Caitlyn woke with a jerk, and shook her head to try and clear it. She was sitting on the ground, her hands secured behind her back around a metal pole. She looked up and saw that it stretched up to the ceiling. Her coat, boots and all of her weapons were missing, and she'd lost her hair scrunchie somewhere, so her hair was hanging loose over her shoulders. There was sawdust all over the cement floor, she was in some kind of factory, probably in the basement.

The lights weren't on, but Caitlyn had no trouble seeing that the room was fairly bare of equipment. There were a few cardboard boxes stacked up against the wall, and a simple wooden table with a couple of chairs. There was trash all over the floor, and an old mattress shoved into a corner with a few tattered, stained cushions. Hanging from the ceiling was a pull-chain light switch and a hanging electric bulb. She couldn't make out any colours, but the room seemed pretty drab.

She noticed that the stinging in her arm had receded, and when she moved it experimentally she realised it had been bandaged. Why the hell would a vampire care if I was injured? She looked around but didn't see or hear anyone. She didn't sense anyone either, but she couldn't completely trust her extra senses where Frost was involved.

She couldn't feel any new wounds on her body, he hadn't bitten or hurt her, but it was possible he'd fed from the wound before fixing it. She leaned her head back against the pole with a sigh, wondering if he'd offer any kind of explanation when he turned up. She closed her eyes again, and tugged against what felt like steel shackles on her hands. He must have known that normal handcuffs wouldn't hold her, as she was strong enough to snap them open. She couldn't use her arms, so she couldn't use her magic.

She wondered how long she'd been out of it. Some remnant of her vampire heritage gave her the certainty that the sun was rising at any moment, even though she was underground in the dark. By now the Nightstalkers would presume her missing. They would track her down, she was certain of it. She wondered how they had managed with the hell-beasts. She wondered about Jack and the others. She wondered again what Frost had planned for her, why she had been hidden away down there.

Her eyes snapped open as she felt movement outside. She moved her head as she concentrated, creasing her brow with thought as she figured out how many were there and what they were. Mixed company, she determined; vampires and humans, a group of them. They were inside the factory, coming down toward her. Caitlyn got to her feet, using the pole against her back for support and balance. The vamps were cutting it close, the night was almost over.

She heard laughing as they came downstairs, the click clack of heels and the murmuring voices. There were both women and men, but she couldn't tell which was which species. All she'd ever needed to know before was if they were cold-blooded, and then she'd destroy them if they were. It didn't matter what else they were, what they looked like. They all equalled a pile of ash in the end, so she'd never trained her senses to differentiate, save for learning the individual signatures of her human friends.

She moved around the pole so she could see the door. There was light around the edges, marred by shadows as someone stood outside. The door opened, throwing dim light across the basement floor, not quite reaching Caitlyn's feet.

"Come on in ladies," the man in the doorway said, holding an arm out and looking back at his companions. He had dark hair cut just below his chin, slicked back. He was wearing an evening coat and a blue shirt with black pants, and he was smiling charmingly. He was a vampire.

"Basement parties are cool," said a brunette girl as she came in. She was wearing tight black jeans, heeled boots and a purple shirt under a denim jacket. Her black handbag was hanging off her arm, and she squinted into the darkness. "How come I don't hear any music? And why's it all dark?"

"It's a surprise, Jackie" said another male as he escorted another girl in on his arm. This man was also a vampire, blonde-haired, with a raised ridge in his nose indicating that it had been broken at one point in his life. He wore a black shirt over a white vest and had black pants on. The girl with him was also blonde and had on a pink long-sleeved knit top that hung low to leave her shoulders bare. She had a long black skirt and heels. She had silver star earrings hanging down the sides of her face and wore a silver chain with a star on it.

The women were both human, and seemed to be unaware of the danger they were in. The blonde vampire who'd entered the room had seen Caitlyn and looked confused for a second before grinning. The other vamp closed the door behind them and then also caught sight of the captive in their hide-out.

"Hey, turn on the light!" Jackie complained.

The light cord was near Caitlyn. She had to go on tiptoes, but she reached up with her other bare foot and gripped the cord between her toes, tugging it to bring light to the room. She didn't know what else she could do to help them while she was chained up. The girls saw the bare room and the quiet woman at the building's support pole. Caitlyn turned a little so they could see her chains.

"Hey, I'm not into that kinky shit!" the blonde complained.

"Come on, Leah," Jackie said nervously, "lets go, there's no party here."

The dark-haired vamp was standing in front of the door, one hand casually resting on the door frame. He smiled as the girls turned around and saw they'd been trapped.

"These guys are psychopathic killers." Caitlyn said to the girls, and in response they immediately backed away toward her. Jackie started tugging unsuccessfully on Caitlyn's chains to free her. Leah demanded to be released.

"Mark," the blonde vampire said to his partner, ignoring the girls, "stay by the door. I'm going to see who this new girl is." He approached Caitlyn, who gave him stare for stare, refusing to be intimidated. He slapped Jackie away and took Caitlyn's face in his right hand. Leah went over to her fallen friend and they both started crying with fear.

"Who are you?" the blonde man asked Caitlyn.

"Get these chains off and I'll tell you," Caitlyn replied coolly.

"Tempting," he said, "I like it when they can struggle, but I've got the other two for that." He leaned in to bite into her neck.

Caitlyn kneed him in the groin and kicked him in the face. "How do you like that?"

"Whoa, whoa!" The door had opened and Frost appeared. "Excuse me, but this is my guest." He passed Mark and crossed the floor to the blonde, pushing him out of the way. "They hurt you, kitten?" he asked Caitlyn, staying just out of range of her legs.

Caitlyn gave him a scathing look.

"Hey, she's on our territory, she's ours." Mark said, approaching Frost. "So get out of here."

"Oh, you don't want her," Frost said, "she'd be too much trouble for you, trust me."

The women took the opportunity of the unguarded door to run off.

Frost walked around Caitlyn and unlocked the shackles. She hid her surprise at his actions and promptly burned both of the vampires as they jumped for her and Frost.

She crossed her arms and faced Frost, ignoring the ashes wafting around their feet. "Are you going to give me some kind of explanation?"

"A 'thank you' would be nice," Frost said sarcastically. "I want your help. I tied you up coz I didn't want you going anywhere while I was gone."

"Right," Caitlyn said with obvious disbelief.

"Hey, I let you go didn't I? I didn't touch you except to get you in here and to fix up that scratch, which, I might point out, I didn't have to do."

Caitlyn sighed. "What do want, and why do you think I would help you?"

"Look, you and I both want to destroy these new dog-things that are hunting both our kinds." Frost explained. "I also want you to help me take care of the purebloods. Both are things that you would do on your own anyway, but I'm willing to help you."

"And what do you want in return?"

Frost regarded her for a moment. "You're one of us, you're a half-blood just like me, only I was turned to become a half-blood and you were one from birth. We both know what it's like to be human, though that was a long time ago for me, and we know what it's like to have the power of immortals. I want you to join us. Think about it."

"I don't feed from people," Caitlyn said.

"Sure you do," Frost said. "You just don't take blood. Besides, aren't you the least bit curious about our world? You grew up with humans, right? You're severely prejudiced. You owe what you are, what you can do, to a vampire."

"You're killers."

"So are you." Frost countered.

"You killed my mother," Caitlyn said.

"Uh, no, I was actually dead at the time." Frost corrected her. "It wasn't like I asked for her to be killed, that is not my fault, and I had nothing to do with it. They didn't even have to bleed her dry, but I had no control over that."

"You bit me the other night, why should I trust you not to try again?"

"You came after me first, and I retaliated. What did you expect?" Frost reasoned. He was trying to give her a sincere look, again trying to hold her in place with his intense stare.

Caitlyn regarded him with lingering suspicion.

"Let me get this straight," she said, "you want me to stop hunting you and yours, and instead take out your enemies for you. You, you, you. And why me? I hear Blade turned you down last time you asked him, and it turned out you were trying to screw him over with a bogus deal so he'd be an easy target. If I agree to this I bet you'll be asking me to go after him next."

"Blade was an idiot, and we wouldn't have had to try and bleed him dry if he'd joined us. The ritual never needed to be fatal for him, but he decided to be our enemy. He's my problem, I wouldn't try to make him yours. But fine," Frost said, hands up in mock-surrender. "You're free to leave at any time. Your stuff is in that box over there. Just… think about what I said."

Caitlyn glanced at the box and walked over to it. Sure enough, her stuff was in there.

"It's a pity though," Frost said, still behind her, "I kinda liked you, kitten."

Caitlyn didn't reply. She re-belted her knife to her waist, and her stakes to her thigh. Frost picked up her coat and held it up for her to slip her arms into, to which she didn't comment. She put her injured arm in first, noting with a grimace the slash in her sleeve. These jackets weren't cheap, especially when you didn't have an income. She put her boots back on and laced them up.

Without another look at Frost she walked to the door. She went up the stairs into the factory. Old woodwork machinery was pushed up against the walls, and all of the windows were boarded up. There were odd planks of wood all over the floor, and there was an abundance of sawdust. It was a good thing she didn't have any allergies.

There was a padlock and chain securing the inside of a door, which Caitlyn promptly ripped away as soon as she reached it. It was designed to keep out humans during the day, not to keep in vampires or people like her. Sunlight streamed in as she pulled open the creaky door. She closed her eyes for a second, and then blinked them open to adjust to the change of light.

The girls were long gone, but Caitlyn could see Frost's van parked nearby in a small car park. She could see a couple of stores across the road, and felt humans moving around in their homes beyond. It looked like she was near the outskirts of a small town. Why had Frost taken her so far away, just to discuss business?

She buttoned up her coat to conceal her weapons, should someone get close enough to see her. She climbed to the roof of the factory and took a good look around. Small town in front, dusty wasteland behind. She'd better find someone to ask where she was, and then maybe borrow a phone. She couldn't be that far from the city, Frost had only had a few hours to drive her.

She jumped down from the roof with a dull thud on the dirt below her boots. She realised that she had started to figure out Frost's signature. It was almost like a mortal black hole, a sense of nothing where there should at least have been something. It was like his presence was marginally colder than his surroundings, or something like that. It was hard to notice, but if she was looking for it she could find it. The thing was, she could feel his lack of presence around the back of the van. Outside. During the day. Caitlyn knew for a fact that he wasn't wearing sun-block.

She jogged around and saw him pushing a little box into the back of the van. He shut the doors and turned around to look at her. She didn't say anything, she let her confused expression ask the question.

"I figured something out since I came back." Frost explained. "'Feed from a Daywalker, and you become one, as long as their blood remains within you.' Don't worry, I haven't figured out how to make it permanent, and it's not like I'm expecting you to let me take any more."

"I'm not a Daywalker."

"No?" Frost said, his eyebrows raised. "You have the strengths of vampires, the gift of being able to walk in daylight, and although you don't take blood from humans, you still feed on them for their energy. Like Blade, you can walk among the humans. The only things that make you different from Blade is your immunity to the thirst, the magic, and the strange traits of your blood. And a few other obvious things, like he's a guy and you're not. He's a pain in the ass and you're… not so much a pain in the ass, yet. There's also the fact that Blade had a human father and you didn't."

Caitlyn crossed her arms. "For someone who never met me before last night you seem to know a lot about me, especially considering I'm not well-known. You're the only vampire I've met that isn't a pile of ash right now."

"Well," Frost began hesitantly, "I made it my business to find out who brought me back. Your father and his living blood donor weren't too well known, but there were some records, some rumours. And also some mention of you two in the blood prophecies. There's also the fact that the ritual to resurrect me used blood that was 50 identical to yours, and I now have both that and remnants of your blood running through me. It's given me a few immunities. You can't sense me, you can't burn me. I know things about you that even you don't."

"Such as?" Caitlyn demanded.

"I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise." Frost said with a smile. "But that would be another part of the deal. I'd help you discover everything you're capable of."

It was clear he wouldn't be saying anything more on that matter unless Caitlyn agreed to help him, which she was unwilling to do. She changed the subject.

"You delivered the knife personally, didn't you?"

Frost nodded. "And the rose. I was told you didn't even touch it."

"I don't accept gifts from strangers." Caitlyn retorted. "The knife was mine, though. What were you trying to do by returning it, freak me out?"

"Maybe a little, I couldn't help it." Frost grinned mischievously. "It was also an invitation. I knew you'd come and find me. As I said before, I want to show you our world. You can be a part of it. You should be a part of it."

Caitlyn looked away for a moment. She wondered why she'd let him talk so long, why she hadn't tried to kill him now that she had her weapons back. It was useless trying to burn him, she knew that, but why not attack him now? Why was she even pretending to consider what he was saying?

He was still a danger, he could do some serious damage in the daylight. It was her duty to stop him. What if he told others about her? There was no way they'd take her without a fight, she'd do anything to avoid becoming a 'donor', especially if it meant vampires could be on the rampage 24 hours a day. She glanced back at him and got the feeling he wasn't the type to share. She was getting a few feelings about him, actually. The type of guy he was, his motives, his likes.

"You haven't fed from anyone since the night before last, have you?" she guessed.

"Nope. I don't need to anymore, at least not for a while."

She was getting the weirdest sensation that she'd be safe with him. Maybe it was because he'd saved her life twice already, but it was still an irrational feeling to get about a vampire. He kept hinting that he was interested in her, other than professionally, especially if the night they'd met was anything to go by. Then again, that might have had more to do with the excitement of the chase and his predatory instincts.

She knew what she was feeling, though. Mostly uncertain, but underneath that, strangely fascinated.

"By the way," Frost said, "how's the bite wound?"

Caitlyn raised her eyebrows. "All healed," she said. On an impulse she unbuttoned the coat and lifted her shirt to reveal nothing but bare skin, unmarked by the bite.

Frost looked a little off-balance, but pleased. "In the spirit of our deal, or at least, the deal I hope you'll agree to," he said, looking back at her face, "I'm going to ask your permission."

"I'm not letting you bite me again." Caitlyn said, letting go of her shirt.

"No," Frost agreed. He put a hand up to her cheek. "I want to kiss you."

Caitlyn's mouth opened a little in surprise. She didn't resist when Frost moved tentatively forward, so he closed the short distance between them and put his free hand around her waist as he kissed her. His mouth was warmer than she remembered. She put her arms over his shoulders and kissed him back. The hand at her face had moved to the back of her head, and he was pulling her in hungrily, though not quite as aggressively as last time.

Then he let go of her head, but not her waist or lips. His free hand went behind him to the rear doors of the van. He jerked the handle and pulled the door open, gently guiding Caitlyn in with him.

She stopped and pulled away. "I can't."

"What?" he asked, running his hand through her hair.

"My friends are probably already on their way," she said. "I don't know what they'd think if they saw us doing this, but it definitely wouldn't be something good. I'm sorry, but I'm loyal to them. I won't fight them for you."

"I'm not going to ask you to," he assured her. "Besides, they can't find you unless we tell them where you are."

"Are you sure about that?" she asked with a disbelieving expression.

"You're thinking about that piece of metal in your arm, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Caitlyn said slowly. She glanced at her arm, the same one that had been slashed.

"It's long-gone, nowhere near here, plus it's broken."

"You took it?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to get interrupted," he explained, "it was already broken before I found it; the thing that got you got it too when it hurt you."

"Another reason for Caulder to get pissed off at me." Caitlyn sighed. "I suppose that's where you were before I woke up."

Frost didn't say anything, he leaned in to kiss her again. Caitlyn put her hands on his chest and gently pushed him back.

"You've cut me off from my people," she said, "do yours know that you're out here?"

"Just one person," Frost said, "and he's vampire, so he couldn't get here now during the day even if I wanted him to, although I told him to stay put."

"Here's the deal," Caitlyn decided, "you stop turning people, just concentrate on the dogs and purebloods. I won't kill any half-blood unless I catch them hunting. If you don't need to feed anymore, don't do it. I'm still on the humans' side."

"What about the rest of the deal?" Frost asked, his hand moving toward her face again. "You don't want to find out any more about our world?"

Caitlyn took his hand in hers and bit down hard on the back of it, enough to draw a little dark blood. "That's all there is to it, isn't there?" she asked. She licked the tiny traces off her bottom lip, grimacing a little at the bitter taste. "It's not really my thing," she told him, letting go of his hand, "but now we're a little closer to being even."

Frost looked a little taken aback. He shook his head a little with a half-smile, and then asked, "What about what we can learn about you from the Blood Texts?"

"So far I've been able to handle myself with what I already know. I'm not sure I want to know what some Ancient vampire wrote about me."

"All right."

"I'll be going now," Caitlyn said, taking a step back. "I'll give the others the deal. I doubt Blade will go for it, but I'll tell them anyway. I will stick to it while you do, even if the others don't. It shouldn't matter anyway right now, we're more focussed on finding the source of the hell-dogs."

"If you find that out, let me know. I'll send everyone I've got to destroy them."

"All right. For now, don't show your face near us again. I might not be inclined to kill you right now, but that won't mean anything to the others." She put her hand on the handle of her knife. "No more surprises, like leaving things for me to find. I'll let you know if the others decide to agree to the deal, although I don't think it's likely."

"Do you want a ride?" Frost asked.

"What did I just say? You shouldn't be anywhere near my people, especially not with me. They'll expect me to kill you and then question my loyalty because I haven't. Let me talk to them first, and I'll let you know. If things don't work out, we can go back to trying to kill each other. Now you might want to get out of here, I'm going to give them a call to pick me up."

"No good-bye kiss?" he asked with a roguish smile.

Caitlyn allowed herself a tiny smile, but shook her head.

"All right then." Frost said, taking a step away.

Caitlyn turned around and started walking toward civilisation.