Our lounge bar turned into a war room in less than half an hour. The billiard table now served as a table, littered with papers and pens, chairs around it. The lacquered oak coffee table in front of the leather couch served as the blood platter, with dozens of bottles resting on it.

Thomas and William dragged three beds from the upstairs bedrooms and placed them against the walls. If shit hit the fan, this is where we would be sleeping. Caiden's computers were transferred to the basement, as well.

Ian went through the printed cultist conversations with Caiden, trying to find anything useful, when Sheila, Tina and I entered the lounge bar.

Caiden's girlfriend, Angie, sat on the couch and offered a small, nervous smile once she saw me. She looked the same as two years ago, more like a cartoon character than a person, with dark brown pixie-cut hair, grey eyes and wearing clothes way too big for her petite figure.

If they got together right after Caiden and I broke up, it meant they were in a relationship for a little over two years. In a way, I envied her. Not because of Caiden, but because her life was probably way less complicated than mine.

She found the right guy to love. Someone who wouldn't keep secrets from her, even if those secrets meant the existence of vampires.

I waved, "Hey."

A strained, nervous chuckle fell off her lips, "Sorry to barge in. Caiden said this was the place to be if there was ever a war and, well, I guess there might be."

I hugged myself, feeling strangely self-aware. The last time I saw her, she was terrified of me. Now, her presence reminded me of how I acted back then, pissed off at the entire world, ready to become an actual monster.

"This might not be the safest place for a human." I admitted.

"No, but being associated with Caiden might be more dangerous right now." Ian cut in, not looking at me. "If Vilmus finds out Caiden hacked them, no one he knows is safe."

"That didn't cross my mind." I whispered.

"I guess it's a good thing I don't have any family." Caiden chuckled, causing a very awkward silence. "Uh, I see no one is in the mood for dark humour."

"Are we going to be living here now?" I asked.

"Only if something goes terribly wrong." Ian said. "We should still spend most of our time upstairs, just in case someone's really watching us. We don't want to raise any alarms."

"This is where we'll he plotting." Caiden added.

My lips tightened, "Great."

"What is going on?" Tina asked, throwing herself on one of the beds. Sheila was on the other one.

"Vilmus wants to reveal himself to the humans." Ian answered.

Tina shrugged, "Isn't that going to anger humans a little bit? I mean, humans aren't exactly known for accepting other species."

"Sure, some are going to be angry." Ian said. "But he's not doing it out of the blue. Powerful men are most likely backing him up, men he's promised immortality. And some of them have too much money to spend in a single lifetime."

"What would that mean for us?" I asked, realising that if we failed to stop him, we would too be outed.

"A witch hunt, probably." Ian looked at the papers again. "Sorry, vampire hunt."

M thoughts escaped to what would realistically happen. People would be angry. Oh, how angry they would be. Not the rich and powerful ones, though. No, they'd see as an opportunity. But common people would be ready to fight us themselves.

"It would be a scandal." I breathed out.

"It would be chaos." Ian corrected me. "That's exactly what Vilmus wants. If there's chaos, everyone will be too busy to pay attention to him."

I swallowed the rising panic, "What can we do about it?"

"We can try to kill him before he does it." Ian said. "Which means we have approximately three weeks to do it and we have no idea how many people he has behind him, what kind of weaponry he has or where he is."

"Oh, so we're screwed." Tina laughed. "Good to know."

"Not one hundred percent screwed." Caiden said. "There's still a chance I might find out where they are located if I continue hacking. So, I'd say we're ninety-percent screwed."

"Oh, thank God." Tina rolled her eyes.

"What about the next killing?" I asked. "The one three days away."

"We have people in place." Ian said. "William recruited the police force and the military. Fifteen men against four vampires. And we will be nearby."

I squinted, "We can't all go, though. Not if someone might be watching this house."

Ian met my gaze, "You and I will go. The others will stay here."

"Why?" My heart skipped a beat.

Ian turned away, his shoulders almost unnoticeably jumping up and down, "They decided the two of us are most likely to disappear somewhere alone. It would be less suspicious."

"Right." I murmured.

Just what I needed, being stuck on some remote rooftop with Ian in complete silence.

"Where... would we be located?" I asked.

"Above the crime scene." Ian said, his backed turned to me. "The goal is not to intervene, only observe. You'll be on one rooftop and I'll be on another."

"Alright." I breathed out. "How are we going to leave if no one can see us?"

"Through your secret tunnel." Ian answered.

Right. We had a secret tunnel that led from the armoury to the mountain. Not a bad idea. If anyone saw us leaving through the front door, they'd assume we knew where they'd hit-

"Wait." I lifted my gaze. "Aren't they going to know someone knew where they'd attack if the police comes?"

Caiden and Ian exchanged a glance.

"Good point." Ian mumbled. "Someone should call the cops."

"From the neighbours' house?" Caiden suggested. "They could say they heard someone breaking in."

"Good, that's good." Ian nodded. "And William can have his guys answer the call. This could work."

"Yay me." I mumbled, not feeling particularly festive.

"Are we done here for today?" Tina yawned. "Because you're boring and I'm tired."

Sheila already dosed off.

"Go to sleep." Ian faced the bar. "But only for a couple of hours. We need to train. No more drinking." Said he as he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and walked out of the lounge bar.

"Where are Thomas and William?" I asked Caiden.

"Out." He murmured, shuffling the papers in his hands. "Buying stuff for the basement. Human food and such."

I felt awkward in the same room with Caiden and Angie, especially since Tina and Sheila were sleeping.

"I'm gonna go." I smiled tightly and scurried towards the door.

"Chloe." Caiden called. "Thank you."

My glance jumped between him and his girlfriend, "What for?"

"For taking me in." Angie stuttered. "After I was such a jerk to you."

"Uh," I chuckled, "Yeah, no problem."

Like I had the time to unravel that amidst all the other conflicts I still haven't solved. In the matter of weeks, both of my best friends returned to my life without even a damn apology. One turned into a vampire without my knowledge and the other brought the girl who shunned me from campus on his arm.

I decided to go check on the lab. Throughout this entire situation, I hoped I haven't forgotten about a blood delivery or... taxes. Gosh, I needed a personal assistant, quickly.

As I pressed my finger against the scanner, I glimpsed the open prisoner cell in the corner of my eyes. As I walked over, I saw Ian sitting on the floor inside, a bottle of whiskey in his hand and a numb expression on his face.

A part of me wanted to walk away, because I sure as hell couldn't handle this conversation now, but he seemed different, weird.

I leaned against the steel doorframe, "You're sitting in a prisoner cell."

"Figured I could shut the door if someone came by." Ian grabbed the edge of the door, wanting to slam it into my face, but I pushed back.

"Uh, what's going on?" I asked.

"Nothing, Chloe." He buried his face between his knees and went through his hair with both hands. "I'm having a glass of whiskey by myself."

"Which is concerning in and of itself." I pursed my lips. "Are you okay?"

He leaned back, his head bumping against the steel, "No."

Carefully, I sat on the floor on the opposite side, slightly worried he'd tell me to get lost. But he didn't. His light brown eyes settled on me and he pushed the whiskey bottle towards me.

"Fighting lost battles." He said. "That sentence sums up my life."

"This is not a lost battle." I took the bottle. "We have a chance."

"Do we?" Ian let out a throaty laugh. "Because if they come out, if they reveal themselves in front of humans, we're screwed. There's no stopping them then. Hell, the only chance we might stand is joining them."

"So, we'll do whatever it takes." I said. "Even if it means waiting."

Ian looked at me, "Is that the kind of life you want to lead? The kind where you're always trying to defeat the next enemy."

I smiled, "Isn't that exactly what life is? Always trying to defeat the next enemy, trying to tackle the next problem, trying to deal with whatever is serves in front of you?"

"You deserve better." Ian said. "You shouldn't have been dragged into this shit with me."

"That was my decision." I sighed. "And I stand by it."

"Even if we lose?" Ian asked. "Because we might."

"My decision." I repeated.

Ian took the whiskey bottle.

I wondered if things would have been different if I had made the right decision two years, if I had told him how I felt.

"You dropped out of college to look for me." He said suddenly.

My gaze jumped to him, "Not because of you. I mean, sure, I looked for you, but I dropped out of college because Caiden and Sheila told me to leave campus. And because I needed to stop being human for a while."

"That's not what I wanted for you." Ian said. "I thought... if you finally got rid of me, you'd be happy. I thought you might even get back together with Caiden. But you were looking for me instead."

As I watched his eyes water for the first time ever, at least in front of me, that same old consuming fear choked me.

"You would have done the same for me." I said. "At least I hope."

Ian stared above me, the neon lightning reflecting in his watery eyes. His lack of answering sent a nervous shiver down my spine.

"You're not fighting lost battles." I said, hoping conversation would ease my anxiety. "You fought for me, and well, I like to think I'm not a lost battle."

"You're not." Ian smiled, "Have some rest, Chlo, we have to train tomorrow."

I guessed he wanted to be left alone, so I listened, despite wanting to stay by his side.

"You should go to sleep, too." I mumbled as I stood up. "Whiskey is good company only for a short while."

Ian said nothing, but as I walked out of the prison cell, I heard him murmur.

"I would have looked for you, too. Till the end of times."