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keys hanging off of it. “Here.” He tossed the ring into the cell, missing the cot by a few inches. “Hang on to these, and don’t open the door for anyone. I mean anyone. Do you understand me?”
    I didn’t understand him. I mean, he was speaking English, and I understood the words, but I was confused. “What do you mean? What are you doing?”
    “I’ve got to go find your friend, and I need to know you’ll be safe. Don’t leave this cell. Not until morning. Promise me?”
    “I promise,” I lied.
    “Good, now where’s Blossom?”
    “Like I’d tell a vampire,” I blurted before I could think of a better answer.
    “Aurora, listen to me,” he said, pressing his face between the bars and looking directly into my eyes. “I need to get your friend and bring her here to you. I’m not the only vampire at the castle tonight. I can find her by myself, but that might take a while. If someone else discovers her first, she’s as good as dead.”
    “She’s in the wardrobe,” I told him. “In the room where you left us. The one with the wolf’s head carved over the door. I left her in the wardrobe.”
    “Good.” He nodded decisively as he stepped away from the bars. “I’ll get her, but you must do as I tell you, and stay in the cell. And hide the keys. You don’t want anyone to know you have them.”
    Instantly, I snatched the ring off the floor and stuffed it under the thin blanket that was covering the cot. “Okay. I’ll be fine. Just go get Blossom,” I told him.
    As soon as he was gone, I grabbed the keys and wrapped the blanket around my shoulders. My impulse was to make a run for it before he got back. But I knew from experience that my first impulse wasn’t always the best. Jessie had saved me from drowning and trusted me with the keys. On the other hand, he admitted to being a vampire and locked me in a dungeon. My head throbbed. I was freezing, and I couldn’t think clearly. I just didn’t know what to do. My fight-or-flight instincts told me to run, but there was something about Jessie. Deep in the core of my being, I felt that he cared about me. I got the strong sense that I could trust him.
    Footsteps caused me to conceal the keys with the blanket. I was so glad I did when Viktor appeared. “Well, hello, my little hors d'oeuvre,” he purred, eyeing me through the bars. “I’m so glad to see you’re still here. Where is your delightful friend?”
    I sent up a silent prayer of thanks that I hadn’t unlocked the cell. Viktor was much easier to endure when there was a set of iron bars between us. I decided to ignore him.
    “I asked you a question, little chick,” he said, sounding a little annoyed that I wasn’t eager to respond.
    I decided to focus on the far wall and just wait for Jessie to return. I couldn’t imagine any conversation with Viktor going in a direction that wouldn’t haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.
    “Answer me!” Viktor shouted, rattling the bars of my cage.
    I didn’t want to look at him. I knew without looking that he had fangs that he was desperate to apply to my neck. All I could do was wait it out and hope that Jessie didn’t return with Blossom while Viktor was still there.
    “You little bitch,” the vampire snarled. “I was just going to enjoy a small taste of your blood, but your behavior is impudent, and I don’t like impudence, especially from humans. I am going to drain you of every ounce of blood in your body. When I am through with you, you will be nothing but a dried out husk.”
    “Viktor!” Jessie appeared behind him, thankfully without Blossom. “I told you the girls were not to be touched.”
    Viktor wheeled around. “I don’t take orders from you.”
    “This is my house,” Jessie informed him. “If you do not want to obey the rules of the house then you need to leave.”
    The older vampire laughed, his fangs fully exposed. “Try to make me.”
    What happened next went so very quickly and the vampires moved so fast that I