Chapter Three: Everday Screening

Pei Du checked the exposure counter. “Nine frames. More than I expected.” “Where is my brother?” “Wrong question.” “What's the right one?” He returned the camera. He stood close enough for her to smell cedar and blood at his collar. He did not breathe, yet one impossibly slow heartbeat sounded within his chest. “Ask why he knew what would happen tonight,” Pei Du said. “Why that film can use your ability. And why he wanted to deliver you to me.” A bell rang above the ballroom. At the first stroke, every vampire stopped talking. At the second, the blood moon cast seven overlapping circles on the wall. At the third, the photographs in Jianyue's pocket grew hot.