T/W: reference to suicide and parental death.

When the laughter burst out, I hadn't meant for it to happen.

It sort of pushed its way to the surface, an unstoppable force, exploding outwards in such a short-lived rush of noise that everyone looked at me like I was mad. It felt like madness. And yet, I couldn't be the crazy one, right? They were the ones who'd said such insane things. They were the ones who believed it.

Marcus DiCenzo, my errant and unwanted father, wasn't dead.

He was a vampire.

A fucking vampire.

The laughter died as quick as it had come. I felt it shrivel, along with whatever last resolve my body had been holding onto.

Michael seemed to sense it first. It was the subtlest shift in position, but over time, I'd come to spot when a vampire was going to make their move. I knew I wouldn't make it to the door before he did.

'Sarah...' he said, his tone maddeningly gentle, because I didn't want gentle. I didn't want anything but out. 'I know this is a shock...'

'Not a shock,' I said, scrambling up from the seat and moving around the side of the couch. 'It's sick. That's what it is. You people are sick... crazy.'

Maz twisted on the sofa, as I began to move towards the door. 'Sarah, please, just listen...'

Michael was already blocking my path. Of course, he was.

'Is this why you got me here?' I accused him. 'To tell me some twisted story about my father? Did he owe you? Is that it? Did you think you'd get a cut of my non-existent inheritance?'

'I didn't know,' he insisted, shaking his head. 'I swear to you, I never knew he was your father. If I had...'

'If you had, what then?'

He looked stumped. 'I... look, it doesn't change anything. We're still here for a reason and it has nothing to do with Marcus DiCenzo.'

'Au contraire, mon ami,' Sébastien said. 'I beg to differ. Perhaps the reason you are here has everything to do with Marcus DiCenzo.' His eyes found mine. 'Sarah, I understand your desire to flee. This situation feels unbearable, no? But you have come this far. You have defied your natural instincts and why? Because you seek the truth, just as much as Michael does. Because, no matter what your powers tell you, inside you know there is something more to all of this. You feel it, as does he. Otherwise, you would not be here.'

He was right. I hated him for saying it, but he was right.

Why would I have willingly accepted to stay with Michael and the others, if I didn't know that there was more to all of this than being saved by a vampire who said he had seen me in dreams he wasn't meant to have?

'Sarah?' Michael's voice pulled me from Sébastien's captivating gaze. 'Please.'

It was one word. Only one. And yet the way he said it, the way he looked at me. It felt more hypnotic than our French host.

I sighed, exhausted. I was so tired of all of this. Tired of being scared. Tired of running.

'Why would DiCenzo have anything to do with all of this?' I asked, curiosity winning me over. 'He was never a part of my life. He barely acknowledged my existence, aside from the monthly cheques. If he disappeared when he became a vampire, it had nothing to do with me.'

'Sarah, désolé, I think you misunderstand,' Sébastien said, shifting forwards so he was sat on the edge of the couch. 'The reason DiCenzo disappeared was not because he was turned. DiCenzo was a vampire before he vanished and had been for just over fifteen years. By the time he met your mother, his human life was already on its journey to being over.'

I stared at him, disbelief hitting me hard. 'But that's impossible.'

'For a vampire to create a life?' Sébastien gestured towards Michael. 'I think it is already evident that is not the case. We cancreate life. Not as easy as we can end it, that is true, but it is possible.'

'No, that's not what I meant,' I said. 'I might not have given a shit about him, but do you not think I saw the life he led? I couldn't escape it. His face was everywhere. Every newspaper. All over the internet. He spent the first fifteen years of my miserable life enjoying his to the max. How can he have been a vampire?'

Sébastien nodded in solemn agreement. 'C'est vrai, ma chérie. DiCenzo played his part very well. Indeed, on the surface, there seemed to be no difference between his life before and his life after. Apart from one very crucial detail: he lived by the night. If you search any pictures of him from that time, you will see that they were taken after sunset. Parties. Nightclubs. Coming out of late-night dining at restaurants. Rest assured, if there are any images of him during the daylight hours, the person you saw was not DiCenzo. It was a decoy. A lookalike. Someone who looked like him on the deck of his yacht. It was all subterfuge. Nothing more.'

I thought back to all those photos. The articles on the internet. Newspaper entertainment pages. Most I'd seen had been taken at night, that was true. DiCenzo had loved his nightlife. The buzz of the exclusive clubs. The swanky bars. The afterparties. I was sure I must have seen some images taken in the day, but how clear had they been? Thinking about it now, I couldn't be one hundred percent sure it had been him. After all, why would I have had any reason to doubt it?

Until now.

'But to do that, to live that life in the spotlight, being what he was, how could he possibly get away with it? The risk of the truth being discovered would have been huge.'

Michael shrugged. 'Billionaires don't exactly live the same lives as the rest of us, Sarah. When you're that rich, that powerful, you live according to your own rules. Everyone dances to your tune, not the other way around. He had the money and the means to do it. He would have manipulated everyone.'

'Including my mother?' I said. If I hadn't hated that man before, I truly despised him now. A sudden realisation crept unwanted into my head. 'Do you think she knew?'

The very thought of it made me feel nauseous. The possibility that she had known he was a vampire was sickening and it made me question everything. Because, aside from having a relationship with a monster, if there was a possibility that she had known about her lover DiCenzo, had she also known what I was? Had he?

Before she'd died, my mother's delusions had become frightening. I'd watched her unravel before my eyes, becoming this wraith of a woman who barely slept, barely ate. She'd become consumed by this fantasy life she believed she would finally have with the man she loved. It ate away at her, little by little, drop by drop, until all that was left was this empty husk of the woman she once was.

Marcus DiCenzo, or her fantasy of him, had drained her dry.

'Only Marcus could tell you that,' Michael said. 'And now, nobody knows where he is.'

'So, he really just disappeared?'

Sébastien leant forward and casually poured himself another measure. 'Oui. When he disappeared from public life, he also disappeared from the vampire world. There were sightings, but nothing was substantiated. And there was also, of course, the rumours.'

'Such as?' I said.

The Parisian took the glass and settled back on the couch, and for the first time, I saw his hesitancy. Something less self-assured in his expression.

'If you think I care what happened to him, you're wrong,' I said. 'I'm not about to shed a tear on your luxury rugs if that's what you're worried about. But I do have a right to know.'

Sébastien's eyes sparked, a glimmer of a smile on his lips. 'You are right. You do. But curiosity is a dangerous thing, no? Sometimes what you discover, is not the answer you were hoping for.'

'Do you think any of this is what I have ever hoped for? I never wanted this life. I never wanted to be what I am, and I still don't. But what would have been the point in hoping for something I could never have? Trust me, I gave up on hope a long time ago.'

I felt Michael's gaze upon me then, but I refused to look at him. I refused to look at anyone but Sébastien. 'Whatever you know, just tell me. Please.'

Saying please to a vampire. God, how things had changed in such a short space of time.

Sébastien raised a brow and exhaled a terse sigh. 'Very well.' Taking a sip, he sniffed, studying the glass before looking at me over the crystal edge. 'The details of DiCenzo's transformation and his journey to becoming a vampire were somewhat unique. His life was one of excess, power and fame. He went to all the right places. Was seen with all the right people. He was, as you say, something of a character, no? Charismatic. Powerful. Rich beyond most people's wildest dreams. He was undoubtedly the man who had everything, or so he thought, until he met someone more powerful than he. A vampire who goes by the name Dominique de Beauchêne. Through Dominique he learned of real power. He learned of the prospect of immortality – the one thing his money could not buy him. A man can have all the riches in the world, but one day, he will die and return to dust, and what good are riches to the dead?'

I frowned. 'Okay, so this Dominique turned him... but in return for what? What did she get out of it? If you're saying that all his money could never buy him the immortality he craved, then I'm guessing it wasn't his fortune she was after?'

Sébastien inclined his head and raised his glass in appreciation. 'Exactement! Domonique did not want his money. She wanted his devotion. She wanted one of the world's most powerful men to worship her – and only her. Their relationship was one of obsession, a dangerous, dark obsession that, as far as Dominique was concerned, was exclusive of all others. Her jealousy is infamous. Her violence towards those she believes pose a threat, even more so. And yet, DiCenzo's secret relationship with your mother seemed to coincide with his relationship with Dominique. Imagine this: Your mother falls pregnant, and he refuses to continue to see her, paying for her silence with money, except your mother did not stay silent, did she, ma chérie?'

I stared at him, feeling the chill creep up my spine, an icy cloak of dread enveloping me.

'Tell me, how did your mother die?'

'They... they found her body on the train tracks.' My voice sounded numb. Cold. As if someone else had said those words. 'They said...'

'...that she willingly ended her own life,' he said. 'But you always wondered, no? You always wondered if there was more to it.'

'Sébastien, I don't think this is really necessary,' Michael said.

Had he moved closer? It felt like he had.

'It's okay,' I muttered. 'He's right. Mum never stopped believing DiCenzo would come back for her. She lived for him, even after all those years. I could never understand why. I mean, how long do you wait for someone? When they found her body and told me what she'd done, it seemed so...wrong. She was never sad, don't you see? She never gave up hope. In fact, when things escalated before her death, it was like she was convinced it was going to happen soon. She said he still loved her. She was happy. Deliriously happy. It just didn't fit with what they said she did to herself.'

'Did you think DiCenzo had her killed?' Maz asked.

I nodded, wishing I didn't feel so cold. So alone. 'At the time, I thought it was a strong possibility. I was even planning on confronting him. I staked out his company HQ in the city a few times, but I never saw him. Then the news broke that he'd disappeared and that was that.'

Maz wrinkled her nose. 'It seems to me that if he was involved, then a man with that kind of power and riches, wouldn't need to disappear to evade a possible murder investigation. People like that just throw money at problems and hope they go away, and DiCenzo had a lot of money to throw.'

I stared at Sébastien, locked into his unwavering stare. 'But you don't think it was DiCenzo, do you? You said, Dominique's violence towards those she believes pose a threat is infamous. You think it was her.'

He took another sip of whiskey, studying the glass as if he would find the answers there. 'Ah, that I cannot say for certain. But, if she did know of your mother's relationship with DiCenzo, then I do not think she would have brushed it aside. Considering what you now say of your mother's behaviour before her death, it is clear she was not thinking about the end of her life, but the start of something new. That does not speak to me of someone who did not wish to live.'

Standing up, his glass now drained, he sauntered towards the bar in the corner, scooping some ice cubes into the tumbler and grabbing another bottle of whiskey, examining the label before opening it.

'Alors, here is the puzzle that we must assemble: both yourself and Michael have a common origin. Both with vampires for fathers and humans for mothers, and yet Michael finds himself to be the rarest among us, a trueborn, and you, Sarah, are born the vampires' greatest enemy, a Sensor. You live your whole life, abandoned by your father, and yet somehow you manage to remain undiscovered by the Council and the Church. I have lived a long time, chérie, so believe me when I say that any Sensor who is not indoctrinated into the ranks of the Church, usually ends up dead.'

I shot a glance to Michael, who stood firm in the dark shadow of my scrutiny, haughty arrogance haunting his features once more. I couldn't help but wonder how many of those lone Sensors had crossed his path.

'Let me get this straight,' Vincent said, who'd looked troubled throughout the whole exchange, silently picking at the label on his bottle of beer until a small pile of paper scraps lay on the table. 'Are you suggesting that there's been something else going on that's meant Sarah's been off the radar to the powers on both sides?'

'She's good, Sébastien,' chimed in Maz, that awed smile appearing again as she looked at me. 'She killed Luther Baines and a Cerberean.'

'Indeed?' the vampire leader said, raising a brow, a heavy note of appraisal in his tone. 'That is quite the achievement, which makes Sarah a notable target for both sides, as you say, Vincent. She would be a worthy addition to the Church and is clearly a worthy adversary to our own kind. And yet, until recently, no one knew she existed. What does that tell you?'

'That someone made sure she would remain off-radar,' Michael said.

'And who could possibly have the power and the means to do that but DiCenzo himself?' Sébastien said, raising his glass in my direction.

I flinched, feeling my legs weaken as if the very thought of that had rendered my bones to jelly.

'No...' I whispered, shaking my head. 'He had nothing to do with my upbringing. I never saw him. I never met him. Not once.'

'Think on it, Sarah,' Sébastien said. 'DiCenzo did not have to be a part of your life to use his power and riches to keep you a secret. And it is just not possible that de Beauchêne would have let you live had she known of your existence. Imagine being a creature as powerful as she, knowing that your vampire lover had sired a Sensor and not ending that child's life? Non, it cannot be. The only one who could have protected you and your mother was Marcus. So, then we have the next piece of the puzzle: your mother, who so enthusiastically claimed that her and your father were about to be reunited, is discovered dead, supposedly of her own doing, even though you yourself testify that could not have been the case. Soon after, DiCenzo, the infamous billionaire celebrity disappears in a bizarre mystery that baffles the world.'

'Okay,' Michael said, raking his fingers through his curls. 'So, if you're suggesting it was Dominique who killed Sarah's mother, then why didn't she make her move against Sarah too? Surely that's the next thing she would have done? Instead, DiCenzo disappears, never to be seen again.'

'For Sarah to still be alive, then DiCenzo must have done something to make sure Dominique wouldn't target Sarah too? He was still protecting her,' Maz said. 'Maybe his disappearance had something to do with that?'

'But, even if I did believe he was somehow trying to protect me, which I don't by the way,' I said, shaking my head, 'Why would a disappearing act help? And what happened to de Beauchéne?'

'Voilà une bonne question!' Sébastien said, slapping his palm down on top of the bar. 'I think I might just have the answer – the final piece of the puzzle! Let us take ourselves forward through time, mon amis, from DiCenzo's disappearance, to just over half a year ago. Somehow, Sarah is discovered, we know not how or why that might be, but what we do know is that the Council were involved, but do they instantly kill her? Non! Instead, they lure her to the den of Luther Baines, and it is there, under the world of Westminster, where he meets his demise, at Sarah's hands. And what else do we know that happens, in that very moment, when Sarah strikes that fatal blow, and Luther takes his last breath?'

'Michael began to dream of Sarah,' Dame said, his eyes wide as he stared from myself to Michael.

'Oui!' Sébastien exclaimed, pointing at Dame in agreement. 'The trueborn vampire begins to dream of the Sensor, the one with whom he shares similar origins, albeit many years apart – a vampire father and human mother. Let us jump forward again, to the events of the past few days. Michael discovers the whereabouts of the Sensor who killed Luther Baines, except he is not the only one who has found you, Sarah. The Council themselves are now tracking you.'

'And now they're tracking Michael too,' Bailey said, scowling as if she couldn't possibly hate me more for bringing so much trouble to the door of her guardian.

'Ah, ma petite chérie, je suis désolé, but you are wrong,' Sébastien said. 'They were always tracking Michael. Did you all really think they would send an army of Cerberean for one Sensor, no matter how skilled she is?'

My bones froze as I stared at Michael with a growing horror, gnawing away inside my veins. My heart picked up a beat and he finally met my gaze with his own, the same awful realisation dawning on him.

'We were set up,' he said, his voice not much more than a whisper. 'The Council planned it all. They wanted Sarah to kill Luther. They wanted us to meet. But, why?'

'That, I cannot tell you, mon ami.' Sébastien said as he casually walked back to the couch and sat down, much like he had when I'd first entered the room, leaning back into the plush cushions, looking like the King of his domain. 'But what I can tell you, is that there has been a very recent change on the Council, one that only we den leaders have been made aware of. As you will know, mon amis, for many years, there have been only eight Elders remaining on the Council, following the exile of their leader, Montague Kerr, the very man you came here to seek. However, I can tell you that the Council is again complete. They are The Nine once more, and who should have taken that final, ruling ninth seat?'

He took a sip of whiskey, once again, studying me with keen interest over the rim of his crystal tumbler. Sébastien was enjoying this mystery, I could tell, but what his reasons were for that, I had no idea. All I knew, is that it felt like all the ghosts of my past had caught up with me and were pulling me down fast into an icy, deep grave.

'Monique de Beauchéne,' I said.

The vampire raised his glass and winked.

'Exactement, ma chérie. Monique de Beauchêne herself now sits at the head of the Vampire Council and she is now raising Hell to seek out you both – the trueborn vampire and his Sensor.'