Chapter One

City of angels, city of devils
Forbidden pleasure, wicked delights
Keeper of secrets, blood on your treasure
Days of darkness, vampire nights
- Lucan Wolf, Vampire Nights

Theo Saville and Alice Green had only been dating for three weeks when Theo died.

It had been Alice's idea to take a shortcut through the alleyway on their way back from the restaurant. Even as she suggested it, visions of every horror movie she'd ever seen involving alleys ran through her mind. But she resolutely pushed those thoughts out of her head. It was only an alleyway. Besides, this was real life, and bad things didn't happen to people like her or Theo in real life. They were too normal.

Theo was the rash and impulsive one, not Alice, but even he balked at the idea of going through a shadowy alley in the middle of the night. But Alice was firm and so he yielded, because he wanted to impress her and get into her pants. Going through the dark alleyway meant it would take less time for them to get to his flat and then into bed.

They were talking and laughing - albeit quietly - as they began down the alleyway. Theo wrapped his arm around Alice's waist and pulled her tightly against his body. His breath tickled her ear as he whispered all the things he was going to do to her when they got back to his flat. She giggled and gazed up into his vivid green eyes. His dishevelled hair - perpetually in need of a haircut, but somehow the bed hair suited him - stood out like a black halo from his head, making him look like a dark angel. They'd only known each other three weeks, but Alice was already certain she was falling in love with him.

Almost the entire alleyway was obscured by shadows, except for a narrow strip down the middle that was illuminated by starlight. The moon, a thin crescent hanging in the sky, gave little light. The ground was still slick with rain from earlier in the day. The alleyway was long, several hundred feet, and their progress was slow, hindered as they were by alcohol and lust.

"See? It's perfectly safe in here," said Alice softly, her confidence growing when they had made it three quarters of the way through the alley intact.

"Sure, but if I die, I'll never forgive you," Theo joked. He stopped moving suddenly, which caused Alice, who was clinging to him like a limpet, to stop too. He hauled her up against his chest and kissed her deeply, one hand in the small of her back, the other tangling in her brown hair. They pulled back after a while, both breathless and light-headed, and Theo stared into her pale blue eyes, just then gazing at him tenderly. He knew he liked her more than any other girl he'd ever met. She was his perfect match.

"Are you all right?" he asked, noticing she was shivering.

She nodded, trying to disguise the fact that her teeth were chattering. "I'm just a bit cold," she admitted.

Theo removed his jacket and slung it around her shoulders. Alice pulled it around her tightly. It was warm from his body heat and smelled of him, of cigarettes and soap and man. "Thank you," she murmured gratefully.

Theo grinned broadly, showing white and even teeth. "Hey, you're my girl," he said casually. "I'm not going to let you freeze to death."

Instead of wasting more time with words, they resumed kissing. Theo's kisses, feather-light at first but becoming more passionate quickly, made Alice feel weak at the knees. It gave her the confidence she needed to tell him how she really felt about him. She simply couldn't keep it to herself any longer.

"Theo." She breathed his name against his lips. Her heart was pounding with excitement and nervousness at the thought of what she was about to do. "I think I'm falling..."

She didn't get to finish her sentence; in that moment, she felt a hand clutch the back of her dress and wrench her backwards, out of Theo's embrace. Alice screamed, more from surprise than fear, as she was dragged inextricably backwards. She tried to twist around, to see who or what had hold of her, but she couldn't. She felt sharp teeth graze her neck, and she screamed again.

Theo was so stunned by this turn of events that it took him a moment to react. He saw the pale hand shoot out of the shadows and grab Alice; he saw her being pulled backwards; but it was only when Alice screamed a second time that he was galvanised into action. He shouted her name, as though that would somehow help, and leaped forwards to rescue her, trying to pry her dress out of the hand's vice-like grip. Theo wasn't weak - he went to the gym several times a week to keep in shape - but he was unable to release her. And Alice was still being dragged further into the shadows.

Theo had never thought of himself as a particularly brave person - a knight-in-shining-armour complex wasn't something he troubled himself with - but he knew he couldn't just stand there and let someone attack his girlfriend. With an act bordering on heroic, Theo rushed the man hiding in the shadows, lashing out with his fist, despite not being able to see the person. He was lucky; his fist connected with the man's jaw, causing his hold on Alice to loosen. Alice was able to pull herself free and, panting hard from terror and exertion, turned around to face her assailant.

It was so dark that she could see very little. All she could make out were the white parts of Theo's new pair of Converse, and nothing of the man who had attacked her. Surely that wasn't right. Surely she should be able to see something of him? Over the rushing of blood in her ears she could hear the sounds of a scuffle. Her heart was in her throat, and although she wanted to help Theo as he had helped her, she was simply too afraid.

She heard the attacker snarl, an almost inhuman sound, and heard Theo give a gasp of pain. Although she couldn't see what was happening, she realised Theo was losing the fight.

I need to get help. The thought appeared in her mind suddenly, and who was she to argue with herself? She turned to leave, and heard the thud of something heavy hitting the tarmac. Her heart literally skipped a beat as she spun around, waiting to see what would happen next. A hand - Theo's, she was certain - was just visible, peeking out of the shadows, lying motionless on the ground. Alice took a frightened step forwards and saw the fingers twitch. He was still alive.

"Oh God," she breathed, the words somewhere between a prayer and a curse. "OhGodohGodohGod..."

There was a flicker of movement in the shadows, and she froze, like a rabbit caught in headlights, afraid the man would attack her again if she moved. She waited, feeling his eyes on her but still not being able to see anything herself. After a few moments of this, she couldn't stand it any longer. With one panicked look back at Theo, praying he could take care of himself long enough for her to alert the police, she turned and fled the alleyway.

She didn't stop running until she reached the police station.

"Someone help me!" she screamed, stumbling through the doors and skidding across the linoleum floor to the reception desk where a bored Police Constable was sitting. He leapt to his feet at the sight of Alice's dishevelled appearance, his hands shooting out automatically to catch her before she fell over.

"Miss, what's wrong?" he asked anxiously.

"Youhavetohelphim!" Alice sobbed incoherently. "He's killing him!"

Her legs were shaking with fear and exertion. The PC helped her into one of the hard metal chairs intended for people to wait in. "Miss, you need to calm down. Take a few deep breaths." He waited until she did as he instructed before saying urgently, "Now, tell me everything."

Alice related the story as quickly as she could. Within minutes, a police car was ready to leave. Alice knew she should stay in the police station where it was safe, but she had to see for herself that Theo was all right and the attacker caught. She ran outside on unsteady legs, catching one of the police officers by the arm as he got ready to enter the car.

"Please, take me with you," she begged desperately.

He peered at the wild-eyed woman and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Miss, but I can't."

"Please," she sobbed. "It's my fault he's in danger. I have to make sure he's okay."

The police officer hesitated. It went against protocol, but she looked so distraught... "All right," he agreed reluctantly, "but stay in the car while we handle the situation."

Alice nodded and clambered into the backseat when he held the door open for her. She worried her lip, trying not to burst into tears, as the police car raced through the streets to the alleyway, siren blaring. She watched, feeling helpless, as the two police officers left the safe confines of the car and went into the alleyway cautiously. They weren't carrying guns, and Alice hoped they would be capable of overpowering the attacker.

The two policemen returned a few minutes later, their expressions sombre. Alice's heart lurched, and she knew before they told her that Theo was dead, and the attacker gone.

"No!" she choked out, the word catching in her throat. She hurled herself out of the police car and ran down the alley before the police officers could stop her. She came to a halt when she saw Theo's motionless body, half concealed in shadow. His green eyes, always so full of life, were still and blank. His neck was thrown back, his throat torn and bloody. Alice's stomach heaved and she threw up the contents of her dinner.

She realised then that she was still wearing his jacket, and she pulled it around her more closely, breathing in his scent and committing it to memory. Her legs, already trembling dangerously, gave out, and she collapsed on the cold, unyielding ground beside Theo's inert body. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she searched for words. None came to her. Tentatively, she reached out a hand and touched his cheek. His skin was still warm. His green eyes, always so full of life, were open but unstaring; there was no one home behind his eyes, Alice realised. Her mind worked hard to process everything. Theo was dead. He had died saving her. She had lived at the expense of his own life.

I think I'm falling in love with you...

She never got to tell him that, would never have the chance now. It was only then that she allowed herself to cry. She wept - for Theo, for herself, and for what they could have meant to each other if only he hadn't died.

The next few hours were a blur in Alice's mind.

There were questions, endless questions: about why they'd been in the alley in the first place, what exactly had happened, what the attacker had looked like. Alice answered the questions as best she could, but she couldn't describe the assailant at all. She hadn't seen him. He has always hidden himself in the shadows.

Dawn had arrived by the time Alice was allowed home. The air was cold and crisp, and frost had settled everywhere, turning the world white. It was beautiful in an unearthly way, but Alice couldn't appreciate it. She stared at the frost-covered winter jasmine in a flowerbed outside the police station dazedly as her mother led her to the car.

At home, Alice's mother tucked her into bed with a teddy bear and a hot water bottle. Alice was nineteen, technically an adult, but she had never felt more like a child as she let her mother fuss over her. Eventually her mother kissed her on the forehead gently before leaving the room, understanding that Alice needed to be alone.

Staring up at the white ceiling of her bedroom, clutching her favourite teddy bear to her tightly, Alice let the tears come again, falling unbidden down her cheeks and soaking the pillow. Grief and guilt threatened to consume her. How was she supposed to live with herself, knowing that she was partially responsible for Theo's death? If only things had been different: If only she hadn't suggested taking the shortcut, if only she had stayed to help him instead of running off to get the police...

If only...