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  The darkness surrounding them was still. Even the insects were silent. He lifted a hand and stroked a thumb across her skin. “You do not have to come. I will not make you enter the lab again if you do not wish it.”

  “I’m fine. I really don’t remember much.”

  He nodded and began to change his shape. She followed suit, taking the owl’s form once more. She stayed close without a single complaint as he headed toward the blackened ruins.

  The lab had been underground in the original home structure, and now a gaping hole provided the opening. The two birds coasted into the interior, Diego taking shape when he told her it was safe to do so. She neared him automatically.

  The lab was a disaster. The metal shards that had protruded from the wall had been pushed out of the way, but that was the only restorative measure that had been taken. Not much had survived the fire. Cabinets were overturned, strewn files and paperwork sat forgotten in small puddles of water, with shattered beaker glass scattered throughout. The stench of old blood was still on the air, fading.

  She watched as Diego began to sift through the surviving papers, dropping file after file. He went to toss one, then paused.

  “What is it?” She stood by his shoulder, peering at the picture on top of the paperwork. She was blonde with a winsome smile. She looked all of nineteen.

  “This woman. I saw her in the thoughts of the men.” His mouth pulled down. “I do not think we can do anything for her now.”

  She settled a hand on his shoulder. “She was like me, wasn’t she?”

  He flipped a couple of pages. “It says she had a pyrotechnic ability.”

  “A fire starter?” She stared at the pile of files, scorched and water ruined. She crouched, laid a hand on several. “Are all of these test subjects?” She pushed them around, seeing names on the folders as she did so. She wanted to cry for all the women and men who had died or been hurt because of Tenorio’s plans.

  “I would have to say so.” They both looked at the pile. There were more than a dozen and several more that he had not retrieved.

  “How did he find so many? Are any of them still even alive?” Her voice cracked as she began to open file after file. Most were women in their twenties, plus a couple of men. All of them had backgrounds that covered years, thorough research that gave credence to their supposed abilities. Pictures, eyewitness accounts, little snippets of information that only someone who had seen could detail so well. Her stomach began to hurt as she continued to read the names. “Where is my file?”

  Diego sorted through what was there. “It is not here. He could have it with him.”

  “I need to take these with us,” she said, scooping the remaining files together. “Even if they aren’t alive, do you have any idea what this kind of information could do to those who are alive? Who have to live with what they can do?”

  He halted her hurried movements with a gentle touch, brushing an understanding kiss to her lips. “I know, cara.”

  “Maybe some of them are alive,” she said hopefully.

  “It is possible. This is not his main study lab.” He reached forward and pulled a thick envelope from the back of the cabinet. His grim expression turned triumphant when he opened it and found the letterhead and notes inside. “And now we know right where it is.”

  He froze the same instant she tilted her head. “Did you hear that?”

  “I did.”

  “Is it coming this way?”

  Diego frowned. “Whoever it is stopped at the entrance.” He handed her the file to add to the stack and vanished.

  She tried to listen for him, but couldn’t hear anything. When she merged with him, there was nothing to see. She withdrew immediately when she feared she could distract him. He reappeared only moments later.

  “I did not find anyone, but I found his scent. I will know him if we see him.”

  “Isn’t that weird? Was it a guard or something?”

  “He was one of the Brethren.”

  “Oh.” Her stomach shrank a little. She wasn’t ready to face another just yet, not after Brakka. She stacked the files into her arms. “Ready when you are.”

  He wrapped his arms around her, and with her mind grasping his image, they vanished.

  * * * *

  Files were spread around her on the picnic table, her head held in a steady palm to her temple. The little wildlife park was quiet, the sounds of San Francisco far away. Crickets and cicadas sang in the trees, and the occasional wolf song reached her on the breeze. But it wouldn’t have mattered if she had been in Symphony Hall, because nothing was going to disturb her. She read each file, committed each name, each picture to memory.

  Tabitha Mason, twenty, from Madison, Illinois. Pyrotechnics. She was the one Diego had recognized. There was Charlene “Charlie” Godwood, twenty-one, from Harris, Arkansas. She was an energy conduit. Titania shook her head. The girl was a walking lightning bolt according to her records.

  There were so many others, telekinetic like her, or sentient. There were two telepaths in the group, too. All Titania could do was pray that if they still lived, they could be helped. But she feared Diego may have been right. Several of the files had ceased to have new information or new dated material added to them months ago.

  She felt him then, a warmth that flowed over her before his arms encircled her. “Cara. Do not be sad.” His skin was warmed from his recent feeding, and she couldn’t resist curling into him.

  “It’s hard not to be. So many. And they’re probably dead. And this monster has David.”

  “David is not gifted, is he?”

  “No. That is what scares me. There is absolutely nothing to keep Tenorio from killing him.”

  “We have to believe he will not, cara.” He lowered his head to hers, but his lips were stiff. “Do not move, cara.”

  “What is it?”

  “The one. He is here.”

  “He followed us?” She fought to keep from trembling. “I never felt him.”

  “Nor I. He is either very arrogant, or purposely giving away his location upwind wanting to take us off our guard.”

  He strategically rolled her around his body, turning toward the threat. “I know you are here. Show yourself.”

  “I greet thee, Brethren.” The voice was low, respectful.

  Diego frowned. “I greet none of the Brethren. Who are you?”

  “My name is Nathan. I mean you no harm.”

  “Why did you follow us?” Command resonated in Diego’s words.

  A shape began to form across the span of greenery, well away from Diego’s reach. Titania peeked around his arm. The stranger was blond and blue-eyed, standing at around six feet tall in a standard black T-shirt and blue jeans. He was leaner and less broad than Diego, and he held his hands out in peace.

  “Because when I encountered you at the burned house, I thought it would be better to watch to see if approaching you would be the same as the last three I have met.” Nathan leaned against a tree, showing he meant no danger to them by crossing his arms. “Even now I have to do some things several times to learn properly,” he chastised himself.

  “You are recently changed.”

  “Less than a year.” Something in Nathan’s voice dropped, drew Titania further beyond Diego’s protective arm to look. “I haven’t been home, I lost my fiancé, and every one of the Brethren I have met…well, let’s just say they haven’t made a good argument for staying alive.”

  “Who created you?”

  “Damned if I know.” Nathan snorted. “All I know is one minute I was hanging out with my girl, the next I think I’m getting mugged.” Nathan’s gaze turned bleak. “Except he didn’t steal my wallet. At least Denise didn’t get caught,” he said more to himself. Titania could feel the loss, anger and depression that he battled against, large waves of his turmoil pulsing in the air.

  Diego raked a hand through his hair. “Why did you follow us, then?”

  Nathan lifted a shoulder. “Two reasons. First, you d
idn’t try to rub me into the ground the minute you heard me. Second, her.”

  Diego shoved her back behind him immediately.

  Nathan’s hands shot out. “Look, I’m not going to do anything. If I had the balls, I’d ask you to kill me and get this joke over with. But she’s the reason I knew you had to be different. I’ve never met a…” He gave Diego a confused look. “What do you call a woman vampire anyway?”

  Diego frowned at him. “She is my mate. My wife.”

  Nathan’s brow scrunched up. “Man. I had no idea. They need to rewrite those Dracula movies.” He shook his head in wonder. He looked up again. “She’s not like a slave or something, then? She’s like us?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  Nathan kicked at the dirt, his only release of disgusted anger. “Because I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, that’s why. Am I supposed to make more like us? And why the hell would I want to? I’ve never killed a person in my life. Hell, I was twenty-three when that bastard did this to me. I sure as hell don’t want to do this to someone.”

  He was pacing short, agitated, angry steps when Titania spoke quietly from behind Diego. “I am only twenty-three.”

  “Cara,” came the private warning.

  She ignored him. “And I’ve only been like this for three nights.”

  Nathan stopped short. “Three nights? Are you serious?” She gave him a smile and a nod from behind Diego’s crooked elbow. He pushed her behind him again with a firm hand.

  “Have you been feeding?”

  Nathan made a sick sound. “Of course. I almost pruned up before I figured out how to deal with it. I thought I was going to die the first time. But for some reason, the whole concept worked.”

  “Have you killed to live?” Diego’s voice was low, demanding compliance.

  Nathan paced again, too absorbed in his misery to notice the compulsion. He shuddered at the question. “No. I’ve been too terrified to do much of anything except stay quiet and alive.” He shot Diego a stricken look. “Am I supposed to kill? Oh, God. Please don’t tell me those stupid movies have that part right.”

  Titania curled into Diego’s side, refusing to hide any longer. Nathan was not a threat. Just very confused and alone. “No, Nathan. They are wrong. Very, very wrong.” Nathan collapsed in front of the tree he had been pacing near. He dropped his head to his bent knees.

  “He means it, Diego. He’s lost.”

  “I know, cara. But what am I supposed to do with him?”

  She scowled up at him. “Help him.”

  Diego rolled his eyes and sighed. “There goes my peace of mind. Did you see it? It just ran away out of fear.”

  She thumped him on the chest with a curled fist, laughing. “Stop it! Nathan, we can help you.”

  His head popped up. “You can? Is there a way to reverse this crap?”

  “No.” It was a dually spoken answer.

  “Oh.” Nathan’s blue eyes darkened with his heartbreak. “So I’ve really lost Denise? I can’t see my parents? All of it?”

  “Have you spoken with your parents since this happened?” Titania asked quietly.

  Nathan stood again, brushing his hands over his jeans in agitated swipes. “No. Denise was freaked out. They all think I died when no one ever found a body.”

  “Oh, Nathan,” she said, her heart in her throat.

  “Cara, concentrate. I can feel you trembling.”

  She smiled up at Diego, a weak attempt at best. She cleared her throat. “Nathan. It might not all be lost. But I know this much. You cannot go back to what was.”

  Nathan stuffed his hands into his pockets. “So what’s the point? Why not just wait for the sunrise or whatever it is that we do when we die?”

  “I cannot answer that. You are the only other I have met aside from myself who holds a certain level of respect for the life that sustains us. And I have been looking for answers for far, far longer.” He looked down at Titania. “You are pale, cara.”

  “And we have company. I’ll live.” She didn’t even stumble at the choice of words.

  “I never thought I’d say this,” Nathan said, looking at them. “But would it be too much just to call you friend?”

  “No,” Titania spoke up before Diego could fill the quiet. “We would like that.”

  Diego clamped his hand on her hip, silencing her from saying more. “Forgive us, though. This evening we have something that needs to be attended to.”

  “Sure, sure.” Nathan stepped away to leave, almost a hop. “I’m sorry.”

  “Diego!”

  She felt as much as heard his sigh this time. “Nathan? I am Diego, and this is Titania. You may be counted among our friends.”

  Nathan’s gaze warmed. “Thank you. I mean it. I was scared I was the only one, too. The last three I met were so gruesome. I couldn’t even talk to one of them, he was so intent on…” Nathan’s gaze dropped like a stone, unable to put it into words. Titania’s heart clenched a little harder for him, feeling his turmoil, his sense of loss, a finality.

  “Hunting?” Diego offered.

  “Sure. That works. He wanted to slice me to bits, so I got out of there.”

  “Do you have a safe lair?”

  Nathan shrugged. “I guess so. I rarely stay at the same inn twice.”

  Diego cracked a smile. “Smart. Go into the ravine from here. About three miles north of the ravine head is a safe place.” He held up his hand when Nathan’s mouth popped open. “No, do not tell me where. Never, ever give away your sleeping place. Vampires and humans both can kill you. Never forget that.”

  Nathan nodded. “I think I can remember that rule very easily. Thank you.” And like he had never been there, he was gone.

  Chapter Twenty

  Titania’s hope dropped like a stone taking in the compound from her perch. There was a large house with two separate, unconnected buildings. Tight security along with the ten-foot brick wall, cameras and roaming canine patrols, destroyed the peaceful picture of the Grecian architecture to the three-story home.

  “I guess he’s not going to let it happen twice,” she said. “Is David in there?”

  “I believe so. There is something about that building.” He pointed to the one on the rear right. “It feels larger than it looks.”

  “Maybe something underground like the other one?”

  He nodded. “I can find several people inside.”

  She closed her eyes and tried to search. There were echoes of feelings emanating from all around them. Titania tuned her focus toward the building, tunneling the emotions into a trail to follow.

  She teetered in place when she found the first wave of pain. She felt Diego’s hand, but gritted her teeth and pushed harder. She lost her balance in the tree limbs when the cry for help reached her. Someone inside was reaching out for her. Thankfully, Diego’s hand remained.

  “Who are you?” She concentrated, grasping for the single voice.

  “Lily. God, please help us.” The voice was scared, thin, exhausted, and in so much pain, blood-tinged sweat was forming on Titania’s brow. Her pain roared at Titania, pounding at her directly through the mental path.

  Lily’s profile folder had been in the stack they had removed from the lab. She pictured the redhead immediately, keeping the tenuous pathway open.

  “We are. We are here to help. Can you tell me where you are?”

  The feeling of relief was wrenching. Tani waited while she gathered control to continue to communicate. “I’m in a cell. I can’t see very much. They don’t let us out.”

  Titania shuddered, then felt Diego, the hand still holding her, comforting, and knew he could hear Lily.

  “How many of you are there?”

  Lily’s voice reached out to her from the depths of her despair. “There are at least three of us. I don’t know. They brought a guy in last night. I don’t know if he’s still here.”

  Titania’s heart slammed hard. She took a deep breath. She had to believe David was still ali
ve.

  “Are you guarded?”

  “Yes. There’s always at least one.”

  Titania frowned. How were they going to get them out? Four was more difficult than one.

  “Do not worry, cara. We will get them all.” She nodded, believing in the conviction in his voice.

  “Lily. We need a diversion, and we have help coming. Can you and the others hold out one more day?”

  There was a long silence. The stretching length of silence worried her until Lily reached out for her. Her voice was growing more tired. “We will. Please don’t leave us here.”

  “We won’t, Lily. I am Titania. Keep my name and your thoughts guarded. Tenorio wants me too.”

  “I will.”

  Titania wiped a hand across her eyes and found herself trembling fiercely when the pathway disappeared. “She’s a very strong telepath. At least she’s alive.” She clutched at Diego’s arm. “She said there were others. David could still be in there.”

  “Stay here, cara. I want to get closer. I think I have an idea for that diversion. I will try to see how many there are and if David is there.”

  “Be careful.”

  He leaned over and brushed a kiss to her lips. His shape changed, and he flew from the branches, gliding effortlessly to the roof of the building. This time she stayed a shadow in his mind, feeling as he slipped inside.

  Diego moved like a ghost through the structure. Titania could follow his every step. “She is correct. There are two guards upstairs. They are alert.” She remained quiet, letting him search the home. It looked like it once had been a carriage house that had been converted. It was the conversion and what was done within those walls that sickened her.

  “Cara, David is alive, but he is hurt, weak.”

  She refrained from making any sounds, stuffing her knuckles into her mouth instead. “How many are there?”

  “I found four, five total with David. It will be difficult, but not impossible.” That update in itself gave her hope. “They are weak; two have been tortured. One is in bad shape. I do not know if she will live.”

  “Look at her.”