I came to in a small run down room with a long table in front of me. The chair I sat in was heavy. Its material wasn't iron or silver. My arms and legs were trussed up in a manner that stunk of military precision. They gave me just enough slack to raise both arms up. Julianne and Stacy could have learned a thing or two.

The rest of the room was equally depressive looking. Someone had slapped some sort of over-sized blue glow sticks on the walls that served as the only lights. The walls were stripped bare of even plaster. One armed guard stood inside the door. His gun didn't look like it was loaded with the friendly suppression bullets that I had been playing with at Julianne's.

My eyes closed and tried to recap what had happened. A sudden shake of my head brought no clarity. I used what little lead these trussing’s allowed in order to scratch my nose. Once that immediate problem was resolved it was time to inspect the damage from the excitement at Julianne’s. There were no signs of bruising or other wounds. Either I was extremely lucky, or had already healed. Even my formerly split open palm felt okay.

I couldn't remember healing this fast. Then again there hadn't been much need in the last four years. My wanderings about the countryside were indistinct and probably boring. Honestly, before that vacation I had been better at not being hit in the first place. My tactile senses and a young man’s reaction speed had done wonders. Hell. Now my wrist itched.

The bindings jangled around as I tried to get to the itching spot. The latest round of actions made the guard look over. The gun lifted just slightly in my direction. I lifted my right arm enough to wave. The guard’s response was lifting his weapon slightly higher.

"I'm behaving," I said.

The guard used his free hand and knocked on the door in a short series of raps. A small slit of light appeared in the doorframe. There was no outright communication between the two people, just a quick nod between them. My babysitter turned back to the room. He had a robotic gaze that seemed to look at nothing in particular in the entire room.

I was starving. Despite all the noise my stomach was making the guard kept ignoring me. Finally, the door opened and Daniel stepped inside the room. At least it was a familiar Western Sector employee. This was probably going to be my least favorite part of the last few weeks.

There was a brief whisper where Daniel muttered to the guard. The guard nodded then stepped outside and the door slid shut behind him.

"You have five minutes to tell me how this is going to go, Jay.” Daniel pointed a finger at me. ”Five minutes in which I have to decide if you're an undercover asset, or you go in the deepest jail cell I can find. Your charges so far are kidnapping a key witness and assaulting multiple officers."

"Crummy..." I started to respond.

"Don't even start that with me. Do you have any idea of the fucking mess you've made? Getting caught in there?” He waved an arm at one of the walls. “It’s bad enough you're in with a small time bookie like Julianne, but Kahina? Keeper's scion?"

"What?" I asked.

"No? Didn't tell you?" No, she had probably told me. It was another thing my mind glazed over. "How about this Stacy Watershed?”

The Agent shook a stack of papers that he pulled out from somewhere. Daniel and his files. The man loved them. I watched the pile bob up and down in the air as he kept up his rant.

“Looks harmless enough at first glance, but wanted for assault and battery on at least three occasions. Only a level two rehabilitation?” He snorted and shook his head.

“She seems like a winner,” I said. The Bitch and I would probably never be friends.

“Then there's the elf, wanted in regards to the biggest missing persons case this Sector has seen in years." Daniel flopped down his pile of paperwork onto the table. I leaned back and attempted to cross my arms. It wasn't easy with the rigging they tied me up with.

"Where is this going, Crummy?" I asked.

"I had people watching those woods Jay and watching your house. So when I get a report on my desk that says the elf I've been tracking, the elf that may hold the key to our missing person case..." Daniel's eyebrows shot up as he leaned over the desk. "was found, not only by the local pack which I'd been putting pressure on but by my friend?"

I would have sunk into the chair, but the way they had me chained to it didn't leave much room to maneuver.

"Jesus, Jay! You went into the house, and I could see how you wouldn't know until then. After though?" He stomped away to the other side of the room.

Okay. I officially knew where this was going. None of it was good for me or anyone involved. The Agent had a right to be upset. This whole thing had gotten wildly out of hand because of my desire to learn information. I should have just called Daniel the minute the elf showed up and washed my hands of the situation.

"A booty call to a different elf that didn't go well. A trip to the bar, for another drink I'm sure. Then your wreck of a home then back again to" He recited some mental list. "Julianne’s house."

A drink did sound amazingly good. It practically made my mouth water. Plus it would mean that angry Daniel Crumfield was nowhere near me.

"Tell me how this looks good, Jay, tell me something. Neither of us wants to be here right now." He said.

"I needed an elf's help, and she was the only one that I was on speaking terms with." He must have been talking about Candy. It was hard to explain how she factored in.

"You sure you weren't telling her where to find her long-lost clan member? So they could fucking stonewall me along with the wolves?" Daniel dug through his papers some more and spun out a file with Candy’s face printed on the top left.

"Why would I do that, Crummy?" I was too irritated to tell him that they weren't members of the same house. Or else Candy would have known one of her elves wasn't feeding their addiction, or whatever it was she kept track of.

"I don't know, man, I don't fucking know. The reward money? Tell me something so I can make this go away." He said.

Right, like I was going to tell him something that would just dig a bigger hole. Daniel and I were friends outside of work. Out there I would take a bullet for him. But in here, with Daniel the Western Sector Agent, it was a different story.

"The moment my team marked you leaving that house I should have had a phone call. One fucking phone call, to tell me you had him." Daniel was back in front of me pounding his finger on the desk. His face nearly matched his blazingly red hair. "But no, they find you wandering the God damned city. For what, Jay? What the hell is so important that you couldn't just call me and let me do my job?"

"I had some questions of my own," I muttered.

"Like what, Jay? What was so fucking important?" Part of my mind was focused on that finger. He kept jabbing it into the table. Each pound just grabbed my focus and irritated me.

"Some of the stuff he said to me," I answered.

"He would say anything, to get away, anything to escape.” Daniel stepped back and took a breath. He was trying to be calm but failing. “Don't tell me you believed his story for a moment. Don't tell me you're that dense."

Maybe I was that dense. For a moment, I had believed Evan. He actually sounded like he knew what I was. Being a Lord had to mean something. It had to tie into my issues in the same way being a wolf caused allergies to silver. Or how being a vampire caused the blood thirst. I wanted to have a reason for why I acted how I did.

"I should have called," I admitted.

"But you didn't. You didn't do shit to help me out. You've avoided me this entire case, saying you couldn't help, that you weren't any good anymore.” Daniel had worked himself back into full-on rant mode again. His hand waved at walls and the other jabbed into the table again.

My three seconds of silence were too much for him. He kept right on going.

“My men saw what you did to Francis, saw you walking just fine yesterday, a few days after he clawed the shit out of your legs." Just how long had Daniel been watching me? Did he always watch me? "You've got it still, at least a little bit, and you could have helped me close this a long time ago, but you dragged your feet."

"What the hell is so important about this elf?" I tried to stand up and shout but only managed to rattle the manacles around my limbs.

"You have no idea what Arnold was involved in. What it means, and how many will crawl over me to get this case." He said. “I can’t let anyone else near this situation.”

"Why this case?" It couldn't be just the reward money. There was a lot, but it couldn’t be worth all this trouble. Maybe it was. I had seen stupid things done over just a few thousand.

Daniel was on the far side of the room rubbing the back of his neck with both hands. His head leaned back. The man’s eyes were unfocused and gazing upward. There was a knock on the door and Daniel almost tore it open. Another suit stood on the other side.

"The elf escaped, sir." The guard on the other side seemed perturbed.

"What?!" Daniel had been mad before, this was just short of a nuclear explosion. The other chair was thrown against a wall. Papers scattered everywhere.

"Did you have anything to do with this, Jay?" He turned back to me. His face was twitching with anger. I lifted both hands as much as possible and the bindings rattled.

"What do you think, Crummy?" I was rolling my eyes. "You going to explain or go chase the elf?" Daniel pinched his fuming face at me and finally nodded.

"This is a nightmare, man, and it’s entirely your fault." He said. Daniel stepped outside then slammed the door. Once again I was left alone.

What now? I certainly wasn't going to just sit my ass here in a cell. Daniel didn't exactly leave the door open with an 'exit here, buddy' sign posted to it. Then again I was probably on his shit list for a while.

Where were the others? The last thing I recalled was ramming Daniel's fellow Western Sector Agents with a couch. My only source of relief was slowly banging my head against the table. I exercised the option for the next few minutes with a slow, rhythmic thumping.

An almost imagined whisper caught my attention. I slowly looked around trying to find the source of the noise. It seemed to be from the hallway outside. The low murmur happened again but closer. What was it saying? Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. My mind must have been playing trick son me. For a moment, it looked like the door Daniel had slammed was now completely open.

I was still bound, so it didn't matter. Double vision plagued me again. This time I briefly saw a ragged looking elf standing in the doorway. He motioned desperately in my direction. The image faded out quickly. Evan must be doing something with his abilities. Messing with my vision somehow.

My chains rattled in frustration. It was hard not to shout at him. Sure I wanted out, but I couldn't like this. I wasn't that strong. Evan disappeared from the doorway. Soft almost silent footsteps crept across the room.

"Break loose, I can befuddle them on our escape." The elf said.

"Can't," I responded. He made it sound as simple as breathing.

"You can. You are one of them. A once lost Lord, even their young could break this." There was a moment where I felt him grab at my bindings. He quickly hissed with pain.

"I can not free you. I have no magic against iron." He said.

"How did you get free then?"

"Who says I was ever truly captured?" He sounded so smug about it.

"Find Kahina," I suggested.

"I am sorry, which one was that?" He sounded winded. Almost gasping for breath.

"The black woman, partial vampire."

"A Bloodletter? Are you sure that is wise?"

"She can break this!" I had to struggle not to shout at him. Kahina was a vampire. If she wanted the iron would crack easily. Then we could escape.

"If you are sure, Lord." There was a moment of confusion in his voice then he was gone. His soft footsteps crossed the room. Evan must be something special to fool people trained at illusion spotting.

After a long pause, I went back to banging my head. It slowly settled to resting there staring at the door. They hadn’t even bothered putting a guard back into this room.

It was almost tempting to just sit here in custody. What was the worst Daniel would do? Hopefully, the Agent would assist in my escape and let it slide.

"She is here. It took some time to prevent her from breaking the security beams." Evan had gotten close without my noticing.

"You managed to sneak her over?" I asked.

"I did. Though..."

"Did you know that they've got trip wires to catch speeding vampires? The elf can see them it seems." I heard her voice. Kahina was too close and all business.

"What?" I said.

"They set them up every twenty feet or so, this place is rather run down looking so they seem to have some mobile ones. I stole a few." She sounded proud of her pilfering from Western Sector's finest.

"We need to escape." Evan piped back in. “Things are not as they seem, and we are all in danger here.”

"I'd love to," I said.

"Any idea what sort of game Daniel is playing here?" Kahina asked a great question. There was no solid answer. Me escaping would be fine. I didn’t exist on record, and Daniel would probably let it slide.

“Maybe you should stay here until you can get a lawyer here,” I said to Kahina.

“Daniel has no intention of providing me a lawyer. I’ve already asked.” She said. “We would all be best served by fleeing to our homes.”

“So break me out, and we’ll go.” I rattled the chain holding me.

"I'm not sure I should let you go, Jay. You haven't been kind to me." She said.

"Do you want to do this now?"

"I'd love to. We've got things to settle." She responded to my question.

"After we're out of here," I said to her.

"You'll owe me, Jay, and I will collect. Agreed?" Kahina was too close. I could feel air passing from her lips over to my ear. It tickled and teased. The scent of peppermint overwhelmed the buildings dry cedar.

"Bloodletter, I can only maintain this illusion for so long. Then I will leave you." Evan managed to even sound a bit angry.

"What a pointless threat." Years of being around her made the face easy to guess. There would be a slight tilt to her head. Lowered eyebrows. A half-opened mouth where she tickled a long tooth with her tongue. The same look one gave a steak.

"It is no threat, just the truth," Evan said.

"Would one of you break the chain, please?" I rattled them again for emphasis.

"Fine. But you and me, we'll have our talk, Jay. One where you don't run, don't avoid, and talk to me.” I felt a freighting moment of wonder when Kahina's fingers slide over my skin and zeroed in on the metal to crush it “You need to explain why you persist with this cruel lie."

"Later." My response was curt. Now was not the time to deal with this.

"I still do not understand why you chose not to break the chains yourself," Evan stated. His voice made me feel tired.

"Done, let’s go." She said.

"The door? Is it open?" I asked.

"It never closed," Evan confirmed. I stepped over towards the door as quietly as possible and leaned outside. There was no one there watching over any of us. The hallway was short and looked like it belonged to a repurposed house of some sort.

"Don't bother sneaking, they're all gone." She walked past me calmly and gestured around. Evan was slumped against a wall with sweat dripping down his forehead. He huffed slowly.

"What?" I asked.

"I believe Daniel is using you as bait.” Kahina tilted her gaze towards Evan “To follow us to your elf minion here."

"What?" I was even more confused now. Why would Daniel trap me then be sloppy enough to let us all escape? Evan was right here. Not that Daniel even wanted Evan. He wanted Arnold.

Oh. Oh, Hell. Daniel really was playing a game. Kahina was right. The woman was too smart for me to keep up with sometimes. First thing's first, we had to escape past all of his guards.

"You're being used as bait by Daniel." Kahina was calm about the whole thing. There was something in the way she walked that was very possessive. The way her body leaned or how she kept looking in my direction anytime my eyes shifted somewhere else.

"Anyone have a plan?" I asked.

"I'll be picking whatever exit you're not leaving by." Stacy showed up shortly after with Julianne. "Being as they're after you two idiots, not us."

"What about you, Kahina?" I turned towards the black woman.

"What do you want me to do, Jay?" Kahina asked. She was suddenly standing a few feet away. Her pose seemed shy with both arms clasped behind her back.

"I don't know." And now wasn’t a good time for me to think about it. There were too many other issues.

"Fine. I'll decide for you." Kahina snapped out of the pose and glared. "Pointy ears, go with those two and keep them unseen and get them out, I'll bet anything Daniel has people on guard. I'll go with big and dumb to keep him clear."

"And if they've got more of those grenades? They were fairly well geared. Surviving a second time will be hard, no matter how well Jay was throwing them around." Julianne said. She had one hand on Stacy's shoulder.

"I did what?" I asked.

"Don't you remember, Jay?"

"Not a bit." There was nothing more than flashes in my head. Those moments felt familiar and foreign at the same time.

"I don't care,” Stacy said. “All I want to know is which way you're leaving so we can go the other direction." She reached up and placed her hand over Julianne’s.

"Then does it matter which way we go?" I asked.

"No." The mousy girl said. “Not to me.”

"Where are you going to take Evan?" I needed to know where Evan and Julianne were going. Otherwise, we would have a hard time meeting up later. Worst case scenario my tracking abilities could be put to use.

"I don't know. Pack woods?" Julianne said. She was looking at Stacy. Then they both nodded.

"Lord, we have to talk, without everyone else."

"Sure. Once we’re safe." I said to Evan.

There was too much going on that didn’t make sense and my mind kept coming back to the inconsistencies. Daniel was my friend. He broke into the house, knocked me out, then drug us all off. We didn’t end up in a Sector holding cell though. We ended up in some off the record house that no sane Western Sector Agent would use.

"Whatever we do, we'll need to move fast. Elf, how good are your illusions?" Kahina focused far better than I did.

"Good enough to not get caught by humans trained to watch for it." He sounded proud about it. Evan was well within rights to be smug.

"Can you make it seem like we're running with Jay while the rest of us head the other direction?" She asked. He looked at me, and I shrugged back. It would be a neat trick if he could.

"For now." Evan seemed hesitant to answer.

"For now?" Kahina raised an eyebrow. Evan didn't give her a response.

"We should go shouldn't we?" Julianne was the most vulnerable one out of all of us.

"As I said, I go with Jay. Pointy ears here can do his illusions and cover you." Kahina said. She almost looked bored with the situation. One hand was up as she inspected her nails.

Evan looked at me again. Plans were not my strong suit. My job had always been simple. Find my stuff. Punch those in the way. Come home and eat.

"Can you do that, Evan?" I asked.

"Yes, but I may need an awakening afterward." He said. What on earth was an awakening?

"They're headed back this way." Stacy's ears were turned towards the hallway. "We've got a plan, let's go."

Evan was looking around, his eyes doing the brief flickers of starbursts before he closed the eyelids over them. If you looked closely you could still see flares of color coming to under them. I had never actually witnesses an elf doing their magic before. Then again no one was sure exactly how many elves could actually do magic.

"It's done." Then he fell sideways towards the floor. Stacy stepped in and caught him. She hefted the elf over a shoulder and turned away.

"I’ll carry him. Jan, you stay behind me." Stacy said.

"We'd better go, who knows what kind of timer he's got on his work." Kahina waved the other girls off.

"I’ll go first," I said. My earlier question had grown unimportant as everyone zeroed in on the escape process.

I turned and headed down the hallway, looking for a back door out of here to 'escape' through. A few turns of the hallway later and it was just me and Kahina. Thankfully she seemed to be focused on something other than draining me of blood. If anything she seemed more wired than before. Angrier even.

"Let’s try not to kill anyone." Getting on Daniel's bad side, even while we were escaping, seemed like a terrible idea.

"You're a few steps behind as usual, Jay." She said.

"Where should I be then?" My voice only came out a little snide.

"Put a good show on, pretend to talk to the others, and then run in front of us." Once again Kahina sounded bored. Her gaze was focused on a strand of hair between her fingers. Why she picked the middle of an escape to preen was beyond me.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Daniel thinks you're the leader of this little project, and he's hoping you'll lead him to the slant ear." She said. It sounded like a joke to me. I was not a leader of any sort.

My hand was on the doorknob. I turned and looked at Kahina. She smiled a strange mix between anger and excitement that I never could sort out. Her clothes were as ragged looking as I felt. Still, to me, she looked beautiful. Who knows what they had done to capture her. Probably held a cross to her face and terrified the vampirism. Just thinking about it made me mad.

"You know they're probably been instructed to keep us alive," I stated with more calm than I felt.

"Right." She said.

"And we don't have to be gentle just because we're trying not to kill anyone." I continued.

"I had no intention of being kind to them." She said. For a moment, her eyes went red with blood before shifting back. The suddenness left me abruptly confused. How close was she to her transition? Months? Weeks? Days?

I couldn’t defend her. Not like she wanted. The man I was and the man I had become in the last four years were not the same. I was trying to recover. Getting Evan out, getting answers from him, both would help. Still. Maybe I had summed it up best when talking to Kahina, time doesn't march backward.

"If they're any good, they'll have a few watching us from higher vantage points. I'll head for them, you and our friends," She smirked at the illusions "should stick to walls and between buildings. If we get clear then we can head to my home and plan from there."

My eyebrow raised at her statement. The last house of hers that I had officially been in was a condo downtown.

"I've moved since you were last in town." She said. “As I told you, I’ve been preparing.”

I turned the doorknob then yanked open the door. There was only the briefest glimpse of the outside before Kahina dashed away. If I hadn't known where she was headed I might have missed her leaping upwards to the top of an opposing rooftop in the span of a few seconds. There was a brief moment of her backside as it leaped through the air. Beautiful. Not only did the angle look good, but she was going to beat someone into the ground. Aside from the blood thirst she was an amazing woman.

The faded light made seeing difficult. At first glance, we were in a giant housing project. Many buildings were nothing more than the framework. Some were pretty close to done.

I slipped out and headed left. This direction led toward home. That pull was the only useful guide available to me. The illusions Evan had put out were taking off out other doors and windows. They wore false expressions of worry and panic but kept close to where I was. It was time to add realism.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here," I said. A second illusion ran by me. It looked like Stacy and I hightailing across the yard. Gunshots rang out from nearby. The false copies and I kept to our path out of the construction zone.

Coming around the corner I found myself facing one of the armed men Daniel had brought. I knocked the gun wide and laid a fist into his face. The guard survived the first punch and let loose of the gun. His free hand went for a sidearm. My fist was faster. A second shot landed on his temple. The impact jarred us both, but I stayed upright. He slumped.

There was a flicker of movement next to me. I saw Kahina pick up both guns, grin, then vanish in a whirl of speed. Moments later a second set of gunshots rang out. I hadn't known Kahina was willing to fire a gun. Most other races tended to shy away from them. They were a tool of humans and the other races had their own abilities. Of course, she had always been a modern sort of girl.

Another trio of images flickered past me. These looked like ghostly versions of Kahina, Julianne, and myself. It was much more believable than The Bitch and I.

There were more of Daniel's people coming. This time it was three men at the end of a corridor. I turned and fled through a doorway to one of the partially completed houses. Hopefully, there was a passageway out that wasn’t guarded. A second round of gunshot rang out nearby. Small lights were mounted on the end of rifles. Two Sector Agents were inside the house searching for me. The fakes were being eliminated. At least my own personal phantasm escort was still traveling next to me. The elf had done quite a number on these illusions.

Each house was roughly the same. Two stories, three or four bedrooms, and a garage. I took an exit out of the bottom floor's partially constructed garage. The next building was fifteen feet away tops. At this one, I stopped just inside the doorway and waited in a corner. My illusionary partner kept running through the house.

Two of the Daniel's men came inside. I used my advantage and dropped both of them using boards that had been left at the construction site. I yanked off their helmets to look at something then moved on quickly. Once those two were down I doubled back to the previous house and headed in a new direction. I could hear more bullets from further away as Kahina rained chaos upon the battlefield.

Something about this was wrong. Western Sector employed not only humans. Not one of these people had displayed anything more than the standard reactions. No speed, no strength or heightened reflexes. Nothing.

A few minutes later and I was out of the new housing project. It was difficult not feel like a fish on land as I gulped for air. My body had worked up a bit of a sweat. For a moment I slumped against a wall and tried to figure out what to do next. Kahina and her rain of gunfire was a lot further away now.

"Well, Jay, you don't disappoint." A voice came from down the way. My refuge was useless already.

"Crummy." The redhead was hard to make out in the darkness. There was no doubt as to who else it would be.

"I'll let you go, Jay, but you need to find me Arnold. Do you understand?” He didn’t have his surfer accent and that was strange. “I don't care about you, Julianne, or Kahina, I don't even really care about the elf, just bring me Arnold."

"What the hell is so important about him?" This missing person was the son of a rich family, but this was too much. I started walking towards Daniel.

"Listen, I'm your friend right?" He asked.

"I'm not so sure." I responded. Today had put the topic of our friendship into a ‘maybe’ category.

"Trust me, we're friends, otherwise you would never have gotten out. I need you, as my friend, to find me Arnold Regious." Daniel was a trying hard to stay calm. I could see the shift in his face as he wanted to yell at me like he yelled at his men.

He knew better. Now I wasn’t chained to a chair.

"He's the key to all of this, he's the heir." He said.

"The heir to what?" It sounded like it was more than just a lump of money. Another guard appeared behind Daniel, this one looking a lot like all the other ones I had seen.

"Sir, you need to test him." A new guard stepped up close. His voice was deep and loud. The very sound of it made me skin itch as it rippled through the area.

"I have tested him, it came back normal." Daniel stated firmly.

"You heard the..." The nameless guard started to say something.

"Quiet." Daniel said. I almost raised an eyebrow at Daniel but, something told me not to. Now wasn’t the place or time.

"Are you sure, sir?"

"I'm sure. There are none left, and this man is just a Vampirism survivor, now tell the others to pull back." Daniel was defending me from something.

"Sir." The guard nodded and drew back a ways. I watched the other armed man back up to leave. He was whispering something into a microphone across his shoulder.

"What was that about, Daniel? What is all this about?" Someone needed to give me some damned answers. Just why did some random guard think I need to be tested? For what?

Daniel had something in his hands and he pressed it. His facial complexion changed for a moment.

"Man, do you know how many bullets I'm trying to dodge just to let you go like this? I can't tell you much, but there's a lot to this." His surfer accent was back and it sounded frustrated. "Find me Arnold and I'll tell you what I can."

Daniel tossed a second item to me. I caught it out of reflex and rolled my fingers around it. This was a small pouch made of velvet. I looked down at it and back up. Daniel was already halfway around the corner. His angry, tanned face from earlier had been put back in place.

"Hey!" I shouted at him.

"Open the package, Jay." He waved at me over a shoulder. In his hands he held a glowing green glowing disk. Daniel slapped it against a wall and it illuminated the area.

Then he rounded the corner. I started after him. The green disk blinked once and let out a sharp noise. Alarm bells went off in my head and I back peddled quickly. Ten steps later there was a click

An explosion threw me into the packed earth. I clinched both arms in front of me and tried to twist in order to land on my side. It didn't prevent the impact from rattling me. My ears rang as I scrambled to look where Daniel had been. There was no sign of the Agent.

That one explosion hadn't been alone. Back in the housing project there was an entire series of them. Light of fire against the night sky was impossible to miss. I hoped everyone else had gotten far enough away.

"Jay, we've got to go." Kahina was already beside me. Her face was dirty and smudged. She either ran out of people to shoot or had been closer than I thought. I mumbled something back to her then slowly stood up. Daniel's package was in my hands as I stumbled away.

"The others made it out." Kahina said. “And we should be safe enough. Daniel's men pulled out after that last explosion.”

“We should still…”

“Yes. We’ve got a few minutes before the police get here. Human law enforcement will be harder to deal with than Daniel's men.” She was tugging at one of my arms. I lost focus for a moment looking at her arms. They were thin, but well-toned. “We’ll leave here, and tomorrow night we can find your elf.”

"Who?" I had lost focus.

"I swear you're dense sometimes." She gave a short-tempered response. "The elf."

"Evan?"

"Yes, Julianne said his old location might be the safest place right now.” She shook her head. “Though we should have just left him behind.”

“Why didn’t you?” I asked. Kahina kept pulling us forward. She hooked one arm into mine and we walked down the street like any normal couple in the world. In the middle of the night with burning buildings behind us. It made perfect sense. I was still tired and confused.

“You were listening to Daniel, he doesn’t really want the slant ear.” Kahina said.

"He wants Arnold Regious."

"Why would he care about Arnold?" She asked. It was almost like we were on a date of some sort. Only this one involved escaping a hostage situation.

"The elf and he were friends." I responded. My free hand was still running across the outside of Daniel's velvet container. The fabric felt like one of Julianne’s hunting pouches.

"Somehow I doubt it's that simple." She sounded, happy? I looked over at her for a moment then quickly went back to the pouch. Tonight wasn’t a night to quibble about our past. Not after that. If I did get into an argument with her it would just make the whole thing worse.

"Nothing ever is." Only this time I wasn't talking about Evan or Arnold. I was talking about us. Whatever we were, or weren't. Even now I could see Kahina’s eyes drifting to the wound on my face. The one I had just picked up after slamming into the ground from the explosion.

My mind thought about her anyway. Her obsession with my blood was enough on its own. No one dated a vampire and avoid the topic. How had she managed to have control enough to drag me home after the fight with the wolf? I had practically soaked my pants in blood from all the damage. Maybe she hadn't had control. Maybe that's why I had nightmares then.

"What is it about me, Kahina?" I asked quietly as we turned down another street. She didn't respond right away, to the question or anything else. Finally Kahina uttered something.

"It's almost dawn, and I need to get home." She said.

"That's not an answer."

"I'm on a schedule, Jay. Maybe tomorrow night I'll have the luxury of answering, provided you actually stick around." Her statement was a painful reminder that most of the avoidance had been on my end. Starting with me leaving four years ago.

"Let’s get you home then." I agreed. She would be much safer at home versus being comatose here in the street.

Maybe we could sort something out if I crashed at her place for the day. Kahina still had her cell phone for some reason. A quick phone call and an awkward twenty minute walk was all it took for a ride to show up. I sat on the other side of the car and tried not to feel sick at the passing scenery.

It felt like an eyeblink later and we were at her house. A flurry of activity greeted us at the door. Well-dressed people all wearing the same style of clothing were at the forefront. Behind them seemed to be businessmen of some sort. They held papers and chattered away about things that needed her attention.

The ones all wearing the same style of clothes seemed to be servants. They provided a change of clothes. She picked out a nightgown from a row of clothes that a pale, young girl was holding draped across her arms. Then there was a slimy voice that I recognized as her second. The same irritating man who answered the phone last night. It belonged to some snobby looking man in a white suit, though there were dashes of purple in various places.

"My lady, we were worried when you didn't check in." The second said.

"We had a small run in with a sector Agent." Kahina said.

"Oh goodness, shall I check with our contacts?" The snobby male said. I mean who says goodness anymore?

"Yes, find out if this was a legitimate operation or not, we'll act accordingly from there." She answered. Her eyes were busy looking over the latest pile of papers to be put into her hands.

"And your guest?" The man asked.

"An old friend, he will be staying the day with us I believe." She didn't look up at me. Her hands flipped through papers and nodded. Moments later she had a pen out and was signing away on something.

For my part I felt overwhelmed by everything. This wasn't the Kahina I had known, not this house, not this sort of business mogul she had become. Some of the items in this house that I saw on display were making me drool. Maybe she wouldn't mind if I added something to my collection.

The male second, a partial vampire judging by his mannerisms and speed, was standing next to me. I stepped away just slightly and tried not to punch him in the face. Tonight had set me on edge.

"Sir?" He seemed to take in the dirty second hand appearance of my clothes as an indication of my character. There was distaste to the way his nose lifted.

I blanked out for a moment until I heard a pen slap against clipboard from Kahina.

"Sir, will you be staying the day?" The second asked.

"Sure." I gave him my most infuriating grin.

Maybe Kahina would let me stab her second in the heart while he was comatose during the day. Maybe I could bind some crosses into his room and leave them there. I really, really didn’t like how he was in my personal space.

"I'll ensure someone is available for you, and perhaps some other minor alterations as well." The man said.

"That sounds like an excellent idea. Make sure you behave." I wasn't sure which one of us Kahina was talking to. She padded softly off down the hallway. Another servant motioned to me. We went in a completely different direction.

Walking down the hallway was a daunting experience. There were more doors in this place than one might expect. Some went to bathrooms and bedrooms along with servants quarters. Some doors went to kitchens and tiny laundry rooms.

"How big is this place?" I asked.

"Big, sir." The person escorting me was the same person that had held the nightgowns for Kahina. I saw her lift one finger and brush at a table top in the hallway. It took me a moment to realize she was checking for dust as we traveled.

"This is a lot different than what I remember." I remember Kahina had owned a condo in a high-rise downtown. Not a mansion. Her servants seemed mostly human though, they needed to be. Being a vampire came with too many downsides for any of them to survive making a living as a maid or butler.

"The home has been in her family for generations." My escort seemed distracted. She didn’t look at me, only at our surroundings.

"What?" My brow scrunched up.

"Lady Rhodes' father passed on a few years ago. The home was left to her.” The next few tables didn’t seem to meet her expectations. There was a look of vague annoyance on her face. “There are no other heirs and the Lady is dedicated to her family’s legacy."

"Dedicated? Like turning vamp?" I asked.

"Indeed."

Was that the reason she had made the change? The desire to keep her family name strong was a good reason. It was far less shallow than wanting to stay young and strong forever. We stopped at a single door near the end of the hallway.

"This is the eastern guest room, the view is lovely in the morning.” She walked into the room and checked the pillows before nodding. “I would suggest enjoying the dawn then pulling the curtain closed. The drapes are heavy enough to block out the sunlight completely."

"Thank you." I said. This was all so far out of my depth.

"Not a problem. I'll be up with a light breakfast for you if you wish." The maid somehow managed to turn her question into a passive statement.

"Uhhh....sure." I answered. The maid nodded and walked off.

This room was larger than my entire house. Kahina was turning into a big name vampire. I shouldn't be surprised. I had seen this house in my visions when first looking Kahina up. Even at night it had seemed grand, from both the outside and the brief snips of inside. Seeing it in person was no less daunting.

The light breakfast came in while I was trying to conquer the top of the room. My bulky form was balanced carefully on the sturdiest chair I could find with a hand reached out towards the ceiling. She didn't even bat an eyelash and set food onto the table. Moments later she was back out the door.

I rocked the chair backwards and walked over to the small platter. It had a slice of toast along with half a peeled orange. Spices were mixed into the eggs and built a wonderful aroma. That meal was my only company as I watched the sunrise and tried not to think of Kahina.

Notes: This one went through a lot of work to be smoothed out and not seem so....logic...missing. I don't know. My brain isn't wording right today. Sorry. We're over halfway through this book....and....uhhh...good lord my brain. Ngh. Ignore me.

Next Release: Chapter 14 - Employee fitness day

Release date: This weekend or Monday. Probably.