"What is your name?"

Reggie looked up as a voice sounded in her cell.

"Jane Harrington," she replied.

"Why are you in Romania?"

"Tourist."

"How did you become infected by a vampire?"

"Fell for the wrong man," she fed them her cover story.

"Name?"

"I don't know. He said it was Vladimir, but I think that might have been a joke...after what happened."

"Where did you meet Vladimir?"

"A small hotel in the mountains, I was hiking."

"Which hotel?"

She rattled off the name she had memorised just for that purpose.

When no more questions came immediately she began to think her captors were done with her again for a while. She went back to staring at the wall.

"Your passport is a forgery."

That instantly got her attention again a few moments later. It wasn't what she had been expecting at all.

"No it isn't," she said.

"Jane Harrington died at the age of two months from a congenital heart defect. You have assumed her identity."

Reggie didn't let it show, but she was impressed. Yet again she reassessed her captors. It was all true, but that information had been very carefully buried.

"Who are you?"

"Who are you?" she countered. "I guessed at Romanian Intelligence, but if you have access to those records you're more than that."

The speaker went silent again. This time it didn't come back on and she relaxed back against the wall as she considered her options.

~*~

Reggie watched what she could see of her fellow captives for about an hour before deciding what to do. The cell was soundproof. Only those sounds those holding her wanted her to hear were piped in, but she had eyes. It was clear the others were also being questioned. It was keeping those in charge busy, but that didn't mean they wouldn't get back to her soon. She needed a backup plan.

Dropping her act she stood up and walked to the front of her cell.

A tiny red light went on in the ceiling above her, but she didn't touch the door. In one glance she took in everything in her eye line before turning her back on it all. There was nothing useful there.

The walls of her cell were sectioned steel with no visible brackets, rivets or fixtures. Sensible when it came to supernatural creatures strong enough to break such things, but annoying nonetheless. The only interesting things were in the roof of the cell.

Well aware that she was being watched, Reggie walked to the back wall, paused for two seconds (no one had ever told her she didn't have dramatic timing) and climbed it. It wasn't that vampires and those of a similar disposition could cling on to vertical surfaces, it was more that with a little mental push the laws of gravity could be convinced to mostly not apply. Once on the ceiling she walked to the middle, right in front of the strip light, and sat down.

Her ponytail hung down in what was probably a ridiculous way, but she had learned long ago that humans tended to panic less if it looked like physical laws still had some hold on her. It had taken her a few years to learn not to let her clothes flop in the same way. Things had been interesting until she'd mastered that trick.

Reggie surreptitiously pulled off the outer covering of her shirt button, while her captors were, hopefully, busy analysing her current position. She took her time, making sure every move looked like a bored vampire just trying to pass the time. The device helpfully just fitted between the protective cage on the UV strip. Eventually she got it attached to the edge of the light fitting and tapped it hard once.

It had two settings, one which was 'come get me right now', and one which requested recognisance and backup later. She had chosen the second. If she didn't check in, in 48 hours, the cavalry would come and get her, or she could put the device in the other mode with a shrill whistle for instant extraction. Having a brother who was a genius with electronics was very useful sometimes.

Closing her eyes, she settled in to let those watching her get a good look. It was their move next.

~*~

Some of the other prisoners had to be more interesting than her because it was some time before anything else happened. When it did it was more than a little anticlimactic.

One of the panels in the wall opened to reveal a recess. In said recess was a blood bag. Reggie looked at it and jumped down from the ceiling in one smooth move. That had also taken longer to learn than she liked to admit. It was nice of those in charge to think of feeding their prisoners, not something she had expected, but the offering didn't look overly appetising.

Reggie made a decision.

"I'm not a vampire," she said and looked up at the camera in her cell.

Rather than any reply a section of the clear front wall went opaque and lit up and an image appeared. It took her a moment, but she realised it was footage from inside the club. Even through the chaos it clearly showed her with obvious vampire traits before she started to fall to the floor. This then switched to her exercise on the ceiling. Clearly someone was a sassy arse.

"These," she said and allowed her more vampiric aspects to rise to the surface, "do not make me a vampire. Frankly I'd prefer a tuna sandwich to that."

She waved her hand at the blood bag. Blood could sustain her, but she preferred human food when she couldn't get what she was really after. Luckily her more unsual needs wouldn't become a problem for a while yet.

The hole in the wall closed again with its unwanted contents. Reggie knew her captors were cagey, so she wasn't surprised when they didn't bother to say anything. What did surprise her was, a few minutes later, the cubbyhole opened again and inside was a cardboard container holding a sandwich and a cup with what looked like water.

"Thanks," she said and took it.

At a guess she figured her captors were calling her bluff. Older vampires could eat solid food, but they didn't like it, and it gave them no nutritional value. Younger vampires mostly had nasty reactions to it and it tended to return the way it had come very rapidly. No doubt her gaolers were watching her with interest.

She ripped the front off the package, sniffed at the contents and then tucked in. It had been hours since she'd eaten, she was hungry. She was also through playing games, it was her captors' move. The sandwich wasn't the most stunning tuna and cucumber, but it was edible, and the water had no taste, as if it had been filtered within an inch of its life. At least it filled a hole.

When she was done she put the cup and the waste back into the cubbyhole and waited.

"How old are you?"

The question came a few minutes after she was finished with her dinner.

"Fifty three," she replied.

"Not possible," the voice came back. "Vampires don't gain the ability to eat solid food before they are in their eighties."

"It's anywhere between sixty five and ninety, actually, depending on the bloodline, and I'm not a vampire."

She gave the camera a dry look.

"You have already shown your true nature."

"No I haven't," she insisted. "If you really want to see, turn on the light in the ceiling."

It went quiet again, so she sat down.

"We're not letting you get away that easily," was the response when it finally arrived.

"Like a couple of seconds of UV could kill a vampire with the abilities I've shown," she said in her most derisive tone. "Even if I was a vampire you know I'm not a young one or I would have spewed my guts onto the floor by now. Turning on the light ..."

The UV strip flicked on before she could finish her lecture. She winced because she had been looking right at it.

"Thanks for the warning," she said as she rubbed her eyes.

When she did not start to smoke, those watching her must have realised it was something they needed to investigate, because the light did not go off again. It stayed on for several minutes. Reggie hoped she was causing someone to run around like a headless chicken while they tried to figure out what was going on.

"What are you?" the same voice eventually asked.

"Unique," she replied.

"Who sired you?"

"No one, I was born just like you."

"What is your name?"

Reggie smiled.

"Regina Harker."

Let them stew on that for a while.

"Yes, that Harker," she added for good measure.