‘Thanks, Mom.’ I meant it sarcastically, but you know, if Hannah had been my mom, I’d have probably turned out a lot more badass. Not to mention less prone to stupid mistakes. ‘Michael’s giving me a ride out of town.’

‘Better get going, then.’ She nodded to me, to Michael, and she and Hal got back into the snarling, rocking police cruiser, shut off the flashers, and headed off to wherever you unloaded insane devil dogs.

My arm was starting to ache. Nothing bad, though. Just hot and abused. I’d had lots worse. Lots worse. Michael stuck my bag in the back seat and we went back in the house; he had a nice leather jacket that he let me have for the trip, with the warning that if I got it torn up he’d patch it up with strips of my bleeding flesh, which hey. Brotherly love.

I’d left Morganville a couple of times before – once with my dad and mom, when we’d fled after our house burnt and my sister died. Then again with Michael, Eve and Claire (and the much-loathed vampire Oliver as our chaperone). Still, approaching the town boundary made my heart speed up and my palms clammy; it was a built-in resident reaction. Despite the chill in the air, I rolled down the window to see where we were, and I shivered when Michael’s car sped past the ghostly, creaking billboard where we’d said goodbye to Claire in the predawn light. I let out a slow, shaky breath and rolled the heavily tinted window back up. It was like travelling in space, riding around in vampire cars.

‘Feels weird, right?’ Michael said. In the dashboard’s green light, his pale skin looked alien. So did his eyes – wide and dark, pupils gone huge to take in available light. ‘No matter how much we tell ourselves it’s okay to leave town, our bodies still don’t believe it. We’re used to liking the cage.’

I admit it, I was a little surprised. ‘You feel it, too?’

‘Sure.’ His smile was bitter around the edges. ‘Dude, I grew up here, never left here until I was made a vampire. Still got all the instincts. We’re born with them, and trained into them, right?’

I nodded silently. I felt itchy and weird, and the ache in my arm had sunk in deeper. Even with the heavy leather jacket, I felt cold. I also became aware of a weird odour coming from the jacket – the scent of a vampire. I’d never really smelt it before. Michael had, since turning vamp, smelt only like whatever body spray Eve had given him; vamps didn’t sweat. Strange, that I could smell something else now.

Something buzzed in the pocket. I pulled out the phone and stared at it for a second, then blinked. ‘Oh. Your phone. Sorry.’