When surrounded by cold blooded monsters, the only way to survive was to pick the monsters after someone else’s blood. For some reason, Sarah was after me. I didn’t believe it, but there was no other explanation. She couldn’t have known I would get so close to Norman. Could she? The first thing Norman and Harding said to me was that I was bewitched. Of course, they thought I had been sent to kill them, but what if it was something else? What if I met Sarah and I had no memory of the encounter? What if she planned all of this and my feelings for him aren’t actually mine at all?

“Trembley, are you listening,” Norman asked cutting off Harding’s ideas for escaping.

“Yeah, you want to send one of your Renfield’s to test the tunnels.” It seemed pointless. Sarah’s goons most likely had this place under a close eye since she learned it was Harding’s.

“Yes,” Harding continued, “We’ll have them go by foot to avoid any sound travel, and—”

“What if she already knows everything because she planned it?” I interjected.

“Well, we know she planned this.”

“No, I mean everything. What if you were right the first time you met me? What if I am a honeypot but the plan was not at all what you expected?”

They both studied my face. While Norman looked worried, Harding merely had an I knew it expression.

“Trembley, why now do you think this is true?” Norman carefully asked, clearly saddened by the realization he knew I was having.

I sat down on the couch with the full weight of what I was realizing hitting me full force in the gut. “There’s no other explanation for me and Aaron to be involved in this. This is your war. I know I’ve pissed off some people, but this was never on my radar.” The pieces were all falling into place, and one truth I couldn’t ignore was sucking out all of the air in the room. “She’s going to kill him, isn’t she?”

~

To noone’s surprise, the tunnel plan was a bust. The neverending human torches were fully in place entirely around the perimeter. All the exits were off limits. Unfortunately, as it turned out, vampires cannot fly, so there was no going upward. Harding also made it clear that landing any kind of aircraft on the property was out of the question. The heat and smoke made it more likely that we’d start our own fire by crashing the helicopter. Currently, both vampires had just decided to wait it out.

“All fires burn out eventually. Even Sarah can’t keep this magic up forever.” Norman sounded assured, but his face told another story.

After about 12 hours, I was beginning to lose my mind. I had never been good at sitting and waiting, but this was worse. We weren’t waiting to enact a plan. We were waiting to see what other horrors Sarah was going to inflict on us.

“Trembley,” Norman quietly said as he entered our shared guest room, “you should get some sleep. There’s nothing to be done right now, and having you rested will be beneficial when there is.”

“How do you suppose I do that?” I hadn’t slept in nearly 48 hours. My mind wouldn’t quit racing with all the horrible images of what might be happening to Aaron right now, and what was going to happen to us.

“I brought you this,” he said holding out his palm to reveal a couple of pills. “Nothing crazy, but they will help you get a few hours at least. I’ll wake you up if anything happens.”

He was right, and I was no use to anyone dead on my feet. It must have been only moments before the pills tooks effect because I don’t remember much after swallowing them. One minute I was looking at Norman lying beside me, and the next I was standing in a dark forest with a inferno raging in the distance. I started walking deeper into the woods searching for her face. As the fire began to pale in the distance, I saw the flickering lights of a different kind of fire.

“Join us, Trembley,” her voice beckoned. I sat in the middle of the circle of cloaked individuals as I had done so many times before. All of my memories were returned to me in this moment. I knew who I was as well as my mission. I also felt a deep sense of relief because all the worry that had been been succumbing me was lifted. Aaron was ok. He was actually being protected by the vampire-hating witch as part of our deal for my assistance.

“This is risky,” I told Sarah, who was sitting at the head of the circle on a special throne-like stump. “He was holding me as I fell asleep. He might realize something is off.”

“He’s never noticed before,” she said waving away my warning. “It doesn’t matter anyway. The time is approaching, so we needed to chat.”

Where’s the trust? Witches. “What’s to discuss? Everything is going as we laid out except what was with the early immolation. Also, you said fire not suicide inferno brigade. We had a deal, remember?”

“And I’m sticking to it. Those women agreed to their part… after some convincing, but most of them weren’t mine anyway.”

“The Renfields?” Of course she found out. I hadn’t been able to let her know that information, yet. But Sarah had a nose for traitorous behavior.

“Nasty little things. They gave up their lives in servitude of blood-sucking fiends, so they got what was coming to them. Either now or later, it was going to happen.”

“The ones that weren’t?” I hadn’t overlooked the most part.

Surprisingly, Sarah looked a little pained at my acknowledgement. “They were devout in their willingness to give everything to our cause. Once they learned what was happening with the Renfields, they volunteered, and who was I to say no if they were assured in their mission.

“Mission?” I said laughingly. You sent those women to die for no cause of their own. They came to you for the same reason I did. They wanted a circle of protection and a way to grow stronger and overcome their demons. For some, those demons were literal, but many of the women in your care are traumatized and looking for solace. This is how you give them peace?”

“You tell me, Trembley. Have you found peace? Is there ever any peace?”

“No.” That was the truth of it. The trauma becomes a distant memory, but it irrevocably changes you.

“Your mother would be proud of you.” I felt the tears starting to form, but there wasn’t time for a good cry right now. Besides, I wouldn’t breakdown in front of Sarah’s most devoted lackeys. These were the women in her circle who would cut you just to watch you bleed if they thought it gave them an inch of power. She kept them close because of that power, but I knew she trusted none of them.

“Back to why you rang,” I said, pushing down the agnozing pain of losing my mom. “They can’t escape. You’ve blocked all the exits, and Harding doesn’t believe they can get airlifted.”

“Those aren’t the only ways out,” Sarah mused, “but we need them to continue believing that. This fire isn’t permanent as you might have already guessed. If the vampires run and we're not ready, this plan will literally and figuratively go up in smoke.”

“Well, your message at the theater has them wanting to do just that. What was that anyway?”

At that, her face grew dark with rage. “That,” she spat, "was the impetuous actions of my former second in command. I swear that girl has been on a destruction streak lately that only keeps harming me.”

“Well, she also fried quite a few vampires from what I saw on the news, but yeah when Harding got wind of it, his first inclination was to flee. I guess that’s the reason for moving up the timeline?”

“Correct. I know Harding as well as I know Norman. There was no way he was going to sit back and play defense. Now, he doesn’t have a choice, but yes, it creates a hink in the plan. The day of action is still Samhain, but location may have to be somewhere else. That’s why I called you here. Once the flames die down, the vampires will be gone. I’m using my power and ciphering from the girls as needed be to keep it going, but all power is finite.”

“Where are you moving to?”

“That will depend on where you go. Stay with them. As it is, they aren’t going to let you go anyway. When you move, use the first opportunity to seek me out. I’ve always called your spirit during sleep, but I’ll need you to send yourself at the earliest opportunity so we can begin transitioning.”

“I’m not a witch, Sarah.”

“No, but like your mother, you possess the ability. You simply have to open yourself up to it.”

“I’ll send the details to your email. It will be an easy spell to complete.”

“Forget doing magic. I won’t remember any of this once I return.”

“That’s the other thing. I’m going to send your spirit back in tact. You need to be guarded right now, and we need you to act on our side the moment the time comes.”

I was at a loss for words. This was suicide. She was sending me, a spy, back to house full of vampires who hated everything to do with Sara. “You’re going to get me killed.”

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