T he turnoff was well hidden on the little-used country road.

The small wood-frame building visible at the end of the turnoff would seem like stables to anyone who might have accidentally turned down from the main road. To the right of the building were some paddocks surrounded by whitewashed wooden fences.

Behind the building, thick woods provided dense cover. The setting only needed a few horses grazing contentedly in the lush green gra.s.s to make the bucolic scene complete.

To the left of the stables was a gravel-covered parking area where a dark blue Jeep Cherokee sat unattended. Sloan's Jeep, Sebastian hoped.

Ryder stopped his van a good distance from where the road opened into the clearing. To go farther would be to risk immediate discovery.

"We need to go the rest of the way on foot. Through those woods and around the back where we've got some kind of cover."

Sebastian eyed the fairly dense thicket of trees through which they would have to travel. He wasn't sure if in his condition, he'd be able to keep up with Ryder, who seemed to have completely recovered after his little snack. He didn't want his weakness to hamper Melissa's rescue. "If you need to go on without me-"

"I will." Ryder didn't even look at him as he backed the van up a few feet so he could drive it into the underbrush along the side of the dirt road. By doing so, he'd leave the main road free for when Diana and her group of reinforcements arrived.

Which Sebastian prayed would be shortly. He and Ryder had planned on scoping out what was going on, but not going in unless it was absolutely necessary. The last thing either of them wanted was to get Melissa hurt by playing hero.

Armed with that understanding, they made their way through the stand of trees and toward the small building. It was slow going since the underbrush was thick and Sebastian's footing was less than stable. More than once he stumbled. When he stepped on a fallen twig, the noise seemed as loud as gunfire.

They paused then, waiting to see if anyone had heard and would come out from the building to investigate. Long minutes pa.s.sed, but nothing happened. They continued onward.Mindful of Sloan's background, they were careful to keep an eye out on the road and in the woods for surveillance cameras of any kind or b.o.o.by traps. So far there had been none, but as they got closer to the edge of the building, Ryder held his hand up to signal Sebastian to stop.

Bending down, Ryder examined something low to the ground. Sebastian copied his actions and spotted the fine wire running all along the periphery of the woods. A trip wire, although Sebastian couldn't guess whether it was intended to warn Sloan or cause harm. Either way, it made them that much more cautious as they moved the last few feet and came to rest against the clapboards at the back of the building.

"How are you?" Ryder asked, looking at him for only a moment before scoping out the exterior of the building.

"I'm dealing." Surprisingly well, he thought. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush, but the double vision had finally cleared once he'd put away the computer. The nausea had abated once the van had stopped moving.

"There're no windows or entrances back here. We need to move around up front." Ryder struck out for the end of the building.

Once there, they crawled along the base of the building, keeping low to avoid discovery. The main entrance to the structure was a large sliding door like that to a livery. Someone had failed to slide the door closed all the way. There was an opening of about a foot and a half.

Large enough for them to slip through undetected.

Melissa's hands were numb from the tight ropes binding her to the chair. She wondered whether that was better than the pain from the rope chafing at her ankles.

Sloan's goon had done a good job before leaving with Sloan. For the last half an hour she'd been attempting to free herself. Not only were the ties secure, but the chair was strong enough to withstand her attempts to break a piece off.

So now she sat smack in the middle of the room, waiting for Sloan to return.

Two long tables ran along the wall before her. One held a few empty cages, one with a dead rat. A small refrigerator rested beneath that table, likely intended to hold samples.

On the other table was a large gla.s.s beaker and a.s.sorted filtering apparatuses. A low flame burned under the beaker, keeping the liquid warm, but not at a boil. Farther down the table was what looked like a small drying oven and an exhaust system of some kind. She wasn't sure if the exhaust was running since the smell of whatever was cooking was strong, as was the slight hint of ether.

She squinted, for the light in the room was not all that strong, and noted the gla.s.s storage jars on the far table. One was labelled Ether, which accounted for the odor and the slight dizziness she was experiencing.

Not good. She had to stay as alert as possible and ether was flammable. If fumes built up within the room, the flame burning beneath the beaker could ignite them.

"Ready for me, my dear?" Sloan asked as he slowly walked into the room.

"I don't know what you expect me to tell you, Edward."

He came to stand before her. Alone this time. She wondered where his a.s.sociate had disappeared to. As if reading her mind, Edward said, "Oh, not to worry. My friend won't be bothering us again."

"Comforting. But since that's likely going to be my end-" "Why should you cooperate?" Edward asked, but didn't wait for her answer. He walked to the table where the beaker simmered gently and picked up a small vial and a syringe. He motioned to the chemistry setup with the hand that held the vial. "Fundamental heroin lab 101. Lets me produce the basic drug."

With his free hand, he gestured to the filtration devices and oven she had noted earlier. "The key is in the cleaning process and what I mix in to make it injectable. Packs quite a punch."

Melissa remained silent as he stuck the syringe in the vial and filled it. When he was done, he replaced the vial on the table, capped the syringe and slipped it into the front pocket of his suit jacket.

"Is that for me?" she asked calmly, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear.

He smiled. A cold snake's smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Only if you're good, my dear."

With that, he reached beneath his jacket and extracted the .22 caliber gun he had threatened her with earlier. "Now this." He held up the gun. "This is what I use if you're bad."

Melissa swallowed back the bile rising in her throat. In a voice much more composed than what she was feeling, she said, "You'd better be prepared to use it, Edward. You see, I've been a bad girl lately and am not about to stop."

Sebastian was moving down the hall when Ryder grabbed his arm. "I hear something."

There were a series of stalls, confirming that, at one time, this had been a stable. Slowly they inched past one empty stall. The sounds of thrashing reached them. Increasing their pace, they reached the noisy s.p.a.ce, although the sounds had abated slightly.

Peering inside, it was obvious why as they watched the last spasms rack the body of Sloan's latest helper. His lifeless stare followed them as they shifted down a few more feet. They stopped at the sounds of Melissa and Sloan in conversation.

Hurrying their pace but keeping silent, they reached the opening to what at one time must have been the tack room just as Sloan struck Melissa across the face with the back of his hand.

"Don't make this hard on yourself, Melissa."

"Did you hit my mother this way? Did you?" she asked.

Sloan staggered back a little at the question and when he did so, Sebastian noted the gun he held. When Ryder would have charged into the room, Sebastian held him back. Using hand signals, he brought the weapon to Ryder's attention.

At the distance Sloan was from Melissa, Sebastian didn't think that even Ryder could reach her before Sloan could get off a shot.

"We need to distract him," Sebastian said as softly as he could, as close as possible to Ryder's ear.

At Ryder's nod, he knew that the other man had heard. But Sloan hadn't. Sloan paced before Melissa, almost as if in distress.

"She could have lived, you know. Your father had cured her. All she had to do was keep quiet about his death."

"You loved her," Melissa said, and Sloan grew increasingly agitated.

Sebastian slipped past the opening of the tack room without detection and hid behind a small stack of hay bales close to the opening.

"She was so beautiful, even with her illness. So full of life." There was regret and affection in the tone of his voice. "So much like you at times. Don't make me do this, Melissa. Together we can share this secret. Do wonderful things with it."

"What secret, Edward? That you're a sick old-" It happened quickly. Even if it hadn't, Ryder and Sebastian would have been too powerless to prevent it. Edward backhanded Melissa again. Her head whipped back from the blow with a sickening snap, then lolled forward limply onto her chest.

Ryder rushed forward, moving almost too quickly to be seen. Sebastian realized it wasn't the human reacting, but the demon, angered and apparently out of control.

Edward whirled and opened fire at the blur of movement, emptying the gun. That didn't deter Ryder. Together, he and Edward crashed into a table holding beakers and a lit Bunsen burner. Gla.s.s shattered at the impact of their bodies. The table groaned and finally buckled with the weight of them and their struggle, for Edward was frantically trying to fight off whatever was attacking him.

There was blood. A lot of blood as Ryder vented his rage.

Sebastian didn't delay to see what would happen next. He rushed to Melissa's side. Her face was bruised and a trickle of blood slipped from the side of her mouth. "Melissa," he said as he worked at undoing the ropes binding her ankles, aware of what was going on just a few feet away as Ryder and Edward continued their struggle.

The Bunsen burner was on its side, a small blue flame still spewing from it. Some of the jars had broken open. The liquid they had once contained oozed out onto the floor and Sebastian smelled a sweet odor. One he couldn't place at first, but when he did...

He had but a moment to throw himself over Melissa's unconscious body as the flame ignited the spilled ether. A small explosion ripped through the room.

After the initial blast, his ears were ringing and the heat of the fire that had erupted at one end of the room seared his back.

Ryder was much closer to the explosion, he thought with fear, but he couldn't wait to see if the vampire was okay. Using all of his remaining strength, he deadlifted Melissa, chair and all, and rushed through the opening, the fire chasing after him as the dried hay and gra.s.s ignited.

He burst through the sliding livery door and stumbled while trying to be as gentle as he could with his burden. He managed to place the chair on its feet before he turned to go back into the building for Ryder. He was surprised to see Ryder crash through the door behind him, a bruised and battered Sloan slung over his shoulders.

As Ryder dropped to the ground, Sebastian realized that while Sloan was bleeding a little, it was Ryder who had suffered the most injuries from the shots Sloan had fired.

A moan drew his attention.

"Melissa." He kneeled before her and cradled her cheek. She was coming to. He quickly worked at freeing her from the ropes still holding her to the chair. When she slumped as he released the last of her bindings, he steadied her.

That was when he heard the sirens and realized Ryder was still lying on the ground a few feet away, in the partial shade from the trees, but in vamp mode with a.s.sorted bullet holes in his body. "Melissa." As her gaze focused slightly, she seemed to understand the nature of his concern.

"Get Ryder out of here."

He slipped to Ryder's side and finally noticed that Sloan was busy crab-walking away from the vampire, a look of fright on his face. Before Sebastian could do a thing, Sloan stood and raced back into the burning building.

"Sebastian," Ryder said, gripping Sebastian's arm as he struggled to sit up.

"Hold on, Ryder." Sebastian eased his shoulder beneath Ryder's and helped him stand. Together, they did a shuffle-walk back into the woods and kept to the thicket of trees, working their way slowly back to Ryder's van. As they did so, the lights and sirens of a.s.sorted vehicles flashed by them.Sebastian ignored them, certain Melissa could handle it, hoping Diana would be with the crew that had just arrived. Finally Ryder and he stumbled to the van. Sebastian helped Ryder crawl onto the backseat. "What can I do?" he asked, although it seemed as if there was already less blood coming from Ryder's injuries.

"Go back. Help Melissa. Let Diana know what you can." Ryder's voice was tight and his face showed the strain of his condition.

It made Sebastian hesitate for a moment, but then Ryder turned his electric gaze on him and said, "You did well, Sebastian. Now, go."

It hurt when he smiled at Ryder's words, but that didn't diminish how he was feeling. "We'll be back soon, Ryder. Hang in there."

He locked the van, pocketed the keys and returned to the dirt road, following it back to the parking area. When he arrived, Melissa was sitting on the chair. Diana and another man stood before her. As he approached, his sister rushed up to him and embraced him tightly. "Are you okay?"

"I am, but Ryder needs a little help." He inclined his head in the direction of the road. "Up a ways. He's in his van."

Melissa was seated and giving her report to a tall blond man. Sebastian noted the NYPD Detective's shield and a.s.sumed it was Peter Daly, Diana's friend. A moment later, a local sheriff approached, his pad in hand.

Diana chose that time to excuse herself. "This is your collar, remember. I need to go."

Sebastian handed her the keys and she walked off.

Daly watched her with interest. A decidedly interested kind of interest, Sebastian thought. When the other man's gaze accidentally collided with his, a flush came to his cheeks. "Detective Daly, I presume," Sebastian said and offered his hand.

"Sebastian Reyes. You look a lot like your sister," the detective said. "Are you as stubborn?"

Sebastian chuckled and kneeled by Melissa. When she smiled despite her bruises, he knew she would be fine. "You scared the c.r.a.p out of me."

"I'm fine, thanks to you. Are you okay?" Melissa reached up and brushed back a lock of his hair, exposing the bruise and cut at his brow. She winced.

"I'll be okay once we know Sloan won't be bothering us again."

He glanced back to the stable, which by now was engulfed in flames despite the efforts of a number of men with hoses. "He ran back in there."

Peter tracked his gaze. "If he's in there, he's toast."

"Could he have made it to the woods?" Melissa asked.

"We have men searching the area now," the sheriff interjected and immediately launched into a series of questions.

Melissa slipped her hand into Sebastian's as she answered, and he knew all was right with them. Gazing back up the road toward the van, he hoped all was well with Ryder and Diana.

Chapter 32.

D iana cradled Ryder in her arms. He was still bleeding and although healing, weak from his injuries. Very weak. From what she could see, at least four bullets had struck him. "I can help," she said, brushing back a lock of dark hair plastered to his pale forehead with the sweat that came whenever his system was taxed.

Ryder shook his head. "There's some medicine-" "You know that's not what you need."

Gently she eased him up, a little afraid of what she was proposing, but undeterred by her fear. While she held Ryder with one hand, she moved her hair to bare her neck.

"What if I can't stop?" he said, his voice lower with the edge of the animal in its tone. Despite his question, he nuzzled the side of her neck and took a deep breath as if inhaling her scent.

"You've stopped before." She twined her fingers through the hair at the back of his head, bracing herself.

"Once," he replied, and licked the side of her neck, tasting her. "I had more control then. Not like now. Now..."

Diana didn't get a chance to reply as he sank his fangs into her. Searing pain blazed along her nerve endings. She gripped the back of his head tightly and called out his name. The pain was gradually replaced by a strange and wondrous languor that travelled along her veins and spread throughout her body.

"Ryder," she murmured again and clung to him. Pa.s.sion replaced the pain, tightening her insides with need for him.

Ryder fed on the sweetness of her, drawing her life's blood into him, merging it with his. Her warmth spread throughout his body, recharging him with its energy. With each sip, he felt stronger, experienced a sensual charge. With each sip, her body grew more limp. He battled the desire to keep on sucking until there was barely any life. Until he could offer up his own life's blood and make her like him. Bind her to him forever.