"Lee, get out of here now," Darby screamed as Stephen lurched forward toward both of them, fangs bared and a look of death in his eyes.
Lee barely managed to slip past as Darby slammed herself into Stephen and wrapped her arms around his torso straining to keep him under control. He hissed and struggled against her grip.
"Release me immediately, he's getting away!" Stephen demanded. But Darby held fast until Lee was out the door and she could no longer smell his scent.
"You foolish girl," Stephen spat once she had finally let him go. He glared at her and paced the floor in an angry circle. Darby looked down at her feet ashamed. Stephen only called her "girl" when he was angry or disappointed.
"I couldn't let you fight him," she said, her voice small.
"Kill him you mean," Stephen corrected.
Darby shook her head.
"Lee is strong and he eats much more often than you do. There's no way to be sure you would win in a fight."
"Why are you with him?" Stephen asked suddenly. He looked up at Darby with pain filled eyes. "He already took one woman I loved away from me. And now he is trying to do it again."
Darby walked over to Stephen and reached up to put her hand on his shoulder but he pulled away and walked into the shadows of the darkened room. Darby sighed.
"Lee is not going to take me away from you. I won't let him."
"That's what I thought about Michelle," Stephen told her. "And look how that ended."
"I'm not Michelle," Darby assured him. "Whatever power Lee had over me is gone. The only person he may be able to influence here is Bailey. And I'm taking great care to make sure that doesn't happen."
"I don't think that will be an issue for a while," Stephen admitted. "When I left the house, Bailey was going downstairs to visit that human boy who used to be her friend.
"Timothy?" Darby asked. Stephen shrugged.
"Something like that. Todd perhaps. I don't know."
Stephen stepped out of the shadows and looked for a place to sit down. The only thing that presented itself was a dust covered chair that was a faded shade of red.
"I told her to be careful going down there though," he said, leaning down to brush the dust off the chair. It stuck fast to the fabric and after a couple of swipes he gave up.
"She has been down there before," Darby said, unconcerned.
"Yes but it's been ten years and you know who is going to be waking up soon."
Darby's eyes widened and she let out a gasp.
"It can't possibly have been ten years yet."
Stephen nodded.
"Ten years next week," he said, walking over to the wall and running his finger around the edge of a dusty picture.
"He's going to be hungry too so best to tell your girl Bailey to say her goodbyes to Theo. There will be no saving him once you know who catches his scent."
Darby shook her head and looked at Stephen in desperation.
"I can't tell her that. She told me she wants to tell him what she really is. I think she loves him."
Stephen scoffed.
"No good comes from a vampire loving a human. You and I both know that."
"Yes but Bailey shouldn't have to. I can save her. Her and Travis," Darby insisted.
With that she flew from the room before Stephen could protest. He stood alone in the dark abandoned house listening to the sound of the gentle wind blowing through the leaves outside.
"Well now that I've got rid of her, time to track down Lee's scent."
Bailey stood at the doorway to Thomas's cell. It had been a few days since she had been to see him and she had hoped by now she would have thought of an easy way to tell him about her transition.
"It just happened suddenly; before I could stop it," she thought to herself. Maybe if she came across as a victim it would be less intimidating for him. She fumbled nervously with the bottle of water and sleeve of crackers in her hands. The taste of food and drink seemed like a foreign memory now; something from another lifetime. She put the crackers in her left hand, wiped the sweat off her right one on her pants and reached up to unlatch the cell door.
"Hello? Thomas?" she called out softly, pushing the door open into the cell. In the dim light she could see his body laying perfectly in the corner.
"I waited too long. He's dead!" she panicked. Then realized it was almost midnight and he was merely asleep. Deciding to come back once it was morning, she turned and started to leave but his voice stopped her.
"Bailey, is that you? Did they let you out again?"
She felt a twinge of guilt inside at the lie she had perpetuated. Thomas felt comforted knowing they were prisoners together, both suffering at the hands and whims of these monsters. How could she possibly tell him she was on their side without permanently alienating him?
"Hello, Thomas," she whispered, turning back around. He sat up slowly rubbing his eyes. There was a hint of a smile on his face as Bailey sat down next to him. She handed him the water bottle and crackers but avoided making eye contact.
"I'm so glad they are letting you visit me now," Thomas said. He opened the water bottle and took a long drink. He held it out to Bailey but she shook her head.
"I already had mine," she lied, kicking herself internally.
"So they're treating you well then," Thomas said, tearing open the cracker sleeve and crunching on one. Crumbs flew from his mouth as he looked at Bailey expectantly.
"Yes I am treated well," she admitted, still not able to look at him. She jumped slightly as she felt his fingertips running up and down her neck.
"I don't feel any bite marks," Thomas observed. "Have they stopped feeding from you?"
His voice sounded so hopeful as if he couldn't bear the thought of her being tortured so cruelly.
"No they haven't been feeding off of me," she told him, turning to face him in the dim light. "But there's a reason for that. It's because-"
Bailey's sentence was cut off by the door swinging wide open suddenly. She leapt to her feet and took a protective stance in front of Thomas.
"Bailey, are you ok? Is everything ok? What have you told him?" Darby gasped, looking from Bailey to Thomas who had shrunk back into the corner and hidden the crackers under his shirt.
"I haven't told him anything. I was about to and then you burst in and ruined it," Bailey hissed, glaring at Darby.
"I'm sorry," Darby said, her shoulders slumping as she realized she had ruined an important moment.
"I didn't mean to freak you out but I came to warn you. If you want Tony to survive, you need to get him out of here as soon as possible."
"Uh, it's Thomas," said a voice from the corner. "And why are you two talking to each other like you're friends?
"Right about that," Bailey started turning around and looking nervously down at Thomas.
"The thing is I've been meaning to tell you that I'm now a...well I'm a-"
"So this is where the party's at," said a voice, interrupting Bailey's admission. She and Darby spun around simultaneously and came face to face with Lee. He had a huge grin on his face and Bailey couldn't help feeling a little weak in the knees as she seemed to do every time she saw him now. It only last a second though before she remembered what she had been trying to say.
"Why are you here?" Darby cut in, before Bailey could ask.
"I was hungry," Lee said with shrug. "And I knew Stephen would be hunting me as soon as you left, so I came back here. The last place he would look."
Lee peered over Darby and Bailey to see Thomas in the corner who now stood wobbling on his weak legs.
"Is this what we're snacking on today?" he asked, his fangs sticking out. "He looks delicious."
"No! You don't touch him," Bailey screamed, pushing her hand firmly against Lee's broad chest and hissing as loud as she could.
Lee jumped back startled and Darby backed away as Bailey's threatening gaze turned to her. She put her hands up in a gesture of innocence.
"I came here to help you save him," she assured her. Lee stood frozen in the doorway and Bailey could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on her, including Thomas's. She turned around to see his mouth open in shock, the forgotten packet of crackers on the floor at his feet.
She quickly retracted her fangs and looked at Thomas with wide scared eyes. This was it. He now knew she was a monster.
"Lee, I think we should leave now," Darby's voice cut into the silence. She took his hand and pulled him away from the small dark room.
"I think these two have a lot to talk about."
