My Pleasure, Darling

22: The Audacity is Worse, Actually

Within seconds, we are all on our feet, all with our arms in the air. The man holding a gun on us is in full HURS uniform, and is holding a significant weapon. I was never good at identification. It's big and it can kill me – what else do you need to know, huh? Through the open doorway behind him, several uniformed and armed men rush through the hallway.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?!" Elise shrieks, her voice hitting new highs I've never heard before.

"Mouth open."

"What?!"

He trains the gun on her specifically, making her start. "Mouth open!"

Elise slowly opens her mouth. He turns the gun to Lionel, who opens his mouth dutifully. Neither have fangs. The gun is turned to me.

I could kill him. It would be so easy, he's too close, clearly he wasn't trained properly. I could touch the end of his gun. I could swipe it and have him by the throat, fingers gripping even through the thick material of the helmet. I could crack his neck in moments.

Instead, I simply tilt back and open my mouth.

There's a ruckus going on – drawers are opened and emptied, cupboards are swung open in the kitchen, I think some of Elise's good earthenware is thrown on the ground. Steps thunder as they race up the stairs.

Upstairs. Where Alexandria, Queen Alexandria the Third is playing with her dolls. Secret tea time she calls it, when we aren't allowed to disturb her, because it's a secret tea time club. Where a royal princess, whose face is known, is minding her own business.

Upstairs, where Felix is sleeping, blissfully unaware of what is happening. Felix, with his fully grown fangs and smelly blood. Felix, who will be taken and shot in the street for existing.

"Now what the hell is going on?" Elise demands.

The gun slowly lowers. He turns to Lionel. "Are you the owner of this house?"

"I am the owner." After that squeaky scream a few seconds ago, I wouldn't have imagined her voice could be so deep. It means business. I can't tell whether she's more offended that armed men have broken into her house, or that they assumed the closest man was in charge. "Now what are you doing to it?!"

"We've heard from a reliable source that there are suckers here."

"There are no vampires here, young man, don't you take that tone with me!" She begins to head for the door, with such authority and force that he automatically moves for her. I am hot on her tail, though the gun comes back down behind me. She stomps up the stairs. "And what the hell are they doing up here?!"

Another armed man has followed us up the stairs, so now there's two of them. Upstairs, all the doors have been thrown open. Through them we can see that clothes have been thrown around, as well as things. Alexandria's room is trashed. A man comes out of it, pointing accusingly. "Who stays here?"

Elise crosses her arms. "That room is for Eddie and Jane when they come, my brother's kids, Lois here's little siblings. I don't tidy it because they like to have everything where they left it."

Another man comes out of a room – it's mine. They look at each other, then ascend to the third floor. Elise and I are after them like a shot. Elise makes a guttural noise that I belatedly realise is an incredibly crude scolding. Nobody stops.

Please, hide. Hide well. I don't know where Andrea is. I have to assume he managed to get her when the banging started. I don't know if that gave him enough time to find a good place to hide. There's only a small window up here, and even if he could go through it, a neighbour would see him. He knows this.