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  Zeke smiled. “I’m sure you want answers right now, but they’ll have to wait. Your friend needs you urgently.”

  A murmuring behind Zeke caught Britt’s attention. It sounded as if someone disagreed with what Zeke had just said. Britt blinked hard and looked around the room. Hell and damnation, there was no one else in here with them.

  Zeke made some kind of motion with his hand behind his back, and then said, “Get up, Britt—now.”

  Britt scowled. He’d just told the man he couldn’t move, but he’d just smiled. Fine! He’d show the guy he was unable to comply. He threw back the thin cotton sheet and, to his own surprise, shifted his feet off the bed and onto the floor with ease. He wiggled his toes. Stared at his legs. He wasn’t crazy. Moments ago his legs had been emaciated and mottled, but now they looked healthy and toned.

  “I’ll get your clothes,” Zeke said, hurrying out of the room. Outside in the hall voices started whispering urgently and were answered by the low rumble of Zeke’s voice. This conversation continued for a few seconds, and as hard as Britt tried to understand what they said, he couldn’t make out a word of their language.

  The voices stopped and Zeke returned with a pair of leather pants, a black knit turtleneck and a leather jacket hanging over one arm. Somehow these clothes struck a chord in Britt’s memory.

  “Get these on quickly. Trouble is brewing and your friend is going to need your assistance very soon.”

  “What’s my friend’s name?”

  “Jess Vandermire.”

  Britt eyed Zeke. “Vandermire. That’s the name of the priest I phoned.”

  Zeke closed his eyes as if in pleasure and nodded. “The very same. His older sister, Jess, is the person who needs your help.”

  Britt pulled on the clothes, amazed at his body’s sudden agility and growing strength. His stomach growled. He was still damned hungry.

  “Have you ever heard of genetic memory?” Zeke said a few minutes later, as they strode down the dark, empty hallway of the stone building.

  “Yeah, it’s never been proven though, has it?”

  “You’ll prove it to yourself very soon. Your memory will return, and you’ll have other memories besides. Memories that have been repressed out of necessity.”

  In the alley they got into an expensive looking sports car. The model’s name escaped Britt, but he knew he’d seen it before.

  A few minutes later they rolled past a town house. An old man in priest’s clothing paced back and forth on the sidewalk. “This is the house. She needs your help inside.”

  “Stop the car, then,” Britt said.

  “No. You can’t let the priest see you. Not yet. You’ll have to go in through a back window.”

  “Why?”

  “It’d be too much of a shock for him. He thinks you’re dead.”

  “What!”

  “You died, Britt.”

  “I died?” A sudden image flashed into his mind, and he said, “On the operating table?”

  “That’ll become clear to you later. For now, go help the lady inside.”

  The car pulled up to a curb near the end of the block. Britt stepped out and turned to ask Zeke what he should do, but Zeke had already pulled the door shut. With a quick wave he drove off.

  What the hell was he doing here? As crazy as this whole thing was, his sense of urgency rose with each step he took toward the building. He found an alley at the back of the house. Without thinking he jumped from the top of a fence to the sill of a window, then reached up and grabbed onto a balcony above his head. He yanked himself upwards, grabbed the wrought iron rails and pulled himself the rest of the way onto the balcony.

  Jess took a hesitant breath and tensed her muscles. In the past she and Britt had worked like a tag-team against vamps like these. This time she was all alone.

  “Any last words before we take turns with you and bring you back to our side?” the leader growled. “After we’re done, I know a gravesite we’ll allow you to defile. I hear you put a lot of work into protecting Brittain’s grave. It’ll be the icing,” he said.

  “No, you damned well won’t because I’m going to kill both of you.” Even as she made the declaration, cold dread clenched her stomach. If she failed, she’d become her own worst nightmare.

  She attacked the vampire to her left by grabbing his long silky hair and twisting his head with a violent rip. He screamed and dropped to the floor on his hands and knees, then laughed and cracked his head from side to side as his bones loudly reknit and regenerated. He’d be back up in a second if she didn’t hurry.

  With the leader still behind her, she didn’t have time to waste. Kicking toward his chest, she drove the stake into his heart with a force that rocketed him backwards until he slammed into the wall, shaking the very foundation of the house. He exploded into a million particles and disappeared on a final screaming moan.

  Lucky for her these vampires were cocky enough to come at her one at a time. They didn’t appear to have any allegiance to each other, if their unconcerned expressions at losing one of their own was any indication.

  She spun around. One on one. “Now the odds are a little fairer.”

  But the leader of the group, had been too quiet. Too watchful. The old ones had skills that some of the newer vampires hadn’t acquired. No doubt he was figuring out her strengths and weaknesses. Something he hadn’t let her see about himself yet.

  Suddenly, she realized another vampire had slunk down the stairs. Her gut swooped. What the hell was wrong with her? She should have sensed there was another vampire upstairs before he ever got this close.

  He dropped his hands and lowered his head. He dove at her just as she shifted abruptly to the right, hoping he’d fly past. Unfortunately, he was too good for that—and too fast. His age gave him advantages she wasn’t used to fighting. In midair he readjusted his attack, grabbed her neck and bent it sideways. She could feel his fetid breath on her, felt the edge of his fangs against her skin, and silently prayed to God for strength and help.

  No matter how strong they were, she couldn’t let them win, not with Regent so close by. They’d go after him next. Worse, if they turned her, she might go after him herself.

  With renewed vigor and a reason to live and maintain her soul, she rammed her left fist into her attacker’s chest. It wouldn’t do much damage, but it would take a second for his crushed ribs to mend. She needed that second. She jumped forward and somersaulted across the room, grabbing her blade from the floor where she’d dropped it. Holding it tight in her hand, she flashed it at the approaching vampire.

  “What do you think you’ll do to me with that tiny weapon? Give me a boo-boo?” The vampire laughed and dove at her, only slightly affected by his injury.

  Since Britt had died, she’d been using his specially designed blade. Seconds before her attacker reached her, she touched the button and the blade shot out to double its original length. Her arm came down with as much momentum as she could exert.

  Damn it! The vampire dove sideways again and she missed. She’d never been this evenly matched before. Her chest tightened perceptibly. They were too strong for her to fight by herself.

  Unexpectedly, an ear shattering noise blew the balcony doors open. Another person entered the house. Shit! She’d be in deep trouble now. She might be able to fight two regular-sized vampires, but this guy was massive.

  Worse, she couldn’t make him out. He was in shadow—strange because her vampire vision should’ve been able to see him. Even so, Jess’s head jerked in his direction, breaking concentration against her attacker for longer than was safe. Her chest nearly exploded when she saw the man clearly for the first time. Her eyes narrowed, and anger flared inside her. No goddamned way!

  Momentarily distracted, just as Jess had been, the vampire quickly got back on track. Ignoring the stranger, he dove at her again. The unexpected double length in her blade caught him off-guard and she sliced his arm to the bone. He cursed and backed off, looking at the nasty cut and cu
rsing violently. The leader, for some strange reason, merely watched and waited. Good thing, too. Jess couldn’t handle two of them alone.

  “Leave the lady alone,” the strange man spoke for the first time, most likely shocking everyone in the room, including her, because his voice reverberated straight through her bones. Somehow he’d stopped the attack. At least for a second. But how?

  That second didn’t last. Now with two vampires moving in on her she didn’t have time to think about his face. Britt’s face! It couldn’t be him.

  “It’s not nice to invite people to someone else’s party!” the leader told Jess as he circled behind her while the stranger just watched.

  Below, on the ground floor, it sounded like the front door flew inward against the wall with a crash and she heard someone running up the stairs headlong into this mess. It had to be Jukes. Regent wouldn’t be able to mount the stairs with that kind of speed.

  “Jukes. Go back!” she shouted. No sense for the two of them to die here tonight. “Keep Regent safe. In fact, get him the hell out of here as fast as possible.”

  Jukes reached the top step and surveyed the scene. In one hand, he had a custom made stake. In the other, he had his favorite weapon, a pistol loaded with silver rounds.

  “Jukes?” The new intruder stepped out of the shadows, and Jess nearly passed out at the clear view of him. The behemoth definitely looked like Britt and he seemed to know one of the team!

  For nearly too long, she took her attention off the vampire who was swinging his blade at her. She dove sideways and barely avoided being impaled by the stake. She rolled to her feet and faced off with the meanest vampire she’d come up against in forever. He had muscles on muscles. A deadly combination since human strength was always hyper-magnified in a vampire. His downside—the fancy suit. It hampered his maneuverability. Jess’s leathers were perfect for quick movement.

  “Jukes,” she said. “Get the hell out. Get Regent to safety.” The two vampires continued to close in, seemingly unaffected by the appearance of an audience. They had one-track minds. Reintroducing her to her darkest side.

  Jukes hesitated. She edged her voice with cold vampire strength and screamed, “Go!”

  He took off down the stairs. Back to keep her brother safe.

  “Who’s your new friend?” One vampire asked, still holding his chest where she’d caved it in.

  Amazed at the impressive cunning of these vampires, she said, “He’s not my friend. Nice try, though. You think I don’t know you’re using this look-alike as a tactic to distract me?” She ignored the hulking presence surveying them. Maybe he was just window dressing, because he hadn’t joined the fight—yet.

  “If you’re Jess Vandermire, I’ve been sent to help you,” the Britt look-alike said in a rich timber that nearly melted her resolve and made her want to scream.

  Didn’t matter. She didn’t have time for a second look to verify that it couldn’t possibly be Britt. Both vampires had suddenly decided to descend upon her at once.

  One of them threw a blade and it sliced through her leathers and into her leg. She felt it go deep enough to crack the bone. It hurt like hell! She dropped to the ground, unable to stand until her bone healed. “Bastard,” she said. “You’ll pay for that.”

  But before she could regain her equilibrium, he nailed her to the ground with his full body weight. Air squeezed out of her lungs. They rolled around on the floor, neither of them getting the upper hand.

  Finally, she got one arm up and managed to ram the stake at his chest. He countered her move and knocked it to the floor and out of reach. Her broken leg hadn’t healed yet.

  Advantage bad vampire.

  The stranger loomed over them. Watching like a ghoul. Stupidly, Jess stole another quick glance at him. If he’d been used as a tactic to put her off balance, it was working.

  The bodybuilder grabbed her hair and ripped her head backwards at the same time that he twisted her arms behind her back and held her for the leader. The leader looked at the Britt-looking interloper in a way that made Jess think he might not know him. Even so, he obviously didn’t consider him a threat because he turned his back and pressed one long black fingernail into her jugular notch. “Time to become one of us, hunter.”

  When she died this time, she wouldn’t come back with a partial soul. She’d be truly one of them.

  Suddenly, a roar of anger shook the walls. With the agility of a shadowy panther, the stranger catapulted himself at her vampire attackers, knocking “Muscles” backwards and through the plate glass window.

  Jess screamed, and in a spurt of sheer terror-filled adrenaline, broke the leader’s neck so violently that his head nearly separated from his body. Not smart to mess with this girl’s brother. “Regent!” He was outside, and the vampire with muscles galore had just been thrown out onto the street. She ran to the window and dove outside, landing between him and Regent. Her leg held. It had finally healed.

  “You okay, Regent?”

  Regent released a quick breath. I am now, honey.” Even though he held a medium-sized cross in his hand, it hadn’t slowed the Italian down in the slightest. Not affected by a cross? New for vampires. Something she’d worry about later.

  “What the hell? I ordered Jukes to stay with you.” She looked around, her anger growing.

  “Go easy on the boy, Jess. He was only trying to …” Regent’s voice faded off.

  She shook her head in anger, about to tell Regent she didn’t cut breaks for team members who were insubordinate, when she noticed the blood drain from her brother’s face. She spun around quickly, blade at the ready.

  “God in heaven!” The Britt look alike dove out of the window, knocked the approaching vampire away and moved to the sidewalk beside her.

  Regent grabbed his chest. His legs let go and he collapsed to the street.

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  Chapter Six

  “Regent!” Jess dropped to her brother’s side, and tried to block his vision of the abomination who’d followed her outside.

  Apparently, the man who looked like Britt had finally decided to help out—he went after the vampire and stabbed him with a leg from a broken wooden chair. The vampire’s mouth opened in shock, before he burst into a brilliant display of writhing ash. The molecules died and floated away on the breeze.

  Attention instantly back on Regent, Jess gently touched his shoulder. He had gone sickly gray. His age-mottled hand clawed at his chest in a way that scared Jess more than the image of the imposter behind her.

  Again the look-alike just stood there and watched her. Talk about creepy.

  Feeling as shaken as Regent looked, she couldn’t handle a Britt look-alike, so how would her brother’s weak heart take the shock? Even now, she couldn’t face seeing the man’s features more clearly under the streetlight.

  “Regent, I’m calling nine-one-one,” Jess said.

  “No need. It’s not a heart attack. Just surprise.”

  “Are you very sure?”

  He shook his head and grabbed her arm. “Don’t just crouch there, pull me up, woman. And yes, I’m very sure. You can’t mistake shock for a heart attack, believe me.”

  Jess gave him a caustic but loving look. “If you’re sure.”

  “Positive, what’s going on, Jess?” Regent stood and stared at the man.

  Still kneeling on the sidewalk, she gazed up at her brother. “Someone has a very sick mind to do this to us, Regent. No way can this man coincidentally look like Britt. It’s been done deliberately to throw us off balance.”

  “And it’s working, Jess—look at him!”

  “No Regent, don’t look. He’s not Britt.” She glanced around them with irritation. “Where’d Jukes go? He was supposed to stay with you.”

  “I ordered him back into the building to help you, just before you came back out through the window.” Regent sounded breathless. “We heard a scream, and I was afraid for you.”

  “Damn it. He still should have obeyed m
y orders as his captain.” She stood and stared at the house. Planting her hands on her hips, while keeping the imposter in her peripheral vision, she assessed the situation. Then she looked at the imposter. No way would she leave Regent alone with him. She poked a finger at him. “You! You’re coming with me,” she said, then turned to her brother. “Sure you’ll be okay?” she asked as she ushered him toward the car.

  “I’m a tougher old bird than you give me credit for,” he said, sounding slightly put out with her mother hen routine. He got into the car, but stopped her from closing the door. “I want to hear what’s going on. You get back in there, I’ll be fine.” He held the cross up in the air in his thin arm before his gaze returned to the stranger. Jess followed Regent’s gaze and saw that he had the audacity to smile at her brother before he turned and ran back into the building ahead of Jess.

  Both irritated that he went back in without her and glad that he hadn’t stayed out here with Regent, she cursed under her breath. “Get that gun out of your glove compartment and use it if you have to,” she ordered, then tore back into the house.

  Inside, Jukes was pinned into a corner of the bedroom. Dear God! Another vampire had come out of the woodwork and his teeth were hyperextended over Juke’s neck. Saliva dripped from his tongue, and his eyes had become a strange color. The whites had turned red. She’d never seen that before in a vampire.

  Jukes, one her toughest recruits, was cursing a blue streak and futilely pounding against the vampire’s iron muscles. Jukes obviously hadn’t learned enough technique to be able to survive a vampire attack from an ancient one. Who was she kidding? None of her team had that skill. She wasn’t even sure she did.

  Her cold blood formed icicles as she yelled, “Leave him alone and I might let you live.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the look-alike again watching from the sidelines. What the hell? What was he, some kind of weird vampire voyeur? Even though she knew it couldn’t possibly be her Britt, her heart beat in an irregular pattern, thudding against her rib cage so hard it was painful.