Racing up the two flights of stairs towards the apartment on the third floor, Harley stopped abruptly when she reached the door, causing Mason to almost run into her and Julian to skid on the slippery floor as he avoided crashing into them. She inspected the door closely, and her suspicions were confirmed. "Why have we stopped? We need to get to those vials before-" Mason began, but she was quick to interrupt. "The catch of the door has been busted open." "Okay, so someone has been here, and it's highly likely that it was Demitri. But that doesn't mean he's found the vials or anything, for now we should stay calm and investigate further." He attempted to reassure her. "Julian, thoughts?"Julian pushed himself up from leaning against the wall opposite and rolled his eyes. "If Demitri has been here then he most likely was able to sniff out those vials of blood and get his hands on them." He answered. "In which case, we're all screwed. You, me, Harley, and every other clueless sod in

Harley exhaled deeply and crept silently down the stairs and sauntered across the hallway, into the front room. Mason, having heard her footsteps, stepped away from the window and turned around as she approached him. "What is it?" She bit down on her lower lip, hesitating over what she wanted to say. "N- nothing." She closed her eyes with a sigh. "It's just… are we sure that ambushing Demitri is the right call?"Mason's eyebrows pulled together in a frown, indicating that he was rethinking the decision himself. He took another step forward, so that they were mere inches away from one another and his hands found their way around her waist. "Honestly, I don't know… but it's the best that I've got." "Yet you don't seem too excited about going toe to toe with him." She pointed out.At some point during those few seconds, her eyes had caught his own and he knew better than to lie about how he really felt about their plan. He kept his eyes locked on hers, and gave the closest thing to a

Demitri was long gone, having removed himself from the situation before the fight had even begun. Mason wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been for the lack of orders being barked at his puppets. He glanced towards the left exit of the cave, contemplating chasing down the elder vampire, but glanced back at Harley, who had her hands full fighting three of those puppets at once. That made his decision for him. He elbowed another vampire that had crept up behind him in the last half second, and then swung his fist back, striking them in the face. The vampire staggered back and gave Mason a window to attack another that was advancing towards Harley. In a swift and soundless movement, he swiped the sword that had been dropped earlier and sliced their head clean off. Harley kicked one vampire away and used the split second it gave her to plunge a stake into the other's heart. She spun to see Mason standing before her, having killed the last of the horde and let out a breath as she took in

Harley stared blankly at the coffee mug full of blood that had been set down in front of her. Mason had poured it from the bag to the cup with the idea that it would help after she'd been unable to bring herself to drink from the bag. Now the problem was that she was unable to bring herself to pick up the mug. Mason pulled out a chair and sat beside her. It had been two hours and she still hadn't let even the smallest drop of blood pass her lips. He could tell that convincing her was not going to be easy."Sooner or later you're gonna have to drink, you know." He prompted.She sighed. "I know, I know. I'm trying." She said. "Hmm…" He hummed, trying to think of another idea. "What if you close your eyes and drink?""I'll give it a try." She shrugged and reached for the mug. As she brought it to her lips, she closed her eyes and tipped the mug forward. The blood slid towards the edge but before any of it made it to her mouth, she lowered the cup again and groaned in frustration. "Wh

"Okay, repeat the plan to me one more time." Mason requested.After an afternoon spent coming up with a plan, he'd had Harley recite it to him three times already. The daylight was already beginning to give way to the pastel colours of twilight. Julian had told them that the attack would take place at night time, but he hadn't given them a set hour. "Is this really necessary?" Harley groaned."Not really, but we need to make sure that things go as planned tonight. This could be our last chance." He urged."I know." She glanced briefly towards the door and sighed. "When the attack happens, I stay out of sight. I won't intervene in the fight until he thinks he's gaining the upper hand. Once he's misled, I'll take him by surprise and we take him out together using my old silver dagger."Finally happy with her perfect memory of the plan, he flashed a small smile before his lips pulled back into the firm line they'd held all afternoon. She, too, managed a smile as she slid the dagger into