Thanks to Jax's insane driving, we arrived to Greenwich, Connecticut exactly forty five minutes later. Sun has been gradually rising, and its rays were now high enough to break through trees. One tiny gun ended up in the back of my pants, and I begged Dorian to give me a knife. At least I knew how to use those. Jax kept fixing his bulletproof vest like he could find the precise angle in which no bullet could touch him. Dorian chugged three blood bottles and wasn't particularly worried about weapons, except for the silver gun he kept waving with.

We parked the car on the street, amongst other cars, at least two hundred yards from the estate. Dorian opened the trunk and much to Jax's dismay, went through the leather weapon bags. I kept fixing the gun in the back of my pants, terrified it might shoot against my will. The morning sun stung my eyes, and I kept blinking since we arrived. Jax sat in the car, retying his sneakers.

"You have a whole bunch of stakes." Dorian commented. "But do you have a bat?"

"A bat?" Jax raised his eyebrow.

"For hitting. Not an animal." Dorian mocked.

Jax met my gaze, annoyed, "No, I don't have a bat."

"That's too bad." Dorian sighed. "Oh, cigarettes."

"Darascu." Jax stood up.

Dorian put a cigarette between his lips and lit it up, "What? I'm under a lot of stress. Oh, and I'm gonna need your sunglasses."

"Darascu." Jax grunted, his hand flying to the black sunglasses tucked to the collar of his black shirt.

"Seriously." Dorian inhaled the smoke. "The sun is messing up my eyes."

Jax handed him the sunglasses, "Good to know. How messed up are they exactly?"

"Plenty." Dorian exhaled, then put the sunglasses on his nose. "We don't burst into flames upon contact with sunlight, but we're still nocturnal animals. Our eyes are adapted to darkness."

"So, that's my getaway plan?" Jax concluded. "I get Mikey out and we run for our lives?"

"Yes." Dorian's cigarette bobbed up and down in his mouth as he spoke, using his hands to go through the bag one more time. "Oh, and try not to wake up Anton."

Alarms went off in my head at the realisation that Anton would be inside. It was the fucking Molly messing with my wits.

"Dorian, if Anton-"

"Isn't Anton thirteen?" Jax interrupted.

"Anton is sleeping three stories down in a damn coffin, he's not-"

"Wait, a coffin?" Jax raised his voice.

"Fucking bloodshed, Dorian, it's going to be-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Jax shouted, to which Dorian's hands immediately flew to his ears and he almost burned his hair with the cigarette.

"Jesus!" Dorian yelled. "Some of us have sensitive hearing and have been doing Molly and cocaine all night."

My head snapped to him, "You're on cocaine?!"

"Just a little."

Jax cocked a gun and pointed it at Dorian. In a nanosecond, Dorian was in front of him, smacking the gun out of his hand, a cigarette between his teeth. The gun clanked to the ground, and I winced, thinking it might go off. Jax stared at Dorian in obvious surprise, which made me realise something I haven't even thought about.

Jax never actually fought a vampire. Oh, fucking hell.

"You don't point a gun at a vampire," Dorian kept his eye contact, "You shoot him."

Jax took a step back, "Just wanted you to focus. I can't walk in there without knowing what's waiting on the other side. If it's a thirteen year old boy sleeping in a coffin, I think I should know."

"Dorian, let's set some ground rules." I suggested, knowing there wasn't even enough time to give Jax a crash course in killing vampires.

"Alright, but let's move it." Dorian took the cigarette out and walked back to the trunk, "Your gun is your best friend. So, take two, or three."

Jax fell into a rhythm I've never seen before. He reached for his gun, checked the bullets, and put it in his back pocket. Then, he walked to the trunk and went through the guns.

"Knives work too." Dorian handed him a small sharp blade. "We're stronger and faster than humans, but our skin is just as easy to penetrate. Always go for the kill. They might survive, but it'll give you enough time to escape."

Jax took the gun and the blade without a word, then closed the trunk, and turned to the estate. I followed his gaze, sun nearly blinding me.

"How do we get inside? The house is literally standing in the middle of the field, they'll see us coming."

My heart gave a sudden loud thud, finally pushing the remnants of the drug and booze out of my veins, making me realise this was actually happening. We were going to fight Edmond.

How the fuck has it come to this?

Dorian headed for the line of trees right next to the street, and pointed to the estate, "See that streak of sunshine on the eastern side of the estate?"

Behind the large mansion, acres of land spread to the distance, fields so large and wide that even the low morning sunshine managed to spill over them. The street and the line of trees led all the way around it. What a roundabout.

"We're going to move quietly down the street, in the cover of the trees, and then we'll approach the house right down that sunny streak." Dorian put on Jax's sunglasses, "No vampire will stare directly at the sun."

Jax caught my gaze, and I knew he'd just realised the same thing I did. Dorian Darascu was a good ally. He had determination and courage. He was also a little crazy, but there seemed to be a method to the madness, which made him a formidable enemy.

We moved silently through the line of trees. I shadowed Dorian all the way to the mansion, my heart pounding so hard I could feel it in all my muscles. Everyone could see us. If someone just paid attention, they'd see us. But Dorian was right. If the mansion was under attack already, no one would be staring outside. No, the vampires would try to lure the humans deeper inside, to the basement, where there was no way of escape.

The mansion was half-covered in small bricks, and the rest in a black facade. The windows were relatively small for how much light the inside of the house could have, and the doors were all heavy wood with intricate swirls and quadruple locks. Once we stepped into the shadow of the house, I let out a deep breath, and leaned against the cold facade. Sweat coated my forehead and my neck. Adrenaline pumped through me, urging me to run the fuck away.

"Now what?" I whispered.

Dorian bobbed his head my way, "The window behind you, we can open it."

"Alright." Jax moved past him, keeping to the wall as much as possible. "Let's try it."

He leaned under the window and looked up, checking the lock. Dorian passed me by and put his ear closer to the window. I put my ear to the ground instead and waited.

Commotion.

There was commotion somewhere in the house. Running and thudding, but not a single voice. Cat and mouse. Edmond loved hunting his food.

"The room is empty." Dorian said and peeked through the window "If we go through the window, we'll end up in the servants' room. It leads to the hallway. We're going to clean the entire first floor, then move downstairs. We're only separating once we figure out where is Edmond."

"What about the other guards?" Jax grabbed the window and tried to pull it up.

"The other guards are nothing compared to Edmond." Dorian pulled out the knife and tried to jam it between the window and the sill. "Think of him as if he were the boss level. Kill him and his pawns go down. Someone fixed the screws on the window."

"Fuck." I cursed right as Jax took a step back. "What now?"

Dorian held his knife the other way, and used the handle to break the window. Glass splattered and clanked, the sound piercing through air. I gritted my teeth and shielded my head, like I could prevent someone else from hearing it. Jax cursed out loud.

"What the fuck, Darascu?" He hissed. "Wasn't the plan to keep quiet?"

Dorian used his elbow to move the glass aside, "Half is planning, the other half is improv. Let's go."

He went in legs first, not minding the remaining glass, and landed on his feet inside the room. Jax went in next, and I used the moment to brace myself, before I, too, entered the mansion. The servants' room was empty and plain – a table, a few beds, a separate room leading to the bathroom. Nothing was amiss. Nothing seemed wrong.

"Now, we need to locate Edmond." Dorian went through the room like a hurricane, opening every drawer, every wardrobe, looking under every bed, but there seemed to be nothing useful inside. "Call Jimmy."

"Dorian, they're going to hear a walkie-talkie." I whispered, remembering the golden rule – if I can hear them, they can hear me.

Jax cut in, "Honestly, I can risk Jimmy's life."

"Now we're talking." Dorian peeked from the bathroom, where he was going through the servants' stuff. "Jimmy can find his own way out."

"I'm calling him." Jax pulled out a walkie-talkie.

"Odette." Dorian called me to the bathroom.

With some reluctance, I came closer. I guessed Dorian had an ulterior motive, something he'd only share with me, if even that, and I feared finding out what it was.

"Spill it, Darascu." I murmured. "We don't have much time, I just want to get Mikey out. If others die, fuck them."

"We'll get Mikey out." He nodded. "Then we'll get you in."

Quickly, he laid out the entire thing in front of me. There was brilliance in his plan. Brilliance, and malice. It was the quickest, most opportunistic way to get me back into my father's good graces and back on the Council. But it also meant I'd have to step back into the darkness I fought so hard to get out of.

"No." I shook my head. "That's too tricky, Dorian. What if we're a second too late and Edmond decides he's too hungry to play?"

He eyed me, "And what if I know Edmond too well to allow such a risk?"

"I don't know-"

"You said you trusted me."

There was no accusation or regret in his voice. It was a statement. We were playing a game, and I'd set the rules, all I had to do now was follow them. And being Dorian's friend was a high-risk, high-reward kind of gamble.

"Jimmy's in the basement." Jax came closer, eyeing me and Dorian with suspicion. "First floor. Others are even deeper down."

"Fuck." Dorian walked past me. "If they reach the third floor, they're as good as dead. We need to get downstairs fast."

Before he opened the door, I watched him take out his phone and message someone. Usually, I wouldn't pay this much attention to his behaviour, but now I felt like his every step was an afore-planned manoeuvre that would either save us or doom us.

He put his phone back into his pocket, "Ready?"

Jax nodded, and I refrained from answering.

We kept behind while Dorian opened the door, revealing a spacious hallway lined with hardwood panelling. A couple of doors broke the panelling, all closed, all quiet. Nervousness crawled through me, the feeling that we might be watched right now. But Dorian moved down the hallway with confidence, his gun safely tucked in the back of his pants.

The door directly adjacent to him opened abruptly, and I let out a squeal before Jax grabbed my upper arm tightly, making me shut up. The guard dressed completely in black ran into Dorian. Before he could take his gun out, Dorian grabbed his forearm and twisted it, making the guard drop down on his knees. I held my breath as Dorian put both of his hands on the guard's head and pulled to the side, breaking his neck.

"Fuck." I breathed out, my heart racing.

"Come on." Dorian took the guard's gun, took out his bullets, then returned the gun.

Jax let out a chuckle, "That's-"

"Smart?" Dorian interjected, already moving through the hallway. "Brilliant? Charming?"

"I was gonna go with sneaky." Jax said.

"I'll accept the compliment."

Dorian pushed open the door at the end of the hallway, revealing a large dining room, packed with a long lacquered desk, a dozen chairs and not much else. Three guards, all dressed in black, walked through the adjacent door, their expression turning from confused to angry.

"Shit." I cursed, my hand flying to the gun in the back of my pants.

Jax already held his gun in front of him, his finger on the trigger. The three guards pulled out their guns and pointed them at us. My hands fucking shook as I tried to hold the gun in front of me. Dorian was the only one who remained casual, the sunglasses still on his nose, his hands in his pockets.

"What the fuck is going on here?" One of the guards, the black-haired tall one, asked.

Sunshine spilled through the large windows, blinding me.

"Put your weapons down." Dorian demanded, his voice stern, but calm.

"Dorian-" I mumbled, suddenly not trusting his tactic.

"This house is under attack." The same guard said. "What are you doing here?"

"Making sure the house is no longer under attack." Dorian came closer, still just as casual.

My mind raced with the realisation that the man I put my trust in might very well be completely insane.

"Darascu." The guard said through his teeth and stepped away form the sun's rays.

But Dorian ran behind him, and before I managed to blink, he had his knife against the guard's neck. The guard froze for a second, then tried to wiggle out. Jax pulled me closer, effectively pushing me out of the harm's way as the two other guards cocked their guns and pointed them at us. The need to stand in front of Jax overwhelmed me, shield him with my body.

"Be still." Dorian pressed the knife harder, drawing blood from the vampire's neck. "How much is Anton paying you to die for him?"

The guard's expression distorted, and he stopped trying to get away from Dorian.

"I'm gonna give you double if you get the fuck out of this house right now and take all of your men with you." Dorian said, his eyes meeting mine.

It didn't take the guard long. He exchanged a glance with his partners, and they lowered their weapons in an instant.

"Fuck this shit, man." The dark-haired tall guard murmured. "Happy hunting."

Dorian let him go, cutting his neck just a bit more as he pulled the knife away. The guard held his neck and faced Dorian, who licked the bloody edge.

"Fuck." Jax cursed, the gun in his hand still upright and ready to shoot.

The three guards rushed to the hallway we came out of.

"Hey! Do you know where I might find a bat?" Dorian asked.

The dark-haired guard turned on his heel, "A bat?"

"For hitting."

"There are baseball bats in the gym downstairs."

"Thank you." Dorian said, and when they ran out of the room, he shouted after them, "Invoice me!"

"What. The. Fuck?" Jax grunted, finally putting his gun down.

"These are Anton's men." Dorian said and opened the next door, which led to another hallway. "As I've said before, he's known for killing off his staff. A good strategy, until you realise they're all ready to betray you because you're a terrible employer."

"You're absolutely insane." Jax said.

"Why?"

"You should have killed them!"

"Shh." I shushed Jax. "Violence doesn't solve everything."

"Exactly. Money does." Dorian disappeared behind the wall. "The killing starts in the basement."

Jax followed him reluctantly, and I glanced at the sunrays spilling over the large dining table one more time. The first rule of fighting vampires was not to allow them to drag you into darkness. And we were heading to the basement.

Fucking spectacular.