The traffic was bad in Dublin's city centre and the rain made it worse. But Hraefn drove without showing the slightest bit of unease or worry. He turned the pressed the buttons on the radio till he found a station playing a song he liked, glancing over at me with a smile on his face.
"Do you like this one?" he asked.
I remained pointedly silent. But that didn't seem to bother him; in fact, he chatted easily as though I were a willing participant in the conversation.
"I was thinking of going to ground in Kilkenny. I have a property there, on the banks of the river Barrow. I haven't been there for a long time but there's a management company taking care of it, so it should be habitable. I mean, it's only one night, right? We'll have to head to Rosslare tomorrow night and get a ferry to mainland Europe. Once we're on the mainland we can decide where we want to live."
He smiled at me, his eyes twinkling mischievously, like it was all a grand old lark. I shook my head in a mixture of disgust and despair.

The car slowed at a traffic light and I turned to look out the window. My eyes focused on the letters over the door: GARDA.
Holy shit. We'd stopped in front of a Garda station – the police. Without thinking I yanked the door open and almost tumbled out. Quick as lightning, Hraefn pulled me back in, whiplash-fast. At that moment the traffic light turned green and the car behind us honked its horn.
"What the fuck, Magdalena?" he cried, hurt. "That's so dangerous! If I'd driven off, you could've been killed!"
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Hraefn," I growled. "You have abducted me. You're taking me off somewhere to rape me, probably kill me and dispose of my body. I mean, you've killed one innocent woman tonight, how do I know I won't be next?"
His mouth moved, no sound came out. He glanced in the rear-view mirror then pulled into a loading bay in front of a shop on a busy street before wriggling around in his seat to face me.
"Magdalena," he said softly. "I would never hurt you. We have a blood bond, my darling: I can feel you, and don't think I can't feel your fear. Know this: you are precious to me and I would not harm a hair on your head."
"You abducted me," I repeated. "I did not go willingly, remember?"
He ran a hand through his dark hair, pushing it back off his face. His profile was backlit by the lights of the pub across the road: sharp nose, pointed chin.
"Give me time," he said, "And I can make you change your mind."
A little rage rose in me and made my voice husky. "I don't need anyone to make me change my mind. I know my own mind, thank you very much. I'm getting out of this car right now and you're not going to stop me."

I put my hand on the door handle, expecting to be stopped, my fingers on the keys in my pockets. I could use them to stab him in the eye, I thought. But he didn't do anything, just inclined his head in acquiescence.
"I just wanted to save you," he said. "You just seem so ... lost."
I snorted.
"Lost?" I scoffed. "Yeah, I'm sure that's how you justify it."
"You're so busy playing the role of Queen of Louisiana, loving consort to Great King Eric, that you kind of lost your own self somewhere in there," he said. "You're too smart to be the concubine and personal secretary to that boorish thug."
That stung and it made me pause, the car door open a crack.
"That's not the way it is," I said defiantly.
"Moira told me you've been dragging your heels about this wedding," he said.
"So that's how you knew I'd be there tonight," I concluded. "Does the empress tell you everything?"
"Pretty much. We go back a long way," he said and his face cracked into a broad smile. "She told me that Northman wanted this done without delay, without fuss. She said it was because everyone is saying he's afraid you'd bolt and leave him at the altar. So I just ... I just wanted to help. I thought it might help everyone save face if you were taken. Taken away."
I stared at him. Hraefn's face was half in shadow, so it was hard to read his facial expression.
"And then what?" I asked. "Did you think I'd be okay with it?"
"In time," he said. "And I have lots of time. I wanted to take you someplace wonderful, give you a life full of meaning. Art, culture, theatre, books. Treat you like a real queen. And I thought ... well, we have a connection, don't we? You and me?"
I didn't answer. But we did. In another place, at another time, he and I would have a lot in common.
"How did you think this would work in practice?" I asked sarcastically. "This life of books and plays and operas? You know Eric would hunt you down. And how do you expect to cross international borders without the authorities being alerted? Because you know there'll be a missing persons report filed before the night is out."
"New papers, new passports are not a problem –"
"How? Haven't you ever heard of biometric data? How are you going to get around that?" I said, my voice rising angrily.
"You can get around it," he said patiently. "With the right money and the right connections, it's not a problem."
"So we run away and live happily ever after," I said bitterly. "Till Eric finds us and kills you, me or both of us. Sounds like a good plan."

He placed a hand over mine. His skin was cold but I felt a current run from his icy palm up my arm.
"Fine," he said. "Go back to him if he makes you happy. All I ever wanted to was to make you happy and if that's what does it, my darling, you are free to go."
I put my hand on the door handle, hesitated a second.
"If he makes you happy," he continued, "Locked up in that prison disguised as a ridiculous palace, dancing attendance on a bunch of hillbillies."
I opened the car door.
"I won't be able to stop him hunting you down," I warned.
"If he loved you, he wouldn't do it," he said. "He wouldn't do it if you asked and I know you would never ask him."
"It'll be a matter of honour," I said. "You know how he is."
"His honour," Hraefn replied darkly. "Not yours. He won't give a shit about yours. He will come for me, even if you ask him not to, because all Northman cares about is himself."
I swallowed, pushed the door open and got out. The rain pelted off the footpath.
"Will you be okay?" I asked before I shut the door.
He stared at me and although I could barely see his features, I knew his black-brown eyes were boring into me, thinking about something. Then he reached into the back of the car and retrieved a small black pouch. He opened it and pulled something out, then took my phone and a small notebook out of the glove compartment, which he opened and scrawled a number on a page. He pulled a couple of bank notes from his wallet, tucking them inside the little book he'd removed from the pouch.

"This is for you," he said, extending his hand. "It's my gift to you, along with my telephone number, in case you change your mind."
I turned over his gift in my hand. He'd given me an Irish passport. I flipped it open and there was my photo, next to it the name MARGARET O'REILLY, the date of birth two months before my own. I gasped.
"Where did you get this?" I said. It was identical to my actual passport, except the number, the date of birth and the name were different.
"I've known about your wedding for a while now," he smiled. "I was prepared."
He started the car again, put it in gear.
"You have another choice now, Magdalena," he said, grinning at me. He nodded his head slowly, then, slowly, feeling almost like I was sleepwalking, I shut the car door, and ducked under the awning of a shop as I watched his car pull out and drive away. He didn't look back. I flipped open the pages of the passport till I found the forty euros he'd put inside, then flagged down a taxi to get back to the Vampire Headquarters. My stomach sank as the taxi headed down the wet streets, the driver cheerfully trying to make conversation. I fingered the passport, flicking through the pages, then I tucked it into the waistband of my skirt. I rang Eric's number and he answered with a breathless, "Maggie?"
"I'm okay," I said. "I'm fine. Everything's fine. I'm coming back."
And before he could say anything else, I hung up and switched off the phone.
I was coming back.
Or was I?

xxx

"He let you go?" Eric said, his voice incredulous.
"I asked him to let me go and he did," I answered simply.
He stroked my hair with one of his large hands and I leaned my forehead against his chest. He was still wearing the black suit that he was to be married in, I rubbed my skin against the soft wool of the jacket, breathing deep his smell.
"I will kill him," he said and behind his broad back, I heard the Empress make a soft noise like a gasp. Still clutching me to his chest, he turned to look at her. "I will hunt him down and kill him," he declared, looking around at the people assembled in the Great Hall. "This vampire will meet the True Death."
I remembered what Hraefn had said and my stomach knotted.
He looked down at me and kissed the top of his head. "Let us put this behind us," he said softly. "Let's be married."
"I don't have a white dress," I said weakly.
"You can be wrapped in a sheet as far as I'm concerned," he grinned.
"Let's wait," I said, running my fingers up and down his chest, feeling the threads of his shirt. He shivered. "I need to recover from what happened here tonight – everyone is so upset. And a woman died, Eric."
He looked at me uncomprehendingly. I glanced over at my mother, who was standing with my grandmother, both of them in their Sunday best. She hurried forward and gently took me from Eric's grip.
"She needs a little time, Eric," she said with her most charming smile. "She's been through a terrible ordeal."
"Another terrible ordeal," I whispered. I dropped my fingers. "I want to go back to our hotel," I said to Eric. "I want to leave now."
He looked at me in a way I had never seen before, something akin to realisation crossing his features. His eyes looked down at the floor and glanced up at me again.
"As you wish," he said formally, and held out his hand.
I thanked the Irish vampires for their help, bid the Empress farewell, trying not to look at her bloodstained eyes, and kissed my parents and grandparents goodbye. Dawn was coming and we needed to get back to the hotel as soon as possible; I promised to call them in a few hours. My grandfather peered at me, saying nothing. I knew what he wanted to say, though. I nodded at him wordlessly and he stood aside to let us leave.

Eric and I were silent in the taxi, my head leaning against his shoulder. Eric looked out the window, his long arm wrapped around my shoulders. When we got to the hotel room, I slipped into the bathroom, showered and changed into clean clothes, hiding the passport in my cosmetic bag. I came back out to find Eric sitting on the edge of bed his legs stretched out before him. When I came out, he looked up. He had that weird look on his face again, the look that made him appear so young. Vulnerable. My gut wrenched. We stared at each other, neither wanting to be the first to speak.
"I don't want you to go after Hraefn," I said finally. "I want this to end here."
"I can't do that," he said in an even, matter-of-fact tone. "He must meet the True Death."
"I don't want you to do that," I repeated.
"It is a matter of honour," Eric said.
"Your honour."
"Yes," he said, a bit perplexed. "My honour."
I nodded, then sat down on the bed next to him.

"Eric - " I began.
"Don't say it," he begged
I took one of his hands in both of mine, examining the skin, the fingernails. How many times had we lain in bed, our fingers intertwined? I resisted the urge to kiss his knuckles, stroke the back of his hand, run a fingertip along the delicate skin on the inside of his wrist, something that would make him quiver in anticipation of being touched the same way elsewhere.
"I think I need to leave," I said.
"Did he give you his blood?" he snarled. "What did he do to you?"
"He did nothing." I was quiet, calm. "It just made me realise that ... I'm not happy. We've never been on an equal footing and I'm just tired of being pushed around by vampires."
"This would change if we were married," he said quickly.
"It wouldn't," I said. "We both know that. And it's not your fault: I knew what I was getting into the moment Ilaria offered me a job in the Empress' retinue. More fool me for believing it would be different for me than it has ever been for any human that got involved with a vampire."
My words had a bitter tone to them and I didn't try to disguise it. I was bitter: angry at myself for being in a situation that was essentially of my own creating.
"And this vampire, this Hraefn, made you believe this," Eric said.
"Yes," I said. "No. Maybe. This whole incident just made it all clearer. I've known it all along, that's why I never wanted to marry you. I need to get out, Eric. Get away from everything."
My voice rose in a wail. All of a sudden it was clear: I wanted out.

Eric stood up abruptly, pushing me away.
"Excellent," he spat. "Wonderful. Well, don't let me get in your way."
He started grabbing his stuff, throwing it into a heap on the bed.
"Eric," I wheedled, "Don't be that way. I want us to part on good terms. Please, we've been through so much."
He pulled his suitcase out of the cupboard, ignoring me, tossing the items in haphazardly, pulling his suits off the hangers and throwing them in on top. This alone told me he was upset: this was a man who folded his socks when he took them off. I went to his side, laid a hand on his arm.
"Eric," I said, "Please don't be like this."
His white cheeks were faintly pink as he shook my hand away. He swept past me, grabbed his things from the bathroom, plonking them on top of his Armani suit, then viciously yanked the zipper shut. He turned to face me, standing at his full height. I often forgot how tall he was, how intimidating he could be. He looked down at me with a cold expression on his face, his features locked and shut.
"Goodbye, Miss Kennick," he said. "I wish you all the best with your future endeavours."

Mouth open, I watched him turn and leave the room, slamming the door behind him with a bang. I curled up on the bed with my hands over my face, too numb to do anything till at some point after dawn I finally fell asleep.