“Well you’ve definitely changed your tune,” I spat. “Only a few weeks ago you were babbling on about how you could barely forgive a girl for having hairy armpits let alone a hairy tongue!”

Then, trying to hide an arrogant smirk that I so much wanted to knock from his face, Potter said, “Okay, I get what’s going on here.”

“Get what?”

“You’re jealous,” he said and his eyes glistened.

“Jealous! Me, jealous of her?” I blustered. Then, pushing him out of the way, I added, “I was right – you are out of your tiny mind!”

Chapter Twenty-Six

I stormed down the corridor set between the two rows of cells, and finding the one Kayla inhabited, I went inside. Kayla was sitting propped up on the bed, and Isidor sat beside her.

“What was all the shouting about?” Kayla asked me, as I slumped down on the end of her bed.

I guessed with her sensitive hearing she knew what Potter and I had been arguing about, but I still replied, “Ah, nothing. Just forget about it – I am. More importantly, how are you doing?”

“Okay, I guess,” she said, untangling her matted hair with her fingers.

Although, she did look better then when I last saw her semiconscious in the town square, her face still looked wan, and her eyes dull.

“Are the nightmares over?” she asked me.

“The nightmares?” I asked. Although in my heart, I knew what she meant.

“The Vampyrus, that zoo, the experiments?” She said, her eyes wide and fearful.

“That part of the nightmare is,” I tried to assure her. I knew I had to tell her about her mum, her dad, and Isidor had his secret, too.

“What about my mum?” she asked. “My dad? Has he been found?”

“You dad was at that facility where they operated on us,” I started gently.

“The facility?” she said, leaning forward to look at me. “What was he doing there?”

“He was captured, just like we were,” I said. “Phillips captured him to finish work on a cure that your father and Doctor Ravenwood were working on.”

“A cure for what?” Kayla asked, looking at me and then Isidor, wanting answers.

“I’m a half–breed just like you, Kayla,” Isidor said. “Not many of us survive past the age of sixteen. As far as we know, there are only the three of us – me, you, and Kiera.”

“So you’re just like me?” Kayla asked, looking at me.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“You have wings then?” She asked.

“Yes,” and the thought of those bony fingers made my flesh crawl.

“You’re scared about that, aren’t you?” Kayla said staring at me.

“How do you know that?” I asked, staring back.

“You heart quickened when you mentioned them. I could hear it.” Then turning to look at Isidor, she added, “But why is your heart racing, Isidor? What are you scared of?”

“Tell her,” a voice said from the open doorway, and I turned to see Potter standing there.

“Tell me what?” Kayla said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, and placing her feet firmly on the floor.

“Now’s not a good time,” Isidor said, standing up to face Potter.

“Time is one thing we don’t have,” Potter said, fixing him with his cool stare. “Nor sentiment.”

“Potter, please,” I said, now standing myself.

“If you won’t tell her, I will,” Potter insisted.

“Tell me what?” Kayla said, her voice now brimming with confusion.

I looked at Isidor; he was staring at Potter.

“Why do you always have to be such a prick?” Isidor snapped, taking a step towards Potter.

“Listen, kid, we don’t have time to wallow in self-pity here, we’ve all lost people that we’ve cared about -” Potter started.

“Don’t call me kid,” Isidor snapped. “I thought we’d sorted that out!”

“Jesus, you sound like a tune that’s been stuck on repeat,” Potter said back. Then looking down at Kayla, he added, “Look, I hate to be the one to break it to you, sweetheart, but some spotty-faced arsehole called Sparky killed your mum, your father has probably topped himself because he helped Phillips come up with the magic formula that is going to wipe the human race from the face of the planet, and the dude standing over here next to me with the Shaggy-Do beard is your brother.”

Without warning, Isidor darted forward and reached for Potter. But Potter was too quick and slammed Isidor into the wall of the cell. Holding him there with one strong hand, Potter lent in close and said, “Listen to me, Eisenhower, or whatever your name might be, the girl needs to know the truth and she needs to know it quick. We don’t have time to worry about people’s feelings here.”

“Why do you have to be so cruel?” Isidor shouted.

“Cruel?” Potter snapped. “I tell you what’s cruel. Keeping the truth from the girl over there. Yeah the truth ain’t pretty and its gonna hurt her, but with any luck that will make her angry – so fucking angry that she’ll want to rip the head off the first vampire she comes across, because that’s the only way we’re gonna get out of this. This isn’t some sorta game, you know. The Vampyrus and Lycanthrope are getting ready to shit all over this country from a great height, and we ain’t gonna stop them if we’re walking around booing and wooing for the people that we’ve lost. You need to turn those feelings of self-pity into rage – hate – my friend, because those are going to be the only emotions that are of any use to me. You don’t think those Vampyrus and Lycanthrope are going to pity you, do you? They hate you, us, and anyone who stands in their way. So if you ain’t up to it, go now because I’m not taking any flower-picking, peace-loving, tree-hugging, whale-saving, do-gooder with me!”

“I can’t hate like you,” Isidor said.

“Then improvise!” Potter snapped.

“Who put you in charge anyway?” Isidor said back, his eyes glowing.

“Phillips did.”

“Phillips?” I asked, confused.

Then, releasing his grip on Isidor, Potter looked at me and said, “The moment he ripped Murphy’s heart out.”

“Murphy’s dead too?” Kayla began to wail out loud.

“Yeah and so we’ll all be, if the lot of you don’t get your act together,” Potter said and left the cell.

I watched as Isidor went to Kayla and slipped his arm round her shoulder, then with my body trembling with anger, I rushed out into the corridor.

“Potter!” I shouted after him.

“What?” Potter yelled back over his shoulder as he continued to walk away from me.

Rushing after him, I said, “I just don’t believe you. How can you be like that to her?”

Potter continued to stride ahead of me, and I had to trot to keep up with him. Leaving the cells behind us, Potter pushed against a door and disappeared into a darkened room. I followed him, the door nearly hitting me in the arse as it swung shut behind me. Even though there were no lights on in the room, I could see through the darkness. We were in a small, deserted cafeteria, where the police officers who were once stationed here took their meal breaks. Chairs lay upturned and on their sides like fallen skittles and tables had been pushed against the walls and windows. Potter stood alone in the middle of the room, a cigarette already burning in the corner of his mouth.

“What’s gotten into you?” I demanded as I marched towards him.

“What’s gotten into me?” he scoffed. “If I remember rightly, you smacked me in the face the moment you laid eyes on me!”

“Where do you get off on making decisions for me without even asking?” I roared.

“What decisions?” he shouted back.

“Deciding that I’m to go off hand in hand into The Hollows with that killer, while you go off to rescue Luke with that walking pair of breasts on legs!” I hissed.

“Breasts on legs?” Potter said, nearly chocking on a throat full of cigarette smoke as he stifled his laughter. “You mean Eloisa?”

“I see that you’re on first-name terms with the werewolf –because that’s what she is, Potter. She’s also a child killer and so is her lover, Jack Seth!”

“You are jealous and that’s what this is all really about,” Potter smiled. “You’re not pissed at me because I made plans without you – you’re pissed because I’ve been spending time with her.”

“Oh, please,” I groaned, “Why don’t you take your head from out of your own arse and -”

“And what?” Potter said, grinding out his cigarette with the heel of his boot.

“And kiss me!” I snapped.

Potter almost seemed to lunge at me as he gripped my arms and yanked me close. Covering my mouth with his, we kissed each other and I just wanted to be smothered by him; to be part of him. Raking my fingers through his hair, Potter ran his fingertips down my spine, and I shivered with gooseflesh. I felt consumed by him, and it both thrilled and scared me at the same time, a cocktail of emotions that in some ways I hated, but in others, I passionately enjoyed. I was fearful that I wanted someone so much that in many ways I hated but who had another side to him that I couldn’t help but be drawn to, and that scared me. But to be in his arms, to feel his hands roaming the length of my body, to feel his lips pressed hard over mine, took away the memories of my captivity, the operations that I’d endured, the addiction that I had overcome, the realisation that my mother was lost to the Vampyrus, that Murphy had been murdered and Luke…

I pulled away, gently, but I pulled away all the same.

“What’s wrong?” Potter whispered, trying to keep me close to him.

“We shouldn’t be doing this right now, not while there is so much to do,” I said. “We should be planning on how we’re going to rescue Luke.”