Mist snarled in pain as the bullets punched into his body. The burn of silver made him want to stop and take the time to pluck them out of his side, but the fighting was too immediate and brutal for him to take the time. Assault rifles chattered, the sound echoed out of the darkness. Angel’s people returned fire before smashing windows and entering the house. Gavin smashed into the doors, going through them as if they were made of nothing more than cardboard. They succumbed to his strength that easily. The vamps with him flowed inside, their eerie vampire speed making them seem to float over the ground.

Andrew kept to his word, and stayed close to Edward as the others abandoned them to fight with Gavin. Mist suddenly realised Edward’s increased vulnerability and felt even more responsible for him. It was David’s unease he was feeling, but they were one. He felt it as if it were his own fear.

Attackers ran toward them out of the night, and Andrew sprinted to meet them. Newborn he might be, but he was of Stephen’s line and blood, and he had fed well at the club. Ronnie was alpha. You are what you eat was a saying that for vampires was literally true. Her blood gave him power to burn, and it made him fast. He was very impressive for a newborn vampire. He crossed the distance in a flash, and was so fast that the two men didn’t see him coming until too late. He backhanded the first man, breaking his neck instantly, and rode the other to the ground with fangs buried in his throat.

Edward drew his sword as another guard appeared.

Mist had his own fight to deal with. He dodged as his opponent fired his gun and wasn’t hit this time. His claws flicked out and he buried them in the guts of the shooter. He grabbed a handful of what he found inside the shrieking man, ripped it out, and threw it into its owner’s face. The dying man vomited blood and collapsed, but Mist was already fighting another human and didn’t see him fall.

Farris in wolf form howled his victory over one of the human guards, and buried his face in the man’s belly to feed. He ripped away a sizable chunk of the dead man’s flesh, swallowed without chewing, and dashed into the night to chase down another victim. More howls and desperate screams came out of the darkness moments later as he ran down his prey.

Mist automatically responded with a howl of his own, as did their pack brothers and sisters, and turned his attention back to his own fight. He used his wonderfully long and powerful arms to grapple with his target. Another man. A bigger one this time and quite strong for a mere human. Mist was pleased to use his jaws on the man’s throat and shoulder. He worried at the wound, while his claws ripped up his enemy’s back. Blood pumped into his mouth and he swallowed convulsively. His eyes blazed as the taste exploded in his mouth; it threatened to make him rage. He ripped out a chunk of meat, but didn’t swallow. David wouldn’t like it; he was just this side of sane to remember that. He didn’t know how long he could prevent his rage from tipping him over into frenzy, but for David’s sake, he would try.

Thank you, but you don’t have to. I can pull back.

No, Brother, do not leave! You weaken me—us—when you do that. When you leave me, I can’t remember what the manthings are or how they are used. I need you.

I’m sorry, Mist. I should have realised from earlier. I will stay with you. This human is dead. Get the bullets out so that we can heal and stay close to Edward. He can lead us to Stephen.

That was a good thought. He used his claws to dig into his wounded side, feeling for the hated metal burning inside. He plucked the bullets out and let them fall. Such tiny things to hurt so much. There were many manthings made for hurting. He knew many names for them through David’s memories. He concentrated and sped the healing of his wounds then looked around for Edward. He found him fighting with his sword against a man with a shiny blade of his own.

Machete, David said.

Machete then. Another manthing made to hurt and kill. Mist decided to hurry the fight along and help, but before he could grab his enemy from behind, Edward ran him through the heart.

“Can feel Stephen?” Mist growled at Edward, trying to make his words clear. His voice made certain words hard to understand, so he limited himself to just a few. “Show?”

Edward cleaned his sword on the body of his enemy. “I can feel him now that we’re inside the wards. He’s underground. He says they have him caged in what he thinks is a basement. There are concrete steps leading down to it.”

Mist grinned. That was very good news! If they were in contact again, Stephen couldn’t be hurt too badly. “Michael too?”

Edward nodded. “And Marie Stirling—they turned her after Andrew left. He doesn’t know. I think it would be best if we kept that to ourselves for now. There are shifters and humans caged down there too.”

“Show,” he demanded.

Edward led the way into the house. Gunfire sounded from all sides as Angel’s gang took on AML holdouts on the grounds, but some of it came from inside the house too. They hadn’t killed them all yet then, and anticipation of another fight sped his breathing. He pulled Edward roughly back, and stepped in front of him, shielding his friend with his own body. Andrew arrived and Mist pointed him to the right. Andrew nodded and carefully slid through the door in that direction. Mist followed him through the broken door and bullets stitched the wall near his head. He snarled and launched himself across the entry hall toward the shooter. He bit the woman. Hard. She screamed in anguish, but he quickly silenced her.

He let her body fall. “Which way?”

Edward took the lead again, and Andrew took up station next to him, while Mist brought up the rear to protect their backs. Andrew didn’t know the way despite being a prisoner in the same place before being turned. He’d been unconscious on the way to his prison, and he’d been dead on the way to his burial.

They didn’t encounter any more opposition in the main areas of the house. All seemed deserted, but that was false. The screams and howls of battle, the sounds of gunfire, the crashing and yelling... all of it had receded as the fighting spread through distant parts of the house and grounds.

Edward led them into the kitchens and found the entrance to the basement. Before he could descend the steps, Mist and Andrew took charge and the lead. Lucky they did, because some of the enemy had retreated to hide with the prisoners. Bullets punched into Andrew, and he snarled in pain, but he didn’t let that stop him. He threw himself down the steps using his vampire speed, and bowled over the humans gathered and clogging the bottom of the steps. Mist chased him, and ripped into the guards. Two of them were vampires, and he suddenly had his first serious fight upon his hands.

Andrew finished the last human. “Sayles you bastard!” he cried as he slammed into one of the vampires.

Mist was grateful. He had barely been able to keep two of them from his throat. As soon as Andrew took a hand, the fight turned back in his favour. His chosen target used punches and kicks, but although they were powerful blows, they didn’t have the same effect as claws. Mist used his to cut and slash, and then he grappled. They fell to the cement floor struggling and rolling. He howled in pain as he rolled into one of the cages, and scrambled away, snarling at the cramping in his abused muscles. The vampire leapt to his feet and tried to kick him in the face. It might have broken his neck had it landed, but Mist grabbed the leg and toppled the grinning vampire. He lunged before the man could get away, clamped his jaws around his throat, and snipped his head off with a single powerful bite like a pair of scissors cutting flowers.

The prisoners were shouting encouragement and pleading for release from their cages. There were a dozen people locked up—a mix of shifters and vanilla humans. All of them were desperate for release and a chance to fight their captors, but Mist was in no hurry to let them out. His eyes were all for Andrew and his battle.

Andrew slammed his opponent hard against Stephen’s cage. Stephen ignored the pain from the bars to grab the vamp, and Andrew took advantage by twisting his head all the way around. The man froze, and then slumped in Stephen’s grip. He let the body fall a moment later, and glared out of his cage, his eyes blazing with madness. His fangs were all the way out and he emanated an insane hunger. He looked demonic.

“Don’t get too close,” Michael advised. “They haven’t been feeding him.”

“At all?” Edward said, sounding appalled.

“No.”

Change back now. I’ll feed him, David said.

Mist thought about that, and decided it was a good plan. He wasn’t certain he could stand still for a vampire feeding upon him right now, not after fighting some of them. He allowed the change to enfold him, and spiralled away into David’s mind as his brother rose up to replace him.

David groaned and worked his neck from side to side. It popped loudly, but felt better afterwards. He climbed back to his feet and winced as his joints protested. It always seemed to happen after the change. He looked around for a switch to turn off the power to the cages, and found it on the wall at the base of the steps. He used it and turned back to free Stephen.

“Let the others out,” he said to Andrew, who was looking through the bars of another cage.

Andrew’s expression when he turned to him was a mixture of horror and grief. “They turned her! The bastards killed Miss Stirling!”

Marie Stirling’s corpse lay upon the bed in one of the cages, and the bite on her neck was obvious. It was black with old blood. She was still very dead, and there was no guarantee she would rise a vampire. Andrew was technically correct. They had killed her, but hopefully that wouldn’t last.

“I’m so sorry, Andrew. When she wakes up, she’ll need you more than ever. She’ll need a friend who knew her before…” he gestured at her corpse. “Before this.”

Andrew nodded grimly. “The first rising is... was not easy.”

“Find the keys to the cages and let everyone out, would you? I’m going to feed Stephen so we can get out of here.”

Andrew nodded and went to search the bodies for the keys.

“Be careful,” Edward warned as David approached Stephen’s cage. “He’s barely sane.”

He could see that. There was no way he was letting Stephen near his throat in this condition. “Will he feed from a wrist?”

“He’s starving. He will latch on to anything he can reach.”

He didn’t doubt that for a minute. “Here goes then.”

He tentatively reached toward the bars, and Stephen’s attention became rapt. The moment he was within reach, the vampire lunged and pulled his arm through the bars. The bite wasn’t as painful as he had thought it might be; sudden and sharp, yes, but the pain dulled quickly replaced by bliss.

“Oh goddess,” he hissed, his eyes half-lidded in pleasure at the sensation. His body reacted fiercely and he wanted to thrust with his hips. The thought was humiliating, considering those present in the room, but true nonetheless. “Oh,” he groaned as Stephen drank away his power. He felt it flowing out with his blood and it felt wonderful. No wonder the thrill seekers became addicted. He wanted Stephen to take it all, but he was sated all too soon.

David wanted to protest when his friend stopped feeding and licked the wounds clean to seal them. Vamp saliva had healing properties. Stephen nodded his thanks; he was himself again.

Andrew opened all the cages, letting the prisoners out. They milled about excitedly, babbling their gratitude and asking questions. He ignored them to give David the keys before going back to keep vigil over Marie. David unlocked Stephen’s cage and the vampire stepped out.

“Are Elizabeth and Lee with you?”

“David’s wolves are upstairs fighting AML,” Edward reported. “Gavin claimed the false Arcadian for himself, but said he would need help with Arcadian’s brood. So he commandeered our vampires to help him. All of them are here. I had feared that Terry had fallen, but now…”

Stephen nodded, but his eyes were for Marie. “Arcadian subverted him somehow. I can feel that Danyelle is nearby enjoying herself, and Charles is... well, you know Charles. He feels grim, but then he always does. They’re fine I think.”

David smiled; he liked Charles though he was a little grim. Maybe dour was a better word for what he was. They had hit it off right away. A case of opposites attracting maybe.

“I must blood oath Elizabeth and Lee upon our return home,” Stephen went on. “I’ve had time to regret my decision not to do that earlier. I will rectify that before dawn.”

“Stephen!” Andrew called. “I feel her. I think she’s coming back to herself.”

“I feel her too. She will wake hungry as you did. I shall feed her.”

“I could do that,” David said trying not to sound too eager to feel that ecstasy again so soon. “I feel fine.”

Stephen smiled, not fooled in the least. “I’m sure she would enjoy you, David, as did I. Thank you for the offer, but her first meal needs to be from me. Arcadian’s blood runs in her veins. She is his child and because of that unhappy circumstance, he can command her from a distance as I can with Charles and Danyelle. My blood should counter his sufficiently to weaken his control over her. When he dies at Gavin’s hand tonight, as I don’t doubt that he will, his blood will lose its power over her and she will automatically bond with me. She will become a vampire of my line. Perhaps you will offer again tomorrow? She will need to feed often at first.”

He nodded eagerly, and Stephen smiled.

David left his friends to attend to Marie, and wandered through the house looking for Gavin. All he found were bodies and naked shifters looking for friends among the dead and wounded. He thanked the goddess there weren’t many of the former, though there were some. He hoped the missing faces would turn up but braced himself for some bad news tomorrow. He headed outside and found Gavin standing over a headless vampire. His heart sank when he recognised Angel lying upon the ground between the two corpses with Flex and the cop kneeling next to her.

“Gavin?” he said. “Is Arcadian dead?”

Gavin nodded to the decapitated corpse furthest away.

David’s eyes drifted from it to the fallen woman. “Is she...?”

“She will be well. I will see to it,” Gavin said grimly and went to tend Angel.

David watched him ignore the cop’s protests to borrow a knife from Flex and slash his wrist. He offered the girl his blood.

Lawrence chose that moment to arrive. “Is she...?”

“No. Gavin will fix it.”

“Damn. That sucks,” Lawrence said and grimaced at the double entendre. “She’ll hate being a vamp.”

“I don’t know about that. She has a thing for Gavin, and so does Spence come to that. Have you seen him?”

“He’s okay. I saw him chasing a vamp around the pool out back.”

David smiled as he imagined that.

“What will happen, Mister Gavin? I’m scared,” Angel said in a weakening voice. Flex looked on grimly, and the cop looked scared.

“There’s nothing to fear. You will fall into a sleep without dreams, and when you wake, you’ll be well again. Stronger than ever, Angel.”

She smiled. “You called me Angel. I... win...” she whispered and closed her eyes.

“Now none of that!” Gavin cried and slapped her cheek lightly.

“Ow!” Angel cried, blinking around vaguely. “What did you do that for? I’m so tired.”

“Drink, Angel, and you may sleep.” Gavin offered his dripping wrist. Angel grimaced at the taste. “Drink. Don’t think about what it is. Pretend its tequila.”

“I don’t like tequila.”

“Then pretend it’s that poor excuse for beer you like.”

Angel swallowed and grimaced but she kept at it and managed to down a few mouthfuls before falling unconscious. Gavin withdrew his wrist frowning at the girl, but unwilling to risk her choking.

“Will it be enough?” the cop said.

“I hope so. If she doesn’t die, it will definitely be enough for the bonding.”

“Like Stephen and Edward?”

Gavin nodded.

“And if she dies?”

“Then in three days I will be a father for the first time in centuries... if she swallowed enough of my blood and if it works.”

The cop frowned at that but David understood what he meant by it. Turning someone wasn’t the same as being changed into a shifter. Lycanthropy was a sure thing unless outside intervention occurred; even then, the serum wasn’t infallible. Turning someone into a vamp was chancy at best. It involved the death of the recipient for one thing, so no second chances and it didn’t always work. Sometimes they simply failed to come back. No one knew why.

Gavin sat back on his heels. “Detective?”

She looked up from Angel’s peaceful face. “Yeah?” her eyes widened as his gaze caught and held hers. “Awww crap...” she began but then her expression turned vague and her pupils dilated.

“Forget...” Gavin began to chant. “Forget...”

David shook his head and beckoned to Lawrence. “When he’s done, take her home. Her car is outside the club. Better deal with that too.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

David watched as Gavin erased the cop’s memory of all that had happened to her, all the way back to before they had met. She wouldn’t remember a thing. When Gavin was done, he instructed her to sleep and Lawrence carried her away. David frowned as he contemplated how odd his life was now, compared with how he’d lived it before. He could never have imagined back then the things he took in stride daily now. It was a very strange world they all lived in, and his was a very strange life.

But fun, Mist opined.

Sometimes.

Gavin scooped Angel up into his arms and began walking away without a word. Flex put fingers to his mouth and blasted a piercing whistle into the night to summon his gang. They spilled out of the house and chased after Gavin, carrying various valuables they had found. David shook his head at some of the odd stuff they had filched. When would they ever have need of fancy armour and helmets? Maybe they could find a buyer who wouldn’t ask questions. Flex watched them go for a moment before retrieving the Arcadian’s fallen sword.

“Nice bit of metal,” he said admiring the ancient elven blade. He nodded to David in silence and followed his friends into the night.

David gathered up both pieces of Arcadian. Barrows would demand proof the deed was done. He put the body over his shoulder and carried the head dangling by its hair into the house. He found Ronnie attending to Darrin. He had a broken arm. Shifters healed so fast that broken bones could set crooked. She was in the process of re-breaking the arm by the looks of it. Darrin shouted as she braced the limb and struck it a hard blow.

“You big baby,” she muttered pulling and twisting. Darrin screamed and nearly fainted from the pain. His face went shockingly pale. “There. That’s much better. Change it now.”

The arm flowed with fur and back to skin. He sighed in relief and worked the limb to check its motion. It looked good to David’s expert eye.

“Thanks, Ronnie. Any time I can break your bones for you, let me know. It will be my pleasure.”

She laughed and punched his shoulder lightly.

“Ronnie!” David called. “Catch!” He threw the head to her and she caught it nimbly. “One Arcadian by name.”

She juggled the head and held it up to study its face. “Doesn’t look like much, does he?”

“Not anymore.”

“We’re done then? I saw Edward and Stephen leaving a few moments ago. They had Michael and that girl with them.”

He nodded. “Follow me, and bring that with you.”

Together they left the house and carried Arcadian out to the drive. He dropped his burden in the middle of the gravelled road leading up to the house, and Ronnie placed the head neatly on top for Barrows to find. He turned back to study the mansion as his pack straggled outside weighted down with loot. They laughed and joked with each other as they excitedly recalled and described the fighting.

He glanced at Darrin as he arrived, and then at Ronnie, thinking about all the bodies inside. “Burn it.”