Sneaking up on Xavier wasn’t an option. No matter how quietly Justin moved, the vampire would hear him, or smell him, long before he reached the bottom of the stairs. His only hope to catch Xavier off-guard would be to move quickly. Gathering his nerve, Justin stepped into the stairwell and pulled the painting closed behind him. For a moment, he was plunged into complete darkness, but as his eyes adjusted he could see light filtering up from below. One hand on the wall, he hurried down, emerging into a stark chamber, the stone floor cold even through his socks.

This looked more like a prison cell than the dwelling of the lord of the manor. The only light came from a single bare bulb hanging from a chain in the middle of the ceiling. The bed was just a mattress on a wooden frame, the sheets and blanket worn and faded. A wine rack sat against one wall, full of dark bottles with their labels removed, and in the middle of the room, facing a bare wall, sat a single armchair, the leather stained and patched, a block of wood under one corner where the leg had fallen off. Over the back of the chair, Justin could see the silvery-blond top of Xavier’s head.

“I’m all right, Harold,” Xavier said, his voice low. “I just need to be alone.”

Justin looked around the sad, empty room again. “Actually, I think that might be the last thing you need.”

Xavier stood, nearly knocking the chair over backwards. “What are you doing down here? Who told you where I was?”

“I figured it out,” Justin said. “Most paintings don’t have door knobs.”

“Please, just go away,” Xavier said.

“I can’t do that.”

“Justin, I am begging you,” he said, his eyes filled with that sorrow that made Justin’s chest ache just to look at him. “I’ll give you a hundred thousand dollars if you go back upstairs and forget about me.” Justin hesitated—he would have been stupid not to consider the offer, but finally he shook his head.

“I can’t,” he said again. “I know you think I’m just some dumb mortal who doesn’t understand anything, but I know that this—” He gestured around the dark room. “This isn’t normal. This isn’t the life of someone who is ‘all right’.”

“Oh, what the fuck do you know?” Xavier demanded. “You …