Without thinking, I dove between the two vampires. They were fighting over me, so I was the only person who could stop it – short of one of them dying, that is. ‘Stop it!’ I yelled, flinging my arms out.

‘Charlotte, get out of the way,’ demanded Akatsuki. He tried to sweep me behind him protectively with his arms, but I refused to budge. Just as I was feeling proud of myself for putting up a good defence against a vampire, I was caught off guard by a blow to the face.

As his fingers raked across my cheek, gouging deep welts and causing blood to spill out, Kaname’s eyes flashed scarlet. The force of his assault sent me sprawling back to the floor, and as I struggled to scramble back to my feet, he was standing over me. Akatsuki tugged at Kaname’s arms, but he was no match against a pureblood, and Kaname simply flicked him away effortlessly.

I looked around the room, panicked by the sudden silence. And I was right to worry; every vampire was drifting closer, their eyes the same red, wearing identical expressions of hunger. I was bleeding, and that made me their next meal. No sooner than I was finally steady on my feet again than Kaname had pulled me against his body. I wasn’t strong enough to even move as he dipped his head. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell of the blood still oozing out of my cheek. His cold tongue darted out once, twice, lapping at my life. I began to feel drowsy and weak – but strangely happy.

My head lolled back on my neck; it felt too heavy to hold up for another minute. I was being hoisted into someone’s arms like a bundle and carried somewhere. Perhaps I should have cared more than I did, but I didn’t have the energy to mind. Instead I simply let Kaname take me away like a child who needed to go to bed. I fell asleep in his arms, barely even perturbed by the wet seeping through my clothes and probably ruining them. The moment my eyes closed, I was lost to the world.