He found himself in a home gym, fully equipped. Weight machines, cardio machines, a lap pool, and Yuri. She was bouncing on a trampoline, her hair flying around her, her cheeks flushed.

Sehun walked towards her. ‘Don’t think I’m not going to carry you right back out to that pool,’ he warned.

‘You’ll have to catch me first,’ Yuri taunted, jumping lightly off the trampoline and disappearing through another door.

‘Right,’ Sehun muttered, picking up speed again. He ran out into the corridor, in time to see a door close. Throwing it open he saw the library beyond and, for a split second, he thought he’d found Yuri. But when the girl turned towards him, he saw it was Seohyun. She sat with Eunhyuk and two other guys, playing poker – strip poker. Seohyun was clearly bra-less under her thin T-shirt, and one of the guys was shirtless – except for a lacy pink and black bra. Must be some rule I don’t know about! Sehun thought.

‘Wanna play?’ Seohyun asked.

‘Maybe later,’ Sehun muttered as he heard Yuri laugh behind him and whirled around to see her at the other end of the corridor. He followed her into a sun room. It had glass on three sides, plants all around and lots of bamboo furniture. The air felt dense with oxygen.

Yuri darted behind a sofa – like that was enough to stop him. Sehun leaped straight over the back.

‘Nowhere to run,’ he told Yuri, strolling lazily toward her.

Yuri backed away, laughing and reaching behind her for the balcony doors. She got the handle, twisted it and slipped outside. Sehun was out the door half a second later.

The small balcony had a wrought-iron railing all the way around it. Candles illuminated it, casting golden light on Yuri’s face. She was close now and Sehun could hear her breath coming fast. He smiled as she backed up again – and hit the railing.

Sehun grabbed the rail on either side of her, creating a wall with his body. Yuri twisted back and forth, trying to wriggle away.

‘Now what were you saying about my muscles?’ Sehun asked as she gave him a playful push that didn’t move him an inch.

‘That they’re very strong and manly,’ Yuri lied with a grin.

‘That’s not what I remember.’ Sehun moved closer, preparing to drag her back to the pool. But he didn’t want to take her back out to the crowd. He wanted to stay right there with her – alone.

He stared into her dark eyes, then Yuri’s arms came up around his neck and her body met his. Just like in his dream, her lips parted… and, suddenly, the rest of the dream came flooding back. Sehun remembered Yuri’s eyes – unrecognizable and full of bloodlust. He drew back, needing to look into her eyes again, needing to know that she was still Yuri and not someone – or something – else.

Yuri looked up at Sehun in surprise as he drew back. Her dark eyes were wide with confusion. There was no bloodlust. There were no fangs. There was just Yuri looking puzzled and then pissed off.

‘Yuri, I-’ Sehun began, trying to explain.

But it was too late.

‘Forget it,’ Yuri said flatly, and she turned and walked away. Just walked. The chase was over. Sehun knew he’d screwed up. He’d had her. She’d wanted him to kiss her. But he’d flashed back to his dream and… well, that was that.

If I could just explain, he thought. Yeah. Just say ‘Yuri, I wasn’t trying to give you mixed signals or mess you around. I completely want to kiss you. It’s just that for one minute I thought about this nightmare where you gave into the bloodlust and attacked me.’ Right. That would work.

But he had to do something. Sehun pulled in a deep breath, combed his hair with his fingers, and smoothed down his shirt. Then he retraced his steps. Yuri wasn’t in the library. Neither were Seohyun or Eunhyuk. The two remaining guys had switched over to playing for cash. Sehun saw a couple of fifties lying on the table.

He returned to the gym. Krystal was lying on the trampoline now, staring up at the ceiling and giggling, like there was a movie up there or something. No Yuri.

Sehun skirted the glossy polished floor of the basketball court and headed into the den. His heart twisted painfully in his chest, because there was Yuri. On one of the leather couches. More specifically, on Luhan’s lap on one of the leather couches.

Yuri caught Sehun’s eye, her gaze ice. Then she took Luhan’s face in her hands, leaned down and kissed him – long and deep. That kiss should have been Sehun’s, would have been Sehun’s if he hadn’t screwed up so spectacularly.

Sehun abruptly turned away. He didn’t want to see what he was missing. And besides, he didn’t want anyone to realize how he felt about Yuri.

He headed toward the pool, just to have a destination. Hyoyeon and Kai passed him ‘… to get up to the Garden,’ Kai was saying. Sehun tried to put a smile – or at least a normal, relaxed expression – on his face. They didn’t notice him, and he felt relieved. He didn’t want to try to come up with words right now. He sat down in the closest deck chair and stared vacantly at the water volleyball game that had started up in his absence.

A few minutes later, Chanyeol sat down in the chair next to him. ‘Remember what I said about not knowing when a docu-drama was going to unfold?’ he asked.

Sehun nodded.

‘Well, the unfolding is happening right now, I’m pretty sure,’ Chanyeol went on. ‘There’s this slow migration happening. People are heading upstairs – where no one is supposed to go.’

Sehun shrugged. ‘Ever been to a party where that doesn’t happen?’

‘Victoria Song’s thirteenth birthday party. Because we were all afraid of Mrs Song,’ Chanyeol answered. ‘But it’s not just regular people going upstairs. It’s only people of the Yuri, Kris, Luhan type.’

Meaning vampires. ‘So they’re having themselves a little sub-party,’ Sehun said.

‘Could be,’ Chanyeol agreed. ‘Could be something else. Don’t you want to know why they all suddenly have this need to get together?’

‘If they want to be alone, let them be,’ Sehun replied with a shrug. Right now, he was just happy to know that Yuri and Luhan were going to be out of sight for a while.

Chanyeol frowned. ‘Do you remember putting on some kind of metal hat? Maybe some electricity?’ he asked. ‘Because I think somebody may have switched our brains. Aren’t you the guy who was more suspicious of our friends than I was?’

‘Yeah,’ Sehun admitted. ‘But the way Kris handled the Suho thing made me think that we can basically trust them to deal with their own crap. I don’t know about you, but I have enough of my own to deal with.’ Thinking of Yuri. And Luhan. And Baekhyun.

‘I just want to take a little peek. Come on.’ Chanyeol got to his feet, slinging his camera strap over his shoulder. ‘I know where there’s a back staircase.’

‘Chanyeol, it’s not our business what they’re-’

But Chanyeol was gone. Sehun closed his eyes for a long moment. Then he opened them and headed after his friend. He couldn’t let the guy go up there alone.

Sehun spotted Hyoyeon and Kai walking up the main staircase as he followed Chanyeol. ‘We’re going to have to be careful or we’re going to get spotted,’ Sehun warned when he caught up to Chanyeol at the smaller staircase off the kitchen.

‘Careful is nothing like my middle name, which is non-existent, but I named myself Yoda. But, yeah,’ Chanyeol answered, starting up the stairs. He slowed down as they reached the top. Sehun peered over his shoulder. There was nothing to see but empty hallway. And nothing to hear but the dull thud of the music from the party.

‘If we’re doing this, now’s a good time,’ Sehun said.

He and Chanyeol headed down the hall. Chanyeol paused outside a closed door, listened for a moment, and then swung the door open. A bedroom. Probably a guest room. Nothing too personal in it. Empty.

Chanyeol shut the door and they continued. Another bedroom. Also empty. They moved on to the upstairs living room, just off the main staircase. Empty.

‘Something mysterious has occurred,’ Chanyeol said, turning the camera and panning across the empty sofas and chairs. ‘My colleague and I witnessed people coming upstairs. But having followed them, we’ve found nobody.’ Chanyeol pointed the camera at Sehun. ‘What are your theories?’

‘I thought I told you not to come up here,’ someone interrupted before Sehun could answer.

Sehun turned around to see Kris Wu standing in the doorway. He didn’t look happy.