"Where are you, Lilith?" Ethan demanded to the sky and the air and the emptiness around him.
But naturally, none of them answered his plea.
He'd followed his sense of her through a vast library and into one of several tunnels, then emerged from the underground passageway and spotted the amber glow coming from a cabin on the shore of an extremely large lake. There were other cabins, but his eyes were drawn to that closest one. There was a lot of movement inside, but more importantly, he felt that Lilith had been there, and quite recently. It was incredible, his unseen, undeniable bond with Lilith, begun in captivity, empowered by sex and the sharing of bloodbut not even all that seemed capable of explaining the intensity of their connection. Nor did it explain his urgent need to find her. To protect her. To touch her again.
He'd followed his awareness of her through those tunnels, finding her trail unerringly. He didn't think he could have done that with anyone else, mortal or vampire. He didn't believe he could have done it even with his own brother. God knew he'd tried.
He let the trap door in the ground fall closed behind him and strode down the grassy slope toward the cabin. And with every step, his sense of Lilith grew stronger and he moved faster, until he was running.
His instincts led him not into the cabin but past it, toward the lake itself, and his feet hit the dock, pounding across it.
She stood with her back toward him, tall and slender and regal as a queen, staring off into the distance, over the water. Her hair was concealed beneath the cloak she wore around her shoulders. He wondered where she'd gotten it even as she heard his approach and turned to face him.
Her profile made his heart jump in his chest, but then she faced him fully, and his elation became disappointment. He came to an abrupt stop on the shore-end of the dock, staring at her. This was not Lilith. And yet she resembled Lilith in a way that could not be coincidence.
"Who are you, and where is Lilith?" He spoke softly, though he wanted to shout.
"I'm Serena," she said, folding the cell phone she'd been holding and dropping it into an unseen pocket.
"I'm her mother."
The words stunned him, and he rocked backward as they reached his ears. "That's a lie."
"It's the truest thing in my life," she told him. "Are you Ethan?"
He nodded, noting the tears on the woman's cheeks and the resemblance that seemed more evident with every second that he looked at her. Even her voice was like Lilith's.
"She was taken from me on the day she was born," the woman said. "I've been searching for her ever since."
He narrowed his eyes, probing her mind in search of any sign of deception. "All the children taken to be raised on The Farm are orphans," he told her, even though he'd had his own doubts as to the veracity of that bit of his so-called education.
"Is that what they told you?" she asked, and then, with a shake of her head, she went on. "They told me my daughter was stillborn, even though I heard her cry. Lies, Ethan. All lies. That's what they do, they lie.
And worse."
"But youand all those other women who were with youyou shot at us. You took her"
"Would have taken you, too, if that other fellow hadn't beaten us to it" She tipped her head to one side, coming closer to him as her eyes roamed his face. He felt as if she were trying to discover everything about him in one thorough look. He sensed no malice emanating from her. Moreover, her mind was wide open to his probing. She wasn't trying to hide anything from him.
"The keepers knew you two were on your way to The Farm, Ethan. Someone told them you were coming. They were waiting in ambush. You would have been killed. So we ambushed you instead. We couldn't think of any other way to save your lives."
"We?" he asked, glancing nervously back at the cabin, reminded again that this woman had a dozen or so others with her, and that they had been armed with tranquilizer guns the last he knew.
"They're no threat to you," she told him. "They're just a group of women dedicated to a common cause.
A good one. And you really don't need to know more than that."
"I'm not interested in knowing more than that." He shifted his gaze back to hers. "Where is Lilith?"
The womanSerenastudied him. "Why do you want to know?"
"So I can get to her in time to save her life!" he said, much more forcefully than he had intended. "My God, woman, do you know what she intends to do? She needs my help."
Serena tipped her head to one side, staring hard into his eyes. "You love her," she said softly.
"Just tell me where she is." He didn't even try to mull her words over in his mind. Not here, not now.
The woman nodded toward the water. "She's on her way to The Farm. Just to surveil it, for now, or at least, that's what she promised me. But you know how unpredictable she is. Probably better than I do."
He nodded. "She went by boat?" he asked, realizing now why Serena had been staring out at the water.
"Yes. From here, you just follow the shoreline until you see the waterfall, where the river empties into the lake. Bank the boat there, but hide it well."
He looked down at the boats lined up along the dock.
"Take that one," she said, pointing. "There are weapons under the seat. I'm sure you can get to them without the key. Take care of her, Ethan. Try not to get yourselves killed. I've asked for help, although I have no idea whether my request will be granted. Please try to keep her alive."
"I will." He climbed into the boat and stood in the bow, untying the rope that held it. He felt the woman's anguish, her worry, her grief. It was pouring from her waves, and it felt to him a lot like his own. Looking up at her again, he said, "You really are her mother, aren't you?"
"I am," she whispered. "And while you're rowing, think about how the DPI knew you were coming. Ask yourself who could have told them."
He frowned hard, averting his eyes as he coiled the rope and dropped it to the floor of the boat. "You say that as if you have a suspect in mind."
"Lilith said she didn't tell anyone. Did you, Ethan?"
He looked up at her and held her eyes for a long moment. He knew exactly what she was suggesting and told himself it wasn't her business.
"Where is your brother, anyway?" she asked. "I'm guessing he was the one who took you from the road where we intercepted you and Lilith. Why aren't you with him now?"
"I thought it would be better to come alone."
"So you don't trust him either?"
He sat down hard, grabbed the oars and dipped them into the water. "He's my brother."
"I see. I should probably tell you that Lilith believes you and he are working together, against her, and perhaps have been all along. So don't be surprised if she's not overjoyed to see you."
"She thinks ?" He closed his eyes, shook his head. "How could she think something like that?"
"Well, she knows you told someone your plans, after giving her your word that you wouldn't. You tell me why she should trust you." She looked at him straight on. "Doesn't that make sense to you?"
He wanted to say it didn't, but he knew it did. Lilith had never trusted anyone in her entire life until she'd trusted him. And he'd betrayed that trust, even though he felt she'd been wrong to demand what she had of him, and even though he'd been trying to save her life with everything he'd done. That wouldn't change things in her eyes. He had broken his promise to her by telling his brother of their plans. He would be lucky if she ever trusted him again. Assuming, of course, that they lived long enough for her to have the chance.
As Ethan rowed away from the dock, Serena waved a gentle hand. "Be careful, Ethan. Bring my Lilith back safely."
"Or die trying," he muttered, but not loudly enough for her to hear. She was worried enough without that dire proclamation ringing in her ears. She was grieving again for the loss of the daughter she had only just found. He didn't doubt her story. The resemblance between the two women was so complete that it even included their auras. Their energy. He'd believed she was Lilith, standing there on the dock.
Now he had to focus on catching up to Lilith. He had to protect her. And he had to get his head straight about his brother. Was James on their side or not? Had he betrayed them to the DPI? Was his loyalty to his trainers, his former captors, more powerful than his loyalty to the Bloodliners? To his own brother?
Ethan rowed around a bend in the water, moving beyond sight of the ethereal woman who stood watching from the dock. He used the power of his arms and his preternatural strength to propel the boat far and fast with each stroke. He opened his mind and honed his senses to search for any trace of Lilith.
He listened for her to call out to him but didn't dare call out to her. Thinking what she did, she might just run from him.
God, the idea that Lilith might actually be afraid of him, might actually believe that he wanted to capture her and return her to The Farm, when all along he'd been trying to prevent her from going back there the thought of it almost made him physically ill.
But she couldn't believe that. Not really. Could she?
All at once he felt her, and his awareness quickened. Twisting around in his seat to see if he could catch a glimpse of her, he rowed even faster. A roaring sound filled his earsthe waterfall of which Serena had spokenand he applied even more power to the oars. No one would hear his approach, not with the pounding waterfall covering the sounds of his oars cutting into the water.
He rounded a curve in the shoreline and then he saw it: the waterfall, and just this side of it, a boat bobbing gently in the water.
Lilith's boat?
But why hadn't she hidden it? Surely her mother would have given her the same advice she had given him.
Frowning, he turned the boat toward shore, then stroked hard toward the small boat that rested on the water, empty. He was only about twenty yards out when he heard Lilith scream.
I rowed my boat ashore just beside the waterfall my mother had described to me. What she'd failed to mention, was how the sight of the cascade would take my breath away. It tumbled from a cliff high above the lake, shooting outward before arching and tumbling down, so I could row right underneath it, if I wanted to.
And I did want to, because it would be magical. But there was no time to indulge in whimsy, not then.
Instead, I turned the boat before I reached the waterfall, and once pointed toward shore, I rowed hard enough so that my boat shot its nose up several feet onto the dry land before it came to a stop. Which meant I didn't have to get my feet wet getting out.
Before I debarked, though, I crouched and pulled my seat cushion aside. Then I inserted the key in the lock and opened the lid. The inside of the bench seat was lined in plastic, to make it waterproof. I reached inside and closed my hands around first one handgun, then another. One, I saw, was designed to fire tranquilizer darts, the other to fire bullets.
I set the tranq gun aside and felt for the box that contained ammunition, then pulled those out, as well.
And as I crouched there, holding the gun in one hand and the box of bullets in the other, I felt another chunk of my past come rushing back to me. I knew how to use these weapons. I knew how to load them, how to aim, how to fire, how take them apart and put them back together.
I opened the box of bullets and set it aside, then turned the gun in my hand, depressed the release and caught the magazine in my free hand as it dropped from the hollow handle. Just cradling the gun in my palm had been enough to open the floodgates of knowledge and ability. I was delighted with that feeling of knowing, of confidence, of skill.
I felt empowered and strong and capableright up until I felt the razor sharp edge of a blade pressing against the skin of my neck.
"Don't move, Lilith. Don't move one little bit, or I'll slice your jugular clean to the bone, I promise."
I blinked and remained very still. He stood behind me, one arm at my waist, pinning my own arms to my sides, the other holding that knife to my throat.
"Drop the gun," he commanded.
And since I had little choice but to obey, I did, letting the handgun clunk onto the floor of the boat. I released the magazine from my other hand, and it, too, fell noisily.
"Now come with me. And don't try anything, Lilith. You'll bleed out faster than you can believe. I've seen it before in our kind. One slip of my hand and it'll be all over for you. Even if it's accidental, I wouldn't be able to save you. Nor would I be likely to try. They'll be just as happy to get you back dead as alive."
I nodded very slightly, lest my neck get sliced by that blade. I believed him. He was a vampire, that much I knew. He'd managed to sneak up on me partly because I'd been so involved with what I was doing, and partly, I suspected, because he'd been blocking his essence from me.
And now it was too late.
"I assume you're James," I said softly. "Ethan's brother?"
"Does it matter who I am?"
"It does to me," I told him. "I'm still going to kill you, you understand. I just might do it a little more humanely."
As I spoke, he forced me to walk ahead of him, keeping his blade pressed so tightly to my throat that I could feel it scraping bits of my skin away with every step I took.
"Where is he?" I asked, barely moving my jaw as I spoke, fearing any movement, no matter how slight, might result in the blade's pressure increasing. And it hurt. It hurt a lot. I shifted my eyes to the left and then to the right. I scented the air and felt the vibrations all around me. But I detected no sign of Ethan. "I thought he was with you."
"He sent me on a mission, a false one, just to get rid of me so he could come to you alone."
He spoke near my ear. I had yet to get a good look at the man, but I could tell that he was solidly built and several inches taller than I was, and his arm around my waist was like a band of steel.
"Fortunately for me," he went on, "my little brother has never been able to lie worth a damn. I saw right through it, hid myself and watched him, blocking my essence, then followed him. Once I knew that your pathand hiswould end here, I cut through the woods to intercept you."
My blood was thrumming with the new knowledge that Ethan was coming for me. It made me hold my breath, wary and hopeful. But all I said was, "You must be good at blocking. I didn't sense you, either."
"It's a gift." He shrugged and continued propelling me along in front of him, into the woods that lined the shore, into darkness and the unknown. I waited for him to grow careless but held out little hope he would do so. The man was as sharp as the blade at my throat.
"So Ethan didn't know you were after' me the whole time?"
He didn't even slow his pace, answering without even a pause, unshaken by my question. "I think he had an inkling, there at the end. Why else would he have tried to give me the slip? He wanted to protect you."
I felt his disapproval. "But I can forgive him that. He wouldn't be the first good man to be ruined by falling in love with a woman."
Falling in love Those words echoed in my ears, but I didn't question them, even though I wanted to. Was it possible that Ethan truly loved me? I tried to quell the surge of hope within my heart and to keep the conversation going. "And what ruined you, James?"
He did stumble then. Just one foot over a loose stone, knocking him off balance. I felt him shift to one side to regain his balance and took advantage of what might be my only opportunity, jamming both hands against his forearm and pushing it hard, away from my neck, even as I ducked low, somersaulting away from him. I sprang to my feet in a crouch, facing him now, ready.
He waved the knife in gentle arcs meant to draw my attention. He reached for me, and I ducked. He sliced at me, and I dodged. He lunged, and I leapt away, only to trip on a tree root and land on my back on the ground.
He was on me instantly, jabbing something into my breast. My first thought was that I was being stabbed with that huge blade, and I panicked and screamed. But almost instantly I realized the pain was far too small, and, glancing down, I saw him depressing the hypodermic's plunger, then felt the sleep rising in me in direct proportion to the plunger's descent.
I blinked up at him. "James, please don't take me back there," I whispered. "Please."
"It's my duty. And why do you beg? It's where you were going anyway."
"Not as a captive."
"It would have ended up the same. You never stood a chance, Lilith. At least this way, I redeem myself in their eyes. At least this way, I do my duty and get to go on living."
"No. It's not your duty, James," I said, though my words were beginning to slur. "They've warped your mind. How can you possibly believe that you owe your loyalty to the mortals who once held you captive, rather than to one of your own kind?"
"You are not my kind. You're nothing like me," he muttered, as if in disgust.
"I'm your sister as surely as Ethan is your brother." I blinked slowly, fighting the damned drug as hard as I could.
I felt him scooping me up into his arms and marching through the woods, and I had time to marshal my strength just once, just enough to cry out mentally, Ethan! James ambushed me. He's taking me back to The Farm. He's betrayed us both!
Then I was gone, sinking into darkness, my pain and my fear fading far behind me.
Ethan heard her scream, felt her terror, and then received her mental message as she cried out for him, mind to mind, the way he'd taught her. But he couldn't believedidn't want to believewhat she'd said.
James had taken her? James? His own brother?
But he knew then that she had been right about his brother all along, and that his own skewed judgment had, just as he'd begun to fear, cost her
No. He wasn't going to think that way, because there was no way to be sure. He beached his boat and set off through the forest, weaving around tree trunks, ducking limbs and jumping roots. He moved fast, and as soundlessly as he could manage, blocking his thoughts as he ran. And yet, he never caught sight of them. Not until he finally emerged from the forest to see a chain link fence with a gate looming large in front of him.
A sentry stood in a box-like structure inside the gate, and Ethan ducked behind a tree as he saw James stride right up to it, Lilith slung limply over his shoulder. Her long coppery curls hung to the ground, trailing in the dust. Her arms dangled, and her essence had gone silent. Ethan couldn't see her face, and could not, for the life of him, sense whether she was dead or alive.
The sentry pushed a button, spoke to someone, then hit another button that opened the gate. It slid sideways on some sort of track, and James stepped through. The gate remained open behind him, but Ethan thought it would be easy enough to clear the thing and follow, should it close before he could gain entry. He would be seen that way, however, which meant it had to be his last resort.
He was itching to go right then, to race through the gate, with fists flying. He hadn't even taken time to bring the weapons from the boat, he'd been in such a hurry to get to Lilith. He hadn't been thinking clearly.
But he had to think clearly now, he told himself. Getting himself captured would only take away Lilith's only chance. So he remained hidden amongst the trees, and was glad of it a moment later, when two armed guards stepped calmly up to James, aimed their weapons and told him not to move.
James's head snapped up, and Ethan felt his brother's sudden tension as the shock of the moment caused him to briefly lower the blocks on his mind. None of it came through in his voice, though, when he spoke with seeming confidence. "I work for you, so you can put those down," he said. "I've brought the captive I was sent for."
"We can see that, Bloodliner. Drop her."
"Drop her, my ass," James countered.
"Drop her, James." The command came in a voice used to being obeyed, and a moment later Ethan could see its owner, the Commandant. White hair looking windblown, face like an aged baseball mitt.
Ethan remembered that face. Seeing it never meant anything good for those in his care.
James had gone still, and Ethan felt the cockiness leaving his brother, saw some of the steel leaving his spine. He bent forward and let Lilith's body flip off his shoulders. She hit the ground hard, face up, and Ethan winced at the sight of it.
"I've done nothing wrong, Commandant, sir," James told him.
"Perhaps you have. Perhaps not. Tell me, then, James, where is your brother?"
"Ethan?" James asked dumbly.
"Do you have any other brothers I should know about, James? I'd assumed there was just the one."
"No, sir. No other brothers. That I know of, I mean." He was nervous, stammering. "I justI'm surprised by the question. I haven't seen my brother in more than two years."
"According to those we've had watching you, that may not be true. Until recently, this" He tapped Lilith's ribcage with the toe of his boot. Ethan lunged, but caught himself and pulled back, biding his time. "This sorry excuse for a Bloodliner was reportedly traveling with Ethan. So how is it you found her and not him?"
"She was alone when I found her." James stood there, at the ready, and Ethan feared for his brother in spite of himself.
"We'll see." The Commandant snapped his fingers, and the guards stepped up, rifles pointed at James's head, while two more came out of nowhere to grip him by the arms.
He began to struggle, but the working of a rifle lever stilled him without a word. Lowering his head, he said, "You're making the biggest mistake of your entire life, Commandant."
"I think you lost the right to argue with me when you chose to loyalty to your brother over loyalty to me, James. I'm extremely disappointed in you, but I can't honestly say I'm surprised."
The guards began leading James away, even as two other stepped forward and lifted Lilith off the ground. One held her beneath the arms, the other just beneath her knees, as they carried her away, but he heard her groan and rejoiced to know she was still alive. As they moved further into the compound, the sentry turned to watch them go, even as he hit the button that would close the gate.
Ethan saw his chance and sped from his hidden vantage point, running at full vampiric speed, which would render him no more than a blur to mortal eyes. And yet it was a blur these mortals were trained to notice.
The gate was nearly closed when he skidded through the gap sideways, came to a stop at the bottom of the sentry house and sat there, silent, willing the dust to settle as he pressed his back to the wood and the gate banged shut.
Ethan closed his eyes. He'd done it. He'd come back, willingly, to the one place where he'd sworn he would never set foot again. And he hadn't done it for his brother, who'd betrayed him, he'd done it for Lilith.
It was his fault she was back here in captivity and likely condemned to die in short order. He had to save her.
Or die by her side.
