Then I washed my hands in the kitchen and ran back out the front door. I headed straight back to Jeramiah’s apartment. I was glad to see that the door was still ajar, as I’d left it. Pushing it open, I slid inside.

To my discomfort, River and Lucretia had left the sauna by now. I heard their voices coming from the living room. Creeping past, I was careful to hold the keys in such a way that they didn’t clink and made my way back to the storage room at the back of the apartment. I replaced the keys on the hook in the wall slowly, rearranging them against the wall to look how I remembered finding them.

Now I have to get out of here.

I was about to head back to the front door to leave when I heard a sound that chilled me to the bone.

The front door slamming.

And then Jeramiah’s voice emanating from the hallway.

Chapter 19: Ben

“Lucretia?” Jeramiah called through the apartment. “Why was the front door open?”

Footsteps sounded as Lucretia made her way along the corridor toward Jeramiah.

“It was open?” She sounded confused. “Oh, I’m sorry. River said she’d shut it.”

“River?”

“Yes. Joseph’s half-blood is here with me.”

More footsteps.

“Hi,” River said. I could detect the nervousness in her voice.

“Why are you two down here? Come up and enjoy the evening with everyone else.”

“We were cold,” Lucretia said. “We just had a session in the sauna and then we got to chatting in the living room.”

“Well you can continue talking upstairs,” Jeramiah said. “I’m just down to check on the new half-blood again, and then I’ll join you.”

No.

My eyes fixed on the keys dangling from the hook, then I looked around the storage room for somewhere to hide. It was small and although cabinets lined the walls, they weren’t large enough for me to hide inside.

“Okay, I’ll see you back up there,” Lucretia said, and footsteps moved toward the front door. Then more footsteps proceeded toward me.

I backed up into the furthermost corner of the room. If Jeramiah stepped inside, there was no way he wouldn’t spot me. He was a split second from entering as the door creaked. Then Lucretia’s voice sounded again.

“Jeramiah?”

The door stopped moving.

“What?” Jeramiah called.

“River’s just cut herself on the doorstep. Could you lend a bit of your blood?”

“All right.”

I thought for a moment that he was going to fall for the distraction and leave, but to my horror the door continued moving until it was wide open.

I was bracing myself to be seen when his arm shot into the room. He reached for the hook and grabbed the keys, then disappeared again, his footsteps fading down the corridor.

Once I sensed him move to another part of the apartment, I crept to the door and looked out. The corridor was empty, and I could hear voices coming from the living room. I could not have felt more grateful to River than I did at that moment. She must’ve moved herself in there on purpose, to grant me a clear exit through the front door. Without another moment’s hesitation, I hurried out of the storage room, silently racing toward the hallway. The door was ajar again—perhaps also River’s doing after she’d cut herself. I looked down at the step on my way out. The sharp marble ridge was lined with her bitter blood.

I launched into a sprint and didn’t let up until I arrived back outside my apartment. Breathing heavily, I leaned against the doorway and looked back across the atrium toward Jeramiah’s quarters. I wasn’t ready to enter my apartment yet—not with those three humans locked up in there. I had run out of River’s blood to distract myself.

I remained watching Jeramiah’s front door. After five minutes, he appeared, keys clasped in his right hand, and he made his way toward the elevators that would take him down to the ground floor. River and Lucretia exited the apartment soon after him. There was no sign of a limp from River—Jeramiah’s blood must have finished healing her.

If River followed the plan, she’d stay upstairs for another twenty minutes or so, and then come back down again. I had no choice but to wait in silence.

I caught sight of her across the veranda almost forty minutes later. Her face was tight with worry as she made her way toward me.

“Did you find them?”

I looked around, unwilling to speak a word out here. I just nodded and led her inside the apartment.

“They’re in the sauna,” I whispered.

Her face lit up and she motioned to rush there at once, but I gripped her hand and held her back. “I need some more of your blood.”

I took her into the kitchen and placed the container in the center of the table. She winced as I cut her skin again with my claw and filled the container with more blood. Then I set the container aside and raised her wrist to my mouth. I closed my lips over her skin and sucked. I was careful not to swallow too much, so that some blood remained in my mouth, soaking my tongue. Then I healed her wound by feeding her more of my own blood. Even with her blood in my mouth, I still wanted to stay as far as possible from the humans. I didn’t want to tempt fate.

“This is so weird,” she said, eyeing the container of her blood with disgust.

“Better than watching me slaughter your sister,” I muttered.

Chapter 20: River

I hurried to the blood-smeared door of the sauna and pushed it open. On seeing my sister safe there with Hassan and the other girl she’d shared a cell with, I burst into tears. Lalia jumped into my arms, clutching me tight as I showered her face with kisses.