As the sun set, a notification from Eliza flashed across AJ’s phone.

“Location, Flat 61” was all it said. He tapped it open and it redirected to his Maps app. Her place wasn’t far from his own.

Nice block of flats - he thought to himself, locking his computer and heading out of the flat, making sure to grab the UV flare laying next to his keyboard. Five or six minutes later he arrived at the base of Eliza’s building. He pressed the buzzer for flat 60.

“Come on up, It’s floor 31” her voice rang out fuzzily, through the speaker. The door opened with a metallic click and he walked through, straight into the lift which carried him to the 31st floor. Not just the 31st floor, but directly into Eliza’s flat, like something out of a movie. Eliza was waiting for him. She had evidently just woken up, her hair mussed from sleep, falling in tousled waves around her face. She wore an oversized t-shirt that hung loose on her slender frame, and those green eyes still carried that sleepy haze.

“Glad to see you made an effort,” he joked. “I’m seriously impressed with this place though, it must've cost a bomb!”

“The guy I work for is over two hundred years old and very rich… and I handle his money!” They shared a laugh, AJ’s cut slightly shorter as a question crossed his mind.

“Just how old are you then?”

“74, but I don’t look a day over 25,” she giggled, mostly at AJ’s dropped jaw.

Oh God I kissed a grandma…

“I am not a grandma!” she exclaimed, clutching her chest as if he'd wounded her.

“Ah that’s never going to get old…”

“I can also sense something else…” her voice cooled, a thin layer of ice forming over her words. “You had lunch with… someone today?”

“Oh, yeah, old school friend-turned-work colleague. She was teaching me stuff about vampires.” AJ said nonchalantly. The tension melted from Eliza. AJ, busy examining the expensive fixtures of the apartment, missed the flicker of possessiveness that had momentarily hardened her.

“Do you think she taught you better than an actual Vampire would?” Eliza said, a hint of something tinged her voice.

Is she jealous? - AJ considered her words for a moment.

“No, actually, let me run it by you…” Eliza turned on her heel, beckoning AJ to join her in the living room. He sank into a plush loveseat, and she settled beside him, her knee brushing against his thigh as she angled her body toward him. “She said a couple of things that I should probably clarify.”

“I’ll clarify, but it stays between us. I've already bent more regulations than a bobby pin at the sock hop...”

“Yeah… sock hop… well… she said that Vampires hunt based on fear? And that you feed on drama?”

It was Eliza’s turn to consider AJ’s words.

“There is truth to that. When we hunt, like, properly hunt, the blood kind of takes over. It's animal. It’s instinct. Has she come across this a lot?”

“She’s out in the field, likes to think she hunts Vampires, so I guess she must’ve.”

Eliza nodded, pondering her next words.

“If she’s been fighting hungry Vamps, then yes it’s true.”

“So if I controlled my breathing and turned my fear off, so to speak, that would make me less of a target.”

Eliza narrowed her eyes, genuine curiosity painted across her features.

“Yes… but how would mortals figure something like that out? Just how long have the OUSR been hunting us?”

AJ shrugged. “No idea. It’s what I was told, she taught me a load of breathing and told me to practice it daily.”

“Then you should. It wouldn’t stop me from hunting you, but it sounds like a good trick up your sleeve. What was the other thing?”

Hunt me any time - AJ smiled, his thought prompting Eliza’s lips to curve up slightly. “She said that Vampires are split into three categories, strength, speed and mind. Fast ones aren’t particularly strong, and strong is not fast. Mind ones play tricks on you.”

“Gross oversimplification,” Eliza retorted, almost proudly. “There are certain abilities that we have passed down by the blood from our Sire, and their Sire before them. You can categorise us, but there are categories that she’s missed.”

“Can you clarify those?” AJ asked, genuinely curious.

“Far too many to do that, I believe there are some abilities that I’ve not even heard of.”

“What can you do?”

Eliza stood up abruptly, interlocked her fingers and stretched them until they let out a soft crack. “There isn’t a word really for what I do. It probably fits into the broader ‘mind’ category your friend created. My strongest skill, if you like; I can influence beings. Vampires, mortal, animal… if I concentrate and stare into the eyes, I can start influencing and imparting my will.”

“Sounds dangerous. Have you ever done that to me?” AJ asked.

She turned away from him, her teeth worrying at the edge of her thumbnail. “I’ll take that as a yes…”

“I…tried,” she responded, back still turned, “I will admit, but for some reason it didn’t work. I’ve never met a mortal who’s resisted it before…”

Can’t control this! - AJ smiled, briefly enjoying his own joke.

“I didn’t try as hard as I could have though, something drew me into wanting to talk to you…”

I don't know whether that’s a lie or the truth, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt… she seems to have risked a lot…

“I have… we both have…” she pivoted to face him, her green eyes glimmering with tears.

“Ah, don’t cry… I’m not angry or anything… a lot’s happened in the last few days, I…” his words died in his throat as she crossed the distance between them in a blur, pulling him against her body. The embrace felt paradoxical; emotionally warm yet physically cool, her vampiric flesh lacking the living heat he'd grown accustomed to in human contact.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. AJ sensed these weren't just tears about failing to control his mind. Something deeper was breaking through; as if defying her masters had finally caught up with her, and she could no longer hold back the flood. He held her tight, allowing the tears to subside. “I think… it’s been days since I fed…”

AJ froze.

So this is how I die

“I’d never drain you fully…” she said quietly, “I’m not exactly big…”

Do it then.

She looked up at him, her green eyes still swimming in tears, the irises like jade coins submerged in shallow water, their edges blurred by the moisture that clung to her lashes but wouldn't fall; suspended there in that liminal space between composure and collapse.

Her fangs slid into place with a soft click that reminded him of a switchblade opening.

Her lips brushed his neck, cool and soft, then parted as her fangs punctured his skin.

AJ's body convulsed, a strangled cry tearing from his throat as liquid fire coursed through his veins, each pull of her mouth sending shockwaves of terrifying pleasure straight to his core.

The sensation vanished as suddenly as it had overwhelmed him, leaving only twin points of cooling heat on his neck.

AJ folded her into his arms, the cotton of her t-shirt cool against his skin, like fabric that had been hanging in shadow.

“Thank you…” she whispered.

“Don’t mention it, I’ve got a lot of blood, what’s a pint or two anyway?”

“And you continue to regenerate it!” she laughed. As if struck by a hot poker, Eliza jumped up to standing, causing AJ to cry out in pain. “Mr. Grey! What did he say!”

A wave of ice washed over AJ as he replayed the events of last night.

“He saw me suck… take your blood.”

“He saw it? Where the fuck was he standing?!” she exclaimed, half questioning, half raging.

“He said he didn’t care though.” AJ reassured her. It didn’t have the effect he wanted.

“What else did he say?” Eliza asked, still agitated.

“He said something about patterns. Same hum, same hour and when that happens something burns.”

“That doesn’t mean anything at all.”

“Erm… then he said it started like this last time, small things… anomalies. The Vesperate noticed they might not be in charge, something stuttered and the whole district disappeared before dawn.”

“Something burning and a district disappearing? Big fire in Leeds? When was the last one?”

AJ opened his phone and ran a quick search.

“1906, Wellington Street in town. Took out a clothes warehouse, now rebuilt as Tailors Corner. Any Vampire connections to that?”

“That was before I was born as a human. I’ll need to ask around…” Eliza started pacing. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, he said for you to keep your head down because your elders won’t reward you like I did for giving blood.”

Eliza threw her head back and laughed. “That’s an understatement!”

“Oh yeah, and the cameras already blink at 3.03… erm… when the streetlights start, that’s where the trouble will be. If you hear a hum, pray it isn’t coming from under your feet.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told he waffles a lot,” Eliza said, dryly. She exited the living room, returning moments later with her phone. “Let’s go investigate Tailors Corner shall we?”

–

The walk into town didn’t take too long that late at night. Tailors Corner stood at the corner of Wellington and King Street, its pristine brickwork and glass frontage a testament to how quickly cities forget what they bury.

AJ shoved his hands into his coat pockets, eyes flicking up toward the rows of CCTV domes along the lampposts.

“Plenty of cameras,” he muttered. “No blind spots here.”

“Don’t bet on that,” Eliza said quietly. Her gaze stayed fixed on the pavement as if reading something he couldn’t see.

They stepped beneath the building’s awning. A woman passed, talking on her phone; a taxi squealed to a stop. Normal sounds, yet everything felt fractionally off, like the city was holding its breath again.

“So this is it, where Leeds nearly burned down,” AJ said, still inspecting the CCTV.

Eliza closed her eyes. “It still smells of it.”

“Of fire?”

“Old fire. Burned iron.” She turned slowly, facing the corner where the building met the side street. “There was a cellar beneath this building once. I can feel it.”

“Feel it?”

“The ground remembers what it swallows.”

Heh, yeah it does.

“Don’t be gross,”

“Sorry…” AJ apologies and crouched, running his fingers along the stonework by a metal utility access cover. “CCS… it’s carved on the pavement here…”

Eliza joined him, crouching low. “That’s an old engraving. Very old.”

A vibration pulsed through the soles of their shoes; soft, rhythmic, impossible to place. It lasted only a second, then stopped.

“Is that what Mr. Grey meant about a humming?”

Eliza was still.

“We should check the cellar, there’s probably an entrance around here somewhere. There is something old under here.”

“Machine old or vampire old?” AJ asked.

“Erm… both? Come on let’s…”

The air tore open with a sound like a whip crack. AJ spun, instinctively ducking as something sliced past his ear and exploded against the wall in a shower of stone dust.

A woman stood in the mouth of the side street, framed by headlights from a passing taxi. Her eyes burned gold. The thin scarf around her shoulders fluttered in the wind like a flame.

“Radha,” Eliza whispered.

“So it’s true,” Radha said, stepping into the light. “Victor’s dog shared its blood with the living.” Her accent rolled through the night like smoke. “Do you even know what you’ve unleashed?”

“Stay out of this,” Eliza snapped, shifting slightly in front of AJ.

“You’ve broken the First Law. The Blood calls for correction.”

“Fucking Zealots…” Eiza muttered.

Radha's finger aimed at him like a gun barrel, and AJ felt something cold and powerful wrap around his mind, squeezing. He felt the world tilt as pressure built behind his eyes. His knees buckled; the ground felt charged. The streetlight above them flickered.

“I must purge you both!” Radha barked, and before AJ could process the words she was on them; blurred motion, a hiss of displaced air.

Eliza met her halfway. The impact rattled the glass of Tailors Corner, both women moving too fast for AJ’s eyes to keep up. Radha's arms had transformed, her flesh rippling like liquid mercury before hardening into curved obsidian blades that extended from elbow to fingertip, their edges catching the streetlight with an unnatural gleam that seemed to drink in the darkness around them. Sparks flared where they collided with Eliza’s hands, her fingernails like steel, flashes of light biting into the night.

A glancing blow caught AJ across the temple, and the world folded. He hit the pavement hard, vision fracturing into streaks of light.

Somewhere above him, Eliza shouted his name. The sound came underwater.

When he blinked back to consciousness, both vampires were locked against the wall, strength meeting strength, their faces inches apart, fangs bared.

Radha’s bladed appendage crept forward, agonisingly slowly, towards Eliza’s neck. Her movements had the fluid precision of centuries; Eliza's desperate resistance betrayed her youth.

“He carries your echo,” Radha hissed. “Filth!”

“Fuck you!” Eliza snarled.

AJ’s hand desperately found his coat pocket; the UV flare. His thumb fumbled the switch.

It burst to life, a spear of ultraviolet cutting the dark. Both women screamed; one in rage, one in pain.

The light seared across the wall, bleaching the night to bone. Radha reeled back, smoke curling from her exposed skin.

“AJ!” Eliza dragged him up, half-carrying him toward the junction. Behind them, Radha’s voice cracked the air: “You can’t run from the Blood!”

“We’re not running,” Eliza panted, pulling him down a side alley. “We’re surviving.”

The UV light sputtered and died. The hum under the pavement swelled once more, deeper, heavier; like a slow breath drawn by something vast beneath the city.

“Come on AJ, run!” Eliza implored him. Groggily, he regained his footing and they both took off.

The cameras along the street blinked to black for sixty-six seconds. Then the world went silent.