The door opened and two vampires strode in, pulling a silver-chained woman with them. Seamus followed them, carrying another chair. He placed it at the end of the desk, a little way from Roux and Ludovic.

Roux couldn't help a squeak of surprise as the woman was roughly pushed into the chair. Ludovic merely watched, his face impassive.

"What's going on?" Roux said.

She could feel Ysanne's eyes on her, and she wasn't sure why. It almost felt like she was being evaluated – and maybe Ysanne did expect her to prove that she was the right woman for this job – but what did this chained vampire have to do with anything?

"Roux, Ludovic, I'd like you to meet Susan Harcourt," Ysanne said.

Seamus and the two vampires who'd brought Susan into the room exited, but Roux bet they were standing outside the door, ready to spring back inside if their Lady needed them.

She eyed Susan. The woman slumped in her chair, the silver chains sucking the strength right out of her, but when she lifted her head, Roux realised with a jolt that she recognised her. She was a plain-faced little woman, everything about her drab and forgettable, but she had been there at the final fight. When Ysanne's forces took back their House, Susan had protested her capture and impending imprisonment in the cells. Her protests had fallen on deaf ears.

Now she glared at Ysanne, but there was little real fury behind it, more a sort of dull exhaustion.

"Jemima and Etienne weren't the only ones who orchestrated the takeover of my House," Ysanne said. "Susan Harcourt was Etienne's woman on the outside."

Even Ludovic reacted to that, his eyes widening fractionally with surprise.

"Jemima and Etienne's original plan might have fallen through, pushing them to form a new one in the wake of the old, but they always planned to create batches of new vampires and use them as cannon fodder when they gradually conquered the rest of the Houses." Ysanne's mouth made a small disgusted shape. "Apparently it wasn't hard for Etienne to sneak out of the mansion a few nights a week, scaling the wall in the grounds when everyone else had gone to bed. He knew the rotation and positioning of the grounds patrol, so he knew how to avoid them." Ysanne sounded annoyed with herself at that part. The wall surrounding Belle Morte, and the guards that patrolled it, was supposed to keep out any intruders, not keep a traitor in. But on some level Ysanne would still blame herself for not having considered that possibility.

"He went out looking for victims," Roux guessed.

"Correct. And he found himself in luck – he met Susan here. She is what people call a Vladdict. Of course she recognised him right away, and being the foolish, empty-headed little thing that she is, she believed all his charm and seduction and threw her lot in with him," Ysanne continued.

Etienne's charm. It made a shudder roll across Roux's skin, but she couldn't deny the truth of it. Etienne had seduced June, and the second she was in love with him, he had used and abused her. It wasn't surprising that he'd done the same thing to this woman. What really chilled Roux was the fact that none of them had seen it coming. Etienne had been a good friend to Renie. Everyone had trusted him – even Roux. Her gut instincts had steered her so very, very wrong on that one.

"Susan had a much more practical way of recruiting potential victims. She set up a forumonline, and used it to lure people in," Ysanne said, hesitating slightly on the word 'forum'.

There would have been no shortage of victims, Roux thought. When people looked at vampires, they didn't see the reality of it. They didn't really think about living forever while the people you loved turned to dust, or seeing the world change around you, faster than you could keep up. They didn't think about having to drink blood for hundreds of years, but never be able to eat food again. They only saw the gloss and the glamour and the mystery. They were enchanted, and that eroded any doubts they might ever have had. It made them gullible and desperate, willing to do anything for a single taste of what they perceived as the ultimate lifestyle. They were willing to die for it, and Susan and Etienne had preyed on that to its fullest extent.

Roux shot Susan a filthy look.

"Susan used these forums to scout out victims, and then she arranged meetings between Etienne and said victims. The rest you know," Ysanne said.

A couple of times Roux had wondered exactly how Etienne and Jemima had managed to find so many people willing to be turned into vampires – not because there was a shortage of starry-eyed Vladdicts, but because she couldn't work out how they could possibly have got to those Vladdicts. Like most vampires, Jemima and Etienne were technophobes, so it wasn't as if they had been utilising the power of the internet to carry out their schemes. Susan's presence cleared up some of those questions.

At the same time it made Roux feel even sicker about the whole mess. Jemima and Etienne had been vampires for a long time, and in so many ways they had become distanced from their former humanity. Living forever had a habit of changing people.

But Susan? Up until recently she had been human. She didn't have the excuse of hundreds and hundreds of years of hard living eroding her moral compass. She had deliberately sought people out, preyed on their hopes and dreams – however foolish those were – and then delivered them into the hands of a man who was more than happy to toss them into a meat grinder.

Maybe Susan hadn't known exactly what Etienne planned, but that didn't really matter. Any Vladdict knew that turning humans was illegal – it was one of the vampires' most primary and strictly upheld laws. Susan had to have known something odd was going on right from the start, and she'd still helped.

"It's great to know exactly what's been going on, but I have to ask what Susan has to do with us now," Roux said. "Is there something else she can tell us about the Five?"

There had to be, otherwise Ysanne wouldn't have brought her in here. Ysanne never did anything without a reason.

"The Five?" Ysanne said.

"It's easier to give them a collective name."

"Fair enough. Susan has provided as much information as she can on our prisoners, so we now know exactly who we have in the cells."

Roux waited, knowing there was more to come.

"And we also know that there are four other vampires unaccounted for," Ysanne said.

Ludovic straightened up, his eyebrows furrowing. "Unaccounted for?" he repeated.

Roux was just as confused. As far as she had known, only five vampires had escaped Belle Morte on the night it was reclaimed, and their dossiers were currently spread out on the desk in front of her.

Unless...something else was going on.

"According to Susan, four of the people she gave Etienne, four of the people he assured her would be turned did not ever make it to that final fight. They never even made it inside Belle Morte," Ysanne said.

She took another sheaf of papers from her file and slid them across the table-top. Like the first batch, they contained photos and dossiers.

"I don't understand," Ludovic said.

"Neither do I," Ysanne admitted.

Roux's eyes flicked to Susan. "And what does she have to say about it?"

"Nothing."

Susan shifted in her seat, and a pained breath hissed between her teeth. "I don't know anything about this. How many times do I have to say it? Etienne didn't tell me what he was doing with the people after I gave them to him."

"Caoimhe has been questioning the prisoners during the time that I spent with the Prime Minister. She paid special attention to Susan." Ysanne's voice was as emotionless as if she'd been discussing the weather, rather than referencing the fact that Caoimhe had probably tortured Susan for information.

Roux waited to feel appalled or disgusted about that, but she couldn't, not after what Susan had done.

"Susan has told us who these four unaccounted for vampires are, where they lived, but, as you can see, she claims that she does not know what happened to them after delivering them into Etienne's hands."

"And you believe her?" Ludovic said.

"I do." Ysanne didn't elaborate, but Roux bet that Caoimhe's 'special attention' ensured that Susan hadn't lied about anything. Plus, what good would it do her now? Etienne and Jemima were dead, and their entire plan was in ruins. Lying about anything at this point wouldn't help Susan.

"If I knew anything else, I would have told you already," Susan said.

Everyone ignored her.

"So we've got five vampires who escaped Belle Morte and are now, presumably, hiding out in Winchester somewhere, but there are another four who, also presumably, disappeared after Etienne turned them," Roux summarised. Her mind turned over the pieces, trying to fit them together, but she didn't have enough information. All she could do at this point was speculate, and she'd rather wait until she knew more before jumping to any conclusions.

"That is correct," Ysanne said. "We need to know where these other vampires are and what happened to them. McGellan has said that once the Five have been found and neutralised, then this House will have to issue a second press release, explaining what happened to these people. We might be keeping this all under wraps for now, but that is a temporary solution. Once we have neutralised the threat then we will have to be fully honest with the world."

"And you can't really do that if there are another four vampires out there, especially when you have absolutely no idea what's happened to them and why," Roux said.

Ysanne nodded.

"So, no pressure then."

Ludovic glanced at her, and Roux wasn't exactly sure what his expression was, but she thought it might be surprise. Maybe she was being too flippant in front of the Lady of the House, but that was who she was, and Roux Hayes wasn't about to change.

Not again.

"Do we have any leads on these mystery vampires?" she asked.

"Not yet."

Roux didn't like to think of things as being impossible, but this was a ridiculously tall order. Winchester was home to more than a hundred thousand people – there were plenty of places that these vampires could be hiding, and without even a hint of a clue, where were she and Ludovic supposed to start looking? They only had two weeks, and they had the Five to tackle as well.

The obvious thing was to hunt down the Five first, but that only delayed the real problem. Sooner rather than later, they would have to find these mystery vampires too. There was so much depending on them tying up all the loose ends - the whole future of the vampire race depended on them.

"Etienne did not turn Susan until he knew that Belle Morte was in his hands. After that he would have been too busy keeping hold of the House to fully inform her of all his little schemes." Ysanne shot Susan an icy look. "Or maybe he didn't think it was any of her business. After all, he was using her, the same way that he used everyone. But there is always a chance that the Five know something about this mystery."

"No offence, but it seems unlikely. Etienne didn't turn Schwartz until after Belle Morte fell, so why would he tell him anything that he wouldn't tell Susan? Why tell any of the Five?" Roux asked.

"I admit, it is the thinnest of straws, but it's all we have to go on for the time being. While you and Ludovic are tracking down the Five, Caoimhe and I shall continue to question Susan and the other prisoners. If we yield any information we shall pass it onto you at once. If we do not, then we shall have to see what the Five say when you bring them in."

Ysanne rose to her feet and glided around the desk until she was standing over Susan. The bound vampire cringed away from her, but Ysanne's eyes were fixed on Roux.

"I commend your bravery during the fight for my House, and I commend it again now, but are you quite sure you know what you're volunteering for?" she said.

"In what respect?"

"You realise this will be dangerous."

"It won't, not for Roux," Ludovic said. "If she comes, then she's not to fight."

That suited Roux. She had fought alongside her friends to reclaim their home, but she wasn't violent by nature. She hadn't volunteered for this mission because she wanted to get bloody again. She'd volunteered because Ludovic needed her help, because the future of a lot of the people that she'd come to think of as friends were depending on a positive outcome – one that she did not believe Ludovic could achieve on his own.

"She can help me get around the human world, but she is not to engage with these vampires herself," Ludovic continued.

Roux slung an arm over the back of her chair. "You know, I am right here. You can address me rather than talking to Ysanne as if I'm not in the room."

Silence fell.

Ludovic made an uncomfortable sound in his throat. "My apologies," he said. "I did not intend to be rude."

"It's okay. I'm coming to help you with the things that you can't actually do on your own, and I know that that doesn't include fighting vampires. That's your job, not mine, and I've got absolutely no intention of getting involved there."

"Good."

Ysanne moved like a striking snake, grabbing Susan's hair and wrenching her head back at a painful angle. Susan whimpered, and Roux jumped a little. Ludovic didn't bat an eyelid.

"You need to understand what you're getting into," Ysanne said, a hint of red creeping into her eyes. "I would like Ludovic to take these vampires alive if possible, but his life must come first. If he is truly in danger, if he has no choice but to kill them in order to protect himself, then he must do it."

Roux had no idea how that would go down with the positive relations vampires were working to rebuild with humans, but whatever the consequences, they weren't worth Ludovic's life. If he had to kill in self-defence, then so be it.

"You need to understand that these vampires may be scared and desperate. They may be angry. Do not ever forget that they are dangerous. And do not ever forget that you are delivering them to Belle Morte justice. I need to know right now that you have the stomach for this, that you're not going to start feeling sorry for these people and letting that cloud your judgement or get in the way of your job," Ysanne said.

Roux looked into Susan's pain-filled eyes and didn't flinch.

That was all the confirmation Ysanne needed. She let Susan go, and the woman slumped in her chair with a small noise of relief.

"What's going to happen to her?" Roux asked.

"She'll be returned to the cells with the other prisoners."

"And then what? You can't keep her there indefinitely."

Ysanne didn't say anything. Roux had seen firsthand just how brutal vampire punishment could be: first, when Edmond had been whipped with silver for punching another vampire, and second, when he had been chained with silver in the cells for turning Renie without permission. No one deserved that kind of punishment more than Belle Morte's crop of prisoners, but most of them had been human up until very recently.

For the last ten years, vampires had governed themselves by their own laws, and kept their ugly punishments secret from the outside world. Maybe they would have been allowed to keep doing that with the old-timers who had turned traitor, but what about all those newbies? They were vampires now so theoretically they should be governed by vampire law, but how would the human world react to that? Punishments like silver-whipping were deliberately kept hidden from the general public because it would tarnish the image of vampires being mysterious, beautiful, godlike. It would allow a glimpse into their dark side, and that wasn't what they wanted. But they couldn't be allowed the same secrecy now, not after everything that had happened. Those new vampires still had families out there, and despite what they had done, their families would not sit idly by while their loved ones were facing a life sentence in the cells of Belle Morte.

"I don't know what the future holds for anyone, but even if you manage to fix the damage that Jemima and Etienne have caused, things can't go back to the way they were," Roux said.

Ysanne wasn't stupid, she had to know that, but had she really accepted it? Roux was less sure of that.

After a moment or two, Ysanne said, "I suppose that is a bridge that we will have to cross when we come to it."

A blink-and-you'll-miss-it flash of uncertainty passed through her eyes. Ysanne was used to being in charge. She was used to making decisions for the good of her people, and she was used to carrying the burden that came with that responsibility. But this situation was pushing her more and more out of her depth. She didn't know what the future held, or how best to approach it. She didn't know what changes would have to be made to the vampires' system – and that was assuming they even still had a system. Not having a clue what their future held had to be hard on all the vampires, but perhaps hardest on the woman who considered it her job – her duty ­­- to look after them all.

"When would you like us to leave?" Ludovic asked.

"As soon as possible. Your two weeks are already in effect."

"We need time to prepare." Roux gestured at herself, and then at Ludovic "We can't go out like this; we'd be recognised in a second. We'll have to pack, get a phone, disguise ourselves – oh, and we'll have to ditch the Belle Morte clothes."

"Excuse me?" Ysanne said.

"I love the fashion here, believe me, but out there we need to blend in, and that means dressing simply and cheaply."

"Understood. Compile a list of everything you need, and I shall make sure that Seamus gets it for you."

Ysanne seemed content with how things were going, but Ludovic looked distinctly uneasy.

"You mentioned disguising us," he said. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

Roux grinned.