I got back to Scarlet hiding under my bed. Mike had glared at me as I hurried out of the car, trying to avoid questions, but Blacke threw a hand on his shoulder and drew his attention away.

So I was free to see my girlfriend and talk with her.

She had barely moved since she’d crawled under the bed and when her face peered at me, I could see how much paler and sallow her skin was.

“Hey,” I said softly. “Can you come out for a bit?”

She half crawled half lurched out from under the bed in uncoordinated movements. Once she was next to me, I set a glass of water next to her face.

“You should have some fluids,” I told her.

She sat up, slowly, almost looking annoyed at me for making her do so but resolved to drink some water.

I was relieved and started to relax against the bedframe, although it jutted uncomfortably against my spine.

A moment later, Scarlet flinched and then coughed, followed by a long series of heaving.

I managed to get a trash can under her face before bile came up, though my floor was spattered with water.

She dry heaved several more times before she finally coughed and took a deep breath.

“You’re not doing too good, huh?” I managed and smoothed her hair back.

She shook her head and managed to take a few normal breaths. “Everything tastes like blood,” she explained. “I hate it.”

I didn’t ask why. There was a good chance it was ‘all in her head,’ some strange symptom of her PTSD. I was familiar with the bullshit symptoms that made no medical sense but were very much real.

“It’s gonna be okay,” I told her. “I’m just happy that I get to be with you.” I pulled her into a hug. “I talked to the other vampires about Demetrius.”

“Mmmh.” Her voice was strained. “That… man… that turned me into this.”

“I know,” I soothed her hair back again, raking through some fresh tangles she hadn’t been dealing with. “We’re gonna do something about him, okay? But I need your help.”

She blinked those pink-brown eyes at me. “What could I do to him?” she asked.

“I think we’ll have to work together. Maybe even your brother could help us.”

She settled against my side, finally fully accepting my affection. “It won’t be easy,” she said. “I don’t want to ever hurt another person.”

The words sank in slowly until I understood what she meant. “He’s not like the others,” I said. “I think calling him a person is pretty generous.” The look on his face when he looked at me still haunted my memory and my dreams. I shuddered and tried to wipe it from my current thoughts. 

Scarlet stayed quiet, pressing against me.

“We need to stop him before he hurts anybody else,” my eyes trailed down to my arm. “Right?”

She nodded.

I slowly unraveled the two of us and stood, blood rushing back into my calves where they’d started to fall asleep. “Let’s come up with a suitable plan, then.”

She crawled onto the bed and flopped down there.

I sighted, and sat next to her. “It shouldn’t be hard right? If there’s two of us and one of him then he can’t keep track of both of us.”

She nodded. “But he’s used to fighting with hunters,” she said. “So… we can’t just attack him.”

“I see.” I thought a long moment. “I’ve just gotta get a vital shot in so… he doesn’t know you and Blacke know about him lying to you.”

It took a moment for her to parse my words. “No. We haven’t seen him since he attacked you.” One of her fists clenched my comforter

“So we can use that,” I said. “You can get close to him without him putting his guard up right?”

She nodded. “Probably.”

“So if you can lure him out and get him into an open position, I could… probably get my hands on a wooden stake and stab him through the heart.”

“If… that’s what you wanna do,” she agreed. “I’ll help you with it.”

I nodded, my blood starting to race in my veins as things were coming into perspective. I couldn’t describe the fear and horror that I’d gone through because of that man. And now, there was an anger burning in its wake. 

“How about you lure him out into the open next to the asylum. During the day, his movement will be restricted.” I found myself standing up and starting to pace. “If I got a long stake and take him by surprise, I should at least be able to stun him. Then with a knife I could take his head off.”

She gave me an incredulous look, then stared down at the comforter where her hands were balled up. “Okay,” she agreed. “That should work.”

I took a breath, easing my pounding heart. Normally I’d start dousing myself with ice water when my heart was beating this fast, but for once I didn’t feel like I was dying. This felt more like being alive, rather than the usual numbness that came with difficult emotions.

Scarlet gently took my hand during one of my passes and pulled me back to the bed.

“I’ll do it, okay?” she said. “But can we be together right now? I almost lost you.”

I sat on the edge of the bed, my heart starting to beat faster again.

“I know,” I said. I took a deep breath, it trembled.

She held my hand. “We’re gonna get through this,” she told me. “I need you to know whatever happens, you’re the most important thing to me. I don’t care about Demetrius anymore. I care about you.”

“I know. We’re not gonna let Demetrius hurt anybody ever again.” I stroked her hair back, like I always did and everything seemed okay for a minute, then it went back to the discordant rage again.

“We need to do this,” I told her. I leaned my forehead against hers.

She swallowed uneasily. “Okay,” she agreed.