‘You asking if I’ve lost people to the vampires? Because yeah. We all have. So, shut your mouth and do your job. Let us do ours.’

That answered my question pretty well, actually. True believers. Not great news, considering that I had a lot of experience with those kinds of people. Much better to be dealing with hired guys who didn’t have an emotional stake in what was happening.

‘I’m Shane,’ I said. Step one, try to form a bond. Any hostage negotiator will tell you that’s important to stay alive.

‘Don’t care what your mommy and daddy called you,’ he said. ‘Now shut up and show us where you left them.’

So much for bonding. I followed instructions, and reached the warehouse’s bent siding where we’d crawled in. I pointed to it and indicated he ought to let me go in first. He nodded. I didn’t take that as any kind of promise he’d wait, though. He might give me a minute, or he might just come in yelling, guns at the ready.

I ducked inside, and immediately was on the business end of a nice, sharp piece of broken bottle at my throat. ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, girl, I’m on your side,’ I told Eve. She let out a gasp and stepped back, dropping the glass, and then lunged at me to wrap her arms around me. She smelt like tears and desperation.

‘Oh, God, thank you, I was so scared – Shane, he’s not getting better, we need to get him out of here, we have to—’ Her voice faded out as she pushed back from me. I hadn’t said anything, but I guessed my body language had clued her in that something was off. ‘Where’s Claire?’

‘Trust me,’ I said. It was all I had time for, so I said it fast. ‘Trust me whatever happens. Okay?’

‘Okay,’ she said, but her voice shook, and from what I could see of her face, she looked terrified. ‘Shane—’

And then the driver edged into the room, nailed her in place with a sudden flare of a flashlight, and as she tried to block out the beam, he stepped aside to let the others inside. ‘Freeze! Down on your knees!’ he yelled, and then it was all over in seconds. Liz was awake but scared out of her mind, and she screamed and tried to hide in a corner; Pete threw a couple of punches, but it was half-hearted, and he went facedown on the dirty concrete in under ten seconds.

Eve, pinned under the driver’s hand, stared at me with coal-black, burning eyes, and said absolutely nothing.