The monster nodded. “Let’s put this on her then,” he said, and strode into the cellblock.

“Let me give it to her,” said Jamie quietly, as they approached Larissa’s cell.

Frankenstein held on to the belt for a moment, then passed it to him. “You’re not trying to save her, are you?” asked the monster, as they walked between the rows of empty cells.

Jamie didn’t answer.

They stopped in front of the vampire girl’s cell. Larissa was sitting on the floor at the back of the square room, her arms resting across her raised knees. She smiled as they appeared.

“You brought some friends with you,” she said, her red lips curled back from her gleaming white teeth. “Don’t you trust yourself to be alone with me?”

Morris said something under his breath, and she widened her eyes in mock offence. “Don’t be jealous,” she said. “It doesn’t suit you.”

“Jealous?” snorted Morris. “Of a foul creature like you? Please.”

Larissa’s smile returned, and she fixed her gaze on the belt in Jamie’s hand. “Have you brought me a present?” she asked.

“It’s a restraining belt,” said Jamie, his face slightly red. “You need to put it on before we can take you out of here.”

She stared at him, then slid liquidly to her feet and crossed the cell to stand in front of Jamie. The UV field was all that separated them.

“Throw it to me,” she said.

Jamie raised his arm to do as she asked, but Frankenstein stepped forward and stopped him.

“Before he gives this to you,” he said, “there are some things I need to make clear. If you try to remove the belt, if you even give me the suspicion that you are intending to do so, I’ll stake you where you stand. Is that clear?”

“Why, yes,” said Larissa. “It’s perfectly clear.”

“Good. Secondly, if you endanger Jamie, or any of us, in any way, I’ll tear you to pieces with my bare hands. Is that also clear?”

“Abundantly so.”

Frankenstein released his grip on Jamie’s arm. He threw the belt through the field, and Larissa plucked it out of the air. She set it on the floor by her feet, then started lifting her shirt, her eyes never leaving Jamie’s.

He turned away, looking down at the floor, as Morris and Frankenstein did the same.

“You can watch if you want,” said Larissa. “I don’t mind.” Jamie didn’t answer. He could feel his face burning as blood flooded into his cheeks.

“You can look,” she said, and the three turned back toward the cell. The belt was safely hidden beneath her shirt, two raised areas at the shoulders the only clues she was wearing it at all.

The restraining belt was made of two loops of material that crossed in the front. Where they met, a flat round explosive chamber was attached to the material, positioned so it would rest directly over her heart. A small red light flashed steadily on the top of the chamber, signifying that the explosive was live. The charge was controlled by a small cylindrical detonator that Morris was holding in one slightly trembling hand. If the button on the top of the detonator was pressed, there would be a wide ring of blood and flesh where Larissa had been standing.

“Shall we go?” she asked sweetly, and Frankenstein nodded.

Thomas Morris keyed a nine-digit code into the panel next to the cell, and the UV field disappeared. Larissa moved forward, slowly, as though she was worried that it might reappear at any moment, then stepped quickly out into the corridor. She walked up to Jamie and planted a kiss on his cheek. He blushed again.

They led her through the cellblock, past the guard station, and out into the base. An elevator took them up to the hangar, and Frankenstein asked her where they were going.

“I don’t know,” she said, smiling.

Frankenstein stopped. “What do you mean, you don’t know?” he asked.

“I mean I don’t know. You’re going to tell me.”

The monster rolled his eyes. Jamie caught the look, and frowned at him. Frankenstein shrugged.

This is your deal, he seemed to be saying. I’ll keep my mouth shut. For now.

“Mr. Morris,” Larissa continued. “How high does your access to the Blacklight mainframe go?”

“I’m security officer,” he replied, with a hint of smugness. “I have access to everything.”

“And aren’t you just terribly pleased with yourself?” she asked. “Very well. I need you to search the word Valhalla, if you please?”

Morris pulled a small console from his pocket, tapped a series of keys, and waited for the search to run. There was a beep, and the screen lit up.

“Nothing,” he said.

“Where did you look?”

“I searched the entire network,” Morris replied, defensively. “There’s no mention of that word.”

“Did you include the personal servers?”

“No. Why would I have?”

“I don’t know, maybe because then I wouldn’t have to tell you how to do your job in front of your friends?”

Morris muttered under his breath and ran a new search. When the console beeped a second time, a list of documents filled the screen.

“I don’t understand,” he said, softly.

“What is it?” asked Frankenstein.

“There are dozens of documents here, all relating to a place called Valhalla. Coordinates, reports, short and long histories. But they’re not on the Department network.”

“Where are they?”

Morris looked at the monster. “They’re on Admiral Seward’s private server,” he replied.

“Oh, dear,” Larissa said with a sigh. “Maybe there are one or two things Mr. Security Officer doesn’t know about after all?”

“Shut up!” yelled Morris, his face contorting with anger.

“Just shut your mouth!” Jamie placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, and Morris turned on him, color high in his cheeks. “Tom,” he said, gently, “you said there are coordinates. Where would they take us?”

Morris frowned and looked back down at his console. “Western Scotland,” he said, eventually. “North of Fort William. The middle of bloody nowhere.”

Larissa smiled.

“That’s the place,” she said.

Frankenstein led them through the hangar. Several operators looked curiously at Larissa, but the presence of a Blacklight colonel and captain escorting her appeared to satisfy them. Frankenstein spoke to the duty officer, requisitioned a pilot and a helicopter, and within five minutes, they were making their way out of the hangar and to one of the helipads, where a squat black chopper was waiting, its engine idling. As they stepped through the door, Frankenstein spoke to Larissa in a friendly voice.

“The detonator has a fifteen-mile range, so don’t even think about taking off. You’re not that fast.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” replied Larissa. “Not when I’m having so much fun.”

30

VALHALLA

The Blacklight helicopter flew north, carrying its four passengers across the border between England and Scotland. The pilot kept the chopper low and away from built-up areas, the green-black landscape of the Scottish countryside rolling quickly away beneath them. They flew northwest toward Fort William, then turned true north and headed into the wilderness. At Loch Duich, they joined the River Shiel and followed it north along the glen that bore its name. At the northern end of the valley, the chopper slowed, hovered, then touched down with a thump, shaking the passengers in their seats.

Frankenstein unfastened his safety belt. “Let’s get this over with,” he said, gruffly.

The door of the helicopter slid open, and Frankenstein stepped down onto thick grass. Morris followed, and Jamie and Larissa brought up the rear. As he gripped the door rail, the vampire girl’s hand closed over his momentarily, and he felt heat surge through him. Then he was down and making his way over to where Frankenstein was standing waiting for him. Larissa followed behind, her eyes firmly locked on the detonator in Morris’s hand.