– Yes, he killed them! – Lourdes repeated her words quietly.

The three of us sat down on the bed.

So Grayson kept a lot of captives here and then killed them. And he would have killed Susan and Lourdes, too, if he hadn't had me as his prime target.

I looked at the girls, and suddenly a ruthless thought flashed through my brain: the vampire wouldn't let them go. He couldn't afford to let them go, despite their vows not to say a word about him.

– How did you get here? – I asked, determined to find out everything they knew about Brandon Grayson. Did they know he was a vampire? If not, they still had a chance to break free!

Susan laughed nervously.

– How trivial it all was! I met him in London, at an exhibition of paintings by contemporary artists. As I remember now, I saw him and thought: "My God, what a handsome man! Is it possible for a man to be as gorgeous as he is?" and then we were introduced to each other by mutual friends, and I… Lost my head! I'd never seen a man as handsome as him before. – Susan tugged angrily at her dress, and I realised that she was mentally berating and cursing herself for what she had done. – He had told me that he had been in love with me at first sight, and had suggested that I should go away with him to his castle where no one would find us, and yet I was engaged to another man. At first I hesitated, and it offended him. Then I changed my mind and begged him to forgive me… And I went away with him… But my fiancé, my Christopher, who loved me madly, probably has not forgiven me and will never forgive me. What a fool I am!

– And what happened when you came here? – I continued my cruel interrogation, even though I knew I was hurting Susan by making her relive those terrible moments.

– He gave me a tour of the castle, and then he told me that there was something very interesting in his dungeon… We went there… And there it was! I was terrified! Those girls! Those screams! – She covered her face with her palms, and her voice changed to a trembling soprano. – And then he locked me in the cell and I…" Susan stopped talking and broke into tears.

– And you, Lourdes? – I turned to the Spaniard, who was tearfully listening to Susan's story.

– I was like her, too," Lourdes answered me briefly. – But his friends were here when I came with him. I curse this maniac!

– You didn't see anything else? – I questioned, finding joy in their grief that, thanks to their ignorance, I had an argument for the vampire to let them go.

– No! What could we see? We were trapped in those barns! Wait… How did you end up here? And why didn't he put you in a cell like the rest of us? – Susan asked quietly, instantly calmed down and stopped sobbing.

– Just like you," I lied, grinning, so as not to disturb their souls, and besides, Grayson could hear every word we said.

– We're all fools! – Lourdes said sadly.

– But why didn't he lock you up? – Susan persisted with her question.

– I don't know! – I shrugged my shoulders. – But he will let you go.

– And what will happen to you? – Lourdes asked, looking at me sadly with her beautiful dark eyes.

– It doesn't matter," I answered quietly. – The important thing is that you will be home.

– Why are you so protective of this maniac? – Susan asked, apparently unhappy with my words.

– I'm not defending him… No, never! I mean, he's caused me a lot of suffering, too! It's just that if I don't stay here, you will stay here, because Grayson needs a victim! – I answered her reproach fervently.

– Why do you say that? We can all go together! – Susan exclaimed hotly. – You don't have to sacrifice yourself for us!

– Believe me, it's not a sacrifice. I want to stay," I lied tearfully, shuddering at my own lies. – You have no idea what I've done… Yes, I want to stay… I belong here.

– If that's your decision… But it's all very sad," Susan whispered.

I didn't answer her, and went to the open window and stared longingly out, thinking that soon the girls would be home, and I would be here. But I did not envy them in the least: I was glad for them, glad that they would be saved. My longing was only for my fate.

It was raining hard outside the window. So hard that I could not see anything because of its grey blanket: the strings of rain were not even and moved, changed direction, whipped the leaves of the trees and sighed noisily, hitting the ground and shattering into thousands of small liquid fragments.

– Ready, beauties?

I turned around: Grayson was standing in the doorway. The beautiful killer.

The girls cried out in fright, running to me and hiding behind my back.

The vampire slowly approached us.

– Viper, silly, you can't be so heartless," Brandon said to me, grinning an unpleasant crooked grin.

– I feel responsible for them! – I replied to his lunge.

– Everyone is only responsible for themselves," he countered.

– You'll never understand that! – I said quietly.

A thousand curses, taunts, and sarcastic remarks about Grayson were stuck in my throat-he disgusted me more than ever. He mocked us mortals, but he was a true monster himself. But I swallowed it, remembering that he'd promised to let the girls go, which meant I couldn't make him angry.

– You're right, I'll never understand that weakness. – Grayson smiled contemptuously, and I knew from his tone that he was referring to Cedric's love for me. Then Grayson sat down on the bed and kept his eyes on us. – What a picture! Three imperfections cuddled together, their eyes glistening with fear and hatred for me! – he grinned.

– Will you let them go? – I asked, switching to Czech so that the girls would not be frightened by our frank conversation.

– I promised you. If you want them to go right now," he replied in Czech. – But you promised me something too.

– Me? – I was genuinely surprised.

– Yes, and you don't remember it? – He asked with a smile. – Let's go to the other room, we need to talk.

A shiver came over me.

"God, what does he want from me?" – I thought with horror.

– 'Yes, of course,' I still replied, completely unaware of what he wanted to talk about, but agreeing so he wouldn't change his mind about letting the girls go.

Grayson got up from the bed and held out his hand to me, smiling pleasantly.

I put mine into the vampire's palm, and we left the room and headed forward down the long corridor. I was so nervous-the unknown terrified me: Grayson was a great actor, and his words about needing to talk could mean anything.

Finally, the vampire led me to the end of the corridor, opened the door of the room in front of me, pushed me in, walked in, and closed the door behind him. Grayson walked over to the window.

– Amazing day, isn't it? A storm of emotions! – he said cheerfully, looking out the window. – Come to me.

I immediately obeyed his order.

– Do you want to talk about it? – I asked incredulously, standing next to him.

Grayson looked at me. His face was terribly stern.

– Of course not, silly. – He grabbed my hair and pulled me to him, forcing me to look into his face. – So what did you promise? – He asked sternly.

I dazedly grabbed his hand he used to pull my hair.

– You're hurting me! – I shouted.

Tears streamed from my eyes: he was hurting me so badly that I thought I could feel the skin on my head tearing.

– What did you promise me? – he repeated, raising his voice.

My mind began to frantically recall what this sadistic man had asked me to do, and what I could promise him.

– I promised to… Clean the scratches?" I asked uncertainly, hoping that was what he wanted me to say.

– Did you do it?

– I didn't have time…" A cry of pain escaped my throat as the vampire yanked my hair so hard I felt like he'd ripped half of it out.