FORGOTTEN LOVE

Disclaimer: All characters from The Lost Boys belong to WB Studios. All other characters are mine. Please do not use them without permission, or without keeping my name attached.

Dedication: This story is dedicated to Keya, who has supported me throughout the Protector Series endeavor. Without her, we would have never made it this far. So thank you. And to my Jacob, for all the support and love he gives me, even in regards to my crazy desire to write.

“Just get the fuck away from me!” Anna exploded. Her body movements matched the intensity of her words as she shoved herself off of the couch and away from Dwayne. His hand, which had been about to stroke her cheek, fell back to his leg, while his eyes locked onto her retreating form.

Once she disappeared around the corner, his head dropped into his hands, which vibrated slightly. In the months since her sister had shown up, Anna’s attitude had taken a rapid decline, but always had she allowed him to try to comfort her.

Dwayne didn’t understand what had changed, didn’t know what had brought about this overwhelming anger in the other vampire. She hadn’t been acting like this a day ago.

Though, if Dwayne had been honest with himself, he would have realized that she had been acting like that a day ago, and a week ago, and a month ago even. Slowly, so slowly that few had noticed, Anna had distanced herself from everyone in the pack.

Anna knelt in one of the more hidden rooms to the connecting caverns that made up their home, resting her forehead against a large, cool rock. Occasionally the icy stone would soothe the pain that still ravished her mind. Today was not to be one of those times, but sometimes it did help her deal with the feelings.

Laddie approached her unmoving form slowly, taking care to make enough noise to alert her to his presence, but not be loud enough to upset her, as so much did lately. When he was able to come within a foot of Anna, he rejoiced, for that was closer than he had been in weeks.

“Anna,” he whispered, hesitantly holding out a thick bottle, a plainer version of the one David used during his rituals. “You need to eat.” She lifted her head and gazed up at him blankly, her normally blue eyes glazed over so much that their original color couldn’t be determined.

Laddie took this as a good sign and pushed the bottle closer to her. Anna’s gaze dropped down to it, then returned to his face. After another moment of empty staring, she jerked the bottle from his hands and turned away, pressing her forehead back against the rocks. Laddie winced when he saw the smears of blood appearing where the dark stone met her pale skin, but began to back away. He’d learned not to question Anna, not to even dare speak to her most of the time.

The little vampire hesitated once at the back of the cave, staring forward at his friend, his almost sister, then turned away before his tears could stain the hard floor. Nothing so trivial as the tears of her Pack could mar the perfection of Anna’s sanctuary, and she enforced this with a passion few had seen from her lately. They were not allowed in the room for more than a moment at a time, and Laddie feared that if he did anything to disturb her one place to escape, Anna might quit communicating with them altogether.

Anna stroked her fingers up the neck of the bottle, then higher to trace over the soft cork filling the top. Her nails dipped into it to pull it out before she hesitated, pressing her lips to the cool glass, the only barrier that separated her from the rich blood inside.

The bottle smashed against the rock wall a moment later, sending a shimmering mass of glass and blood showering to the floor, the dark liquid tainting the pale stones while the glass glittered like diamonds amidst the sea of red.

Anna returned her forehead to the large rock, pressing harder and harder against it until the pain in her mind was almost replaced by the pain in her skin as it tore, leaving pale shreds behind on the stone, and spilling her blood, which dripped down, filling the small crevices until it pooled on the floor.

“She’s gone,” Marco whispered. He stepped back into the main room of the cave, leaving behind the ledge from where he watched Anna’s angry departure. The rest of the Pack sprawled around the room, settled on armchairs or across the long couches, with Laddie even sitting on the floor.

“What the hell is wrong with her?” David wasted no time on preliminaries, instead jumping straight into the conversation. No one attempted to answer his inquiry, and he felt the need to voice it again, his frustration bubbling up and welling over into anger. “What the hell is wrong with her?”

“We don’t know, David!” Paul burst out. “Don’t you think we’d say something if we did?” He glared up at the older vampire from his position on one of the faded leather couches.

“We don’t know what’s wrong,” Adam broke in before David could retaliate with his own harsh words. “But we need to figure out what is going on, so we can help her.”

“Maybe. . .” Star began, but trailed off without finishing her thought. Michael squeezed her hand, offering her his support, and somehow she found the strength to continue, though the entire room was gazing at her, expectation in their eyes. “Maybe she’s sick.”

“Sick with what?” Dwayne snapped. “It’s not like she can catch a cold or something. Vampires don’t get sick!” Star shied away from his outburst, hiding behind Michael as best she could. He shot a murderous glance at Dwayne, but the dark-haired vampire didn’t notice.

“What?” Laddie cried out, aghast at the accusation. “Why would she do something like that?” Shauna didn’t bother answering him and instead looked towards David, her eyes focused on his face.

“Because she’s going to try to take over the Pack,” David explained after a moment. He hadn’t meant for his thoughts to be brought to head so soon, but Shauna’s comment had made it inevitable.

“What are you talking about?” Paul asked, kicking his feet off of the arm of the couch. His boots made a heavy thud when they slammed against the floor, but he didn’t continue the movement to his feet, and instead waited impatiently for David to explain himself.

“She told me once, not too long ago, to lead, or she would,” David started to explain, but Victoria broke in, her sharp words interrupting him, though she wouldn’t have dared to do so before.

“That’s not true,” her words were quiet, though forceful. “She told you to lead, and she would follow, but if you didn’t lead, she would. You’ve been leading, haven’t you? Then you have nothing to worry about.”

“If she doesn’t approve of how I’m leading, which is what was happening when she made her threat, then she will try to take over. As she is trying to now.”

“She forced me to take on Adam and Victoria, though that did turn out to be a wise decision. She didn’t approve of taking on Shauna. When I asked if she was going to follow my new lead, she didn’t answer me.” David gazed shrewdly at his old friend. “Honestly, Dwayne, and tell the truth here, do you really think leading has never crossed her mind? Do you really think she can handle following someone else forever?”

“She wouldn’t do this!” Dwayne argued. “You’re paranoid. She’s not like you, not power hungry like you. . .” When his mind caught up with his words, he trailed off.

Dwayne parted his lips, intending to deny David’s statements once more, but he found that no words would come. He knew Anna better than any present, and he couldn’t lie to himself, not about this, and not now, not with her gone.

“I’m telling you,” David continued when it became apparent that Dwayne wasn’t going to speak. “Anna wants to lead us. This is her way of going about it, her way of resting power from me.”

In response to that, even David was silent for a moment. “I don’t know,” he finally whispered, the sound aching after his loud outbursts from before. “I just don’t know.”

Anna sat where she had collapsed mere moments after leaving the cave, mindless of the incoming tide that threatened to spill over her legs, or the damp sand that clung to her pants. Her pale hands clutched at her paler forehead, and her extended nails dug deep into her skin as she attempted to shove away the pain that overwhelmed her.

As she sat there it grew stronger, until it was too much to bear, though she had been bearing it for months upon months. As yet another wave of agony spilled over her mind, Anna flung her head back, gazing up at the star-filled night sky through blurry eyes.

“Please!” she whimpered, crying out for help from whatever higher power truly existed and would offer guidance to a cursed vampire. “Please let this end! Help me, please help me!”

As if her words opened a floodgate, cool darkness slid over her mind, easing the pain and stealing her consciousness. Before she had even toppled sideways onto the sand, three large men moved forward, lifting her easily, though none too gently, and carted her off.

Anna’s still form was dropped onto the ground, though the vampire didn’t notice her surroundings, for she remained unconscious. A black robed figure knelt next to the female, stroking her pale, bleeding forehead, and then pressing its bloody fingers to its own forehead, sealing the bond between them. Next to Anna’s body the crystal lake shimmered, reflecting not the bright night sky, but the darker, bloody days to come.

That night was spent, except for a brief hunt, in small groups, trying to figure out what could be wrong with Anna. Dwayne spent most of the night pacing back and forth and hurrying to the entrance to the cave, searching the skies for any sign of her. She hadn’t returned by the time the vampires normally retired, and he couldn’t shake off the feeling something was happening, something important. Still, Paul and Laddie convinced him to sleep, though he hung upside down for what felt like hours, straining to hear any sound of her return.

When Dwayne woke early the next afternoon, the cold dread twisting in his stomach let him know that something was amiss in his world. When he entered the main room of the cave, he knew immediately that Anna hadn’t returned.

His cry of anger and fear woke the others, though they took their time making their way to the main room of the cave, for the sharp sound had not been repeated, and there was no scent of danger on the air. They found

“What’s wrong?” Paul asked. He hopped up onto the fountain in the center of the room and began to work his way around it, stepping over chunks of concrete and other obstacles with an easy flair. He could have done the tricks in his sleep, so well did he know the area; so many times had he circled it. It was now a calming habit, one he hoped would help defuse the tension already filling the air.

Laddie crept up to him and slipped his hand into Dwayne’s larger one, but a minute part of his brain noticed and accepted the comfort. “Something’s wrong, I can feel it.”

“Even if something is,” David spoke up, interrupting Paul’s continued questioning. “What do you want us to do? The sun is still up, we’re kind of stuck here for now.” The bare hint of a smile that tugged at the corners of his lips might have been an illusion—or it might have been caused by his thoughts on Anna’s supposed treachery to his leadership.

“We might be stuck,” Dwayne snapped, whirling around to face David. “But they aren’t.” One finger jabbed towards Adam and Victoria, though both werewolves knew he wasn’t upset with them so much as with himself, with the situation as a whole.

“You’re right,” Victoria grabbed Adam’s hand and began to lead him towards the door, though he was just as eager to find Anna as she was. As they passed Dwayne, Adam clapped him on the shoulder encouragingly, and Dwayne recognized his silent promise to find Anna and bring her back.

Dwayne remained where he was, turning only to watch Adam and Victoria disappear from the cave. Moments later the soft roar of Adam’s bike could be heard, though the sound faded away at once, a tribute to the speed they were giving this search. Only then did Dwayne let Laddie gently lead him away from the door and over to one of the soft couches. He collapsed onto it with a loud thump, kicking his feet up until his boots landed heavily on the low table in front of the couch.

The others drifted away, alone and in pairs, but Dwayne remained where he was, and consequently so did Laddie, even when waves of tiredness washed over him. The vampires continued their vigil until well after sunset, though the werewolves hadn’t returned.

“What’s going on?” Rilly glanced up at the loud jangling bell that sounded each time the door to the movie rental opened. She had long ago wanted to replace it, but it was a nice warning when intruders. . .er, customers entered the room. Now, though, the door opened for friends, and she offered them a bright smile. The look faded when she saw the expression on both Adam and Victoria’s faces.

“Have you seen Anna?” Adam asked as he stalked forward, Victoria at his side. The female werewolf stopped at the counter, resting her elbows on the glass top, but Adam started to circle it, unable to remain still.

“Not for a few days,” Rilly replied, then tilted her head, her creamy brow creasing in confusion. “Isn’t she still in the cave? The sun just set a moment ago; I didn’t think they would be out and about yet.” She strained a little to see over Victoria’s shoulder, searching the entrance to the store for the first sight of the vampires.

“She didn’t come home this morning,” Victoria offered, tapping her long fingers together in front of her face, the quick action belying the forced calm of her voice. “Dwayne’s a little worried, so we came out to look for her.”

“Only no one has seen her for at least two days,” Adam broke in, a low growl rumbling his throat. “It’s like she’s disappeared. I can’t imagine where she could be. . .and I don’t know what to go back and tell Dwayne.”

“The truth, I’d assume,” Victoria smiled wanly at her mate, her eyes bright with worry, though she still clung to her profession calm. In situations like these, sometimes it was all she had.

“I’m sure she’ll turn up soon,” Rilly tried to offer sympathy, though she was unsure of just how to go about it, for it really wasn’t like the vampire to just up and disappear, especially without telling Dwayne what she was up to.

“I’m not so sure of that,” Adam argued. He came to a halt in front of Rilly and tilted his head, lips twitching as he weighed something over in his mind, then finally came to a decision. “She’s been acting weird lately. Not herself. Odd.”

“Odd how?” The question was normal enough, but some flash in Rilly’s eyes seemed to hint that she might know more than she was letting on. Adam leapt onto the faint hope that the mortal might have extra knowledge, and fed her another bit of information.

“Just being very snappish with everyone, not open and calmer, like she usually is,” he explained. “And she’s had the worst headaches. . .”

“Headaches?” The shrill, frantic edge to Rilly’s voice gave it away. She did know something, and both werewolves could smell her sudden fear, could taste it on their tongues. It was time to stop the games.

“Rilly, what the hell do you know that we don’t?” Victoria snapped, losing her cool just as fast as Anna had been lately. She shoved herself away from the counter and pushed her hair out of her face, leaning forward, her teeth bared in a snarl.

“I. . .I don’t. . .I’m not sure,” Rilly stuttered, backing away from them and hurrying towards the back room. “I’ll come find you guys later, and tell you, when I have no doubts.” As they started to stalk towards her, low growls filling the almost empty room, she held up one hand. “Please. I promise I’ll come find you. Give me an hour, no more.”

Rilly didn’t hesitate, instead taking the growled order at face value and disappearing out the back door. Lucy would just have to understand why she had to take off on such short notice, leaving the store unattended. This was far more important than any movie rental.

“Someone had to have seen her!” Dwayne snarled. The door to Anna’s empty apartment slammed shut with an echoing thud, highlighting the desperate quality to his words. Adam stepped sideways, putting distance between himself and the irate vampire without being obvious about it.

“No one had,” Adam said for the fourth time in so many minutes. “We asked everyone, checked out all her usual spots, even talked to a few of the remaining Surf Nazis. After we threatened them with your presence, they were quite anxious to help us—but hadn’t seen her either. She wasn’t on the Boardwalk last night, Dwayne, unless she hid from everyone while being there.”

“Hasn’t been in her apartment either,” Paul sighed, placing his hand against the door leading into the room they had just searched. Dust was thick inside it, and it was quite obvious that nothing had been removed, or disturbed in any way. Their perusal didn’t include the closet, for it had been empty of her clothes for months now. Had they looked closer, small scratches on the floor would have belied the lack of disturbance they assumed.

“I can’t believe this,” Dwayne growled and flung himself down the steps leading towards the exit to the building. The others followed him, slower and calmer, though keeping their worry in check was proving difficult for even the calmest. “She can’t have just disappeared.”

He flung the door open and stepped out into the dark, damp alley, still growling beneath his breath. Adam’s heavy sigh caught his ears and he turned his face back, though he continued to move forward, preparing to snap at the werewolf yet again for not accomplishing what he had set out to do.

The words never made it past his lips. Just as his mouth opened, pain exploded in his shoulder and he yelped, jerking to the side, away from the unseen assailant.

David jumped down from his spot on the third step, shoving past the others and out into the night, his keen gaze searching the darkness from which the bolt now embedded deep in Dwayne’s shoulder would have had to come from.

Dwayne snarled, his back arching up as pain radiated through him. His blood welled up to slide down his arm, staining his shirt black in the dim light.

“Look,” David grunted, nodding with his head towards a building across the street. Nestled in the shadows, a dark figure leaned forward as if to watch them. Paul’s head came up just in time to catch a glimpse of bright blonde hair before the figure was gone, its footsteps echoing along the empty street, then silence.

“Let’s go home,” Marco suggested as he moved over to help Dwayne stand. With both Marco and Paul’s assistance, Dwayne made it to his feet, then shrugged their helping hands off, maintaining that he could stand on his own. David took the crossbow bolt from Paul and dropped it into his own pocket before heading back towards their bikes. His silence muffled any conversation that the others might have had, and the trip to the cave was finished with no speaking what so ever.

“Are you all right?” David asked Dwayne once the Pack was settled inside their cave. Dwayne nodded, not glancing up from the bandage he wrapped around the wound. David touched his healthy shoulder once, then walked back towards his chair, dropping the bolt onto the table as he did so. Shauna scuttled over and grabbed it, holding it up to examine it in the flickering light from the bonfires, though her vision was great enough that the action was more habit than anything else.

“What?” Adam was on his feet and approaching her immediately. Shauna shook her head, waving him away and turned to face David, her bright eyes catching and locking with his.

“I know that bolt,” she said, ignoring the quiet comments from the rest of the crowd and focusing on David’s reaction. He froze for a moment, as if anticipating her answer, then motioned for her to continue on with a harsh flick of his hand.

“It is the same kind of bolt that I used when I was little,” Shauna finished, her voice lowering. The effect worked, for the entire Pack fell silent and the cave itself seemed to tilt inward, closing the open spaces so as not to miss a single word that passed her perfect lips. “The same kind I would still use in a crossbow today. There’s only one difference between my bolts and this one.”

“Well, what is it?” Star snapped when it became clear that Shauna was waiting for a response. Her hands twisted in the glittering skirt she wore and she pressed closer to Michael on the couch, searching for comfort, comfort that he doubted he could offer, for he too began to realize just what Shauna was building up to with her melodramatic storytelling.

“The marks on the tip are different,” Shauna bent down to retrieve the bolt, and then held it up into the dim light. The tip of one nail traced over the marks cut into the silver edge, though even that light contact sent a faint burning through her fingertip.

“What is your point?” Victoria’s question, though spoken as softly as Shauna’s storytelling was, broke into the air. Shauna frowned, though she didn’t take her eyes off of David, waited a moment longer to reestablish the mood she had built, and then answered.

“These lines are Anna’s marks, not mine,” Shauna explained. “We used to mark them so we’d know whose bolt actually hit, and then it became habit. She’s the one who shot you, Dwayne.” Her heavy gaze left David and settled on the dark vampire. In response to her sudden switch of attention, the others looked to him as well, and all but Laddie missed the slow twist of her lips into what might have been perceived as a smirk.

“No.” Dwayne’s denial was quiet, then repeated, harsher, the sound breaking into the tension that Shauna had instilled into the air. “No! Anna wouldn’t do something like this. She couldn’t. Not to me.”

“If she had a good reason,” Shauna hesitated, glancing down at her hands, then back up into Dwayne’s face as if reluctant to make the point. “She could do anything.”

“And just what would be her good reason for shooting Dwayne?” Paul snapped from his perch atop the fountain in the center of the room. “What could possibly be a good enough reason to shoot her mate?” The female vampire turned to glance at him, but by the time she spoke, her gaze was back on Dwayne, gauging his reaction to her words.

Immediate silence followed Paul’s question, a silence during which the air grew thicker until was a tactile presence beating down on their skin. When each member of the Pack leaned forward, unconsciously reaching out for more information, Shauna spoke again, mere in a whisper.

“‘Revenge?’” Laddie repeated, his words barely above a whisper in echo of Shauna’s statement. His gaze shifted back and forth between Dwayne’s frozen expression to Shauna’s calm one, though he could almost make out the smirk he thought he had seen there earlier. “What would she want revenge for?”

“Oh, a variety of things,” Shauna’s hand wafted through the air. “She could want revenge on me for pushing my way back into her life. She always was a very private girl. Never let anyone close, not really. Everyone who was acquainted with her thought they knew her better than anyone else; they were all wrong. She could be taking us out one at a time because I’m a part of your little group now; associated with all of you.”

Paul’s snort ruined whatever effect Shauna had been going for. “Right,” he drawled. “Let me get this straight. Anna is mad at you, so she tries to kill Dwayne—hmmm, makes perfect sense to me, how about you all?”

“Well you know,” Shauna snapped, her eyes flashing orange fire before she could regain her calm demeanor. “She could be out for revenge on you all. I mean, you did kill her. She’s dead now, no matter what you say, not alive. Maybe she’s mad because you took her life away, both in the literal and the figurative sense. Ever thought of that?”

From the shocked expressions gracing Dwayne and Paul’s faces, it was obvious that they had not. Shauna turned away from them, flouncing over to the couch she had so recently vacated and settled herself down again, then lifted her face towards David, who glanced down at her then looked away, his brow furrowed with his thoughts.

The heavy wooden crossbow slammed against the ground with a resounding thud, though the towering trees encircling the clear water muffled the noise. The bearer of said crossbow remained still, unspeaking, waiting as patiently as she was capable of.

A cloaked figure knelt before the pool of water, not a single flinch brushing the stillness when the weapon struck the dirt. Its hands rested on its knees, hidden beneath the dark cloth. A heavy calm swept across the small clearing, stealing in past the sparkling bottles filled with all sorts of unrecognizable potions that clustered together on the ground behind the figure.

Only when Anna began to fidget, her slender fingers plucking at the bottom of her shirt did the figure speak. Its voice was soft, but heavy enough that each word broke the silence like a sword tearing through paper.

“I did,” Anna replied, ducking her head, her dark blue eyes locked on the ground. Her hands left her shirt and tightened into fists, hard weapons in their own right that seemed to search for a target to strike.

“I don’t know,” Anna’s hands pressed hard against her thighs, with enough pressure that perfectly formed bruises would appear within moments. “I just missed. I aimed, and the bolt didn’t hit his heart. I missed!” The last words burst past her lips with all the frustration and anger at herself that had been twisting in her stomach since that fateful moment earlier, when her carefully aimed shot had ended up in Dwayne’s shoulder instead of his heart.

“Go to sleep, child,” the figure turned towards her, revealing the age-lined face of an old woman. “You will have another chance tomorrow night. For now rest and build your strength. Things will be difficult for us soon.”

“Yes, my lady,” the words were already habit to the vampire, an unquestioned attribute to the older woman’s power over her. “I will do better tomorrow night.”

“Yes. You will.” Though an outside listener would have found nothing wrong with the words, would have heard only an echoing statement of what Anna herself had said, they were enough to send Anna scampering for her bed in fear of retribution for her earlier mistake.

Her wagon, just one of the many making up the caravan on the far side of the lake, was silent and soothing, a respite to the anger still brimming in her body. Anna flung herself down on the bed, tugging the covers up to her chin as an afterthought, and reluctantly gave herself over to sleep.

The woman extracted a thick pouch from the folds of her black robe and opened the silver rope holding it closed with deft fingers. The dull green powder inside was soon dumped into the lake water. The image there twisted, not reflecting the night and the woman, but instead a single, new image.

Anna’s fair face filled the water’s surface, the calm expression there twisting into one of pain as the powder mixed into the water. Even in her sleep, a harsh cry of agony tore from her lips, and her hands flew up to clutch at her forehead once more.

“Cloud thy thoughts, dear monster,” the old woman murmured, brushing her gnarled hands over the top of the shimmering water. “Forget. The past is never as we remember; nor shall yours be. Forget. The pain will dissipate when you abandon what once was. Forget, my broken monster. Do not remember when you wake. Forget.”

Even as her harsh murmurings filled the air around her, another figure shut the window to her own wagon, then set the heavy binoculars down on her nightstand. She crept her way across the cold wooden floor, then cowered in her bed, tears streaming down her face.

For the first time in her young life, Rilly cursed what she was. Cursed the very bloodlines that normally brought her such pride. She couldn’t believe her family would stoop to such things.

Paul would never forgive her for this. He couldn’t. She wouldn’t ask him to. Not when she was a part of—a strangled sob escaped her throat and she buried her face in her pillow for fear of being heard.

“Christmas is coming up too fast,” Sam complained half-heartedly as he pushed open the door to the movie store. The sound of the bells hanging above it almost drowned out his next sentence, but both Alan and Edgar managed to catch the drift. “What am I going to get everyone?”

“She doesn’t wear much perfume,” Sam tilted his head as he glanced around the crowded movie rental, searching for inspiration. “But maybe scented soap or something like that. She’s usually easy to shop for, but what about—well, Grandpa. Or Michael for that matter. What do I get a member of the fang gang?”

“Dead rabbit on the highway,” Edgar spoke up, his gravel-coated voice a shock to both Sam and Alan. “Could give that to the old man for Christmas."

The silence that immediately followed his statement was broken a moment later by Sam’s laughter. Even Alan’s normally serious expression cracked into a smile, for it had been a long time since Edgar had shown his sarcastic sense of humor, far too long a time. No joke had passed his lips since Shauna’s shocking appearance and transition to vampiredom, and Sam and

“Sam!” Rilly hurried around the counter, moving so fast that the hinged door, which allowed workers access to the area behind the counter, slammed back and forth, cracking against both sides of the entrance.

“What?” Sam jerked around, searching the room to find the danger that would have set the normally happy girl off. Her eyes were dark and no smile graced her lips, a sure sign that something cataclysmic had occurred.

“I have to talk to Paul! It’s a matter of utmost importance. Can you take me to him?” Rilly burst out as she reached the three younger boys.

Sam hesitated, mentally recalling the last time one of them had helped a mortal find the vampires and the bad feelings and actions that had stemmed from that. He didn’t want another Shauna on his hands, and though he realized there were differences between the two girls, he couldn’t help but hesitate.

“Please, Sam,” Rilly pressed, her breath coming in sharp gasps. “I have to talk to him. . .” She stopped, then sighed, shaking her dark curls out of her face. “Fine. Can you just get everyone here as soon after the sun sets as you can? I really do need to talk to them.”

Sam gawked at her for a split second until her words made sense in his mind and led him to conclusions that he didn’t want to be true. “You know what they are?” he gasped and Rilly winced, then nodded.

“Come on.” Alan’s voice broke into their discussion, causing both mortals to turn and glance at him. “We’ll take you to them.” Sam’s eyebrows lifted with surprise, but Alan merely offered a shrug in response. He knew enough about human nature to read other people, and it didn’t look like Rilly meant any harm to anyone, not now. Besides, she was just a mortal and he was sure the vampires could handle her if she meant harm to them or the undead.

“It’s a long bike ride though,” Sam warned as they started out the door, the bell tinkling their departure. “And an even longer walk.”

Rilly’s laughter was pleasant, in spite of the dark expression still filling her eyes. She clasped her hands together in front of her body and moved forward, the shimmering material of her skirt catching the light.

“I’ll go,” Sam volunteered. Alan looked like he might protest, then nodded, catching Edgar’s arm and turning him towards the comic book shop.

“You’ll have to walk back,” Rilly warned Sam. He nodded and continued to follow her, not one to be put off by a little bit of walking. Besides, he could always sweet-talk Michael into driving him home later.

“Catch up to us later,” Alan called back to Sam. Sam nodded and waved him on, then hurried to walk next to Rilly, glancing at her curiously as she led him down the dark streets. Sun set came all too fast at the ocean’s edge, and dusk had fallen during their quick argument. Few streetlights lit up this part of the town, for the majority of the lights were placed near the

“How will we get there then?” he asked. Rilly remained silent until they turned another corner, and Sam recognized the alley behind the movie store.

Tied there was a large horse and Sam gasped, glancing from Rilly to the animal, shock written in his very uneasy smile. “That’s how?”

Sam would soon wish that he had let Alan offer to escort her, for under his very explicit, but still quick directions, they were soon galloping along the beach, far from the spying eyes of others. The trees swallowed them up into an even deeper darkness and he squeezed his eyes shut, the blurred ground sending waves of dizziness through his body.

Luck must have been with them, or perhaps it was due more to Rilly’s equestrian skill, but they arrived at the top of the cliff with no catastrophes, much to Sam’s relief. He led her down the rickety stairs as quickly as he dared, surprised that she was so comfortable descending towards the ocean. She never slipped, not even on the slickest boards.

“Do you think she’s right?” Adam finally voiced the question that had filled his mind since Shauna’s accusation earlier. Paul shook his head immediately, then sighed, raking one hand through his wild hair.

“I don’t think so,” he muttered, then sighed again, the sound harsh and heavy. “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but Shauna knew Anna long before we did. Maybe she knows something we don’t. Maybe she’s right.”

“And if she is?” the werewolf asked, returning to his brisk pacing, the rolling movement of his hips more reminiscent to a wolf than a human. The sheer amounts of tension and worry filling his body had his change close at hand, and he feared he would not be able to hold it back if much more happened in such a short amount of time.

“If she’s right,” Paul began, hesitating only a moment before admitting his weakness. “Then I don’t know what we’re going to do. We can’t fight Anna; Dwayne especially won’t let us. But if she is trying to kill us—kill him—if that was her crossbow and her bolt, and her shooting—no one in the Pack has ever turned against it, except maybe for Max, and he was never a true member.”

“There is none,” Paul replied. “Vampires don’t turn on their own. We might fight and argue and not get along, but you never hurt your own family. It’s the first rule and it’s just not done, our society is too structured for that.”

“Well, it’s happened,” Adam pointed out. “And something has to be done about it. I think first we need to figure out what set her off, what started Anna on this reign of terror, this desire to kill us—because there has to be a reason. She wouldn’t just act like this for nothing.”

“I don’t think we did anything,” Paul argued. “Things were going so well, except for those headaches of hers. . .” he trailed off, frowning deeply, then lifted his eyes to follow the werewolf around the room. “Do you think they had anything to do with it?”

“Vampires don’t get sick,” Paul mused. “At least not like humans. And I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before. But where else could they have come from besides an illness?”

Paul was on his feet in an instant, gaze seeking out whomever had interrupted their conversation. When his eyes fell upon Rilly, he relaxed, then immediately tensed again, for he had never expected to see her at the cave, didn’t even know she knew where it was.

“I know what you are, Paul,” Rilly sighed, shoving her dark curls out of her face. “Can you just get the others, please? I don’t want to have to say this more than once, and it is important.”

Adam was already in motion, hurrying off down the dark hallways, calling for the others. Soon enough they were gathered in the main room of the cave, spread out casually, most surprised to see Rilly in their home, all shocked that she knew the truth. Once they were settled, Rilly stood before them, a soft sigh parting her lips.

“I—I have a story for you,” she murmured, clutching her hands together in front of her body. Paul caught the nervous scent she exuded, as well as the shaking that traveled along her arms, and directed her to one of the couches, sitting next to her and rubbing her shoulders in a silent show of support.

“It starts many years ago, decades and decades,” she whispered. “Deep in the woods of Europe. A young girl, no more than fifteen, lived with her people at the edges of the forest, enjoying her life as it were, until one evening she was killed, her life taken ruthlessly and painfully, drained from her body just as her blood was. All her life stretched before her, she was to be married the next day, and she never got to see any of it. Blonde death came in the night, they say, stealing away their magic.”

David moved, a harsh jerk of his hand, uncontrollable and almost unnoticeable, but it drew Marco’s attention, for his senses were finely tuned for any change in the room. His pointed look drew the others’ gazes to their leader, who now sat completely still, hands clenched into tight fists.

“I do,” Rilly said just as quietly. “And since you know that story, I can go ahead with the next. Jana’s people vowed to avenge her death, though it has taken them, over a hundred years to do it. She was to be trained as their clan witch but died too soon. Her people are quite adept at spells, particularly those that deal with revenge. Anna’s actions are not of her own accord, but because of Jana’s people. My people.” She strangled over the last words and buried her face in her hands, sobbing almost silently, the soft hic of breath the only sound in the room. Her shoulders shook beneath Paul’s hands, but he continued the light stroking, though his eyes were bright with anger and fear.

“What are you saying?” Dwayne growled, half rising to his feet, but not approaching the frightened human. “Someone is controlling Anna?”

“Yes,” Rilly lifted her face, revealing tearstains glistening down her pale cheeks. “They finally found a way to take their revenge. Just killing you was too easy for a simple revenge. Torture was more fitting, and what better way to torture you than have one of your own turn against you.”

“But none of the others were even around then,” David argued. “Why would they want revenge on them? Why not try to kill me instead?”

Rilly frowned, wiping at her cheeks haphazardly. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just thought that Dwayne was with you. The stories always talk about the dark vampire with you, though you are mentioned more.”

David looked startled, a rare occurrence, and settled himself back in his chair, pressing his fingers together in front of his face. “I—no, that wasn’t Dwayne.” He refused to speak more on the subject, ignoring their questioning looks.

“Then I don’t know,” she shrugged, then sniffled. “But that’s what’s going on. Our clan witch has some spell on Anna, using those headaches to control her, or wipe her mind clean, or something. There are quite a few spells that use headaches, and I’m not sure which one is being used.”

“Since you know Anna and the witch,” Victoria spoke up. “What spell do you think is most likely the one at work?” Rilly hesitated, giving the question the serious thought it deserved, then nodded to herself resolutely.

“Probably a memory loss spell,” Rilly said before elaborating. “The headaches would wipe clean her memories, and she would be open to whatever they wanted to tell her. Her mind would be twisted from the pain, and the sudden cessation of it would bring so much relief that the first things she’s told will stick and be known as truth to her from then on.”

Silence fell at her words, creeping past the dark shadows on the walls until it filled the room. No one dared break it; even those who had to breathe found themselves holding the air in for fear of making a sound.

“We have to get her back!” Dwayne snapped, cracking the silence with his harsh declaration and continuing the movement on to his feet. “How?”

“I don’t know,” Rilly murmured. “I’m not sure it’s reversible—unless you found some way to get her to remember the truth. I’ll have to think.” Her face settled into hard lines, stubborn lines, and she leaned back against the couch, trapping Paul’s hand on her shoulder as she did so, mind twisting rapidly as she darted around the different counter-spells she knew.

“Hurry, Rilly,” Dwayne muttered, moving to the entrance to the cave to stare out at the ocean and the darkness of night. “Please hurry.”

And hurry she did. But nothing came to mind that would work, and all her hurry, all her tension and thick concentration, was for naught. The witch had covered her work well, and Rilly would be no match for the magic now trapped within Anna’s mind.

“Where’s Rilly?” Renoch asked the young woman’s mother. She shrugged, showing the empty room, the bed that hadn’t been slept in, the clothes that hadn’t been touched since she left for work.

The question traveled quickly throughout the clan, each person asking it of his or her neighbor. The wagons were searched, the nearby woods glanced through, and still there was no sign of the in-training witch.

At least until a small boy tugged on Renoch’s shirt, drawing his angry attention. He cowered back when the man barked a question at him, but wouldn’t flee as he wanted to, instead drawing in a shaky breath and speaking, his voice so quiet that Renoch had to lean down to hear him.

“Rilly has been talking to the dark ones,” he whimpered. Renoch frowned for the full moment it took him to understand the meaning of the boy’s words, then he jerked up right, whirling around so sharply that the child was almost knocked over, but he couldn’t be bothered by that, not now.

“Traitor!” he bellowed, drawing the clan members around him through his voice alone. “She has turned on us, is consorting with those who seek to destroy us. We must move, NOW! You there, start attaching the horses to the trailers, and you, cover our tracks. We must be gone within the hour.” As his people scuttled about, packing and cleaning and loading their things,

He, in an uncharacteristic show of humility, waited for the old woman to acknowledge his presence. When she did, he moved closer, his tone melting from the harsh one he used in front of others into a warmer one.

“We must move quickly,” Renoch told her. “Rilly has turned on us. She has been speaking with those vampires. She hasn’t returned from work tonight; I fear she is with them even as I speak.”

“It matters not, son,” the old woman rose to her feet, gathering her skirts about her as she did so. “She has no power to block my spells.”

“But if she brings them here. . .” he trailed off, then continued, voice growing hard. “It would be a blood bath. Haven’t they killed enough of our people? I don’t want to run like deer in the night—but we must.”

“I know, I know,” she replied as she began to pack away all the ingredients to her spells that were strewn out about the lake. “We will move. You are wise, my son.”

“Do not worry, boy,” she touched his forehead with one finger and a soothing warmth spread throughout his body. “The girl will not ruin this for us. I have planned too long to let anything interfere.”

“For years we have been searching for this revenge,” he growled. “Finally we’ve found it, and she tries to ruin it for us. She cannot! I won’t let her. My daughter will not bring such disgrace upon our clan, upon this family. We have waited too long.”

“She will learn what has to be,” the woman prophesized. “I have seen it in her eyes. She will learn, and she will accept what we must do. What she must do.”

The old woman watched him leave, then turned to face Anna. She’d felt the girl there, despite her silent approach. Anna lowered her head in homage, not lifting it until the woman touched the top of her head gently.

“There is danger here,” the woman explained. “We must travel. Ride with me, child.” Anna entered the woman’s trailer, settling herself against the wall as it began to rock and sway, the wheels creaking as the horses drew it from the small clearing it stood in.

“You won’t miss next time,” the witch assured her. “It is more important for you to protect our safety here before venturing out to make another attempt. Protecting us is your most important responsibility, my child.”

Anna nodded, resting her head down against her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs, and sat unmoving for the rest of the ride. Once they arrived in the new spot, she helped the woman place her things out in front of her wagon just as they had been set up before.

Because this new spot had no grand lake, the old woman placed a large, black cauldron outside her door, piling wood beneath it with Anna’s help, and filling it with water immediately.

Anna gazed at the cauldron as the woman set her various bags near it. Without realizing it, one of Anna’s hands crept out, fingers aching to touch the smoothness. The woman lashed out, knocking her hand away roughly, the sting enough to cause Anna to snarl.

“It has been blessed,” the woman explained, smiling just wide enough to show she was missing a tooth in the right corner of her mouth. “I didn’t want you to be hurt. You needn’t bother yourself with this though, child. You need to prepare for your next hunt.”

Anna nodded, her lips twisting up into a wolfish grin. The look sent a shiver of apprehension down the old woman’s spine, but she refused to show her fear of the girl and instead nodded approvingly.

“Have your fun. I know you will not miss this time. You are too special to miss. You will make me proud, child. You will be our Avenger.”

Anna froze, stopping almost in mid-stride as the woman’s words hit her. She half-turned, head tilted to one side, a frown twisting her eyebrows into dark slashes above her bright eyes. Her stomach jerked in disgust at the word, but she could not figure out why it felt so off. After a moment she shrugged and continued on her way, hurrying to her own trailer to retrieve her crossbow.

Once the vampire was out of hearing range, the old woman began to mutter angrily to herself. She shouldn’t have said anything, at least not yet. Quickly she gathered the same ingredients she had poured into the lake for so long and dropped them one by one into the cauldron, her angry mutterings changing to softly chanting the spell.

Fog began to swirl through the still water in the cauldron, stirring it up and sending waves through the surface where there should have been no movement. The witch dipped her fingers into the cauldron, stirring it for a moment as she chanted Anna’s name. Once more the vampire’s face filled the waters, the image clear despite the waves.

Anna tumbled from the sky, smashing into a large tree and hitting the ground a moment later, hands clutching her head, fingers pressing into her skin so hard that wherever they touched became almost transparent.

“This is it,” Rilly stepped from the woods into the empty clearing and groaned. “I promise this was it, this was where we were camped, had been for months and months.” She gazed down at the ground until her sharp eyes caught the faintest hints of wheel tracks, though most had been wiped away.

“They must have left,” she whispered, dropping her head down, chin almost resting against her chest. “I don’t know why—unless they became frightened of something. I. . .” she stopped, unable to go on, tears stinging her eyes, though she tried to blink them away before they fell and became noticeable.

When Dwayne went to speak again, Marco touched his shoulder, shaking his head without saying a word. Dwayne scowled down at him, but remained silent, not pushing the gypsy girl for any more information.

Paul made his way towards Rilly, leaving David to search the ground for any sign of where they might have moved. Hesitantly he placed a hand on her arm, hoping only to draw her attention. She whirled to face him, then flung her arms around his body and hugged him tightly, face buried against his shoulder.

Paul’s eyebrows shot up his forehead and he remained still for a moment, arms awkwardly held at his sides. Slowly though he grew more comfortable with the surprising contact and let his arms slide around her waist.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered, ducking his head so that his words fell directly into her ear. She sniffled, then answered him without bothering to lift her head away from his shoulder, her words muffled by his shirt.

“They left me,” she whimpered. “I have no where to go without them, no family but them, and they left without me. I’ve never been alone before, Paul, NEVER! It doesn’t happen in my family.”

Paul stroked her back, arms still around her waist, the comfort the best he thought he could offer. “You can stay with us,” he said. “I know the cave isn’t much, but we have electricity now, and a fridge because Adam and

“Good girl,” he stepped back slowly, not wanting her to feel abandoned again, but needing to look into her face. He forced her head up until their eyes met. “We still need to get dinner,” he continued. “Why don’t you return with Victoria and Adam and I’ll meet you at the cave later.”

“Ok,” she whispered, wiping at her cheeks. He touched the top of her head, then guided her to Victoria’s side, murmuring to the werewolf to take care of her. Victoria laughed, then nodded, tucking her arm through one of

The Boardwalk was full of potential victims, but Dwayne couldn’t find a single one to his liking. His stomach rolled at just the thought of their blood and he remained in the shadows, red-rimmed eyes focused beyond the people at the wild ocean and dark sky.

Finally David flung him against a wall and shoved a man down at his feet, the human’s throat already torn open. Faced with a freely bleeding wound, Dwayne couldn’t hold back and fell upon him, drinking for only a second before jerking away. David anticipated his refusal and grabbed the back of his head, forcing his mouth back over the wound and holding him there until enough blood had made it down his throat and the mortal was dead.

“Get it together, Dwayne,” David snapped, jerking him to his feet. Dwayne groaned when David put pressure on his injured arm, but made no other sound, instead tugging away from his leader, throat tight with worry for Anna.

It was the shortest hunt they had ever been on, for the vampires returned to the cave within the hour, not even the high from fulfilling the blood lust enough to put them in good moods.

Anna buried her hands in the cool, damp sand, not bothered by the fact that the wet particles were clinging to her leather pants. She hadn’t found those vampires at the Boardwalk, had in fact just barely missed them, though she didn’t know that. Her head still throbbed and in an attempt to ease the pain, she settled on the pure darkness of the beach, eyes closed tightly.

It wasn’t only the headache that kept her from returning to the gypsy camp. Something the woman had said bothered her, though she was unable to put her finger on what it was exactly. Instead it shimmered near as if hidden by an almost see-through veil.

She was still bothered by the fact that she had missed the vampire’s heart. Her shot had been perfect, set up so that it would have not only pierced his heart, but remained there, poisoning him with the special holy water she had dipped it in.

There was no way she should have missed the shot. It had been almost too easy to set up, and at so close to point-blank range, she shouldn’t have missed. Her arm had jerked at the last moment, keeping the bolt from entering his heart, and she still didn’t know why.

The more Anna thought about what might have happened, the more she became aware of the fact that she didn’t particularly want to hurt him. Despite the stories the elders had told her, and despite the anger that surged within her body each time she thought of all the pain those vampires had caused the gypsies, her stomach ached at the thought of injuring the vampire.

“Yeah, he’s beautiful,” she muttered to herself, flinging a handful of damp sand at the ocean in anger. “But that doesn’t matter. He’s a monster, I should want him dead. I—I want to kill him. I do.” Even to her own ears the words lacked the sincerity that should have been there.

Anna sighed again, falling back against the sand with a low groan. Above her, the air rippled, a faint movement brought on by some disturbance too far above her for her to see. Her enhanced senses trembled, caught by the familiarity of the disturbance, but the pain throbbing in her head kept her from moving and she let the moment pass.

Dwayne landed in front of the cave, hair tousled from his quick flight from the Boardwalk. Marco waited for him at the entrance and motioned for the taller vampire to follow him down to the beach, not saying a word until they were both settled on the damp rocks.

Dwayne considered remaining silent, but decided the release that would come from sharing his thoughts was worth Marco’s probable anger at them. Besides this was his old friend, and there was no one better to talk.

“Anna and I had a—talk—awhile back,” he murmured, so quietly that Marco had to lean closer to hear. “Right after we learned who Shauna was, when Anna actually revealed some of her past.”

“Love versus addiction,” Dwayne continued at last. “She said—I asked if that’s all I was, another addiction to her. She denied it, said she loved me—but—if she loved me—if she loved me, how could she just forget?” His voice rose, bursting past his lips with all the angry passion he’d been bottling inside. “I couldn’t hurt her, no matter what force was controlling me. Never. So how can she hurt me?”

“You don’t know you couldn’t,” Marco argued. “You’ve never been under a spell like that. Anna’s strong, but so is that witch, from what Rilly says. Anna’s not in control of her actions, Dwayne, and you can’t be angry with her for them. It’s not fair.”

“I know that,” he groaned, resting his head in his hands. “And I do believe she loves me—it’s just—I can’t understand this. Spell or no spell, I would have thought she could do—she could fight it.”

“Obviously she can’t,” Marco sighed, then touched Dwayne’s shoulder. “She might not even know a spell has been cast, Dwayne. If she doesn’t know it’s there, how can she fight it?”

“I don’t know.” They lapsed into silence, Marco’s hand still resting on Dwayne’s shoulder, the sound of waves hitting rocks the only thing to disturb the stillness until the sunrise began to paint the sky behind them pink.

Marco stood as soon as his sense began to tingle from the impending sunrise, but it took all his efforts to get Dwayne back to his feet and into the cave. Dwayne staggered back towards the sleeping room and Marco following him silently, worry twisting his mind and stomach.

“Stay near us,” Paul repeated, trying his best to ignore both David’s and Dwayne’s glares. “I know we need to hunt, but you two have to stay with the rest of us.”

“Because they are out for revenge on you and Dwayne,” Marco spoke up, to Paul’s imminent relief. “Which means that Anna’s going to try to kill you two. If you’re with the rest of us, it won’t be as easy for her.”

“Need I remind you who leads this pack?” David snarled at them, a sound that Dwayne might have echoed if he’d had the energy to. The argument just didn’t seem to matter to him, and he leaned back against the wall, waiting for the others to be done so he could leave the cave.

“You do,” Marco assured him. “But if you’re dead, then you can’t lead anyone. We’re not telling you what to do, David. We’re just. . .”

“Offering advice that you can either choose to follow, or choose to follow, your choice,” Paul broke in. “That’s all. This isn’t fun for us either, but it has to be done. And you know that.”

David’s lips tightened, pursing out for a moment, his cheekbones prominent beneath his bright eyes. Finally he relaxed, the tension flowing out of his muscles like water from a sponge.

“That’s all we’re asking,” Marco grinned, smacking at Dwayne’s shoulder as he hurried by. “Come on then, I’m starved.” The dark-haired vampire remained still for a second before he shoved himself away from the rock wall and followed the others out of the entrance and into the air.

The higher than normal roof of one of the decrepit apartment houses rose up from the seedy bars like a giant laying in wait to pounce and attack its prey. Dwayne flung himself to the side sharply, the ends of his hair sweeping the rough stone as he careened past it, for his attention had been focused on the slender man racing through the street below, trying to escape a fate that he must have believed was worse than death.

Dwayne could hear the others, their loud laughter farther off than he had expected. Another glance at the street informed him that the unthinkable had happened; his prey had actually escaped, lost in the labyrinthine streets that twisted in on each other. Dwayne landed roughly and stumbled on a bit of loose stone, his knees lunging forward at an extreme angle, and he groaned.

Silence met his questing ears and Dwayne realized he was alone—exactly what he’d so much as promised he wouldn’t do. No remorse filled his aching body for he was still too caught up in thoughts of Anna and her betrayal to worry about his own. Dark shadows fell across him as he wandered down the street, obscuring even his enhanced vision.

The command rang out softly, but he froze as if it had been screamed, his body vibrating ever so slightly with the strength of his stillness. The voice belonged to Anna, he knew that without a single doubt.

Dwayne’s head lowered once to show his comprehension, the move almost invisible beneath of the darkness, but he had no intention of giving her any reason to flee. A tiny ray of light flickered in the corner of his eye, and though he didn’t dare turn his head to see it clearly, he knew it was the reflection of the street light in the distance off of the metal tip to a crossbow bolt, though the female wielding it was still lost in the shadows.

“You know, that crossbow didn’t do you much good last time,” his voice sounded odd even to his own ears, empty of emotion and the tenseness that should have been there. He hadn’t meant to speak, and doubted it was wise to egg her on after what had happened before, but he could no longer take the stress of being this close to her.

“I won’t miss this time.” The reply came a moment later than he expected it to, but was as tight and cold as it should have been. Dwayne barely picked up on the undertone of aching that echoed like a dark whisper beneath the words, but his heart leapt at it, for it signified emotions, emotions that might lead to her redemption if he could play on them enough.

“Why did you?” Dwayne took a chance with the question, remaining still and facing forward, though his eyes strained to turn just a little bit more, to enable him to see her, instead of the simple glint out of the corner of his eye.

“Why did I what?” though the coldness and harshness remained, a tremble shook up the hard timber of the words, and Dwayne felt his throat tighten. It was a second before he could press on.

Silence was his only answer for enough moments that he wanted to repeat the words just in case she hadn’t heard him. He knew she had; the silence was testimony enough to that, so he remained quiet, his ears straining to catch the slightest hint of an answer.

When it came it was loud enough for him to hear, but the ice he had grown used to was gone. Her boots sent a piece of rock skittering down the alley as she stepped out of the shadows and into the small patch of street light that managed to invade the darkness. Dwayne allowed himself to turn as she moved, his eyes sweeping over her steadily, locking onto her face at the last moment.

“I don’t know,” Anna whispered, though the crossbow never wavered from its target. Her voice shook and her lips twisted in confusion, the expression stealing up her face to crease her brow. “I—don’t—know.”

Dwayne remained silent, knowing that more would pour past her lips, though he also knew he shouldn’t trust his instincts, not when it came to this new Anna. The question was, how much had she changed? Was the vampire he remembered still buried inside, locked and caged by the spell? Could he try to read her without getting himself killed?

“I just couldn’t do it.” When the silence grew too much for either of them to stand, Anna was the first to break. Though her pose remained steady and firm, Dwayne could almost see the tension seep from her body, loosening her shoulders, relaxing her back. This new calm wasn’t because she was comfortable around him, he realized that, but because she was—Anna was giving up.

“I don’t know why, but I couldn’t shoot you. I jerked away at the last second.” The words were a soft admission to her weakness and Anna’s free hand grasped at the side of her pants, nails scraping over the material with an audible rasp. “Why couldn’t I shoot you? Why can’t I?”

Before Dwayne could offer her an explanation, Anna was moving. The crossbow remained pointed at his heart, but she paced, back and forth, quick steps that sent more rocks skittering away, the sharp sound matching her agitation.

“What is it about you that made me jerk away? What did you do to me? Why can’t I fucking kill you?!” Anna’s final questions burst out of her mouth in a sharp torrent of agony, tearing at Dwayne’s chest, though he still found himself unable to go to her. She was too unstable to approach, not as long as she still held the crossbow at the ready.

“I don’t know,” Dwayne admitted, tilting his head in a pose that was quite reminiscent of poses Anna would have used before. “Do you—do you remember your past?” The question was a gamble, his one attempt at beating the odds in this danger-laden situation.

“Of course I do,” Anna nodded emphatically, though the motion immediately slowed to a hesitant rise and fall of her golden head. Her brows creased together for a moment, a dark line across her pale forehead, then she started moving again, this time shaking her head back and forth. “No. Not really.”

“Then can I ask you a question?” When Anna’s left hand flicked through the air, he took that as permission to go on. “Why are you attacking us then? If you don’t remember anything, why are you angry enough to attack us?”

“This isn’t about why I’m attacking you,” Anna hissed, stomping forward until she was a mere foot away from him. “This is about why I can’t kill you! Stop changing the subject.”

“I’m not trying to change. . .” but Anna wouldn’t let the vampire get a word in edge-wise. Her anger boiled over like lava spewing from a long-dormant volcano, all fury and sound and flashes of fire.

“Why won’t you answer my fucking question?” she exploded. “I just want to know why I can’t kill you! That’s it! No questions about the past, or about why I’m trying to kill you, just why I can’t! I should be able to, why can’t I?!”

“Anna, hush,” Dwayne’s voice rumbled in his chest, a leopard’s purr to soothe its mate as he tried to calm her. “I’m just trying to put the pieces together before I can explain anything to you. I want to answer your questions; I just have to know more first.”

Anna drew in a thick breath of air through her nose, the sound audible in the stillness of the rest of the night, then nodded, sending her golden curls dancing about her shoulders.

“What do you remember?” Dwayne pressed his advantage, sliding forward one whole step under the distraction his question provided. Anna didn’t seem to notice; instead she gave the request serious thought, remaining still a long moment before she tried to answer.

“I know my name is Anna. I fought with my father and his side of the family a long time ago; that’s why I came here, to Santa Carla, so I could escape them. I’m a vampire, I know that much. But that’s all I really remembered. I woke up a few nights ago, and my mind was blank. Empty of all memories. These people were around me; gypsies I guess you’d call them. My people, they tell me, from my mother’s side of the family.”

“Do you know how you became a vampire?” Dwayne murmured. It was the wrong question to ask, for Anna whirled on him, her once vacant eyes now flashing fire and passion again.

“Of course I fucking do!” She snarled at him, teeth bared for a second. “The Lost Boys—you—turned me into a vampire as an attempt to destroy the rest of the family. Many years ago two of you killed the daughter of the head of the Clan just before she was to wed a member of a rival clan. That marriage was to bring peace to our tribes. Once the bride was dead, the other clan almost destroyed them—my people. Because we had reneged on the promise.”

Dwayne opened his mouth to interrupt, but the story was coming far too close to answering questions that David had left unanswered for him to try to stop it, even if it was agitating Anna so.

“I’m the one who was supposed to take revenge on the Lost Boys—on you,” Anna’s voice dropped now into a low purr, promising great pain and danger—or it would have had he thought she could actually shoot him. Though the slight fear was still there, he trusted her; the devil help him, but he trusted her still.

“That’s why I was turned,” Anna continued on. “In each generation a child is born to the family who is to be trained to kill the vampires. This generation it is I. Other chosen ones, both male and female, have been killed by the vampires—simply killed and left to rot. For some reason I was turned—why did you decide to turn me instead of simply killing me?”

Dwayne’s eyebrows shot up his forehead, but before he could try to process an answer to that unexpected question, Anna was pressing onward, intent on finishing the story she had begun.

“If it’s true, I should have been able to kill you without a second thought, without a moment’s hesitation. Instead I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t handle the thought of hurting you. I don’t understand this—and so I have my doubts. Because I don’t remember my past, or rather, much of it. But why would they lie to me?”

“They want revenge on us.” Dwayne stepped forward once more, bringing their bodies almost into contact. “Can I tell you what I know?”

“It wasn’t because we wanted to destroy the gypsies.” Now that he was faced with the daunting task of convincing Anna that his story was the truth,

“We didn’t turn you as an affront to the gypsies,” he elaborated. “We made you a vampire because you were dying. That’s all, that was our only reason.”

“Why would you care if I was dying?” Anna shook her head, breaking their eye contact at long last. Her lips twisted into a bitter sneer and she stepped back, the two steps echoing down the alley. “You hate me. And my family.”

“We don’t hate the gypsies,” Dwayne lowered his head for a long moment, a harsh sigh escaping his lips. When he felt he could continue speaking without breaking down, he glanced at her once again. “And we definitely don’t hate you.”

“Whatever,” Anna jerked her head to one side, staring out of the corner of her eye at him before she let herself ask the question that had immediately sprung to her lips. “Why did you kill me then? Death is given to those you hate.”

Anger and frustration caused Dwayne’s body to begin to shake, harsh tremors jerking all the way down his arms to his fingers, down his legs to his feet. It was all he could do to keep his voice at a normal level, and the words snapped out, harsh and thick when he spoke.

“We didn’t kill you because we hate you!” he exploded, a dark growl rumbling beneath the human interaction. “We saved you because we love you!”

Anna’s head snapped back around so that she could stare at him directly, her deep blue eyes locked on his face, lips parted in surprise. No sound left her throat for many long moments, and she remained still, a perfect contrast to his vibrating body.

“You don’t,” she finally murmured, her head shaking back and forth just enough to send loose strands of her curly blonde hair brushing across her face. “You can’t love me. You just can’t! If you did. . .” Her voice broke off roughly, and it was a struggle for her to force the last words out. “If you did, you wouldn’t have condemned me with this curse.”

The shaking stopped, leaving Dwayne’s body humming with the aftermath of his rage. This sudden stillness was more frightening to the tiny part of his mind that could remain calm, for the rest disappeared under a white-hot blaze of fury. He instantly closed the small distance between them, his large hands falling heavily onto her shoulder, fingers tightening down hard enough to leave marks in her pale skin. Anna struggled to lift the crossbow, but he moved too quickly, and his nearness, his touch, overwhelmed her.

“Do you really believe what you just said?” Dwayne snarled, shaking her. Anna braced herself against him as best she could, pressing her chest towards him more for balance than any sexual act. “Is this a curse? Does this feel like a curse to you?”

Dwayne’s touch sent wave after wave of pure, animalistic heat through Anna’s body, making it quite hard for the female to think. Finally she clenched her teeth and forced an answer out, truth leaving her lips at last.

“No, it’s—it doesn’t feel like a curse,” she admitted, eyes focusing on the brick wall off to her left in an attempt to avoid his penetrating gaze.

Dwayne’s grip on her shoulders relaxed and Anna moved back, putting inches between their bodies instead of mere millimeters. When a soft sigh of relief spilled from Dwayne’s lips, Anna glanced back at him, and then dropped her head to gaze intently at the floor.

Dwayne knew that a question was whirling around in Anna’s brain, struggling to break forth into the conversation, so he waited, letting the silence build around him. His fingers began to faintly caress her shoulders; not enough motion that she would notice it, but enough to calm himself—and to a certain extent, her as well.

“What are you?” When the question came, it was unintelligible to Dwayne, though he frowned, struggling for a moment to decipher it without having to press her for more information.

“What are you to me?” Just as his lips parted to form the question, Anna answered it with her new elaboration. Her voice was soft and aching, and still she didn’t look at him, her gaze instead still focused on the ground.

Dwayne drew in a deep, if unneeded, breath of cool air, then lifted his hands away from her shoulders and up to stroke over her cheeks, his fingers moving across her soft skin again and again and again.

“I am your lover,” Dwayne murmured, his fingers still tracing along her face. “Your mate. We’re connected through the strongest bonds that a vampire couple can ever hope to have, Anna.”

It was Anna’s turn to lose her body to uncontrollable tremors; Dwayne’s touch sent shiver after shiver racing along her nerves, bringing another sweep of heat, along with a such a powerful sense of peace that the vampire almost couldn’t stand it all.

Dwayne’s lips twisted into a small smirk when he noticed the faint trembling beneath his fingers, and he didn’t dare move away, not when he was closer to her than he had been in days.

Anna’s silence lasted only for a moment before more questions began to spill out in her final attempt to put all the pieces together, for she was swamped under the lies and half-truths that filled her mind.

“If we are. . .” again she stopped, strangling on the word, “lovers, then why am I hunting you?” Dwayne sighed softly, letting his fingers trail back down to her cheeks before he answered, never stopping his gentle strokes.

“You were—sick, for lack of a better word. You had horrible headaches, and that went on forever—for months. There was nothing we could do for you. Not even blood helped. Vampires don’t get headaches, and we couldn’t help you. I’d never felt—we’d never felt so helpless before. So frustrated. For awhile you at least let me comfort you, but towards the end—towards the end you started pushing even me away.” He ducked his head, then forced himself to look into her eyes. “Nothing hurt more than you pushing me away. Nothing that is until you disappeared recently.”

“I disappeared?” Anna whispered, tilting her head, though the movement wasn’t enough to dislodge his fingers from her face. Dwayne sucked in another deep breath, for he’d seen that pose a thousand times or more since the woman had entered his life, and for a while he’d thought he would never see it again.

“I know who Rilly is,” Anna cut into his explanation, her lips twisted into an angrily snarl. “She’s a two-timer, turning her back on her family, leaving us for—oh. I’m sorry.” She licked her lips hesitantly, then sighed.

Dwayne chose to ignore her outburst, allowing Anna to let it slide into oblivion, and instead concentrated on convincing her of the truth of his words. Still his fingers continued to caress her cheeks, faint brushes of flesh against flesh as if he couldn’t get enough of feeling her.

“Rilly came to us with an explanation. This gets kind of long; are you sure you want me to repeat it?” Anna hesitated only a second before nodding, her blue eyes focused firmly on his brown ones as he repeated, almost word for word, what Rilly had told him, along with his own confusion as to why the gypsies were after him.

Anna’s head tilted farther to the side as he finished, the movement pressing her cheek into his hand. Dwayne held his non-existent breath tightly, waiting to hear what she would have to say about the explanation. He didn’t have long to wait.

“Your story makes no sense,” Anna whispered, drawing backward away from him slowly. “And that’s all it can be, a story, fiction at its best.”

Dwayne groaned, shaking his head in a quick denial, for he was unable to see any way to convince her that what he spoke was the truth. Before she could pull away completely his hands fell back to her shoulders, jerking her flat against his body. His breath escaped in another soft sigh before his lips slanted over hers, proving his claim on her in ways that no words could ever come near explaining.

Anna melted into Dwayne, her hands sliding around to clutch at his back as the crossbow fell to the ground with a soft clatter. In the stillness that followed the sound of wood striking stone, her breathy whimper was the only thing heard—one soft sound not repeated, but branded in Dwayne’s ears forever.

The kiss could have lasted for years, but in reality it was only an instant before Anna jerked back, flinging herself away from Dwayne. In her haste she tripped over the discarded crossbow and stumbled to her knees. As she shoved back to her feet, Dwayne reached for her, barely catching a glimpse of her

Dwayne staggered backward, eyes snapping closed when his head struck the brick wall with a resounding thwack. He pressed his hands against his chest, almost expecting to feel a crossbow bolt piercing his heart, so much did he ache.

Loud whooping filled the quiet air and the Lost Boys landed, exuberant at finding their lost member. Paul landed, tripping over the abandoned crossbow himself and stepped forward heavily to recover his balance. Even as the sight of the crossbow nudged at his memory, his eyes fell upon Dwayne’s face.

It was then he recognized the faint shimmering on Dwayne’s cheeks for what it was—silver tearstains against the vampire’s paler-than-normal-skin. As

Paul watched, another tear forced itself free from the damp, black eyelashes that lay thickly against Dwayne’s cheeks, and trailed down his face until it fell, crystalline and perfect, only to smash against the dark ground.

“What happened?” Paul was the first to speak, his voice far more quiet than normal. He knelt next to Dwayne, one hand brushing the older vampire’s shoulder before it returned to his side, and he kept his space even while staying close enough to offer comfort.

Dwayne shook his head, remaining mute for many long seconds. When he was able to answer the question, his words came in short, sharp bursts, voice thick with the tears he struggled to contain.

“I saw Anna.” Audible gasps echoed in quick succession around him, but Dwayne pressed on, ignoring their reactions. “She—we talked. I told her the truth. Her version—her story was incredible.”

“What did she say?” David leaned down, his hands resting on his knees. His face remained serene, and he became a leader asking a simple question of one of his followers. The distance that mindset offered was proving necessary for this situation with Anna—especially since he still believed in the long run she would try to take his Pack.

Dwayne spat out Anna’s story almost verbatim, word after word echoing down the dark alley. As he spoke, David straightened his body back out, his lips pressed together until white lines appeared at the corners of his mouth.

“They said she’s the chosen one?” Marco lifted his eyebrows, then shook his head. He started pacing a second later, a frown now marring his face. “So if she’s supposed to be the chosen one, and we of course know she’s not, then who is? Where is this special person that is going to kill us?”

“Maybe it’s just a story,” Michael offered. “Something to help build Anna’s morale, and her ties with the gypsies, for that matter. Nothing true about it, just a bedtime story for their new weapon.”

Paul looked up, his gaze sweeping over David and on towards Marco. It was only by chance that he caught sight of Rilly’s face, but the look of horror there—the bright eyes, the parted lips, the fear etched in every pale line—gave more than enough away. His mouth opened as if he were going to comment, but instead he touched Dwayne’s shoulder again, filing away the look for later perusal.

Rilly only shook her head mutely, and the vampire failed to notice the way her hands pressed against her thighs, almost hidden in the folds of her skirt.

“When?” David asked, stepping closer to his lieutenant. Dwayne forced himself to stand up, his movements precise and achingly slow. When he returned to his feet at last, the vampire felt he could continue his question.

David shook his head, his tongue teasing over his pale lips in an unusual show of hesitation. “It’s going to be a long story,” he said after a moment of gathering his thoughts. “I’ll explain once we’re back at the cave.

Never had the return flight taken so long, or so it seemed, for even Rilly herself, clutched in Paul’s arms, ached to hear the tale. She’d been told so many lies, a true story was almost beyond comprehension to the young gypsy.

“The first kill,” David began, resting his hands on the arms of his chair. One finger traced over the designs carved deep into the dark surface. “Wasn’t my first kill. It was, I do believe, the first time one of that clan had been killed.”

“It was,” Rilly’s voice trembled, but she nodded to drive her agreement home. “We’d never lost anyone to the vampires before, though we knew they existed.”

“The vampire they are mistaking you for, Dwayne, was named William. Max turned him right around the time I was turned, and for that reason more than any we struck up a friendship. He looked. . .,” David shook his head, closing his eyelids over his cerulean eyes for a long moment. “He looked very much like you.”

“There was a local girl, one of the gypsies. Jana. She was—she was seduction, even for all her innocence. Now, looking back at it, I don’t know what was more attractive—her body, or her power, for she was—she could have guaranteed Master status for either of us. For both of us. To control her. . .”

Again David stopped, both hands clamping down on the edges of the arms of the chair. He tilted his head back against the wood, resting there for a moment before continuing on.

“We both were taken by her the first time we met.” David’s eyes lost a little of their brightness as he gazed past them as if he were gazing out across a long distance. “William and I hunted as soon as the sun set every night, and by midnight were usually knee deep in tavern wenches. That night though—I never knew why we were in the forest, but it was the best deviation from our plans that we could have ever done.”

“She ran into us, knocking William back against a tree. My first instinct was to kill. But she was so angry and so violent. She fought me from the moment I touched her. But she wasn’t mad at me—at us. All that anger was for her fate, because she was going to be forced into marriage, and she knew it. Her anger was what attracted us. Her fury belied the power that she hid, and that was overwhelming.”

“William was the one who seduced her into our nights, at least at first. Jana seemed swept away by him, when he finally stepped away from the tree she’d knocked him into. He talked to her while I merely interjected an agreement here or there. And then he struck, with an idea that I hadn’t even imagined.”

The corners of David’s mouth turned up into a hint of a smile. Dwayne, Paul, and Marco exchanged quick glances, for they had never seen an expression like this cross his face, and they had been with him longer than all the others combined.

“He offered to show her our world, our darkness, and promised her secret freedom. I don’t know what she liked about the offer; I believe it was more that what we were asking for was forbidden to her than any glib talking on William’s part.”

“When Jana decided to take our offer, my world changed. Max taught me only the basics—how to make the kill, what to avoid, how to use my developing powers. William taught me about that power, how to take it, control it, and how to wield it once I had it. And Jana, though she was innocent beyond belief, taught me about the pleasures of sex. We taught her the basics, but

“Our time together passed faster than I had dared to believe it could. She was betrothed during this, but we all managed to ignore that fact, as well as what the consequences would be when she wasn’t a virgin on her wedding night. I think all three of us thought we would have a plan before the day came.”

“Did you?” Victoria breathed, leaning forward over the edge of the couch. Her steady gaze was focused firmly on David’s face, but it was obvious she was seeing some version of the tale beyond her immediate view.

“No. The night before the wedding came and she snuck away from the preparations to come to us. William and I were struggling to find a way to stop the daylight wedding. Jana was smarter than we, perhaps darker than we

“Different situation,” David said quietly, his tongue brushing over the very edge of his lips. “Different girl. And besides, it didn’t matter. William wasn’t as against it as I was, and neither of us could deny Jana anything for long.”

“It was—I had never shared a drink with William before. But Jana—Jana we shared, and it was—I don’t even know the words to describe it. It bonds you together, and with whomever you are feeding off of—and it is beyond any pleasure I’d ever had.”

David jerked one hand towards the far wall, and Marco leapt to his feet, knowing by now what his leader needed even without him asking. Silence descended over the room until he returned, one of David’s bottles of blood clasped in his hands. David took it gratefully and lifted it to his lips, great draughts of the blood surging down his throat. When half the bottle had been drunk, he placed it on the table near his chair and allowed himself to continue.

“Just as we finished and were lowering her to the ground to give her our blood, her clan showed up. They had noticed her gone, and followed her trail. For once she hadn’t been careful to conceal it. It was out of a movie; they carried torches, crosses, stakes upon stakes, crossbows, you name it. And they were strong; I suppose their witch had cast a spell. At the time, I had no idea. All I knew was that suddenly these humans overwhelmed me, and they separated us. I was almost killed—and. . . .”

David’s voice broke and his head fell into his hands. His long fingers clutched at his bright white hair as fine tremors wracked his body. Both Paul and Dwayne surged to their feet, but the dark haired vampire moved forward first until he could kneel before David, one hand touching the top of his head.

“They destroyed them. Or rather, injured them enough that I heard later William was killed by a vampire gang that had entered the area right before anything happened,” he groaned, lifting his head only high enough to reveal his bloodshot eyes. “I never got to save them, didn’t even know where they were. I lost my best friends that night. And more. . . .”

David didn’t finish his sentence, but he didn’t need to, for everyone in the room, including the precocious Laddie, was nodding their heads with understanding. David grabbed the bottle and pressed it to his lips once more, losing himself in the taste of the thick liquid.

Dwayne shoved himself to his feet, then settled back on the couch next to Adam. The thump when Paul too sat back down and tossed his feet up onto the coffee table was the last sound to break the silence.

“I never knew,” she whispered, shaking her dark head slowly. “The elders always claimed you stole Jana and killed her to spite us. They never said she had been going to you for so many nights.”

“I doubt they knew,” David admitted. “When she wanted to be, Jana could keep a secret better than anyone. One time she finally dragged the dates we were turned out of us, and set up a brilliant night for the anniversary of both our turning.” Again he stopped and pressed his trembling fingers against his thighs. “I lost the two most important people in my life then. Max never understood why I wouldn’t accept any of his other childer, but after William, and consequently Jana—I couldn’t.”

“Why has Anna been told to attack Dwayne?” Marco piped up, breaking the building tension with his question. He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he glanced between David and Rilly. “I mean, if William’s dead, then they can’t think that Dwayne is William.”

“I don’t know,” David admitted. “I guess they don’t know that William is dead. I wasn’t told that the gypsies themselves killed him, just that they injured him enough that he couldn’t fight when the other vampires found him.”

“I think that’s right,” Rilly whispered. “Because none of the stories ever said that either of you were dead, and you’d think that if they knew that, it at least would be put in truth in the tale.”

“From a distance,” David continued, “Dwayne could be mistaken for William; that’s why I took him in so quickly. He reminded me of my lost friend. For the first time, I actually wanted another vampire around.”

Paul glanced down at Rilly, for she was shaking hard enough that he could feel her trembling against his body. He lifted one arm and dropped it onto her shoulders, drawing her closer to him.

“What’s wrong,” he whispered while the others continued their conversation. She shook her head, but curled against him, her head finding its way to his shoulder. Paul tightened his hold on her into an almost stifling hug before he relaxed back against the small loveseat.

“Dwayne,” Adam glanced over at the vampire seated at the other end of the couch. “Do you think you got through to Anna earlier, when you talked? I know it’s hard for you to think about, but—we need to know.”

Dwayne’s gaze dropped to his lap for a moment before he forced himself to look up and face their expectant faces. “I don’t know,” he admitted, his hands clenched together in his lap. “I don’t think so.”

The disappointment was palpable as the room seemed to shift, hopeful smiles disappearing from face in a wave around the sitting area. Shauna went so far as to turn her face away, no smile gracing her lips, though a bright light filled her eyes.

One by one the vampires retired to the sleeping cave, leaving Adam and Victoria to curl up in their antiquated bed, down-filled quilts falling over their aching bodies. Soft murmurs filled the almost empty room even after the sun rose, for the werewolves struggled to find a cure to their friends’

The sleeping cave was filled with a dejected silence as each vampire tried to deal with their own disappointment in the outcome of the latest meeting with Anna before they drifted into restless sleep.

Salty tears traced down Anna’s cheeks, falling to meet the sand beneath her body, sand that was still damp from the waves that had swept over it at high tide. Dwayne’s story contradicted everything that she remembered—or rather, everything she had been told by her family.

But his kiss—his kiss had sparked actual memories, memories that left her weak from the intensity of them, memories that her body recognized if not her mind. Nothing made sense, not the feelings coursing through her, not the quest she had been sent upon, and not the stories she’d been told.

Earlier she had felt the vampires pass over her; the twisting wind had brought their scent down to her, noticeable even above the strong smell of the ocean. Their cave was visible from where she sat, and she wanted nothing more than to join them as they slid inside.

Only now, as the sun threatened to fry her from behind as it rose, did Anna take to the air, racing the sunrise back to the gypsy camp. She locked herself deep within her wooden trailer, threw herself down upon the tiny bed, and sobbed herself asleep.

The pain that thudded through her dreams that were more fact than fiction threatened to cause her to pass out even as she slept—but brought on healing that nothing else could have offered.

The witch jerked upright as the sun burst over the horizon, one hand pressed firmly to her chest, her fingers splayed out above her heart. Rarely did she take stock in her dreams, but on occasion they had proved to be prophetic.

As she struggled to calm her unsteady breathing and racing heart, the woman could only pray that this would not be one of those times. Everything she had worked for, everything her clan had worked for for so long was finally within their grasp, thanks to the monster in the trailer next to hers—and if this dream proved true, then that monster was slipping steadily through her fingertips.

The smell of rich dirt was thick in Anna’s nose, dark and damp and full of odds and ends of other smells that she didn’t really want to contemplate.

From her cross-legged position on the ground, she could almost hear the tiny worms beneath her body creeping through the soil, turning bits and pieces of it over. Their small tunnels would bring new air to the ground, she knew that much, but they would also turn each particle upside down and out of place.

“My lady,” she said after waiting, longer than she ever had before, for her presence to be acknowledged. The witch pressed both hands to the black caldron, and then turned to face the vampire, keeping her face mostly bathed in shadows, an easy feat on this star-less night.

“Yes, child? What may I help you with?” Both hands slid inside the sleeves of her robes, hiding the small charm she had been soaking in the water only seconds before. It wouldn’t do for her secret to be revealed now, not when the weapon was almost at her strongest.

“My lady,” Anna began again, the slow pace of her words giving away the care with which she chose them. “I don’t mean to be—impertinent. But would you please tell me again—why am I hunting those vampires?”

“Why do you ask me these questions?” the witch’s frown could be felt from within the dark folds of her cloak. She dropped the still damp figurine into her pocket, then freed one hand to point a pale finger in Anna’s direction.

“I don’t know,” Anna ducked her head, the soft words almost lost as her chin touched her chest. “I was just—thinking—and I don’t—I just—I don’t know.”

“Anna, look at me.” Immediately the vampire’s head jerked back up, for the older woman had never spoken her name. “You have been talking to those vampires. Do not listen to what one of their kind says, they did this to you.” One wrinkled hand motioned vaguely towards Anna’s body. “They destroyed our kind. Terrorized our family. Why do you question me, after one encounter with them?”

“I don’t question you,” Anna’s head sank back down, this time in shame at her actions, at her betrayal of her family. The witch was right; she shouldn’t have even been talking to that vampire, much less believing a word out of his perfect, curving mouth—and definitely not remembering how warm that same mouth had felt when it caressed her own.

“We are your family, my child,” the witch covered the steps between them so she could press her hand to Anna’s cheek. “We are your blood. Your loyalty should always go to your blood.”

“To my blood,” Anna echoed in a soft murmur. Loyalties sprang to life within her body, sending warm bursts through her nerves, and the renewed determination in her tone pleased the witch.

“Good, child,” she patted Anna’s cheek once more, then turned back towards her cauldron. Anna stepped backward, one precise step at a time, still forming the words ‘my blood’ over and over again, though no sound left her mouth.

When Anna was out of sight, the witch began to fling bits of herbs from this jar and drops of oil and blood from that jar into the caldron, until smoky white fog clouded it once more.

face. He brushed one hand over it to wipe away the expression before another clan member came to him with a dispute to settle. Even as the next person entered his wagon, his gaze turned to an ancient painting. Trapped on the canvas was the lovely Jana, an image painted mere days before she had been destroyed.

“Finally,” Renoch growled under his breath, causing the entering gypsies to glance around to see who he was talking to. “Finally we are going to win.”

This headache was different from the others, though just as painful. It rode through Anna’s head faster than any of the others, and when it faded into a mere forest fire level instead of the fires of hell level, she was left with only one desire.

A black crossbow replaced the one she had left with Dwayne less than twenty-four hours before. Stakes slid into her outfit in various places, along with a long knife down her back and short ones strapped to each wrist, all with the highest silver content available.

The Boardwalk was empty. Not literally of course, for humans still pressed their filthy, sweat-glistening bodies into the area until it almost burst from the pressure of their flesh. Drumbeats shook any who dared walk too near the concert controlling the beach that night, but the pounding of

The vampires weren’t there. They weren’t hunting, there was no sign that they had already been there to hunt, and Anna could sense no unusual activity anywhere on the Boardwalk.

She settled back against a stone wall to wait, resting her throbbing head against the grayness for only an instant before she shoved herself away and into the thick air. Black clouds hung heavy, foretelling a storm of epic proportions, but she refused to let it register on her senses.

This time Anna was going to take the fight to them. She hadn’t thus far, because it is always better to not fight on your opponents’ home turf. She couldn’t wait any longer for them; blood would flow tonight. The very fibers of her being cried out for it.

The main room to the cave was once more full of the Pack, some pacing, some sitting and watching the others pace, all speaking in hushed tones, when they dared to break the silence at all. The hunt had been postponed for the night in hopes that Anna, if she did come out again, would be gone long before they reached the city.

A small rock clattered down from the entrance to the cave, the sound almost lost beneath the talking of the others. Only Laddie caught the edge of the noise, tilting his head to one side as he strained to make it out. The position reminded Dwayne of Anna so much that he had to push away from the couch. His dragging steps led to a slow pacing at the outside edge of the rough circle.

Anna leapt down into the cave, bypassing the large, rock steps in favor of her ability to fly. She struck ground hard, the sound of her boots hitting stone ringing out in the cave. Even as she came out of her crouched landing position, the crossbow was up, aimed at Dwayne.

Everything happened at once, it seemed, a brief snapshot of flurried activity. Surprised faces turned her way, lips parting into perfect “o’s” of shock. David surged to his feet, taking one long stride forward, but he would never reach them in time.

Laddie screamed a warning and Dwayne swung around—the wrong direction, for it put him facing Anna completely and opened his chest for a perfect shot.

Her slender finger snapped down on the release and this time her arm remained still and steady. No jerking away this time, not when her eyes flashed bloody fire. Dwayne steeled himself to take the blow.

At the very last second, Anna flinched and the bolt took flight too low. She roared her frustration at missing once again. The change in location of the bolt didn’t register fast enough, and Laddie launched himself into the air. His tiny body slammed into Dwayne’s, sending the older vampire tumbling back.

The bolt, low enough to cause little damage to Dwayne, was at just the right level to strike Laddie. The moment the tip pierced his thin chest, releasing the holy water into his system, Anna’s scream matched his, the sounds mingling into one banshee cry of pain. Laddie’s leap carried him on across the room before he crashed to the floor, sliding along it to come to rest against the far wall.

Anna’s eyes flashed black for a heartbeat and she dropped to her knees, then collapsed forward, striking her forehead upon one of the jutting rocks. It mattered not, for the pain in her head had already stolen her consciousness.

The entire attack had taken no more than two seconds. Energy rushed through the cave, animating every seemingly frozen member of the Pack. They were in motion before you could blink, some hurrying to Laddie, some, more warily, albeit, to Anna—though Rilly remained still, one hand pressed to her mouth to hold back the waves of nausea that threatened to overcome her tightly held emotions.

Her family had done this, their spell was the cause of this tragedy, this destruction of the closest group of people she’d ever seen—and what’s more, she had caused this, caused them to take Anna when she wouldn’t do what she had been born to do.

Rilly collapsed down onto the couch, only to be dragged to her feet a second later by Paul as David staggered over with Laddie held gently in his arms.

Pain was the first thing Anna remembered as consciousness stole over her troubled mind. Thick darkness filled the space behind her closed eyes, punctuated only by bright flashes of red that matched the throbbing throughout her entire body.

She drew in a deep breath of air, more an attempt to calm the mental pain than something she physically needed. The scent of blood flooded her senses, so familiar that She choked, harsh coughing shaking her body. Once the near-seizure passed, she forced her eyes open, wincing when pain flooded her head from the dim light that filled the room she was in.

Anna immediately wished she had left her eyes closed, for the first sight that greeted her clearing vision was that of Laddie, pale and unmoving beneath the thick white shawl that Star had flung over him.

Her memories returned in a wash of agony and anger, more emotion than she could deal with in a thousand lifetimes, much less in the few moments she had. Her long fingers jerked against her skin as she released part of her tension in silent sobs.

Anna lowered her hands to her thighs, wiping away the tears that speckled her palms, then pressed down hard, forcing herself to her feet. Her steps dragged hard against the ground, and she stumbled into the edge of the couch, almost tipping herself over on top of the fallen vampire. She caught herself at the last second and returned to a standing position.

Anna allowed herself to kneel next to Laddie’s head. Her hands rested on her thighs as her blue eyes focused on his face—a face empty of the tiniest fire of life. A low scream stuck in her throat, gagging her, at the knowledge that this was her fault; her blow had been the killing one.

One hand lifted, almost of its own accord, to stroke her fingers down his pale cheek. She’d done the move a million times, soothing Laddie into a more comfortable sleep more often than not. This time his head didn’t turn towards the faint touch as it would have, and again she bit back a sob, refusing to let herself mourn when she was to blame for his condition.

David stalked forward out of the shadows surrounding the tunnel leading back to his private rooms, not bothering to hide his approach. Anna rolled to her feet, twisting so that she faced him when the movement was complete.

His face was empty of emotion, save the bright light burning deep within his cerulean eyes. Anna made no move to protect herself, instead expecting the worst—banishment, or, preferably, death at his hands.

David’s every step vibrated with his fury, but he stopped mere inches from her body. His arms crossed over his chest, a movement that caused the ends of his black duster to swing lightly around his legs.

A bitter laugh echoed in her head, but didn’t escape down her throat. She’d gone far beyond harming one of her own—had broken that rule when she shot Dwayne. This destruction of Laddie was a personal affront to everything she’d come to care about.

The silence around her was growing unbearable, but still Anna wouldn’t allow herself to speak, nor even to move. The ball was in David’s court, and she would wait for his judgment without begging for mercy—she deserved no such thing.

Shauna leaned forward, her hands resting on the back of David’s large chair, gaze focused on David and Anna. Her attention wasn’t the only they held—the entire Pack still filled the room, though at the fringes now, staying well away from their leader and the current traitor.

David’s hand lashed out faster than even the vampires could follow and slammed into Anna’s face, sending a torrent of blood spilling down and knocking the female to the ground. She made no sound even when her head struck the floor because of the force of his blow; instead, after a moment to regain her balance, she struggled back to her feet. Anna didn’t bother wiping the blood from her battered face.

David’s next movement was slower; still too fast for the mortal eye to follow, but at a speed that the preternaturals in the room could watch. His hands caught Anna’s shoulders, then slammed the girl against his body hard enough to knock whatever air was left in her dead lungs out in an audible grunt.

His arms wrapped around her, holding the vampire to him in a tight hug. Anna froze, the action bringing more of a reaction inside her than the blow had. Eventually her hands crept up until her arms encircled his waist.

Shauna was the only one who let her sound of disbelief escape, though it was obvious most of the room would have preferred to join her. For an instant her mask evaporated, leaving fury in its place. A heartbeat later, her calm expression settled back over her features, soothing the lines from her forehead and the anger from her eyes.

Anna stepped back from David’s embrace, her hands falling back to her sides. Her gaze immediately settled on his face, confusion filling the depths of her eyes, but he offered no explanation and only nudged her towards Dwayne.

The dark vampire watched her approach silently, leaving his arms at his sides instead of reaching for her as he would have once done. She wavered, but still he remained calm, his face emotionless. That fact seemed to soothe Anna, for it was familiar to her, something she understood.

The words spilled forth then, dripping from her mouth in an agony of feeling and helplessness, tumbling end over end as she struggled to get everything out while still making sense.

“I am so sorry,” she almost gagged on the words but forced herself on. “I didn’t mean—I didn’t want this. I’m sorry for shooting you, I’m sorry, oh gods am I sorry for forgetting you—for forgetting everything. And I. . .” her words ended in a harsh sob, the first sign that her mental shields were slowly crumbling. “I’m so sorry about—I can’t—I’m sorry I killed Laddie.”

Anna’s head dropped, though she glanced up at Dwayne through her hair. She remained silent and still, waiting for his reaction, soft sobs vibrating in her throat. The control she clung to was slipping from her grasp. . .

And shattered when he turned on his heels and walked away without so much as a flicker of caring touching his face. As he disappeared down the hallway leading into the deeper parts of their home, Anna collapsed to her knees, her body crumpling in on itself as the last of her strength crumbled into dust.

Anna curled up in one of the over-stuffed chairs, pressing her back against the leather as if she wanted to sink into the darkness and lose herself forever. David had settled her there moments after she had fallen, wrapped his coat around her for she wouldn’t stop shaking, and had Marco bring another bottle of blood to her. The warmth of the coat and the cool slickness of the blood had stopped most of the tremors, though mentally she was in worse shape than before.

Star and Michael had taken off mere seconds after Dwayne had, though they chose their own path to follow, losing themselves back towards the underground stream that supplied them with a large pool of water in a room farther back within the cave system. Shauna too had retreated, though only back into the dark corners of the room where she could watch Anna’s face undisturbed.

David sank down into his chair with a low sigh. His hands folded together neatly on his lap, the calm position at odds with the urgency burning in his eyes. Paul settled next to Rilly once more and she leaned into him, though he didn’t wrap his arm around her this time.

Anna’s heart lifted a little when Adam and Victoria sank to the ground near her chair. Their silent testimony of forgiveness and alliance was more than she deserved, she knew, but still welcome in this time of pain.

“What exactly was on that crossbow bolt?” David wasted no time on pleasantries as he began the rapid-fire questioning he was known for. “How can we reverse it?”

“A holy water mixture,” Anna admitted. “Something that the gypsies came up with. They supplied the bolts, making sure I wouldn’t have to touch the tips. And I don’t think we can. Holy water injuries are irreversible.”

Before David could continue with his line of though, Rilly’s soft voice broke in, carrying her mental ramblings to their ears. “If they supplied them, then it wasn’t just holy water. I’d warrant a spell or two was attached to them. It is our—their way.”

“Do you know how to reverse it?” David turned and his gaze settled on Rilly like twin lasers offering death by ice if the answers he wanted to hear weren’t offered up immediately.

“The witch.” Anna’s voice held the first signs that she might be coming back to herself completely, for anger and understanding vibrated there. “She would know. We could get it out of her—or make her create a reversal. She

“Would she be able to do that?” David questioned Rilly, his mind clamping on the idea like a steel trap. Rilly shrugged, pressing her hands together before she answered.

“I’ve never known her to fail at something required of her,” Rilly whispered. “But I can’t know for certain. And even if she could, how will we convince her to?” Before David could answer, Anna was on her feet.

“Who said anything about convincing her?” she snarled, shrugging David’s coat onto her arms so she wore it properly. “She’ll help us.”

“You can’t threaten to kill her,” Rilly protested, correctly reading the tenseness in Anna’s body. “If you kill her, she can’t help you.”

“Oh, I’ll kill her.” Anna drew in a deep breath and forced her hands to stop shaking. “Her choice will be how much pain she lives through before I allow her to die. That’s all.”

“We still have a few hours of night left,” David was on his feet and headed towards the exit to the cave even as he finished speaking. “We move now.”

“Paul, come with us. The rest, stay here and prepare a room. We’ll bring her here for this. The others—they chose to leave. We’ll deal with that later.”

“You can’t bring her here,” Rilly said, remaining calm even when David whirled on her with a snarl. “All her things are there, all the ingredients for her spells. She’ll need those when she helps us.”

“Paul, grab Rilly. She can help us figure out what to bring,” David turned again and spilled into the night, followed by Anna. Paul shrugged and caught

As Anna slid forward to lead, for she was the only one who knew the location of the gypsies, she forced her mind clear of everything; Laddie’s death, her guilt, Dwayne’s rejection, the possibility that she had just lost the two things that meant most to her in this world. She allowed only the anger at being used, her fury that her body had done things out of her control, to remain and drew it up, sharpening it into a finely tempered weapon.

Anna had failed on her mission, and for that her punishment would be great. Before she fell however, she would repay the gypsies for what they had done to her and hers.

“My child,” the witch turned when Anna’s boot sent a stone skittering towards her. “You have returned. Do I trust that tonight’s hunt was more prosperous than before?” When her eyes settled on the black coat swirling about the vampire’s legs, she nodded. “I must. You wear the spoils of your adventure.”

“The bolts worked better than I ever knew they would,” Anna approached the old woman, drawing out the crossbow as if to illustrate her words.

“So you killed the dark one?” the woman nodded again before she turned back to her cauldron. “Congratulations. You really have become our Avenger, just as it was written. I am—proud of you, my child.”

“Your pride is more than I asked for,” Anna drew in a deep, slow breath of air, then lifted the crossbow and aimed it at the witch’s back. “Now turn slowly, witch. I have something for you.”

“What is it, child?” she turned, then cried out, for the fire burning in Anna’s eyes was not what she had placed there with her spells. “What is this? Why are you turning against your family?”

“Do not say that!” Anna screamed her words, her body shaking so hard that it was amazing the crossbow remained steady—though it did. “Do not presume to call yourself my family! You lied to me, bewitched me, used me, made me kill my own—you aren’t my family. They are!”

“Child, what nonsense is this?” the witch moved forward with care, holding one hand out towards Anna as she approached. Her voice dropped a level into a soothing tone, much as one would use for an advancing predator. “They tricked you, didn’t they? Offered lies to save their skins?”

“You’re the one who lied!” Anna’s voice cracked with the held-back sob, but she continued on, unable to stop. “You wiped my mind clean, then filled it with your tripe! Nothing you said was true. And I believed it! I went and hunted my own. I killed part of my family! Because of your lies!”

“Anna, your family is here.” The witch stopped when Anna’s finger jerked onto the trigger of the crossbow. “Your family is with us. Do not act like Rilly. You saw what she brought down upon us when she believed their silver-tongued words. Why would you do the same?”

Anna didn’t have a chance to answer, for a large hand slammed down onto her arm, cracking the bone and sending the crossbow flying. Anna cried out before swinging around the other way, catching the man with her left hand.

Rilly skittered forward like a shy colt, remaining on the far side of the campfire and the cauldron, but unwilling to let the vampires face her family on their own.

The fight was over within heartbeats, for not even the largest human could hold his own against three rampaging vampires, even if one was injured. Renoch was flung down to lay near the witch. He clambered back to his feet and drew closer to the woman, one hand touching her arm to reassure her,

“You’re going to help us now,” David focused his intense gaze on the witch, who had backed up a few steps until she stood next to the cauldron. “You are going to reverse the potion you put on the bolts.”

“I will not,” she jerked her head upright, glaring at the vampire leader, the dancing firelight carving deep lines into her face. “I recognize you. You are the bastard who killed our Jana for his own pleasure—I will die before helping you.”

“I didn’t kill Jana!” David exploded, his fury sending even Anna and Paul dancing away from him and out of striking range. “She begged to be turned, because she couldn’t take what you were forcing upon her!”

The witch said no more, only stared balefully at David. Anna returned to His side, one hand brushing against his shoulder. The slight reminder was enough to calm him and the tension flooded out of his body.

“You will die after helping us,” David’s voice was calm again. “But you will help us. And how quickly you help us will determine how much pain you feel before you die. But make no mistake, you will die.”

“You first!” Renoch whirled back around to face the vampires, the crossbow he’d collected from the ground clutched in one hand. “I’ll destroy you for taking one of ours; two now with that little bitch, Rilly.”

“No, father!” Rilly exploded forward, slamming into him a mere breath before he released the bolt. She hit his arm hard enough to send the shot into the air, but he flung her off the next second. Rilly slammed into the witch, who had just began her soft chanting, sending Anna staggering down to her knees in agony when yet another headache threatened to sweep through her mind.

When Rilly struck the witch, both women tumbled against the cauldron, sending a wash of potion over the edge. The wave of water swept over Anna and she cried out again, this time from the power surging through her.

“No!” The witch staggered to her feet and lunged for the cauldron, but Rilly caught her legs and slammed her back to the ground. The cauldron teetered on its stand for a moment, and then continued the sideways topple until it slammed against the ground with an echoing clunk, sending the last drops of liquid out over Anna’s legs.

“My spell,” the witch whimpered, her fingers scrabbling against the ground to try to capture a bit of it. “My precious spell. Damn you, child, for what you’ve done to your family!”

Rilly sat up, knowing that this outburst wasn’t aimed at Anna, but instead at herself, at long last. With a deep sigh she stood, staring down at the fallen woman. “No, grandmother, damn you for what you did to them.”

“If you would have done what you were supposed to do,” Renoch snarled, rubbing his arm where she had struck him, something akin to shock brushing through his eyes. “We wouldn’t have had to drag the female into this. You would have killed him and the dark haired one, and it would have been done.”

“I know, father,” Rilly said, lowering her head to stare at the ground. “If I would have played at being your Avenger, none of this would have happened.

“I was born to kill David and Dwayne,” she explained, forcing the tremors out of her voice. “That’s why I took the job at the video store, to be able to watch you whenever you came in to bug Max. And that’s why I couldn’t, I’d seen you all too much. I knew the truth—you aren’t savage beasts. Just creatures that aren’t human. And I couldn’t kill you.”

“Damn you, girl,” Renoch growled. “You let countless generations down when you turned your back on your family. How could you betray us like this? This was your revenge too, for what they did to us.”

“Your revenge, not mine,” Rilly jerked her head up, stubbornness shining within the depths of her dark eyes. “And a stupid one at that. Jana wasn’t stolen away by them. She went to them willingly, had been going to them willingly. She loved them! And you were trying to force her into a destiny she didn’t want—just like you did with me.”

“Stupid child,” the witch said as she stood, staring down at the mess from her fallen cauldron. “You’re listening to their stories, invented to turn you against us.”

“No, Grandmother D’ara,” Rilly shook her head. “I believe it’s the truth. At long last, we have something as close to the truth as we’ll ever get—because we can’t exactly ask Jana, now can we? But that’s your fault too. Had you not attacked, she’d be alive today—to speak.”

“And we don’t?” Rilly flung her hands into the air. “I give up. You’ll never understand. But know this—it’s over. You won’t hurt us—them again.”

“Us?” D’ara shook her head, one wrinkled hand lifted towards her granddaughter for a moment. “Already you are one of them, though your heart still beats. How soon will it not?”

“And she’s wrong,” David stepped forward, motioning Paul forward to grab D’ara. “It’s not quite over. There’s still the matter of our friend and that reversal spell.” Paul grabbed the old woman’s arms and Rilly hurried about, gathering ingredients.

“You don’t,” Anna said as she returned to her feet at last. Her eyes glowed from the power rolling within her body, both the power stolen from her by the spell as well as the natural power the spell itself had contained. “have a choice. Because you will help us, and you will save Laddie, or by god, death is going to be heaven to you.”

“My Anna,” D’ara whispered, staring at the vampire sadly. “You could have done so much with your power, child. So much more than you will with these creatures. You are better than they are—you belong with us.”

Anna’s arm swept up and for an instant D’ara feared she would lose her head then and there. Then, with a sigh, Anna turned away. “You won’t trick me into killing you now,” she muttered as she stalked towards Renoch. “You’re better to me alive.”

One hand lashed out and tore into Renoch’s throat, sending a wave of blood over her fingers and down her arm where it blended with the coat. Rilly whimpered, then turned away, unable to watch. She spoke no word to stop Anna though, as the vampire ripped his throat out.

“Come on, Anna.” David placed one hand on her shoulder and led her away from the fallen corpse. “Let’s go home. Come on.” After one brief hesitation, she allowed him to pull her away and into the air.

Renoch’s death was the turning point, it would seem, in their ‘discussions’ with D’ara. The old witch helped them without a word, only casting desperate glances at her granddaughter now and then. Her movements were precise, but listless, the motions of one who has finally lost what kept her alive.

Finally they had a potion to feed to Laddie, and a lot of it. D’ara handed the first bottle to David. He immediately led them into the room that Laddie now rested in, his tiny, unmoving form lying in the middle of a large bed.

“There is no guarantee it will work,” she warned the vampires surrounding her. “The holy water did damage in its own right. My potion can only completely counter the spell in the water, but I do not know about healing holy water damage to a vampire.”

“You’d better hope it starts working,” Paul snarled at her as he led her back to her room, where she was kept chained to a bed when not working beneath their watchful eyes. “Because if it doesn’t, you get pain. Until it works.”

Anna sank down into a chair next to Laddie’s bed to watch his face for any sign of life. He never moved, but after many hours a faint hint of pink washed across the edges of his cheeks.

“You need to talk to her,” Paul caught Dwayne just before he headed down the hallway to Laddie’s sick room. The young vampire still teetered between life and death, though each new potion seemed to bring more color back to him. He hadn’t moved yet, not a real move, except a faint flicker beneath his eyelids two days before. “It’s been weeks.”

“No.” Dwayne’s answer was simple and to the point. To him it finished the conversation and he turned away, starting down the hall again. Paul grabbed his arm to stop his steps.

“She deserves that.” Dwayne turned back only to gaze at Paul’s hand on his arm. Immediately the younger vampire released it, but he didn’t step back.

“This isn’t Anna’s fault.” Paul stepped around until he could look into Dwayne’s eyes again. “She was under a spell, remember? Not in control of her actions? Why are you punishing her for this?”

“Why are you so damn stupid?” Paul yelled, landing a sharp blow to Dwayne’s shoulder, he was so lost in his anger. “She didn’t plan this!” Dwayne swung and connected with Paul’s stomach hard enough to fling him back into the wall.

“Am I the only one who remembers Pack Law?” Dwayne asked, his voice devoid of emotion. “She broke the first rule—harm not your own. She killed him, and has escaped the proper punishment. To me, she is dead.”

Though no sound filled the room, something drew Dwayne’s attention to the far side of the room. Anna stood there, no movement marring the pose, in the same spot she’d been listening from.

Dwayne shuddered, the emotionlessness pooling off of him as if a switch had been flipped. His dark eyes met her blue ones, both sets filled with flames of anger and betrayal, both their bodies shaking with the agony of the situation—and both their chests aching with the love they could no longer pronounce.

Anna remained perfectly still, her eyes meeting his calmly, though inside every fiber of her being felt like it was going to vibrate apart from the pain his words had brought.