[Content Warning: strong language] The delicate breath that graced Deakes’s cheek was warm, yet it chilled his soul. The sound of sobbing reached his ears and he was surprised that it was not only Pippa’s tears which rent the air. ‘She’s gone,’ the vampire croaked. The blood at her temple was forgotten, the wound superficial. Deakes could not find words to console Pippa, nor to express his loss. At the end, Sloane had been his strongest ally. With her gone, he was alone. A

[Content Warning: strong language / violence / gore] The atmosphere in the rec room was thick with a multitude of emotions. Deakes was not sure which would break first, Harris’s frustration, Theo’s disgust or Eddie’s rage. Whoever erupted, Deakes knew Zhu and Fletch would side with Harris, Jaq with Theo, and Sloane and Pippa would support Eddie. As the most neutral person present, he had to take control of the situation before it became a bloodbath. ‘I’m taking the kobaloi b

‘Andrea trapped me here.’ Though Eddie’s voice was frail, he silenced the others in the cell. Jordan Deakes’s mind reeled. He must have misheard. Andrea Buchannan, the woman who had recruited him into ARC, was the one person whose motivations he knew to be pure. He looked around the room in the hope that someone could explain this madness. Harris’s eyes displayed his own shock. Zhu Jing’s lips were held in a tight smirk. The kobaloi, Theo, nodded grimly and said, ‘I knew s