grabbed her arm and slung it across her shoulders. "I forgot you're not used to this."

"Used to what?" Ria gasped as Jess helped keep her upright.

Jess half carried her, half marched her down the street, ignoring the question.

Bloody hell, it was hot. She pulled at the collar of her shirt, desperate to cool down as she struggled to keep up with Jess. "Can we just slow down a bit?"

"Not an option, Ria." She picked up the pace. "C'mon, we're nearly there."

Ria could see the door to Jess's building just up ahead. She just had to get there. Everything would be okay if she could just make it to that door.

* * *

Ryver pushed back in his chair and watched Kaden escort a middle-aged vampire from the small office. He barked a laugh as Kaden rolled his eyes.

"Sweet Goddess, please tell me they're not all going to be like that!"

"Technically there's nothing wrong with him," Ryver replied. "Definitely no Fallen sympathies there, Boss."

Kaden raised a white blonde eyebrow at him. "I'm recruiting for the Order, not the Thorn Blackwood fan club."

Ryver snorted. "At least Thorn would be safe under his watch."

"I don't think he'd thank us for that, do you?" he replied with a laugh.

"Yeah, you're probably ri—"

He never finished what he was going to say.

"Ryver?" Kaden's tone changed, his voice full of concern.

Ryver pulled at his shirt as he suddenly felt far too warm. There was no other feeling like it, and his gaze automatically flew to the window to check for breaches in the UV protection. House Bowman took its security seriously and they didn't just employ specially protected glass. Since the Order were in town, they'd also closed all the shutters. Not one ray of sunlight had made its way into that room. He suspected the rest of the House was just as well protected.

"You're starting to worry me here, kid."

What the hell was going on? Not quite burning up, but he was definitely feeling pretty toasty, like he'd stepped too near the light. He took measured breaths, trying to ground himself, desperate not to freak out. It wasn't working. Panic rose in his chest as the slow burn continued. He checked his arms, certain they'd be red-raw. They weren't.

His mind raced as he reached for his blood bonds with his brethren. It was the only explanation—someone else had to be injured. Someone else must be in grave danger.

His attention shifted to Kaden. He caught the look of concern on the guy's face before he ran for the door.

"Mercury! Get your arse in here. Now!"

Ryver watched in slow motion as Mercury burst through the doorway, took one look at him and raced over to his side of the desk.

"Ryver? What's goin' on, mate?"

He couldn't find the words. The heat was too distracting, so distracting in fact that he couldn't even listen to either of their thoughts.

His breath quickened as the panic became all-consuming. He should never have left the medical facility. He should have listened to Soraya.

"Can you 'ere me, Ryv?"

He managed to nod.

"I need you to stay calm, alright? Just breathe."

* * *

In the few minutes it took them to get from the car to the door of Jessie's building, Ria felt as if she'd been boiled alive. Jess wrenched open the front door and all but threw Ria inside. Without her friend to support her, Ria's legs failed and she crumpled to the floor. As she gasped for air, she realised Jess was also struggling, leaning against the wall with her hands on her knees.

Swallowing hard and thanking whatever god was out there that she was still alive, Ria yanked up her sleeves, convinced she would see blisters. Frowning, she checked one arm and then the other. Nothing. Not even a little hint that anything was wrong. She glanced over at Jess. "What the hell is happening to me?"

Her friend sighed and pushed herself away from the wall. "C'mon. Let's get you up."

Jess reached for her, but Ria batted her hand away. "Not until you tell me what's going on."

Jessie shot a glance toward the front door—sunlight had started to creep into the small entrance way through the old-fashioned frosted glass. "We can't stay here."

"Why not?"

She stepped further away from the door. "I'm guessing you're still feeling a bit toasty there. If you don't want to feel like your blood is boiling again, I suggest we move away from the door and go upstairs. Okay?"

Ria swallowed hard as she eyed the door with suspicion. The dappled light shining through the frosted glass had already become brighter and the sunlight continued to creep along the floor of the small entrance hall. Jess was right. She pushed a lank curl behind her ear and realised her face felt flushed. Whilst she wasn't exactly burning, her temperature had begun to rise again. She didn't know what to do for the best. Jessie hadn't said as much, but her actions and the way she spoke said she thought the sunlight could do Ria some serious damage. Okay, so she'd always had pale skin and wore factor five-hundred-million whenever she went out in it because she burnt so easily, but the way Jess was acting, it was as if she'd go up like a tinder box any minute now. Which was ridiculous.

Wasn't it?

Of course it was. Absolutely absurd.

And yet... As she sat there debating whether to follow that nutcase upstairs or make a run for it, something inside her told her she couldn't risk going outside. Without meaning to, her gaze constantly returned to the door, her eyes repeatedly measuring the sun's progress, her brain calculating the distance it still had to travel before she became engulfed in the fiery light. Somehow, she knew exactly how much time she had before that sunlight hit her...and it wasn't long.

She had to move. She had no choice.

She pulled herself up off the parquet and dashed to Jessie's side at the foot of the stairs.

"Wise choice," Jessie said as she led the way up to her flat.

Once inside, Ria paused. The tiny place her friend called home looked exactly the same as it always had—yet it was different. Without thinking, her gaze went immediately to the bay window opposite her. The velvet curtains were drawn, as they quite often were, and not a hint of light shone through them. She'd never noticed the blackout linings before.

She'd also never felt how much the floorboards moved underfoot, or how much noise they made as she walked over them and made her way to the sofa. She'd never noticed how strong the smell of sandalwood was despite there being no incense burning. Ria plonked herself down on the tatty sofa and winced at the creak of protest it gave. She listened to Jessie busying herself in the kitchen. There were a lot of things Ria had never noticed about her too.

"You want a cuppa?" Jessie called out.

"Sorry?"

Jess popped her head around the door frame. "Do you want a cup of tea?"

Ria's jaw dropped in disbelief. Was she serious? A frigging cup of tea?

"Ria?"

"No! I don't want a bloody cup of tea!"

Jess nodded and disappeared again. Ria could hear the fridge open and close, glasses being pulled out of the cupboard. Then the rummaging in a draw followed by the pop of a cork. More clinking of glass and then Jess reappeared with two large glasses of white wine. "I thought maybe you'd want something stronger. I know I do."

Ria took the glass and downed the lot.

"So I suppose I owe you an explanation," Jess said with a nervous laugh.

Ria narrowed her eyes. "You think?"

Jess took a large gulp of wine and set her glass down on the coffee table. "I wasn't sure this day would ever come. Now it's here, I'm not quite sure what to say."

Gone was the confident woman she saw downstairs. Her friend fidgeted in her seat and fiddled with the hem of her ridiculously short skirt. She tried to get a lock on her thoughts, but it wasn't as easy as it once was. It reminded her of Ryver and his brother, Mercury. Everything was distorted, like the radio wasn't tuned in properly and she could only hear snippets of the song. One thought she did grasp was that Jess blamed herself for what had happened; she shouldn't have... And then it was gone.

Shouldn't have what? She did something. Something bad. Ria couldn't help it; it was the first thing that came to mind. "Did you drug me?" she asked.

Jessie's strange, violet eyes widened. "What? No! Why would you think that?"

"You did something you shouldn't have."

"You heard that then?"

Ria nodded.

"Interesting...but anyway, why would you assume I drugged you? Why on earth would I do that?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I never thought any of this would happen! I never thought I'd get attacked, or that you'd make me sneak out of a hospital, that you'd steal a car, or that I'd feel like my insides were melting just because I was outside, or that..." Her voice cracked and her vision blurred as tears welled in her eyes.

Jessie was at her side in an instant. "Please don't cry."

Ria sniffed and nodded, blinking back the tears. "Just please tell me what's going on. What did you do?"

Her friend took a deep breath. "I should have protected you. I let my guard down. I shouldn't have done that."

Ria's brow knitted. "How were you to know that would happen? We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens in London all the time. I was just unlucky."

Jess looked away.

"Wasn't I?"

She still wouldn't answer or meet Ria's intense stare. Instead she rose to pace the room. Ria watched her, a nagging thought tugging at her mind. Did Jess know she'd be attacked? "I was unlucky, wasn't I?" she whispered.

Jess stopped pacing. "Unlucky that they found you, maybe."

"What? Who? Who found me?"

"Your father's people."

Ria's jaw dropped. Utterly astonished, she couldn't find the words to ask what her friend meant. She'd never known her father. She wasn't even sure her mother really knew who he was. She remembered asking questions when she was small, but catching her mother when she was lucid was a rare event. Her addictions had ridden her hard and she never made any sense. Ria had learnt to stop asking questions. When her mother died, Social Services had told her she was an orphan.

"Is he alive?"

Jess gave a sharp nod. "I wish to the Holy Mother that he wasn't though."

"Jessie!"

"I'm sorry. There's a lot you don't understand, but you have to know this: your father is not a good person. His heart is blackened. He left the light a long time ago."

"Are you on drugs?"

She gave a weak smile as she retook her seat. "No. I am not on drugs. What I'm about to tell you is going to be difficult to hear, but I need you to listen. Let me tell you all of it before you ask any questions, okay?"

Ria reached out to Jessie's mind. The static was gone, but she still couldn't hear all her thoughts. She begged Ria to listen, to trust her. Trust was a big step—she didn't know if she could do that—but she could listen. "Okay."

Jess inhaled deeply. "There's a reason you've always been gifted in the art of persuasion and that you can hear people's thoughts. Just as there's a reason I knew exactly where you'd be on your twenty-first birthday."

"Wait! You knew I'd be at that bus-stop?"

"Ria, you said you'd listen."

She crossed her arms. "Fine. Carry on."

"It's because of where we came from. You and I, and others, we're not..."

"Not what?"

"We're not human."

Ria couldn't help it. She burst out laughing. The woman had to be on drugs...or mad. Not human? "You're joking, right?"

The madwoman just sat there, face stoic.

Ria's laughter died on her lips as she realised Jess was being serious. She listened as best she could and her brows shot skyward. Jessie honestly believed she was telling the truth! "Are you completely insane?" she asked as she stood up and made for the door. "That's it. I'm leaving. You were supposed to be my friend. Instead you kidnap me from hospital only to bring me here and tell me these ridiculous lies. Fuck you, Jess. Fuck you!"

She had her hand on the door handle before Jess spoke again, her voice full of anger. "Victoria Dalton! You will stop. You will turn around, and by Goddess you will listen to me!"

Ria barked a laugh. Yeah right. She tried to turn the door handle. She tried to leave. Instead, she found herself turning around. She didn't want to, but she was powerless to stop it. When she did turn around, she wished she hadn't.

Jessie stood hands on hips, those violet eyes glowing like amethysts. She seemed much taller than she had before, though somehow still the same. The air around her rippled with power, and her aura shone with bright intensity. She tilted her head to one side and pushed a purple tress behind her ear. Her very dainty, very pointy ear.

Ria gulped. She had to be seeing things. "What are you?"

Jessie smirked. "You probably want to sit down for this."

Ria nodded dumbly and side-stepped her way back to the sofa. She stumbled into the coffee table, but still couldn't take her eyes off Jessie. When she found the sofa, she collapsed into it.

After she sat down, the air stopped shimmering as Jess seemed to dial everything back a little. Her eyes didn't lose their jewel-like lustre, however, and those ears remained very much pointed. "Technically, I'm a half-breed," Jess told her.

"Half-breed?"

She tapped the top of one of those ears. "Half Pixie."

Ria nodded. "And?"

The smile on Jessie's face was unnerving. It started as a smirk but widened to a full-scale grin.

Ria gaped at her. "Are those f-fangs?"

Jess ran her tongue over one of her elongated incisors. "Like em?"

"Oh. My. God."

Jess continued to grin.

"You're a v-v-vam—"

"Half. I'm half Vampire."

This wasn't happening.

"Just like you."

"W-what?"

"The reason you've always been that little bit sensitive to sunlight. The reason you can hear people's thoughts. You're half Vampire."

This definitely wasn't happening.

"Of course, you're a bit of a late bloomer. That's why the sudden attack of the killer tan this morning. The assault in that alley brought on your transition."

"My transition?"

"Well I wasn't sure it was going to happen—it doesn't always with half-breeds—but I knew the moment you hit the ground in that alley. That's why I couldn't leave you in the hospital. Your wounds were already healing and we haven't quite worked out a decent way of explaining that, so we had to leave. I had to give you a helping hand of course. I couldn't very well carry a full-grown transitioning vampire out by myself. That would just be bonkers. Sorry about that by the way; must've hurt like a bitch."

Gobsmacked, Ria just stared at her.

"So it's gonna take a little getting used to, but honestly, you'll be fine."

"I'm a Vampire?" she whispered.

"Well half Vampire, yes."

"You've turned me into a killer!"