Bizarrely, her mind drifted to the second season finale of In The Dark Places. Balthazar was being drowned by his brother, submerged in the stream that ran behind his estate. Their eyes locked through the rushing water and Balthazar’s final act of defiance was to flip Gideon the bird. It was a good final act. Iconic even. Back when Amber had a decent phone, that image was her wallpaper.

Weakly, Amber gave Kirsty the finger, stuck it right in front of her face, in honour of the greatest show ever put on TV.

But instead of ignoring it and continuing to choke her, as Gideon had – which had led to months of online speculation as to whether or not Balthazar was truly dead – Kirsty’s face twisted and she grabbed Amber’s finger and wrenched it, nearly broke it, but Amber could actually cry out in pain now that she was able to breathe again.

Amber’s other hand found a spot on Kirsty’s right side that wasn’t protected by scales, and she grew claws and slid those in. Kirsty’s eyes widened and she gasped and moved and Amber threw her off, then rolled over, sucking in air, stumbling and then getting to her feet as Kirsty rose to her knees, clutching her side.

“I’m going to kill you,” Kirsty said. “I’m going to rip your throat out.”

“Now, Kirsty, just wait a moment,” said Bill. “I want you to think about this. Our plans are a tad up in the air right now, agreed?”

“Screw your plans!”

“We need to talk to Amber. That’s all. We need her in order to find a solution to all this. We need her, for the moment, alive.”

Kirsty stared, incredulity momentarily overtaking her rage. “She killed Grant,” she said, like she was explaining it to four-year-olds.

“We realise that,” said Betty. “And we know we’re asking a lot.”

“She dies now,” Kirsty said, turning back to Amber. “She dies right now.”

Kirsty started to lunge, but there was suddenly someone behind her, holding her in place with a grip she couldn’t break. It was Glen, it was dreadfully pale Glen, and Amber only had time to glimpse his dreadfully pale face before he clamped his mouth down on Kirsty’s neck.

She stiffened, tried to cry out, but nothing came, and blood started trickling to her collarbone as Glen drank. Bill and Betty stared, too shocked to move for a few seconds. Then Bill rushed forward, and Betty followed, and Glen wrapped his arms around Kirsty, turned his dead eyes on Amber for a moment, and then took Kirsty up with him, and they vanished into the night sky.

Chapter 54

FOR A LONG MOMENT, nothing was said.

“There’s something you don’t see every day,” Bill muttered.