William let out a loud, slightly unhinged laugh, "It seems as if life truly goes full circle on you sometimes. I assume this means we have to go back to the college campus?"

I nodded, feeling the lump of fear forming in my throat. I haven't spoken to Caiden in two years, I haven't stepped foot on campus grounds ever since they've told me never to come back. Suddenly, facing both Caiden and Sheila again felt more frightening than facing an entire hoard of bloodthirsty vampires.

"He should be able to do it." I ignored the churning sensation in my belly. "He's been hacking shit since he was fifteen years old. He's extremely talented."

William grew surprisingly quiet and his gaze fell to the ground.

"I can go." Thomas suggested. "I mean, Caiden's never particularly liked me, but he's never hated me either. He might be willing to listen."

"No." I shook my head. "I should go. I owe him that."

"Are you sure?" Thomas asked. "He did ask you to stay away from him."

"Two years have passed." I shrugged. "And it's not like we're asking him to get involved completely. No one will know he's the one who hacked the system."

William finally looked up, "Is... Is Sheila still on campus?"

"I think so." I let out a sigh. "She's blocked me on social media, but I'm stalking her over a fake account."

Thomas chuckled, "Seriously? Which account is that?"

"Pinterest pictures of pretty nails."

"Did you create the account just so you could stalk her?"

"Not just her!" I defended myself. "I'm also stalking Caiden's girlfriend, Angie."

"And you remain the queen of pettiness." Thomas laughed shortly.

"Which reminds me," I took out my phone, "We need to rent a car if we're going to the campus."

"We can walk." William whispered.

"No, we absolutely cannot." I countered. "I haven't been there in two years. If you think I'm showing up on foot, you don't know me very well."

William nodded.

"Wait, we?" Thomas jumped in. "You want to go, too?"

William shrugged, "Maybe I shouldn't, but... I need to see her."

His face distorted into a deep, solemn frown. He still cared about her, but he's been a man enough not to stalk her on social media. And here I was, not only stalking everyone who told me to stay out of their lives, but also plotting the creation of an army just because I couldn't accept that a certain vampire simply wasn't that into me.

"You should go soon, then." Thomas stood up and looked out of the terrace door, checking our nefarious pyre. "The fire burned out."

"Good." I stood up, and when William offered a questioning gaze, I shook my head, "You don't want to know."

"When can we leave?" He asked instead.

"Tomorrow morning." I took out my phone and dialled Tina. "The sooner, the better. Feel free to stay here, we have plenty of rooms."

William nodded.

"What?" Tina answered after a couple of rings. "The woman is alive and well, if that's what you want to know."

"How soon can you rent a car?" I asked.

"Which car?"

"Something expensive." I said. "And please, stop by the store and buy some clothes for William. He can't keep walking around like he's just stepped out of an Abba music video."

"Why?" William glanced at me, but I brushed him off.

"Fine." Tina grunted. "Do I want to know what you're doing?"

"No." I hung up.

"Is there anything I should do?" Thomas asked.

"Make sure no one gets killed in this house while we're gone." I sighed. "Pamela is teaching the vamplings how to behave, but she's already tired. You might have to replace her."

"No problem." Thomas said. "What about Tina?"

A small smile gripped my lips, "What about Tina?"

"Is she going to be here?" Thomas pretended to be very casual about it, but he wouldn't meet my gaze, which made me laugh.

"Yes, she's here." I said. "Make sure she doesn't kill someone. Come on, Will, I'll show you to your room."

William followed me up the stairs. The mansion's layout was pretty old-fashioned; long hallways, separate rooms, and plenty of hidden passageways. The previous owners restored the installations, took down the ugly, brown tapestry, painted the walls white, and fixed the creaking staircase, but they haven't done much about the ground plan.

Thomas and I took down the wall between the living room and the kitchen, created the more open area and connected the living room with the terrace, but other than that, we've pretty much left the house the way we found it.

I led William to one of the plain guestrooms. Most of the bedrooms were simple; dark-wood furniture, white walls, and oil paintings covering the walls.

"You can stay here." I opened the wooden windows, letting the fresh, mountain air inside. "No one will disturb you."

"So," William put the leather satchel with the laptop on the dark-red armchair in the corner, "You've been living with Thomas?"

I nodded, "It's easier that way. We took out a home loan. We figured, since we're immortal and everything, that we'll pay it off eventually."

William eyed me, "Are you two...?"

"Doing it?" I laughed. "No. I'd lie if I said we haven't tried, but we work best as a platonic, bickering married couple. Plus, he's totally into Tina and I... well, I'm complicated."

"Ian?" William asked, as if reading my mind.

"It's..." I sighed and squeezed my fingers, "He's hard to shake off."

"I understand." William nodded. "He's out there somewhere, you know?"

"I know." I swallowed the emerging lump in my throat. "Where have you been? We thought... we thought you went into ancient sleep."

"I thought about it." Will said. "But there seemed to be some unfinished business to take care of. I've been around mostly, but I didn't want to bother you."

"Well, I'm glad you're here." The smile I offered was strained and thin, just like the relationship between us. Too much time has passed. "I'll leave you alone, I still have some things to take care of tonight. We'll be on our way first thing in the morning."

"Chloe," William called, "Do you have any blood?"

I grinned, "The fridge is full. There's also a wine cellar in the basement if you want to check out the collection."

"Thank you." William smiled and I left him in the room.

A strange feeling gnawed at me as I dragged myself to my office; a book-filled room with a large, sturdy, lacquered oak table, a liquor cabinet, and a huge leather armchair. The room was pretty much the way the previous owners left it, except for the splashes of pink on the walls and an embarrassing collection of steamy novels right next to all the dictionaries and science books.

For two years, we've been running into dead ends and I've been close to giving up altogether dozens of times. But now, there was a possibility of actually finding something and it scared the shit out of me.

The idea of making progress turned so impossible I was afraid it would just lead to another dead end.

By the time I've answered all the emails, arranged all the business for the upcoming months, and covered the track regarding the dead woman in my backyard, the night has fallen.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Tina peeked through the crack, "I rented the car and bought clothes."

"Which car?"

"A Jaguar. They were out of Lamborghinis."

"Good." I nodded. "You'll help Thomas deal with the vamplings over the next couple of days. I don't know how long I'll be gone."

"Alright." Tina entered the room and closed the door behind her. "Hey, are you okay? Your heartbeat is like a little hummingbird."

I let out a small laugh, "Yeah, I'm just nervous. I think we've finally got ourselves a lead and I'm scared to be disappointed again. Plus, I have to go see Caiden and Sheila tomorrow. The last time I saw them, they hated my guts."

"At least you have a Jag." She dropped in the office chair on the opposite side of the table, and put her heels up on the lacquered oak. "And you're kind of rich. And you're a vampire. You're a rich vampire with a Jag."

"Yeah, I guess that's something." I chuckled. "But still, it feels surreal. I don't even know what I'll say to them."

"Sorry you were too chicken-shit to hang out with me?" Tina raised her eyebrow.

I let out a laugh and shook my head, "They'd kick me out again."

Tina turned out to be my favourite Barbie. For starters, she claimed she wanted to become a vampire ever since I've used her blood to feed and she hasn't regretted her decision since. Vampirism seemed to be her destiny. Furthermore, there was a casualness to her I greatly appreciated. To her, every problem had a simple solution.

And to someone like me, someone obsessed with creating more problems instead of solving them, that trait was beyond valuable.

"What would you tell Ian if you saw him right now?" She asked.

That question I had an answer to.

"I'd slap the shit out of him."

"Good. He deserves it." Tina said.

"Do you think what we're doing is wrong?" I asked, finding her the easiest to talk to.

Thomas was always so judgemental, and he was slightly passive. If the world was filled with Thomases, we'd all compliantly wait for problems to solve themselves. He didn't like stepping over certain lines, he didn't like putting himself out there, or voicing his opinions. Well, he voiced his opinion when he disagreed with me, which as all the time.

"Probably." The Barbie shrugged and reached for the bottle of gin on my table. "But what the Sacred Order is doing is wronger. So, you know, you gotta choose the lesser of two evils."

"I guess you're right." I sighed. "I'm just sorry for dragging you into this."

"We wanted to be dragged into it." She said. "I'm always up for kicking some vampire ass. Plus, if you don't wage a war or two, have you even lived?"

I clanked my glass against hers and laughed, "Your thought process is fascinating."

"I'm a fascinating woman." Tina put her feet back on the ground. "I'm going out with Pam, I'll see you when you get back."

I squinted, "Don't kill anyone."

Tina rolled her eyes, "When have I ever killed anyone?"

"You don't want me to answer that question."

"No, better not." She flung her hair over her shoulder and stepped out of my office. "Good night, Chloe."

"Night."

I put my own feet up on the table and sipped my gin. Tina was right; my heart was fluttering like a hummingbird, hitting my ribcage with each beat, as if trying to jump out and free itself from the restrains of my skin.

The feeling that gnawed at me was premonition, and I feared it with every fibre of my being. On the one hand, I was so, so scared to be disappointed again. We've been doing this for far too long. And even though I didn't want to give up, I felt myself getting closer and closer every day.

On the other hand, I was scared of finding Ian. This futile search has become my comfort zone, my safe space. Constantly looking and never finding anything. I was afraid to step out of it.

A ringing sound spread through the room, startling me. I frown, realising it wasn't my phone.

My eyes widened and my heart skipped a beat, as I reached inside my bag and took out the burner Thomas brought from the crime scene in New York.

Oh, God.

Tentatively, I answered, "Hello?"

"Stop looking for me, Chloe."

A dam cracked open in my soul. I jumped out of my seat, my heart rapidly thudding in my chest.

"Ian?"

"Just stop, okay?" His voice brought forth ugly, angry tears. "It's too dangerous."

"Don't tell me what to do." I uttered, resentment and anger and bitterness coating my voice.

"Live your life, Chloe." Ian sighed on the other end. "Stop wasting it on me."

"Where are you?" I asked, barely able to focus. "Tell me where you are."

"Just let me handle this, will you?" He asked. "This isn't your fight."

I breathed in, forcing myself to remain calm and focused, but the constant beating of my heart in my ears made it near impossible.

"It's like you've forgotten who I am." I said, forcing a small, casual laugh through my tightened lips, which sounded everything but casual.

"Chlo..."

"Shut up." I commanded. "I'm not giving up. And in case you've truly forgotten, I can be very annoying."

"I hope you enjoy bitter disappointment then."

He hung up on me.