There was a great roar of objection and I frowned, unsure of where he was going. Violet’s face fell and she went back to staring at her lap, fiddling with a loose thread on her shirt. I edged forward on my chair as near to the table as I could and reached across with my foot – the table was long, not wide – until I found her leg. I nudged it slightly. Her gaze shot up.

‘Are you all right?’ I mouthed. She nodded and smiled, but not very convincingly. ‘Really?’ She pulled a face and grimaced. No. I hooked my foot behind her leg and pulled it towards me. Not exactly gently, she kicked me as she started to slide off her seat. ‘Sorry,’ I added, hoping she would know I was apologising for a whole lot more.

How did I nearly let her go? What would I have done if they had …

‘Let me explain,’ Eaglen called over the noise. He took another mouthful from his glass, seeming unfazed. ‘The Lee family need protection. Once news of Lee’s deed reaches the wider dimension, their lives will be in danger. If we place the King and Crown’s Protection over them, it will act as a deterrent to anyone planning revenge, shall we call it.’

Faunder’s son, Adam, spoke up. ‘So what if they die? They are traitors and it fulfils the Prophecy, doesn’t it?’

Violet’s hands balled into fists and her eyes burnt with rage. She leaned forward and glared down the table at him. ‘That’s my family you’re talking about,’ she snarled in such a menacing voice she could pass for a vampire, any day. A few eyebrows were raised, but Adam said nothing.

‘Nobody beyond the innocents needs to die. Violet will fulfil that part of the Prophecy by becoming a vampire and thus denouncing her family blood,’ Eaglen continued.

‘That’s all very well,’ Henry said. ‘But I still don’t like the idea of having Lee in government. He’s dangerous to us all.’

‘Let me get to the good bit, young one,’ Eaglen chuckled. ‘We will instruct Lee to resign from his post as Secretary of Defence. If he doesn’t, we remove the King and Crown’s Protection and the Lee family … how shall I say it? Become dinner.’

I laughed, shocked rather than amused. ‘But that’s blackmail. Did you agree to this?’ I asked, turning to Violet.

Before she could say anything, Eaglen cut in. ‘It was Violet’s idea.’

My mouth fell open, as did everyone else’s. ‘Is that true?’

There was something unreadable in her eyes and expression as she nodded. ‘He’ll agree to it,’ she said, defiantly. I ran a hand down the back of my head. I had to hand it to her. She had guts. ‘He might be family, but it’s a risk that has to be taken. He can’t stay in government, I know that.’ Her words were not directed at everyone, but at me, and me alone.

Father leaned back in his chair, sighing in one of those rare moments he was stunned. ‘It’s flawed, but we don’t have much choice.’

The talk descended into logistics – the general consensus was that Lee had arranged for the rogues to be at the borders at one o’clock the next afternoon. Nobody knew if he was aware of who his daughter was.

It was another hour before anything definite was agreed. Violet would stay within the walls of the mansion, despite her protests. Most of my family would too, save for Arabella, who would join the Sagean Princess, Joanna, and Eaglen, alongside some of the more trustworthy members of the council who had been charged with bringing Lee back. In theory, it would work. In reality, a lot could go wrong. We didn’t know what Lee’s plans were. We didn’t know how he would react. We didn’t know how Violet would react: she couldn’t go soft on her father. There was a mounting sense of unease in the pit of my stomach. This had been too easy and I didn’t like it.

‘There is one more thing,’ Joanna said, standing up as the meeting headed towards a natural close. ‘As the Lady He**ine has declined My Majesty’s protection, the Lady Autumn Rose has requested the presence of Lady Violet and the council at court, in Athenea, as soon as possible. I understand that it is inconvenient, but we have the capacity to welcome as many as—’

Father cut her off with a wave of his hand, standing up. ‘The court will spend the winter season in Athenea.’ A wave of shock passed around the room. I stared, aghast, at my father. The court had not moved from Varnley since the Forties and even then, that had only been for a few weeks. ‘I suggest you communicate with your families to inform them to ready themselves. We leave in two weeks. You are dismissed.’

Most seemed too stunned to speak and silently filed out. I remained rooted to my seat until one of the attendants appeared by my father’s side, as he instructed him to inform the sizeable court of the move. Distracted by that and Henry, beginning to formulate more detailed plans for the next day, I didn’t notice as Violet slipped towards the door. But my father did.

‘Violet,’ he called, not bothering to look up from the notes he was writing. She froze, hand on the door. ‘You cannot leave this dimension and enter Athenea as a human.’

Her eyes widened. The meaning was implicit. She had to turn, and she had to turn soon.

FIFTY-NINE

Violet

I think Kaspar saw the fear in my eyes when he told me he was going to hunt. I think he knew I would sit on my bed with my arms wrapped around my knees, curled into the most uncomfortable position so I wouldn’t fall asleep. I didn’t want to follow him in my dreams, which was irrational. I knew that soon, I would have to hunt too. I had to turn. I had no choice now. Whether I wanted it or not – which God, I did – was irrelevant. But it was more than that. I didn’t want to know his thoughts. I didn’t want to know what he wanted to do to my father and I certainly didn’t want to know what he had been thinking when he left me to die.

Maybe that was why as he swung his cloak around his shoulders, he caught my hand and said sorry.

There was so much to think about and yet he was thinking about her. Not that he minded hugely. It was better than lingering on the thought that in twelve hours, Lee would be within a hairsbreadth of Varnley’s borders. It was not an event that he would ever have foreseen before the previous July and he felt a familiar anger rise towards the surface, which he didn’t try to quench. There was no point trying to hide it from her. Lee was the man who had consigned his mother to death; he had a right to be angry. It was bad enough staying restrained in public. He couldn’t do it in private as well.

He was thirsty but most of the deer had fled to where the Sage camped, drawn to their high-pitched laughs, which settled amongst the canopy. It sent a shiver down the figure’s spine. The Sage might move in harmony with nature, but they were not of this Earth – no creature that could kill a man with one word was of this earth. The cloaked figure sighed. It wasn’t hard to see why Athenea was the most powerful Kingdom. Nobody dared question their authority. Either way, he was glad he was not a slayer having to face them later that day.

But what he really needed was human blood. In fact, he needed the city.

A small smile broke on his lips. That’s where he would take her, when all of this had died down. To Victoria, on the south coast of Vancouver Island, or the bigger Vancouver. It wasn’t so far from Athenea. In fact, any city in the first dimension would do, because the humans knew about vampires. Some were willing to be bitten; most would panic when they knew vampires were about. There was nothing like hysteria on a hunt.

He stopped, realizing his thoughts were straying to where they shouldn’t. She would be following him, if she was asleep. But he couldn’t stop his tongue from gliding over his lips in expectation, especially as he glimpsed the white flash of a tail amongst the trees to his right. Only a rabbit, but it would do. Without making a sound, he etched nearer to the creature, which was completely oblivious to the predator until the light from the moon, creeping between the pines, was blocked by a large shadow. Startled, it kicked at the earth with its hind legs, making to run. But the cloaked figure stooped down and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck before it could get far.

There was a snap. Might as well be merciful.

I woke up in a cold sweat, half-naked on top of the sheets, patting the bedside table with my hand until I found the lamp.

Will I ever get used to the killing? I thought, struggling to shrug the dream off. I doubted it. I knew it was possible to not kill to drink, but it still felt like I was betraying my vegetarianism. As to drinking from a human … well, that was plain cannibalism. He could take me to every city in the world and I would not kill a human.

Yet you are worried about controlling yourself, my voice added. And you have no qualms about drinking donor blood. What is so different about drinking from a human?

I didn’t answer the voice. What was I meant to say? It had a point and it knew it. They were all questions that would be answered when I turned anyway.

I threw myself out the bed and scampered across the room to grab a pair of socks. The floors were always so cold here. Icy, icy cold. They will feel warm to me when I turn. So will Kaspar. Will I miss that?

Knowing there was no way I would sleep now, I turned and started to make my way through the darkness – the lamp only lit the one side of the room. But as I neared the opposite wall, my feet tangled in something and I stumbled, hopping along like my laces were tied together.

It was my coat, dumped on the floor the previous morning when I had rushed back in. I shook my head, pulling the sweaty T-shirt I had changed out of away from it and dumping both on the bed. As I did, the magazine that Autumn had given me fell out. I scowled at the faces beaming up at me, all dressed in black tie. It’s all right for some. But my curiosity burnt and I picked it up, examining the photos. I could pick out the vampires, gaunt and drawn; and the Sage, their scars bright and obvious across their right sides. But then there were others. They could all pass for humans at a glance, but there was something different about them. Their eyes were too colourful, or too large; their cheekbones too pronounced or their hair too fair; their was something ominous about the black ribbon tied around the arm of one girl and something wild about the eyes of another; and tucked in the hair of almost every girl was a black rose with white leaves – Death’s Touch.

I shuddered and rolled it up, deciding I would read it downstairs. Flicking the lamp off and feeling my way towards the door, I managed to get out without hitting anything else. In the entrance hall, I settled myself a few steps from the bottom of the staircase, leaning against the banister and working my way through the magazine, page by page.

Sage, vampires, the Damned, wolves, shifters, … other creatures with names in Latin that I couldn’t pronounce; all with grand titles like Lady or Duchess, Earl or Elder; all clothed in dresses with trains and ladies in tow, or suits with cumber bands and ties, inscriptions below each of the photos stating who it was, what event, when … all there, laid out like a fairytale concealed in gossip columns, agony aunts and articles featuring the latest trends in formal wear. I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so worked up about what was to come.

My thoughts wandered to the humans of the other dimensions. From what I could discern from my dream, they knew about all of this. What do they think of vampires? Are they accepting? What would happen if the humans of this dimension found out? But at the end of the day, vampires were predators and the humans of this dimension could never know about their existence – they caused enough panic in other dimensions and they didn’t even live there.

The weight on my shoulders grew heavier. I was a He**ine, but I barely even knew what that entailed and to top that off, I barely knew anything about the dimensions, and this was a world I was about to become part of.

On the bright side, my voice chirped in a tone so cheery I would slap it if I could; you get to see your father soon. That didn’t seem like such a bright side. It just filled me with dread and mounting anxiety. I hadn’t seen him in – I paused, counting the weeks back – three and a half months. I had changed. Will he approve of what I am? I mentally slapped myself. Of course he wouldn’t approve.

I was yanked from my thoughts by the sound of the doors being pulled open by one of the butlers. Kaspar entered, his cloak wrapped in his arms, nodding his thanks to the butler who glanced in my direction and promptly disappeared down a servant’s corridor.

Kaspar’s gaze followed the butler’s and he frowned. ‘What are you doing up so late?’

‘Sleeping wasn’t really working out for me,’ I admitted.

He bit his lower lip. ‘I tried not to think of your father and all of that, but I can’t help it.’

I shook my head and half raised and then lowered my shoulders. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ I patted the step beside me and he came and sat down, slinging the cloak over the banister. ‘Is this what it’s like, being a vampire? In each other’s heads all the time?’

He smiled. ‘Not really. We keep ourselves to ourselves.’ He picked the open magazine up off my lap and flicked through it. ‘You shouldn’t read this stuff. It’s just a load of gossip and crap.’

I took it back, a little annoyed. ‘I was just curious about the dimensions. Autumn gave it to me.’

He sighed, resting his forearms on his knees. ‘You can see what the other dimensions are like for yourself when we get to Athenea.’

‘I’d like to have some idea what the world I’m joining is like, you know,’ I muttered and he chuckled as I pouted.

He picked the magazine up again and flicked to the back page, holding it up and arching an eyebrow. ‘And Aunt Agatha is going to do that, is she?’

I shrugged, as if to say ‘why not?’ ‘Besides, I’ve been thinking,’ I murmured.