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Praise for D. B. Reynolds’s Stone Warriors... The Stone Warriors: Damian “I have to admit, I really didn’t think I would like this new series as much as I love the ViA series . . . boy was I WRONG!! I loved the storyline, the camaraderie, the bantering, the humor, and most especially Damian!!!! He is a Warrior God as he continually and hilariously likes to remind Casey.” —Dorsey, Swept Away by Romance “Witty banter, tons of action, and sizzling chemistry are woven into an engaging and compelling plot that sets the tone for what promises to be a fantastic new series by this talented and very clever author.” —Karla, Swept Away by Romance

The Stone Warriors: Kato Kato was well woven together and connected various aspects of Grace’s life to Kato and to Nick and Damian. I appreciate how each story builds upon the other and the teaser at the end to Gabriel’s story. . . . Dude! I kept trying to flip pages to read more. I cannot wait to see what happens there either! I highly

recommend this series to paranormal romance lovers. Don’t delay in picking this one up. —The Book Chick Kato is fast-paced, action-packed, humorous at times, and Kato is very sexy! Long after reading Kato, you’ll have a new DBR hero to lust after along with all her vampires, warriors, and shifters! Naturally, we get some action with Nick, Damian (he is truly a God, I love him!!), and Casey. It was fun catching up with one of my favorite couples and of course, Nick’s presence is always appreciated! As usual, we are treated to one of DBR’s teasing signature endings, and I must say I’m excitedly looking forward to meeting our next Stone Warrior, Gabriel, and his leading lady Hana. —Dorsey, Swept Away by Romance

D.B. Reynolds VAMPIRES IN AMERICA Raphael Jabril Rajmund Sophia Duncan Lucas Aden Vincent

Vampires in America: The Vampire Wars Deception Christian Lucifer

The Cyn and Raphael Novellas Betrayed Hunted Unforgiven Compelled Relentless

Vampires in Europe Quinn

The Stone Warriors

The Stone Warriors: Damian The Stone Warriors: Kato The Stone Warriors: Gabriel

Gabriel The Stone Warriors: Book 3 by

D. B. Reynolds ImaJinn Books

Copyright This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events or locations is entirely coincidental.

ImaJinn Books PO BOX 300921 Memphis, TN 38130 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61194-898-1 Print ISBN: 978-1-61194-890-5 ImaJinn Books is an Imprint of BelleBooks, Inc. Copyright © 2018 by D. B. Reynolds Published in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. ImaJinn Books was founded by Linda Kichline. We at ImaJinn Books enjoy hearing from readers. Visit our websites ImaJinnBooks.com BelleBooks.com BellBridgeBooks.com 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Cover design: Debra Dixon Interior design: Hank Smith Photo/Art credits: Man (manipulated) © Halayalex | Dreamstime.com Background (manipulated) © Unholyvault | Dreamstime.com

Baroque illustration (manipulated) © Rainbowchaser | Dreamstime.com :Egsw:01:

The Stone Warriors IT WAS A TIME when gods walked the earth, when armies fought not for bits of land, but for the very existence of humanity. On such a battlefield, five formidable warriors stood against an evil greater than any the earth had ever seen. But evil is not an honorable foe. Betrayed by someone they trusted, the warriors were cursed, one by one, tossed into the maelstrom of time, imprisoned in stone, their freedom resting on nearly impossible con​ditions. Alone of the five, their leader, the sorcerer Nicodemus, was left free. His curse? To know that his fellow warriors remained trapped forever out of his reach, condemned to an eternity of searching for their stone prisons and the keys to their freedom.

Gabriel URBAN GABRIEL HALLDOR, a berserker on the battlefield, a monster who drinks his enemy’s blood and wears his flesh like the finest cloth . . . you shall remain locked in stone until a woman’s tears shall soak into your skin, and her pleas for safety reach you in the chaos of battle.

Prologue Nagano, Japan, present day HANA RAN ALONG the elegant curves of the garden pathway, driven by the staccato sound of gunfire and the wave of heat and wind that struck as the first explosions roared behind her. Fighting for balance, she gripped the graceful handrail of the stone stairs, taking the final steps in a single bound. Tears blinded her to the beauty of her grandfather’s meticulously tended plants, the cordite stink overwhelming the rich smell of black soil. Memories threatened of her own fingers digging in this dirt, of her grandfather’s scratchy voice teaching, always teaching. Telling her of her birthright, her gift. That gift seemed more of a curse as she ran for her life, obeying her grandfather’s final order, leaving him to his fate along with so many others. Was any gift worth such a price? Was she worth such a sacrifice? But still she ran. Because that’s what he’d trained her to do. Obey. Learn. Conquer. In the end, she would triumph. It was the only thing that kept her going. Belief in her grandfather’s wisdom, in the know​ledge that in the end, his death would be avenged when their enemy lay dead at her feet.

She slowed her headlong rush, taking time to listen, to be certain she was alone before whispering words of magic that let her walk through a seemingly impenetrable hedge and enter the secret place known only to her grandfather and. . . . She choked back a sob. She was the only one who knew of this place now. Her grandfather, the one constant of her childhood, the only person who’d ever truly cared about her, was gone. She fell to her knees then, crying silent tears, aware that her enemies would already be searching for her, and that there would be at least one with magical talent among them. None who reached the level of sorcerer, perhaps. In these modern times, with magic so scarce in the world, sorcerers were too rare to risk on a dangerous assault like this, even the weak ones. But at least one magic sensitive would be included, because that was the only sure way they could track her. It might take them a while, but they would find this hidden garden, and they would destroy it to get to her. Because of who she was, what she was, and what she could do. She was no sorcerer, not even much of a magicuser, but she did have a talent. She was an amplifier of magic. Her grandfather had done his best to conceal what she was from others, but he’d privately speculated that Hana could as much as double the magical strength of a powerful sorcerer. Any sorcerer would kill to control her and her talent.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just any sorcerer who was after her. It was Sotiris, one of the most powerful and dangerous sorcerers in the world, one who’d been welcomed at her great-grandfather’s estate for decades. Sotiris was a ruthless man, but then, her great-grandfather had been such a man, too. It wasn’t kindness that had propelled him to the highest ranks of the Yakuza. But it hadn’t been crime that had drawn him to Sotiris, either. It was magic. The kind that surrounded the statue his ancestor had unearthed decades before. Her great-grandfather’s own magical talent had been minor, but it was enough to convince him there was something unusual about the statue hidden deep in the expansive gardens of the estate. And so, he’d courted Sotiris, talking to him of many things, slipping in the occasional casual inquiry of his true interest. Hana didn’t know all the details, but Sotiris was vain enough to have bragged late one night of the masterful curse he’d cast long ago in a time that was far removed from this one. He’d laughed as he’d described the twisted curses and the solutions necessary to break them, all designed to be as unlikely as possible to come about, to ensure that his enemies were punished for eternity. He wasn’t stupid enough to have given away the exact oaths or events, but he’d said enough that Hana’s great-grandfather had been convinced his garden statue was one of Sotiris’s warriors. He’d carefully recorded everything

he’d learned from those conversations, and those records had been passed down from father to son, until it was her grandfather who welcomed Sotiris as a guest in his home, continuing the hunt for more specifics in his quest to free the trapped warrior who now resided in a secret part of the garden, magically warded against discovery. Sotiris’s visits had continued until Hana had happened to cross paths with him. She’d been thirteen years old and just past puberty, on a visit home from boarding school. Since “home” had always meant her grandfather’s estate, she’d taken the armed men and tight security for granted, not realizing until she was much older what they meant. Her grandfather wasn’t a rich banker or merchant. He was a powerful member of the Yakuza, just as his father and grandfather had been. But even that knowledge hadn’t changed her love for him. On the day that she’d met Sotiris, she’d all but danced up the stairs, excited as always to be home. Dashing into the house, she’d nearly knocked over a gaijin friend of her grandfather’s, a man she recognized from his previous visits, though they’d never actually never met. She’d apologized and turned away when the stranger had called her back. Mindful of the courtesy due a visitor, she’d turned . . . and for the first time had known true fear. Her heart had shriveled in her chest, and she’d struggled to breathe. There’d been such avarice in the gaijin’s eyes, such hunger. She’d

thrown propriety to the winds, made some excuse, and walked away as fast as she could, running once she was out of his sight. She’d told her grandfather about the encounter later, apologizing for any insult she might have offered his guest. But she’d also told him the reason she’d run, and from that day, Sotiris had never again been welcome. He’d still courted her grandfather, still called, and occasionally visited, because Grandfather had believed in knowing one’s enemies. But he’d been exquisitely careful to schedule those visits when Hana was away from the estate. She’d never forgotten that chance meeting, never forgotten the lesson she’d learned in those few minutes—that the face of evil wasn’t the nightmarish ghoul of myth. He was handsome and urbane, and unfailingly polite. Until he ran out of patience and sent men to take what her grandfather wouldn’t give willingly. Bolstered by her grandfather’s courage and determined not to waste his life or the lives of the others who’d died to save her, she stared up at the statue who was hidden behind the magically protected hedge. His name was Urban Gabriel Halldor. And he was hers. When she’d been nineteen and just returned home for the holidays from the university she attended in the United States, her grandfather had gathered Hana and her twin brothers—two years older than she and a waste of

oxygen— and brought them to this place. Her stupid brothers had run true to form, mocking the warrior’s fierce expression, laughing at his fangs, and calling him a monster. They’d been banished forever after that, found wanting by this secret place, their thoughts wiped. But Hana had been visiting this garden since she was a child. She’d looked up at the giant warrior her idiot brothers had mocked and seen only her Gabriel. He might appear more demon than angel, but she knew his heart, and it was pure. Grief, suffocating and deep, swamped her at the memory of her grandfather’s proud smile on that day. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I don’t know what to do, Gabriel,” she said in a hoarse whisper. Go to Gabriel, Hana-chan. To safety. Her grandfather’s words echoed in her head. His last words. He wouldn’t have chosen them lightly. She wiped away her tears. Grandfather had been a scholar of magic, like his father and grandfather before him, and that was one of the first lessons he’d ever taught her. Words had power. Especially when it came to curses and the magic it took to break them. He’d always told her that Gabriel had been cursed, and that someday, fate would craft the right combination of people and events to free him and bring him back to life. And now she was risking everything on the belief that it was true. Because words had power. Reaching up, her hand still wet with tears, she

wrapped her fingers around one of Gabriel’s muscled calves and leaned back to stare up at his powerful visage. Did he stare back at her? She’d always thought so. “Safety,” she said, repeating what her grandfather had told her. And then she stood to face her warrior, to demand he respond. “It’s time, Urban Gabriel Halldor. Come back to the world, to me. You’re the only safety I know,” she added, choking back a fresh wave of loss. Nothing but silence met her plea, and her head dropped in despair. She spun when the first thunderous crack split the night, certain that she’d been found, that her enemies were upon her. In that moment, she pulled her blade, not to fight them off —there were far too many for that—but to end her own life, to deny them their prize. She looked down, pleased to see that her hand was steady, that her. . . . She frowned. Her bare arm was coated in gray powder, her fingers gritty on the hilt of her blade. “Hold your blade, Hana. Himura-san did not send you to me to die.”

Chapter One GABRIEL FOUGHT TO free the rest of his body, feeling every piece, every ounce of stone as it loosened and fell away from his head, his chest, his arms and legs. Air touched his skin for the first time in hundreds of years, maybe thousands. He had no way of measuring the passage of time after he’d been trapped by Sotiris’s curse. He knew only that more than two centuries had passed since he’d been unearthed from a volcanic cave by Hana’s grandfather’s grandfather and brought to rest in the Himura gardens. Not this garden, where magic seeded the very earth, but a garden. One with trees and sunlight, with birds singing, men arguing, and lovers trysting. It had been a great boon and enough, for a time, but now . . . Now Hana had freed him. He’d known from the moment he’d first seen her, the moment she’d seen him, truly seen him, in a way that no one else had since his imprisonment, that she would be the one to break the curse. Her grandfather had known it, too. Himura-san had come to this place and spoken to Gabriel almost apologetically, explaining that he didn’t know when it would happen, or what events would bring it about, only that he knew it was Hana who would finally free him.

And Gabriel had been content to wait. Because it was Hana, and she was his. And now it had happened. He’d known only a crisis would bring her to say the necessary words, to weep enough tears to soak into the stone of his prison, but even he hadn’t imagined this. Himura-san was dead. Gabriel grieved the loss of his friend, for all that it was bit​ter​sweet because that same loss had brought about his freedom. Another explosion thundered over the garden, causing tremors beneath his feet and shaking the impenetrable hedge that surrounded him. Sporadic gunfire followed, a last-ditch defense by the loyal, but doomed, Himura soldiers. That was bad enough, but what followed was far worse. The stink of magic drifted through the air and over the hedge. Gabriel was no sorcerer, not like Nicodemus, under whose leadership he and his warrior brothers had fought. But one couldn’t spend decades on those ancient battlefields without knowing when magic was being used, and in this case, for what. Someone out there had cast a seeking spell. Himura-san had warned him of this. They wanted Hana. Gabriel’s Hana. “We have to go.” He reached down and scooped her up, her waist so delicate beneath his arm that he eased his touch for fear of hurting her. She’d been staring at him in shock and a little fear, but she recov​ered quickly enough, slapping at his

arm and saying, “I can walk, you know.” “Yes, I know.” He smiled absently, not surprised by her reaction, or her fast recovery. He’d spent hours and weeks replaying every visit she’d ever made to his garden. He didn’t know which visits he’d loved the most—the ones where she’d been silent and meditative in martial exercises, flowing from form to form with a grace that was a gift to witness—or the times when she’d sit on the grass, leaning against his legs as she read to him, taking up the task from her grandfather and his grandfather. There’d been books, magazines, newspapers, and more recently the internet, which was far more wide-reaching in its scope, and sometimes puzzling to a man who’d been born in a time when ink and parchment had been rare and expensive. It had never mattered what Hana had read to him, however. It was the sound of her voice that had kept him sane, given him hope. The first Himura, the one who’d brought Gabriel out of that cave, had been a sorcerer, albeit a minor one. But he’d had just enough magic to know what he’d found, and enough curiosity to search for the origins of the curse that had created Gabriel’s stone prison. He’d never found it, but he’d passed the task on to his descendants who’d discovered the purpose of the curse, along with the core of what it would take to free him. But curses were tricky things. There’d been no way to accelerate Gabriel’s freedom. It wasn’t as simple as bringing in any woman to weep

and say the words. The eldest Himura had died, and his son after him and on down the line, each successive generation taking up the task of Gabriel’s safety and education, until finally a daughter had been born. A daughter who’d come to Gabriel’s garden and seen him in a way no one else had. Now that he was once more a free man, he didn’t care how much longer he lived. If it was long enough to make Hana safe from her enemies, he would die content. His arm slid from around her waist, but he remained close, nose to the air, senses on high alert. The enemy hadn’t yet found this hiding place. The multiple twists and turns of Himura-san’s gardens had been designed for more than beauty. They’d been crafted for just this, to thwart discovery of Gabriel and whoever stood with him, especially by magical means. Keeping his body between Hana and the enemy’s most likely approach, he followed her to the far corner of the garden, where a long escape path tunneled through row after row of seemingly impenetrable hedges, coming out at a never-used door in the back wall of the estate. He’d never seen it before, but both Himura-san and Hana had described it to him in exquisite detail, his warrior’s mind seeing it laid before him as if he’d walked it personally. The door at the end had been kept in perfect condition—its wood treated, hinges oiled— against the day any member of the Yakuza knew

would come eventually. “Stop,” he now ordered softly, reaching a hand around and placing it on her belly, holding her in place, his body curling around hers in automatic protection. To her credit, she didn’t fight him, but froze in place, listening, just as he was doing. He inhaled slowly, testing the air. “Quiet as a mouse,” he said, finally urging her forward. “What do you know about mice?” she muttered under her breath, but did as he suggested, every foot precise in its placement, so that she moved nearly as silently as he did. Which was saying something, because Gabriel was one of the finest warriors who’d ever lived. Granted, he’d been better known for his berserker performances on the battlefield, but war was a multi-faceted endeavor. He and his warrior brothers had been as skilled off the field as on it. Her rejoinder made him smile again. His Hana was the very picture of a delicate maiden, but she was anything but. He didn’t know about the “maiden” part and didn’t like to think about it, but she was most definitely not delicate. And for what it was worth, he knew about mice. Rodents had been around far longer than this modern society of hers. HANA DIDN’T NEED Gabriel’s whispered “slowly” to approach the secret door with caution. She’d tended it for all the years since she’d come home from university in the U.S., but that only meant

it was well maintained—the wood solid, the hinges silent. It was primarily mundane in nature, but her grandfather had placed a minor concealment spell, the most his modest talent could muster and with no guarantee it would work, in case one of his many gardeners happened upon it and became curious. But a magical sensitive could have found it easily enough. And so, she paused while still under cover of the hedge tunnel, searching for any sign of an unwelcome presence. “Nothing,” she whispered, for Gabriel’s sake. She didn’t know how much he understood about magic, but he had to have the basics. He’d known of their enemy’s seeker spell, which meant he was sensitive to its use. Not to mention that he’d offended a powerful sorcerer enough to have been the object of one of the cruelest curses she’d ever come across. Her grandfather had shared what he knew, what he and his ances​tors had been able to uncover after decades of trying. To have been trapped in stone for centuries and probably longer, while seeing the world pass by. To hear everything, understand every language, and yet be unable to react at all, not even to let the world know he was trapped. She couldn’t begin to imagine his torment. How was he still sane? Maybe he wasn’t, although she didn’t believe that. She couldn’t have explained how or why, but she’d known he was aware of her from the very first day. He’d listened when she’d read to him, learned of the

world through her eyes and, she hoped, found solace in her company. And now he was free. Her grandfather had never told her the specifics of Gabriel’s curse, although she was sure he’d known at least some of it. While he’d had little magical talent, he’d been a dedicated magical historian. His collection of magical books and devices was unparalleled, and thankfully not stored on the estate, or it would all have belonged to Sotiris after tonight. He’d moved it to a private vault some time ago. Not all at once, but a few pieces at a time, using business trips and vacations as cover. It was almost as if he’d known this day would come sooner rather than later and wanted to be prepared. He’d been a hard task master, his life one of uncompromising honor and discipline—traits he’d pounded into her on the mats and in the classroom. But he’d also held her when she was sick and comforted her when she cried, before setting her on her feet and pounding her on the mats one more time. She inhaled deeply. There would be a time to remember, to honor his memory. But that time wasn’t now. Her grandfather would under​stand this better than most. Reaching back, she brushed her fingers over Gabriel’s forearm. His muscles flexed reactively, and she frowned. She didn’t know the intri​cacies of a spell that could maintain such powerful, toned

muscles over centuries without nutrition, but now that he was free, he was going to need food. And lots of it. Hana had dated big men, had observed some of her grandfather’s soldiers. Men like that, like Gabriel, ate a lot. Like a lot. If he wasn’t starving already, he would be soon. So, first order of business, escape the estate with no one the wiser and make their way to one of several bolt holes she’d set up in the city. After that, Gabriel could eat while they made some plans. They couldn’t remain in Nagano. It wasn’t a small place, but it wasn’t huge, either. A gaijin of Gabriel’s size and appearance would draw unwanted attention. “Safe?” he whispered, his warm breath sending shivers over her skin. The good kind of shivers. She slid her hand down to grip his wrist and would have started forward, but he twisted his hand until he was the one doing the gripping and slid past her. Sneaky bastard. She tried to remember if she’d read anything to him about modern women and feminism. Maybe she should have. Coming up behind him, she waited while he laid a hand against the thick wood. He went perfectly still as he searched for sounds beyond the gate, for any scent or sign of the enemy. But his eyes remained open, because no warrior would close his eyes in the midst of battle. There were other ways of concentrating one’s senses. With a sharp nod, he stepped aside, watching her

back as she traced the runes necessary to open the gate, knowing the small amount of magic would be undetectable against the many vines of spells woven into her grandfather’s gardens over the years. Once the gate opened a fraction, however, Gabriel pulled her behind him once more and exited first. She shoved him ahead of her so she could close the gate. Or she tried to. The man was like a fucking statue. She rolled her eyes. Bad choice of words. He seemed to understand what she wanted, though, and after a quick scan of the narrow alley they’d come out to, he moved enough for her to close the gate behind them. She took the lead after that, and he let her, since she was the only one who knew where they were going. Hell, he’d never been outside the bounds of the secret garden which had been his hiding place. It was one thing for him to memorize the route and parameters of a hedge tunnel, but another entirely to navigate the frequently numberless, nameless streets of a Japanese city. She started off with him beside her, moving quickly, but easily. Anyone noticing them would see an ordinary young couple walking down the street. Or maybe not so ordinary, but hopefully the shadows on the unlit street would conceal Gabriel’s foreignness, not to mention his blatantly anachronistic and military clothing. She needed to do some​thing about that, too. Not his appearance—

most of that couldn’t be fixed—but his clothing. Why hadn’t she thought of this? She’d stocked clothing for herself in her bolt holes. But why hadn’t she thought of doing the same for Gabriel? Well, probably because no one—like her grandfather! —had ever told her the fucking statue was going to come to life. Although maybe that was what her grandfather had been trying to tell her all those years, when he’d told her the statue was life-sized. He’d been very stingy with details, obviously afraid she might foil Gabriel’s release if she knew too much too soon. They crossed two unmarked intersections without pause, but as they approached the third, Hana slowed. It was decision time. The sky was already beginning to lighten on the horizon, and she wanted to be well under cover before dawn. She had two hiding places within safe distance, but they were in opposite directions. She studied the buildings around the intersection. Few lights were on already, but those few would be joined by more and more as people woke to prepare for the day. It was a workday in Nagano, but then, what wasn’t? Looking left and right, and seeing no difference in terms of safety, she slid her arm through Gabriel’s, in case anyone happened to glance out a window, and turned left, which would take them to a condo in a small complex that she’d purchased years ago, under one of her several well-established pseudonyms.

She’d expended a lot of effort over that time, establishing herself in the complex as a quiet professional who worked nights and slept days. She was unfailingly polite and reserved to her few neighbors, and they were the same. Neither they nor she offered anything more in the way of friendship, which wasn’t unusual in her country. She wasn’t sure why she’d chosen this particular bolt hole until they got there. She climbed the single flight of stairs to her condo, with Gabriel moving so silently behind her that she almost looked back to make sure he was still there. It was remarkable that such a big man could move so stealthily. It made her wonder what he’d done in his previous life, other than his obvious role on the battlefield, before he’d become the enemy of a sorcerer powerful enough to trap him in a living prison. Opening the door, she stepped quickly inside, looked around, and smiled, knowing what instinct had brought her there. It was bigger and newer, with higher ceilings and better construction, which meant Gabriel’s every footfall wouldn’t threaten to crash through the floor, and his head wouldn’t brush the ceiling. She watched as he closed the door then turned to study the lock mechanism with a frown. Understanding, Hana reached over, and while he watched intently, flipped the thumb turns on the double deadbolts, then armed the security system. Both were upgrades she’d installed herself, working

during the day when her neighbors were gone and she was supposedly sleeping. Gabriel looked around, and for the first time since he’d been free, she saw his eyes cloud with confusion and . . . not fear. She had a feeling there was very little that frightened her ancient warrior. But something close to despair. She didn’t blame him. Hell, she was sure she’d have been curled in a corner if she’d survived the way he had, only to find freedom in a world that no longer made sense, no matter how many hours she and her grandfather had spent reading to him. For that matter, if she’d known he was literally going to come to life, she might have made different reading choices, with a lot more pictures. But that wasn’t what he needed from her now. Stepping close, she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him, rooting him in the present with touch and emotion. His arms circled her in return, slowly at first, then tighter. And if he held on a bit too tightly, she understood and didn’t complain. What was there to complain about? He was hers. Her Gabriel was holding her in his arms, something she’d only ever dreamed of, never believing it was possible. She gave him a final squeeze then pulled back, blinking as she noticed for the first time that his fangs were gone. They’d been one of the most distinctive features of his statue, the one that had made her wonder if he was something other than

human, or if the enemy sorcerer had added them to convey his hatred. Gabriel saw her staring and dropped his arms at once, as if afraid he’d taken unwanted liberties with her body. Hating the uncertainty that lingered in his eyes, she threaded her fingers through his and said, “You must be starving.” He paused, as if needing to think about his answer. “Food would be welcome,” he agreed. “The curse provided whatever sustainment required to keep me alive and aware, else how could we suffer as our enemy intended?” “We? There were more of you?” He nodded. “Myself and my brothers. There were four of us.” “You have brothers?” “Not of the blood. I was my father’s only son. My brothers were by choice, warriors I fought beside for decades, united in our loyalty to the great sorcerer Nicodemus.” “Do you think—?” she bit her lip hesitantly, not wanting to cause him any pain, “—could your brothers be alive the way you are?” His gaze blanked as he thought about it. “It seems likely. We were, all four of us, cursed on the same day. Most likely the same curse, though the words must have been tailored for each of us, because Himura-san told me what he knew of my—” “Grandfather knew the specifics of your curse? Knew what it would take to free you? Why didn’t he

—?” “Gently, Hana,” he said softly. “Your grandfather didn’t know exactly what it would take. He only knew the sense of it. He also knew if he told you that much, you’d be unable to resist trying to break the spell, and he worried any precipitous attempts would make the curse unbreakable.” She grimaced. “I knew that. Well, not before tonight, but once I thought about it, it made sense.” He grinned. “I’m happy to truly meet you at last, Himura Hana.” She grinned back. Even knowing they had a million decisions to make—where to go, what to do next—she couldn’t help responding to his joy. He had that indefinable quality that some people possessed, a charisma that made you want to bask in the warmth of their presence. He was intensely masculine, with thick black hair curling to his shoul​ders, where it met up with a beard of the same color that disguised everything but brown eyes that gleamed with intelligence. “It’s good to meet you, too, Urban Gabriel Halldor.” He frowned. “Just Gabriel, if you please. Urban was my father, may demons feast on his flesh.” Hana’s eyes widened, but she let that one pass. There’d be plenty of time later for an exchange of parental horror stories. “Okay, Gabriel, let’s get back to food, then. I have steak in the freezer, and probably some fries. Or rice, if you prefer. No fresh

vegetables, I’m afraid.” He was eyeing her patiently, as if waiting for her to finish. “I don’t know this world. I’ll trust your judgment.” She smiled. “I could get used to this. Why don’t you shower . . . or would you rather a bath?” He gave her that same look, one eyebrow raised. Right. He’d never have taken a shower before and had no comparison. “How about a shower, then. It’s faster, and we have decisions to make. Come on, I’ll set you up.” She walked into the bathroom, which was reasonably sized, although nothing to brag about. Pulling back the shower curtain, she turned on the hot water first, letting it warm up, while she pointed out the hot and cold faucets to Gabriel. Turning, she looked up at him and realized they’d have to change his appearance. His size was notable, but while big wasn’t the norm in Japanese society, it wasn’t unheard of, either. But the curl and length of his hair, and that beard. . . . She sighed and looked up to meet his gaze. “You need a haircut, and . . . I hate to say it, but the beard has to go.” Those brown eyes widened. “In my world, only small boys and eunuchs went beardless.” She regarded him silently. “But this is not my world, so I am at your mercy.” Hana grinned. “It’s not that bad. Here, sit down.” She nudged him toward the closed toilet seat. “We

can’t risk taking you to a salon, so let me see what I can do.” Reaching into a drawer, she pulled out a good pair of scissors that she sometimes used to cut the blunt ends of her own long, black hair when she didn’t have time for anything more elegant. With that and a fine-toothed comb, she set to work. GABRIEL SAT PERFECTLY still, listening to the snick of the double- bladed instrument that Hana had called scissors while she cut his hair. Thick lengths of it fell to the towel she’d wrapped around his shoulders, and he tried not to wince. Even as a child, he’d had hair to his shoulders, but it hadn’t escaped his notice that the Himura men had all begun to wear their hair short some decades ago. There were a few who wore their long hair snugged back into a tight queue, but they were the exception rather than the rule. As for beards. . . . He swallowed his sigh. Men in this country didn’t wear beards, or if they did, they were wispy things completely unlike his own full, thick bush that covered his chin and touched his chest. A buzz of noise drew his attention as Hana held up an electric device for him to see. His gaze lifted from the buzzing thing to her eyes. “It’s an electric shaver. I use it on my legs and”— she blushed, sud​denly unable to look at him—“other places, but it should work well enough on your face. Even though it’s pink.” Her blush deepened as she

gave herself a small shake then studied his beard far more intently than necessary. “I’ve never cut a beard before,” she said briskly, “but I think we’ll do better if I use the scissors first, just to deal with the length, and then go to the shaver. What do you think?” “I think I used to trim both my hair and beard with my belt knife, so there’s no need to be delicate about it,” he responded dryly. She blinked in surprise. “Oh. Well, good.” And then she started cutting. Gabriel couldn’t see the curly clumps of his beard as they fell, but he could feel cool air where it had never been before. At least not since he’d sprouted his first beard as a barely grown youth of fourteen. He kept his gaze firmly on the velvet smoothness of Hana’s cheek as she bent over him, fighting the desire to lower his eyes to the swell of her breasts. He was her protector, nothing more. Setting aside the scissors, she went to pick up the razor, but over​balanced as she reached over his shoulder. Gabriel reacted instinctively, putting both hands on her hips to keep her from falling. Hana’s own hands landed on his shoulders, and he was abruptly aware of how close she was. She’d moved forward while cutting his hair, until she was standing between his legs, and now their bodies were almost touching. Bad enough that his fingers were locked over her hips, her flesh firm under his grip, but he could feel the curve of her waist, the incipient swell

of her ass that told him this was a woman in his arms. Not a child needing his protection. But a woman, fully grown. He looked up, intending to apologize, trying to persuade himself to let go of her, only to find her staring at him, cheeks once more flushed pink beneath the sun-warmed gold of her skin. Her hand cupped his jaw. “You have such wonderful cheekbones,” she said softly, her thumb rubbing gently over his cheek as their eyes remained locked. “It’s a crime to have covered those up.” Her tongue darted out to wet her full lips, and Gabriel’s fingers clenched on her hips as he struggled against the urge to pull her even closer, to tuck her between his legs until her thighs were pressed against the heavy weight of his cock, already half-erect. Her throat moved in a swallow, drawing his gaze to the elegant length of her neck. “I should probably . . .” Her quiet words were interrupted as she wet her lips again. Her chest swelled with an indrawn breath. “It’s getting steamy in here,” she whispered. Gabriel loosened his grip enough to slide his hands up to her waist. “I didn’t want you to fall,” he said, his voice rough with a desire he didn’t want to acknowledge. “Thank you.” She smiled, deepening the two small dimples just below her cheekbones. She’d confessed to hating those dimples when she was much younger,

but he’d always loved them because they were uniquely hers. Her fingers rubbed through the short scruff of his beard. “I should finish this. Make you look even prettier.” He snorted, grateful for the small touch of humor that broke through the erotic tension of the moment. “Warriors don’t need to look pretty.” She leaned forward and touched her lips to his, barely a brush of skin, but enough to spark that tension all over again. Seeming to realize what she’d done, Hana straightened abruptly and flicked on the electric razor. “Pretty is as pretty does, warrior. But I’ll see if I can make you simply handsome instead.” GABRIEL STOOD IN the bedroom, still warm from his shower, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. He was accustomed to the heat. The baths of his world had been hot enough to boil a man’s balls sometimes. But no bath could compare to the pounding heat of these showers, or the fall of clear water around him as he washed a few millennia’s worth of dust and sweat from his skin. He rubbed a hand over the bare scruff of his cheek, still feeling naked without a beard, despite the dark shadow Hana had left him. It had been a shock to see his own face in the mirror, though Hana had seemed to like it well enough. He frowned at the thought, reminded of that moment in the bathroom when he’d wanted nothing more than to have her straddle

his lap and slide his cock between her thighs. A growl rose from his throat as he forced the thought away and grabbed the pants she’d found for him in a drawer. They were nothing he would have chosen for himself—soft and formless, too short in the leg and too big in the hips, black with a white stripe down the side. And they smelled like another man. He wanted to know where they’d come from. Did Hana have a lover? If she’d purchased this home several years ago, as it seemed, she could have had more than one man in her life during that time. The thought made him unhappy, even though he knew it was foolish. She had been his hope, his main contact with the outside world for so long that he’d begun to think of her as his. She was his, but his to protect, to fight alongside. More like a fellow warrior than a . . . lover. He hesitated to say the word, even in his head, terrified of tempting the gods to toy with him more than they already had. He was certainly no virgin. During the years he’d spent fighting under Nicodemus’s leadership, victorious in battle after battle, the women had thrown themselves at him and his warrior brothers. And he’d bedded his share. The battles had been fierce, but so had the victory celebrations. No matter how sedate the banquet that began the festivi​ties, the end had always been the same—him and a pile of well-satisfied women in a big bed. He couldn’t say he’d minded it, either.

But his feelings for Hana were different. Maybe it was because she’d been his salvation over the past few years, the first light in the desperate darkness of his prison. But if he was honest with himself—and he liked to think he was an honorable man—his feelings for her went well beyond gratitude. That much had been made clear earlier. But she wasn’t a woman to be bedded and cast aside. She was beautiful and intelligent, and yes, a fierce fighter. That last trait was something he’d never thought would have appealed to him. And yet, with Hana, it did. And here he stood, jealous of the man whose clothes he wore, jealous that some other man had been familiar enough with his Hana to leave clothing in her home. “You almost finished in there?” Hana’s call snapped him out of his reveries. He shouldn’t be moping around in a lovesick fog. There were far more important issues to consider. Like who wanted Hana, and how he could make her safe. He almost smiled when he considered her probable reaction to that thought. She’d accept his help, but she’d also insist on being part of her own defense. The very idea of doing other​wise would have made her laugh in disbelief. He donned the “T-shirt” she’d provided—simple white cloth, but much softer than he was accustomed to, and also too small. He took a visceral satisfaction

in knowing his rival was a smaller man. “The clothes are fine,” he said, walking into the larger room, “but too small. Your . . . man is not a warrior?” Her dark eyes scanned him from head to toe, a smile playing over her pretty lips. “I don’t have a man. Grandfather knew of this place and suggested some time ago that I acquire a few pieces of men’s clothing, just in case. At the time, I assumed he might want me to provide a safe house for some of his . . . less savory business acquaintances.” “He would have trusted that kind of man with your safety?” Gabriel winced at hearing the very words he’d told himself not to say. Her dark eyes narrowed predictably. “First, I provide for my own safety. And second, no, Grandfather was very particular when it came to limiting my contact with his men.” She scowled. “How do you know what kind of people he did business with?” Gabriel shrugged. “I knew Himura-san for many years before I met you. He was a child when he first found me in his father’s garden. As he aged, I became a confessor of sorts, someone he could confide in without repercussions, either in business or otherwise. He was a good man, but even good men do bad things.” Hana’s eyes closed as a wave of grief passed over her expressive face. “From the time I was small, I

knew he sometimes did terrible things. That’s why his son, my father, moved to the other side of the world, to get his own sons away from that. But Grandfather was always my Jiichan, and I loved him.” Gabriel fought against the desire to comfort her, to put his arms around her and let her grieve. His Hana was strong, but even the strongest warriors sometimes needed to be held. He and his brothers had wept on each other’s shoulders more than once in the aftermath of a brutal battle, mourning their dead, even as they’d thanked the fates for sparing each other. At least until the fates lost their collective minds and favored that butcher Sotiris instead. He came as close as he dared, then reached out to cup Hana’s soft cheek. “I mourn him, too. No matter his faults, he was my friend.” She tilted her head into his hand, eyes closed for a moment. Then, as if drawing the strength he so desperately hoped to provide her, her expression firmed and her eyes opened. “We should eat before the steak gets cold. I cooked it rare . . . bloody,” she clarified at his look of confusion. “But the pan’s still hot, so I can easily cook it more, if you prefer.” They’d crossed to the table while she’d been talking. He stared down at the meat sitting on his plate in a pool of warm, bloody juices. His mouth watered, and a different kind of need tightened his chest. His voice came out ragged with hunger. “Bloody is fine.”

“I figured. You want wine or beer? Or I have water.” Gabriel forced himself to look away from the nearly raw meat and consider her offer. He knew that drinking water was much safer now than it had been, but other beverages had likely changed as well. He glanced up at her. “How’s your beer?” She grinned. “Possibly too strong for you.” It sounded like a challenge, and he welcomed the distraction. “I’ll have beer.” HOURS LATER, GABRIEL sat on the too-soft, too-small bed, his back against the wall, as he watched Hana sleep soundly in an identical bed only two feet away. She seemed to have no problem with the size or anything else. She probably favored it. These were her beds, after all. She had apologized, saying she hadn’t known she’d be hosting a warrior. That made him feel better about the possibility of past lovers. If she’d had a lover in this apartment, he must have been a very small man to fit in such a bed. Or a fool who didn’t mind sleeping apart from her. He couldn’t imagine any man making that choice, and then realized he wasn’t sleeping with her either. He scowled as he swung his legs over the side and picked up his boots before slipping quietly out of the room. He’d slept a few hours after dinner. The food had been delicious, the bloody steak far more tender than the meat of his time. Even the

vegetables, which she’d pulled out of the freezer along with the steak and forced him to eat, had been surprisingly good, tasting of a variety of herbs and butter. And the beer. . . . He laughed silently. She’d watched covertly as he downed the first glass in two long draughts. The beer had been flavorful and rich, with a heady aroma that made him want to swoon with pleasure. He’d immediately opened a second container and downed half of that, too. Her gleeful expression had told him she’d expected an untoward reaction to his rapid consumption. But while it had been a strong brew, it was nothing compared to the beer of his time. Had she really thought he’d pass out from one glass? Or even two? Her glee had been replaced by a charming frown by the time he finished his third glass. The memory made him smile. They’d “crashed” as Hana put it, after that. But now he was wide awake. He’d already slept for thousands of years—or near enough. He now knew that he’d spent millennia trapped in the dark of that volcanic cave. If not for a chance bit of nature’s capriciousness that had spit him close to the surface, and the sorcerous curiosity of Hana’s ancestors, he might be there still. He wasn’t going to waste his newfound freedom sleeping. It wasn’t only that, however. He was restless, as if it were the night before battle. He sat near the table in the kitchen and pulled on his boots, tying them as

securely as he could. Time had not been kind to the leather, and they needed to be replaced, but where he’d been able to make do with Hana’s spare clothing, boots were another matter. He couldn’t go barefoot, so these would have to do until they purchased something better. Standing, he placed a hand to his hip and clenched his jaw when he found nothing but his belt knife. That was another item on their list for this morning. Weapons. Hana had a gun, along with a short blade. But while his own knife was a good one, it wasn’t enough. He longed for the familiar weight of his favorite sword, feeling empty and unbalanced without it. He hadn’t been holding it in the instant of Sotiris’s curse. His squire had noticed a loose bit of leather on the hilt and pointed it out to him as he’d strode out to take his place at the head of Nicodemus’s army, next to his brothers. He normally would have let it pass. Once the battle lust was upon him, a stray bit of leather wouldn’t matter. He’d happily slice himself bloody to vanquish his enemy. But his squire had offered to run it to the smithy and get it fixed. Gabriel had agreed, too busy talking to his brothers and trusting that the blade would be returned in time. But then the curse had hit, and he’d been left without it, albeit not without any weapon at all. He was a berserker. His body was a weapon. His gaze scanned the security panel that Hana had pointed out to him earlier. She’d demonstrated how

it worked, made him memorize the code, and then armed it before they’d gone to bed. The small light shone a baleful red now, indicating it was on and working. And the silence told him there were no threats. At least none that the device could detect. He crossed the room and parted the covering over the window overlooking the street, studying every detail. For all that this world had far more light than the one he’d come from, there were still too many hiding places. He stared until his eyes burned, until the first pale color of a new dawn began to creep into the shadows, but found nothing amiss. For the time, at least, it seemed they’d foiled their pursuers. They both knew it wouldn’t last, however. They’d discussed their next steps at dinner but hadn’t agreed on anything. Hana had decided they needed more information, and he couldn’t argue with that. This was her world, after all, not his. They’d be moving somewhere else this morning. But first, Hana wanted to stop at several banks and pick up money and papers. Gabriel knew what banks were. They’d featured prominently in the news stories both Hana and Himura-san had read to him over the years. He also knew that one couldn’t travel freely in this world without identification papers. So he understood the need to wait until morning, but his instincts, which had been quiet until now, were telling him their enemy was much closer than they thought. Abandoning the main windows, he slipped silently

back into the bedroom and peered from that window as well. There was no street on this side of the building, only an empty space and then a second, nearly identical, two-story housing unit that was far too close. He could have opened the glass and easily leapt through the neighbor’s window. If he could do it, what was to say someone else couldn’t? Footsteps had him swinging around to stare at the door, where the red light still shone steadily. He nearly woke Hana anyway, but then realized the footsteps were moving down the stairs toward the street, not up from it. Neighbors. Hana had warned him about those. She’d said they’d be leaving with the dawn. The knowledge should have made him feel better, but his instincts were still screaming, and he’d learned a long time ago not to ignore them. Spinning on his heel, he moved silently back into the bedroom and crouched next to Hana’s bed. He had no idea how she’d react to being awakened. He felt he knew her in so many ways, but this wasn’t one of them. On the other hand, she’d been trained as a soldier in her grand​father’s private army. “Hana,” he said softly and placed a careful hand on her shoulder. She didn’t move, other than the brush of thick lashes against her cheeks as her deep-brown eyes opened and met his in question. “They’ve found us.” He didn’t know how he knew this was true, but he did. He stood and made his way back to the living room, as she swung to her feet and

reached for her own boots. A moment later, he heard a noise from the stairs, the soft scuff of an errant step, quickly stilled. Going back to the window, he peered through the opening he’d left in the curtains and saw a man standing in the thinning shadows, his head turning slowly from side to side, eyes constantly moving. A lookout. Hana emerged from the bedroom, buckling on her weapons as she joined him. She glanced down briefly at the guard on the street, then pulled him away from the window and brought out her cell phone. He knew what these devices did. She’d shown him hers soon after she’d gotten her first one, but she’d also kept him apprised of improvements as the years moved on. He understood in principle how they worked but had never so much as touched one. He watched now as she tapped the small screen and brought up a moving picture of the stairs outside her condo’s front door. He felt a moment’s irritation that she hadn’t made him aware of the device’s utility earlier, but that was quickly replaced by consternation at the sight of several black-garbed and well-armed men moving up the stairs nearly as silently as he could have himself. He did a split-second assessment of their chances. He was accus​tomed to taking on the impossible, but he wasn’t suicidal. Not now that he’d finally gotten his life back, and especially not with Hana’s life at risk, too. He thought of the bedroom window and

hoped her neighbors wouldn’t mind a rude awakening, but when he reached for the window shade, she stepped in front of him with a silent request for him to let her take the lead in planning. When he nodded, she hurried back to the closet and came out with a coil of lightweight, but sturdylooking rope and laid it on the bed. Moving back to the window, she held a finger to her lips for silence, then pushed the shade to one side, carefully flicked a metal latch on the window, and slid it open on a welloiled runner. She picked up the rope and took the lead in one hand, preparing a knot as she leaned out and looked down between the buildings, as if getting ready to climb. Gabriel covered her hand with his to stop her, then moved her aside and stuck out his own head but looked upward instead. Leaning back, he took the rope from her shoulder and looped it over his own, then climbed up onto the narrow frame, flexed his knees, and leapt for the roof. It should have been an easy jump for him. He’d made far higher leaps under worse conditions. He managed it, but just barely and not with his usual grace. Apparently, a few thousand years of immobility had affected him after all. He supposed he should be grateful that bastard Sotiris had preserved him as well as he had. Fortunately, there was no one to witness his awkward landing, and within moments, he had knotted the rope and dropped it down to the window

where Hana waited. She grabbed on and scaled it with a few economical motions, taking his hand for the final jump to the roof itself. She gave him an odd look, which he didn’t understand and didn’t have time to worry about. Coiling the rope once more, he draped it over his head and one shoulder, then turned her to face the neighboring building. Pointing silently at the empty space between them, a distance that approximated his own height if he’d been lying down, he asked with his eyes if she could make the leap. She gave him that odd look again and shook her head. He nodded in understanding. He’d come of age and trained in a much more primitive era, although they hadn’t thought so at the time. Technology had eliminated the need for so much human strength and endurance, that even warriors such as his Hana had been trained far differently than he had. He didn’t judge her for it, though. Far better for her to know her abilities and limitations than to risk her life proving something that didn’t need proving. On the other hand, he figured she must have a safe route out of the neighborhood. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been prepared for a window escape. She proved him right in the next instant, when she touched his arm and led him to the back of her building, which was far larger than he’d thought. Apparently, there were four additional condominiums in a mirror image of her own and

her neighbors’, both upstairs and down. Reaching the edge, she crouched low and peeked over the side; then pausing only to give him a confirming nod, she swung over the side and started down a metal ladder which was bolted to the wall. Gabriel waited until Hana was halfway down, not wanting to put too much weight on what appeared to be a flimsy ladder, then followed her to the street. Once there, they made their way to what was more an alley than a street, moving away from the direction where they’d seen the lookout from the front window. After several blocks, the alley came up against yet another tall building. Unfortunately, there was only one exit, which took them between some more buildings and back to the street in front of her condo. Gabriel took the lead at that point. He stepped out of the alley and walked a few paces toward her condo, rather than away, then leaned casually against the building, as if waiting for someone, while he used his peripheral vision to scan in both directions. Finding no threats, he walked back to the alley entrance and held out a hand without stopping. Hana clasped it, and they strolled down the street, as if they had no reason to hurry. She’d donned a jacket over her obvious weapons and had provided yet another piece of too-small clothing for him—a jacket to cover his knife. “I’ve got another place about a mile from here,” she said, leaning in to him as if they were lovers.

Gabriel had to remind himself that they weren’t. He still thought of her as very much his, but that didn’t mean she felt the same way, no matter how she’d responded earlier. His feelings weren’t in any way reliable, much less appropriate. “It’s small, but closer to the bank,” she was saying, “so we can regroup there until it opens. I should go to the bank alone, by the way. You’re—” Gabriel snorted. “Not a chance. No one’s looking for me, älskling. I don’t exist.” She frowned. “EL-skling,” she repeated. “I don’t know that word.” He smiled crookedly. “It conveys affection.” Her frown deepened, but then she gestured, brushing away the thought. “Whatever. Look, this is a very exclusive financial institution. You can’t walk in there looking like you climbed out of someone else’s hamper.” He didn’t understand everything she’d just said, but he was certain he’d been insulted. Hana’s clothes hadn’t fit well enough to conceal the armor he’d worn under his tunic, armor that had been gifted to him by Nicodemus and was imbued with magical protections. He didn’t know if it would stop modern weapons, especially the guns which were carried by so many of their enemies, but Nico had been a very powerful sorcerer. The armor would provide at least some protection, and he’d had no intention of heading into battle naked. So, he’d put the armor

against his skin, then salvaged his tunic, and pulled the too-small jacket over it all. It had made him feel better about heading out among their enemies, but he couldn’t argue with the way it looked. “Sorry,” she muttered. “My friend’s a personal shopper in Karuizawa. I’ll have her bring some things over.” Gabriel didn’t comment. They might be close to making a clean escape, but they hadn’t managed it yet. Unnecessary talk would only distract them when they were still very much in danger. He didn’t begin to relax until they’d walked several more blocks. They were still on Hana’s street, but since it wasn’t perfectly straight, her condo was no longer in sight. With every passing minute, more people and cars ap​peared on the streets and sidewalks, and he relaxed a touch more. He and Hana were no longer a lone couple, but just one more in a crowd. Granted, he wasn’t the typical Nagano citizen, but he did his best to look harmless, rounding his shoulders and keeping his head lowered as much as he could without hampering his vision. “There,” Hana said softly, nodding up ahead. “We can take that next turn. It adds a few blocks, but it gets us off this street.” Gabriel had no sooner nodded his understanding than he looked up and met the eyes of a killer. He’d never seen the man before, but he knew what he was. Because he was a killer, too. Their gazes held a

moment too long, each assessing the other, and then the killer glanced at Hana and his eyes went wide. With a shout in Japanese, the man reached beneath his jacket, but Hana was faster. She fired twice and immediately stashed her gun back under her jacket, as red bloomed on the man’s chest, and the two of them ran for cover with everyone else. They hit the corner and turned, wanting to get out of sight and put some distance between them and the man she’d probably killed. “You think he was alone?” she asked tersely. “No. Better question: did he get a signal off to anyone before he went down?” They got their answer a moment later when four men in the plain black uniform of whatever private army was pursuing them stepped out from between two buildings. Gabriel registered their presence in the same moment that all four turned their guns on him and fired. As he went down, his only thought was that at least Hana wasn’t hurt. They wanted her alive. They’d only shot him because he was in the way of that goal. He hit the hard pavement, felt something give way in his chest, and heard himself grunt in pain. Someone kicked him as they ran past, leaving him for dead, or near enough, as they rushed to grab Hana. She screamed his name. His eyelids were almost too heavy to lift, as he looked up and saw her fighting them off. Her knife was drawn, blood

dripping from one enraged attacker as he backhanded her and dragged her toward a car that pulled up with a screech of tires. A churning started in his gut, a fire that he hadn’t felt in millennia, a rage he’d fought to control for most of his life. But he didn’t fight it now. Not with Hana’s life at stake. He came to his feet with a furious roar, pulling his knife as he surged upward, stabbing one of the men in the kidney, then reaching up and snapping his neck before he could fall. Two of the others swung around, their expressions registering shock when they saw the blood soaking his clothes, shock turning to horror when they saw his face. They fired their weapons, but terror slowed their reactions for a critical few seconds as Gabriel grabbed one and gutted him, letting him slide to the ground while still holding the slithering coils of his own intestines in disbelief. The third man got a single shot off, and some part of Gabriel felt his shoulder weaken, but he was beyond pain. He stepped into the man’s guard and grabbed the gun, wrenching it around and firing two bullets point blank into the assailant’s chest, adding a third against his forehead to be certain of death. Dropping the gun, he surged toward the last attacker, the one who’d grabbed Hana and was trying to force her into the car while she kicked and fought, her knife having been knocked aside, and the man’s grip leaving her unable to reach her own gun in its shoulder holster

beneath her jacket. The man punched her face, splitting her lip. He pulled his fist back for a second punch, but it never connected. He screamed when Gabriel grabbed his fist and crushed it, pulling him away from Hana and digging his fingers into the man’s throat. He would have killed him then, would have ripped out his esophagus and left him to choke on his own blood, but Hana was calling his name. He looked up to see her running around to the driver’s side of the vehicle, but that wasn’t what stole his breath. Blood poured from her swollen mouth, from a vicious tear in her cheek, and a slice across her forehead. Hana was bleeding. And he lost it. His gums swelled as he gripped the man by the hair and jerked his head back. He felt power surge at the terror in the man’s eyes, the knowledge that his end was upon him and it would be a horrible death. Fangs slid out and the pathetic creature beneath him gave a pitiful scream as Gabriel’s fangs sank in his neck and he drank. Life raced through his veins, bringing a heat and power like no other. This was what he’d needed, what he’d earned on this battlefield. This was the victor’s share. HANA SAW THE driver’s door open on the attackers’ sedan, saw the driver step out, as if ready to help, saw the fear on his face when he realized his

fellow henchmen were all down or dead. Pulling her gun, she leapt forward, reaching the door before he could pull it shut behind him, then yanked it open and shot him in the face. She didn’t know if he was dead or not. It didn’t matter. What mattered was getting the hell out of there before every policeman in Nagano descended upon the scene. What had their enemies been thinking to stage that kind of attack in broad daylight? She pulled the driver onto the street and looked up to scream Gabriel’s name. The man sure as hell could fight. He had the last of the four assailants down, his hand at the man’s throat. He looked up at her call, and she saw his eyes register everything about her. And then, as if a light had switched on, his eyes gleamed like the darkest bronze, his mouth opened in a vicious snarl, and fangs slid down over his lip. Her first thought was that the fangs hadn’t been some nasty whim of the sorcerer—they were very real. Her second, as he bent his head to ravage the dying man’s throat, was . . . Fuck me, I have to get him out of here. HANA RAN BACK to the sidewalk and did the only thing she could think of to get his attention. She punched his injured shoulder as hard as she could. He lifted his head with a snarl, but she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. Not her Gabriel. His eyes cleared almost instantly as he recognized

her. He started to say her name, then seemed to realize his fangs were in the way. Looking away, he did whatever it took to make them disappear, then shoved the now-dead man aside and stood. “Hana?” he asked, but he didn’t look at her, checking out his hands, staring at his feet, anywhere but at her. She didn’t like it, but the psychoanalysis would have to wait until later. “Come on,” she said briskly, pulling him to the car. “Get in. We have to leave now.” He moved at once, understanding their position, regardless of what​ever else he was feeling. Striding to the car, he was inside with the door closed by the time she slid behind the wheel. “Cell phone,” she said, handing him the burner phone from her jacket. She always carried at least one with her, had them stored in the pockets of every jacket, every purse, not to mention all over her multiple bolt holes, and in a few hiding places outside those places, too. Grandfather had raised her to be something much closer to paranoid than cautious. Reaching out blindly to turn the phone on, she said, “Enter these numbers,” and rattled off one of her grandfather’s emer​gency lines, the kind one called when everything went to shit. She wasn’t even sure it would still work, didn’t know the extent of the damage done, the lives lost, in the battle last night. Had it only been one night? It seemed much longer. She watched from the corner of her eye as Gabriel

punched the numbers one at a time, his big fingers slow on the tiny buttons. When he finished, he looked over and barely met her eyes before dropping his gaze. “What now?” he asked. She took the phone from him, concealing a scowl lest he think it was aimed at him, instead of the situation. Putting the phone to her ear, she listened to it ring, not breathing until it was answered with the expected, coded response. Speaking in rapid Japanese, using the same code, she identified herself. The man on the other end expressed his relief that she was alive, his voice tight with a grief that told her what she already believed. . . . Her grandfather was dead. Swallowing her own sorrow, she told him everything she knew about her attackers, including the clusterfuck she’d just left behind. And she told him what she needed. Even in death her grandfather had power in Nagano. He’d had no son to assume leadership—at least no one willing—but someone else would rise to the throne. His organization wouldn’t die with him, and his various contacts knew it. All those payoffs, those bought officials in government and law enforcement, were about to earn their pay. She hung up without saying she’d be in touch, even though she would, then handed the phone back to Gabriel. “Tear it apart,” she said. “The back comes off easily. Rip everything else out and throw it a piece at a time out the window.” She powered his window

down just enough for his fingers to fit through. He didn’t question her, just ripped the phone into pieces as if it were made of paper, then dropped it in pieces until they were several blocks away and it was all gone. “We need to ditch this car,” she said. “Get rid of it, I mean. No need to worry about DNA or fingerprints. You’re sure as hell not in the system, and neither am I. Grandfather made sure of it.” She was rambling. He was so unnervingly quiet. “We need to leave the country. I don’t know who’s behind this or what they want—” “You,” he said quietly, staring out the window. “They want you.” She wanted to punch him again, force him to look at her. But all she said was, “Right. For my fucking so-called gift, which is the only thing that makes me valuable. No one but Grandfather ever really cared if I lived or died—” That got a reaction out of him. She nearly jumped when he swung his head around and snapped, “I care.” “I know,” she said quietly. “But if they kill me—” “They won’t kill you,” he growled. “They’ll use you.” Hana felt the first stirrings of fear. She’d been heartbroken at her grandfather’s murder, furious and full of vengeance. But the idea that they might capture her? That they’d hold her prisoner and force

her to use her magic to do their bidding? She was a warrior, trained in the art and theory of battle. But this? She didn’t know how to fight something like this, didn’t know where to begin. “We’re leaving the country,” she told him, turning onto an ordinary street in a quiet suburb, slowing her speed so as not to draw attention. “I’ve already made arrangements for new papers for both of us. I hate to wait that long, but I can’t risk using the old ones, and you don’t have any.” When he didn’t say anything, she continued. “I have a house near the airport. We’ll leave the car as close as we dare and walk the rest of the way. I don’t want to lead anyone to the house, but we can’t exactly walk long distances the way we are, either.” She gestured at him, and then at the blood on her face, catching his wince at the latter. Did he feel guilty because she’d been hit? For fuck’s sake, he’d been shot. More than once. And he’d probably saved her life. They’d be safe at the new house while they waited for the new papers to arrive and arranged private flights. She didn’t dare use any of her grandfather’s aircraft. Her enemies, and possibly the authorities, might be watching. But she had her own resources, ones that, just like the various safe houses, weren’t connected to her real identity in any way. It would all take some time, but they could use that time to recover. To clean up and eat something. And to talk. She didn’t know what bug had crawled up Gabriel’s

ass—why he wouldn’t look at her and would barely speak even a few words. But she was going to find out. GABRIEL COULD FEEL Hana watching him, could feel her curiosity and her disgust. He didn’t blame her. Who wouldn’t be disgusted? He was a monster. Not because he was a berserker on the battlefield. That was in his blood. His bastard of a father had been the same way, as had his father before him. In his day, Gabriel had been one of the fiercest warriors among his people, known for painting himself with his enemy’s blood, for literally ripping them to pieces in his zeal to destroy. Such rages were almost admired on the icy battlefields where he’d been raised. But that was before he’d been captured by the enemy of his people, held prisoner, and tortured for more days and nights than he’d been able to keep count of. And when they’d finally finished with him . . . The Frozen North, somewhere in the mists of time GABRIEL ROARED HIS anger, straining every muscle against the chains that bound him to the altar, the stone slick with his sweat, with blood where his skin had been scraped raw. The icy metal dug into muscle and bone as he struggled, but still they held, enraging him with his failure to escape. Never before had he been so impotent in the face of an enemy. Not since he’d been the smallest child had anyone

ever succeeded in holding him against his will. He was Gabriel Halldor, the greatest warrior who’d ever lived. Entire armies had fallen before his rage, bloody bodies piled up like kindling as the terrified survivors turned their backs and ran for their cowardly lives. But the last battle had been different. Magic had tainted the field, a coward’s weapon brandished from afar, but one that held power nonetheless. Especially when wielded by a practitioner of sufficient skill. Sorcerer. The word had been whispered over the battlefield until it had become a roar in his ears. He’d watched one warrior after another fall, not struck down by blade or ax, but falling like a maiden fainting dead away at her first sight of a naked man. He’d felt the spell pounding at his own senses, felt the animal within him, the enraged creature who lusted for the enemy’s death and gave him his berserker strength. Felt it howling its defiance at the puny spellcaster who lacked even the courage to show his face. Gabriel had butchered his way through half the enemy’s forces, determined to find the sorcerer and destroy him, to show him how real men fought their battles. The sun had set when he’d spied his quarry at last. Not one, but four black-robed clerics stood on the enemy’s ice-covered fortress, their chanting voices drifting over the harsh screams of the battlefield and filling his ears, in defiance of every law of nature.

He’d raised his great sword, its blade gleaming red with the blood of the enemy, and roared his challenge. They’d taken lesser men, but they would not take Gabriel Halldor. Except that they had. He’d thundered across the field, slaying men left and right, intent on only one thing . . . killing every one of the black-robed four, slicing their throats and silencing their sniveling voices. But twenty paces from his enemy, so close that he could see their mouths moving in the torchlight of the fortress wall, he’d found himself on his knees in the bloody slush of the field, with no memory of how he’d gotten there. Even then he’d fought, his fury dragging him back to his feet, driving him forward. Their next blow had struck like the gods’ own lightning, stealing every ounce of his strength, every moment of his will. He’d lain face-down in the mud, surrounded by the stink of spilled guts and blood, and been helpless to move even a finger in his defense. He’d thought it was his end and had been content to go to his gods, knowing he’d lived a warrior’s life, that he’d fought long and bravely and died with his blade in his hand. But that wasn’t what happened. He’d awakened on this cold slab of a blasphemous altar, chained like an animal, surrounded by more of the black-robed cowards who murmured in constant whispers and stared at him with unseeing eyes, as if

their awareness was trained inward on things no honorable man would ever want to see. Their hissed voices halted abruptly, cut off as if some silent signal had been given. Just as silently, they parted left and right, clearing a path for a new figure, this one cloaked in black, but with his head bare. He studied Gabriel as he approached, his eyes black holes as his gaze raked Gabriel’s chained form, lingering on the bulge of his muscles as he strained against his bonds. Gabriel watched the newcomer with careful eyes. He’d heard tell of sorcerers who could ensnare a man with one look, horror stories whis​pered among children, of evil men who would bespell a careless young boy and take him away forever. He didn’t know if this man was one of those, but he was clearly the leader of the sorcerers who’d wielded their magic so effectively against Gabriel’s father’s armies. So he was cautious as he studied this new enemy, looking for weakness, for the perfect place to attack. The man’s neck appeared delicate, more like a woman’s than a man’s. And Gabriel was the most powerful of warriors. He’d ripped the heads off much stronger men than this. All he needed was a few moments’ freedom, and his enemy would fall, as so many others had before him. “Urban Gabriel Halldor,” the man said in a low, sensuous voice. “Gabriel Halldor,” he growled in response. He

hated his brute of a father and refused to wear his name. The man smiled as he moved closer, his lips thin as they drew back over strong, white teeth. He stared, and his eyes flickered red, as if a fire now burned within their empty depths. His smiled widened . . . and for the first time since he’d become a man, Gabriel knew real fear. This was no sorcerer, no gelded spellcaster. This was a creature whispered of in the shadows, something everyone feared, but few could claim to have seen. Forsaken of the gods, they were unable to walk in the clean sunlight, spurning food and drink, living instead on the blood of other men. And women. Every household had stories of young women stolen away in the night by bloodsucking creatures who seduced them from their families and turned them into wanton slaves, never to be seen again. Vampire. Gabriel didn’t realize he’d spoken the word aloud until the unnatural creature responded. “So you know what I am,” he murmured, seeming amused. “I know what you are,” he growled, refusing to be cowed. “What do you want? You and these other cowards?” “Ah, of course. One must wade through the blood and guts of a battlefield to be counted a true man, is that it?” Gabriel glared his hatred. “At least we die with

honor, face to face with our enemy, not hiding in the shadows.” The man shrugged, as if Gabriel’s words meant nothing. “It will take a very big shadow to conceal you, Gabriel Halldor.” His gut clenched. He would rather take his own life than live as such a coward. The vampire moved without warning, his hand snapping out to grip Gabriel’s long hair, wrenching his head back with surprising strength, until his neck was stretched taut and bare. Gabriel braced himself for death, for the cold edge of a blade, but had to choke back a scream of horror as the vampire’s mouth came down on his neck instead. He felt not the clean slice of a blade, but the ravaging bite of an animal, sinking its teeth into his flesh, tearing through sinew until he could feel the hot rush of his blood. And above it all, the sickening slurps of the vampire as he drank Gabriel’s blood down, draining his life with every grunting gulp. His awareness faded into gray, and then black. And finally, nothing. WHEN HE WOKE, he was hungry. More than hungry, he was starving, as if he’d gone a week without food. His limbs felt weak, his muscles refusing to respond to his orders to move. “The weakness will pass.” He jerked up to sit on the edge of the same stone

slab where he’d been bound the day before. Had it been only a day? It must have been longer for him to be so weakened. He turned his head slowly and found the vampire staring at him from across the room. “You will call me ‘Master.’” Gabriel’s lip lifted in a sneer. He would never lower himself before this creature. The vampire smiled knowingly. Lifting his hand to reveal a short, thick blade that Gabriel hadn’t noticed, he pressed it to his other wrist until a long slice of flesh parted and blood welled. “Come here, boy. Drink and be mine.” Gabriel’s mouth flooded with saliva. He could smell the rich aroma of the blood. This wasn’t the death smell of the battlefield; this was life. Warm and heady and inviting. He stood. “On your knees,” the vampire crooned. Everything in him resisted. He’d never fallen to his knees for any man. Not even the cruel lash of his father’s whip had brought him so low. And yet, some insidious voice inside him was whispering that this was something he must do. That he needed the blood the vampire was offering if he was to survive. Gabriel would have sworn before all the gods that he’d sooner die than crawl. But that same voice was telling him to crawl, telling him he had to survive. And so, Gabriel crawled. And he drank. And when he lifted his head, he felt the fangs splitting his gums,

changing his life forever. He was no longer Gabriel Halldor, greatest of warriors. He was Vampire, creature of blood and darkness. He lifted his head and howled. THE FIRST FEW nights had been the worst. The realization that he no longer had a family or friends, no fellow warriors to share the bloody joy of battle, to drink and fuck and celebrate victory and life. That life, the only one he’d known, was as gone as if he’d died on that battlefield, instead of been taken. All he had left was his Sire, the one he called, “Master,” though the word nearly choked him every time. He wanted to kill the bastard, and that same voice inside him that had insisted he survive, now whispered that he could do it. That he was strong enough to murder his Sire and be free. But he overrode that cursed voice, and stayed by his Sire’s side, traveling with him for weeks, months, and then years. He fought in one war after another, becoming the monster released from his chains to terrify the enemy as the sun set and the battlefield darkened to shadows and noise. Foe after foe retreated rather than face him, and his reputation grew even greater than what he’d earned in his previous life. He was still a berserker, still enraged by the smell of battle, the reek of fear and death. But he no longer bathed in his enemy’s blood. Now he sank his fangs into it and drank. Draining one after another and tossing their bodies aside.

And he was paid well do to so. Or rather, his Sire was. His Sire, who had no name for him but “Master.” The bastard worked his own magic from the safety of whatever fortress had hired him, and then counted their coin and moved on. Gabriel hated his life, felt sullied by the blood he spilled night after night. There was no more joy in victory. There was only horror and the clink of gold coin. Until the night he woke at sunset to the sound of his name whispering on the wind. He tried to block his ears, remembering the last time a voice had whispered to him like that. It had been more than three years, but the words still lived inside him, the vampire’s curse that would not let him die, no matter that he woke every night regretting that he’d survived another day. But as then, this new voice would not be silenced. It was a call to battle, he realized as he listened more closely. A heroic leader somewhere, with enough magic to power such a remarkable seeking, was asking the greatest warriors on earth to join him in fighting the darkest evil to beset mankind. But what did Gabriel know of fighting evil, when he had become that very thing? Driven by the hunger that was his only companion these days, he rose from his solitary bed and prepared to hunt. He’d become stronger this last year. If he fed well enough, he could go several

nights without fresh blood, though as often as not, blood was there for the taking on the foreign battlefields of his new life. He was aware of his Sire just waking in a room down the hall. That one would not go a night without fresh blood, even if it meant killing a benefactor. Gabriel thought about that as he splashed icy water on his face and arms, trying unsuccessfully, as he did every night, to rid himself of the blood taint that seemed to ooze from his very skin, as if the evil could not be contained. And he was reminded of the voice inside himself, the one that now whispered of his Sire’s weakness. It told him he was stronger, more powerful, that he no longer needed the damn vampire who’d ruined his life. Gabriel stood, running strong fingers over his long hair, sluicing water down his back, as he considered what that might mean. The whisper of that distant leader, calling him to battle, intruded on his thoughts again, bringing images of massive armies arrayed against one another, of great warriors standing side by side, united against a nameless evil. Gabriel paused, longing for the friendships he’d once shared, the joy of a battle waged for the lives of men who stood beside you, rather than the clink of a gold coin. He hungered for that lost companionship. He hungered to feel clean again. As if sensing his doubts, the far-away sorcerer whispered his very name. Gabriel Halldor.

Gabriel froze, then he walked down the hall, grabbed his still- groggy Sire by the throat, slammed a fist into his chest, and ripped out his heart. Then he gathered his few things and started walking. He had no destination when he set out, only the voice on the wind which became his steady companion. He traveled every night, feeding when necessary, killing only when he must. As if the sorcerer’s call protected him, he found a safe place to rest every morning—an empty cottage, an abandoned barn, or even a cave still smelling of its previous occupant. Once or twice, he found an inn with no other travelers, where the innkeeper didn’t question his desire to sleep through the day, as long as his gold was good. He laughed on those days, thinking of his dead Sire and hoping he was suffering somewhere in the afterlife, knowing his precious gold was providing Gabriel a day’s rest. He lost count of the days and weeks but knew it had been nearly a year when the voice that had guided him changed, becoming stronger, until finally he found himself on the edges of a huge encampment. Fires dotted the field, and everywhere he looked, men gathered in small groups, laughing, talking, arguing. The distinctive clang of a blacksmith’s hammer as it shaped metal, the slide of blade against stone as warriors sharpened their edges for battle, rose above it, all in a song so familiar that it brought tears to his eyes. He scanned the

encampment hungrily until he finally found what he’d been seeking. On a low rise, in front of a grand tent, stood a man. In the same moment that Gabriel saw him, the man’s head turned, his gaze finding Gabriel where he stood in the darkness. His face split in a grin, and he held out his hand. “Gabriel Halldor,” he said, his voice carrying easily over the distance. “It certainly took you long enough.” Nagano, Japan, present day THE MAN HAD BEEN Nicodemus, the greatest sorcerer of his time. It was a land and a time when sorcerers ruled, and his power had been tremendous, his leadership unrivaled. Both had brought him love and admiration from his men and the people he saved, but they’d also brought hatred from those who envied his strength and what he accomplished with it. He’d been young at the time. Not only young in appearance as all sorcerers were, or as Gabriel’s dead Sire had been, but physically young in years. It was one of the reasons his enemies hated him so much. That he was already able to defeat them despite his youth. That he would only grow stronger as he aged terrified them all the more. Nicodemus had given Gabriel his life back that first night, lifting the vampire curse that his Sire had burdened him with. He’d taken away the bloodthirst and relieved him of the deathlike trance that forced

him to lie helpless while the sun was in the sky. Gabriel had still preferred a cloudy day with the sun mostly hidden, but he no longer had to fear death from a single ray of clean sunlight. For that alone, Gabriel would have pledged his life and loyalty. But Nicodemus had been more than a powerful sorcerer, he’d been a true leader of men. He’d stood on the front lines of every battle, with Gabriel and his brothers beside him—the great warriors whom he’d called from the four corners of the earth. Nico, as they’d called him, had fought by their sides, as much a warrior as a sorcerer, for all that magic had been his most fearsome weapon. Those battlefields had reeked of sorcery, the scent rising above even the usual blood and gut stink of war. Gabriel had rediscovered his will to live on those fields. Not for the killing. He was not a brute to kill for death’s sake. It was the love he’d felt for Nico and for his fellow warriors, the three who would become as close to him as brothers, the destiny they’d shared in fighting against the true evil of their ultimate enemy. Sotiris. Gabriel had to fight against the urge to spit at even the thought of his name. With a single, carefully crafted spell—and Gabriel suspected, the aid of a traitor—Sotiris had taken it all away. But now, in the after​math of his bloody battle with the gangsters who’d tried to kidnap Hana, Gabriel realized that Sotiris had done even more than that. It was bad

enough that the ruthless sorcerer had stolen Gabriel’s new life and friends. But he’d also destroyed Nico’s spell and taken away Gabriel’s hard-fought humanity. He was once more a thing, an unnatural creature who preyed on others, who drank blood to survive. Even now, the hunger was building inside him, as if once fed, it had roared back to life. Could the rest be far behind? Would he shrink before the sun tomorrow? Fall into such a deep sleep that he could not be roused? What good would he be to Hana then? How could he protect her? And why would she want him to? He was no longer a man to deserve her respect or affection. Had he actually thought to call her his? Thought he deserved to love her, to earn her love in return? Perhaps it was good that he’d been reminded of what he was. He would protect her with whatever life he had left. But there could be nothing else between them.

Chapter Two HANA CAST SURREPTITIOUS glances at the man next to her as she drove. He’d been sitting there like a sphinx ever since that last fight, before they’d finally escaped their pursuers. He hadn’t so much as shifted his eyes in her direction, much less actually spoken to her. Well, not since the “It’s you,” conversation, when he’d confirmed what she already knew. That their enemies were after her, and that they wanted her alive to be chained and used like a thing, not a human being at all. It was a terrifying thought made more so by the knowledge that with her grandfather dead, there was no one left who cared enough to miss her, much less to organize a search and rescue. Her parents were still alive, but they wouldn’t even notice she was gone. Of course, if either of her brothers had disappeared, her parents would have done whatever it took to get them back. Hell, they’d have sold her to secure their freedom. She snuck another glance at Gabriel. He cared about her. She hadn’t imagined the electricity between them when she’d been cutting his hair. They’d had a real moment there, one that could have gone a couple of directions—right into bed, or not. She’d chickened out when it came down to it, but now she wished she hadn’t. Wished she’d have shown

him what he meant to her. Because he loved her, despite his current funk. He’d never said the words, but he didn’t have to. He’d bathe the world in blood to save her. She tilted her head in thought. Blood. His fangs, which had seemed to disappear once he’d been freed from the curse, had reappeared in that last fight. She’d seen him drink from his enemy’s neck, just as a vampire would have done. Or so she assumed. She’d never actually met a vampire, much less seen one drink blood. Gabriel couldn’t be a vampire, though, because it was daylight, and he wasn’t even sunburned. But then, what did the blood drinking mean? Wait a minute. Was that what was bothering him? Was he embar​rassed because instinct had taken over while fighting for his life? For her life? Hell, she wanted to cheer for what he’d done. He’d gotten them both away, hadn’t he? What more did he expect? She had a sudden terrible thought. “Are you okay, Gabriel? You’re not bleeding to death or something, are you?” When he turned to look at her, she almost wished she hadn’t said anything. His eyes were dead, his gaze filled with despair. It was the face of a man who’d lost all hope. “I am uninjured,” he said quietly, then turned to stare out the window again. Hana wanted to weep. Instead, she did what she’d always done when life broke her heart. She fell back

on a lifetime of discipline and training and considered their next steps. Ditch the car, get to the house, clean up, get food. And then she’d find out what was wrong with Gabriel, if she had to sit on his chest until he talked. He was hers, damn it. And he was going to learn what that meant, even if it killed him. “BREAK THIS UP AS much as you can. I don’t expect super-hero strength, just break it down to its parts and toss them out the window, one piece at a time, like you did the phone.” Gabriel took the gun she offered him. “Do we do the same to the other guns? Even the ones we didn’t use?” She nodded. “I’m worried my condo may have been compromised. I don’t want anything that links us to it.” As she finished speaking, she turned slowly, her gaze trained on one of the storefronts they were passing. Without warning, she made a sharp turn and came around the block, pulling to a stop in front of a small establishment. Gabriel’s ability to read Japanese was far from perfect, but he recognized this as a bath house for women only. “I’m going in there,” she said, nodding at the bathhouse. He started to get out, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm. “You can’t go with me.” She must

have read the stubborn look on his face, because her fingers tightened and she said, “You’re covered in blood, and besides, it’s a women’s bath.” “Why this place?” he asked, willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. He didn’t like the idea of her going in there alone, but she wouldn’t risk herself without reason. That didn’t mean he’d go along with it, but he’d listen. “I told you I think the condo was compromised, but no matter how much I worry about it, I can’t understand how they’d link it to me. I’m not saying it’s impossible. It’s simply damn unlikely. So, if it wasn’t the condo itself, then it had to be something about one of us. Not you, because no one except Grandfather and me even knew about you. And then I thought about what you said, about how they wanted me for me, for my personal sorcery.” Her fingers dug into his arm again. “What if there was a traitor working for Grandfather? Not one of his men. They were vetted to within an inch of their lives, most of them third or fourth generation retainers with my family. But it wouldn’t have to be one of them. In fact, a maid or a cook, any of the household staff living on the estate would work better. They’re nearly invisible.” She met his eyes in question, and he nodded to indicate he was following her reasoning. “Okay, so what if the tracker wasn’t at the condo? I’ve already dumped my phone, but what if it was on

me personally? In my clothes, my jewelry, my shoes. Or even on my skin?” She shuddered and opened her car door. “If what you say is right,” he said quietly, “what’s to stop them from ambushing you inside, while I sit here like a useless ornament? And where will you get fresh clothes?” “I’ll be fast, and you can keep watch.” “Hana—” “You’ll see anyone who tries to come in after me.” “And the back?” “That’s why I picked this place. They blocked the back door more than a year ago, in order to maximize bath space. It’s a building violation, but they pay off the right people.” “And you know this how?” “Whom do you think they paid their bribes to?” He nodded. “I’ll guard the front, but my patience is in short supply.” She grinned. “If something happens, I’ll scream really loud.” When he gave her a flat stare, she sighed and said, “I’ll be fast.” Gabriel slumped in the seat, trying to look less obvious as he systematically tore apart their weapons, one gun at a time, varying his attention from the gun to the street in both directions, and then back again. It wasn’t a busy street. The sun was already sinking low, and with no streetlights, most of the stores were already shuttered for the day. He

hadn’t seen any new patrons enter the baths since Hana had gone in, though five women had exited— two together, and then a group of three. He had a pile of gun parts at his feet, and it had occurred to him that the trash bins behind these stores were likely to be unmonitored. None of these businesses seemed prosperous enough to have much worth stealing. He could drop a single piece in a few of the bins—not each one, that would be too obvious. But he wasn’t willing to leave his guard post, so it hardly mattered. A moment later, Hana appeared in the doorway, her head turned, as if speaking to someone behind her. She gave a small bow, then turned and hurried toward the car, carrying what looked like a pile of folded towels. He was trying to figure out why, when she opened the car door and draped the freshsmelling towels over the seat, which, he noticed belatedly, was streaked with blood. He glanced down at himself and knew, without having to check, that she’d need a hell of a lot more towels to soak up the blood on his seat. Giving him a smile, she slid behind the wheel, using yet another towel to wipe off the steering wheel as he studied her. Her hair was wet, and she was wearing nothing but an embroidered robe and paper slippers. Nothing. He had enough experience to know when a woman was naked beneath a robe. She caught his frown.

“I couldn’t trust any of my clothes,” she said, not even bothering to look before pulling back onto the street. “Did you finish breaking down those guns?” “Yes.” “Good. We’ll dump a few pieces behind these stores. Most of them don’t have any security, and the ones who do, have it inside.” He didn’t bother telling her he’d had the same thought. Instead, he picked up a handful of parts and climbed out of the car when she stopped at the mouth of the narrow back alley. It was barely a walkway, not nearly wide enough for the big sedan. “Leave the engine running. Lock the doors. If someone attacks, leave me behind.” She nodded, but the stubborn look on her face told him she wouldn’t leave him, even if it was the smart thing to do. For that matter, she should drive away and forget about him altogether. His gut rejected that possibility, however. He still believed she should forget about him, but not until she was safe, or he was dead. Either option was equal in his mind. He finished his trash bin deliveries, then loped back down the alley to join her in the car. He’d been right about the bloody seat, but since he was just as covered in blood, it didn’t matter. “We’ll drive around a bit more, get rid of the rest, and then park the car somewhere and dump it. It’s one of theirs,” she explained to his questioning look.

“And it has a nav system.” She pointed at the colorful screen, which contained a map that changed as they drove. As with cell phones, he knew very little about these electronic devices. He might have enjoyed discovering how they worked, if for no other reason than because of the possibilities for their use in war, but he didn’t plan on being around long enough to learn. “That,” she continued, unaware of his internal dialogue, “makes this car trackable by someone who knows the right code. So, it has to go.” It was full dark by the time they “dumped” the car. Hana opened and searched the trunk, making a happy sound when she pulled out a large plastic container of some liquid. She then splashed the liquid all over the front seat, all the time muttering about something called DNA, and how this probably wasn’t necessary, but better to err on the side of caution. Gabriel remained on guard while she worked, every sense on alert. When she finally finished, she held out the bloody towels for him to carry. He looked at them, then shook his head. “I won’t be much of a guard if my arms are full.” She scowled. “Who says you’re the guard? Maybe I’m guarding you.” “You’re not even wearing shoes.” “Hey, these feet are deadly weapons. You just don’t want to carry the towels.” He shrugged. “I want to get you inside a safe

place.” She sighed and started walking. “The house is about a mile as the crow flies, longer for you and me.” They headed down dark streets of small, barely lit houses. The homes were close together and poorly constructed. When there was any light at all, it was a single dim glow, as if saving money was paramount. No dogs barked, no children cried. The area was as silent as possible in this modern era, as if the residents were afraid of the night. Or of the predators who roamed under its cover. Since he was probably the biggest predator around, that didn’t bother him. In fact, he would have welcomed a good fight, except that it would put Hana in danger. As it turned out, they didn’t run into anyone or thing. Hana clearly knew where she was going. She cut through tiny yards and between houses to reach the next narrow street. He figured they’d walked just over three miles by the time she opened a small gate in a high wooden fence. Slipping inside, she waited until he followed, then turned to lock the previously unlocked gate before continuing toward a house that appeared to be like all the others they’d passed. “This is it,” she said quietly, but didn’t enter the house right away. Instead, she walked over to a newer-looking brick oven and pointed at him. “Strip.” He eyed her doubtfully. “There are none of your

trackers on me. You said yourself they couldn’t have known I existed.” “But you’re covered in blood, and I’m sick of the smell.” He remembered that stink. He’d been covered in blood for much of his life. “It’s not just you,” Hana hurried to add. “I stank, too. But I already bathed and changed. It’s your turn.” He nodded as he stripped to his skin, pausing only to remove his chest armor, while she opened the heavy metal door, turned a knob on the back of the oven, which was attached by a flexible tube to a small metal tank sitting halfway buried in the ground, and then struck a wooden match, and lit a flame. Gabriel didn’t question why she’d have a structure like this in her yard. He’d known Himurasan as an honorable man, but not one who obeyed other men’s rules. He’d been a warrior, not a clerk, and had lived by his own code. It stood to reason that Hana would have been taught the same. “Throw those in—” She turned, and even in the dim glow of the fire, he could see her flush of embarrassment. It took him a moment to remember that nakedness was not as casual in this society as it had been in his. He’d grown up in a warrior’s camp, had lived in the same—albeit it somewhat nicer— accommodations when he’d served Nicodemus. No one had worried overmuch about naked male flesh,

and the only women had been those who were there to get naked with the men. But Hana certainly had no such intentions. He turned his back to her as he shoved the clothing in. “You can go inside,” he said quietly. “I’ll finish this.” “I’ll start the shower for you,” she said, walking to the back door. “It takes longer to heat up when I’ve been gone a while.” Gabriel nodded wordlessly, waiting until the door closed and the first lights came on inside the house before closing the oven door and securing it. Her neighbors had little enough. They didn’t need him setting fire to their neighborhood out of carelessness. He could sense the distance growing between him and Hana. It was painful, even though necessary. After all the years of her voice being the only thing giving him hope, and then the easy affection of their initial escape, it was twice as difficult for him to maintain this new stiff formality. He knew Hana didn’t understand, but it was necessary to put some distance between them. He was not a fit companion for her, much less a lover. He couldn’t have her thinking otherwise. It would only hurt more in the end, when he’d have to leave her. For her own benefit. He wouldn’t go until she was safe, of course, but the problem was that her continued safety depended on his absence from her life. He was a

monster, a vampire and a berserker both. The afternoon’s bloody battle had proven just how little control he had over his deadly impulses. And what if, in his hunger, he attacked her? It was his worst nightmare. But apart from the question of his control, why would a woman like Hana want anything to do with a vampire? What could he offer her? She deserved a proper mate and a family. A man who could live a full life by her side, not creep around in the dark sucking other people’s blood. Granted, thus far Nico’s spell had held back that much of his monstrous nature, at least. He hadn’t felt any need, since his waking, to collapse with the sunrise. But who was to say the situation would last? He was already nearly overcome by the need for blood. Could an aversion to sunlight be far behind? He almost wished he’d never been freed, that Himura-san was still alive and well, and that Hana’s only contact with him was her visits to his garden, so she could read to him. He wished he could rid the earth of himself as easily as he did the bloody clothes burning in the brick oven. But not yet. He was honor bound to both Hana and her grandfather to see her to safety. Once that duty was completed and honor fulfilled, then he could end his life. As it should have ended thousands of years ago. He leaned back and stared at the night sky, with its

crescent edge of a new moon and a few twinkling stars. The sky had been brighter in the years of his youth, and later, too, with Nico. Back then, a blanket of stars had swept across the dark sky. He wondered what had happened to the stars and didn’t recall that being covered in any of the stories read to him by Hana or Himura-san. He sighed and shook his head. He should have died under those long-ago stars. He wished that damned Sotiris had simply killed him. But then, that would have been too easy for the vicious sorcerer. He hadn’t wanted Gabriel and his brothers dead. He’d wanted them to suffer. Gabriel wondered if Sotiris was aware how suc​cessful he’d been in that, or if he’d forgotten all about the four warriors the moment after his spell was cast. “Gabriel?” It was Hana calling his name so softly that no one else would have heard. “I’m here,” he said, just as quietly. Picking up his chest armor— which had probably saved his life, more’s the pity—he opened the door and stepped into an unlit vestibule. Aware of his nakedness, he nonetheless made sure the door was locked behind him, then scanned what he could see of the house. The first room was divided equally into a small kitchen, where Hana was currently cooking something, and a sitting room just big enough for a short sofa and one chair, with a narrow table in front of them. On the other side of the room was a halfopen door to a bathroom. He knew this because the

lights were on, and he could hear the water running. “I installed a bigger water tank than usual, but if you want a hot shower, you better get in there,” she said, still not looking at him, her attention on her food preparation. “Yes.” Dropping his armor by the back door, he crossed the room in three long strides, pushed into the bathroom, and closed the door. HANA LISTENED TO Gabriel’s heavy footsteps, sighing as the bathroom door closed. She had debated turning around. She hadn’t wanted him to feel as though she was shutting him out, but he’d seemed bothered by her reaction to his nudity in the yard. And she hadn’t wanted him to feel as though she was ogling him, either. She hadn’t been able to control her blush when he’d taken his clothes off. She’d been half in love with him for years, even before she’d known what adult love meant. He’d been a constant in her life, the one person she could always go to when the trauma of being a teenager was just too much. She’d leaned against his strong thighs and told him secrets that to this day, she’d never shared with anyone else. And when she got older—old enough to see him as a handsome, strong man, she’d daydreamed about the day he’d finally be free to step down off that stone pedestal, to shed his armor and touch her skin to skin. The memory of her daydreams about him still had the power to make

her blush. And now, seeing his body for the first time, so beautifully built and fit, with a broad chest and shoulders, narrow hips and firm thighs, and . . . she almost chopped a finger off when she thought about his penis, so long and thick and. . . . Oh, fuck, she was blushing all over again. “Silly. Getting all worked up over a man’s dick,” she muttered to herself. She closed her eyes for a moment to block out the image, but that only made it worse. So, she opened her eyes again and concentrated on making some food. All those gorgeous muscles needed protein. Probably more than usual, since he’d been trapped for so long. She frowned. Maybe that was why he’d become withdrawn so suddenly. Maybe it was part of the curse, that once it was lifted, all those years piled up on him at once. Maybe he was feeling his age. The thought terrified her. That she could lose him so soon after finding him. “No,” she said, speaking to herself. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She’d make him strong again, no matter what it took. She doubled the amount of meat she was slicing. Normally, she followed the typical Japanese diet, eating more fish than meat. But she’d never liked the taste or texture of frozen fish, so the food she kept on hand in her various safe houses leaned more toward meat. Very good meat, to be sure, despite the outrageous price she had to pay. She was glad for

that now, since Gabriel needed red meat to restock his body. Fresh vegetables would have been nice, but she hadn’t visited this house in a while, so the best she could offer was frozen, sliced peppers, which she was combining with the steak into a stir fry, along with rice, of course. She considered herself a decent cook, albeit not one with a wide variety of skills. But anyone could do stir fry. The bathroom door opened sooner than she’d expected. After the rough day they’d had, she’d lingered under the hot water as long as she dared. Gabriel, apparently, had different priorities. No long, luxurious showers for him. “I laid some clean clothes on the bed,” she called out. “They should fit you better than the other ones.” He didn’t say anything, but she heard his footsteps going into the bedroom. A few minutes later, he came out to the kitchen, making the already small room seem tiny. He was such a big man. And so beautiful, with the dark scruff of his two-day beard emphasizing the surprisingly clean line of his jaw, the sharp edge of his cheekbones. But he seemed so sad. She had to fight the urge to hug him, to ask what was wrong and how she could fix it. But something about his posture told her he wouldn’t welcome her touch, so she only looked up and met his eyes with a smile. “Dinner’s just about ready. You must be starving. I know I am.” She added that last so he wouldn’t think

she was singling him out in any way. “Sit,” she said, pointing toward the table with her metal spatula. Giving the meat and peppers a quick stir, she opened the rice cooker and upended the rice into a bowl, then placed it on the table, which already held soy sauce and chili oil, along with salt and pepper—the last two a holdover from her years in the U.S. Turning back to the wok, she divided the stir fry between two wide, shallow bowls, giving Gabriel the larger portion, then brought the plates to the table. “Dig in,” she said, taking the lead as she scooped a big spoonful of rice and plopped it in her bowl, then shoved the rice dish toward Gabriel. He followed her example silently but grunted in appreciation when he tasted the stir fry. “This is good. Thank you,” he said. She couldn’t help noticing that he handled his chopsticks like a pro. It made her wonder if they’d used chopsticks back where he’d come from. It didn’t seem likely, given his European features, but who knew what things were like back then. According to her grandfather, Gabriel’s origins were very possibly out of the current flow of time, which could mean anything. A parallel universe? Had he left someone behind? A woman, a wife, even? A family? All she knew was that he’d ended up here and now, and he was hers. Even if he didn’t know it yet. “I used one of the burner phones here at the house, while you showered. I spoke to my

grandfather’s man. He’ll take care of the car. It’s probably already been picked up, and there won’t be anything left when they’re through with it.” She took a bite and chewed. “I told him our suspicions regarding the possibility of a traitor among the staff. He agrees and will pursue that angle, too.” More food, more chewing. She drank some water. “Would you rather have wine? I have white or red, or sake, if you prefer?” He studied her intently as if she’d suddenly slipped into a different language. Then said, “No, thank you. The water is good.” She wanted to grab his huge shoulders and shake him until he told her what was wrong, why he’d suddenly gone so distant and so damn polite. She settled for grinding her teeth. Although if he kept this up much longer, she wasn’t going to have any teeth left to grind. She smiled instead and said, “Grandfather’s man said our new IDs will take another forty-eight hours. That’s longer than I’d like, but it’s understandable. There’s a lot of attention on the family right now, what with the attack on the estate, and that ridiculous street fight in bloody damn daylight. What were they thinking?” she asked, not really expecting an answer. “Whoever it was didn’t do themselves any favors. They didn’t get what they were after, and they’ve probably made a few new enemies. Every​one will be feeling the heat for the near future. Stupid,” she said, shaking her head, then

continued. “Anyway, that means you and I will be here for the next few days. I’ll go out tomorrow and buy fresh groceries—” His head came up. “Not alone, you—” “Alone,” she said firmly. “I can disguise myself to look like an ordinary shufu going about her day. You, on the other hand, cannot. I’ll also pick up clothes for both of us. I make a very good housewife.” “I understand,” he said, not meeting her eyes. Hana scowled. She didn’t think he understood at all, but she wasn’t going to get into it with him tonight. Not with them both worn out, and her, at least, short-tempered because of it. It would be too easy to say things they didn’t mean. She poured him some more water instead. The rest of the meal passed in silence. And not the comfortable kind. When everything had been consumed down to the last slice of pepper, the last grain of rice, she stood to gather the dishes. “I’ll do that,” he said quietly. “You rest.” She froze mid-motion, shifting just her eyes to study him. “I don’t mind, it’s—” He looked up then with eyes so bleak, she had to fight the urge to cry out. “You cooked. You arranged everything with Himura-san’s man. I can do this.” Tears pricked her eyes, forcing her to look away so he wouldn’t see. “Okay,” she said. “Thank you.” She made it to the bedroom before the first tears spilled over. Covering her face with a pillow so he wouldn’t

hear, her emotions poured out until she felt as empty and desolate as his eyes. She had to make him talk. But how? She slipped off her robe and crawled under the blankets, wearing short shorts and a T-shirt, which was her usual sleepwear. Her gaze wandered aimlessly around the small room, but eventually circled back to the bed. She grinned. There was only one bed. It was going to be much harder for him to ignore her when they were sharing a bed. He might be pulling back into his shell, but physically, he wasn’t any more immune to her than she was to him. That scene in the bathroom had told her that much. Tugging her shirt down to cover her bare belly, she snuggled into the pillow and waited. GABRIEL MOVED AS quietly as he could—which was damn quiet— as he washed the few dishes they’d used for dinner. He was more careful with the wok. Himura-san had enjoyed cooking and had explained the lengthy process involved in properly “seasoning” and cleaning a wok. He dried everything, but left them on the counter, not wanting to pry into Hana’s cupboards. He could hear her soft breathing in the bedroom, the occasional rustle of cloth as she moved. He’d glimpsed the tiny shorts she’d worn under her robe, the long length of her bare legs. His cock grew hard, thinking about all that smooth, golden skin sliding over the soft sheets. Turning out

the lights, he settled on the sofa and tried to control his body. The sofa was too small for him to stretch out, but he wasn’t planning on sleeping. He leaned back and simply existed in the moment, legs crossed at the ankle in front of him, eyes closed. From the first crack of his stone prison until now, they’d been running, hiding, killing, or trying to avoid being killed. This was the first truly quiet mo​ment he’d had. Hana seemed confident that no one knew about this place. Though she’d been sure about the condo, too, and that hadn’t worked out. But now she believed she’d figured out how their enemies had found them, and he trusted her judgment. And if she was wrong? Then he’d fight again. There were plenty of knives in her kitchen, all of them well-sharpened. He’d checked. He sat that way for an hour or more, eyes closed, but his ears alert for any sound. All remained quiet. Standing on silent feet, he crossed to the bedroom to check on Hana. There was no active threat, but something inside him needed to see her. He didn’t enter the room but stood in the doorway. She was sound asleep, lying on one side of the bed, leaving the other empty with a pillow waiting. For him? Had she really expected him to sleep in the same bed with her? Did she think he was made of steel? Or maybe he was a curiosity that she wanted to explore. Let’s fuck the ancient warrior and see how they did things way back then. But no. Hana wasn’t like that. She was

a warrior in her own right, with a warrior’s honor. He took in her graceful form as she lay there, her long, loose hair falling like silk over one side, her lovely face relaxed in sleep. And then he returned to the living room, stretched out on the floor, and fell instantly asleep. HANA WOKE ALL AT once, and then she lay there figuring out where she was. She recognized her house, and the previous day’s events came rushing back. Her hand stretched out and found the bed empty next to her. A quick look told her the pillow hadn’t been used. So where was Gabriel? Swinging her legs over the side, she didn’t bother donning a robe to cover her shorts and T-shirt. They were just legs for fuck’s sake. She did take a moment for caution, remaining still and listening. She knew the sounds of the neighborhood, the ebbs and flows of people going to work and school, to the shops. Finding nothing amiss, she tiptoed out to the living room. “What the fuckity fuck?” she cursed silently. Why, when there’d been a perfectly good bed in the next room, was Gabriel sleeping on the floor without even a pillow to add some comfort? She closed her eyes and dropped her chin to her chest. She didn’t need to ask that question. She already knew the answer. He hadn’t wanted to share a bed with her. Not because he didn’t want her, but because he did.

And even though she’d have welcomed him with literally open arms, she suspected that he’d gotten it into his head, after the street fight with those thugs who’d tried to grab her, that she deserved someone who didn’t drink his enemy’s blood. Or anyone else’s. Did he really think she was that shallow or ignorant? That she’d worry about fangs? If anything, she’d rather missed them after his curse had been lifted. She had to make him see himself the way she did. She didn’t see a godless vampire. She saw a warrior who’d spent most of his life fighting against evil, who’d shed his own blood in battle after battle. And then, when the war was nearly won, with evil vanquished and its champion on the verge of deadly defeat, Gabriel had been ripped out of everything he knew and trapped in the dark for thousands of years. And then, when the curse had finally been lifted, when he’d been freed at last, he hadn’t hesitated to take up arms one more time in her defense. This wasn’t his battle, it was hers. But he’d made it his, because once again, honor and duty demanded it. And he was, above all, an honorable man. One who, by no choice of his own, was also a vampire. What was not to admire about a man like that? Add in his physical beauty and his intensely masculine appeal, and he was hard to resist. She could imagine eggs perking up in the body of every woman he passed, squeaking, “I want to have babies with that one!”

She thought about that a moment. Did eggs squeak? Stupid ques​tion. They didn’t make any noise at all, but she was thinking meta​phorically. She was saved from drowning in grammar rules by the soft ping of her burner phone in the bedroom. Hurrying back, she found a text message from her grandfather’s contact. The new IDs she’d requested would be ready early the next morning, before banks and most businesses opened. That was good. She could pick up the new IDs, visit her bank safe deposit box for the cash and credit cards she had stashed there, and then make their flight arrangements. The question was . . . where to go? She had university friends in the U.S., but she didn’t want to involve any of them in this mess. Grandfather’s business empire included interests there, too, and as his granddaughter, she could walk into any of his offices and command attention. But those were all too obvious. She hardly needed to do their enemy’s work for them by shining a spotlight over her head. Western Europe might work. She had apartments in more than one European city. She was considering her options when Gabriel groaned. She walked back to the living room in time to see him sit up and rest his back against the sofa. His back was probably aching. “There was no need for you to sleep on the floor. The bed was more than big enough for both of us.”

“That wouldn’t be proper.” “We shared a bedroom at the condo.” “But not a bed.” Hana blew out a frustrated breath. “You’re perfectly safe from me, you know. I don’t go around molesting men. Not even the beautiful ones.” She stared in amusement when he blushed. She’d made an ancient warrior blush. Was it the compliment, she wondered, or the idea of her molesting him? She’d have loved to know which one. He’d used that word “älskling” before, and said it indicated affection. Affection? What the hell? That could mean anything. She hated the idea that their attraction might be onesided, that she was acting like a silly school girl who’d fallen in love with a warrior who’d probably bedded more women than she’d met in her entire life. But she didn’t believe it was one-sided, damn it. She stared at his bent head, waiting for him to say something. She was just about ready to throw something at him when she went down on her knees next to him instead. “Are you okay?” She rested a hand on his forehead, slid it down to his cheek. He was pale, but his skin felt heated— the very opposite of what she’d expect to find. “Squeeze my fingers,” she ordered, picking up his much larger hand. He gave her a look that questioned her sanity, and then squeezed . . . carefully. She could tell he wasn’t even trying to use his full strength. “Come on, you can do better than that. I won’t

break.” He met her eyes. “But you will. I’m much stronger than you.” “Fine, just squeeze until I beg you to stop.” His lips flattened into a stubborn look. “I could hurt you without trying. What are you trying to achieve?” “You don’t look well. I’d ask if there’s something you usually eat, but it’s been so long that whatever you used to eat probably doesn’t exist anymore. Or maybe it never did in this universe.” He gave her a blank look that said either he didn’t know what the hell she was going on about, or he did know and he wasn’t going to talk about it. Frustrating man. “Fine,” she said, loosening her fingers from his hand. “I’m going out.” “Where?” She felt like giving him back his blank stare but relented. “We need food and better clothes. There’s a decent grocer’s nearby, and a sur​prisingly good second-hand clothing shop.” He stood and held out a hand to pull her to her feet. She thought it might be the first time he’d touched her voluntarily since they’d fought their way out of the condo. “I’ll go with you,” he said. “No, no.” She shook her head emphatically. “We’ve had this dis​cussion. It’s the same as at the bath

house. You’re too big and too obvious. I’ll change my looks. No one will recognize me, not even you.” He shrugged. “You’re right.” She gave him a suspicious look. That had been way too easy. But when she came out after changing her clothes, he was sitting on the sofa, head thrown back, eyes closed, and long legs stretched out before him. “You should use the bed while I’m gone,” she said. He lifted his head. “How long will you be gone?” “Two hours, probably. It depends on how many shops I have to visit to get what we need.” He came to his feet with what, in most people, would pass for grace. But not Gabriel. She caught the small adjustments in his balance, as if he’d felt weak or lightheaded and was trying not to show it. “Sleep,” she said, pushing him toward the bedroom. Maybe that was all he needed, a good few hours’ sleep. She knew he’d been awake for most of the night in the condo, and he couldn’t have gotten much sleep on the floor last night. She gathered grocery bags and a small purse, which had more than enough money for what she needed. She had a Glock 26 Gen 4 sub​compact in a belly band holster, because no disguise was good enough to convince her to go out unarmed. But she didn’t expect to use it. She’d stayed in this house often enough that she knew the rhythms of the

streets, knew all the best hiding places and escape routes. Plus, the title was held under so many layers of corporate holdings—none of them traceable to anyone in her family—that it simply wouldn’t show up on even the deepest dive of her personal holdings. The last thing she did before leaving the house was check on Gabriel who’d taken her advice and stretched out on the bed, but he didn’t stir. She left the house through the back door, careful to lock it behind her. She did pause long enough to check the outdoor oven, to be sure there was no trace of the clothes they’d burned. But the oven was empty. Not even ashes were left. She was shaking her head ruefully when she let herself out through the gate. Gabriel’s skills apparently included leaving no trace. She wondered what other talents he was hiding, and if she’d ever find out. GABRIEL HEARD HANA leave the house through the back door, then waited for the gate’s squeak. He’d noticed it last night and won​dered if she’d left it noisy on purpose, as an early warning of invaders, or if it was so faint that she didn’t hear it at all. Since the night he’d been made a vampire, his senses were much sharper than they had been, far superior to that of an ordinary human. Nico’s spell had undone most of the changes his vampire Sire had wrought, but not that one. He was still faster and stronger than a typical human warrior, still had greatly enhanced

senses. In fact, the only real changes made by Nico’s spell had been to eliminate his body’s need to sleep with the rising sun, and the worst curse of all, his need to drink human blood. He closed his eyes briefly, grieving the loss of that part of Nico’s spell. He’d have given up any of the other changes, would have gladly surrendered every one of his skills in battle to be free of that one monstrous need. But then the squeak of the back gate reminded him why he was still living, why he’d been set free of his stone prison. It wasn’t for his own benefit, it was for Hana’s. He was sworn to protect her. He leapt to his feet . . . and nearly fell on his ass, managing only at the last minute to catch himself so that he sat on the bed instead. His vision was growing blurry, graying out as if a fog was drifting over his face, and when he reached up to rub his eyes, his hand was shaking as badly as his grand​mother’s at the end of her very long life. Even worse, his fingers when they came away from his eyes were wet with pink tears, as if he were crying blood. He nearly shouted then, nearly roared his anger and grief to the nameless fates who’d used and discarded him, like a toy they’d broken and grown tired of. But he remembered his duty—always there was duty, he thought rather bitterly—and swallowed his howl, lest it draw attention to Hana’s small house. Closing his eyes, he breathed evenly, waiting for the racing of his heart to slow, for his head to stop

spinning and his eyes to focus properly. It was no more than a minute or two, though it felt longer, with Hana out there alone. He stood again and waited for the weakness. When it didn’t come, he went to the kitchen, drank a long glass of water, then let himself out of the house and through the gate. Which, he was pleased to note, didn’t squeak for him. He might be falling apart, but he hadn’t lost the skills which had made him one of Nico’s best spies. HANA KEPT ONE eye out as she shopped, convinced that Gabriel’s agreement had been insincere and that he’d follow her anyway. But no matter how many times she checked her back trail, no matter how many of her best tricks she tried, she never caught the slightest indication he was there. She finally had to laugh at her own stubbornness when she found herself getting pissed off that he’d let her go alone. After that, she actually enjoyed her shopping excursion. She found everything she wanted at the grocer’s, and then went shopping for more fun stuff, like clothes. As she’d told Gabriel, the town had an excellent second-hand clothing store, though she didn’t know why. She assumed it had something to do with how many of the residents who lived in this modest suburb worked at the fine houses in Nagano, but she’d never cared enough to investigate. It served her purposes, which was good enough for her.

Finding clothes for herself was easy. She was a little taller than the typical woman in Japan, but just as slender. Most of the pants were sized to be worn with heels, which compensated for her greater height, and she wasn’t buying anything with a skirt. It might have made a good disguise, but fighting in a skirt was a pain in the ass. She bought a few simple tops, a cardigan sweater, and a lightweight jacket. She had her lace-up boots and some Nikes she’d kept at the house, so she grabbed a few pairs of socks and was done. She dumped her acquisitions on the countertop and was on her way to the men’s section of the store—which was a third the size of the women’s—when her eye caught on a jewel-toned silk scarf. She slowed and ran one finger over the fine fabric, then pulled back guiltily, fearing her rough skin would snag it. It was so beautiful and so feminine. She had absolutely no use for it. She took a step away, but then turned back and wrapped it around her neck. The hell with it. Not everything she owned had to be sensible. An hour later, as she was walking down the alley to her house, she shuffled the many bags she had looped over her arms and realized she was no longer wearing the scarf. She stopped in dismay, even walking back to the mouth of the alley and searching the street she’d come down, certain she’d be able to spot the silk’s brilliant colors. But there was nothing. She sighed unhappily. That was why she shouldn’t

buy beautiful things. She hadn’t lost any of the other stuff she’d bought. Not so much as a floret of broccoli, or a single pair of utilitarian socks. But the scarf ? Poof. Gone. “Damn it,” she muttered, then trudged down the alley for home. Gabriel was waiting on the back stairs when she got there, threading something soft and thin through his long fingers. Hana blinked. Im​pos​sible. He looked up when she drew closer. “You shouldn’t overload yourself like that,” he said calmly, jerking his chin at her many bags. “If you were attacked, you wouldn’t have a chance of reaching a weapon in time.” “I have my gun.” He met her eyes. “In a holster at your waist?” She scowled. “How did you—” “You had it there when we left your grandfather’s estate, too, but it hardly matters. You wouldn’t be able to reach it with your arms weighted down with bags.” She narrowed her eyes. “But it doesn’t matter anyway, does it? Because I had you protecting me.” She nodded at the scarf in his hands. “Where’d you find it?” One half of his mouth lifted in a tiny smile. “Around your neck.” “Impossible,” she snapped. “I’d have noticed.” “Obviously not.” He stood and relieved her of

most of her burden. “You can open the door.” She muttered wordless imprecations under her breath, but un​locked the door and opened it, holding it for him as he entered the house. “Here, I’ll take these,” she said sliding the food bags off his hand. “You can throw the rest on the bed.” When he came back to the kitchen, she glanced up. “So, I was wrong. You’re a ghost when you want to be.” He shrugged, drawing her attention to his shoulders, and she was struck again at how much weight he seemed to have lost. Walking over to him, she stroked a hand down his arm, feeling bone that she would have sworn wasn’t there the day before. He stiffened beneath her fingers and moved the tiniest bit, just enough that her hand slipped away. She studied him a moment longer but didn’t know what to say. If she asked how he was, he’d only lie and tell her he was fine. He wasn’t. But she didn’t know what more she could do about it, if he wouldn’t tell her what was wrong. “I bought you some clothes,” she said finally. “Still not perfect in terms of size, but they should fit you better than the last ones, at least. They’re in the blue bag. I picked that one just for you, since you’re a boy.” He looked at her like she was crazy. Obviously, they didn’t have baby showers where he came from. “Never mind. Blue bag. Try the clothes on while I

make dinner.” DINNER WAS A silent affair, much like the previous night, except with a better menu. Hana was still hungry for something lighter, like fish, but she was too worried about Gabriel’s declining health. So she cooked more steak, but with a fresh salad and vegetables, plus a protein shake as an appetizer, because she was just that concerned. Gabriel gave her an odd look when she presented the shake, but after a sip, he downed the whole thing in three gulps and complimented her on the taste. Unfor​tunately, that was the extent of their dinner conversation. Hana tried a few opening gambits, but never received more than a few words or the occasional grunt in return. When dinner was over, he stood and carried the dishes to the sink, then washed and dried everything, just as he had the night before. And when she woke the next morning, he was once again asleep on the floor. She sighed. Something had to change, and it looked like it was up to her to do it. She went to the kitchen and made a lot of noise putting the kettle on, although it wasn’t necessary. His eyes had opened the minute she stepped foot out of the bedroom. He might be an idiot about some things, but he was the best protector she could have asked for. He rolled to his feet and would have

escaped into the bathroom, but she crossed the small distance to stand in front of him, getting so close that he took a step back and ended up sitting on the sofa. Hana almost laughed at the picture they made. The big, bad warrior terrified of a woman half his size. But there was nothing funny about what was going on between them, and she intended to fix that right here, right now. Tossing aside the kitchen towel she’d been wiping her hands on, she sat on his lap, startling him so badly that he automatically reached to stabilize her, putting one arm around her back and the other over her thighs. It felt so good to have his arms around her. She only wished it meant something. She sighed heavily and rested her head on his shoulder, her arms around his neck. “Don’t you like me anymore?” she murmured. She could feel his shock at her question, as every muscle in his big body seemed to lock up at once. “Of course, I like you. You’re . . . you’re Hana,” he said finally, as if that explained everything. She sat up and faced him. “Then what’s going on? Ever since that shoot-out on the street, you’re avoiding me like the plague.” He gave her a puzzled look. “It’s a deadly disease,” she said impatiently. “Was it because I killed that man? Am I too bloodthirsty for your taste? Look, I don’t know what the women in your time were like,” she said, the words tumbling out in her frustration, “but you must

know that Grandfather trained me to be tougher than most. To be able to take care of myself and the ones who matter to me. A person doesn’t need a penis to defend the people they love, you know!” She stared at him, waiting for a response. If he gave her the silent treatment again, she just might resort to violence. “Well?” she demanded. GABRIEL HEARD HANA’S argument and knew he had to say some​thing, but he was still lost in the feel of her in his arms. He’d dreamed about moments like this when he’d been all alone in that garden for days and weeks. Dreams that had become ever more detailed since that first night of their escape, when he’d touched her for the first time. When he’d felt the silk of her black hair against his neck, the warm, sweet smell of her skin, the firm muscles of her body beneath his fingers. And he was stunned that she would think there was anything wrong with her. That he would think that. He said the first thing on his lips, “Never.” She scowled. “Never what?” Her impatience almost made him smile. He remembered her pacing in front of his statue when she’d gotten older, trying to figure out the right words to break the curse, mumbling to herself, stopping to throw a new phrase or incantation, swearing when it didn’t work, and then pacing some more. But he had enough experience with women to

know a smile wasn’t called for here. So he tightened his hold around her, demanding her attention, and tried to explain. “It isn’t you, Hana. It could never be you.” “Then what? And don’t try to tell me nothing’s wrong, because something is.” Gods, he didn’t want to face this. Didn’t want to see the disgust in her beautiful, dark eyes, the revulsion on her lovely face. He’d never been a coward before, but he’d never loved anyone the way he did Hana. “When we fought . . .” He tried to explain, then stopped. Better to start at the beginning. “Long before I was cursed, before I ever knew about sorcerers and their magic, I was a warrior in my father’s service. He was a cruel man and a terrible father, but a great warrior, for all that, and I was proud to serve among his fighters. Around the time of my thirtieth birthday, by which time my reputation as a warrior rivaled even my father’s, I was taken prisoner by a man I later learned was a vampire in service to our enemy.” He paused, watching her reaction, waiting for the knowledge of what he’d become to show in her face. All he saw was her impatience for him to continue. “He drank my blood, Hana, and gave me his. He made me like him, and then he used me like a weapon. Hiring me out for gold, selling my body and skills, just as you would a whore.” He couldn’t look at

her when he admitted that. “It took me three years to break the hold he had on me, to finally kill him and walk away. It might have taken even longer had I not heard the call of someone far greater than he, someone more powerful than he could have dreamed of being in his dark sleep.” “Nicodemus,” she whispered. He nodded. “He didn’t care that I was a vampire, but he saw that it troubled me, and so he crafted a new spell, one that relieved me of the terrible bloodthirst. I no longer needed fresh blood to survive but could eat and drink with other men. I preferred red meat, barely cooked, but there was nothing unusual about that in my time.” “What about sunlight? I thought vampires—” “Nico’s spell lifted that burden as well. Sunlight tires me more than others, but I can walk in it without burning alive, and I’m not forced into an unnatural sleep.” She tilted her head curiously. “So, what’s the problem? I don’t . . .” She frowned. “What’s that got to do with me?” He frowned back at her. “During the street fight, Hana. It wasn’t you who was covered in blood, it was me. I drank that man’s blood like an animal. If you hadn’t stopped me . . .” He lowered his eyes then, unable to look at her. “The curse. Our enemy wasn’t content with simply trapping me in stone for what might be an eternity, he made certain that if the

curse was lifted, I would still suffer. You want to know why my strength is waning? I need blood. Human blood. I’m a vampire.” He waited in silence, terrified to glance up and see the revulsion on her face. His eyes snapped open when she slapped his chest hard enough to hurt. “Are you kidding me? That’s why you’re being so weird and making me think you hate me? What the fuck, Gabriel? You think, in all these years I’ve been coming to your garden, that I never noticed you had fangs?” “Well—” “Hell, I wasn’t worried they might reappear, I was wondering what the fuck had happened to them. We have vampires in this world, you know. They’re not some mysterious, evil-spawned thing. They’re people, with houses and jobs and voting rights. You’re still you, even with fangs. Hell, I like you better with fangs. If you need blood to survive, just take some of mine, for God’s sake.” Gabriel was shocked at the offer. “Hana, your grandfather trusted me with your protection and care. He didn’t know—” “Of course, he knew. Or at least he suspected. You had fangs. Grandfather knew lots of vampires. He did business with them. Welcome to the new world, bud. Vampires are just one more part of it.” “I don’t think—” “You’re doing way too much thinking. In fact, you

should just stop and let me do the thinking until you get your head out of your ass. Look, your precious Nico didn’t care if you were a vampire. Hell, he wouldn’t have called you to join his army in the first place, or wasted a spell on you after that. And what about your brothers? The warriors you fought with, the ones you claimed to love—” “I did love them. I still do. And I won’t rest until —” “Until you find and free them, right? You think they cared that you were a vampire? Or that they were too stupid to notice?” “Don’t talk about them like that.” “But it’s all right to talk about you that way?” she asked quietly, brushing his hair behind one ear with her slender fingers. “Like you’re something less than they are?” She rested her head on his shoulder again. “You’re my Gabriel, my angel, and I love you.” Gabriel closed his eyes against a wave of relief that threatened to drown him. “Do you remember the first book I ever read to you?” she asked, her breath warm against his neck. His arms relaxed around her as he chuckled, remembering. “It was a children’s book.” “Beauty and the Beast,” she agreed. “And I was a child. What else would I read?” She slapped his chest, more lightly this time. “I didn’t mind. I loved the story. I loved everything you ever read to me.”

“Do you know why I picked that book?” “Yes, Hana,” he said dryly. She sat up and met his eyes. “It’s what’s on the inside that counts, Gabriel. And I know your heart. You can try to shut me out, shove me away, but it won’t work. You’re mine, and I’m a very stubborn woman.” She settled against him once more, her arms around his neck, her lips brushing his jaw when she said, “I love you, Gabriel Halldor. I always have.” Gabriel rested his lips against her silky hair, his eyes closed as he drew in her sweet scent. He was almost afraid to believe this was happening. That Hana—his Hana—was here in his arms. That she didn’t see him as a monster, but as a man. He still wouldn’t take her blood, but at least he could hold her like this. He kissed the side of her head. “I’m sorry if I caused you pain these last few days.” “It was more like anger,” she admitted. “I mostly just wanted to punch you.” He smiled. “Then I thank you for your forbearance.” He could have sat that way for hours, reveling in the feel of her in his arms after so many years, but two things happened at once. The tea kettle, which had been quietly steaming for some time, began to rattle ominously, and Hana’s cell phone rang with an incoming message. REAL LIFE INTRUDED with the ping of a cell

phone. Hana stared at the offending device, willing it to levitate over to the sofa, but no such luck. Kissing Gabriel’s beard-roughened cheek, she stood with a sigh and walked over to pick up the phone. “Oh. Good news at last. Our new IDs are ready for us. Pickup has been arranged through a long-time associate of my grandfather’s. It’s a man I know to be trustworthy, which is probably why they chose him for the transfer.” She walked back and sat on the coffee table in front of Gabriel. “It’s later this morning and not too far. I’ll take a train over, but it’s close enough to walk if I need a quick escape.” She glanced at the time on her phone. “I’ll go after breakfast. Shouldn’t take more than two hours.” Gabriel didn’t say a word. Just looked at her. She rolled her eyes. “Fine. You might as well go with me, instead of sneaking along behind.” “I don’t sneak,” he said, sounding offended. “I simply choose not to be seen.” She laughed. “You’ll have to teach me that trick sometime. But right now, I’m hungry.” DAMN, SHE THOUGHT later. If the man didn’t want to be seen, he really could make himself invisible. She knew he was there, and even she couldn’t spot him. They’d left the house together, but that was the last time she’d seen him. The two of them walking together would have been too obvious for their enemies to spot. He’d also pointed out that

since they were out-numbered and out-gunned (although he hadn’t used that exact term) they had to utilize what weapons they had, including the benefit of surprise. Hana had to admit that anyone attacking her would be very surprised indeed when this giant warrior appeared out of nowhere. They’d worked out signals in advance for any issues that might arise—if she saw someone she knew, or someone suspicious, for example. But included in that was Hana’s signal that the storefront of her grandfather’s associate was safe, as far as she could tell. She’d changed her appearance again, donning clothing that concealed her hair and figure, and carrying a typical cloth bag that she’d stuffed full of rags making it appear as if she were running errands. The train station was only two blocks from the store, but she took it slowly, stopping at shop windows, dropping in to a florist and adding some pretty blooms to her bag. Her contact’s business front was a wine store that featured mostly Japanese wines, and a select few imports as well. She strolled right by it on the first pass, glancing in the window without slowing. The man she wanted was there behind the counter, which was unusual. He was the same age as her grandfather and had turned most of the store work over to his son and grandson several years ago, with the two old men maintaining the close friendship which had eventually made them business allies. She noted as

she walked by that the old man was dressed formally, in a suit and tie. It was a sign of respect, she knew, for her grandfather. The sight brought tears to her eyes, so she kept her head down and crossed the street, walking farther than she’d planned, before cutting back and giving Gabriel the sign. She still couldn’t see him, but she knew he was there. If someone had taken him out, it would have been a knock-down drag-out fight worthy of the fiercest MMA cage fight, something she’d watched frequently since being introduced to it by her freshman roommate at Princeton. There was no way Gabriel would let their enemies take him out without making damn sure she knew about it. Stepping quickly into the shop, she lifted her head and met her contact’s surprised gaze. He gave a business-like nod and immediately called for his grandson to take over the counter, then shuffled her into the back room. “Himura-san,” he said with a bow. “I heard the news of my dear friend’s death with deep regret. I am relieved to see you are safe,” he said, speaking rapid Japanese. She bowed deeply in return, showing respect for an elder and one who was cherished by her grandfather. “Nakano-san, thank you,” she said in the same language. “You were there?” he asked. “I was. My grandfather died as he lived, as a

warrior.” Emotion tightened his face as he bowed again. “I am honored to be trusted in this.” “We would have trusted no other.” He bowed low, then hustled over to a wall safe with, she was amused to see, a biometric lock. Japan had its traditions, but it also embraced technology. Pulling a thick packet from the safe, he turned and placed it on a counter-height table for her inspection. “Everything requested is there, Himura-san. You will have no difficulty using these documents.” He hesitated then, as if there was something he wanted to say, but wasn’t sure how it would be received. “Please, Nakano-san. Your knowledge of such things far exceeds my own. I would welcome your counsel.” He looked up and met her eyes, his own weary with age and loss. “This man,” he said, gesturing at the documents. “This foreigner. You are certain he can be trusted?” “Have no fear in that regard, Nakano-san. He is a great warrior, devoted to my grandfather, and loved in return. He will die to defend me.” And, I, him, she wanted to add, but didn’t. Nakano would never understand that. “I am relieved. I will not ask your plans. What I don’t know, I cannot speak of. But if there is any way I can serve you further, do not hesitate to ask.” She nodded and tucked the envelope with its stash

of forged doc​uments into her bag, then they both bowed, and she left the shop without a backward glance. Exiting to the street, she walked back the way she’d come, making her slow way to the train station, when all she wanted was to find Gabriel, hail a damn taxi, and get back to the house as quickly as pos​sible. She didn’t dare so much as glance at the docs until they were behind closed doors, though she was confident they were every bit as good as Nakano had told her. Thankfully, it was past the lunch hour by the time she reached the train, so it wasn’t as crowded as it could have been. She thought she caught a glimpse of Gabriel two cars down, but when the man she’d spotted exited the train a station too early, she saw he was very much Japanese, and while big, he wasn’t Gabriel big. It wasn’t until she was making her way across the back yard, keys in hand, that Gabriel slipped through the gate without a sound. She wouldn’t have noticed him then, either, but he scuffed a foot—intentionally she thought, trying not to startle her, since he moved like a ghost most of the time. She should have been grateful, but it just irritated her that he thought she needed the warning. Almost as much as it did that she did seem to need it. “How do you do that?” she muttered under her breath. He came up beside her, holding the screen while

she unlocked the door. “Ancient secret.” She hmphed noisily. “A secret you’re going to share.” “I don’t know. It’s not for every—” He grunted as her elbow hit his rock-hard gut, but then he seemed almost to sway with effort, his fingers clenched on the door. She reached for him, but he slipped his hand out of her reach. “I’ll teach you, when we have time,” he said, sounding almost out of breath. “It’s not something you learn in a day.” Hana busied herself with the lock, and then the alarm, managing to conceal her worried expression. She knew without asking that he wouldn’t welcome her concern. “All that wandering around served a purpose,” she said, dumping her bag on the counter. She began pulling out her purchases and putting them away, naming them off as she worked, mostly to keep talking. “Fresh meat, some fish for variety—which I need, even if you don’t. American-sized potatoes— hard to find over here, but I became ad​dicted when I was at Princeton. I swear, sometimes that’s all we had for dinner—giant, loaded potatoes. Oh, and these.” She lifted the flowers and turned with a smile, but he wasn’t there. Blinking in surprise, she listened as she stepped around the table. The bathroom door was open—no sign of him there. Frowning, she hurried toward the bedroom, worry a sudden knot in her belly.

“Gabriel?” she called, as she stepped into the doorway and froze. He was on the bed, lying on his back, eyes closed, and not moving. “Gabriel?” She was frantic with worry. Was he even breathing? She rushed over and shook him. “Gabriel!” She got up on her knees and leaned over, prepared to perform CPR, struggling to remember the class she’d taken years ago, mostly to flirt with a guy she’d wanted to meet. A guy who couldn’t hold a candle to the man now lying far too still on her bed. She snatched her hands back when his chest rose abruptly, and he drew in a long, even breath. “Gabriel?” she whispered and counted the seconds until his next breath. What to do? He was breathing slowly but steadily. She rested her head on his chest and heard the steady thump of his heartbeat. Again, she was no expert, but though the interval between thumps was longer than she might have expected, the heartbeat itself seemed strong. Maybe he was just tired. Maybe all that invisible skulking around used more energy, more physical strength than he had to spare right now. After all, until a few days ago, he’d been trapped in stone. And he couldn’t be getting much sleep on the damn floor. Plus, there was the vampire angle. Did he need more blood? She brushed a lock of hair off his face in a gesture that was more affection than need, wishing she knew for sure how he felt about her. About her,

not her grandfather. She wanted more from him than duty, wanted to be more than a responsibility he owed the family who’d rescued him from some volcanic cave. She sighed. “Sleep,” she mur​mured. “I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.” HANA DECIDED GABRIEL needed rest more than food, at least in the short term. She managed, with a bit of work, to store everything in the small refrigerator, then went around the house, making sure the doors were secure and the window shades drawn before sitting at the table to examine their new IDs. Nakano had delivered, but then, she’d never doubted he would. The fake documents were flawless to her eye, which was far from untrained. Grandfather had taught her years ago what to look for, mostly as a way of ensuring she didn’t get caught with bad forgeries. Given his business interests, it had been necessary for her to travel with less than official papers on occasion. Not because she was directly involved in his business, but because she was an obvious target for anyone who thought to use her against him. She barely glanced at the photo Nakano had used for her docs, though Gabriel’s was unexpected. She’d been ready to disguise Gabriel to look as much like whatever photo they’d used, and let bribes do the rest. But this image , while doctored to reflect his shorter hair, appeared to have been

grabbed at some point during their initial escape from the garden. In retrospect, she shouldn’t have been surprised. Obviously, her grandfather would have had security cameras in place along the secret route, since it could just as easily have been used to invade as escape. And since thinking two steps ahead of his enemies had kept him alive more than once, his people would have monitored the route on a regular basis. From there, it would have been a simple process for survivors of the battle to grab a suitable image from the system—or its off-site backup, since every computer system on the estate would have been wiped once her grandfather had been killed and they’d made the decision to retreat. Tears flooded her eyes. She and Gabriel had spent so much time running in the last few days that she hadn’t yet had a chance to grieve properly. By now, her father would have been informed, and had probably already arrived in Japan from his home in L.A. Her mother would be with him, of course, and the twins, too, if only because her father would have insisted. Would he even wonder why she wasn’t around? After all, she’d been closer to Grandfather than anyone else. Given the manner of his death, would her father worry about her? She shook her head, knowing the answer. She drew a long breath, knowing one thing for sure. Grandfather would never have wanted her to risk her life or Gabriel’s to attend his services. He’d

honored the traditions of his ancestors but had always placed more value on the living than the dead. Brushing the tears from her eyes, she wiped her hands on her shirt, then gathered the documents and slipped them back into the envelope. Feeling lonely, she walked into the bedroom and gazed down at Gabriel’s sleeping form. She found herself counting the slow up-and- down motions of his chest and suddenly didn’t want to be alone. As odd as it seemed, Gabriel had known her grandfather from the time he was a small boy, when his father, her great-grandfather, had introduced him to the warrior’s statue in the secret garden. Of all the people she knew, Gabriel might be the only person who’d loved Grandfather the way she did. Kicking off her shoes, she climbed onto the bed and stretched out next to him, pulling a light blanket over them both. Putting her head on his shoulder and her arm over his chest, she closed her eyes and slept. GABRIEL WOKE TO the warm, welcome weight of a woman against his chest. His arm tightened around her, but in the next moment, he frowned. That wasn’t right. He lowered his chin and stared down at Hana, her lashes dark smudges of silk below her closed eyes. His gaze traveled around the unlit bedroom, taking in the dark windows behind lowered shades, the dim glow from the kitchen

beyond the short hallway. He glanced down at Hana’s sleeping form and was dismayed at how well he could see her, despite the poor lighting. It had been thousands of years, but he remembered what it was like to be a vampire. The signs were all there—the hunger that no amount of food could ease, his growing weakness, especially in daylight, and more than any other, the damn bloodthirst that was like a living thing inside his body, a need that would not be quenched. Even now, the sound of Hana’s blood rushing through her veins, the thunder of her pulse as she lay next to him so warm and willing, had him ravenous. His gums were swollen and aching, his fangs desperately trying to split through his flesh and feast. She offered, an insidious voice inside him whispered. What could it hurt to take what was offered? Just one small, delicious taste. A reminder of who he was, who he’d been before Nico had saved him. Saved? the voice repeated. Had Gabriel needed saving? And if so, did he need it now? The modern world was a different place, according to Hana. Vampires lived in the open, owned property, went to dazzling parties with beautiful women. He glanced down again at her sleeping form. “No,” he whispered, his arm tightening around her protectively. “Gabriel?” Her voice was a sleepy murmur, her hand stroking his chest. “Are you hungry?”

Gabriel clenched his jaw, fighting the press of his fangs. She hadn’t meant that kind of hunger. The warm weight of her shifted as she pushed up onto one elbow. “Gabriel?” She rolled away just enough to snap on the low light of the bedside lamp and then back again. Her soft fingers touched his forehead, his cheek. “Are you cold?” His eyes lifted, and hers widened. “Oh!” He’d expected her to jump off the bed, to back away in horror. Maybe even to scream. She did none of those things. Instead, she leaned closer, studying him. “Your eyes are sort of coppery colored, did you know that? Not all over, just like a circle around the brown iris.” Her gaze switched to his mouth. “No fangs.” She sounded almost disappointed. “Can you, I don’t know, deploy them at will?” “Hana,” he growled, intending to warn her, but she cut him off. “Oh! I think I saw—” “Hana, this is not a game.” She jerked back, blinking in surprise. “Of course, not. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” “I’m not offended, it’s . . .” She waited for him to finish. When he didn’t, she sat up and leaned over him, the gleaming fall of her hair brushing his bare arm. “I told you, Gabriel,” she said patiently. “Things are different now. Being a vampire is no big deal.” She tipped her head from

side to side. “Okay, well, that’s not right. It’s still a big deal, but it’s not illegal or hidden away. There are entire clubs dedicated to vampires. Places where people line up to offer their veins.” “You’ve been to such places?” he asked, feeling inexplicably jealous. Hana was his. He’d kill any vampire, male or female, who dared touch her, much less drink from her vein. “No,” she admitted. “My roommate’s sister was a regular at this big club in Manhattan, though. New York,” she added. He hadn’t needed the clarification. He hadn’t been anywhere, but Hana and her grandfather had seen to it he was as educated as they could make him inside his prison. “You don’t need to go anyplace like that,” she said briskly and shoved her hair over one shoulder, baring the elegant length of her neck, her golden skin seeming lit from within in the pale light. “I told you, if you need blood, I’ll—” “No!” He sat up abruptly, catching her when she would have fallen off the bed, careful of his strength where he held her arms. “You have no idea what you’re offering.” “It’s just blood, Gabriel. I’ve probably lost more to nose bleeds in kickboxing matches.” “It’s not just blood,” he hissed, but stopped himself from saying anything more. Whatever her roommate’s sister had shared about the club in New

York, it clearly hadn’t included the sexual aspect of sharing blood with a vampire. “And I don’t need it, anyway. I told you about Nico’s spell. As far as I know, it’s still holding.” She studied him. “And the blood you took from the enemy fighter?” “Heat of the battle,” he lied, then eased it with the truth. “I was always a berserker on the field. It was much prized in my day.” “Mmmhmm.” She didn’t sound convinced, but there was no way in hell he was going to take her vein. She wasn’t ready for that, assuming she ever would be. His feelings for her were unambiguous. He loved her not as a duty owed to an old and respected friend, but as a beautiful woman who was also smart, compassionate, and honorable. But she was so very young compared to him. They were separated not only by the millennia he’d been imprisoned, but by his life before that. He’d been a warrior at thirteen, had bedded his first woman a year later. He’d been barely twenty-five and already a seasoned warrior by the time that fucking vampire had come along and changed his life forever. He didn’t know how many years he’d spent with Nico and his brothers. Time had passed differently in Nico’s realm. But though his physical age might be only a few years more than Hana’s twenty-seven, he felt much older than that. She was an innocent compared to him, and she deserved

better. Hana was studying him skeptically, clearly suspecting there was more going on in his thoughts than what he was sharing with her. “All right, tough guy,” she said, getting up off the bed. “Since you don’t need blood”—she rolled her eyes making clear her opinion on that—“you need to eat some dinner. And we need to discuss where we go from here. The new IDs are excellent. I hate leaving the country without hitting a bank first, but I don’t think we can trust it. I have enough money and credit cards stashed here in the house to get us out of the country, and once we land someplace, I can handle it with wire transfers instead. But we can discuss all of that over dinner.” “Do you need my help, or do I have time to shower?” he asked. They hadn’t had showers in his time, and he was finding them thoroughly enjoyable. Or it might be that after millennia trapped in stone, he simply liked being clean. She smiled. “Can you cook?” “I can burn meat over an open flame.” “Yeah, I’ll cook. You clean. It works better that way. Go ahead and shower.” HANA PUT THE STEAKS into the cast iron frying pan as soon as she heard the shower turn off. She’d finish them in the oven, which was already hot. Everything else was ready to go. The fish was

steamed, the potatoes baked, and all the fixings on the table. It was a lot of food, but until Gabriel got over his stubbornness when it came to blood, he’d have to get his nutrition somewhere. What she knew about vampires came mostly from the casual perusal of popular media and what her roommate’s sister had passed on about the club. Judging by Gabriel’s reaction when she’d offered to serve as a donor, she had a feeling there was more to it than what the sister had passed on. Hana had never had a reason to study vampires in any depth, since the only one she’d ever cared about was trapped in stone. That was about to change, but not tonight. They’d already spent too much time in Japan. For all the bloodshed and near misses, she knew they’d been incredibly lucky to evade their enemies this long. They were leaving the country tomorrow. The only question now was where they were going. The bathroom door opened as she was setting water glasses on the table. She glanced over . . . and forgot to breathe. Gabriel stood in the steam of the half-open door, unaware of her stare as he wrapped the towel around his waist. He leaned forward to stare at his reflection in the mirror, rubbing at the glass to see more clearly. Had she thought he was beautiful? It was an understatement. Every muscle was perfectly defined—strong and sleek, with each connecting to the next like a display in an anatomy textbook. His shoulders were broad on a torso that

arrowed down in a perfect vee to narrow hips and strong legs. The towel hid his groin—she didn’t know whether to be grateful or irritated by that—but the towel couldn’t conceal the thick bulge that told her he was anatomically consistent. Big man, big. . . . She felt a blush heat her cheeks and shifted her gaze upward, noting that his skin was thick and unblemished, without any of the scars she might have expected a warrior of his experience to have. He reached back to fully open the door, and she jumped, nearly spilling the water. Thankfully, that meant her gaze was focused on the table when he padded into the short hallway and disappeared toward the bedroom. Hana blew out a breath as she grabbed a towel and sopped up the spilled water. “Have mercy,” she whispered and turned to take the steaks out of the oven. A body like that deserved everything she could feed it. Including her blood. “Sit,” she ordered, when Gabriel appeared a few minutes later. “Eat before it gets cold.” He stared at his plate—with its giant-sized steak and potato, not to mention the side dish of fish and vegetables and the small bowl of miso soup—and gave her a curious look, but then shrugged and sat down. The first few minutes were filled with the sounds of eating—the scrape of knife and fork, water glasses up and down, the occasional slurp of broth. But finally, with the edge of their hunger satisfied,

Hana took a long drink of water and said, “We need to decide where we’re going.” “You know this world. Where would you recommend?” “Europe or North America,” she mused. “Our enemies aren’t without influence there, but if we’re careful, we should be able to find someone who is . . . not necessarily an ally, but a friend, at least. Grandfather had business associates all over the world.” He took another bite of steak, chewed thoughtfully, then nodded. “They’re after you and your magic. It might be useful if whoever you choose had some knowledge of that.” “More than I do anyway,” she muttered. “I still don’t understand why Grandfather refused to teach me more than he did.” He gave her a curious look. “What’s the nature of your talent? I don’t believe you’ve mentioned it.” Hana winced and felt her face heat with embarrassment. She wasn’t completely comfortable talking about magic, at least not her own. She absolutely believed magic existed. How else could one explain Gabriel? And her grandfather had possessed what some would call a sixth sense about the people he dealt with. Hana had always thought he possessed a significant telepathic gift. He’d always smiled when she’d asked, but he’d never confirmed her guess. Nor had he denied it. As for her own so-

called gift, her grandfather hadn’t known such a thing even existed. Oddly enough, it had been Sotiris who’d told him about it after his chance meeting with Hana, assuming Grandfather would want to make use of her talent, and share it with his good friend, too. She’d learned the hard way that ignorance was dangerous. Gabriel needed to know the facts, since he was putting his life on the line for her, too. “Okay, don’t laugh,” she ordered. To his credit, Gabriel appeared surprised she would even think that. “When it comes to magic, I’m sort of ”—she sucked in a breath, then forged ahead, not meeting his eyes—“an amplifier.” She lifted her gaze to his, trying to measure his response. He nodded, and his forehead wrinkled, as if thinking about it. “You’re saying you can enhance a sorcerer’s own power?” She was surprised by the pragmatic question. She’d always treated her own talent with some skepticism. “More or less. But it’s not reliable, not something I can turn on and off. It just happens when I’m in the room, but sometimes it doesn’t, either. I usually don’t even know it’s working until after it happens.” “Have you ever tried to discipline it? Observe your reactions and senses when it works, and try to reproduce them in a controlled fashion?” “No,” she admitted. “Privately, I’ve always hoped

it would go away as I got older.” “Obviously, it didn’t.” “It got worse.” “Or better?” She sighed. “I don’t want it. I don’t know why anyone would.” “Hana,” he chided. “You’re not that naïve. A gift like that would be a tremendous weapon for allies and enemies alike.” “So, you think it’s Grandfather’s allies who are after me,” she said dryly. “No.” “Do his enemies really think I’d work for them after what they’ve done?” “There are many ways to force the unwilling to serve,” he said darkly. She stared at him, knowing he was right. After all, he’d been made a vampire against his will for much the same reason. Because someone had wanted to use him as a weapon. “You’re right. I know that. Okay. Who knows magic, is strong enough to control his own territory, and lives far, far away from here?” Gabriel took a sip of water, waiting for her answer. “Shit,” she said in sudden realization. “Of course. Pack your bags, Gabriel. We’re going to California.”

Chapter Three Los Angeles, CA, USA GABRIEL WOKE WITH a start when the private plane hit the ground. Jumping from the bed, he pulled on his pants, waiting for the thin walls to crumple around him, for fire to eat away at construction he knew was far too flammable. He yanked the door open, nearly pulling it from its hinges in his need to get to Hana. One hard stride . . . and he crashed to the floor, suddenly too weak to stand. “Gabriel!” He turned sluggishly to see her rushing down the aisle, her hands trailing over the seatbacks to maintain balance on the moving aircraft. “What happened?” she asked, dropping to her knees next to him, her soft hands touching his shoulder, his face. “My God, you’re freezing.” He shook his head trying to clear it. “No,” he muttered. “Hot.” “Damn it. I knew you needed to drink.” Gabriel blinked his eyes, trying to make sense of her words. “Drink?” “Blood, you idiot. I never should have let you convince me. Never mind. Let’s get you up.”

She slung his arm over her shoulder and, demonstrating a strength that would have surprised anyone who didn’t know her, hefted his considerable bulk to a standing position. He dropped into the first seat they came to, gripping the armrests to conceal the trembling of his hands. What the hell was happening to him? He hadn’t felt this bad since . . . fuck. Not since his damn vampire Sire had locked him in a cell and withheld blood to punish him for disobedience. “That’s it,” Hana said, buckling his seatbelt and then taking the seat next to him. “If you won’t take blood from me, I’ll find someone else.” Something deep inside him roared to life. His head swiveled slowly, as an animal-like growl rumbled up from his chest. “You will feed no one else.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, of course not. I meant I’ll find someone else to feed you. Idiot.” “Stop calling me that,” he muttered, though it was an accurate description in that moment. “When you stop acting like one, I will,” she snapped, then brushed a tender hand over his forehead, pushing away his hair. “How do you feel?” she asked softly. The word “fine” was on the tip of his tongue, but it would have been a lie. And she wouldn’t believe it anyway. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “I’ve never flown before. Maybe it’s that.” “Maybe,” she said, although doubt was heavy in

her voice. She took his hand and held on. “I’ve arranged for a car to pick us up at the terminal. If you can make it off the plane—” “I can do whatever is needed.” He meant it to sound strong and assured, but it came out more as a whisper. Hana shook her head with a sigh. “Men.” “Are we in Los Angeles?” he asked. He understood air flight as well as any other non-scientist, which was not at all. Himura-san had explained the science behind it years ago, when aircraft had become common for regular travel. But, of course, Gabriel had never actually flown before. The take-off from Tokyo had been mildly terrifying, and he’d been grateful for Hana’s ordinary human senses which had kept her from hearing his heart beating twice as fast in what he wanted to believe was anticipation, rather than fear. “Yes.” He could see the terminal lights outside the jet windows and the dark sky beyond. Hana had chartered a private jet, which meant they’d been able to set a departure time in the middle of the night to minimize detection. She’d also told him something about registering a false flight plan and changing the plane’s transponder signal as a way to conceal their destination, at least temporarily. But since he had no idea what any of that meant, he’d paid little attention. “What time is it?”

“The local time is just past eleven o’clock at night. Perfect timing.” He nodded. He knew the Earth was round, and he understood time zones. Again, courtesy of Himurasan’s efforts to keep him aware and informed. He also thought the old man had done it to keep him rooted in the real world, despite his long imprisonment. “Perfect timing?” he repeated, struggling to keep his mind on the present. “For what?” “We can go directly to the estate of the man I told you about, the old friend of my grandfather’s.” Gabriel didn’t like the idea of walking into a strange man’s home when he was too weak to defend Hana. “Are you sure that’s—” “I’m sure,” she said firmly. “He can be trusted, and he’ll be able to help us. Both of us.” He scowled. What the hell did that mean? “He lives nearby? Isn’t it rather late in the—?” “Like I said, the timing is perfect. As for the other, he lives a short drive from here. In Malibu.” Malibu, CA AS USUAL, ON A Friday night, Raphael was working in his office. For once, however, he had no meetings, no conference calls, nothing that required him to play the part of vampire lord. So, he was slouched comfortably on the big sectional by the fireplace in the alcove of his office, working on his

tablet, with the delicious weight of his mate, Cynthia, warm against his side. She was working, too, although hers was the soft tapping of computer keys on her laptop. Almost without thinking, he bent to kiss the top of her head. He still found it difficult sometimes to believe he’d found her. This one woman in the universe who was his perfect match, a woman who loved him as much as he loved her. He would have said “nearly as much,” but she’d have stabbed him if she heard it, and besides, it wasn’t true. They’d been through hell together too many times to pretend otherwise. Her fingers stopped their nearly silent motion. “Everything okay?” she asked. “Yes. I just felt like kissing you.” She twisted around with a grin. “Then do it properly, fang boy.” He bent down and took her mouth in a kiss that he never grew tired of. Her lips were soft and feminine, but there was a fierceness to her that flavored everything she did. “I love you, my Cyn.” “Love you, too,” she whispered. “Have we worked enough for tonight?” It was his turn to grin. “A few more—” He froze as agony speared into his soul. “Raphael?” Cyn was sitting up, staring at him in alarm.

This wasn’t his agony, though. One of his vampires? He reached out, searching for whoever it was. What he found had him coming to his feet. Juro, he sent a mental call to his security chief, Who’s at the front gate? The answer came a moment later as his cell phone rang. He put it on speaker so Cyn could hear. “A woman, my lord. Human, although there’s a buzz of magic about her. She has a male with her. He appears to be, if not unconscious, then not well. She says Himura Kyou sent her.” “Himura is dead.” “Yes, my lord.” Raphael might not know who the male was, but he did know what he was. “Bring them to my office.” “My lord, let me—” “He’s dying, Juro. Bring them here.” Cyn was on her feet, staring at him. “Who’s dying? And who’s with him?” She reached down and yanked open a drawer on the side table, grabbing the 9mm Glock stored there and shoving it into the back of her waistband. Do I need—?” “There’s no danger, lubimaya. There’s only one woman my friend Himura would send to me. I don’t know the male’s name, but—” “You keep saying ‘male.’ Does that mean he’s a vampire? One of yours?” “Not one of mine. Not anyone’s, I don’t think. I can’t be sure—” A woman’s voice and the sound of

people coming down the hall outside his office sent them both into the main room. Cyn started automatically for his desk, expecting him to sit behind it in the position of power, but Raphael didn’t follow her. He braced himself and faced the door, fight​ing back a shudder at the waves of agony coursing through his system. He could have blocked them with a thought, but he wouldn’t betray the pain of whoever was out there. He’d tasted enough of the male’s mind to know the vampire wasn’t his, but whoever he was, it was a testament to his courage that he was still breathing. The vampire symbiote could deal with a lot, but this. . . . Raphael didn’t know if he’d ever felt such suffering. A wisp of his power opened the big double doors a moment before Juro and Ken’ichi appeared with a barely conscious vampire between them. Raphael strode forward and took the vamp’s weight, letting the burden carry them both to their knees on the thick carpet. Rage, thick and hot, roared to life inside him, as he realized what had been done to this vampire. Without a thought, he lifted his arm and sliced through the skin with a fang, then shoved his bloody wrist into the male’s mouth. “Drink,” he ordered and added enough power to give it the force of compulsion. Whoever had damaged this vampire might have included any number of prohibitions that Raphael needed to punch through.

He thought at first the vamp was too far gone to suck and lifted his head to order Juro to call their onsite physician. Dr. Saephan was human, but mated to a vampire, and the only human Raphael trusted to do any research on the vampire symbiote. He’d made a point of learning how to treat vampires as well as humans. Before Raphael could speak, he felt the vamp’s tongue slide through the blood dripping from his vein, and again. And then the male’s lips clamped over his wrist and he sucked. Raphael looked up and around until he found the woman who’d brought this vampire in. “What’s his name?” “Gabriel,” she said, emotion making her voice thick, her cheeks wet with tears she made no attempt to wipe away. “Urban Gabriel Halldor, though he doesn’t use his first name,” she added, clearly thinking it might be important. Raphael studied her a moment longer. “Hana Himura,” he said, using the westernized form of her name, but knowing he was right. “You resemble your great-grandmother.” She dragged her tear-filled gaze away from Gabriel and met Raphael’s eyes, her own widening in surprise. “You knew my great-grandmother?” Raphael tipped his head in assent. “And your great-grandfather, as well, though not as well as your grandfather, Kyou. I knew him from the time he was a boy. We became friends as he aged. I was saddened

by his death.” “Thank you,” she whispered, her attention once more riveted on Gabriel. “Will he . . . ?” She lifted her eyes. “Will Gabriel be okay?” “He will now,” Raphael said, his voice hardening at the reminder of Gabriel’s condition. “Who did this to him, do you know?” “Did . . . what?” She gave him a distressed look. “I offered him my vein, but he wouldn’t drink.” “He had no regular supply? Where is his master?” She frowned in confusion. “His master? The vampire who turned him died a long time ago. I think Gabriel killed him, but—” “Not his Sire, Hana. His master. Who did this to him?” Her mouth opened in an O of understanding. She nodded. “Gabriel was cursed . . . thousands of years ago. The curse was only lifted”—she seemed to be counting back in her head—“six days ago, and we’ve been on the run the whole time. I knew he was getting weaker, but he wouldn’t—” Raphael heard the words “cursed” and “thousands” and felt his anger growing. “He was trapped in stone?” “Yes. How did you know?” “There are others,” he growled, then turned and caught Cyn’s gaze. Her eyes went wide in turn. “You think—?” “You know anyone else who’s chasing down

warriors who’ve been recently freed from stone prisons?” “But by all accounts, he loves those guys. He wouldn’t do—” “He does what serves him.” He snapped the words at her. He hated when she defended that fucking sorcerer. “I told you about the war between vampires and sorcerers, and their attempts to cure us. Katsaros probably didn’t anticipate this.” He nodded his head to indicate the feeding vampire. “But then, he’s known for doing things just because he can, without thinking of the consequences.” He turned back and stroked a gentle hand over Gabriel’s bent head. The vampire was still drinking, but less ravenously. If he’d been any other vampire, any ordinary vampire, Raphael would have made him stop and turned him over to Juro. But this vampire had been abused in a way that was beyond the pale. He needed Raphael for far more than blood alone. “Who are you talking about?” Hana demanded. “We just came in from Tokyo tonight. There’s been no one—” “It happened long before you were born, child,” Raphael said softly, his attention on the injured vamp. “Before he was ever cursed into that statue. Who was it that lifted the curse? You?” “Yes. Our estate was attacked, my grandfather”— her voice broke—“I wanted to stay and fight, but Grandfather insisted I go to Gabriel instead. It’s

complicated, but he gave me the words to say, and we made our escape.” “And what made you leave Japan?” “Grandfather was convinced his enemies were after me. Gabriel agreed. But then he got so sick, and he wouldn’t—” She wiped her eyes. “We needed to leave the country, and I knew you could help him.” “You understand,” Raphael said, lifting his gaze to meet hers. “He’s mine now.” “What?” “Gabriel is a vampire. Vampires are not meant to exist in a vacuum. They need their fellow vampires, but even more, they need a connection to a vampire lord. My power frees him to live, rather than simply remaining alive.” “A vampire lord like you, you mean,” she said suspiciously, clearly not trusting his motives. “You think I mean to hurt him, to enslave him? Look around you. I rule thousands of vampires. I have no need to force one more, and I countenance no slavery of any kind in my territory. If you were anyone else, I’d kill you for daring to suggest it.” He felt Gabriel stir beneath his hand and stroked the vamp’s head. “I won’t harm her, Gabriel. You’re both safe here.” “Is he okay?” Hana asked. “He will be. He must care about you a great deal to have reacted the way he did.” She blushed. “He’s . . . he considers himself my

guardian.” Raphael almost smiled. It was obvious that her feelings for Gabriel went well beyond what one would feel for a devoted bodyguard, just as Gabriel’s feelings toward her went well beyond those of a guardian. But that truth wasn’t his to reveal. “He’ll be remaining here for the near future. You’re welcome to stay with him.” “What if he doesn’t want—?” “He’s not a prisoner, any more than he is a slave.” He forced him​self to speak gently, for Gabriel’s sake. But he was getting tired of this woman questioning his motives. He was about to say something more, when Gabriel lifted his head and stared up at Raphael, red tears running down his face. “My lord,” he whispered, relief and gratitude warring for domi​nance in his voice. “My lord . . .” He bent his head, his shoulders shaking with emotion. Raphael wrapped his arms about him and murmured words of reassurance in Russian. He doubted this ancient vampire understood the language, but it was the one he always used to express his deepest emotions, the one he’d learned in the womb. “Gabriel,” he said finally, brushing damp hair from the vamp’s face. “My name is Raphael. Do you know what I am?” Gabriel nodded. “Vampire lord,” he whispered. “My lord.” And again, there was such relief on his

face as he said the words. “I am that, but only if you wish,” Raphael said. “The decision is yours, no one else’s.” The vamp nodded. “I understand, my lord. It is my wish.” Raphael smiled. “Hana doubts me.” Gabriel lifted his head, his gaze searching. “Hana.” “Gabriel!” She rushed forward. Juro would have stopped her, but Raphael nodded to indicate it was all right. Going to her knees next to them, she touched the vampire’s face as if afraid to hurt him, tears once more filling her eyes. “Are you okay?” “I am now, älskling.” Raphael’s eyebrows shot up at the endearment. He wasn’t anywhere near fluent in Swedish, but he knew enough. It somewhat confirmed his assessment of Gabriel’s feelings toward her, but it also hinted at the vamp’s origins from all those thousands of years ago. She leaned closer to Gabriel and whispered, “Is this place safe for you?” She cast what she probably thought was a surreptitious glance at Raphael, and he heard Cyn snicker behind him. She’d caught it, too. “Himura-san trusted Lord Raphael,” Gabriel said gently. “I trust him, too.” Hana nodded and glanced up at Raphael. “Then we’ll stay,” she informed him. As if there’d ever been a doubt. He didn’t give much of a fuck if she stayed or not, but Gabriel was his, and he needed his lord right now. He’d be staying whether she wanted to or

not. “Come on,” Cyn said, stepping forward and offering the woman a hand. “I’ll set you up in one of the guest rooms.” “I want to share with Gabriel.” “Impossible,” Raphael snarled, his patience finally exhausted. “Have you ever slept with a vampire before?” Cyn asked quietly, crouching next to Hana. “Ever spent the day with them while they slept? Really slept?” Hana blinked in confusion. “But Gabriel doesn’t —” “He does now. Why do you think he’s so damn sick?” Raphael demanded. “The curse lifted whatever spell was cast on him and left nothing to replace it. He’s probably been growing weaker every day since.” She nodded. “He has, but I didn’t know . . . I didn’t understand, or I would have—” “Of course, you would have,” Cyn assured her. “How could you have known? It was thousands of years ago. Even Gabriel probably doesn’t remember everything that was done to him.” “He told me some, but you’re right. I think there was more to it than what he remembered. He trusted”— Raphael’s gaze shot to her face, wanting to hear her confirmation of the name he already knew. —“the sorcerer who cast the spell. He calls him Nico, but his name was—”

“Nicodemus,” Raphael growled. “You know him?” she asked in surprise. “Oh, yes. I know him. And now that Gabriel is here with me, where he belongs, I have a feeling Nico will be paying us all a visit very soon.” “Raphael.” Cyn’s warning was soft and worried. “Don’t worry, my Cyn. We’ll all be very civilized. Won’t we, Gabriel?” The vamp grinned, drunk on the power of a vampire lord’s blood. “Yes, my lord.” HANA FOLLOWED THE woman out of Raphael’s office. She’d introduced herself as Raphael’s mate, which as far as Hana could tell was like a wife. There was more to it, obviously. Raphael clearly had a huge amount of power. It pulsed around him like a giant heartbeat, so strong that even her poorly developed magical senses had detected it. For the first time, she regretted not making more of an effort to strengthen and train her magic. Grandfather had never encouraged it, and she’d always gotten the impression that he shared her opinion about her odd talent, that it was as much a curse as a gift. But now, she wished she’d done more. She wanted to understand what was happening to Gabriel. She needed to understand the parameters of this new world they’d both been thrust into. Gabriel, as a vampire, was patently a creature of magic, and now her magic abilities had become a danger to them

both. “You’ll be perfectly safe here,” Cynthia Leighton said, as she led the way into a large bedroom. She walked over to the window and opened the heavy drapes to reveal a floor-to-ceiling window with a spectacular moonlit view of the ocean. “You can open this sliding door if you want. It won’t affect house security. But, I warn you, Malibu’s cold and damp this time of year.” Hana dumped her suitcase on the bed. She’d only brought the one, small case, since most of what she owned had been left behind on the estate, and she hadn’t had time to buy much in the way of replacements. Mostly the case held their documents and a whole lot of cash. “It’s all lovely,” she said and meant it. The room was beautifully decorated and had a en suite bathroom. It also had a king-sized bed. Too bad she wouldn’t be sharing it with Gabriel. “Can I ask you a question, Cynthia?” “Of course,” the woman said, smiling. “And it’s Cyn.” “Cyn. And I’m Hana Himura. I don’t know if you caught my name back there.” “Why don’t we sit over here?” Cyn led the way to a pair of wingback chairs to one side of the big window. “So, what’s the question?” she asked, once they were seated. Hana winced inwardly. She didn’t want to sound

stupid, but there were things she needed to know. She knew her own upbringing had been somewhat sheltered, for all she’d been taught to exist in a world where her grandfather’s enemies (and her grandfather, too) were deadly and dangerous. She knew weapons and tactics, and she would kill to defend the people she cared about. Cyn appeared to be close to her own age, but she seemed much more worldly. And for all her beauty, she moved like a warrior. Hana hadn’t missed the weapon tucked against Cyn’s back, either. This was a woman who’d probably seen even more action than Hana, and who knew a hell of a lot more about vampires. “What did you mean back there, when you asked if I knew about how vampires sleep?” Hana asked. “Ah, that,” Cyn said, smiling as she relaxed into the big chair. “Well, according to Raphael, when your Gabriel’s curse was lifted, some quirk of magic also nullified the spell Nick cast on him, lo those many years ago, thus restoring his true vampire nature.” “You call him Nick? Do you know him, too?” “For a few years now,” she agreed. “He and Raphael don’t like each other much.” “I gathered. Gabriel told me that Nico saved him all those years ago. But after what happened tonight, he might feel differently,” she admitted. “He’s definitely been getting weaker and weaker since his curse was lifted.” “You offered him your blood and he refused?”

She nodded. “He drank from one of the guys who attacked us before we left Japan, so I’ve seen his fangs, and I know he drinks blood. His statue had fangs, too, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise. But he wouldn’t drink from me.” She shrugged her confusion. “Okay, here’s the thing. When a vampire drinks from a human, his bite releases a chemical euphoric that’s like an instant orgasm. I mean an instant, fabulous orgasm. Male, female, it doesn’t matter. I assume it’s an evolutionary adaptation to make them better predators. They don’t have to entice their blood donors, because the euphoric makes humans want to donate. If you and Gabriel aren’t intimate yet . . .” Her voice trailed off in question. “No.” Hana blushed. “I’m not sure he feels that way about me.” Cyn winked. “You silly kids. Maybe he’s not sure you feel that way. That would explain his reluctance to take your blood. As for the other, when a vampire sleeps, he’s out. I mean, unconscious, dead-to-theworld, out. The house could collapse around them, and they’d never notice. Which is why Raphael wants Gabriel somewhere he knows is safe for vampires. My honey can be arrogant as hell sometimes, but he’s earned it. He cares about his people, and they love him for it. I love him mostly for other stuff, but that’s beside the point,” she added, grinning. “The point is that unless you’ve slept with a vamp during

daylight before, it can be frightening. And Raphael’s not going to lock you away in the very secure quarters where his vampires sleep, only to have you freak out and endanger everyone there.” She held up a hand to forestall Hana’s objection. “I know, maybe you’re not the type to get hysterical, but Raphael doesn’t know that. He doesn’t know you, and until he does, he won’t trust you with his vampires. Including Gabriel, by the way.” Hana swallowed her protest. “I can understand that. You’re right, I didn’t know about the rest of it. I’ve never actually met a vampire before. Not that I know of, anyway. How did you . . . ? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.” “I don’t mind. I’d hazard there are a lot more vampires in California than there are in all of Japan. That’s partly because it’s Raphael’s ter​ritory, and he has a good reputation. But also because it’s a big state with lots of space to spread out. Vamps are aggressive by nature. Too many of them in one place causes problems. It’s one of the reasons there probably aren’t many of them in Japan. They don’t like islands much. “Anyway, I started out as a cop with the LAPD—” She laughed at the look on Hana’s face. “I know, I don’t exactly look the part. But I used to. Sort of. It wasn’t a good fit, but I met my first vampire there. I did him a favor, and when I switched to private investigations, he spread the word. I became every

vamp’s favorite PI, which taught me a lot about them. Long story short . . . a few years ago, Raphael needed a PI, I was hired, and the rest is history.” “Wow. I had no idea when we left Japan that the day would end like this.” “You must be tired. It’s a long flight, even without the weird time-zone crap.” Hana breathed deeply. “Yeah, Gabriel slept on the plane. Sort of. I managed an hour or two, but I was too wired. I figured I’d sleep at the hotel once we got here. But then Gabriel was so sick, I knew I needed help.” “You did the right thing. Gabriel needed Raphael in a way we humans can’t fully appreciate. He might not have survived if you’d delayed any longer.” Hana’s heart clenched at the idea of there being no more Gabriel in the world. “Sleep,” Cyn advised her, standing. “I’m not much of a morning person, but I’ll be around later in the day tomorrow. And there are human guards on the estate all day long. Ask any of them where the kitchen is if you’re hungry. There’s always food. Anything else for now?” “I hate to ask, but . . . I need to do some shopping. Will the guards know—?” “Oh, girl, you’ve come to the right place. I love shopping. We’ll go tomorrow. Give me your cell.” She pulled her own out of a back pocket. “I’m still on a burner,” Hana said and read off the

number. “I’ll buzz you when I wake up. Figure early afternoon. We’ll be back before the vamps wake, though.” Cyn grinned. “Raphael gets testy otherwise.” “That’s great. Not the testy part, but the shopping. Thank you,” Hana said, walking with her to the door. “I know Raphael’s only doing it for Gabriel and my grandfather, not me. But I do appreciate it.” Cyn laughed. “You haven’t seen nothin’ yet. Wait until Nick shows up. It’s going to be duck and cover for the rest of us when those two go at it.” And with that enigmatic observation, she was gone, heading down the hallway with the confident stride of a warrior who’d seen battle and come out on top. Hana stepped back into the room and closed the door, with a shake of her head. All of this was like some fantastic tale. The windswept estate on the Malibu cliffs, the beautiful heroine and her deadly but gorgeous hero. And, yes, Raphael was gorgeous. She hadn’t been so overwhelmed that she’d missed that. A little broody, though. And definitely unfriendly, although maybe that was just for her. She flicked the knob lock on the door, for all the good it would do, then walked to bathroom, stripping her clothes as she went. She wanted a shower but was too tired. She settled for washing her face and arms and brushing her teeth. Pulling on her only clean T-shirt and panties, she climbed into the

bed, half-convinced she’d never be able to fall asleep. Three minutes later, she was out. RAPHAEL HAD CHANGED out of his bloody clothes and was back in his office by the time Cyn returned from getting the woman settled. Himura Kyou’s granddaughter. Strange how the longer you lived, the more life seemed to circle back around. Himura had been barely twenty years old and a loyal soldier in his father’s criminal enterprise when Raphael had first met him. Not in Japan, but here in California, where they’d come to cement a business arrangement. Juro and Ken’ichi had served as translators, although they’d used telepathy so that the Himuras wouldn’t realize. It wasn’t the father who’d become a trusted business colleague, however, but rather Kyou. Raphael was far older than either of them, but vampirism was an odd thing. You were both old and young at the same time. He looked up when Cyn walked back into the office, raising only his eyes. She smiled and closed the door behind her, then strolled over, shoved his chair back, and sat on his lap. He automatically closed his arms to balance her, but also because he loved holding her. “Miss me?” she asked, kissing his jaw and then sliding her soft lips over his mouth. He tightened his hold on her and took over the kiss, deepening it until her heart was pounding and she was making those

hungry little sounds that he loved. He released her mouth with a final swipe of his tongue and brushed a last kiss over her lips. “Did you get the woman settled?” She shook her head with a smile. “Her name is Hana, and you’re being mean.” “She nearly killed Gabriel.” “No, she didn’t, and you know it. She schlepped all the way here from Japan specifically because you were the only person she knew who could help him. Anyway, she’s half in love with him.” “Only half ?” She eyed him curiously. “What do you know, fang boy?” “No more than you.” “Liar. But you’re pretty, so I’ll be patient. Tell me something,” she said, fiddling with the collar of his shirt. “Why would anyone kill the elder Himura to get to Hana? It seems she’d be more valuable as a hostage. Does she have other family who’d pay to get her back? Is that it?” “Her parents are alive, but that’s not why Himura’s enemies want her. Magic runs in her bloodline. Her grandfather, Kyou, had a modest telepathic talent, but I suspect that whatever Hana’s skill is, it comes from her great-grandmother, Kiku Mai. I only met her a few times, but her magic reached out as if seeking my own.” “She had real power?”

“She had a great deal of potential, but I doubt it was ever developed. Kiku Mai was the very proper Japanese wife of a wealthy man. She rarely left their home, to my knowledge. She died quite young, supposedly in a tragic accident, though I always suspected it was something more sin​ister. Hana’s grandfather, Kyou, was her only child.” “What about Hana’s parents?” “I don’t know her mother, but I’ve met her father. There’s not an ounce of magic there. Hana has two older brothers who are nulls as well. Hana, however, is Kiku Mai’s only female descendant, which may be why the magic skipped generations and flowed to her. It’s tied somehow to the female line.” “But you don’t know what it is.” “No, but I will soon.” “Don’t be mean to her.” He tsked impatiently. “You make me sound like an ogre.” “Never. I told you, you’re too pretty.” He tugged on a lock of her hair. She laughed. “If they’re after Hana, then what’s Gabriel’s deal?” “That fucking Katsaros. He obviously tried to cure Gabriel’s vam​pirism, and it backfired, nearly killing him.” “Gabriel sees it differently, according to Hana. Or at least he did back in the day. Like way back in the day. Way, way back in the—” “Yes, Cyn, I get it. Nick’s merry band of warriors

lived a few millennia ago, possibly not even on this timeline. That’s hardly an ex​cuse.” “I’m not making excuses for him.” She hugged his neck, pressing her full breasts against his chest as she held him for a few minutes without speaking. “Do you want me to call Nick?” she said quietly. “No, I fucking don’t,” he growled, then shifted her on his lap so he could see her face. “You said he’d be coming here, and I know how much you hate each other. It might be easier if I called—” Raphael bit back his rage. It wasn’t her fault that bastard Katsaros was back in their lives. And it sure as hell wasn’t her fault that Nick was a sorcerer and an asshole. But he hated the idea of that fucker having any hold on his Cyn, even if their relationship was long dead and faded. He knew Cyn was his completely. He knew she loved him the same way he loved her, with a passion that would never die. But he despised Nick Katsaros. “He’s a fucking sorcerer,” he growled, with what he thought was admirable restraint. “He already knows the curse has been lifted, and he probably knows he’s lost Gabriel. That so-called cure of theirs dealt with one or two vampiric traits, but it also made the damn sorcerer the vampire’s new master. I bet Gabriel didn’t know that little detail going into it. He’s just lucky Katsaros wasn’t a total asshole. At least, not back then. Gabriel was a loyal warrior in

his army, and the sorcerer appears to have repaid that loyalty in kind.” “Well, you managed to say ‘sorcerer’ once in there without cursing, so I’d say we’re making progress.” Raphael gave her a dark look, which had its usual effect. As in, none at all. His Cyn wasn’t the least bit intimidated by him. She grinned, as if guessing his thoughts. “What happens now? With Gabriel, I mean. Is that fucking sorcerer still—” Raphael laughed at her use of his descriptor for Katsaros. He leaned back in his chair, taking her with him. “I love you, my Cyn.” “I know. Same goes.” “For the record, and make no mistake about this, Gabriel is mine now. He’s a vampire, and I am no weakling master like the one who turned him. Katsaros can cast all the spells he wants. They’ll have no effect. But . . .” He shrugged, prompting a grunted protest from Cyn when the movement jostled her. He ran a soothing hand over her hip. “Two of his warriors have been freed already, one right here in Malibu.” “How do you know?” “This is my territory,” he said, with no little arrogance. “No one generates that much magic without me knowing about it. Katsaros came to see that warrior after the curse was lifted, then created a big magical stir out in the desert beyond Palm

Springs, before running back to Florida where he belongs. For whatever reason—guilt or something else—he seems to care about the four men who were caught up in the curse. A curse which was aimed at punishing him, by the way, even though it’s the others who paid. Typical sorcerer,” he added in a mutter. “So, if he knows Gabriel’s been freed—” “Not ‘if.’ He knows. And since Gabriel is here, the fucking sorcerer won’t be far behind.” “What about the other warriors? Is the Malibu guy —?” “Still living here with the woman who broke his curse.” “You think he’ll want to see Gabriel, too?” “Probably. The only question is whether he’ll wait for Katsaros or come on his own.” “Will you let Gabriel see him?” He gave her a surprised look. “You think I would stop him?” She shook her head. “No. Well, maybe. He’s vulnerable, and you wouldn’t want him hurt.” Raphael gave her a brief kiss, mollified by her response. “He’ll be much better by tomorrow night. Stronger and more like himself. He was a mighty warrior in his time, and he will be again. But I don’t trust Katsaros or any of his people, so I’ll want to be in on their meetings. Gabriel won’t mind.” “Because you’re the vampire lord?” “Because he trusts me, lubimaya.”

She sighed. “So, we can expect a visit from Nick, then?” He nodded. “He’ll have felt the curse release Gabriel, but unless he happened to be somewhere in or near Japan, the magical reaction would have been diffused enough by distance that he might have trouble pinpointing its source. Especially if he was home in Florida. But after what happened tonight, he’ll know where Gabriel is. He’ll be here soon enough.” “Fuck. Why does it have to be him? You two are better off remaining on opposite sides of the continent.” “I could kill him for you. End of problem.” “Raphael.” “What?” “Maybe we should go on vacation. Colorado’s nice this time of year.” “And miss all the fun? Not a chance.” An Unknown Location Sotiris flicked his fingers at the nameless underling, taking some small satisfaction in the man’s terrified flinch. “Leave me.” The underling scurried for the open office door, looking nothing like the accomplished professional he was. Or that he had been, before he made the mistake of failing in his task. The sorcerer considered killing him before he could make it out

of the room. Letting the vermin almost reach safety, almost escape, and then exploding his heart. The useless piece of flesh deserved it. But then Sotiris would simply have to find someone to replace him, and that would only delay the job further. He settled for a sharp squeeze on the weasel’s heart, a warning shot, as it were. “Find her,” he said. “I don’t care what it takes.” The underling backed out of the room, pulling the door shut between them while still bent into a low bow. The man didn’t say a word, which made him smarter than a few others who were no longer around to offer their sniveling excuses. The sorcerer swung his chair around and gazed down at the bright lights glinting all around, reflecting on the dark ocean beyond. He’d come all the way here to take the girl into his care. To offer her his patronage, his tutelage, after the unfortunate demise of her grandfather. Of course, he’d known the old man was going to die, because he’d made sure of it. But she didn’t need to know that. But the fools he’d sent had lost her. Worse than lost her. They’d staged a bloody, fucking gun battle on the streets of Nagano, and had still lost her. The few who’d survived had insisted she’d had a bodyguard traveling with her. They’d told fantastic tales of some fierce barbarian who’d torn men to pieces and drunk their blood. Sotiris believed they’d seen something, since they’d died screaming under his

questioning and never wavered from their stories. But whether it was a sorcerer’s trick or an actual living bodyguard, he didn’t know. The girl shouldn’t have had the right skills to wield that kind of power. By all accounts, she’d barely received any training at all when it came to magic, not even her own talent, much less anything else. But magic found its own way sometimes. Enough power could make up for a lack of skill. He spat a curse, furious at being denied after all his planning. A crack speared through the plate glass in front of him, branching off like a bolt of lightning. He pulled his power back with an act of will. Discipline. Control. That was why he’d triumphed over his enemies for thousands of years. Why he was still alive, when so many others like him were dead. And why he’d succeed this time, too. She was a novice, an innocent. And he was the most powerful sorcerer on earth. She would be his. And he would rule the world.

Chapter Four Malibu, CA, USA HANA DROPPED THE last of her shopping bags into the back of the SUV and collapsed onto the front seat, while Cyn slid behind the wheel and steered them out of the parking structure, like all the demons of hell were after them. The woman drove fast. Fortunately, Hana was too ex​hausted to worry much about it. She was still waiting for feeling to return to her aching legs. Who knew that shopping was such great exercise? Other than Cyn, that is. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d claimed to love shopping. Not only that, but the people in every store they’d gone to clearly returned the love. Hana had bought more clothes for herself than she’d owned before leaving Japan, mostly because in her grandfather’s house, she’d rarely dressed for anything. She’d been pre​pared to do the same here and had gone to the stores expecting to buy a few pairs of jeans, some shirts and shoes, and maybe one nice pair of slacks. She’d bought all of that and more. Underwear. Beautiful, sexy bras and panties, which Cyn had insisted she’d need, giving her a conspir​atorial wink. Hana hadn’t bothered trying to argue that she and Gabriel didn’t have that kind of a relationship,

because Cyn would have seen right through her. It was true that they hadn’t yet, but that didn’t mean she didn’t hope that they would. In fact, all those beautiful undies were giving her a dose of fresh confidence when it came to a certain vampire warrior. She’d bought clothes for him, too. Jeans and T-shirts that she could hardly wait to see him try on. She smiled to herself and realized she was more relaxed and optimistic than she’d been since her grandfather had been killed. Maybe even before that. She’d made the right choice in coming here, even if Raphael wasn’t what she’d expected. Oh, she’d anticipated the power and even the arrogance, but he’d been such a jerk. She glanced guiltily at Cyn for the thought and hoped Raphael’s mate was only what she seemed—beautiful, fearless, tough as nails. But no telepathy. When Cyn didn’t react to Hana’s unflattering thoughts of Raphael, she breathed a sigh of relief. And the truth was, that although Raphael had been a jerk to her, she couldn’t fault his genuine concern for Gabriel. She’d have put up with a lot worse from the vampire lord for that alone. Gabriel was what mattered. She sighed and settled more deeply into the cushy leather seat, thinking about the future. If she and Gabriel were going to remain in this part of California—and it certainly seemed they were—then they were going to need a car. Public transportation was good in some areas, nonexistent in others.

Everyone drove here. Fortunately, she and Cyn had done more than shop this afternoon. They’d also visited the banks Hana needed to access her private funds. It would take a few days for the cash to become available, but she had her credit cards for the most immediate needs. Housing would have to be arranged, although it seemed for now, at least, that Gabriel would be living on the estate. Cyn had explained that it wasn’t a requirement for Raphael’s vamps, but that vampires tended to be most comfortable living in close quarters. Hana had lived on her grandfather’s estate most of her life and knew the rhythms of that kind of living arrangement. But she didn’t know if she’d want to live on Raphael’s estate. There were houses nearby. Maybe one of those would do. Not right away, not for Gabriel. But eventually. “Sorry to cut off the shopping so soon,” Cyn said, drawing her out of her thoughts. So soon? Hana’s legs felt worn to the nub. “Raphael gets grouchy if I’m not there when he wakes up.” Gets grouchy? Christ, you mean he wasn’t already? Hana stared out the side window to conceal her expression. “Is that normal?” she asked, thinking about her hoped-for future with Gabriel. Cyn laughed. “There is no normal when it comes to vampires. Get used to it. Every night is a new adventure.”

Hana wasn’t sure she wanted that much adventure in her life. But she did want Gabriel, so. . . . “When will I see Gabriel? I want to see him tonight,” she added firmly. “Of course. Raphael meant what he said about all of this being Gabriel’s choice. You don’t understand yet, but Raphael could have taken Gabriel’s vow last night. A lot of vampires would have done that, would have taken advantage of Gabriel’s need and bound him to them tighter than a drum. I know he was rude to you, but he’s a good lord to his people. And he’s scrupulous when it comes to free will. “That said, he won’t want to wait too long for Gabriel’s decision. It’s not good for anyone, especially not Gabriel, to be on his own under these circumstances. Vampires really aren’t designed to live alone. Raphael will make sure Gabriel understands what it means, but if you guys want to stay in his territory, he’ll have to pledge his loyalty. There are eight territories, which means eight vampire lords who work in alliance to control all of North America. He’ll have to swear to one of them. Raphael just happens to be the strongest.” Hana considered that for a moment, then said, “It’s not easy to think of Gabriel as someone who needs to be taken care of. I mean, until a few days ago, he was trapped in that damn stone. But he’s really smart, and he’s an amazing fighter. Truth be told, I think he’s dealt better with everything that’s

happened than I have.” She sighed. “It’s his decision. I’ll go along with whatever he decides.” “You plan to stay with him, then?” Hana gave her a startled look. “Of course,” she said immediately, wincing when she realized what she’d given away. Cyn didn’t look away from the road, but she smiled smugly. “You love him.” She blew out an exasperated breath. “Fine. I love him. I mean, I’ve always loved him, but that was before, when I was young and he was this largerthan-life statue of a fantastic hero. But now . . . I’m a grown woman, and he’s very much a real man. You’re going to think this is strange, but he reminds me of my grandfather. Not the looks obviously, although you have to admit that he’s pretty damn fine. But I’m talking about the important things, like honor and kindness, and a protective streak a mile wide. And don’t tell him I said so, but he’s so sweet sometimes, I want to hug him and never let go.” She sighed. “But mostly I just want to get him naked and have my way with him.” The other woman chuckled. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. But you might want to tell him how you feel. It’s so much easier that way.” “Easy for you, maybe. Raphael obviously adores you.” “He does,” she agreed softly. “And I adore him right back. You don’t think Gabriel has feelings for

you?” “Oh, sure. I told you, he’s very protective.” “Nothing else?’ Hana wasn’t comfortable talking about Gabriel’s feelings. “I don’t know. Tell me about this Nico, or Nick, whatever you call him,” she said, changing the subject. Cyn gave her a look that said she wasn’t fooled, but she went along with the gambit. “Nick is a damn powerful sorcerer. A nice guy, generally, but sorcerers live by their own rules and don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks.” “Kind of like vampires.” She laughed. “Just like vamps,” she agreed, as she turned off Pacific Coast Highway and started down the long drive to the estate. The smell of eucalyptus trees was sharp despite their closed windows. The vamp guards scanned the interior of the SUV, giving Hana special attention, before passing them through the gate. As they started for the house, Cyn glanced at Hana and said soberly, “Raphael’s going to want the situation with Gabriel resolved before Nick gets here. He’ll be upfront about that.” “When do you think Nick’ll—?” “I don’t know. I’m not sure anyone does yet, but hopefully we’ll learn more tonight. I’ll talk to Raphael. Gabriel will probably wake a lot later than usual, given his physical exhaustion and the big dose of Raphael’s blood, which is like an atomic jolt of

narcotics to a vamp. I’ll find out what the plan is for later and give you a call. In the meantime, feel free to wander the estate, but I wouldn’t recommend going beyond the walls alone. We still don’t know where your enemies are, or if they’re even aware you’re here. You won’t be safe until we do.” They stopped in front of the elegantly understated entrance to Raphael’s house—or, she supposed, Raphael and Cyn’s house. She didn’t know how that worked. Human guards appeared to help carry bags up the entry stairs and into the house, leaving them piled in the foyer. Hana looked at her multiple purchases and wondered if there was an elevator. “You can leave some of those down here, if you want,” Cyn said, coming up behind her and grabbing her own bags. “Make a few trips. Elke tells me stairs are good for you. She’s the trainer from hell. She’s also my vampire bodyguard for when I go out at night. Actually, I’m supposed to have a daytime bodyguard, too, but Robbie had kind of a family emergency. Don’t tell—” “Don’t tell who what?” Hana spun around and stared at the huge and wellarmed black man who was giving Cyn the look of death. She dropped the bags she’d been holding, prepared to fight, but then realized no one else was worried. Least of all Cyn. “Robbie!” she said, hurrying over to give the big man a hug. “You’re back!”

“And just in time, it looks like. What the fuck, Cyn? You promised you’d get one of the guys to go with you.” “I had Hana instead. She’s tougher than she looks.” Hana didn’t know how Cyn could know that, but she did know she didn’t want to get in the middle of whatever this was. On the other hand, she really was tougher than she looked. “I really am,” she agreed. “Think of it this way,” she added, grabbing her various bags, “you didn’t have to spend several hours speed-walking through stores with Cyn.” “I’m familiar with the process. You’re Hana?” “Hana Himura,” she confirmed, holding out a hand, which quickly disappeared into his enormous paw. “We arrived last night.” “We?” Robbie was giving Cyn a questioning look. “I’ll explain later. Go. Irina will want to see you when she wakes up.” “Fine. But no more sneaking out. Raphael would kill me if some​thing happened to you.” “I wouldn’t let him do that.” “Like you could stop him,” he muttered, as he disappeared down the long hallway. “Your bodyguard?” Hana asked, following Cyn up the stairs. “And a good friend. We’ve been through a lot together.” They reached the top of the twisting staircase,

with Cyn going one way and Hana the other. “Thanks for doing this,” Hana said. “I never mind going shopping,” Cyn said, smiling and looking much fresher than Hana felt. “I’ll see you later.” Hana trudged down the empty hall to her room, or at least her room for now. Locking the door behind her, she dumped the bags on the floor, not bothering to sort anything out yet. She was tired. Not only the miles of walking they’d done, but the weird time shift was getting to her. She lay flat on her back and closed her eyes, thinking she’d just catch her breath before going through the bags, taking off tags, deciding what needed to be washed . . . That was the last thought she had. THE SUN SET, AND the vampires rose. Including one pissed-off vampire lord who rolled over and grabbed his mate, trapping her neatly beneath him. “You went shopping today,” he growled. She put both hands on his cheeks and kissed him. “I did. Hana had nothing but the clothes on her back, the poor thing.” “Poor thing, my ass. She’s a highly trained warrior in her grand​father’s army.” “Exactly. Which is why we didn’t need a bodyguard.” Raphael’s growl deepened. “Is that what you think?”

She kissed him more thoroughly. “I’m happy to see you, too, fang boy.” “Cynthia.” She sighed. “I know. We should have taken someone with us. But, honestly, Raphael. Neither one of us is easy prey. And we really were careful.” “Don’t do it again.” “I won’t.” “If you try, I’ll order the guards to stop you.” “You wouldn’t.” “I would do that and more to keep you safe. You are . . .” He shook his head, unable to find the words. “I love you.” “I know, baby, and I’m sorry. But wait ‘til you see —” She didn’t get a chance to finish the thought, because Raphael had decided to show her just how much she meant to him. Words sometimes failed him, but his body never did. Not when it came to giving his mate pleasure. RAPHAEL HELD ON to Cyn as the elevator rose to his office. Her body was still thrumming with pleasure, her kisses languorous and sated as she draped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Soft breasts were crushed against his chest as he squeezed her close. “Be good,” he murmured, feeling himself harden in response. “I’d rather remain in bed with you all night, but regrettably, there are matters that won’t wait.”

“You say the sweetest things,” she whispered against his lips. His hand dropped to her ass, and he was about to say, “the hell with it,” and take her back downstairs, when Juro’s voice in his head requested his urgent attention. He sighed and stroked his hand from her ass to her lower back, instead. “This situation is going to get worse before it gets better.” She dropped down from her toes and patted his chest. “How can I help?” “Find Hana. Bring her to my office. Gabriel is still asleep, but I need answers, and she has them.” “Okay, but be nice.” “Nice doesn’t always produce results, my Cyn.” “If she knows you’re protecting Gabriel, she’ll help you. She loves him.” “I don’t think this is about Gabriel. I think it’s Hana, and I can’t protect either one of them if I don’t know the truth.” The elevator door opened, and they stepped into his office. Cyn slid a caressing hand from his shoulder to his chest, kissed him lightly, and said, “I’ll bring her here.” He watched the sway of her hips as she strolled to the door and opened it, greeting Juro and Jared in the hallway with a “Hey guys,” and then disappearing from his view. Raphael moved around behind his desk and sat down. “You have news?” he asked, watching his two closest advisors as they lowered themselves into the

two chairs in front of his desk. They were big men, but the chairs had been chosen for their size and sturdiness. None of his inner circle was small. “The sorcerer is aware of Gabriel’s arrival in California,” Juro said, his deep voice betraying the hostility toward Katsaros that he shared with his Sire. “Kato Amadi, the witch’s son, now knows as well,” he said, in response to Raphael’s inquiring look. “Ah. I assumed as much. Too bad he lives so close.” “On the other hand,” Jared said, “it makes it easier to keep track of him.” They all shared a chuckle over that, then Raphael said, “Cyn’s bringing the woman. Whoever was following them is after her, not Gabriel. No one tried to stop the first two of Katsaros’s warriors, once they were freed, not even the witch’s son as far as I know. Why would they want Gabriel? He’s a powerful warrior, no question. And he’ll be a strong addition to my inner security circle, but he has no magic.” “You’re sure of this?” Raphael looked at his lieutenant. “I’ve walked in his soul, Jared. He’s been through hell, and he has a heart that is loyal to a fault. But he has no magic, other than that which makes him vampire.” “He’s yours, then,” Juro commented. “He is mine. Or if he chooses, I’ll recommend him to another North American lord, someone I can

trust. Between the bastard who sired him and that fucking sorcerer, he’s been through enough.” His gaze shifted to the office doors. “Cyn has returned, with Hana.” The other two came to their feet as the doors opened. Cyn gave them all bemused looks, then walked over to join Raphael behind the desk, taking up her usual position next to him. He ran a caressing hand over the back of her firm thigh as he watched Himura Kyou’s only grand​daughter move more cautiously to the front of the desk. He waved at the recently vacated chairs, and she sat, her careful gaze moving first to Cyn, who gave an encouraging nod, and then back to Raphael. “Where’s Gabriel?” she asked. “He’ll join us soon,” Raphael said smoothly. “Tell me about your magic.” Hana stared. “How do you know I have any?” When Raphael returned a patronizing stare, she muttered, “Of course you do.” She clenched her jaw, then said, “The night of the attack, when Grandfather told me to run, he insisted the attackers were after me.” “I suspect he’s right. Your great-grandmother had magic, did you know that?” Her surprise was obvious. “No. Grandfather never talked about her.” “He was very young when she died, but your great-grandfather was aware of her ability, and I

suspect he passed on the knowledge. You resemble her very closely, but while you look like her, you’re very different. She was a housewife. You’re a warrior. Kyou made sure of it, probably because he knew, or suspected, the risks you would face.” She shifted in her chair, not looking at him, as if uncomfortable talking about her talent. And why wouldn’t she be? She’d clearly been raised not to admit its existence, much less discuss it with strangers. Regardless of Raphael’s ties to Gabriel, or Cyn’s enthusiastic shopping trip, they were all very much strangers to Hana. “Grandfather called me his little soldier,” she said softly, then looked up. “I have twin older brothers, did you know that?” Raphael nodded. “Grandfather brought all three of us to Gabriel’s garden when we were older. His statue was hidden behind a tall hedgerow, impossible to get to unless you possessed some magic. I used to visit all the time, though I didn’t think about why I was the only one. I just assumed the twins were too idiotic to try. On the day the three of us were there with Grandfather, they looked at Gabriel and laughed, calling him a monster. I was shocked, because I only ever saw Gabriel. Not a monster, but an angel. My angel.” She stopped abruptly, as if afraid she’d said too much. “Neither of my brothers would have survived the past few days,” she added, as if to

explain why she’d mentioned it. She hesitated then, as if making a decision, but finally continued. “Grandfather always calls me . . . he always called me,” she corrected, swallowing obvious emotion, “a magic amplifier. He said his ‘luck’ was better when I was around. That was his code for telepathy, which he never acknowledged having. He never wanted anyone to know about my magic, either, so we never did anything close to a formal test, but he always thought it was on the order of two.” Raphael grew very still. “Meaning you can double the power of whoever taps into your ability?” Hana tensed at his reaction. “Theoretically. But like I said, it’s never been tested, and I wouldn’t know where to start.” Raphael wasn’t listening anymore. Jesus fucking Christ. Double. Every sorcerer alive would be after her if they knew. She could turn a two-bit magic-user into a power, and a true sorcerer. . . . He thought about Nick Katsaros, and his gaze swung automatically to Cyn. She might have a soft spot for the fucking sorcerer, but not even she would want that much power vested in one man, would she? He glanced briefly at Hana, then back to Cyn, the question in his eyes. Cyn must have read something more in his expression, because her green eyes flared in alarm. Moving quickly around the desk, she came between

him and Hana. “Raphael says Gabriel will sleep later than usual today. Kind of like you or me after a hangover,” she added with a grin. “You want a nap yourself, or—” “What I’d really like is a gym. We went from running for our lives to sitting on a plane for way too many hours.” “Call Elke,” Raphael suggested, in a tone that said it wasn’t a suggestion. Now that he knew what she could do, he wanted to be sure he knew where she was and with whom. He hadn’t directed the order to anyone, but Juro stepped into the hall, and a moment later, Elke ap​peared. “My lord?” she asked, her gaze going from one to the other of the people in the room. Cyn took over again, clearly not trusting him to make it sound like Elke was anything except a prison guard. “Elke, this is Hana,” she said, pulling the other woman to her feet. “She’s majorly jetlagged and needs a good workout.” Elke’s smile was almost evil. Raphael approved, though Cyn obviously didn’t. “Hana’s not a vampire,” she cautioned. “No, really?” Elke drawled. Cyn scowled. “Be nice.” Elke laughed. “You’re still alive, aren’t you? Come on, Hana. I’ll set you up.” Hana glanced once at Raphael, then at Cyn, who gave her an encouraging nod. “I’ll join you in a bit.”

She made an aborted start at a bow to Raphael but stopped herself and settled for a nod instead. “Thank you for everything. If you wouldn’t mind, could you have someone advise me when Gabriel is awake?” “Of course,” he agreed smoothly. She turned and followed Elke out of the office. Cyn stared after them. “You think Elke—?” “Elke knows her job,” Raphael said impatiently. Cyn swung around to study him, then sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, her long legs stretched out in front of her. Jared took the second chair, while Juro carried a chair from the alcove to make a third. “What do you think?” Raphael asked, aiming the question mostly at his vampires. He already knew what Cyn thought. She was tough as nails beneath that beautiful exterior and had killed without qualms in the past. There were no lengths she wouldn’t go to protect him. But it wasn’t only his body she worried about, it was his soul. And she didn’t want this stain on that already blackened thing. “I think she’s a walking, talking, nuclear bomb,” Juro said. “Hell, yeah, she is,” Jared agreed. “A bomb I don’t want to see in the hands of our enemies. Or anyone else, for that matter.” “Sure as hell not that fucking sorcerer,” Raphael added, staring directly at Cyn.

She sat forward, her worried eyes meeting his. “I know you don’t trust Nick—” Raphael snorted. “—but he’s not an altogether bad guy. And what’s the alternative? Hana needs to learn control from somebody, right? I mean, what’s the other choice? Lock her up? Kill her?” she added in a bare whisper. Raphael wanted to dismiss that last possibility. Hana was the beloved granddaughter of a friend who’d trusted him more than once. Not to mention what it would do to Gabriel’s trust in him. More importantly, it would hurt Cyn deeply. Fortunately, it wouldn’t come to that. Jared and Juro understood. They were both staring at Cyn, wondering why she wasn’t seeing the logical alternative. Maybe this was one time when you really did need to be a vampire. “You believe I’d kill her that easily?” he asked. He would kill her, if it came down to it. But it wouldn’t be easy, and he was frankly a little wounded that Cyn would think it of him. She should’ve known that he’d never treat her heart so carelessly. She must have seen something in his eyes, because she came around the desk to hug him. “Of course not,” she said, planting her sweet ass on the arm of his chair. “I’m just worried. After Hawaii, I don’t trust any of this magic stuff.” She looked from Jared to Juro and back to him, then frowned. “Okay, you guys are seeing something I’m not. What is it?”

Raphael rested a hand on her thigh. “It’s very simple, my Cyn. I’ll bind her to me through Gabriel.” She frowned. “So you can use her instead?” she asked, sounding puzzled. “No. Her magic doesn’t work on mine. I can feel it, like an annoying buzz, but there’s no amplification effect.” “You think she’ll agree? I mean, she and Gabriel aren’t exactly—” Raphael’s phone rang once and stopped. It was the standard comm protocol from the gate. He glanced at Juro, then pressed a single key, putting the call on speaker. “My lord, there’s a man here, demanding to see the visitors.” He glanced at Juro who immediately stood. “I’m on my way,” he answered the gate guard, and then disconnected and left the room. Jared stood as Juro walked out. “I’ll check on Gabriel. He should be awake by now. He was stirring before I came up here.” “Make sure he has whatever needs,” Raphael said. “I want him to feel comfortable seeing his old friend again.” Cyn waited until both the vampires had gone, then slid around to his lap. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried about Hana. She needs to learn about magic, and at least we know Nick. Better him than someone like that other sorcerer, Sotiris.”

Raphael stiffened beneath her, and not in a good way. “Sotiris? Where’d you hear that name?” “Back in Kansas. Nick told me he’s the one who cursed his warriors, way back when.” “He confirmed that it was Sotiris who cursed his men?” “Well, yeah, but that was ages ago. He’s dead by now . . . isn’t he?” He shook his head. “Sotiris is still very much alive, my Cyn, and Katsaros knows it. That dust-up in the desert I told you about around the time his second warrior was freed? That was the two of them going at each other.” He snorted dismissively. “Maybe when he gets here that fucking sorcerer will tell us why, after all this time, they’re suddenly trying to kill each other.” Cyn sighed unhappily. “We never got that vacation, you know.” He tightened his arms around her. “We will.” She was quiet for a few minutes, completely relaxed in his arms. “I really didn’t think you’d kill her,” she murmured. “Yes, you did. But I forgive you. You were only thinking of her, not yourself.” “What do I have to do with it?” “Because, my Cyn, killing her would hurt you. And I’d never do that.” “Well, shit. Now I feel like total ass.” She stretched up to kiss the side of his mouth. “I’m sorry.” He

turned his head and kissed her more thoroughly, her body going soft around him as she gave a low moan. “That’s so unfair, and you know it.” He grinned, and she pushed off his lap to sit on the edge of the desk instead. “Okay, back to business, fang boy. Who’s at the gate? You said Nick wouldn’t be here yet.” “He’s not. It’s one of his warriors, I imagine. Probably the local one, Kato Amadi, but let’s wait and see what Juro has to say first.” The gate ring sounded again. Cyn leaned over and pressed the key. “Juro,” Raphael said. “My lord, the son of the Dark Witch would like to see Gabriel. Grace Van Allen is with him.” Raphael heard someone cursing in the background and knew the man hadn’t offered up the truth of his identity. Cyn jerked at the title and gave him a questioning look, but Raphael held up a hand for her to wait. “Bring him to the conference room. Kill him at the first sign of aggression.” He disconnected. “Son of the Dark Witch?” Cyn repeated in alarm. “What the hell does that mean?” “Kato was the only son of a witch so powerful that she no longer had a name. She was simply the Dark Witch. She had many daughters, none of whom matched her power. But she had only one son, and his conception was not entirely natural. She used magic to make certain he was male, and thus, in the

traditions of her society, not eligible to rule, though he was far more powerful than his sisters. He was never even taught to read, much less use magic. His only purpose was as a reservoir of power for his mother to draw upon.” “But why dark? Was she evil?” He shook his head. “That’s a common misconception, especially in this time and place, when magic is scarce. But dark doesn’t mean evil any more than light means good. They’re simply different paths to power. Dark magic is so called because of the price its practitioners pay to use it. It demands pain, but it gives them a great deal more power in return. As a result, however, dark witches tend to be more powerful, since they can create as much pain as they need or want. There are myriad ways of causing pain. Light magic, on the other hand, derives its power from nature. Its practitioners can only draw on whatever occurs naturally.” “Nick must know about Kato’s history.” “Yes, and if you value his life, you won’t engage him in a conversation about that or anything else.” She gave a disgusted noise. “I don’t get you guys.” “It’s quite simple. You’re mine. If he speaks to you, he dies. If he touches you, he dies screaming.” “Good grief. I think the two of you should skip the in-person meet and just talk on the phone. Gabriel can—” “I don’t trust him with Gabriel. He nearly killed

him once—” “Even you admit that he didn’t mean to hurt him back then.” “Probably not, but this isn’t then. If he tried it now, he would hurt him, and I won’t permit that. Gabriel is a vampire. He belongs with his own people.” He tipped his head slightly. “He’s on his way up.” “Kato?” “No. Gabriel.” “Should I get Hana?” “Not yet. Let me talk to Gabriel first, make sure he wants to see Kato, and if he wants Hana there.” She gave him a doubtful look but came to her feet as the door opened and Jared entered with Gabriel. GABRIEL FORCED himself to walk slowly into Raphael’s office, taking his cue from Jared, who, for all his long service to the vampire lord, still treated him with great formality and respect. He reminded himself of his friend and mentor Himura, who had always greeted him with the gravest formality, even though Gabriel had been nothing but a spark of life inside a stone statue. It was an effort to contain his enthusiasm, though. He was feeling a thousand times better than any day since he’d awakened, better than he could remember feeling going back the millennia of his previous existence. He was not only filled with energy, but he

was optimistic about the future. For the first time since he’d been forcibly made a vampire, he’d awakened eager to face the night in this new world. And to see Hana. As Raphael came around the desk to greet him, Gabriel walked forward and dropped to his knees. “My lord.” He tried to put everything he was feeling into those two words. Respect, gratitude, joy. Raphael reached down and gripped his shoulders, pulling him to his feet. Gabriel’s eyes flared briefly at the strength in that grip. He’d lost some weight since his awakening, but he was still a very big man. And while he and the vampire lord were of a height, Gabriel was bulkier by at least fifty pounds. He almost immediately chastised himself for such trivial thoughts. Raphael wasn’t an ordinary man; he had power. Gabriel had lived with Nico, had fought in wars where magic was so thick on the battlefield that a man could choke on it. He knew power when he felt it. “That’s not necessary,” Raphael said, giving his shoulders a last reassuring squeeze before releasing him. “You’re feeling better.” It was a statement, not a question, but Gabriel responded anyway. “Yes, my lord. Thanks to you.” “And Hana,” Raphael added. “She did the right thing in bringing you here.” Gabriel did a quick scan of the office. “Where is Hana? Is she well?”

“Of course. She’s in the gym with Elke, one of my vampires. And I’m told she and my Cyn cleaned out the mall, shopping this afternoon,” he added, shooting an affectionate glance at his mate, who smiled and took a few steps closer. “He exaggerates,” she said cheerfully. “But we did do some shopping. Hana bought stuff for you, too, since we both thought you were in desperate need. Although that,” she said, waving her hand to indicate the clothes he was wearing, “is certainly better than what you had on last night.” Gabriel cast a rueful glance downward. “Hana tried, but in Japan, my size was unusual enough that she couldn’t find clothes for me without drawing attention. Which we certainly didn’t want. Here, how​ever—” He smiled. “Men are bigger.” She grinned. “Especially among Raphael’s security staff, huh?” She glanced at Raphael. “Why don’t I go find Hana? I’m sure Elke’s beaten her into submission by now—” She waved a hand when Gabriel shot her an alarmed look. “Joking. I’m sure Hana can hold her own. Besides, I’ve been working with Elke for years, and I’m still alive. She’s good about holding her punches for us mere humans.” “My Hana is tougher than she looks.” Raphael’s mate gave him a bemused look, but all she said was, “I bet.” She ran a hand down the vampire lord’s arm and touched his fingers briefly. “I’ll check back with you.”

Raphael waited until she’d closed the door behind her, his gaze full of fierce possession as he watched her cross the room. Gabriel recognized that emotion. He felt the same toward Hana, even though he had no right. The minute the door clicked shut, Raphael waved at the chairs and started around his desk. “Sit. Jared, you too. We have things to discuss. Foremost among them . . . you have a visitor, Gabriel.” Gabriel frowned. “A visitor? But no one should know we’re here,” he said, alarm flaring all over again with concern for Hana’s safety. “Our enemies —” He would have come to his feet, but Jared’s hand on his arm urged calm, at the same time that Raphael held up a hand in a similar gesture. “Not an enemy. At least I don’t think so. But rest assured, Gabriel, my people are more than capable of defending this estate. Many have tried to breach our defenses. None has succeeded.” “Not an enemy,” Gabriel repeated, his heart still thundering with fear. Not for himself, but for Hana. “Then who?” “The son of the Dark Witch himself. Kato Amadi.” Gabriel hadn’t thought he could experience a joy greater than he had when he’d wakened that evening, feeling whole and strong and free. And knowing Hana was nearby and safe. But this. . . . It didn’t matter what he’d done in the past, the brutish existence his

Sire had forced on him, or the monster he’d become. His fellow warriors had been his brothers. They’d fought side by side, saved each other’s lives many times over, and loved each other like family. And when the curse had hit, they’d fallen and suffered together, too. “Kato?” he said, almost breath​less with a hopeful disbelief. “How is that possible?” “The last year has been . . . significant in the world of sorcery. Events are moving quickly, and though it’s not clear to me where they’re going, I imagine the uncertainty is at least partly responsible for the timing of your enemy’s decision to kidnap Hana. Two of your fellow warriors have been freed already, which greatly enhances Nicodemus’s position. Amadi is one, but I’m not sure who the other is. It happened thousands of miles from here, in another’s territory.” “Kato is here?” Gabriel said, suddenly uneasy. Raphael nodded. “He arrived without warning, simply presented himself at the gate and asked to see you.” He tilted his head curiously. “You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to.” Gabriel gritted his jaw and forced himself to meet that penetrating stare. He’d done many things he wasn’t proud of, but he’d never been a coward. “Kato. None of them. They never knew me as . . .” “A vampire,” Raphael supplied. “No, I imagine not. Are you ashamed?” “No, my lord,” Gabriel insisted immediately, his

head coming up to meet Raphael’s black gaze. “I was forced to be what others wanted my entire life. My father, my filthy vampire Sire, even Nico, for all that his intentions were good. Now here, for the first time, I am only me. It feels right. It feels good. And I would be honored to serve you.” “And I would be honored to have you,” Raphael said gently. “But that is not a vow to be undertaken rashly. Once you’ve sworn to me, you are mine, body and soul. Your loyalty will belong to me alone, and I do not tolerate betrayal.” “I understand. I would still—” “Wait. Talk to your friend, talk to Hana. Events are moving quickly, but not so quickly that you cannot take a few hours to consider such a momentous decision.” “Yes, my lord. Where . . . ?” “We’ll move to the conference room down the hall. It’s big enough for all of us. You understand that I can’t allow Kato the freedom of my estate. My people will remain close. But if you require privacy, they can wait outside the room.” “That won’t be necessary, my lord. I have nothing to hide, and I believe Kato will understand better once he meets you.” Raphael stood. “Let’s go, then. Juro and Ken’ichi are bringing him up. If you change your mind about wanting privacy, the offer stands.”

GABRIEL STOOD AT the big window on the far wall of the con​ference room, staring at the endless expanse of water below the cliff. He knew oceans existed. Hell, he and Hana had crossed this very one to get here. But he’d never seen it like this. The massive body of water was in constant motion, like a huge beast stirring restlessly against its chains. It was black and impenetrable except for slender threads of moonlight that hinted at hidden peaks and valleys. He smiled slightly. He must be truly nervous if his head was filled with such poetic thoughts at a time like this. He knew in his gut that Kato was his brother in everything but blood. That the other warrior loved him and meant him no harm. He’d told Raphael he was worried about his brother seeing him as a true vampire for the first time. And he hadn’t lied. He was worried about that. But it had been so long, and so much had happened since they’d been cursed. He’d changed for the better, he thought. No. He knew. He no longer felt the simmering rage of a berserker lying just below the surface of his skin, no longer had to spend every moment fighting himself simply to remain calm. Raphael had done that for him. He’d given Gabriel’s self back to him. But would Kato understand? Or would he feel betrayed by Gabriel’s new allegiance to his fellow vampires? And to Raphael? He turned as the door opened behind him. Juro

entered first. . . . No, that wasn’t Juro. It was his twin brother, Ken’ichi. The two vam​pires were very much alike, but only on the surface. All thoughts of vampire twins vanished when he caught sight of Kato. His brother was dressed differently than the last time he’d seen him, but other than that, he appeared much the same. His hair was still long, his dark eyes still filled with joy, for all that life under his bitch of a mother had been brutal. Gabriel couldn’t see the blade his brother always wore on his back, but he knew it was there. He could tell by the way Kato moved. Kato’s grin was huge when he saw Gabriel. “Brother!” he said and tried unsuccessfully to maneuver around Ken’ichi, who didn’t move until he’d glanced at Raphael and received a subtle nod of approval. He stepped aside, and Kato surged forward, arms outstretched. Gabriel met him halfway, and they slammed together, pounding each other’s backs in the way of warriors. They held each other tightly for a long moment, conveying without words something only they could understand—the simple gratitude that their nightmarish existence was finally at an end. “Brother,” Gabriel said finally. “It is so good to see you well.” Kato pulled back. “And you, Gabriel. You look . . . different. Freedom agrees with you.” He winced. “More than you know. Kato, this is

Lord Raphael,” he said, turning to gesture at the vampire lord who sat on the opposite side of the table, observing silently. Kato dipped his head in Raphael’s direction. It was a respectful greeting—this was Raphael’s estate, after all. But it wasn’t friendly. Instead, he turned to the woman behind him and pulled her forward. “And this is Grace Van Allen, my girlfriend.” He smiled slightly at the modern word. Grace came forward and offered her hand. She was a quiet beauty, the same height as Hana, more or less, but with long, blond hair and light-colored eyes. “I’m so happy to meet you, Gabriel. Kato has told me so much about you and all the others. I’m so sorry for all you’ve been through.” Gabriel shook her hand carefully. It was soft, with delicate bones. This wasn’t a warrior like his Hana or Raphael’s mate, Cynthia. “Grace,” he said simply, then looked over and caught the look on Kato’s face as he regarded the woman. Oh ho, he thought, with a slight smile. His brother was well and truly besotted with this one. He wondered if he looked the same way when he stared at Hana. He hoped not. “Why doesn’t everyone sit?” Raphael suggested. His eyes were careful when they studied Kato, but he didn’t seem worried at all. Juro and Ken’ichi, on the other hand, were fully alert and prepared to defend. Juro had taken a position to the right and just behind Raphael, while Ken’ichi was manning the door.

Gabriel dragged one of the heavy chairs away from the table and sat with an expectant look for Kato. While Kato gave Raphael another one of those respectfully unfriendly glances, he pulled out two chairs, waited until Grace was seated, then sat in the one closest to Gabriel. “Talk to me, brother. What of the others?” Gabriel asked. “Damian is also free, and on his way here. His curse was the first one lifted. Nico believes Damian’s release created a cascade of sorts, weakening the curse on all of us.” Gabriel snorted. “He’ll never let us forget that, if it’s true. Arrogant ass.” Kato laughed. “He is exactly as he always was. The weapons in this world, brother . . . Damian is in heaven.” Gabriel nodded. “I was fortunate in the last century of my impris​onment. The son of the man who liberated me from the endless darkness of a cave was touched with enough magic to sense my existence within the stone. He read to me almost daily, and when he died, his son and granddaughter took up the task in turn. They kept me sane and in touch with the changing world.” He thought to describe how he’d seen those weapons in action, seen how bullets could rip through a man’s flesh, destroy his heart. But he held his tongue. He didn’t know yet how much Raphael wanted him to share about their

enemy and Hana’s unique magical ability. “Dragan?” he asked instead, changing the subject to the fourth of their number. “Nothing yet,” Kato replied, shaking his head. “But then, he always did like to make an entrance.” He shared a smile with Gabriel before continuing. “Nico believes Dragan’s freedom will come very soon. It isn’t a coincidence that the three of us have been released so close together. He’s on his way, too, by the way. Nico, I mean. We’ll all get together. In fact—” He broke off and spun around, his hand going automatically to the hilt of his blade when the conference room door opened. HANA HURRIED through the door ahead of Cyn, sliding around Ken’ichi’s bulk without a glance, her eyes only for Gabriel, who seemed gratifyingly happy to see her. “Hana,” he said, standing up and holding out a hand as she rushed over to him. “Gabriel!” Her arms went around his waist in a hard hug, while his dropped to circle her shoulders. He seemed hesitant at first, but then she felt his arms tighten into a warm embrace, felt his lips touch the top of her head. She indulged herself in the sensation, soaking in the heat and strength of him, and giving hers in return. “Hana,” he said softly. “You’re well?” She pulled back to look up at him with a smile.

“Now that I have you, I am. And you look great. I have some things for you . . .” Her voice trailed off as she noticed the strangers in the room for the first time. She turned, putting her back against his front, her arms up and knees slightly bent, prepared to defend him. “Who are they?” she asked. Gabriel’s hand touched her shoulder. “These are friends, älskling. This is my brother Kato and his friend Grace. I told you about him and the others.” But Hana didn’t relax. She pressed herself harder against Gabriel, her eyes only for the big, fucking sword on Kato’s back, and the awareness in his eyes that there was something more to her, something not completely human. Everyone tensed as magic that wasn’t hers suddenly choked the air out of the room. “Careful, witch,” Raphael growled. Hana glanced over, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Kato, who gave Raphael a very unfriendly glare before raising his hands to show they were empty. “I mean you no harm, Hana.” He looked over her shoulder. “Gabriel, you know I would not.” Hana felt Gabriel relax the tiniest bit behind her. “What’s with the sword?” she demanded, and heard Raphael snicker at Kato’s look of shock. “You can see—” He didn’t finish, as everyone in the room tensed even further. Hana exchanged a glance with Raphael. “I don’t

see the blade exactly,” she said, answering his unvoiced question. “It’s more like an energy distortion. Can’t you see it?” She twisted to look up at Gabriel. Gabriel shook his head. “No, but I knew it was there. My brother is rarely without it.” She turned to Raphael. “You?” she asked. The arrogant ass shrugged dismissively and said, “This is my lair.” But then his voice hardened. “He would not have been permitted to draw it, however.” “Try me,” Kato growled. And just like that, testosterone and hostility cranked up the tension in the room once more, but a thousand times hotter than it had been. Raphael’s people, even Cyn, all stiffened into defensive postures, aimed at Kato and covering Raphael. Even Gabriel tensed, his arm circling her waist and pulling her behind him before she could stop him. “Gabriel,” she protested, but he was staring unhappily at his fellow warrior. “Brother?” Kato raised his hands before him again, palms out to show his lack of intent. “My apologies,” he said, turning to face Raphael. “I can only plead heat of the moment, at seeing my brother after so long.” The words were gracious enough, but the way he ground them out made his true feelings obvious. The blond woman standing behind him took his hand in what was obviously meant to be a soothing gesture.

“Understood,” Raphael said, seeming completely unruffled by the pressing mistrust still filling the room. But then his eyes went hooded, and silver light seemed to fill his gaze. “I was somewhat heated myself when Gabriel first arrived. If not for the same reason.” He stood. “We’ll leave you to catch up.” He gathered Cyn and his vampires with a glance, his gaze settling for a moment on Gabriel for a nonverbal check. He smiled slightly when Gabriel nodded, then he put a hand on Cyn’s hip and led his people out of the room. Hana sucked in a relieved breath. Whatever else Raphael was, he carried a whole lot of power around with him. She’d never met anyone with that much magic inside him and wondered how he could stand it. “Maybe we should all sit down,” she said, running her hand up Gabriel’s back. “Are the chairs booby-trapped?” Kato sneered. “Of course, not,” she snapped, taking the question seriously. “And you’ve no right to speak of Raphael like that. He saved Gabriel’s life last night, and he and Cyn have been nothing but welcoming to us.” Kato raised his hands again. “It was a joke, Hana. This whole situation is a puzzle. Nico was on a rant when he called me, going on about the curse and something violent happening, and . . . that ‘damned vampire.’ His words, not mine. He and Raphael apparently have a history and not a good one.” He shifted his gaze to Gabriel. “I expected to find you

in a bad state at best, and a prisoner at worst. Instead . . .” He gestured at Gabriel. “Here you are, brother, looking better than ever. If Raphael had something to do with that, then I owe him a debt of gratitude. But I confess, I’m confused.” Hana glanced up at Gabriel, gauging his response, reading reluctance in his eyes, in the tensing of his body. “Maybe we should all sit down,” she said again. “There’s a lot to tell.” They did, finally. Chairs were pulled out, water was poured, while Gabriel remained quiet, his big fingers tapping a nervous rhythm on the tabletop. “Gabriel’s curse was broken a week ago,” Hana said, breaking the silence. “We were in Nagano, Japan.” “Japan,” Kato repeated in some surprise. “Well, that partly explains the confusion.” He turned to Gabriel. “Nico felt the curse let go, but he couldn’t pinpoint the location.” “What brought you here, to Lord Raphael’s?” Gabriel asked, and Hana saw Kato’s jaw clench at the honorific. “Nico sent me. He sensed something last night, something powerful that convinced him you were here. But he wouldn’t tell me what it was. You know how he gets sometimes. He can be damn secretive.” Hana knew what the sorcerer had sensed or, at least, who’d caused it. Raphael had done something when he’d fed Gabriel his blood. She’d sensed the

power but didn’t know enough about vampires or magic to know exactly what he’d done. Gabriel’s hand flattened on the table. He glanced once at Hana, who gave him a reassuring smile, then he turned back to Kato. “I belong here, brother. With Raphael.” Kato didn’t blink. “With Raphael? Did he do something to you?” he demanded, suspicion once again tightening his words. Gabriel shook his head. “He saved my life. Nico put a spell on me long ago, for reasons of his own. He meant well. But it was killing me.” “Impossible. You forget, Gabriel, I was there. I fought with you, side by side. You were one of the greatest warriors—” “Then, yes,” Gabriel interrupted. “But something happened when the curse was lifted. Raphael can explain it better. In fact, I should ask him to rejoin us —” “Wait,” Kato said urgently. “Wait. Damn. Okay, listen. Nico will be here soon. He’s tied up in Chicago, I think it is, and can’t break away. But you don’t have to make any decisions right now. He’s our leader. Talk to him—” “He was my leader,” Gabriel interrupted gently. “And he was a good one, a man I’d never hesitate to follow into battle. But that was a long time ago. I am not the same man that I was then.” Kato’s face reflected genuine pain, and Hana felt a

moment of sympathy for him. He’d thought he was coming here to gather Gabriel up and take him home with him. But that was never going to happen. “None of us is the same, but we’re still brothers, aren’t we?” Kato asked. Gabriel glanced at Hana again, as if asking her opinion. Could his brother be trusted with the truth? Could he handle it? She nodded. “I’m a vampire, brother.” Kato exploded out of the chair. “That bastard. He did this to you? I’ll kill—” Gabriel was on his feet, fangs bared in aggression, a growl rumbling up from his chest. “Stop, both of you!” Hana said, shoving her way around Gabriel and pushing him back. Or trying to. He was a fucking wall. “Gabriel, he doesn’t understand. You!” she snapped at Kato. “Sit down and let him finish.” Kato speared her with a narrow-eyed look, full of distrust. He glanced at Gabriel, then back at her, and nodded. “Again, I apologize. Being here, seeing my brother like this . . . it has obviously unsettled me more than I thought.” He moved back to his chair but didn’t sit down. Not with Gabriel still radiating hostility the way he was. Hana turned to Gabriel and put one hand on his broad chest. “Sit down, Gabriel. Finish your story. He needs to understand.” His eyes softened when his gaze shifted to her.

Reaching behind him, he pulled her chair up next to his and gestured for her to sit, then joined her. “Sit, brother. Let me tell you my truth.” Kato sat down, but leaned forward intently, hands clasped. “Raphael did not make me a vampire,” Gabriel said first. “That happened a very long time ago, before I ever met Nico.” Kato’s body jerked, his expression one of surprise. “You didn’t know,” Hana said. He shook his head. “Gabriel was, still is, one of the finest warriors I’ve ever met, a loyal friend, and a brother to me in all but blood. But I never knew this about him.” Gabriel nodded. “Nico kept my secret. He knew how much I despised what I’d become. I was ashamed, though it was none of my choice. I was turned against my will by a vampire who then sold me like a whore to whoever could pay my price. He was my Sire, and I was a newborn vampire. I was still a warrior, as fierce as ever in battle, but when it came to resisting him . . . I couldn’t do it.” He paused, and he looked so sad that Hana couldn’t stand it. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around him, nestling her face against his neck with a gentle kiss. “You’re my angel.” Gabriel stiffened, and she thought she’d made a mistake. But then he tilted his head slightly to meet hers and ran his hand over her hair.

“I couldn’t resist him,” he repeated, as Hana straightened next to him. “Not at first. It took years, but my strength grew, and eventually I realized that I could fight the hold he had on me. I was preparing myself, knowing I’d have to kill him to escape . . . when I felt Nico’s call. I killed my Sire and crossed half the world to get to him.” “But I never saw you . . . I mean, you were a berserker on the field and reveled in the bloodlust, but—” “Nico cast a spell. I didn’t understand what he did, and I didn’t care. He took away the bloodthirst, made it so I could walk in sunlight again. I was in awe of his power, and so grateful. He not only restored my honor, but he gave me you and Damian and Dragan. My brothers. I would have killed a thousand more than I did for him.” “And now? Nico is here, Damian and I are here, waiting for you to join us. What’s changed?” Gabriel sighed unhappily. Hana knew this was painful for him, but his determination didn’t waver. “Raphael is not the vampire my Sire was,” he said, trying to make Kato understand. “He’s an honorable man, a great leader.” “How do you know? You said yourself you only arrived last night, and he has power, brother. He can reach into your mind and—” “Don’t say it. You insult me by suggesting I don’t know my own mind. Even in the midst of the

nightmare my life was then, I understood what was happening to me. I knew that bastard was controlling me somehow, forcing me to do things against my will. It was a constant battle in my head.” “And Raphael? He’s far stronger than your old master. He could have forced your vow, or—” “I haven’t sworn to him yet.” Hana could read the relief on Kato’s face, but knew it would be short-lived. “Nico’s spell made him my master, instead of my Sire. I don’t fault him for that. He did the best he could. But Raphael did more. He didn’t replace another’s will with his own,” Gabriel continued. “He gave me back my free will. No one is in my head now but me. I would have sworn to him last night, but he wouldn’t let me. He insisted I talk to you first, that I take whatever time I needed to be certain of my choice.” “Then use that time,” Kato said urgently. “Grace and I live only a few miles down the coast. You and Hana could come stay with us, have a chance to rest and recover your strength. I know how confusing the transition is from that life to this. I’ve been there, brother.” Gabriel shook his head. “Thank you, but I belong here. And Hana is safe here.” “Hana? Why is Hana in danger?” She put a hand on Gabriel’s arm, in a silent request to let her answer the question. “Don’t play

games,” she told Kato. “You’re Gabriel’s friend, but you’re not mine. I saw the knowledge in your eyes when you first saw me. You know what I am.” “I know you’re something. I don’t know what.” “What she is, is mine to protect,” Gabriel growled. “I mean her no harm,” Kato hurried to add. “Although I’ll admit to being curious. I’m no novice when it comes to magic. You know that. But I can’t figure your Hana out.” “You should stop trying.” Kato laughed. “Like that, is it?” But then he sobered abruptly. “What of us, Gabriel? Are we still brothers? Is Damian? And what of Nico?” “We will always be brothers. Even Nico. That will never change. Should you need me, I would fight by your side in an instant. And Raphael would never try to stop me, unless your action was against him. But even then, it wouldn’t be his will that stopped me, but my own. I am a vampire. I belong here, with my people.” Kato shook his head sadly. “It was stupid of me to think that after so long, nothing would have changed. This world is ages and more removed from the one we fought in.” “Evil still exists.” Gabriel would have said more, but Hana gripped his hand again. She didn’t want him to talk about their enemy, her enemy. Not yet. And not without Raphael in the room. She wasn’t sure about Kato. He might mean well, but it wasn’t

fair of him to push Gabriel to choose his loyalties so precipitously. Not after all that had happened to them in the last few days. Besides, Kato clearly had magic, and who knew what he could do with it? Raphael had called him a witch. But what the hell did that mean? She cursed her lack of knowledge and wished her grandfather hadn’t shielded her from what she was. Not that it was all his fault. She was a grown woman and could have informed herself, if she’d truly wanted. And speaking of magic, there was this Nico guy who was definitely a sorcerer. Cyn seemed to think he was okay, but Raphael just as clearly hated him. Hana wanted to make her own judgment before revealing anything about her enemy and why he wanted her. After having ignored it for so long, magic was suddenly consuming her life, and she didn’t like it. “We should get together,” Grace suggested, obviously trying to lighten the mood. “Just for dinner. Something casual, not earthshaking.” “In a day or two,” Gabriel agreed. “I’m not back to my full strength yet, and I want Hana to be safe.” “Gabriel, if there’s some danger to Hana,” Kato insisted, “you can share it with—” “Gabriel’s very protective, but he’s right,” Hana said quickly. “Neither of us is at full strength yet, and there’s always danger for people like us.” She shot a pointed look at that big, damn sword on his back. Or at least, the image of it that her fucking

magic had decided to give her. She really needed to talk to Raphael about that. Kato stood. “Let’s make it two days hence, then. Grace will text you the details.” He looked at Hana. “Do you have phones?” She nodded, then shoved a paper and pen at him from the center of the conference table. “Give me your number and I’ll text you.” Kato passed it on to Grace, who wrote on it quickly and slid it back. “I put our address there, too,” she said. “It’s so odd that you should show up so close to where we live. More of that magic stuff, I guess.” She nudged Kato with her shoulder. He smiled, which made him seem more human than he’d been since he arrived. “Brother,” Kato said and held out his arms. The two big men embraced, pounding each other on the back in obvious affection. “It is so good to see you well. And so much has happened. You need to know what our enemy is up to.” Gabriel pulled back. “You’ve had contact with him? Kato nodded. “And he’s stronger than ever. But that can wait. You’re right. You’re safe here for now, and you need time to recover. Damian will be here tomorrow. He can join us when we meet for dinner.” “Does he still insist he’s a god?” Kato laughed. “He’s more insistent than ever, especially with these new weapons they’ve given him

to play with.” Gabriel laughed. “It’ll be good to see him again, even if he’s the same arrogant ass as always.” “Two nights from now, then,” Kato confirmed. “You think the world will survive having three of you in one place?” Grace asked jokingly, as she slid her hand into Kato’s. He gazed down at her with a smile so tender, it had tears threatening Hana’s eyes. “As long as you’re there with me, amata, the world will be safe,” Kato murmured. Grace smiled, leaning into him, then glanced up at Hana and Gabriel, blushing as if she’d just remembered they were there. “You’ll text me for the details?” she asked, looking at Hana. Hana smiled. “Sure,” she said, then walked over and opened the conference room door. A vampire stood in a guard position just across the hall. He looked up when the door opened, speaking into a throat mike when his eyes met hers, his voice too soft for her to hear what he said. She turned back to Grace. “Gabriel’s told me so much about his brothers and the time they shared. It will be interesting to see if their stories match his,” she said, chuckling so they’d know she meant it as a joke. Grace laughed. “Kato’s probably will. But Damian’s another story.” Juro and Ken’ichi appeared at that moment, their matching expressions unyielding. Not quite hostile, but definitely not friendly, and clearly ready to escort

their unwanted visitors off the premises. Gabriel and Kato gripped hands and slammed their shoulders together one more time, the way Hana had seen other men do, though mostly on TV or in movies. She’d never seen women greet each other like that. Certainly not in Japan, but not during her time at Princeton either. She remained by the door, giving Grace a smile and Kato a polite nod as they exited the room. She watched until they made the turn onto the stairway, then listened to their footsteps until she was reasonably sure they were gone. Gabriel came up behind her. “I think you can trust Juro and Ken’ichi to make sure they leave, älskling.” His mouth twitched with hidden laughter when she turned to look up at him. She studied him for a moment, then took his hand. “Come on, I bought you some clothes and stuff. You need to try them on.” “I have clothes—” “These are better. Come on.” She tugged at his hand, and he followed with an amused shrug. “I am yours to command.” Hana snorted. “I wish,” she said, then winced, hoping she hadn’t given too much away. Fuck the clothes. She needed to get him alone so they could talk. Seeing Grace and Kato together, not just their affection, but the intimacy of their relationship, made her realize she wanted that, too. With Gabriel. She

knew how she felt, but what about him? It terrified her. What if he didn’t feel the same way? What if his feelings for her were those of a brother, or just a bodyguard? She’d be crushed. She swallowed hard. Still, even if he didn’t love her like that, she wouldn’t leave him. Not until he was safe. GABRIEL FOLLOWED Hana down a long hallway, and then another. He hadn’t truly appreciated the size of Raphael’s estate. He’d been so sick when they arrived last night, and then there’d been the sheer intoxication of Raphael’s blood. Juro had taken him downstairs after that. He remembered the big vampire pointing out the various features, some of which he understood, some he didn’t. There was a huge gym, with a variety of recognizable equipment—not because he’d used any of it, but because others were working with it, and he could see the potential benefits. Juro had also run down a list of martial arts disciplines practiced by Raphael and his vampires, none of which was familiar to Gabriel. There’d been no formal martial arts in his time. Lessons had been learned on the battlefield, for the most part, with some early instruction at the brutal hands of his father’s weapons master. After the gym, they had come a room filled with oversized furniture, with a TV screen that took up most of an entire wall, and a variety of electronic devices that he assumed were gaming platforms. He knew about

com​puter games, though of course, he’d never played. One more item on his growing list of new things to learn. When he’d come back to life in Himura-san’s garden, it had been a true reawakening, but he was just beginning to realize how different this new world really was. “Here we are,” Hana said, finally opening a door that looked like all the others along the hallway. She left the door open for him, as she crossed the room to a big window and pulled back the sheer coverings. There was nothing but a moon-filled sky, and as he drew closer, the restless churning of a black ocean. Hana pulled back the window and stepped out onto a balcony. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked, her eyes closed as she raised her face to the salty, wet air. “Beautiful,” he agreed, but he wasn’t looking at the view beyond the balcony. His attention was all for Hana’s lovely face, her expression one of such peace that he would have envied her, if not for the pleasure he took from it. He wanted her to be happy here. He wanted her to stay. Not because she thought he needed her, but because she wanted to stay with him. He looked away before she caught him staring. She’d already done so much in getting him out of Japan and to the safety of Raphael’s estate. He had no right to expect anything else from her. Certainly not the kind of relationship he longed for, the feelings he had for her.

“Come on,” she said, taking his hand and tugging him back inside. “You need to try on your new clothes.” Gabriel followed, somewhat bemused at the idea of Hana shopping for him. In his previous life, he hadn’t cared much about what he wore. Was that the right way to think of what had happened before his curse? It wasn’t truly a previous life, since he’d been alive and aware the entire time. The entire, endless, fucking time. He shook himself, wishing he could shake off the horror of those thousands of years so easily. “Hey, you with me?” Hana’s inquiry was spoken gently, as if he was a frightened animal she didn’t want to startle. Fuck that. He smiled. “I’m just trying to imagine myself needing so many clothes.” He gestured at the piles of pants and shirts, the boxes of shoes. “Were you not sure of the size? Will the rest be given to someone else?” She laughed. “Welcome to the new world, baby. You’re going to need all of this, you’ll see. As for the size . . . let me tell you, Cyn is like the ultimate personal shopper. She can take one look at a person and nail their measurements right down to the perfect shoe size. Look at this!” She spun around to the closet and pulled out a dress made of what looked like rough silk. It was the color of aged amber and brought out the beautiful gold of Hana’s

skin. “Maybe you should be the one trying things on, so I can watch,” he said appreciatively, then wished he could take back his words. He wanted nothing more than to have the privilege of watching Hana take her clothes off, but it was inappropriate for him to. . . . His thoughts stuttered to a halt when Hana blushed, seeming pleased at his comment, rather than glaring at him in affront. He blinked, wondering if the desire he’d seen flash through her dark eyes had been real, or simply his wishful imagination. Seeming flustered—his Hana flustered?—she held the dress to herself and said, “If you like this one, I could wear it when we go to dinner with Kato and the others.” Gabriel frowned. The dress was sleeveless and short, and he didn’t like the idea of his Hana baring so much skin in front of his brothers. Kato was obviously very much taken by Grace, but Damian. . . . The self-proclaimed god of war wasn’t known for his fidelity when it came to women. Of course, he admitted to himself, none of them had been paragons of abstinence back in the day. It had been a different woman every other night, if they’d lasted that long. Even so, Damian was a force of nature. And Gabriel didn’t want— “You’re thinking way too hard,” Hana said, smiling. “How about this one instead?” She

produced a black dress, with long sleeves and a more modest hemline . . . and no back at all. “What do you wear under it?” he growled. She laughed in delight. “Come on, try on your stuff before you have a heart attack, old man.” She tossed four pairs of pants at him. “Let’s see if Cyn is as good as I think she is.” Gabriel changed in the bathroom, ignoring Hana’s suggestion that she could wait out on the balcony if he wanted to change in the bigger room. He had confidence in Raphael’s security, but no one was good enough to prevent a determined attack from the water. It was dark out there, the ocean so black that if not for the moon’s silvery light, it would be invisible. And he knew what modern weapons could do in the right hands. “Stay inside,” he ordered, before closing the bathroom door. It took longer to remove his old clothes than it did to put on the new ones. The fasteners were so much more efficient, the fabrics soft and flexible, but still strong. Pulling on one of the T-shirts, he walked back into the bedroom. “These are amazing.” Hana’s eyes widened in appreciation. “Yes, they are,” she said, sounding out of breath. “I guess Cyn really does know how to pick ‘em. By the way, she says whenever we’re ready, one of the guys will take us down to the armory for weapons and body armor. Raphael apparently likes to be fully stocked.”

“Powerful men always have enemies,” Gabriel commented. “Cyn hinted at some recent attacks, but I got the impression they never take chances. Security’s always tight.” Hana strolled over. “Now that you’re one of the guys, you’ll get the inside story,” she murmured, running an appreciative hand down his chest, admiring the fit of his new shirt, her slender fingers lingering over his muscled chest. He cleared his throat, fighting the urge to wrap an arm around her waist and tug her closer. “I’m not one of Raphael’s men yet, but I want to stay here, if he’ll have me.” “I know that,” she said, looking up to meet his eyes. “I see it in your face every time you talk about him. He saved your life.” “But that’s not why I’ll give him my blood oath. When he fed me last night . . . I can’t explain how, but . . . I saw into his soul, Hana. I saw his pain and his courage, the love he feels for every vampire under his care. You probably don’t believe this, but Nico was like that, too. He valued every man and woman in his armies, even if he didn’t know all their names. And he truly believed that we fought on the side of good, for the survival of humanity.” She gave him a puzzled look. “You don’t believe that about Nico anymore?” “I do, but that was a different time, maybe even a different world. Who knows where that damn curse

sent us? But it doesn’t matter, because we’re here in this world now. Me, all of us, even Kato and Damian. Our lives are forever intertwined by our past, but we’re not the same people we were then. I’m not the same person. I’m a vampire, and I belong with Lord Raphael.” He ran a hand through his hair, hoping he was making sense. He was a warrior, not a wordsmith, but he needed her to understand that he wasn’t making this decision lightly, that he had good reasons. And that none of those reasons meant abandoning her. She was the most important person in his life. “I don’t want you to feel trapped,” he said, struggling for the right words. “My decision isn’t yours. If you ever—” HANA MADE AN impatient noise. The man had no idea what he meant to her. Stepping closer, she braced her hands on his waist. “If you belong here, then I do, too. With you.” She held his gaze, willing him to see the sincerity of her words, but decided that words were not going to be enough for her stubborn warrior. Rising up onto her toes, she touched her mouth to his. His response was hesitant at first, as if he expected a fleeting embrace, a kiss between friends. But she didn’t let go. She deepened the kiss instead, pressing her body against his as she stretched to wrap her arms around his neck, crushing her breasts against the hard planes of that fabulous chest.

Gabriel groaned, the sound rumbling between them where their chests were mashed together. She gave a soft moan, and he started to pull back, as if afraid he’d been too rough, that he’d taken the kiss too far. “This isn’t . . . I made a promise to your grandfather that I would protect you. I shouldn’t—” Hana slapped his chest. “I’m not a child, damn it. I don’t need protection. I’m a fully grown woman who wants you as a man, not a guardian. But fine”— she pushed away impatiently—“if you’re not interested, the world is full of men who will be. Cyn tells me the guards have a party downstairs every Saturday. That’s tonight, so I’ll just—” Gabriel yanked her back against his body, his arms tightening until her feet were barely touching the floor. “No man will touch you,” he growled. “Not even you, is that it?” she retorted. He glared down at her, reading the challenge in her eyes, the stubborn set of her jaw. She was no longer the girl given into his care by her grandfather. She hadn’t been that for a long time, and he was tired of pretending. She was his. Not as a helpless child to protect, but as a woman, sensuous and beautiful. His woman. “Damn you.” And then he was kissing her, his mouth hot and demanding, his tongue sweeping between her lips, stroking over her mouth, twisting around her tongue as if to claim every inch of her. “No other man will touch you as long as I’m alive.”

Hana kissed him back, scraping her nails over the back of his neck, biting down on his lower lip hard enough to draw blood, tasting that same blood when she soothed the wound with a lick of her tongue. Desire flooded her system at that small intimacy, her nipples abruptly so hard and swollen where they scraped against his chest it was as if there were no clothes between them. Wet heat stirred between her thighs, and she remembered what Cyn had told her about a vampire’s bite. If that tiny taste of his blood could make her this hungry for him. . . . Or maybe it was just Gabriel. Her Gabriel. He felt so damn good, his body so big and warm, and . . . oh, fuck, his erection was long and hard against her belly, undeniable proof that he felt something for her, too. Even if it was only lust. She could work with lust. Hell, she wanted to work with lust when it came to Gabriel. She tried to remember if they’d locked the door, then tried to remember if she cared. The bed was right there. One small step and . . . Someone knocked on the door, and they both froze, breathing hard, waiting to see if the visitor would go away. The knock came again. Hana’s forehead fell to his shoulder as Gabriel groaned softly. His arms loosened, and her feet touched the ground. “I should probably see who that is,” she whispered. Gabriel smiled and licked his lips.

“Stop that,” she hissed, thinking how unfair the world was. Hadn’t they been through enough? Hadn’t they both lost enough? The world couldn’t give them ten fucking minutes . . . okay, sixty fucking minutes alone to . . . well . . . fuck? Straightening her clothes, she walked over to the door and pulled it open. Juro stood there, huge and silent and wearing a look that said he knew exactly what they’d been up to. Who cared? They were both single and free. Juro smiled, as if reading her mind. “Lord Raphael would like to see you. Both of you.” GABRIEL DELAYED LONG enough to give his cock a chance to calm down, using the time to pull on his new boots, which fit far better than any he’d ever worn. Hana used the time to change as well, emerging from the bathroom wearing a simple, short-sleeved top and a pair of black, stretchy pants, which hugged her firm thighs and showed a flash of flat abdomen when she raised her arm to brush her hair. Standing, Gabriel held out his hand, feeling shy— and stupid because of it—for the first time since he’d been a raw teenager. He knew women. He loved women. Women loved him. But this was Hana. He wanted to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t still stuck in that damn statue, lost in dreams of what his life might have been.

Hana’s strong, slender fingers squeezed his, anchoring him in this new world, in the reality of his new life. She came close and looked up, searching his face. “You okay?” He nodded. “Nervous?” “No,” he answered truthfully. At least not about meeting Raphael. Her hand around his, her warm body pressed against his side. . . . Yeah, that made him nervous. Not because he was unsure of himself, but because he knew how easily everything he loved could be taken away in an instant. “Come on. Let’s not keep him waiting.” She hummed in agreement. “And the sooner we finish business, the sooner we can get back here and —” “Stop,” he pleaded softly. “I don’t think Raphael will be impressed with a warrior who can’t walk because his cock is too hard.” Her laughter filled the hallway as he closed the door. The sweet sound made him smile. Such a small thing, a woman’s laugh. But it was those small things he’d missed the most. Not the grand victories, as glorious and exciting as they’d been. But the crackle of a warm fire, the rumble of a brother’s voice, a hand clasped in friendship after a long, bloody day. He gritted his teeth against a wave of emotion. He doubted tears would impress Raphael either. Hana squeezed his hand again in silent support, and they

walked down the hall together. He couldn’t fix the past, but he could secure his future, their future. And that future lay with Raphael. The forbidding, black doors to Raphael’s office swung open on silent hinges as they approached, before Gabriel had even raised his hand to knock. He smiled. It made him feel better, to know that even the most powerful vampire lord felt the need to impress sometimes. Especially when the only person being impressed was a lowly warrior coming to plead his case. He almost laughed then. He was no lowly warrior, no matter how humble he pretended to be. He was one of the finest warriors to ever grace a battlefield, a tremendous asset to any lord in the midst of war. And from everything he’d seen and heard since arriving on this estate, Raphael was at war. There were no headlines in newspapers, no alerts blaring across television screens, however. Vampires preferred their wars to be fought quietly and out of the public eye. But people still died. It would be Gabriel’s duty to make sure it was only Raphael’s enemies who perished, not any of his own people, and not anyone Gabriel loved. He glanced down at Hana and found her looking up at him. She winked, and they walked into the office together. “My lord,” Gabriel said immediately, bowing his head in respect. Cyn grinned at the two of them from where she stood behind the desk, her body pressed up against

Raphael’s chair, with one of his hands gripping the back of her thigh. It was a relaxed pose, as if they habitually stood this way, although Gabriel had to wonder if Cyn didn’t sometimes get tired of standing. He pushed aside the stray thought as the doors swept silently closed behind him. “Gabriel. Hana. Have a seat,” Raphael said, gesturing at several chairs in front of his desk. Jared had stood when they walked in, but he now sat back down in the farthest chair, while Juro remained standing. His twin brother, Ken’ichi, was nowhere to be seen. Maybe it was a sign that the vampire lord no longer felt the need for extra protection against Gabriel. Or maybe, Gabriel thought wryly to himself, he never had, and Ken’ichi was simply off getting breakfast. Or dinner. What did vampires call their first meal of the evening, anyway? More random thoughts which had no place in his head right now. Maybe he was more nervous than he’d admitted to Hana. Gabriel waited until Hana was settled and then took his own seat, grateful when she rested her hand lightly on his arm. Raphael’s sharp gaze took in the gesture, his mouth curving into the slightest smile when he looked back at Gabriel. “How was your meeting with Kato? We found no blood in the conference room,” he said dryly, “so I assume it went reasonably well.” Gabriel smiled briefly at the comment and said,

“He doesn’t agree with all of my decisions. But we are still brothers, and he respects me. That doesn’t mean he won’t try to talk me around, of course. He and Damian both.” Raphael tipped his head. “Damian. It’s my understanding he was the first to have his curse lifted.” “Yes. I don’t know how much you know about him, but he’s . . .” “I know he considers himself to be a god of war,” the vampire lord commented, when Gabriel searched for the right word. He grinned. “He does that. We never could agree on who was the better warrior. Mostly because he would never admit that it wasn’t him.” Everyone chuckled at that, even Juro. “Katsaros is on his way here, you know,” Raphael said, watching him closely, those black eyes missing nothing. Gabriel nodded. “Kato told me that, too. Nico’s been delayed a few days, but Damian will be here tomorrow. So, we’re all having dinner together before Nico arrives, including Damian and his woman. We’re meeting the night after next at Kato’s house, which he tells me is just down the road.” “It’s Grace’s house, actually. Or her parents, so close enough,” Cyn added, eyeing him intently. He returned her regard silently, wondering how she’d gotten that information so quickly. Then he

supplied his own answer—the internet. It was something he needed to learn more of and quickly. When Cyn didn’t say anything more, he continued. “I’m looking forward to seeing my brothers together again, though it will be even better when Dragan can join us. According to Kato, Nico thinks that will happen soon.” “The cascade theory,” Raphael said, nodding. “The idea that the lifting of Damian’s curse was the first break in the dam, that it weakened the curse as a whole, and with every subsequent release, momentum will build until all of you are finally free. Events certainly support that theory, so I would agree with Katsaros on this.” “I think hell just froze over,” Cyn muttered. Raphael shot her an amused glance, then returned his gaze to Gabriel and said quietly, “Gabriel, there’s no reason to rush your decision. If you’d rather wait and discuss it with your brothers, or even Katsaros, I won’t object.” Gabriel slid to the edge of his chair, his hands clasped between his knees as he leaned forward intently. Was he nervous? Hell, yes. But not because he feared he was making the wrong decision. He knew with a certainty that was rare in his life, that swearing an oath to Raphael was the right choice for him, and for Hana. If he feared anything, it was failure. Not being good enough to serve Raphael, or to protect Hana. It was an insecurity he’d never felt

before. He’d been born to battle, had taken to it with an ease that was proof of his birthright, and had excelled above all others. But he’d fought in his father’s army because he loved the blood and violence of it, and then later because after Nico had cast his spell taking away the nightmare of his vampiric existence, the ferocity of battle had been the only thing keeping him sane, the only outlet for the violence of his vampire nature. But now he’d be fighting because this was his place. It was where he belonged. More importantly, he’d be fighting to protect the woman he loved. He didn’t know how to say all of that to Raphael, without seeming disloyal to Nico and his brothers, or worse, sounding like a fool. Hana gripped his arm in silent support, her elegant fingers so much stronger than they looked. He glanced back at her, then turned to Raphael and said, “My lord, I’m new to this world, but I’ve had many years . . . far too many years, to decide on the course of my life. I will always love Nico and my brothers, and I regret nothing of our lives together, but this is a different time, and I am a different man. I know what I want. I am Vampire, and I would serve you, if you’ll have me.” Raphael stood without ceremony and began shoving up the sleeve of his sweater as he walked around the desk. “Juro,” he said, and the other vampire immediately came forward to offer a small, wickedly sharp knife, which Raphael took as he

leaned against the front of his desk. Glancing over, he said, “Kneel,” his gaze watchful as he waited for Gabriel’s response to a command that many men would have bucked against. But not Gabriel. He slid to his knees with the confidence of a warrior who knew his value and saw no dishonor in the act of swearing loyalty to a leader whose honor and courage were worthy of him. “Do you know the words?” Raphael asked quietly. Gabriel shot a quick look at Juro, who’d explained the ceremony to him. The big vampire nodded in encouragement. “Yes, my lord,” Gabriel said. “Very well.” Lord Raphael made no grand gesture. He simply put the sharp blade to his forearm and cut. Hana drew a soft, shocked breath, but Gabriel’s attention was riveted on the blood, bright red and viscous, as it flowed down Raphael’s bare arm to pool in his cupped hand. His nostrils flared at the rich scent, his mouth filling with saliva as he remembered the intoxicating taste from the night before when as sick as he’d been, he’d still been aware of the gift he’d been given. “Gabriel Halldor, do you come to me of your own free will and desire?” Raphael’s deep voice had taken on the formal cadence of ritual. Gabriel responded in kind, taking care with the words that Juro had taught him. “I do, my lord.” “And is this what you truly desire?”

“My lord, it is my truest desire.” Raphael lowered his arm and opened his cupped hand. “Then drink, Gabriel, and be mine.” Gabriel swallowed the groan of pleasure trying to force itself up his throat, as he closed his mouth over the vampire lord’s wrist and drank the offered blood. He fought to keep his traitorous body, still not as strong as it would eventually be, from swaying, overwhelmed as he was by the sheer power of Raphael’s blood. It was more intoxicating than the rarest brew he’d ever consumed, richer than the finest delicacies of the ancient world. He wanted to roll his face in it like a babe and lick it from his own cheeks. But he didn’t. He was a warrior, a man of skill and discipline, and this was his lord. He drank his fill, then licked the wound once to begin the healing and lifted his head to meet Raphael’s black gaze. “My lord,” he said formally, acknowledging their new bond. “I am honored to serve you.” Raphael smiled slightly. “As I am to have your oath of honor.” He accepted a white cloth from Juro and began wiping blood from his arm and hand. The deep cut was already healing, which was a testament to his enormous power. “What would you have me do?” The vampire lord’s smile widened. “For tonight, you should cele​brate. There’s a party downstairs with the rest of my people—those not on duty in any

event. And there will be other . . . guests shuttled in from our blood house down the beach.” His dark glance rested on Hana briefly. “If you have need, that is.” He held out a hand and pulled Gabriel to his feet as easily as if he weighed nothing. “Go, enjoy yourselves. There will be plenty of time tomorrow to discuss the coming battles.” Gabriel bowed slightly. “Thank you, my lord.” He turned and took Hana’s hand, trembling with a sense of purpose, and yet feeling stronger than he ever had. Juro followed them into the hall and clapped Gabriel on the back, hard enough that he would have stumbled if he’d not been prepared for it. “Training begins tomorrow night,” Juro said cheerfully. “Prepare yourself. Several of the others are looking forward to testing your strength.” Gabriel laughed. This was something he understood. “Then I hope they’re ready to submit, because I’ve never been defeated.” Juro’s gaze lit with interest. “Neither have I, except by my brother. This should be interesting.” “You’ll be there tomorrow night?” “I will.” Gabriel nodded. “I look forward to it then. Thank you,” he added sincerely. Juro tipped his head in acknowledgment, then walked back into Raphael’s office, closing the door behind him. Hana’s fingers tightened in Gabriel’s. “Do we have

to go downstairs?” she whispered. He shifted his gaze to look down at her. “You don’t want to join the party Cyn told you about?” he teased. Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Don’t push your luck, big guy.” Gabriel tugged her forward until they turned into the side hall out of sight of Raphael’s office. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her against the wall, lifting her off her feet until they were face to face, her body a soft, welcoming pressure against his chest. He leaned forward and kissed the satiny skin of her cheek, then whispered against her ear, “What would you like to do instead, älskling?” Hana’s heart was beating rapidly against his chest, her breath racing as she turned her head and bit his lower lip. “I want to finish what we started,” she murmured. Gabriel’s cock hardened in an instant, straining against the fabric of new jeans that he could only hope were as strong as they seemed. It would be unseemly for Raphael’s new warrior to have his erection hanging out while he grabbed Hana’s hand and hurried down the hall to the soft sound of her laughter. “Does that mean ‘yes’?” she asked breathlessly. Gabriel spun around and lifted her in his arms as he continued down the hall. “It’s been millennia since I’ve slipped between a woman’s legs. And I’ve

never been between yours.” “Oh,” she breathed, then wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. “I guess we’d better hurry then.” Gabriel paused outside Hana’s door while she reached down and twisted the knob, then he turned and shoved the door open as he backed into the room. Kicking it shut without looking, he strode over and dropped her on the bed, then sat to take off his boots. But first, he leaned over and kissed her slowly, thoroughly, one hand twisted in her hair, the other shaping the fullness of her breast, then down past her waist to grasp her hip, leaving no doubts as to where this was going. Hana was his. Had circumstances been different, he might have dared to court her slowly, letting her become accustomed to his battle-hardened ways. But if the alternative was her finding another man—human or vampire, he didn’t care—then he was going after what he wanted. Especially when, gods be praised, she claimed to want him, too. He couldn’t quite understand that. But while he considered himself an honorable man, he wasn’t honorable enough to turn away the woman he’d fallen in love with when she wanted him just as much. He only hoped his friend, her grandfather— wherever he was—would understand. Bending over to untie his boots, he was startled when Hana suddenly jumped from the bed and raced for the door. “What the fuck?”

She laughed without looking back at him, grabbing the desk chair on her way and shoving it under the door knob, before spinning around to walk slowly back to the bed, her hips swaying as she tugged her shirt over her head and dropped it to the floor. She reached for the front clasp of her bra, but he snagged the waist of her pants with two fingers and pulled her between his legs, where he sat on the bed. “Let me.” It might have taken him too long to claim Hana, but he knew how to make a woman feel good. Putting his lips against the silky-smooth skin of her stomach, he twisted the bra clasp open, then licked his way up between her breasts, brushing the lace aside to take first one nipple, then the next into his mouth, lingering to suck each one, swirling his tongue around until the delicate peaks were stiff and swollen. Hana’s strong fingers scraped through his hair, her head thrown back as she gasped in pleasure. “Gabriel,” she breathed. He bit down on her breast, just enough to leave a mark. She hissed as he licked away the erotic pain, letting his tongue scrape over her now-highly sensitized nipple. She met his gaze when he looked up at her, but she wasn’t seeing anything. Her eyes were hazed with desire, her pupils dilated until the black nearly drowned the deep brown of her irises. Sliding his hands from her breasts, he slipped his fingers under the waistband of her stretchy pants

and shoved them down her legs, taking the bit of lace that was her underwear with them. He kissed her navel, then trailed wet kisses down to the neat patch of dark hair between her thighs, as Hana’s fingers stroked over his shoulders. Gripping her thighs, he used his thumbs to open her cleft just enough to inhale the warm scent of her sex. He groaned. He had to taste her. Leaning closer, he slid his tongue between the lips of her pussy and caught the smallest hint of her arousal. It wasn’t enough. “On the bed,” he growled and ripped off his Tshirt. Toeing off his boots, he turned to find Hana pulling the covers back. Too slow. Grabbing them from beneath her, he shoved them down and off the bed, then turned and climbed onto the mattress to kneel between her thighs. “You’re still wearing pants,” she complained. He grinned. “It won’t matter for what I’m going to do to you.” Hands braced to either side of her head, he gave her a long, wet kiss that had her moaning into his mouth, then slid down to suck and kiss each of her beautiful breasts—simply because he could— before sliding all the way down to spread her thighs and gaze at her pretty pussy. Opening her wide with his thumbs, he tasted her fully, licking from the creamy opening of her sex all the way to the rosy nub at the apex of her thighs. Her legs closed around his head, and she gasped his name when he paused long enough to suck her

clit until it was rigid and swollen, throbbing with her heartbeat. He wanted to bite her there, to drink that most delicious of blood. She would climax hard if he did, but it would also cause a brief, sharp pain. So, he decided to forego it for this first time, satisfying himself with another long lick of her creamy pussy. “Gabriel,” she said again, but it was a plea this time, her hips thrusting restlessly. “I want you inside me.” He kissed the inside of each thigh, as if promising he’d be back, then shoved to his feet with vampiric speed, skimmed out of his pants, and was back between her legs before she’d drawn a full breath. “Oh,” she breathed, smiling up at him as he braced himself above her. “It’s good to have a vampire lover.” “I’m glad you feel that way,” he growled. “Because I’m the only lover you’ll be having.” She wrapped her legs around him, crossing her ankles over his butt. “Then fuck me, vampire.” Gabriel’s cock was already poised at her opening, which was wet and ready for him. With a slight thrust of his hips, he slid into her. Her body was hot and tight, pulsing along the length of his cock as if wanting to suck him ever deeper. But he was a big man and didn’t want to hurt her. His muscles strained with effort as he forced himself to go slowly, advancing an inch at a time, forward and back, over and over, to let her exquisite pussy adjust

to his thickness and length. He swallowed a groan, wanting nothing more than to bury his full length in her welcoming heat, to drive into her until— He hissed at the sharp pain of Hana yanking his head back with two handfuls of his hair. “I won’t break, Gabriel. Now fuck me like you mean it.” Dropping to his forearms, he lowered his head to give her a smack​ing kiss. “Thank the gods,” he growled, and had to bite back a howl of pleasure as he slammed his hips forward, driving deep between her thighs, her sheath shivering as it stretched around him, growing slick with her arousal as he pounded in and out, hearing her little cries of pleasure against his neck, her nails digging into his back as if to hold him there. He smelled blood as her nails dug deeper, leaving long grooves over his skin as her cries grew more frantic. He changed his rhythm, grinding against her groin with every thrust, stroking her clitoris over and over, until the muscles of her belly grew taut and her already tight pussy clamped down even harder. She bit into him, muffling her scream against his shoulder, her legs crushing him against her, as she writhed beneath him. Gabriel’s gums swelled as his fangs released, the sharp points pricking his lower lip as he fought the need to pierce her smooth skin, to taste the blood he could hear rushing through the swollen vein below her ear. His eyes opened at the touch of Hana’s

mouth when she kissed him, her tongue gliding over his fangs, licking the few drops of his blood from his lip. “Oh, God,” she whispered as his blood hit her nervous system and her pussy began to pulse around his cock. “Gabriel.” “Are you going to come for me again, älskling?” Her eyes flashed open, still nearly black with desire as they widened at the sight of his fangs. She lifted her gaze to meet his. “Are you going to . . . ?” “Bite you?” he murmured, his voice so deep that it vibrated between them. “I want to, but—” “Do it. Bite me, vampire. Take my blood.” Gabriel froze for a long moment, his cock buried deep inside her throbbing pussy, his eyes locked with hers. And then he lowered his head with a snarled oath and licked the swell of her vein until it was plump and begging to be bitten. Hana’s heart was pounding against his chest, her hips flexing and thrashing beneath him every time he drove into her. He didn’t warn her. He simply opened his mouth and sank his fangs into her, sliding through her skin and into her vein, groaning at the lush taste of her blood, the velvet smoothness as it flowed down his throat. An instant later, Hana’s arms and legs tightened, holding him fast as she gave a single hard jerk against him, and then she cried out frantically as her pussy squeezed his cock, clutching him deep inside her as a million tiny fingers stroked and caressed his

length. Gabriel felt the heat of his orgasm building low in his groin, felt his cock grow impossibly harder as the heat became a rush of liquid fire, racing from his balls to his shaft. Lifting his head, he howled in fierce pleasure, Hana’s blood dripping from his fangs, while the force of his release sent her into a fresh climax as she arched helplessly beneath him. Gabriel dropped his forehead to the pillow over Hana’s shoulder, every muscle in his body trembling with the strength of his orgasm . . . and the sensuous taste of her blood. Reminded, he lifted his head enough to lick the two tiny wounds on her neck, then wrapped his arms around her and rolled to his back, taking her with him. He cursed when she gave a hard shiver, and rolled again, just long enough to grab the comforter from the end of the bed and pull it over her as she lay on top of him once more. She cuddled against him, pushing her nose into the curve of his neck, her breath cool against his overheated skin. They lay together silently for a long time, as their hearts slowed, and their breaths became even. “Are you okay?” Her lips curled against his skin a moment before she kissed his neck. “No,” she whispered. His heart almost stopped before she continued. “I’m fantastic, sublime, electrified . . . There isn’t a word for how good I feel.” “Oh.” He grinned. “That’s good, then.”

She chuckled breathily. “Baby, I gotta tell you, Cyn was right. That was waaaay better than good.” “Let’s keep other people out of our bed.” “Damn right. You’re mine. Get used to it.” Gabriel heard a distant chime as automatic shutters closed over the window. “Sunrise isn’t far off.” Hana stroked his chest lazily. “How big’s your bed down there in the basement?” “Big enough, but, Hana . . . once we’re locked in, you won’t be able to get out until after sunset.” “That’s all right,” she said, yawning delicately. “I’ll bring my e-reader. And that way, I’ll be there when you wake up.” She raised her head to give him a devious smile. “Do vampires have morning wood? Or maybe it’s evening wood,” she added thoughtfully. He slapped her bare ass, then left his hand there possessively. “For you, älskling, it’s wood all the time.”

Chapter Five THE NEXT NIGHT found Hana sitting on bleachers in the largest dojo she’d ever seen. It was so big that some might have called it a gymnasium, but if they took one look at the combatants on the floor, there’d be no question. This was a dojo, and although she’d practiced martial arts in some of the finest academies that Japan, and Princeton, NJ, had to offer, she’d never seen the likes of this one. Foremost among the differences—apart from the sheer size and the fact that it was in the basement— was the skill of the practitioners. They moved with such speed and precision that she could barely follow the action, and when they flipped, or were thrown through the air, the heights were inhuman. Then again, that only made sense because the fighters down there were almost exclusively vampire. They were also almost exclusively male—and, boy, were they male. An entire room of beauti​ful male faces and bodies, both. Although, her eye was captivated by the most beautiful one down there, which was, of course, her Gabriel. Forcing her attention away from him before she embarrassed herself, she turned to Cyn, who was sitting next to her, along with Lucia—Juro’s very petite mate—on Cyn’s other side. “I see Elke down

there,” Hana said, her gaze continually drifting back to the action down below, “but no other women. Is she the only female vamp on the estate?” Cyn handed her a towel. “You’re drooling,” she said, completely straight-faced. “It’s not a good look.” “Shit.” Hana grabbed the towel and put it to her mouth, before realizing Cyn had been kidding. “Very funny,” she said, although she kept the towel handy, just in case. Cyn snorted a laugh. “Elke’s the only female in the inner circle of Raphael’s security team, and she can take more than half the guys down there. Raphael doesn’t fuck around when it comes to his personal security, or the security of this estate. If Elke couldn’t do the job, she wouldn’t be on the team.” Hana nodded, wincing as the petite, blond vampire tossed a male three times her size to the mat with an audible thump. “The guys don’t mind?” “If they do, they have to take it up with her. The stubborn ones end up with a broken bone or two before they see the light. Elke’s tough.” While they watched, a big male walked over and lifted Elke off her feet. Hana waited for him to go flying across the room, but instead, Elke grinned and gave him a smacking kiss, then threw her arms around his neck. “That’s Mal, Elke’s human honey,” Cyn informed her. “They’re cute, aren’t they?”

“Oh, geez, Cyn, more with the cute?” Lucia muttered. “Is it just us more delicately formed women, or do you tell Raphael he’s cute, too?” Hana choked at the idea of anyone calling the formidable vampire lord “cute,” but maybe in Cyn’s eyes . . . “Raphael isn’t cute.” Cyn protested. “Look at him down there. He’s spectacular.” Hana and Lucia both looked dutifully, and she had to admit, he stood out even among the beautiful fighters spread over the mats. Hand​some enough to be a model in one of those glossy fashion maga zines, with razor-sharp cheekbones and an elegant jaw, he’d stripped down to a pair of gi pants that hung on narrow hips below a rippled abdomen and the same thickly cut muscles over shoulders and chest that all the vampires down there displayed. But it was his power that made him stand out, a power that drew a person’s attention without one even knowing why. Hana knew why. If she focused, she could see his power like a ripple of heat distorting the air around him. Kind of the way she’d been able to see Kato’s sword, when no one else but Raphael could. She’d never had any magical sight like that before and speculated that it was only because of the sheer strength of the two men’s magic that she was able to see it now. “Are you saying Juro isn’t spectacular?” Lucia was demanding.

“Don’t get snippy.” Cyn nudged her friend. “Of course he is. And it makes me so happy to see the two of you—” She broke off with a sniffle, as if fighting back tears, but Lucia only groaned. “Don’t give up your day job, girl. Your acting sucks. What about you?” Lucia suddenly asked Hana, leaning forward to see around Cyn. “Your guy’s amazing. He’s gone through everyone down there like a fucking machine. It’s impressive.” Hana beamed with pride. She had nothing to do with Gabriel’s skill, but he was hers. If Cyn could claim Raphael’s spectacular self, then Hana could claim Gabriel. “He’s been a warrior all his life,” she said. “I think he was worried he’d be rusty, but . . .” She gestured to the far corner where he was matching blades against a new opponent, their swords so big and heavy that she couldn’t have lifted one more than a few inches off the ground. “I guess not.” She laughed. “Oooooh,” Cyn cooed. “I think Juro’s headed Gabriel’s way.” “Is Juro a swordsman?” Hana asked, a bit confused. “I don’t think I’ve seen him fight with a blade today.” “He can use a sword when he has to, but it’s not his favorite weapon,” Lucia said, watching him stop outside the field of action to observe the ongoing match. A few minutes later, Gabriel’s opponent lost his

blade for the third time. Shaking his head, he lifted his hands in defeat, then grinned as he and Gabriel did their best to crush every bone in each other’s right hand, then slammed their shoulders together like two giant behemoths. Juro clapped the other man on the back, then called something to Gabriel who nodded, teeth flashing through the dark scruff of his beard as he wiped down his blade, before walking over and hanging it in a cabinet against the dojo’s far wall. He grabbed a towel from a shelf and rubbed it over his face and chest, then scanned the bleachers until he found her. His face lit up in a grin that told Hana everything she needed to know, as he strode around the perimeter of the dojo, heading her way. “Now that is a man in love,” Cyn said knowingly. Hana didn’t respond. She was already making her way down to the floor to meet her very own spectacular male. She stood on the lowest bench, allowing their faces to be even, when Gabriel stopped in front of her. Leaning over, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, while his hands gripped her hips to keep her close. “Hey! No kissing in the dojo!” a woman’s voice called. Probably Cyn, Hana figured, but didn’t care. “I’m all sweaty,” Gabriel said, making no move step away from her. “I like you sweaty,” she said, giving him what she hoped was a sultry look.

He laughed. “Wrong kind of sweat, and stop that. Juro wants to spar and I don’t think a hard cock will help my performance.” “Sure helps mine.” “Hana! You’re making it worse!” he protested, but then pulled her hips to meet his, letting her feel the hard length of him. She groaned. “How long will it take you to toss Juro onto your pile of victims?” “Such confidence in me. I suspect he’s damn good, but we’ll see.” “I’ll be cheering for you. And then, I’ll, mmmm, soothe your wounds.” “You make a man want to lose. Fortunately, I’m made of sterner stuff. Take your sweet ass back up there, so I can get rid of this erection before we get started.” Hana gave him a quick kiss, then ran up the bleachers to rejoin her friends. Friends. Huh. She hadn’t thought of it before, but the two women were her friends. Not close friends, not yet. But the potential was there. After living in her grandfather’s testosterone-fueled household for so long, she had to admit that it would be nice to have some estrogenpowered friends instead. She sat next to Cyn. “Juro and Gabriel are going to spar,” she announced. “Uh oh,” Cyn droned. “I’m not sure I want to be sitting between you two.”

“Don’t be silly,” Hana dismissed. “I wouldn’t fight Lucia. I’m a master in several martial disciplines. It wouldn’t be fair.” Cyn laughed. “She’s got you there, Luce.” Lucia gave a haughty sniff. “Not everyone’s a bruiser like you two. Besides, I’m not worried. Juro’s going to wipe the floor with the new guy.” Hana slanted a look at the delicate woman and was thinking about retracting her earlier recusal, when Cyn jabbed her with an elbow. “Luci’s feisty, but a ten-year-old can wipe the floor with her. And the tears! My God, it’s pathetic.” “I’m listening!” Lucia called in a sing-song voice, while Hana and Cyn laughed. Yep, definite friend potential, she thought. Then all thoughts of friends and beat-downs disappeared, as Juro and Gabriel claimed the center mat. The two big males began circling each other, moving smoothly, appearing relaxed to the untrained eye, but Hana could see the power in their legs, the way every foot was carefully placed, their arms spread slightly, ready for attack, while their eyes never wavered from each other. “You know the best part?” Cyn leaned over to whisper. Hana gave her a quick glance, reluctant to miss any of the fight. “What?” she asked absently. “After a night like this, when they’re juiced up with all that leftover adrenaline and testosterone . . .” She

tsked, shaking her head. “Well, it’s gotta go somewhere.” Hana froze, then twisted her head quickly in Cyn’s direction. “Really? Won’t they be exhausted and just . . . crash?” “Oh, no,” Cyn assured her, her lips practically smacking in anticipation. “These are vampires, baby.” Lucia laughed. “She’s right.” Hana turned back just in time to see the two huge vampires go after each, and as she watched the fight with the eye of a skilled dis​ciple of the arts, she smiled at the thought of the night ahead. HANA WOKE, NOT knowing what time it was, and too cozy in the moment to check the clock, since that would involve lifting herself up enough to see around the bulk of Gabriel’s form. Her body told her she’d slept for several hours after Gabriel had dropped into his daylight sleep. Although first, there’d been mind-blowing sex. Turned out, Cyn had known what she was talking about. It didn’t matter that Gabriel had lost the match, although it had been close, with Juro scoring a narrow victory in two of their three sparring sessions. By the time they’d gotten to his basement room, Gabriel had been so hot for her, that they’d barely closed the door before he was inside her. Hana didn’t consider herself an expert on sex, but there was no question that sex with Gabriel felt way better, like way better, than any

of her pre​vious encounters. She glanced over her shoulder to see him sleeping peacefully. Although “sleep” didn’t begin to describe it. It was more like he lost consciousness. He didn’t move even the tiniest bit, except for his chest moving up and down with each breath, and even that seemed a lot slower than normal. She’d gone so far as to put her ear to his chest the previous night, to be sure his heart was still beating, which it was, of course. She plumped her pillow and grabbed her e-reader, ignoring the bedside lamp to read in the dark. It took her back to her childhood when she’d smuggled flashlights under the covers of her bed and read long after her bedtime. The time on her screen read 7:15 pm. She didn’t know when the sun set in Malibu this time of year. Hell, she probably couldn’t have said what time it set in Nagano, either. She’d have to find a sunrise/sunset app if she was going to be hanging around vampires—which she clearly was, since she was totally hooked on Gabriel. She didn’t use the “L” word, but in her heart, she knew it was true. The time changed to 7:16, and she closed her reader. She was too distracted to take in the words, and sunset couldn’t be far off. She put the e-book on the table and rolled over to face Gabriel, resting one hand on his chest. And what a chest it was. She stroked the thick pads of hard muscle, then lifted her hand to run the back of her fingers over the soft hair of his newly neat beard. She almost missed the big

bushy one he’d had when he’d been trapped, but she’d been right about it drawing too much attention. Maybe once they were settled here in Malibu, once they found Sotiris and got rid of him—or at least made it too costly for him to continue his pursuit— Gabriel could grow his beard longer again. She tilted her head, studying him in the red glow of the bedside clock. Although the shorter beard did show off his firm jawline better. She liked that, too. Maybe — “Taking advantage of me in my helpless state?” Hana gave a surprised squeak at the rumble of his deep voice. “I wasn’t—” He laughed and reached out to drag her on top of him. “I didn’t say I minded.” “I was admiring your manly form.” His big shoulders shrugged. “There are worse ways to wake up than with a beautiful woman stroking my naked body.” She slapped his chest. “Have a lot of experience with that, do you?” “What? Naked women, or the stroking?” “Never mind. I don’t want to know. What’s the plan? Are you training again tonight?” Gabriel’s big hands were cupping her butt as he began to rock beneath her, his already hard cock rubbing along her pussy, pressing almost directly on her clit. She didn’t know if that was intentional, and her body didn’t care. Heat was pooling between her

thighs, her eyes closing with pleasure as she felt herself getting wet. “Not tonight.” Gabriel murmured, continuing to rock against her. “You and I are having dinner at Kato and Grace’s, remember?” Hana’s eyes flew open. “That’s tonight?” She sat up, straddling his hips. “What time?” He shrugged again. “I don’t know. When we get there?” “You can’t just say ‘when we get there’ and leave it at that. They must be expecting us. Wait, I think I was supposed to text Grace. I need my phone.” She started to shift away from him, but strong fingers closed around her hips holding her in place. “Relax. Whatever time it is, we’ll be late, because Damian will be late. He likes to be the last to arrive, so he can make an entrance.” “But I don’t even know what to wear.” “Clothes. But not yet.” Lifting her up as if she weighed nothing, he slid two fingers into her pussy with a hum of satisfaction. “Hot and wet, älskling. Just the way I like you.” Hana made a small noise of protest when he removed his fingers, but then he positioned his tip at her opening and pulled her down onto his erection. “Oh,” she said on a long breath. It took a moment to adjust to his size, to the fullness of him. But then she began flexing her hips, relishing the erotic sensuality of his thick cock filling her completely, barely

moving as she ground her clit against his groin. She closed her eyes and cupped her own breasts, pinching her nipples until they ached for something only Gabriel could give her. She opened her eyes to find him watching her fingers as they squeezed and pinched her breasts, his heavy-lidded eyes glowing a soft bronze in the dark room. His gaze lifted slowly to meet hers. “Come for me,” he growled. Desire rippled instantly over her body, starting between her thighs and traveling up to her hard nipples like a jolt of electricity. Hana moaned with need and began rocking faster, as Gabriel’s fingers tightened on her hips, holding her against him and grinding them together until even the tiniest movement stirred the fierce craving growing inside her. From one breath to the next, the orgasm struck, muscles clenching as she threw back her head and tried to swallow the scream of pleasure that consumed her. Every part of her was wildly alive, shuddering beneath the rolling waves of ecstasy as Gabriel lifted her higher and began thrusting, his thick cock driving up and into her trembling pussy, filling her over and over, until Hana thought she’d pass out from the overload of pure, carnal sensation. When she felt the heat of Gabriel’s release, she nearly wept, certain she couldn’t bear another second of such unbridled passion. But he wasn’t done with

her yet. Sitting up, he gripped her long hair and pulled her head back, baring the taut length of her neck to his lips. Hana groaned at the cool brush of his fangs, a fresh onslaught of desire striking hard as she wrapped her arms around his head and held him tightly. Overcome by the flood of sensations roiling her body, she didn’t feel the sharp pain of his bite slicing through her skin, didn’t feel the soft pressure as his fangs pierced her vein. But when her blood began to flow and the euphoric in his bite slammed into her system, she could only hope to survive the exquisite rush of wanton need that sizzled through her veins. Writhing in his arms, her muscles rigid and her back bowed, she screamed helplessly into the darkness. GABRIEL CUDDLED HANA close, her body still trembling in the aftermath of their lovemaking. She was holding on to him, her head on his shoulder, her face pressed into the curve of his neck. Every few minutes, she’d kiss him there, her warm tongue darting out to lick the salty sweat of his skin. He soothed her with long, slow strokes of his hand down her back, all the way to her sweet ass, and then over again. “Your eyes were glowing,” she whispered, her voice sounding a little shaky. He pulled the comforter tighter around her. “It happens when I use any of my vampiric power, or

when I’m sufficiently aroused—which is any time I’m around you. Though it never happened under Nico’s spell.” “Do you miss it? I mean, the spell. Do you wish it was still there?” Her teeth chattered on the last words. “Are you cold, Hana? I can—” “No.” She gripped him tightly as if afraid he’d leave her. “I’m not cold. It’s just my body trying to relax after—” She gave a hard, shuddering jerk, then seemed to calm down. “Sex with you is a little overwhelming.” “Only a little?” he murmured into her ear. “Oh, God. Do not go there. I’m trying to stop shivering, not start all over again.” He hugged her. “Sorry. I’ll try to hold back next —” She punched his gut. He made an oomph sound, though he barely felt it. Hana was a strong woman, but she wasn’t at her fighting best at that moment. “Don’t you dare hold back on me,” she growled. “Just . . . talk about something else right now.” “Like what?” he asked, shrugging his other shoulder. “About tonight. Are you looking forward to dinner with your friends?” “Brothers, not friends,” he corrected immediately. “And, yes, I am. Although unless you’re on the menu, I won’t be eating anything.”

She groaned. “None of that, okay? What should I wear?” “I don’t know. Whatever you want.” “Very helpful, thanks. We should bring something.” “You mean food? Why would we—” “Not food. A hostess gift. It’s a way of thanking them for inviting us. A bottle of wine, maybe.” “Okay,” he said agreeably. He didn’t really think Kato or Damian would care if he brought wine, but then he didn’t know much about social niceties in this age. “You feeling better yet?” he ventured. Her body was loose against his, and she hadn’t shivered in several minutes. “Yes. Getting there. I need to shower and wash my hair.” He nodded. “We can shower togeth—” “Oh, hell, no. I know what will happen if we get naked together.” “We’re already naked together.” “You know what I mean. If we shower together. I’ll be useless by the time we get out. You’ll have to call and cancel with your friends.” Gabriel clamped his lips together, trying not to laugh. “Who goes first, then?” he managed to get out. She lifted her head and squinted at him suspiciously. “Are you laughing?” His eyes widened innocently. “Of course not.”

She made a dismissive noise and sat up. “The girl always showers first. We have more to do.” “Okay.” “No sneaking into the shower.” “Would I do that?” “Yes.” She leaned over and kissed him, wet and long. “But we can have sex in the shower next time, when we’re not in a hurry.” She smiled sweetly, then climbed out of bed, her hips swaying as she made her way to the bathroom and closed the door. His cock hardened at the sight. “Well, fuck,” he grumbled. He heard the shower turn on and pictured Hana stepping under the spray, water running over her tight body, dripping from her full breasts. Reaching down, he gripped his erection and closed his eyes as he began stroking. He could still feel the slick heat of her pussy, the way her sheath had pulsed along his length when she’d come, the hard clench of her body as she screamed. He swallowed a shout when he climaxed, then leaned back with a grin, imagining all the things he was going to do with her the next time they took a shower. A BLACK SUV WAS waiting for them an hour later, when they finally made it to the wide space in front of Raphael’s main house. Cyn was there, too, walking across the courtyard with Elke. They were both dressed in form-fitting workout clothing, which emphasized the excellent physical condition of both

women. “Hey, Hana, Gabriel,” Cyn said cheerfully enough that Hana figured she welcomed a chance to put off a training session with Elke. Hana couldn’t blame her. She was a damn good fighter and in great condition, but she’d felt like collapsing after even a short workout with the female vampire. “Hi, guys,” Hana said, opening the back door of the SUV and depositing the bottle of wine she’d finagled from the guards’ kitchen. Apparently, Raphael employed a full kitchen and serving staff for the human guards who patrolled his estate during the day. “Going off to the big reunion?” Cyn asked. “I’m hoping for more of a dinner party vibe, but, yeah.” Cyn shifted her attention to Gabriel. “You must be excited.” Gabriel gave her a look that said he doubted her sanity, but nodded politely enough while he nudged Hana out of the way, so he could close the SUV’s door. Hana got the message. He clearly wanted her to get going, but Cyn wasn’t ready to let them go yet. “Gabriel, I don’t think you’ve met Elke,” Cyn said, introducing the blond. She turned to Elke. “Gabriel’s the vampire who—” “Wiped the floor with every vampire who thought he could handle a blade. At least until Gabriel here showed them how it was really done,” she said,

sharing a grin with Gabriel as he walked around to the passenger side of the vehicle. Hana was driving, of course, since he’d never learned. But Juro had already scheduled him for lessons starting the next night, since all of Raphael’s security people had to be able to drive. “You’ve got the address?” Cyn asked Hana, stepping into the open driver’s door. “You can program it into the nav system.” “Got it, thanks,” Hana assured her. She was from Japan, after all, Gabriel thought, trying not to roll his eyes. And they loved technology. If there was a new gadget to be had, it was on their cars. “Well, we should get going,” Hana said, reaching for the door. “No one seems to know when we’re supposed to be there, but something tells me we’re running late.” “Okay,” Cyn said, finally stepping back. “You kids have a good time now.” She waved as they drove around the circular drive and toward the gate. “Whew,” Hana said dramatically, as they pulled out onto the street. “I thought she’d never let us go.” Gabriel laughed. “With Elke as her trainer, she’s probably trying to put off the pain.” “That’s what I thought, too. You ready for this?” He glanced over at her. “These are my brothers, Hana. It’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

RAPHAEL LOOKED UP when the door to his office opened and Cyn strolled through unexpectedly. “I thought you were sparring with Elke?” “Lucky for me, Mal’s flight got in early. Apparently, cops get to break the rules about cell phones.” “He’s not a cop anymore. He works for me.” “Yeah, but he’s officially on vacation, or maybe it’s retirement. Whatever. It means he still has a badge. Anyway, when he called, Elke couldn’t ditch me fast enough. She’s off to pick him up at the airport, which means I get a free pass.” She grinned. “I could ask one of my other people to—” “Don’t you dare.” She came around and sat her lovely ass on his desk. “I caught Hana and Gabriel going off on their dinner date.” “With the others, you mean.” “Yeah. You think he’ll change his mind after talking to them? I mean, from everything he says, they were pretty close.” Raphael gave her a surprised glance. “No, I don’t. Yes, he was close to the men he fought with for so many years, and I expect he’ll remain friends with them. The three of them have lived through something that no one else can imagine, much less understand. But Gabriel has accepted what and who he is now, and that is Vampire. He fought it back then, because it was done against his will, and his first master used him ruthlessly. Katsaros’s spell gave

him a reprieve, but it was only that, a reprieve. A temporary fix. The vampire symbiote might have been suppressed, but all the time he was under Katsaros’s spell, the symbiote was still working to reshape Gabriel to be a more effective host. Doctor Saephan agrees with me. We both believe that had Gabriel not been cursed, the spell would have weakened over time, and eventually stopped working altogether. The symbiote is extremely aggressive. Once it takes hold, only death can defeat it.” “Fortunately for us,” she commented. Raphael grinned. “Indeed. If it was weak, I never would have met you.” “Aw.” She leaned forward and kissed him. “You say the sweetest things.” She straightened. “So you’re not worried about Gabriel?” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have taken his oath if I’d had any doubts. Gabriel’s heart is true. He’s one of mine now.” “What about when Nick gets here?” “Sorcerers love to shove themselves into everyone’s business, so I’m sure our front gate will be one of his first stops.” “Maybe you two should meet outside, so the fireworks don’t damage the walls.” “Very funny, my Cyn. I’ll handle Katsaros when the time comes. He can’t do much more than whine about it. Gabriel’s a grown man, free to make his own decisions.”

“Nick will say you influenced him.” Raphael shrugged. “He can say whatever he wants. In the final analysis, it’s Gabriel who will convince him. The fucking sorcerer will see the truth of it, just like I did. And then we’ll get down to the real question.” Cyn tilted her head curiously. “What question is that?” “Who’s after Hana, and what are they planning? Gabriel’s one of mine now, and I protect what’s mine. But Hana needs our protection, too.” “Then why let them go tonight? If someone’s after her then . . . Oh. You’ve got people watching Grace’s house, don’t you?” He gave her one of his arrogant, emperor of the universe looks. “Of course. Gabriel is a powerful warrior and would give his life to protect Hana, but from what they’ve told me about the people sent against them in Nagano, someone is very determined to grab her. One warrior, even one as devoted as Gabriel, wouldn’t be enough. Besides, Grace’s house is right on the beach. She and the others will never know my people are there.” “That Kato guy knows magic. He might have wards up around the house.” Raphael shrugged. “My vampires won’t get close enough to activate the wards unless there’s a need. But even the witch’s son will welcome assistance if they come under attack.”

“Imagine going through life known forever as the ‘witch’s son.’ How’d he get away from her anyway? I mean, if she was so all powerful?” “The fucking sorcerer used magic to send out a call for the greatest warriors to come to his side, and Kato heard. He cut ties with the Dark Witch— though not without a great deal of pain, I’m sure— and joined Katsaros’s army. And the rest you know. He was cursed with the others and ended up here.” “Huh. Seems like all those guys have bad histories going for them. I wonder what the deal is with the other one at tonight’s reunion. What’s his name . . . Damian. Do you know—?” The office door opened and Juro entered, seeming surprised to see Cyn there. “Sire,” he said, then looked at Cyn. “I thought you were sparring with Elke?” “Geez, does everyone know my schedule? Elke went to pick up Mal. His flight’s early.” Juro’s expression barely changed as he looked at Raphael. “Your guests have arrived. They’re in the large conference room.” Raphael stood, then leaned over to kiss Cyn, before taking his suit jacket from the back of his chair and slipping it on. “Business, lubimaya. Would you like to join—?” “Yeah,” she scoffed. “No thanks. I’ve got my own work to do.” She went up on her tiptoes to kiss him again. “See you later, fang boy. Save some time for

me.” “Always,” he said, and walked out the door as Cyn stepped into the secure elevator that would take her downstairs to their private quarters. GABRIEL AND HANA turned off the main highway and onto a narrow street that ran along the beach. The houses were very close together, with older homes nestled right next to modern constructions with high walls and gates. Grace’s house was one of those. The gate stood open, but as soon as Hana pulled their SUV into the courtyard, the gate rolled shut behind them. Gabriel took this to mean the gate was normally kept closed and that someone in the house had been watching the feed from a security camera, waiting for their arrival. There were two other SUVs like theirs parked in the courtyard with a much smaller car at the end. But that wasn’t the interesting part. Between the cars and the house was a wall of about ten feet, made of pale stone and broken only by a single wooden door which was illuminated by unseen lamps. He looked up as he climbed out of the SUV. “A curtain wall,” he said, as Hana came around to join him. “I didn’t know they still built those.” “Well, I don’t guess they call it that. But it’s probably to keep out the noise and add another layer of privacy. From what I read about the houses around here, a lot of people try to walk through the

yards to get to the beach.” “Do the owners of the houses also own the beach?” he asked, puzzled at the idea. In his world, the ocean was a source of food and commerce. No one owned it. But then, few people sat on the sand for pleasure either, since his father’s territory had been a generally cold place, no matter the season. “No. Apparently, there are public walkways that anyone can take, but some people don’t want to walk that far.” Gabriel had nothing to say to that. After all, how far could the walk be? This street wasn’t more than a mile long. He shrugged as Hana took his hand and started for the wooden door, which opened before they reached it. Kato was already there, a huge smile on his face as he came down a short walkway and exchanged a warrior’s handclasp with Gabriel, slamming their shoulders together before he leaned back and pulled Gabriel into a back-pounding hug. “I still can’t believe you’re here,” Kato said quietly. “We’re three now, and soon we’ll be four again.” “Five,” said a deep voice. “Can’t leave Nico out, he might start crying.” Gabriel looked up and grinned. “Damian.” They were all big men, but Damian had always had an air about him that made him seem larger than life. He didn’t bother with the handclasp, just stepped up and hugged Gabriel with all his strength. He’d always done that. Everything with Damian was a

contest, and Gabriel had always been the only one who could match the big warrior’s strength. Gabriel met Damian’s hug with one of his own, squeezing with all his newfound vampire strength. It was another vampiric trait that had been suppressed by Nico’s spell. He’d never minded, because even as a human, he’d been unnaturally strong. But now, he took great pleasure in hearing his fellow warrior grunt in surprise as Gabriel crushed the breath out of him. “What the fuck?” Damian pulled back to stare at Gabriel. “I didn’t get any new skills when my curse was broken. How come you did? Of course,” he continued without waiting for an answer, “being a god of war, there’s no skill I haven’t already mastered, but—” “Except driving,” Kato said dryly. Damian opened his mouth to protest, but Gabriel interrupted. “Are you still clinging to that god fantasy? I keep telling you, it’s not your skills on the battlefield that those women were worshipping.” They all laughed, even Hana, whom Gabriel suddenly realized he’d left out of the conversation. “Damian, this is Hana Himura.” Damian stepped up and took her proffered hand, raising it to his lips instead of giving her a proper handshake. “Damian Stephanos,” he said smoothly. Gabriel put his arm around Hana’s lower back, tugging her away with a hand on her hip. “God of

war, my ass,” he muttered as Kato laughed and said, “Come on, let’s go inside.” Gabriel held back as the other two men led the way down a flagstone path to the house. It wasn’t a mansion like Raphael’s estate, but it was a good-sized house—two stories with lots of windows, and a glass-and-wood door that stood open, waiting for them. Once inside, the house was big and open, with a wall of windows facing the ocean. The smell of savory food struck him, and for the first time he realized his friends had never known him as a vampire. Kato had come to Raphael’s to see him, but he wasn’t sure even Kato understood that Gabriel was now fully Vampire. Hana would eat whatever they were serving, and it did smell good, but Gabriel wouldn’t. For appearances’ sake, he could, but the food would have no taste and give him no nutrition. Kato’s woman, Grace, was coming forward, greeting Hana with a brief hug, then approaching Gabriel. “We’re so glad you’re here,” she said, seeming sincere. “Kato has been on pins and needles waiting for tonight. He’s been like a kid at Christmas.” Gabriel smiled, having no idea what her reference meant, but understanding Kato’s eagerness. “I’ve been anticipating it just as much. It’s been too long since my brothers and I were together.” “Damn right,” Damian said slapping his shoulder. “We’ve just got to find Dragan, and we’ll be whole

again.” “Easier said than done,” said a dark-haired woman, as she came up behind him. Damian turned and pulled her against his side. “And this is Cassandra, the love of my life. My godlike powers are now exercised in only one bed.” Cassandra jabbed him in the side, hard enough that Damian winced. “Call me Casey,” she said, holding out her hand to shake with them both. “Everyone does except the god here.” She rolled her eyes, which made Gabriel like her. This was a woman who could shrink Damian’s glory-swollen ego down to size. “Come in, come in,” Grace said, gesturing toward two big sectional couches. “Sit. Would you like a drink? It’s my dad’s bar, so there’s almost everything. And I have wine, too.” Gabriel had discovered, courtesy of his fellow basement dwellers at Raphael’s, that this world had a drink called vodka, which had a subtle flavor and a very nice heat as it went down the throat. Vampires couldn’t get drunk—their bodies metabolized the alcohol too fast—but they could still enjoy the taste and the burn. “Vodka, if you have it,” he told her, as he sat down. “A double shot with no ice, please.” He’d also discovered that he liked his drink undiluted. “I’m driving, so just ice water for me,” Hana said, settling next to him, her hand resting on his thigh as

he put his arm over her shoulders. “So, Gabriel,” Damian said, taking the seat perpendicular to his on the curved couch, “what’s this bullshit about you staying with some vampire named Raphael?” Gabriel studied his friend for a long moment, then deciding Damian had intended no insult, he said, “Raphael isn’t just ‘some’ vampire. He’s a powerful vampire lord, who rules over the thousands of vampires living west of the Rocky Mountains in this country.” Juro had explained the system of vampire territories and how it worked on this continent. “So he rules a lot of vampires,” Damian said, shrugging. “What’s that got to do with you?” Hana’s fingers tightened on his thigh in silent support, as Gabriel accepted his drink from Grace. Downing the double shot before answering, he said simply, “I’m a vampire.” “Yeah, sure, you used to be,” Damian dismissed. “But Nico took care of that.” He met his brother warrior’s gaze directly, surprised that Damian had known of his history. But then, Damian and Nico had grown up together. Their bond had always been closer. “Nico’s spell dealt with some of my vampiric traits before we were cursed, thousands of years ago. When Hana freed me”—his hand lifted to stroke her silky hair —“Nico’s spell was broken, too. Hana understood what was happening before I did, but there was no

time to dwell on it. There were men after Hana, and we had to leave Japan quickly. Raphael was a friend of her grandfather’s, and so she sought him out when we arrived in this city. He saved my life.” Damian glanced at Kato who’d sat next to him. Both were leaning forward, clearly intent on discovering what Raphael had done, and how to talk Gabriel out of it. “Damian has told me what was done to you before you joined Nico, and I understand your gratitude for what Raphael did,” Kato said in his calm voice. “But Nico is our leader. That hasn’t changed. When he gets here tomorrow, he’ll be able to cast a new spell that will once again take away the life that was forced upon you so long ago. There’s no need for you to accept such an affliction.” Gabriel smiled. “It’s not an affliction, brother. It’s what I am, who I am. I am Vampire.” “They’ve brainwashed you,” Damian growled. “You need to get away from them. Nico’s base is in Florida, on the other side of this continent. No vampire lord to rule anyone. Casey and I live there, too. You and Hana can return with—” “There are vampires all over this continent, all over the world. Everyone is ruled by someone, even in Florida,” Hana told him. “Florida’s vampire lord is named Christian, and he rules all the South.” Damian scowled at her. “That doesn’t mean my brother has to—”

“I don’t have to do anything,” Gabriel interjected, forcing himself to remain calm. He’d known they wouldn’t be happy, but he’d already made his decision —a decision he knew was the right one for him. “My destiny is my choice, and I have chosen. I am a vampire.” Damian opened his mouth to protest again, but Gabriel cut him off. “You’re right to say it was forced on me all those thousands of years ago. My so-called Sire was a corrupt bastard who forced the change on me, then used me to kill for hire in order to line his own pockets with gold. I hated everything about him, and everything about myself while I served him.” “Damn right,” Damian muttered. “But this is not then, Damian. I lived in the dark for thousands of years, as we all did, as our brother Dragan probably still does some​where. It was Hana’s great-great-grandfather who first brought me into the light, but it was his son who had an interest in magic and somehow discovered that I dwelt within that stone prison. He took me to his gardens, and there he spoke to me like a man, reading me books and newspapers to teach me of the changes in this world. And when he died, his son—Hana’s grandfather—took up the chore in turn.” “It was no chore,” Hana insisted. “Grandfather loved the time he spent with you. It was restful for him to leave the violence of his world behind for a while.”

Gabriel tightened his arm around her. “Himurasan was a good man, a scholar. I learned much from him. And from Hana,” he added, touching his lips to her temple. “What I’m saying,” he continued, turning back to face Kato and Damian, “is that I have accepted what was done to me. It is only an ‘affliction’ as you say, if one’s Sire is a scurrilous dog like the one who used me. But Raphael is none of those things. I’ve taken his blood. I’ve seen into his heart, and I’m honored that he considers my skills and strength worthy of joining his warriors.” “Worthy, my ass,” Kato snarled. “You’re one of the greatest warriors this or any world has ever produced. Of course, you’re ‘worthy.’ The fucking vampire was probably—” “You’re my brother, Kato, and I love you,” Gabriel interrupted, reaching his limit. “But you will not speak of my lord with such disrespect.” “Your—” Kato stared at him speechless. “Nico is your lord.” “Nico is my brother, as you are,” Gabriel said calmly. “And I will join him, and you, in the fight against our ancient enemy, who un​fortunately is still alive and working against us. But Raphael is my sworn lord. I am a vampire, and I belong with my own people.” Damian cursed under his breath, then stood and strode to the big windows overlooking the water. Without a word, he pulled open the glass door and

stepped out onto the wooden deck, with Casey right behind him. Kato watched him a moment, then turned back to Gabriel. “He doesn’t understand. Neither do I, but I won’t argue with you. I ask only that you wait until Nico is here before making a final decision. He’s flying in tomorrow afternoon. That’s not so long to ponder such a momentous decision.” Gabriel nodded. “I’m eager to see him.” He didn’t mention the fact that he had already decided, that when he’d said Raphael was his sworn lord, he’d meant just that. But he didn’t want their time together to be nothing but arguments. He was seeing his freed brothers for the first time in millennia, since the moment they’d all been cursed. It should be a night for celebration, not conflict. Kato leaned forward intently, as if ready to continue his attempts to influence Gabriel’s decision, but then he glanced up and said, “Grace is giving me a signal. Dinner’s ready. I’ll go out there and calm down our god of war, then drag him to the table like a civilized man. Not that he is one,” he added, as Gabriel laughed, “but he can act like it for the night.” “WELL, THAT WASN’T too bad,” Hana said, as they turned toward Raphael’s estate several hours later. “Dinner was delicious.” Gabriel chuckled. “I’ll take your word for it.” “Poor Grace felt awful about you not eating. I

swear, I thought she was going to stick a needle in her vein and drain you a cup.” “She’s a lovely woman. A scholar, which is, oddly enough, a good fit for Kato. He was taught nothing as a child, you know. Not even how to read, except for his mother’s spells, which were written in some obscure witch’s language, of course. But he’s always been smart.” “Is that why he wears that big sword all the time? Because he’s smart?” He smiled. “I don’t think he’s even aware of it most of the time. It’s a part of his body. Quite literally, since the thing draws its power from Kato’s flesh.” Hana glanced at him in horror. “Are you serious?” “Oh, yeah. I’ve seen the scars on his back. But it’s a useful weapon, and he’s a master swordsman with it.” “Great. ‘Cuz that’s what we need in the twentyfirst century, master swordsmen.” He reached out and covered her hand where it sat on the SUV’s gear shift. “You know better than most that magic is a different sort of war. An ensorcelled sword like Kato’s can make all the difference.” “I guess so,” she agreed grudgingly. “But I didn’t like the way they fought you on living as a vampire. It’s what you are. Why can’t they see that?” “We fought together for decades, on more battlefields than I can name. When I call them

‘brother,’ it’s because that’s what we were. Closer than brothers. They want that again. Damian especially. It’s the only life he ever knew.” “Yeah, what’s the deal with him?” Gabriel smiled. “Kato has magic, Nico has magic. But Damian is magic. He and Nico have been together since they were boys. Nico was born a sorcerer. You know how that works. It’s not something you learn, it’s simply what you are. His father was a warrior and expected his sons to be the same. His older brothers followed their father, but Nico’s greatest talent didn’t lie in wielding a blade— though he can do that well enough. He wanted to study magic. His brothers, seeking their father’s approval, took pleasure in tormenting him. So, he conjured up a new brother, one who would stand with him, and that was Damian. Neither of them know if he literally created him from nothing but magic, or if Damian existed in some other reality and Nico simply grabbed him from his life. But either way, he is magic. His skill on the battlefield is a thing of beauty, his tactical knowledge unparal​leled. If you hand him a weapon, any weapon, he will master it in minutes. I’m one of the best warriors who ever lived, but Damian is better. Not that I’d ever admit that to him, of course.” She laughed. “You guys are funny. On the one hand, you’re all these big, muscled warriors who talk about the battles you’ve fought the way other people

talk about what they had for lunch. But then you start sniping at each other like ten-year-old boys, over who did what better.” She glanced at him. “It’s obvious you care for each other, though. The affection is always there.” “Yes. I meant what I said, you know. And I’m confident Raphael will agree with me. Our ancient enemy still lives, and he’s here now. When Nico confronts Sotiris—” The car jerked briefly as Hana shot Gabriel a shocked glance. “What did you say?” “Our enemy, the one who cursed us, is—” “His name. What’s his name?” “Sotiris.” “Jesus,” Hana said softly. “That’s the guy who’s after me, too. He used to visit our house all the time. I only met him once, but I got the weirdest vibe from him. It was like he couldn’t take his eyes off me. It was creepy, like the sex predators they warn you about in school, and it scared me to death.” “Your grandfather told you his name?” “Grandfather made sure we never met after that, but it was too late. Somehow Sotiris knew what I was, and he never let up about me. He offered to help with my training many times over the years but was always rebuffed. I guess he grew tired of waiting, because I’m one hundred percent sure he was behind the attack on our house and my grandfather’s death.”

“Damn. On the one hand, that makes things easier. At least we have the same enemy, and we know what he’s after. On the other, what he’s after is you. And that is very bad news indeed. Raphael needs to know this as soon as possible.” “There are hours ‘til dawn. You can tell him when we get there. I’ll go with you and provide whatever information I can.” “Good. This makes me even more grateful that you chose to find refuge with Raphael. His estate is probably the safest place for you.” “Until it comes down to a fight,” she said sharply. “I’m not going to cower behind the furniture like some helpless maiden. If there’s going to be a war, I’ll be on the front lines with you.” Gabriel wanted to kiss her. He wanted to unbuckle her seat belt, drag her out from behind the wheel, and ravage her until she was breathless. But that would have to wait. First, they had to find Raphael and tell him their enemy had a name. Sotiris.

Chapter Six Somewhere near Los Angeles, CA, USA SOTIRIS STOOD AT the window, staring at the sweeping hillsides beyond the security lights of his estate. They were black and gray in the moonlight, showing none of the brilliant-green foliage that covered them in daylight. It was those hills, or rather the absence of people that they represented, that had made him choose this house. A timid knock sounded on his closed office door. “Come,” he said, not bothering to turn when the door opened behind him. “Well?” he demanded. “We have her, my lord.” Sotiris turned at last, his gaze hard and glittering as he studied the terrified man before him. “Have her? In what sense do you have her? She’s not within this house.” “No, my lord.” The man swallowed nervously. “But we know where she is. She’s very close. In Malibu, with the vampires.” He cursed silently. Vampires. And not just any vampires, either. If she was in Malibu, then she’d be with Raphael. He might not under​stand her magic, but he’d know it was there. And he’d never permit her to be in his territory unless she was under his

control. He cursed again. Why’d it have to be vampires, with their twitchy odd magic? Though there was nothing twitchy about Raphael. The vampire lord’s power was staggering, and it wasn’t often that a sorcerer of his abilities admitted such a thing about an opponent. “Watch her,” he growled. “She can’t hide behind Raphael’s walls forever. The moment she sticks her toes out, I want a team ready to go. Tell them to make use of those expensive weapons I bought them and bring me the girl.” “Yes, my lord.” The man bowed and began to back out of the room. “Make sure they understand the price of failure,” Sotiris added, as he turned back to the window. “Yes, my lord.” It was a terrified whisper, followed by the click of the door as the groveling worm finally left. “Vampires,” Sotiris muttered to the dark night. “Well, at least the fates brought me to the right place.” A car drove by as the first of his neighbors went to work. This being an expensive enclave within driving distance of Los Angeles’s many television and movie studios, many of his neighbors worked “in the business” as they said. Not that he ever spoke to any of them, but he’d had them investigated when he bought this property. One couldn’t be too careful. He smiled as he thought of Hana Himura, with her fall of shining, black hair, her soft face and gleaming

dark eyes. He hadn’t taken a lover in a long time, but Hana seemed intelligent, as well as beautiful. If they could come to an agreement, if she could see the wisdom in letting him use her power for himself, then they could be much more than master and slave. It all depended on her. She could be his pawn or his lover. Either way, he’d have her.

Chapter Seven “YOU WEREN’T SURPRISED by Gabriel’s news.” Raphael glanced up from where he lay in bed, reading a book, his gaze going lazy at the sight of his beautiful Cyn, ruffling fingers through her hair as she turned out the light and crossed toward him . . . completely naked. He smiled, feeling smug. She’d learned not to bother with sexy nightgowns or tiny lace panties. He’d simply strip them off before she managed to lie down. He liked her naked in his bed. She saw him watching and lifted her hands, palms up, then did a little twirl. “Satisfactory, oh great one?” He pulled back her side of the covers and patted the mattress. “Let’s give it a try.” She snorted and climbed in next to him. “Give it a try, my ass.” “Good idea. I love your ass.” She sat up, legs crossed in front of her, so that she was facing him. “Answer the question. Why weren’t you surprised?” He put his book down and gripped her thighs, pulling her closer. “I told you Nick Katsaros had a blow-up with Sotiris a few months ago.” “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he’s still hanging around. There have to be more than a few sorcerers

in the world, right?” Raphael gave a half shrug. “I doubt it. There’s no longer enough free-floating magic in this world to support more than a very few.” “Is that because vampires are using most of it? When Nick gave me that amber key thing in Hawaii, he told me you were one of the biggest magic sinks in the world. Those are the words he used, ‘magic sink.’ I’m no physicist, but even I know that means you’re personally sucking up a lot of magical energy.” He gave her a hooded look. If he loved her any less, he’d use some of his damn magic and wipe that fucking sorcerer from her memory. Cyn, of course, knew what he was thinking, or something close to it, and simply rolled her eyes. She thought his hostility —her word for it was jealousy, which was absurd— was ridiculous. After all, she was his mate, his lover. But Raphael had to admit, in his most pri​vate thoughts, that it galled him to know that the fucking sorcerer had shared a bed with his Cyn. Of course, once she’d met him, all thoughts of other men had been wiped clean. Including the fucking sorcerer. That thought cheered him enough to continue. “Vampire magic is very different from a sorcerer’s. I’ve been told by vampires much older than myself that our differences are one of the reasons they tried so hard to wipe us out. And probably why Katsaros thought it was a good idea to ensorcel Gabriel’s

vampirism away. Sorcerers initially saw vam​pires as competitors for magical energy, even though it was abundant back then. Unfortunately, once they realized the differences between us, they feared us even more. Because a powerful vampire can create as many followers as he needs to rule a territory and defend it, while sorcerers are subject to the luck of the draw. They’re either born with magic or not, and there’s no predicting the gift. A farmer is as likely to produce a gifted child as the most powerful sorcerer.” “That’s pretty odd, when you think about it.” “I try not to. I’m just grateful it’s true. The fewer fucking sorcerers in the world, the better.” She slapped his arm lightly. “Hana’s a sorcerer. You like her.” “I admired her grandfather, and Gabriel loves her, but though her talent is unique and dangerous, she’s not a sorcerer. Her magic doesn’t work that way. From what’s she’s told us, she actually has very little control over it, and as yet, very little ability to protect herself from being used by others. She’s a very useful tool in the right hands, how​ever. One that I wouldn’t mind having on my own staff,” he added slyly. Cyn shook her head. “That’s cold, even for you.” “That’s practical. I have thousands of vampires who look to me for protection. It would be derelict for me to ignore such a powerful weapon against our enemies.”

“I get that, but you’re still awful.” Moving with vampiric speed, he had her flat on her back and his hips between her tender thighs before she’d drawn a startled breath. “Was that a challenge?” She grinned. “You think you’re up to it?” He flexed his hips, dragging his hard length in the wet heat already gathering between the silken lips of her pussy. She dug her fingers into his hips with a shaky gasp, then lifted against him, trying to increase the friction between them. “Okay, I’m convinced,” she breathed. He grasped her knee and pushed her leg higher and wider, opening her up to him fully. “Challenge accepted, lubimaya.” CYN WAS LYING IN bed the next night, looking very much like a woman who’d been thoroughly fucked to an orgasm. Or three. She watched with unconcealed appreciation as Raphael walked out of the big closet, pulling a dark-blue, crew-necked sweater over his shoulders and settling it over a pair of black jeans. He glanced at her in the mirror as he combed his razor-cut hair back into order, then turned and walked over to sit next to her on the bed. His hand snaked under the sheets, his fingers trailing over the sticky wetness of her thighs and then dipping into her pussy. His gaze fixed on hers, he stabbed two

fingers deep inside her, curling them to graze over her g-spot. Although pretty much any spot inside her went full on “g” when he put his mind and fingers to it. Cyn stiffened, her hips lifting automatically in response to his touch. “Raphael,” she gasped. He smiled smugly. “Was my mate adequately seduced last night?” She gripped the sheets to either side. “Adequate?” she breathed. “You’re the best fuck on the planet, and you know it, you bastard.” He tilted his head thoughtfully, as if unaware that his fingers were driving her mad. “I assure you, my parents were well married when I was born.” “Raphael!” she demanded. He leaned over and kissed her, his tongue sweeping in to claim every inch of her mouth, as he twisted his hand between her thighs and stretched his thumb up to circle her clit. Cyn dug her nails into his neck and back, holding him tightly, as if worried he’d try to tease her by pulling away. The walls of her pussy were already trembling, her sheath beginning to contract fitfully around his fingers. Raphael was regarding her closely. He loved watching her come. Lifting his head with a final swipe of his tongue over her lips, he pressed his thumb down hard on her swollen clit. Her back arched as she lifted herself against his hand, her eyes closed, breasts thrusting, rosy nipples

hard and dark with blood as her climax hit. Her cries became a scream when he lowered his mouth to one full breast and bit hard enough to draw blood, her fingers scraping over his neck as he licked the blood from around her nipple, savoring the sweet taste. He lifted his head, while her body still shivered around his fingers, and eyed the bite mark on her breast with blatant male satisfaction. “Okay,” she whispered finally, her hand smoothing over his neck and down to his arm. “You win, challenge over. I think I’m dying.” He laughed softly, then leaned over to murmur directly into her ear. “You carry my blood, lubimaya, and I love you. You are not permitted to die.” She smiled dreamily. “Oh, good. Do I have to move?” “Only if you wish to be there when I confront that fucking sor​cerer. He flew in this afternoon, and Juro tells me he appears to be heading this way.” Her eyes snapped open. “Oh, shit! Really?” She sat up and started to swing out of bed, but then stopped long enough to give him a very sexual kiss, biting his lip slowly as she pulled away. “I love you,” she whispered. His gaze softened. “And I love you, my Cyn. Now take a shower and get dressed. I might just kill him and be done with it, unless you’re with me.” “Don’t say shit like that. And don’t leave without me.” She jumped up and ran for the bathroom.

He was admiring her very fine ass when his cell phone rang. He didn’t need the screen ID to know who it was. “Juro,” he answered. “Sire, the sorcerer just turned down the drive.” “Tell the guards to admit him, but put him in the drawing room downstairs. He should know better than to present himself to a vampire’s estate at such an hour and without invitation. Let him wait.” “Yes, my lord.” The water was pounding in the shower, and he could hear Cyn’s breathless humming as she washed her hair. He’d spoken jokingly to her about killing Katsaros. But it had been no jest. Killing that fucking sorcerer would bring him great pleasure. Unfortunately, Sotiris was in the picture, and he was far worse, for the world at least. And Katsaros was one of the few sorcerers who could truly stand against him. So, he’d let the fucker live. For now. GABRIEL SLID HIS cock slowly through the slick heat of Hana’s pussy, groaning as her tight walls stretched around him, her cry of pleasure a brush of warmth on his neck. He sank into her as far as he could go until his balls slapped her ass, and his groin ground against her swollen clit. Her arms tightened. “Gabriel, please.” He loved fucking her slowly, taking her to the edge of orgasm and back so many times that she finally pleaded for release. “What do you need, älskling?”

She slid one hand down his back to his ass and gripped him hard, trying to hold him inside her. “You know.” Her inner muscles flexed, tightening around his cock like a silken glove. “Shit,” he gasped. His balls tightened as his own orgasm threat​ened, the heat and pressure building until he groaned out loud. “You’re killing me.” Her only response was another flexing of her sheath, as her hips lifted against his groin. He lowered his head with a growl, closing his teeth over her delicate collarbone hard enough to leave a mark, then moving up to her sweet mouth. He kissed her slowly at first, but then bit her lower lip hard enough to break skin, savoring the few drops of blood before threading his fingers through her hair and stretching her neck taut. Her vein was plump in invitation, the blood rushing just below her skin, begging to be taken. Gabriel licked the length of it once, smiling at Hana’s soft moan, at the jerking thrust of her hips. His fangs split his gums, and he scraped his tongue over their sharp points, before lowering his mouth to her vein. Her skin split like velvet around his fangs, the thin wall of her vein surrendering to his bite as her blood began to flow. He gripped her harder, her blood like warm honey as it slid down his throat. He groaned against her skin, just as the euphoric in his bite sizzled through Hana’s body, snapping her from arousal to climax with shocking speed. She screamed against his

shoulder, her nails digging into his ass, her legs scissored around his back as her pussy clamped down on his cock, clutching and releasing, stroking the length of him, holding him inside her as her inner muscles coaxed him to orgasm, urging him to drive deep into her body, to claim her as his, inside and out. He went impossibly harder as his release raged down his cock, the brutal frenzy of his climax tensing every muscle as he moaned against her neck, his fangs still buried in the succulent warmth of her vein, his deep cry shuddering over her skin. Gabriel lifted his head slowly, taking care to lick the small puncture wounds on Hana’s neck. Her skin was so delicate, so lovely. A small part of him wanted to bite her somewhere else, rather than mar the beauty of her neck. But the rest of him wanted the world to see the bite and know that she was his, and no one else’s. Hana’s legs fell away from his back, her hands smoothing slowly over his skin, as if to soothe him, to assure him of her care. Of her love. He kissed her closed eyelids, one after the other, then her cheeks with their sweet dimples, and finally, he took her mouth in a soft kiss, his lips moving over hers slowly, sensuously, his tongue slipping between her teeth to twist once around her tongue, before he whis​pered against her lips. “I love you.” She smiled, her eyes still closed, her fingers

weaving through his hair. “I love you, too, Gabriel. I’m so glad I found you.” He released his arms, letting her feel the full weight of his body for a moment, before rolling them over and settling her on his chest, her pussy a warm wetness against his groin. “You feel—” He was interrupted by the ring of his cell phone. Hana had programmed his rings, so he knew this was either Juro or Jared—neither of whom he could ignore. He reached out his arm and snagged the phone, accepting the call with one hand, while his other rested on Hana’s delicious ass. “Jared,” he said, having read the display. “You and Hana need to get up to Raphael’s office. There’s no rush; take the time you need to shower and dress. But Katsaros just arrived, and he’ll want to see you.” Gabriel mouthed a silent “fuck,” and said, “We’ve just wakened, but we’ll hurry.” “Right.” Jared hung up. “Nico’s here,” he said, answering Hana’s questioning look. “Jared says we can take our time, which means they’re probably making Nico wait just on principle. My father used to do that with his enemies all the time. But Raphael does want us both upstairs.” She sat up, straddling him and putting her breasts on enticing display. But he was a warrior, and his lord had called him to battle. Not that Nico would

draw weapons against Raphael—whether sorcerous or steel. But he wouldn’t be happy with Gabriel’s choice, and it was his responsibility, his duty to his new lord, to stand at his side. He gripped her hips and rose from the bed, holding on until she stood in front of him. “We’ll shower together,” he decided. Hana gave him a troubled look. “Should I be worried?” “I shall attempt to control myself, but if I fail at the sight of your naked, wet body, I’ll make it quick.” “Not that,” she said, gazing up at him solemnly. “I mean Nico.” He hugged her. “I know. Don’t worry, älskling. They seem to hate each other, so it won’t be at all pleasant. But I don’t expect blood to be spilled. Nico won’t like what I’ve done, but he’ll see that it was my choice to make, not his. And then, because they’re both too smart not to see the benefit of working together, they’ll join forces against Sotiris, who’s the true danger.” She rose on her toes and kissed him. “I love you. And I hope you’re right.”

Chapter Eight NICK PACED BACK and forth, his boot heels cracking on the hard marble floor of the fucking “drawing room.” Who the fuck had a drawing room anymore? Little old ladies, that’s who. With plasticcovered sofas and spindly-legged wooden tables strewn with endless porcelain knick-knacks. A fucking waste of space, that’s what it was. He’d turn the damn room into an indoor shooting range, and all the targets would be vampires with fangs dripping blood. Fucking drawing room, for Christ’s sake. They were the only ones in the room, with Kato and Damian stand​ing guard near the two entrances, one to the side and the other straight ahead, off the foyer. But that didn’t mean they were alone. He was exquisitely aware of the number of vampires in this house. House, my ass, he thought. The place was a fucking mansion. Maybe he’d look for a bigger place when he went back to Florida. It wouldn’t do to have that damn vampire with a bigger house. He realized what he was thinking and shook his head, barking out a laugh. The unexpected sound drew Damian and Kato’s startled attention, but he waved a hand. “It’s nothing. Random thought,” he explained, and went back to pacing. He couldn’t stand still. There were too many vampires pressing on his awareness.

He upped the probable number by a few hundred. Hell, the fucking estate had a whole other house hidden in the woods plus, Raphael being the nightcrawling bastard he was, he probably had a basement bigger than the mansion and the wooded house combined. No wonder Nick’s skin was prickling with awareness of the blood​suckers. There were several lurking right outside this ridiculous drawing room, and probably sneaking around under his feet, too. As if they expected him to lead a charge up the stairs and attack their precious fucking vampire lord. And where the hell was Cyn? She couldn’t take the time to greet an old friend? Or maybe not, he admitted grudgingly. The damn vampire had her well and truly hooked. Maybe he should rescue her along with Gabriel. He smiled at the thought. She’d shoot him for trying, and then rush him to the emergency room herself. That was his Cyn. Or not his, not anymore. She’d never really been his at all. They’d been friends with benefits, and neither one of them had wanted anything more. He liked to think she was still a friend, at least, but he knew where her foremost loyalties lay, and they weren’t with him. Thinking of loyalties, how the hell had Gabriel ended up in the vampire’s clutches? Nick knew all about his warrior’s history, but that’s all it was. History. He stopped his pacing to stand in front of Damian. “What did Gabriel say again? About how he ended up here?”

“Not an exact quote, but basically he says Raphael is his sworn lord and that’s where he belongs.” “And he seemed rational to you? He wasn’t under the fucking vampire’s influence?” “Yeah,” Damian admitted with obvious reluctance. “And his woman, Hana, was on board with it, too.” Nick nodded and glanced away, striding over to the big windows looking out on the busy courtyard. Limos kept pulling up and dis​g orging beautiful people. More women than men, all in their twenties and thirties. They were escorted off to his right, to some destination beyond his view. He knew where they came from and why they were here, and he couldn’t care less. They knew and accepted the risks of offering blood from the vein to random vampires. Vampires might be many things, but their lords, at least, weren’t stupid. Every one of those people would have to sign a release before they’d be allowed to join the party. He scoffed silently. As if letting a vamp sink fang was a fucking privilege. People were nuts. He turned away and resumed pacing. It helped him think. Hana Himura was Gabriel’s woman, the one who’d apparently freed him from the curse. Nick was grateful for the assist, but he might have wished she’d left it at that. He knew her. Or at least her family. Her grand and great-grandfathers were both Japanese mobsters. Yakuza. Or they had been. The great-grandfather had died years ago, and Nick had

received word just that morning that her grandfather’s estate had been attacked some days ago, the old man murdered. His spies had long since warned him about Hana, and not because they’d known that Gabriel was hidden in the Himuras’ fucking garden. If Nick had known that, he would have gone and brought his warrior home. Of course, those damn curses Sotiris had created were vexingly specific. It was just possible that if Nick had taken Gabriel away from the Himuras’, his curse would never have been broken. He shook his head. Sotiris was an evil bastard, but he’d crafted the four curses well. He’d done it using Nick’s own magic, in part, but that was another very sore topic. No, Nick’s spies had warned about Hana, because she had power, though no one seemed to know exactly what kind. The real puzzle was how the hell the Himura bloodline had produced a gifted daughter at all. Nick knew the old man collected magical artifacts, because they’d bid against each other more than once. Neither was supposed to know who was bidding against them, but he suspected Himura had known, just as he had. But artifacts did not a power make. There was no power in the Himura line that he knew about. He reminded himself that there’d been no power in his father’s line, either. But come on. The elder Himura’s only child—Hana’s father—was a limp-dick business​man

—finance or something. He lived in fucking Beverly Hills, for Christ’s sake, with a brainlessly decorative wife and two lumpy sons. How the fuck did a guy like that produce a daughter with a gift strong enough to trigger anyone’s radar? He stopped in front of Kato this time. “You’re sure she has power? Hana, I mean.” Kato shrugged. “Enough. I’m not sure what it is, though, and Gabriel would have decked me if I’d tried to examine her. But she could see my sheathed sword despite the camo spell.” “Fuck me. I need more information. Who the hell’s after her and why? And where the motherloving fuck is—” The double doors behind Damian opened five seconds after he’d stepped away and spun to face whoever was there, gun in hand. The god of war had embraced modern weaponry with a vengeance. Nick wasn’t stupid. He knew his enemies, and he knew the giant twin vampires who stood outside the doors. Juro and Ken’ichi. Close to seven feet tall and three hundred pounds each, completely identical except, currently, for the expressions on their faces. One was expressionless. A stone statue had more emotion. But the other—who the fuck knew or cared which one it was—was eyeing Damian’s Colt 1911 American Eagle .45 handgun with amusement, as if the heavily modified weapon—Damian wasn’t a god of war for nothing—was no threat. Hell, maybe it

wasn’t. If a vamp was powerful enough and old enough in his power, he could take a few rounds and survive, as long as it didn’t pulverize his heart or take off his head. Now there was a pretty thought— Raphael’s bloody head falling into the dirt. He wiped the smile from his face before aiming a cold stare at the two vamps. “Lord Raphael will see you now,” said the amused one. Lord Raphael, Nick thought viciously. Fucking vampires. He waited until Kato joined Damian at his back, then walked through the open doorway without a word. He was being rude. Who cared? It was rude of them to make him hang around their damn drawing room. Fucking pretentious pricks. Both vampires preceded him up the stairs, apparently not worried about what might be happening at their backs. And why should they? There were no fewer than ten vamps lurking in the sizable foyer at the foot of the stairs, and vampires moved fast. So up the stairs they all went, then down a long, empty hallway. A magical parade of enemies. All they were missing was a marching tune. Something cheerful. Or maybe full of doom instead. They stopped at a pair of huge doors, made of black wood—he didn’t know or care what kind— each of them was five or six feet wide, and more than twelve feet high, with bronze inlays and elaborately carvings of. . . . He peered closer. Yeah,

definitely doom. He’d bet those doors had been stolen from an ancient cathedral where they’d given worshippers a glimpse into the hellish darkness that awaited sinners. The doors swung slowly open on their own. Oooh, big magic trick. He rolled his eyes. He could do that shit by the time he was four. Following his escort, he strode into what was obviously Raphael’s office. There were lots of bookcases to one side, and moonlight glinted on the wide expanse of ocean visible through floor-toceiling windows on the back wall. Raphael sat behind his desk, with the ocean behind him, and his lieutenant Jared standing to one side. Nick scanned the office. No Cyn. Why not? Had something happened to her? Was she sick? Injured? She was always throwing herself into dangerous sit​uations, but he’d be damned if he’d ask that fucking vampire about it. Shit. Raphael didn’t say a word, just matched his own cold stare. They might have stayed that way for hours if Jared hadn’t spoken up. “Gentlemen, have a seat.” He gestured at the three chairs positioned in front of the desk. Apparently, he and the twins would remain standing. Nick glanced at his two warriors, then took the center chair. But Damian and Kato remained standing, a little off center so that they were positioned to face all three of Raphael’s vampires. One of the twins joined Jared

to Raphael’s left, but the other took up a stance blocking the door. As if Nick couldn’t blast his way out if he wanted to. Pfft. No one spoke. Nick had begun to long for the drawing room, when the muffled sound of smoothly grinding gears filtered into the room. He turned his head just in time to see a pair of cleverly camouflaged elevator doors open to reveal . . . Cyn. She was visibly armed, her favorite Glock holstered in a shoulder rig, which he knew she’d had modified to accommodate a pair of truly lovely breasts. He smiled privately, thinking how unhappy the vampire would be if he could read minds. Actually, he probably could read some minds, but Nick wasn’t a powerful fucking sorcerer for nothing. Cyn came to a sudden halt and searched the room quickly, then strode directly over to stand right next to Raphael, her hip almost touching his shoulder. The fucking vampire immediately reached out and ran a hand up the back of her leg, his fingers closing around her thigh in a blatant show of possession, while his smug gaze remained locked on Nick. Nick couldn’t help it. His jaw clenched as he forced himself to remember why he was here. Gabriel. He was here to save his warrior from these fucking bloodsuckers. Cyn rested a hand on Raphael’s shoulder and squeezed slightly. Whether she’d intended or not, it had the effect of lowering the tension in the room

enough to prompt the vampire into using his words. “If you’re waiting for a welcome speech, you might as well leave now.” Nick bared his teeth. “Fine with me. Give me back what’s mine, and I’ll go.” “Yours?” Raphael sneered, nodding at Kato and Damian. “Your men are possessions now? And you think vampires are uncivilized.” “One doesn’t expect civility from animals,” Nick growled. “Or from vicious brutes.” “Nick!” Cyn snapped. Nick shifted his gaze to her and smiled warmly. “Hey, baby.” Raphael’s power exploded, with Nick’s less than a second behind him. Walls groaned, and windows vibrated as the pressure grew, books and other objects falling from the shelves, papers flying around the room. The doors burst open, and four more vampires rushed in, submachine guns raised, their eyes glowing as they scanned the room, choosing targets. “Stop it!” Cyn shouted. “Raphael, please,” she said more softly, leaning her whole body against his side. Raphael stilled, then lifted a single hand. The four guard vamps lowered their weapons and backed out of the room, closing the door as they went. “Don’t make this worse than it has to be, Nick,” Cyn scolded. “What do you want?” “You know what I want,” he said, adding a

sensuous note that gave it a double meaning. “Watch your words, sorcerer,” Raphael said coldly. “Fine, Lord Raphael. You’re holding Gabriel here. I’ve come to free him.” One of the big doors opened on his last word, and he jumped to his feet, expecting another attack. But that wasn’t who it was. GABRIEL TURNED THE corner from the stairs in time to see four heavily armed vampires leaving Raphael’s office. That wasn’t the first indication of trouble, either. When he and Hana had entered from the courtyard, there’d been obvious signs of tension, with guards openly displaying weapons that they typically carried concealed. He’d gotten a few warning looks as they’d made their way to the main staircase, where Elke had been standing guard. “What’s going on?” he’d asked. “Had a bit of trouble, but it’s calm now,” she told him. “Trouble? Anything I need to know?” “No one’s dead or bleeding, which I take as a good sign. I figure by now they’re just checking to see whose dick is bigger.” “Probably mine,” Gabriel said, eliciting a surprised laugh from Hana. Elke rolled her eyes. “Raphael dismissed the guards I sent up when things got tense, but they’ve taken positions in the hall, just in case. Jared, Juro, and Ken’ichi are inside the office, and so’s Cyn, of

course.” “Who else?” “Your friends and their boss, Nick Katsaros.” “Great,” Gabriel muttered as they made their way to the second floor, just in time to see the guards spreading down the hall outside Raphael’s office. “Gentlemen,” he said, and received acknowledging nods in return. “You’ll want to keep your lady close,” one of them warned. “Things are a mite stressed in there.” “Thanks.” One of the doors swung open, and Gabriel stepped in front of Hana, holding her behind him as he took in the scene. “Nico,” he said, smiling. “Gabriel.” Nico’s voice was filled with emotion as he strode over and pulled Gabriel into a hard embrace. “Damn, it’s good to see you.” When he pulled back, his eyes were shining with unshed tears. “You, too,” Gabriel said, returning the embrace. He looked around, then pulled Hana to his side. “Nico, this is Hana Himura. Hana, Nicodemus Katsaros.” “Nico, or Nick, if you prefer,” Nico corrected, with a smile. “Thank you for bringing my warrior back to me, Hana.” Hana studied Nico, her fingers clasped tightly with Gabriel’s. “I brought him back for me, but Gabriel’s told me a lot about you,” she said. “All of it good, I hope.”

She didn’t reply, gazing up at him with her dark eyes. Gabriel took a step to the side and gave Raphael a respectful nod. “My lord.” “Gabriel,” Raphael said smoothly. “Why don’t you and Hana join us?” “Thank you, my lord.” Giving Hana’s hand a warning squeeze, he walked the two of them around Nico to stand to the right of Raphael’s desk. When he turned, he caught a flash of dismay on Nico’s face, before his gaze shuttered into blankness. “Damian, Kato,” Gabriel said, acknowledging his friends. He wanted to ask what the so-called stress had been, and if it had involved him, but that seemed too egotistical. After all, the two powerful males already hated each other for reasons that had nothing to do with Gabriel. “I’ve come to take you home, where you belong,” Nico said, his voice perfectly flat, no emotion at all. “With your brothers, and with me.” Gabriel glanced at Raphael, who nodded, indicating he should respond. “Nico. I am grateful for your care and for all you did to help me survive when we fought together. But I am not that warrior anymore. I am Vampire.” “You don’t need to return to that life,” Nico said fervently. I know the spell has been broken, but I—” “You don’t understand. I hated what I was because of my Sire and the criminal life he forced upon me.

You gave me back my honor, when I’d all but given up on it, and I will always be grateful for that. But I am no longer the man you saved. It’s been millennia, Nico. That’s how long I was trapped in a damn stone prison, much of it buried and in darkness, until Hana’s ancestors brought me into the light. And they didn’t abandon me, even then. Her great-grandfather and his son, Hana’s grandfather, taught me about this world. And while I dwelt in my prison and learned, I contemplated my place in this new reality. This is not the world we left. In this time and place, I can have a good life with Hana, a productive life, without denying who and what I am. I am a vampire. I belong with my own people, and I am honored by Lord Raphael’s trust in me.” Nico’s expression changed, going hard. “He’s brainwashed you.” He spun away from Gabriel to confront Raphael, who came to his feet, shoving his chair back and stepping in front of Cyn. “Release him.” Nico demanded. “I’m not the one who claimed him like a thing to be owned, sor​cerer,” Raphael responded smoothly. “That was you. Gabriel’s a fully adult male, intelligent and capable. He made a choice, and I honored it. I don’t need magic to make people want to work with me.” Gabriel heard the implied insult, and so did Nico, whose hands came up as his lips began moving in a silent chant. Raphael’s power flared into a shield

surrounding him and Cyn, even as the others— Juro, Ken’ichi, and Jared—all brought their own shields to the fore, all three powerful vampires in their own right. Gabriel hadn’t learned to shield yet, had barely learned to call up the magic that lived inside him as a vampire. It was Hana who wrapped her arms around his waist and dropped what felt like a bubble of pressure over them both. He circled her shoulders with his arms and pulled them back a few steps, away from the danger zone between the two powerful men. He was concerned not for himself, but for Hana. She might have magic, but physically she was still human, and she healed like one. Or didn’t. A severe enough injury could kill her, whether it was intentional or not. The temperature seemed to drop several degrees as everyone sucked power into their shields. Nico and Raphael were at the center of the fury. Gabriel had to fight against the pull of their conflict, sworn as he was to protect Raphael. The two of them were like a tornado, sucking everything into the maelstrom. Hana moaned softly in his arms, squeezing him more tightly with every minute, as if she was afraid he’d be pulled away from her. And then, without any warning at all, she gave an angry shout and shoved him away. She stepped up and confronted Nico, teeth bared, and a snarl rolling from her soft lips.

HANA KNEW IT WAS a risk. Her gift had the power to magnify another’s magic, but if she focused, she could contain that ability and hold her magic all to herself. She did that now, taking a chance, hoping Nico would see reason before she lost control and gave him even more power to use against Raphael. Nico was far, far older than she was. Wily and cruel. She didn’t judge him for that. Cruelty was sometimes necessary in battle, but too much of it and it became temptingly easy to use. She didn’t know where Nico fell on that scale, but Gabriel trusted him and believed he was a good man. And she trusted Gabriel. “Stop,” she growled. “Gabriel’s had enough pain in his life. He doesn’t deserve more.” Nico stared at her, as if she were speaking a foreign language. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, child. I searched the world for centuries, trying to find him, wanting to free him.” “You nearly killed him,” she screamed. “He was dying when I brought him here. Your spell was draining his life, minute by minute. It was Raphael who saved him,” she practically screeched, fighting to make sense while struggling to control her own power. The pressure in the room dropped slowly, as Nico pulled back his magic, glaring at Raphael, daring the vampire lord to do the same. Raphael ignored him, but his power backed off as he checked Cyn first,

and then Gabriel. “Gabriel,” he said, gripping his shoulder. “Take care of Hana.” Gabriel was by her side an instant later, Raphael’s touch having broken through the weak shield she’d wrapped around him. She was sure some others could have shielded Gabriel and confronted Nico at the same time with no problem. But it had taken every ounce of strength that she had. When Gabriel’s arms came around her, she slumped against him, physically drained by the confrontation. “What’s she talking about, Gabriel?” Nico asked. “Were you really dying?” “It’s as Hana said. Your spell collapsed when the curse was broken. With every day, I became weaker. When I finally gave in and drank some blood, it helped only a little. By the time we arrived here, I truly was dying. Lord Raphael gave me his blood and his protection, something I didn’t even know I needed. The bastard who sired me never bothered to teach me how to be a vampire.” Pain creased Nico’s face. “I didn’t know the spell would—” “How could you know?” Gabriel asked practically. “How could you have even considered the possibility? None of us knew what Sotiris was plotting until after he pulled it off.” Nick drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, nodding. “You’re grateful to Raphael. I get it. You think you owe him, and—”

“No. It’s not simply gratitude, though I am thankful for my life. Hear what I’m saying, Nico. You will always be my brother, and so will the others. But I am a vampire, and I want to live as one. I have pledged my liege to Lord Raphael, and I have no regrets. I know you hate him, but those feelings are yours, not mine. He is an honorable lord, and I am honored to serve him.” “Gabriel,” Hana whispered suddenly, her head swiveling as she searched the dark ocean moving restlessly outside the house. “Gabriel,” she said louder, when he didn’t seem to hear her. Grasping his arm with both hands, she pulled on him to get his attention. “Some​thing . . . someone . . . he’s out there.” She screamed and fell to her knees, her hands buried in her hair as she clutched her head, struggling to hold herself together against the evil that was suddenly trying to steal her magic, to suck her brain from her head until there was nothing left. A wave of cool power washed over her, sweeping away the blackness and the pressure, leaving her with a pounding headache, but an intact brain. She would have collapsed to the floor then, but Gabriel swept her up and into his arms, holding her against his broad chest, her head on his shoulder. “HANA,” GABRIEL murmured, kissing her forehead, trying not to show the terror that had seized him when she’d screamed.

“I’m okay,” she managed to whisper. “I just need to—” “Rest,” he said, then lifted his head to take in the others. “I’m taking her downstairs. She’ll be safer there.” He turned to Raphael. “My lord, I am yours. But the enemy is after Hana. Sotiris is not only our enemy, nor Nico’s. His evil threatens all of us, and I respectfully suggest the two of you put aside your hatred and deal with it together.” He strode for the door, grateful when it opened before him, the gesture a tacit approval from Raphael. “What happened?” one of the hall guards demanded, casting a worried glance at Hana. “We tried, but couldn’t get the damn doors open.” “Too much power being thrown around,” he said vaguely. “I’m taking her downstairs. You can check for yourself,” he added, lifting his chin to indicate the open door behind him. He turned toward the hall where Hana’s daytime room was located. He wasn’t taking her there, but the hall had a less-used staircase at its end, one that went all the way to the basement. He didn’t want to parade her down the main stairs for everyone to gawk at, nor did he want to answer the questions that Elke was sure to have. All he cared about was making Hana safe. NICK KEPT HIS EYES on Gabriel as he carried Hana out of the office, not turning back to Raphael

until his warrior was gone. His warrior. He didn’t know what to think. He understood what Gabriel had been trying to say, but . . . damn, Gabriel was his. This was supposed to be the happy ending he’d waited thousands of years for. There was only Dragan left to find, and then all his warriors would be freed. But they were supposed to be back together, the four of them with him, fighting the good fight. He hadn’t given much thought to Gabriel being a vampire. If he’d thought about it at all, it had been only to consider improvements to the spell he’d used before. He glanced at Raphael, who was deep in conversation with Jared. The truth was that the fucking vampire wasn’t alone in hating what Nick had done to weaken Gabriel’s vampiric nature. But that was an old battle between sorcerers and vampires. A very old battle. Nick had been there, but Raphael hadn’t even been born yet. The vamps had won that one, though. He wasn’t aware of any other sorcerer who was still trying to convert vampires. On the other hand, there weren’t that many sorcerers alive anymore who could manage the spell. Partly because the vamps had killed them all to make sure of it. He glanced up when Raphael shifted in his chair, with Jared straightening as he murmured into his Bluetooth earbud. Raphael gave Nick a flat stare. Nick sighed noisily. “Look, I’m just here to see

Gabriel and to find out what the hell’s going on with Hana. Gabriel mentioned something to Kato about her needing protection but didn’t say why.” Raphael eyed him a moment longer then said, “Your old enemy is after her.” He frowned. “Sotiris? What the hell kind of power does she have anyway?” “You can’t tell?” Nick ground his teeth at the smug question but shook his head. “I know it’s there, but I haven’t been around her enough to say what it is. I’d hoped to find out tonight.” He shrugged, as if to say, before everything went to hell. Raphael was silent long enough that Nick thought he wasn’t going to tell him, but then he said, “Hana is an amplifier.” Nick stared. “Jesus, that’s . . . I’ve heard of it, but never met anyone who could do it. What’s her strength, does she know?” “She’s never been formally tested, for obvious reasons. But her grandfather believed she could double a magic-user’s power, simply by standing nearby.” “And Sotiris wants her,” he breathed. “Of course he does. Anyone with half a brain would want her. Damn it.” He shook his head, then met the vampire lord’s black stare. “Gabriel’s right. No one benefits if Sotiris grabs Hana. We need to work together on this.”

“We tried working together once before, sorcerer, and my Cyn almost died.” “Raphael,” Cyn murmured, stroking the back of his neck. “I’ll consider it,” Raphael agreed with obvious reluctance. “We’ll need to discuss details. But not tonight.” Nick wanted to argue . . . just because it was Raphael. But putting it off made sense. Tempers were running high, and everyone in the damn room, humans and vampires alike, was primed for a fight. “We shouldn’t delay too long.” “Tomorrow night, then. We’ll meet here.” “Here?” Nick questioned instantly. “Why not my place?” “We should all fly to Florida?” “I have a suite at Shutters,” Nick said sharply, naming a very up- scale hotel on the beach in Santa Monica. Raphael gave him a dismissive smile. “By all means, let us meet at your hotel. We could invite random humans while we’re at it. Let them witness our discussions. I’m sure there’ll be no unfortunate mishaps, no more lost tempers, no bloodletting or human casualties that we’ll have to explain to their authorities.” Nick gritted his teeth. Fuck, but he hated this bastard. “You made your point, vampire. Don’t push your luck. I’ll be here at ten o’clock tomorrow night.

Will you be awake by then, princess?” He was looking at Raphael when he said it, but it was Cyn who answered. “You’re making this harder than it has to be, Nick. I know Sotiris hurt you and your men, but I also know how viciously he pursued Hana. He wanted to capture her, but his men would have killed her if necessary. He’d rather have her dead than risk her helping us in the fight against him.” “Fine, fine. I’ll be nice,” he growled, then turned to his men. “Let’s go. I’m all out of polite conversation for tonight.” As they walked out into the hall, he glanced at the guards. “Don’t bother. We know the way out.” But of course, they ignored him, bracketing him and his warriors front and back as they proceeded down the stairs, where they were greeted by the tough-looking little blond vampire who was almost as scary as the giant twins. “Lovely visit,” he said breezily, as he passed her on his way to the door. “Try not to miss me too much. I’ll be back tomorrow.” The blond vampire didn’t say a word, just watched him with her pale eyes until he was gone. She was a creepy fucking little sprite. RAPHAEL RELAXED back into his chair as his three vampires departed, leaving him and Cyn alone in the office. Waves pounded outside, celebrating the

blessed silence. Cyn leaned against him, seeming drained by the fitful ups and downs of his confrontation with Katsaros. He could feel her exhaustion as if it were his own. “You think this will succeed?” she asked around a yawn. “That we’ll actually work together and get something done?” “I think you had the right of it. Sotiris’s evil will infect the world, if we let it. If we fight each other, we only help him succeed. So, we’ll work together, even if it kills the fucking sorcerer.” He smiled. She sighed. “And what if it kills you instead?” He pulled her onto his lap. “You wound me with your doubt, lubimaya. I have no intention of dying.” “Good. Let’s keep it that way. I need you around.” He stood, lifting her easily in his arms. “How much do you need me?” “A lot.” “I believe I require a demonstration.” He input the code, and the elevator doors opened. “I don’t know, fang boy. I’m pretty tuckered out. I didn’t get to sleep much earlier.” “Another challenge. I accept.” Cyn’s laughter floated into the empty office as the elevator doors closed.

Chapter Nine HANA WOKE IN A dark room, confused for a moment about where she was, and more importantly, when it was. The where was answered with a quick glance around. Pitch dark, the light of a red digital clock that she couldn’t see, and Gabriel’s reassuring bulk next to her. Okay, they were in Gabriel’s room in the basement vault. So far, so good. Now for the when. The last thing she remembered was when she and Gabriel went up to Raphael’s office to meet Nico. It had been obvious at first glance that the two men hated each other. Right, that was the key. That Raphael and Nico really, really hated each other, and they’d stuck Gabriel in the middle. Nico had been ignoring what Gabriel was trying to tell him—trying to explain his decision to stay with Raphael— which had infuriated her. He didn’t need to explain anything. If he wanted to remain with Raphael and live as the vampire he was, then Nico could take a flying leap off the Malibu cliffs. Too agitated to remain lying down, she sat up and shoved some pillows behind her back, noticing absently that she was wearing nothing but panties and a T-shirt. No bra. She was briefly distracted by that fact. Gabriel must have undressed her last night, but how many guys would have thought to remove

her bra? That brought her back to why he’d needed to undress her and the events that had knocked her out. Nico hadn’t been the only one getting riled up. Raphael had been pissed, too, and suddenly, all the air had been sucked out of the room as everyone lit up whatever magic they had. And between Nico and Raphael, there’d been one hell of a lot of magic. But that wasn’t what had knocked her out. She frowned, trying to relax, to let the memory come. When it did, her chest tightened, and she began to struggle for breath, hyperventilating in minutes, until what little sight she had in the dark room went almost completely black, sparking with warning lights. She rubbed at her aching chest, wondering if she was having a heart attack, wondering if the vampires had a plan in place in the event of a medical emergency for a human down here in the basement. She felt her consciousness graying out and considered that might be a good thing, to turn off her brain for a while and let the rest of her body take over. She’d begun the countdown to unconsciousness —ten, nine, eight—when Gabriel was suddenly there, rolling over to wrap her in his big, strong arms and tuck her into the safety of his body. “It’s okay, älskling. I’ve got you. Just breathe. He ran his hand over her back with long, smooth strokes, loosening her muscles and warming her from the inside out. Pressing light, feathering kisses over her forehead, her cheeks, and finally her mouth, he

repeated, “I’ve got you, Hana. You’re safe.” She drew a full breath, held it for a moment, then blew it out, and drew another, marveling that air could taste so sweet. She couldn’t remember ever having an episode like this one. Hana Himura did not panic. She was the cool one in a crisis, always thinking, calculating odds, and taking action. This . . . this anxiety attack, or whatever the hell it was, shouldn’t have happened. Not to her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, but didn’t move away, didn’t let go of him. “For what?” he asked, sounding amused. “For panicking like a hysterical teenager.” “You’ve nothing to be sorry for. If anyone was acting like fool teenagers, it was Raphael and Nico. Elke had the right of it, they might as well have pulled their dicks out and gotten the measuring over with. Though I’ll thank you not to tell Raphael I said so.” She laid her hand on his chest and smiled against his rough cheek. “Maybe you should drag yours out and end the competition once and for all.” He laughed. “It’s never a good idea to show up the boss. Especially not when it comes to dicks.” He was silent for a moment as he continued to rub her back. “Feeling better?” “Yes. And I am s—” “Don’t say it,” he warned. “Talk to me instead.” “Answer a question first. What time is it?”

“Ah. I can’t see the clock. I hate that red display. I turned it away. But I just woke, so it must be barely past sunset, which means 7:30 or close to it.” “You just woke up?” she repeated slowly. “You mean I lost a whole day?” “Pretty much. How long have you been awake?” “A few minutes,” she murmured, shaking her head. “I can’t be​lieve . . . I’ve never felt anything like that before.” “Like what? Talk to me, Hana. What happened? One minute you were yelling at Raphael and Nico to stop, and the next, you screamed and passed out.” “I remember . . . I remember being angry that they were hurting you like that, tugging you between them with no regard for what you wanted.” “To be fair, Nico was doing most of the tugging, though Raphael wasn’t having any of it.” “They were both at fault, but that only made me angrier. When they started throwing power around like beach balls, I tried to shield you, to shield us both. But I was working on instinct, since I was never properly taught. I could feel my power draining away, and I was afraid the shield wouldn’t be enough, and you’d end up getting hurt, because they weren’t paying attention to what their power games were doing to anyone else. I wanted to shout at them, to demand they stop, but then . . .” Her eyes widened in sudden recollection. “Something attacked me,” she whispered, pulling

back to look up at him, even though she could barely see in the dark room. She squeezed his arm. “No, not something, someone. Someone other. A power unlike any I’ve ever felt before. Different from Nico’s sorcery, from Raphael’s vampire magic, different from yours, too.” “Mine?” “You’re a vampire,” she said absently. “Of course you have magic. When I’m close to you, it’s like a warm embrace that gathers me in and makes me feel safe.” She caught a flash of his teeth in the dim light. He liked that. Then he frowned. “Do all vampires feel like that?” “Oh, no. Raphael’s power is overwhelming, cold and airless, like the darkness of space. The other vamps are neutral to my senses, though the really strong ones give off a kind of vibration, I guess. Not really a sensation, just an awareness.” “Huh.” He seemed to think about that for a moment, then shook his head impatiently. “Forget that. We’re supposed to be talking about you and what you sensed last night.” “Pure evil, that’s what. It was as if a veil of malevolence had been thrown over my mind and was slowly closing, trying to trap me inside. That’s what it felt like at first, anyway, but then . . .” She drew a bracing breath, remembering. “He was trying to steal my power, I think. The image I get is some

disgusting bug, with a million legs, and a long needle nose that’s jammed like a spike into my brain. And he’s sucking, vacuuming up my magic and taking my brain with it.” She shuddered, and Gabriel’s arms tightened around her. “That’s not going to happen, Hana. Ever. I might not have enough magic to win that kind of battle, but Raphael does, and so does Nico. We just have to convince the two of them to work together, instead of trying to tear each other apart.” They both jumped when his cell phone rang, then shared a nervous chuckle at their reaction. Gabriel grabbed the phone from the table and accepted the call after checking the display. “Juro?” he said, an swering. Hana couldn’t hear the conversation, nor could she see Gabriel’s face well enough to distinguish his reaction, but he nodded his head as if agreeing with something, then said, “She’s feeling much better. I’ll tell her you asked.” He listened some more and said, “We’ll be there.” She waited until he’d put the phone down. “Where are we going to be?” “That was Juro. He asked after your health.” She nodded impatiently. “I got that much. What’s happening?” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “Apparently, Raphael and Nico had an epiphany after we left. Your reaction made them realize how close Sotiris is

and what he wants. Which is you. He’d rather grab you for himself, but . . .” He paused, unwilling to say it. “But he’ll kill me if he has to. He’d rather have me dead than helping the good guys.” “I’d never let that happen, Hana. If you die, it will be because I’m already dead.” She slapped his shoulder. “Don’t say that. I’m not worth—” He twisted his hand in her hair and kissed her hard, his teeth crushing her lips as he forced her mouth open and slipped his tongue inside, not stopping until she had her arms around his neck, her body pressed against his with a soft moan. They were both out of breath when he stopped to glare down at her. “You’re worth everything to me. My life would be well spent if I gave it to save yours.” “No.” Hana felt tears building against her eyes. “I want you to live. I want us to live together for a long, long time.” He smiled. “Then that’s what we’ll do, älskling. And we’ll start by joining Raphael and Nico in another meeting, tonight at ten.” “Oh, shit. Another meeting? Let’s hope we make it through this one without anything flying through the fucking air.” “We’ll take seats near the door. If they start up again, we’ll make a fast exit. I won’t put you through a repeat of what happened last night.” He ran a hand

down her long, silky hair, and Hana cuddled close, realizing he was naked under the sheet, and he was, hmmm, happy to see her. What a stupid phrase, she thought. He wasn’t happy to see her, he was fully aroused and hard as a rock. And he hadn’t been kidding about who’d win that dick measuring contest. She wiggled closer, smiling when he swallowed a groan. “We have lots of time before ten.” His eyes shifted to look down at her, and they had that faint bronze glow that she’d swear had grown brighter with every night since he’d sworn loyalty to Raphael and drunk his blood . . . the blood of a vampire lord. “Are you trying to corrupt me again?” he growled. “Yes.” A moment later, she was on her back, and he was stripping away her panties. Her breath caught as he slid down her body, running his warrior’s hands, rough with callouses, down the tender skin of her inner thighs, spreading her legs wide as he put his mouth to her pussy. Her fingers gripped his hair when he began to lick and suck, teasing her into arousal as he swirled his tongue around her clit, barely brushing the sensitive bundle of nerves before stroking his way down to her entrance and using his tongue like a small cock, probing into her sex and out again, then licking up the cream of her arousal with a hum of pleasure, before sweeping back to her

clit and nibbling just enough to torment her. It was wicked and perverse, and everything she’d been taught that proper ladies never did, and she fucking loved it. She’d never experienced this kind of sensuous pleasure before, the kind that made her feel as if she’d explode if he didn’t let her climax. Only with Gabriel. She gasped at the sudden sharp pain of his bite on her thigh, as if he’d suspected she wasn’t paying attention. He wanted her with him for every lick, every suck. She scraped her nails through his hair with a soft moan and was rewarded with the hard glide of his fingers into her pussy, first one, then two, of his thick fingers thrusting in and out, stretching her tight entrance as if making her ready. His lips closed over her clit with a hard suck as he curled his fingers deep inside her and stroked firmly. Hana cried out as she went from pleasure to ecstasy in a heartbeat, a sudden, desperate need that had her straining toward his mouth, his fingers, begging for more, for that last stroke of his tongue, for that tiny bit of pressure that would take her over the edge and relieve this terrible yearning. Gabriel closed his lips over her clit, his growl vibrating against her wet flesh as he added a third finger, filling her full as an orgasm crashed over her. Her thighs closed around his head, her hips lifting from the bed as he gripped her tightly, refusing to release her from waves of passion so powerful that

they flirted with pain. How could a woman contain such intense pleasure and survive? She heard herself moaning helplessly as Gabriel licked at her pussy, lifting his head only once, his face wet with her juices as he grinned and said, “Delicious,” in a low rumbling drawl that had her cheeks heating with embarrassment, even as she shivered with desire. She let her head fall back to the pillow, helpless against his una​bashed sexuality, her fingers still gripping his hair as if she had any control over him. Her body was his, given over freely and eagerly, and he was an artist in bringing her pleasure, finding sensuous points on her body that she’d never known existed before her warrior had taken her to bed. She tugged his hair, suddenly wanting him inside her, wanting her arms around him, the weight of him on top of her. “Gabriel,” she whispered. “I want you.” “You have me,” he murmured against her skin, as he tongued his way up her pussy, giving her clit a final lick, before going higher, kissing and nibbling her belly, then moving on to her stomach, where he shoved the T-shirt up to her neck, his eyes gleaming as he took in the sight of her breasts. Lowering his head, he took one swollen nipple into his mouth, sucking hard as his tongue swirled around the sensitive peak, rasping over and over the delicate flesh until her nipples were so aroused, so sensitized that she was making needy little noises and unable to

stop. Then he closed his teeth over her nipple and bit. She screamed as pain became pleasure, as he sucked more of her breast into his mouth and bit her again, harder this time, enough to barely break the skin, enough that he licked up the tiny drops of blood and released a trace of his vampire euphoric into her system. Hana shuddered on the verge of another orgasm, every nerve in her body trembling with feverish desire, needing, wanting. “Gabriel,” she breathed, pleading. “Stop teasing.” His cock was hard against her, grazing her pussy in tempting torment whenever he moved, velvet skin over hard steel as he dragged it through the slick wetness pooling between her thighs. He ignored her plea, moving his mouth to her other breast as she moaned, knowing what he would do. She cried out helplessly when he sucked and scraped, when his teeth sank into her nipple, writhing when he took more of her flesh and bit harder, when her blood welled and he licked it up with a growl of hunger, as another half shot of the euphoric slid into her bloodstream. Her body came awake, her skin shivering as a thousand soft fingers were suddenly caressing, coaxing, rousing her to a fever pitch until she was thrusting her hips upward in furious need, demanding he give her what she craved, what she needed. But though Hana was a strong woman, her

vampire lover out​weighed her by a hundred pounds and had his own plans. Her demands were met by more of the same, as Gabriel took his time with her breasts, seeming to relish every rasp of his tongue, every scrape of his teeth, until finally, finally, he braced himself on powerful arms, and leaving the Tshirt pulled up and her breasts exposed, he lowered his head to her neck and inhaled deeply. “You smell like sex and blood,” he murmured, his breath hot on her neck. Hana dug her nails into his back. “Fuck me. Now.” He chuckled. “I am fucking you, älskling,” he said, and then closed his teeth over her clavicle, just enough that she could feel it, could feel the danger of his bite and know he could snap the fragile bone in an instant. But Gabriel would never hurt her. She knew that as well as she knew her own name. It was the thrill of knowing he could, that tiny spark of danger, that sent erotic chills down her spine, making her want him even more. “Gabriel,” she whispered, pleading softly. He growled in response, licking his way slowly back up to her neck, lingering there to scrape his tongue hard over her vein, before sucking skin and vein both into his mouth in a way that would mark her for days. She held her breath, waiting for the thrill of his fangs, for the rush of euphoric that was a thousand times hotter than the small infusions from the bites on her breasts. He licked her again,

then lifted his hips and slammed his cock into her body at the same moment his fangs pierced her vein. Hana’s entire body—every nerve and muscle, every tendon and anything in between—kicked into instant climax. Her lungs froze in her chest so that she couldn’t even draw breath to scream as her body rippled with ecstasy, as Gabriel truly began fucking her. The draw of his fangs in her vein seemed to move in rhythm with the force of his cock pounding into her pussy, the grinding of his hips against hers tormenting her swollen and aching clit. Her body jolted back to awareness as air filled her lungs. She gasped, then sucked in a breath to scream, desperate to release the erotic sensations that were drowning her in pleasure. But she could only moan as fresh waves of desire rolled over her body, one after the other, keeping time with the thrust of Gabriel’s cock, the draw of his fangs deep in her vein. The pounding of his hips suddenly intensified, as he went faster, deeper. She gripped his shoulders, her legs crossed over his back. He lifted his head, his fangs slipping out of her neck, disappearing as he kissed her, letting her taste her own blood, seasoned by the cream of her sex that coated his tongue. She bit down on his lip, shuddering anew as his blood mingled with hers and slipped down her throat. Gabriel snarled and slammed into her as far as he could go, his blood soaking into her system while she screamed, climaxing over and over, as his body tightened and

his cock flexed deep inside her, his groan filling the air as the wet heat of his climax flooded her pussy. Hana wrapped her arms around Gabriel’s back as he collapsed on top of her. She took his weight willingly, loving that he was as affected by their lovemaking as she was. Loving him. He lifted his head enough to lick the small wounds on her neck, then lifted it farther and smiled as he licked away the few drops lingering on her breasts. “You’re a wicked, wicked man, Gabriel Halldor.” He chuckled as he rolled over, holding her to his chest. “You love what I do to your body, woman. Admit it.” She kissed his chest. “Well, yes, that’s true,” she said primly, then laughed. “I love you.” They kissed tenderly, and she sighed. “I wish we could stay here all night.” “So do I.” She sighed again, more deeply. “I suppose we should get ready. We don’t want to show up at the big meeting smelling like sex.” “I’m quite certain there will be others in the room who enjoyed their wake-up just as much as we did.” “Really?” she said, suddenly curious. “I mean some of them are mated, but . . . what about your buddy Nico? Does he have someone? A girlfriend, a wife?” Gabriel shrugged. “I can’t speak to the present, but he never did before. Of course, none of us did

back then.” “Right. You lived like monks.” He snorted. “Hardly. It was a parade of ”—he stopped abruptly, seeing her narrowed eyes—“lonely nights and empty beds,” he contin​ued. “A battlefield is hardly the place for a woman. Except for the few female warriors, and they kept to themselves.” “Good save, vampire. Who gets the first shower?” “I’m thinking we should shower together. The picture I’m getting of all that hot water over your luscious body . . . it’s bringing out the wicked in me again.” Hana shivered. She might not survive a second round of Gabriel’s wickedness. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. Still, she wouldn’t have her warrior any other way. THAT NIGHT’S MEETING was in the big conference room on the first floor. Gabriel wasn’t sure if that was so everyone could sit, or so that when tempers ramped up and power began to pound through the room, there’d be fewer things to fall off shelves and crash into walls. The only potential projectiles in the conference room were a few bottles of booze and the crystal glasses to go with them, which was terrifying enough. He wondered if he should stroll over and shove everything breakable under the bar but decided remaining with Hana was more important.

She’d gripped his hand tightly as they entered the room, smiling only briefly when he’d pulled out the chairs closest to the door, just as he’d said he would, to facilitate a quick escape if the meeting got out of hand again. There was no longer any doubt that she was Sotiris’s main target, at least for now, and that fact plainly worried her. His Hana was a trained warrior, which meant she knew how this scenario was likely to end—with either her or Sotiris dead, or even worse, with her under the enemy sorcerer’s control. She’d gone so far as to ask for Gabriel’s promise that if it came down to it, and the only way to stop Sotiris from using her was to kill her, Gabriel would take her out himself. He’d wanted to tell her yes, if only because he knew she was sincere, that her greatest fear was being reduced to nothing more than a captive pawn who was used as a weapon for evil. But as he’d told her, he’d never be able to kill her, no matter what the circumstances. Gabriel stood when Nico arrived with Kato and Damian, and surprisingly, their women, too. He thumped shoulders with the men and smiled at the women, then sat down again, even more pleased that he and Hana had chosen seats closest to the door, since Nick took one glance at the setup and immediately went for the chair at the head of the table nearest the window. No matter where Raphael sat, Nico’s choice of seating would leave Gabriel and Hana in a neutral position. Although for a moment

he wondered if they should move, after all, since he assumed Raphael would want the opposite table end for himself. But before he could decide, Raphael swept into the room with Cyn, closely followed by Jared and Juro and a human male whom Gabriel didn’t recognize. The vampire lord didn’t hesitate before pulling out a chair for Cyn in the middle of the long side of the oval table and sitting next to her, while Juro sat between Raphael and Damian, and Jared took a seat on the opposite side of the table next to Kato. Three more vampires filed in and took up positions around the room, including the paleeyed female, Elke. Raphael immediately took charge of the meeting, and Gabriel realized it didn’t matter who sat where. This was Raphael’s home. Naturally, he was in charge. If Nico tried to assert his authority based on table position, he’d seem rather foolish, and he was smart enough to realize it. “I want to introduce Steve Sipes,” Raphael said, indicating the human who’d remained standing behind him. “Steve’s in charge of my daylight security and needs to be part of this effort. It stands to reason that Sotiris will think a daytime attack on the estate has the best chance of success. He’ll be wrong, but he can’t know that. “We all know why we’re here, so let’s not waste time. Hana, I’d like you to tell us what happened last night in my office. My own senses tell me you were

attacked, is that correct?” Hana gave Gabriel’s hand a final squeeze, then put both arms on the table, hands in front of her and fingers laced casually, showing no sign of the stress he knew she was feeling. Gabriel smiled inwardly. She was a warrior, indeed. “Gabriel and I already discussed this, and I’ll tell you what I told him.” She proceeded to do so, telling them of the malevolent feeling of Sotiris’s magic, and her strong belief that while he wanted her alive as his puppet, he’d rather kill her than let her fall into someone else’s hands. The logical “someone else” was obviously Nico, since he was Sotiris’s ancient enemy. But she assumed Raphael had been added to the list now that she and Gabriel were living under his protection. “Can you augment Raphael’s power, the way you could mine?” Nico asked, sounding genuinely curious. “I’ve never tried, to be honest,” Hana said, which wasn’t quite what she’d told the vampire lord when he’d asked the same question. But then, Gabriel realized, Hana didn’t know Nico the way Gabriel did, and so didn’t understand that he was every bit as trustworthy as Raphael. It didn’t help that the two males had such vastly different personalities. Raphael was all contained power and control, which was more consistent with the style of governing that Hana had grown up with on her grandfather’s estate,

while Nico fairly crackled with energy and wasn’t exactly known for either patience or temperance. But since it was Hana’s freedom on the line, Gabriel let her choose her own answers. “And I’ve never met anyone I could ask that question,” Hana continued, gazing steadily at Nico, “since I’ve never come across anyone else with my particular talent. Though that might simply be because until we arrived here, the only person I’d met with significant magic was Sotiris, and I was too young at the time to recognize it.” “I see.” Gabriel couldn’t tell if Nico believed her or not, but it didn’t matter, since he could hardly tie her to a chair and force the truth out of her. “We suspected all along that Hana was the target,” Raphael said. “After last night, I don’t think there’s any doubt. The only question then, is how do we best protect her until we can take Sotiris out?” Nico snorted a laugh. “Easier said than done, my friend.” Raphael gave him a cool look, as if to remind him they were in no way friends. “I was talking to Cyn,” Nico clarified, grinning when she only rolled her eyes in disgust. “Seriously, though,” he continued, “I’ve had several recent runins with Sotiris—” “Wait a minute,” Cyn interrupted. “Should we be saying his name like that? Isn’t there some rule in

magic about using the name of a powerful sorcerer?” “Normally, yes,” Nico responded. “But first, I don’t believe that’s his given name, and I know it’s not his family name. And second, he can’t be surprised we’re talking about him, especially not after last night. So, I think we’re okay, sweetheart.” Cyn stuck a finger down her throat in a gagging motion, which made Nico and Raphael laugh out loud, while the others only smiled their amusement. Gabriel smiled, too, once Hana whispered the significance of the gesture to him. “I’d gone so long without hearing so much as a whisper from or about Sotiris,” Nick continued eventually, “that I’d begun to think he was dead. He’s never been the type to lie low, but when he finally showed up after Damian’s curse was lifted, I realized that was exactly what he’d done, more or less. He’d turned to crime instead of sorcery, using just enough of his magic to give him an edge, like causing fatal ‘accidents’ to get rid of inconvenient competitors. Once Damian’s curse was lifted, though”—he nodded at the big warrior on his right—“Sotiris came roaring back. He felt the curse break, naturally. It was his curse, after all. And in one of those twists of coincidence that magic is so irritatingly fond of, Sotiris’s path crossed Damian’s at almost the exact moment he was set free.” He indicated Damian’s dark-haired woman. “Casey was already working for

me and on the trail of a talisman so powerful that it’s known simply as ‘the Talisman.’ We didn’t realize until she tracked it down and tried to, shall we say, implement a transfer of ownership, that Sotiris’s people were on the same trail. Casey got to it first, and Sotiris’s people almost killed her before taking the device.” “What made this talisman worth the risk?” Juro asked. “When it was made . . . nothing. It was a pretty bauble that as far as I could tell, sucked in random energy and stored it. But in the modern era, with our dependence on electronics? It could shut down entire cities, drop airplanes from the sky. A terrorist’s wet dream of a weapon, and that’s exactly whom Sotiris was planning to sell it to.” “Let me guess,” Elke said dryly. “You stopped him.” Nico’s eyes flashed, but he managed a smile. “Casey and Damian did most of it, but yes.” “And the device?” Raphael asked quietly, shifting his gaze to Nico. “I don’t know a safe way to destroy it yet, but it’s locked away and neutralized until I can come up with something.” Raphael studied Nico, his distrust obvious. Then he shrugged as if to say that was a problem for another time. “Have you clashed with him since then?”

There was something about the way he said it that made Gabriel suspect Raphael didn’t need to ask the question, that he already knew Nico had encountered Sotiris at least once more. Nico gave the vampire lord a silent nod of agreement. “When Kato’s curse was lifted,” he said. “After Damian’s release, I think Sotiris began actively searching for the others. He’d somehow discovered the mu​seum where Kato had been taken and had ingratiated himself with the museum’s board to keep track of the statue, probably with the goal of acquiring it for himself and hiding it away where he could taunt Kato forever. Sorcerers live a very long time, you know.” “As do vampires,” Jared commented, grinning as if he were jesting, but everyone there knew he wasn’t. “Yes, well.” Nico indicated Grace, the delicatelooking blonde who’d freed Kato and at whose house Gabriel and Hana had met the others for dinner. “Grace broke the curse in the nick of time, but Sotiris didn’t give up. Kato’s magic is somewhat unusual, and—” “He’s the Dark Witch’s son,” Raphael interrupted. “That’s more than ‘somewhat unusual.’” Nico’s lips flattened in irritation, but then he shrugged. “You have good sources. Sotiris thought he could use Kato’s blood to enhance his own power.” “Which, I assume, would have killed Kato.”

“Yes. Dark magic is powered by pain. It doesn’t care whose pain it is.” Raphael nodded. “I almost caught up to him that time, but he twisted reality to ensure his escape.” “Have you ever faced him directly?” Raphael asked. It was an insulting question, but the vampire lord’s expression showed nothing but curiosity. “Many times in battle long ago, and we always defeated him. That was why he resorted to cursing my warriors the way he did.” “And how do you plan to defeat him this time?” Nico’s expression tightened, going from frustration to pensiveness and back again. “Sotiris is without boundaries. There’s nothing he won’t do. He’s not only powerful, he’s cruel and damn clever.” “Sort of like you,” Hana said softly. Nico looked at her in surprise, but then shrugged. “You’re right. The difference is I always loved the people I fought for, and the men who fought with me. Why do you think Sotiris took the four he did? Because he knew I loved them more than any others. They were my brothers. They still are, and I want their world to continue, for them to be safe now that they’re free.” He looked around the table. “Sotiris loves only himself. He wants to rule the world, at least the magical part of it. And he doesn’t care what happens to the rest as a result. Imagine how he could use Hana’s talent, what he’d use it for.”

“Only if I worked for him, which I wouldn’t. I’d die first.” Raphael turned to face her. “And if he threatened not you, but that which you hold most dear? What then?” Hana stared back at him. “Frankly, my goal right now is to keep him from getting his hands on you,” Nico interjected. “If we don’t manage that . . . Raphael’s right. Sotiris is powerful, even in this world with its thin supply of magic. I’m his match or better if we fight one on one, but if you double his magic? Fuck me. Fuck all of us.” Gabriel put his arm around Hana and pulled her close. “I won’t let him have you,” he whispered, then kissed the soft skin of her temple. Her head swiveled, her eyes meeting his as she nodded solemnly. And he realized she thought he meant that he really would kill her before letting Sotiris control her. Fuck me, too, he thought, and his heart clenched at the very idea of doing such a thing. “Well, before we all submit to being fucked,” Raphael said briskly, “we should at least attempt to come up with an alternative plan.” Nico barked out a laugh. “Right you are, vampire. All right. First, I need to teach Hana some magic.” He shifted his gaze to her. “You’ve got enough power to protect yourself—at least until we can get to you—but you don’t know shit about using it. We

have to correct that fast.” “All right,” she agreed. “How do we do that?” “We’re going to start with shielding. You were wasting power last night, trying to cover yourself and Gabriel. No.” He raised a hand when she started to protest. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t have covered him, only that you were bleeding power all over the place while you tried. That’s probably what Sotiris locked on to when he attacked you.” He shifted, swinging his chair around to face the table directly and putting both hands flat on the surface. “I have a spell that can protect you until you learn to do it yourself. It draws on your own magic, but the skill behind the spell will be mine. That means I control it, and that gives me free access to your magic.” Hana’s face paled. “If I were a different sort of man, I could use this spell to use you much the same way Sotiris would like to. I could force you to do things against your will, even things you’d never choose to do on your own. I’m telling you this so you understand the risk, but also to point out that the admission I just made is not the act of a corrupt man. The choice is yours.” Everyone was looking at Hana, waiting for her answer. Everyone but Gabriel. He was studying Nico. He knew this man, knew he could rightfully claim to be the good to Sotiris’s evil. But for all his power, he was still human, with human flaws. Nico could be cruel if he thought it necessary to achieve

his goal. And he was capable of sacrificing the innocent in the name of a greater good. Was that what he was doing now? Better that he control Hana, than let Sotiris have her? Gabriel trusted Nico, but could he trust him with the most im​portant person in his life? Could he trust him with Hana? Nico had turned his gaze to Gabriel, waiting for an answer, but Gabriel only smiled slightly and faced Hana. “It’s your decision, älskling.” She met his gaze unflinching, then mouthed “thank you” and kissed him lightly before turning to face Nico. “No,” she said clearly. “I’m not comfortable with that. If you’d like to give me some pointers on shielding, I’m happy to learn, but I’ll be no one’s puppet, not even yours.” Everyone seem to exhale at the same time, as if they’d all been holding their breath, waiting for Hana’s answer. There were blank faces all around, except for Nico’s. He was plainly disappointed. Oddly, that made Gabriel feel as though Hana had made the right choice. Even the strongest man, the most honest, could succumb to temptation. Hana had a power that any sorcerer would covet, and Nico was a man accustomed to getting what he wanted. He barely knew Hana. He certainly didn’t love her. It was possible he even resented her, thinking she was the real reason that Gabriel had taken oath with Raphael. Hana was right not to tempt him too

closely. “Well, that’s settled,” Raphael said, which ignited a flash of anger from Nico. Maybe he’d thought to take a shot at persuading her. But Raphael only gave him a cool look and continued. “Do we know for sure that Sotiris is in L.A.?” “Based on Hana’s description of the attack on her last night, I’d say definitely,” Nico replied. “He’s probably been here a while now. This was his home base before he tried to sacrifice Kato. He’s fully capable of shielding his location from detection— various wards and spells in the walls and so on—so there’s no reason he wouldn’t come back here. He certainly wasn’t with his team in Nagano. If he had been, they wouldn’t have used gangster tactics to try and grab her. But since his contractors failed, and especially now that she’s ended up here . . . he’ll come after her himself.” “So how do we find him?” Gabriel asked. Nico sighed. “That’s the trick. We have to wait for him to show himself, which probably means an attack, either to take out Hana’s protection, or to grab her directly.” “The hell with that.” Nico focused on Hana again. “I understand why you rejected the temporary shield I suggested. But I’ll give you a few pointers, teach you a spell or two. Enough to confuse anyone who tries to grab you and buy yourself enough time to get away.”

“She’s not going to be facing this danger alone,” Gabriel said flatly. “And don’t forget that she’s a trained warrior herself.” “Of course. And we’ll all do everything we can to protect her, too. But if the worst happens, and it comes down to Hana escaping on her own, it would be nice if she had something to work with besides her battle skills.” Hana regarded Nico silently, then put a hand on Gabriel’s arm and said, “That would be useful.” Nico nodded. “I can’t do it here, though,” he said, waving a hand to indicate Raphael’s estate. Every vampire at the table turned to stare at him, their eyes un​blinking, their expressions full of suspicion. It was Raphael who said what they all were obviously thinking. “Hana is safer here than anywhere else. I have more fighters, and they’re on highest alert, which means double watches along the entire perimeter, as well as the main house. And that includes daytime, when she has the added protection afforded my vampires while they sleep.” “I’m sure that’s true. Unfortunately, I can’t teach her magic with you all congesting the air. Your magic alone is enough to interfere with what I’m trying to do. When you add in a few more vampires like these two”—he indicated Jared and Juro—“it’s almost difficult to breathe. I don’t know how you stand it.” Raphael bared his teeth. “It’s comforting.”

Nico scoffed. “I bet it is, but not to me. I’ll take her to Grace and Kato’s place. It’s only two miles down the coast, barely enough for you to raise a sweat if you run it at speed. I’ll be there. So will Kato and Damian. Kato already has the house warded, but I’ll add a few pro​tec​tions of my own.” Before Raphael could say anything, Gabriel jumped in. “It has to be at night.” He turned to Hana. “You will not leave here without me.” She patted his thigh. “No, I won’t. If I go at all.” “Come on, Hana,” Nico said impatiently. “If we do it at night, you’ll have the best protection this world can offer. The most powerful sorcerer—” He touched his own chest, then gestured around the table. “And three of the best warriors in the history of man, plus a few scattered vampires, I’m quite sure.” He glanced at Raphael. “Though they’ll have to stay back from the wards. I can’t have them trying to punch through when I’m trying to concentrate on Hana.” “I can go with them,” Cyn said unexpectedly. “I don’t have any magic to interfere, and you know I’m a badass.” Raphael smiled and took her hand, kissing it before placing it back on her chair arm. “That you are, my Cyn.” He shifted his gaze to Hana. “Hana? Gabriel? What do you think?” “My lord,” Gabriel said hesitantly. His instincts were telling him to follow Raphael’s advice in this.

Gabriel was a warrior and had fought more wars than he could count. Ask him a question about battlefield tactics or strategy, and he could tell you the best possible solution. Put him in charge of an army, and he’d win the damn war. But this? This involved sorcery and vampires, and a conflict between Nico and Raphael that he didn’t understand. And without understanding, he couldn’t be sure that Nico wasn’t using Hana to win whatever battle was playing out between the two powerful men. “Not this time,” Raphael said softly, seeming to understand Gabriel’s quandary. “You’re not a slave, Gabriel. Your life and decisions are your own. Just be careful. I would not lose you so soon after finding you.” Gabriel swallowed hard, then waited for Hana’s decision. Because once again, it was hers to make. She knew where he stood on the question of trusting Nico. They’d talked about all of this more than once. Hana drew a deep breath. “I’ll go, but only at night, and only for the evening. We return here before dawn. And Cyn, I’d welcome your company, if Lord Raphael can spare you.” Cyn grinned. “Ah, he’ll be okay. He’ll miss me, but he’ll be fine.” For his part, Nico had pushed back from the table with a big smile. “Excellent. We’ll start tomorrow, to give us more time in the night. How soon can you be there?”

Raphael gave him a cool look. “They’ll arrive with escort at nine o’clock. My vampires will remain close enough to assist, but not so close as to interfere. Cyn will remain with Hana, as will, I assume, Gabriel.” “Fine, fine,” Nico said impatiently. “I can deal with one of you, just not the whole fucking vampire army.” Raphael stood, pulling Cyn up with him. “Tomorrow night, then. Juro will see you out.”

Chapter Ten NICK WATCHED FROM an upstairs window as three big SUVs drove through the open gate of Grace’s family home, riding bumper to bumper, so close it was a wonder they didn’t crash into each other as they filled the courtyard. A fourth vehicle pulled up on the street, blocking the driveway in front of the open gate. Blacked-out windows all around gave away nothing of the passengers, while black-painted exteriors gleamed under the security lights. There was not even a hint of chrome to break the monotony. Fucking vampires. He wondered if they had a car wash hidden in that huge estate of Raphael’s to keep their cars all shiny and bright. Doors opened all at once and vampires spilled out, seeming to know where to go without asking. He counted twenty vamps, including the two big Japanese twins who paused briefly to confer before one of them joined the group heading around the house to the oceanfront. Twelve vamps to the beach, then. That made sense. Security on that side was much weaker, since the house sat right on the sand, while the street side had the now-closed gate and the curtain wall to protect it. Or to at least slow down any attackers. The other twin vamp, the one left behind, walked

over to the middle vehicle in the courtyard and signaled with a lift of his hand. Cyn opened the front passenger door and slid to the ground, her long legs camouflaged by black combat-style pants, pockets bulging with flat shapes, the swell of her breasts concealed behind a tactical vest that covered her from neck to hip. Nick had heard about the nearly fatal wounds she’d sustained in a gunfight up north. He’d been pissed as hell that her fucking vampire lord had let that happen. But since that same fucking vampire lord had then saved her life, he couldn’t complain. Much. Nick loved Cyn, and she loved him, and the benefits had been great. But no more. He sighed. No more. Cyn’s benefits were now reserved for that fucking vampire. He shifted his gaze to Gabriel, who’d climbed out of the back seat and was offering a hand to Hana, who smiled up at him. It was obvious to Nick from her graceful jump to the ground that she didn’t need anyone’s help. But it was just as obvious that she was head over heels in love with Gabriel, which was why she’d accepted the assistance of his hand. Nick was almost jealous. He’d had plenty of lovers over the years. He still did. But no one had ever looked at him like that. He shook his head impatiently. There was no time for such stupid thoughts. He had one night to get Hana up to speed on magical skills that normally took years to master. He could only hope she was a

fast learner. But first he had to get downstairs and make sure the vampires kept their distance. He couldn’t teach Hana anything if the damn vamps were pressing close with their weird version of magic. Not for the first time, he wished he could get hold of a dead vampire to ex​amine. Unfortunately, the damn creatures dusted when they died. He’d be happy to settle for a live one to cut up instead, but no one had volunteered yet. His head tilted thoughtfully. Maybe Gabriel? He’d gone over to the dark side, but he still had loyalties to Nick and the others. Of course, that fucking Raphael would never agree to it, and vamps were all good little soldiers when it came to obeying their damn lords. Lords. Christ, was this still the dark ages? “Nico!” Damian’s voice came from downstairs. Nick walked out to the landing and started down the stairs. “The vamps are here,” Damian announced unnecessarily. The big Japanese vamp came to stand next to him, dwarfing even the huge warrior. Nick had to blink. He’d seen bigger men, but never one whose confidence and stature matched that of Damian with his self-styled claim as a god of war. “Juro here wants to know if you have any restrictions on where he can deploy his people,” Damian said. Juro, Nick repeated to himself. How come Damian

knew which twin it was, but he didn’t? Maybe because he hated the vamps too much to pay attention to personal details? Yeah, that was probably it. “Right. Your people are where?” he asked, pretending he hadn’t been watching the whole time they’d been deploying. The vampire—Juro, Nick reminded himself—gave him a look that said he knew exactly where Nick had been, but all he said was, “Most of my force will deploy on the beach side. I’ll remain in front with seven fighters. Gabriel will, of course, be in the house with Hana, as will Cynthia.” He nodded over his shoulder to where Hana had taken a seat on the big couch, while Gabriel stood above her, his legs braced and hands resting on the sub-machine gun hanging on a sling around his neck. Cyn sat with one hip on the back of the couch, one arm lying across the same kind of weapon. Nick couldn’t have said which make the gun was, but he was sure Damian could. “Gabriel . . . ,” Nick said slowly, but one glance at his war​rior—his former warrior, which still galled— told him he wouldn’t be budged from Hana’s side. Nick shrugged in acceptance and said, “Cyn’s fine, and I can deal with Gabriel. But the ones on the beach need to remain twenty feet from the house. Less, if the tide comes in, of course. I’m not unreasonable.” He smiled insincerely. He’d actually take tremendous pleasure in forcing the vamps to

stand in the water, but he wouldn’t put Hana’s safety at risk for his own enjoyment. “Those of you in front of the house need to stay on the street side of the curtain wall.” Juro frowned at that. “As long as the wall door remains open,” he said. Nick shrugged. “Fine. Shouldn’t be a problem.” Juro nodded, then addressed Damian. “You and Kato?” “We’ll stay inside, ready to help wherever we’re needed if there’s an attack.” The big vamp gave a grunt of agreement, then turned and shared a nod with Gabriel, before heading out the front door. “Well,” Nick said. “Now that’s settled, let’s get to work. Gabriel, Hana and I will be working here in the living room. If you could remain over by the kitchen, maybe behind the counter, it will make things much easier for both of us.” Gabriel gave the big window a doubtful look, then walked over, closed the sliding door, and pulled the drapes. “What about your vamp buddies? Won’t that make it harder for them to get in here if we need them?” Gabriel shook his head. “It’s only glass.” “Right,” Nick muttered. “What was I thinking? You okay staying in the kitchen?” “I’d rather switch positions and get Hana away from that window. It seems like an unnecessary risk,

but I assume you’re doing it to maximize distance from the rest of us, so I’ll deal with it.” “Great. Hana, you ready?” She stood and shrugged off her jacket, her hands flexing at her sides. She was in great shape, Nick noted. Gabriel had called her a warrior, and he saw it in the way she held herself, the lithe muscles in her arms and legs, the utter focus in her gaze when she looked at him. “I’m ready,” she said calmly. “Then let’s do this.” GABRIEL STOOD IN the kitchen, or as close to it as he had to be to keep Nico from scowling at him. Cyn was closer to Hana, standing between the couch and the window, seeming relaxed, but he could tell she was listening to what was happening outside, not watching the magic lesson. Everything seemed to be going well with that, but what did he know? Hana was relaxed, concentrating on what Nico was telling her, the same way she’d focused single-mindedly on their enemies back in Nagano. He felt a wave of pride. She was amazing. Here she was, thrust into the middle of a danger no one had anticipated, hunted by one of the most powerful sorcerers on earth, and being tutored by another, while forced to learn complicated magical techniques that could mean the difference between life and death. . . . And still, she remained calm and resolute. He grinned when she successfully cast some spell

or other and glanced over at him, her dimples twinkling as her beautiful face lit with happiness. “That’s great, Hana,” Nico said, approving and clapping his hands once. “Let’s try shielding now.” Hana swung her attention back to Nico, but Gabriel could see the way her shoulders tensed. She still didn’t quite trust his friend and former leader when it came to shielding, worried that he’d go ahead with his plan to cast a spell that would give him control over her magic. Gabriel had tried to reassure her. Nico’s playful exterior sometimes gave the wrong impression. Underneath, he was as much a warrior as any of them, and his word mattered to him. If he said he wouldn’t perform that spell, then he wouldn’t. In his own way, he was as honorable as Raphael. “Okay, babe,” Nico said. “Now don’t freak out, but I’m going to get inside your magic briefly . . . just briefly,” he reiterated when she started to protest. “The best way to teach you to shield is from the inside, so you can see what I’m doing. You’ll have complete control the entire time. You can shove me out any time you want. But this will go easier if you relax and let me work. Do you understand?” Hana regarded him steadily, then glanced over her shoulder at Gabriel, who gave her a small nod of confidence in Nico’s word. She turned back to him and said, “I’ll do it. But if you fuck me over, you’ll regret it.”

Nico grinned. “I love fierce women. If you weren’t —” “But she is,” Gabriel growled, making Hana turn toward him with a laugh. “I am,” she agreed, giving him a smile. She looked back at Nico. “I’m ready.” “All right, just relax and observe.” Nico closed his eyes and did . . . nothing. Which was usually what it looked like when he worked magic. There was no waving of his hands or ripples of colorful magic to dazzle the eye. Most of the time. On the battlefield, his magic had always been so thick in the air that even someone with a minor talent could choke on it. Nico’s war had always been waged with the op posing sorcerer, above the men fighting on the ground. His hands had been plenty active then, raising defensive shields to knock down the destructive balls of energy conjured by their enemy, and casting his own in return. But tonight, in this house by the sea, with the waves a steady susurration of sound outside, Nico’s magic was quiet and contained. That didn’t stop Gabriel from watching his every move. Kato and Damian both had tried unsuccessfully to engage him in conversation. Their women had gone upstairs to watch a movie, bored by the nearly silent lesson going on. Kato had been confined to the kitchen with Gabriel, his sword sheathed to prevent it from “fucking with what I’m

trying to do here,” as Nico had put it. Damian was a different story. He was magic, since Nico had conjured him into his reality back when they were both small boys. Which apparently made him part of Nico’s magic, so there was no interference from his presence. But he’d re​mained in the kitchen with his brother warriors, anyway. Better than sitting on the couch, watching nothing happen, he’d told them. Nick had stopped whatever he was doing, to explain something to Hana. He was speaking her to her in a low voice, his hands gesturing as if describing something, while Hana listened intently. She gave a slow nod, then looked up and met Nico’s gaze. “Got it,” she said. Nico stepped back, ready to resume the lesson, then froze. All at once, the house was filled with thundering power, the walls and windows rattling from the force of it. It was Nico’s power, repel​ling an attack from outside, Gabriel realized, barely a moment before the deadly chitter of sub-machine guns sounded from the beach below the house. Gabriel raced for Hana, but Cyn was closer, pulling her away from the windows and back to an interior wall. Gabriel had already scoped out the house and knew there was a bathroom behind that wall, with a windowless room behind that. The wall itself was next to a gas fire​place, which Cyn had already turned off with a flick of a switch. Gabriel strode over to join them, grabbing Hana and shoving

her behind him, as gunfire erupted from the front of the house as well. “Gabriel, I can fight,” Hana objected, stepping around him with a 9mm handgun held low and ready. He glanced down at the weapon in surprise. “Where—” “I gave it to her, you idiot,” Cyn said impatiently. “She’s an experi​enced fighter, not a fragile flower.” “Right.” He knew that, but she was his, and she was human. He didn’t want her anywhere near flying bullets. Across the room, Nico broke out of a motionless stance and stared at them, his face a mask of concentration as he said, “I can’t just stand here. He’ll destroy the house itself to get to her. I’ll draw him away, while you deal with the rest of his fighters.” And then he disappeared, his power rippling across the room, buffeting them like a strong wind. Hana gasped, and Cyn swore. “He does that,” Gabriel muttered. “It’s a weird way of traveling fast from one place to another.” “It’s how Sotiris escaped last time,” Damian added, shooting a glance over his shoulder. He was standing by the stairs, arguing with Casey. She wanted to join the fight, while he wanted her upstairs and safe. “Cassandra,” he snapped finally. “We have plenty of guns outside. You and Grace are too

vulnerable, and you don’t have any protection. You’ll be a distraction. You can kill people from the fucking upstairs window.” Gabriel knew Damian was right. But for a moment, it looked as if Casey would rebel. “We’re going to talk about this later, asshole,” she snarled, then grabbed Grace and ran upstairs, heading to the right, where Gabriel knew there was a window overlooking the courtyard. Damian shot a glance their way, his gaze skimming over Gabriel and the two women with a questioning look. “We’re good,” Gabriel said. “And the front’s lightly manned. They need you.” His warrior brother nodded. “Stay alive, brother,” he said, repeating the order they’d always given each other before battle. Gabriel echoed him. “Stay alive.” Then he turned all his attention to the sounds of battle on the beach. Kato and Damian would handle the front. The danger was from the beachside. He’d seen enough of Raphael’s people, in sparring sessions and on the gun range, to have faith in their abilities and courage. Plus, they were vampires—hard to kill. But that damn big window . . . He hadn’t finished the thought before a huge explosion rocked the beach, shattering glass behind the drapes. “Fuck me.” Gabriel scanned the house, searching

for someplace to take a stand, someplace that didn’t have big, fucking windows that were now nothing but bits of glass. “I know,” Cyn said tightly, echoing his thoughts. “But this is the best position in the house. If it comes down to it, we shove Hana in the bathroom— sorry, Hana—and take a stand in that damn hallway.” Gabriel felt a surge of relief. He hadn’t been sure about Cyn, but the confident ease with which she handled her weapon, her reaction time, and the way she’d immediately identified this position as the most defensible, all in a matter of seconds, told him she knew what she was doing. “Raphael?” Gabriel asked, without taking his gaze away from the heavy drapes, looking for any sign of movement. “Already aware and on the way,” Cyn said, then cocked her head in a listening position as Gabriel did the same. “The fighting’s stopped,” Hana whispered. She was right, but only on the ocean side. It was still going on fiercely out front, including the clash of metal and plenty of screams, which told him Kato had unleashed his blade. But what the fuck did the silence on the water side mean? And when was Nico coming back? “Someone’s on the deck,” Cyn said quietly. “Take Hana to the bath. I’ll cover from here.” “Gabriel,” Hana protested briefly as he hustled her

down the short hall and into the bathroom doorway. She shook her head in frustration, then reached up to grip his hair tightly and pull him down for a fast, hard kiss. “Stay alive,” she ordered, then took a step back into the bathroom and closed the door, while Gabriel grabbed the couch and dragged it to block the hallway. At the same time, Cyn put both hands on a heavy cabinet filled with breakable shit and toppled it to the floor. Glancing over, he saw her taking cover behind the thing, pulling magazines of ammo from her pockets and laying them on the floor then setting two 9mm handguns next to them, before looking up and giving him a nod that said, “I’m good.” Gabriel dragged a chair up onto the couch and ducked behind it just as four men came through the door, ripping the heavy drapes down and darting into the room in synchronized pairs, firing as they came. The house filled with the sound of sub-machine gunfire and breaking glass, punctuated by the dull thud of rounds hitting walls and furniture, while the air filled with the stink of burning nitro. Something punched his arm as he took down one of the gunmen, and he knew he’d been shot, but the arm still worked, so he didn’t bother to look. Ten feet away from him, Cyn cursed loudly. He spared a glance and saw blood pouring from her scalp. “You okay?” he called. “Fine,” she replied, sounding more angry than

hurt. They both kept firing, taking down enemies as they came through the door, having the advantage of cover while the invaders had to brave the open space to get inside. Gabriel was beginning to feel good about their chances, knowing reinforcements would arrive any moment, when a huge fighter strode through the tattered shreds of the drapes and into the room. He didn’t run or dive for cover, because he was armored from head to toe, barely flinching as Gabriel and Cyn both fired round after round. Walking into the hail of gunfire, he raised the biggest handgun Gabriel had ever seen and fired two rounds, destroying the cabinet Cyn was hiding behind. She cried out when the second round hit, flying back against the stone hearth and slumping to the floor, where she lay motionless. He swore, but kept firing, hoping Raphael would arrive in time to turn the battle around, hoping it wasn’t already too late. Seconds seemed like hours as the armored gunman turned his weapon on Gabriel’s position. Ignoring Gabriel’s steady hail of bullets, the gun​man walked right up to him and fired point blank, pulverizing the sofa and continuing to fire until there was nothing between them. Three rounds slammed into Gabriel’s chest, slowed but not stopped by his tactical vest. The weapon was too big and too close. Ribs broke, and every bit of oxygen was punched out of his lungs as he fell to the floor,

but he kept firing until the ominous click of an empty cartridge was the only sound in the deafening silence. Until the one thing he desperately didn’t want to hear came from behind him. The bathroom door opened, and Hana stepped out, gun held in a two-handed grip as she fired nonstop, targeting the invader’s chest first, then his head. The man grunted, her 9mm rounds at that short distance leaving divots in his face shield. But then Hana’s gun, too, ran out of ammo, and before she could drop the empty mag and reload, the big man grabbed her gun and threw it over his shoulder. A flash of teeth showed behind the damaged shield as the bastard grinned. “Hana Himura, I assume?” He pointed his gun at Gabriel’s unprotected head. “Come quietly, and he might live. Make this difficult, and you’ll still come with me, but he dies.” “Hana, don’t,” Gabriel rasped. “Help is—” Their attacker grunted. “He’s right. Help is almost here, so decide, bitch. Not even vampires can survive a 50 cal round to the brain.” Tears were flowing down her cheeks as she dropped next to Gabriel and brushed his mouth with a kiss. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “but I can’t.” Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief, ready to die if it would keep her safe. Gathering his remaining strength, he waited for her to make a move to escape,

planning to do whatever he could to distract their at tacker and give her more time. But then she stood and said, “Let’s go.” “No!” he gasped, realizing he’d misunderstood. “Hana!” But it was too late. The big man flung her over a shoulder and strode away, ignoring his dead and dying compatriots, shouting orders as he stomped outside and across the deck, his voice clear enough that Gabriel knew he’d finally yanked off his head gear. He heard Hana’s cry of pain and struggled to rise, but agony stabbed his chest, and suddenly he was fighting to breathe as blood poured from his mouth. And then nothing. RAPHAEL HAD HIS door open and was leaping out of the Suburban before it had stopped rolling. He could tell from the disaster that had once been a courtyard that the fight was over and his people had won. But what had they won, and who had paid the price? Juro met him halfway to the door, bloody and bruised, but whole. He didn’t need the big vampire to tell him Cyn was alive. He already knew that, just as he knew she’d been injured. That alone would have been enough to plunge him into the darkest rage, but several of his vampires were badly wounded, and one was dead—Nathan, barely a century old, and not the strongest of his vampires. But he’d been loyal and

disciplined. An excellent member of Raphael’s team. “I know we lost Nathan,” Raphael said as he came even with Juro. “What about the wounded?” “Everyone on the beach side is down. They hit our people with grenade launchers. Nathan was practically on top of one when it went off, four others were wounded severely enough that they were out of the fight before it started.” “And the rest?” “Everyone but Ken’ichi was down by the time they took Hana, and he was barely conscious. They abandoned their dead, but one of the ones they left was still alive. I saved the poor fellow, and he’s showed his gratitude by agreeing to talk to us.” Juro bared his teeth as he said it, and Raphael knew the prisoner’s agreement had been less than voluntary. “They outmanned us three to one when they attacked,” Juro continued. “They came in heavily armed and firing. No warning. Front of the house was hit by a standard ground assault, but the attackers on the beach side came in from the water. Ken’ichi thinks they had to have been floating out there before we arrived, which means they knew Hana would be here.” “Which means we have a traitor,” Raphael said grimly. “Either that or Sotiris has a way of listening in. It’s doubtful they could eavesdrop from our side, but this house . . .” He gestured behind him. “It’s an

ordinary residence, which means thin walls and lots of open windows. Grace’s father is in finance, so phone and computer security might be good, but someone with a parabolic dish sitting in a boat one hundred yards off-shore—even farther if they had more powerful equipment—could hear every word that was said, especially if Katsaros and the others were stupid enough to talk about their plans while sitting on the deck.” Raphael had kept walking as they spoke, wanting to get inside to Cyn. He could sense her pain, and her grief, too. She’d know by now that Nathan was dead, and even though she probably hadn’t known him, his Cyn considered all of Raphael’s vampires to be hers. She looked up when he entered the house, her beautiful eyes filling with tears. She wouldn’t have cried before now, but she could share her grief with him. He strode across the room to kneel in front of her, his chest tight​ening with both anger and fear when he saw the blood and bruises covering half her face. Her cheek was swollen to twice its size, a deep gash still oozing blood as she leaned against the wall, watching him. “I made them take care of the others,” she said, before he could complain. “I’m fine. Well, okay, not fine. I think some ribs might be broken, but you’ll make it better, won’t you?” She gave him a forced smile, losing it with a wince when a few tears

escaped to roll into the gash on her cheek. He didn’t know which emotion to go with. He wanted to get angry, to tell her she couldn’t do this kind of thing anymore, that his heart couldn’t take it, and it wasn’t necessary for her to throw herself into danger. But he was so glad she was alive, that she was well enough to tease him, when others were clinging to life. He sighed and sank to the floor next to her, pulling her into his arms and holding her gently, feeling her fingers grip his shirt as she buried her face against his chest and let the tears come. “I love you, my Cyn,” he murmured. She nodded silently. “Don’t worry, lubimaya. We’ll get her back, and we’ll make that bastard pay.” She lifted her head with a hiccupped breath. “Damn right.” “Now let me help you.” He lifted his arm, bared his fangs, and sliced into his wrist, then held the bloody wound against her mouth. He let his head fall against the wall as she drank, keeping his other arm around her, while he watched his people work efficiently to deal with the disaster. His injured vampires were being moved to the waiting SUVs, some of them given a quick dose of blood before traveling the short distance down the coast to Raphael’s estate, where they could be treated and protected properly. Nathan, of course, was already gone and dusted. There was no body to collect, no

honorable removal from the battlefield. But that was the way of vampires. Juro? he called telepathically, easily making contact with his longtime security chief who appeared a moment later. “Sire.” “Where’s Gabriel?” “Already at the estate. His wounds were severe, but he’ll recover. Before he left, he told me he heard an engine after they took Hana. Cynthia has said the same. I’m thinking they escaped the same way they came in.” Raphael indicated his understanding, then caught sight of the witch’s son coming down the stairs. Katsaros’s warriors were bloodied, but still standing. They’d both helped defend the courtyard, knowing it was more lightly defended and easily accessed. None of them had considered an attack from the sea, and Raphael cursed his own stupidity. He, at least, should have known that the ocean was no longer the barrier it had once been, and been prepared for an assault from that direction. And speaking of preparations, where the fuck was Katsaros? It had been his job more than any other’s to keep Hana safe, but he was nowhere to be seen. Cyn stopped sucking his wrist and licked the wounds, which made him smile. Her saliva didn’t contain any of the coagulants to speed healing that his did, but the slide of her tongue was soothing all the same.

“I heard a boat,” she said, lifting her head to look at him, while still licking the blood from her lips. “So I’m told. Gabriel heard the same.” “He’s alive?” “Barely, but yes. What happened here? A where’s that fucking sorcerer?” “Nick was talking to Hana, and she was nodding, and then sud​denly the whole house rocked like it was hit by a giant fist that couldn’t break through, just as we heard gunfire from the front courtyard. I don’t know enough about magic to tell you who or what that first hit was, but Nick said something about Sotiris trying to destroy the house, and that he had to stop it. He told us to handle the rest, and then he disappeared. Almost immediately, there was a big explosion on the beach, and those two”—she nodded at Damian and Kato who were both standing in the kitchen now, conferring with each other and their women, neither of whom was injured—“went out front to reinforce Juro’s team, while Gabriel and I dug in here, with Hana.” She started to shake her head, then winced again. “Damn it,” she cursed, before continuing. “I knew you were on the way and thought we could hold out ‘til you got here. Between us, Gabriel and I took out every asshole who came through that door, but then this huge guy stomps in, armored to the teeth. His gear must have weighed sixty pounds at least. No way that wasn’t a custom job, by the way. Maybe we can track that. He took me

out first, or he thought he did. I hit my head on this damn stone wall and went down. After that, I don’t know. But Gabriel will. He was right next to me, blocking the hallway after he shoved Hana into the bathroom.” “I’ll talk to him,” Raphael said somewhat absently as he scanned the room once more. “Have you seen Katsaros at all since then?” “Um, no. Not since he popped out. Should I—” Raphael held her still. “You should do nothing but sit there and recover. Damian,” he called, since he was the closest. “Where’s that fucking sorcerer?” Damian scowled, but said, “He’s not back yet, but he will be.” “Where’d he go?” The warrior walked over to avoid yelling across the room. “I would assume, from what we all saw, that Sotiris attacked the house, intentionally drawing Nico away and clearing a path for his soldiers. After that . . .” He gave Raphael a frustrated look. “I don’t know. He and Sotiris could still be fighting, or Nico could be trailing Sotiris back to his hideout by now. Or frankly, a hundred other possibilities. We’ll just have to wait—” Everyone went on alert as Katsaros reappeared with a roar of displaced air. He staggered slightly as his feet hit the floor, looking as cut up and bloodied as those who’d remained behind. “Fucker ran away again,” he spat out, then looked

around, taking in the disaster. His gaze fell on Damian. “Hana?” Damian shook his head. “Motherfucker!” Raphael disengaged gently, but firmly, when Cyn would have held him back. He stood, his eyes casting a silver glow in the dimly lit room, fury a raging fire in his chest. “One of my people is dead, my mate and many others are sorely injured, and . . . oh, yes, the enemy has Hana.” He paused for effect. “So, I guess we’re all fucked now.”

Chapter Eleven RAPHAEL TURNED HIS back on Katsaros before he killed him. It would be one hell of a fight, he admitted, but he’d succeed eventually. Unfortunately, Cyn wouldn’t like it. It would also be nearly impossible to keep his vampires and the fucking sorcerer’s people from joining in, turning the whole thing into a second clusterfuck, which they really didn’t need right now. Hana was one of his people, his responsibility, and she’d been kidnapped. Finding her before Sotiris either used her or killed her was his priority. Katsaros might still be helpful in that, so killing him would have to wait. The sound of a big engine revving as it slid to a tire-screeching stop in the courtyard had everyone’s head turning in that direction. Jared, who’d arrived with Raphael, headed for the door, as did the witch’s son, Kato. “Fuck,” Raphael heard Jared exclaim, but more in surprise than anger. “What’re you doing here?” A moment later, Gabriel staggered into the house, Jared close by his side, practically holding him up. “Sit before you fall, you idiot.” Gabriel dropped onto one of the few unbroken chairs and looked around until he found Raphael. “I needed to be here, my lord. She did it for me, to save

my life. I told her not to, but she did it anyway.” Raphael walked over and placed a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “It’s good you’re here. You and Cyn are the only two who know what happened when they took her, and my Cyn was unconscious for much of it. We need details to begin our search.” It wasn’t exactly true, but he understood Gabriel’s need to be a part of the hunt for the woman he loved. Gabriel drew a deep breath and nodded, visibly centering himself. “Cyn told you about that big fucker and how he was all armored up?” “Yes.” “I guess he figured out where Hana was hiding from the way Cyn and I were deployed. He had a big ass gun. A handgun, but like a small cannon. He fired one shot and obliterated that heavy cabinet she was hiding behind—just blew it to splinters. It looked like a Desert Eagle, like that one Damian uses, but I wasn’t exactly in a position to look closely. The rounds were 50 cal though, because the bastard bragged about it to Hana when he held the gun to my head and told her he’d kill me if she didn’t go nicely. I told her not to, but . . .” He dropped his head into his hands. “Definitely a Desert Eagle,” Cyn interjected, probably to give Gabriel a few minutes to pull himself together. “When he took out the cabinet I was hiding behind, the force of it threw me into that

fucking stone wall. That’s what took me out, which was lucky. If he’d shot me, I’d be dead.” Raphael reached out and pulled her to his side, not wanting to think about how close he’d come to losing her. “I saw you go down,” Gabriel agreed. “I didn’t know how badly you were hit, and didn’t have time to do anything anyway, because he was on me in the next second. I took two rounds in the chest. The vest slowed them down some, and my vampire blood did the rest.” “Not hardly,” Jared commented. “You’ve got eight broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a badly bruised heart. You’re lucky to be alive, vampire or not.” “I’m alive. Doesn’t matter how,” he dismissed. “What matters is finding Hana.” He swung his gaze to Raphael. “They left by boat. Did Cyn tell you that?” Raphael nodded. “She thought she heard one but couldn’t be sure. You’ve confirmed it. It’s a place to start. I already have people working on it back at the house—but the ocean’s a big place. There are at least three marinas within easy distance, or they could have had a larger ship waiting to pick them up. We need more information.” He turned to Jared. “I understand we have a survivor.” “Yes, my lord.” Raphael bared his teeth. “Good. Bring him in.” While Jared went to get their prisoner, Raphael swung his head around to address Nick’s two

warriors. “This might get . . . messy. If you or your women would rather, I can take him to my estate. I have facilities.” The four of them glanced at each other and shrugged, but it was Grace—the woman who owned the house—who surprised Raphael by responding. She gestured at the wreckage of the large room and shrug​ged. “No need to waste time moving him. We’ll be renovating any​way.” Raphael smiled. “Very well,” he said and watched as Jared dragged the unwilling man into the room. Kato provided a kitchen chair, and Jared dropped the man onto it. He didn’t bother to secure him. If he was stupid enough to try to run, Raphael had more than enough power to hold him in place. The man was bloodied, but his eyes were clear when he looked up and scanned the grim faces surrounding him. “Look, man, I did a job, okay? They pay me, and I go where they say.” “Do you?” Raphael crooned, drawing the prisoner’s immediate attention. As with the rest of his people, his fangs were out of sight, for now. But the vampire lord didn’t need fangs to be threatening. He was a big man, confident in his physical prowess, as well as his power, which was always a factor, always lying just under his skin, giving him a lethal aura. Any enemy forced to confront him would have difficulty putting into words the danger they sensed simply by sitting in front of him, but the chill in

their bones and the terror in their hearts would speak loudly enough. Raphael took a step closer, making it clear he’d be the one the prisoner had to deal with. “Who hired you?” “I don’t have a name, and if I did, it’d probably be fake. He was a middle-aged guy, dark hair, good shape, but not winning any prizes. We don’t work cheap, so he has money. Fancy car, fancy watch.” “What did he want?” “Want?” The guy looked confused. Raphael glowered. “I mean, he wanted to hire us, right?” Either the man was still concussed or plain stupid. “What specifi​cally did he say he wanted you to do, after he hired you?” “Oh. He said he wanted the Japanese chick, showed us a picture to be sure. He didn’t say why, and we didn’t ask questions. Never do. But the guy didn’t know shit about weapons. He told us it was vampires who had her, and we’d have to grab her at night. After that, he met our price, and the deal was made. Up front, it sounded like a simple snatch and grab.” Raphael tilted his head curiously. “You weren’t concerned about confronting vampires?” The man shrugged, grimacing in pain at the habitual movement. His left arm was caked with dried blood, the sleeve torn from shoulder to wrist.

He sucked in a harsh breath before answering, his voice strained. Apparently Juro hadn’t bothered to heal him anymore than was necessary to keep him alive. “We brought twice as much firepower as usual, plus the boss wore his Iron Man gear. He had it made special. He said that with enough fire power, even vampires can die, and he knows. He used to work for the local vampire honcho.” “Is that so?” the vampire lord purred. “What did you say your boss’s name was?” The prisoner looked around nervously, seeming to notice the abrupt spike in the tension level. “I, um, didn’t,” he said, before shooting his gaze back to Raphael. “But it’s Bernardo. First name’s Alessiosome​thing-or-other, but everyone calls him Bluto.” “Bluto?” “You know, like the big guy in Popeye?” “It’s a cartoon,” Cyn muttered from behind him. A cartoon. People had died, and this fool was rambling about a fucking cartoon. Raphael’s patience snapped. He didn’t need the man to talk to get what he needed, didn’t even need him coherent. He could reach into the fucker’s head and scrape out everything he knew. His brain would be mush, but he was going to die anyway. Raphael was only playing this stupid twenty questions to please the human half of the room, and he’d had enough. Looking down, he met the man’s gaze and slowly let his fangs slide from his gums. “Only one vampire

died tonight,” he said slowly, drinking in the man’s sudden terror. “One. But that one vampire of mine is the same as thirty thousand of you humans. Do you get my point?” The prisoner swallowed as the stench of his fear grew. “I was only doing a job,” he pleaded, seeming finally to recognize the true danger. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know!” “Yes, you will.” Raphael smiled. And the man screamed. THERE WAS BLOOD running from every opening in the prisoner’s head when Raphael finished. Jared signaled behind him, and a vampire stepped up with what looked exactly like a giant roll of plastic wrap. He and another vampire efficiently wrapped up the body and carried it out the door, to be loaded into one of the SUVs and driven back to the estate, where it would be unceremoniously incinerated and scattered to the winds. “That’s brutal, man,” Damian said. Raphael speared him with a look. “One of my people is dead, others seriously injured, including my mate,” he said, every word coated with ice. “You haven’t seen brutal yet.” “Hey, I didn’t say it was bad.” “Did you at least learn something?” Katsaros inquired, from where he was standing in the kitchen, casually drinking a bottle of water.

Raphael snarled and swung to face him. “Looks like your enemy outsmarted you again, sorcerer.” Katsaros glared, but then bared his teeth in a grin. “You didn’t, did you? You turned that guy’s brain to mush, then discovered that’s all it was to begin with.” Raphael turned purposefully away and spoke to Juro. “Do you remember this Bernardo person? Did he work for us?” Juro shook his head. “The name’s not familiar, but I have some​one running it back on the estate. It’s possible he worked for some other vampire and exaggerated his importance, or even that he never worked for a vampire at all.” Raphael frowned unhappily. “That one,” he said, indicating the puddle of blood on the floor, which was the only sign of the dead prisoner, “only saw Sotiris once, when the mercenary team was first hired. Assuming it was Sotiris he saw, since he never heard a name.” “Description fits,” Katsaros offered. Raphael took in the information but didn’t so much as glance his way. “The mercenaries’ task included providing security on Sotiris’s home once Hana was delivered there, but the only one who visited the house ahead of time was Bernardo.” “Fuck.” Raphael finally looked at the sorcerer. “I assume that means you, too, learned nothing. Other than the

folly of permitting one’s enemy to lure you away from the prize, of course.” NICK DIDN’T BOTHER to respond to the fucking vampire’s smug assessment. The bastard was right. He never should have left Hana, but Sotiris’s attack hadn’t been some weak ploy, it had been a fullon assault on the house, hitting Nick’s wards hard enough that the blow had pinged against Kato’s wards far beneath his own. If he’d done nothing, Sotiris would have torn the roof off and plucked Hana from their midst. He’d had no choice but to counterattack, to defend the house and everyone in it. In the aftermath, it was easy for the vampire to stand there and say he’d been duped, but at the time. . . . Fuck. “He drew you away, then attacked the house with overwhelming force. Gabriel and Cyn both heard a boat. We can assume . . .” That vampire asshole was still going on, repeating what everyone already knew, dumping on Nick like some lecturing school marm. Yeah, Sotiris had been smart. He’d always been fucking smart. But Nick was smart, too. Then it hit him. “My people are searching for this Bernardo person,” Raphael was saying, the first useful thing he’d said so far. “If he worked for us in the past, we’ll have records. The prisoner gave up a phone number for him, but—”

Nick interrupted. “Sotiris will want her stashed someplace that’s as secure as he can make it. And fast. Which means it has to be close. He’ll take her to his house here in the city.” “The place you said you couldn’t find?” the vampire asked dryly. It was Nick’s turn to snarl, teeth bared. “Don’t fucking push me, vampire.” Raphael bared his own teeth, fangs gleaming. “Or what?” he taunted. “Stop!” Gabriel roared, then fell back to his chair, breathing hard. “Please. Hana’s running out of time.” Nick’s face fell. “Damn it, you’re right. I’m sorry —” His voice fell off when Raphael walked over to confront the wounded vampire, and Nick raised his magic, prepared to defend his warrior. Instead, he watched in stunned silence as Raphael went to one knee and used a fang to rip open his vein. “Drink,” he said, putting his other hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “You’ll need to be strong when we rescue Hana, and we will. My word on it.” Gabriel stared at Raphael for a moment, then bowed his head. “Thank you, my lord,” he whispered. “Drink,” Raphael reminded him and remained kneeling as Gabriel drank until his eyelids lowered in exhaustion. The vampire lord turned and caught Jared’s eye. “Get someone to drive him back. He needs sleep more than he needs to be here.” He rose

gracefully to his feet, and taking the wet towel one of his vamps offered him, he turned to Nick. “So how do we find Sotiris?” Nick made sure none of his surprise at the sudden shift in attitude showed. If the vampire could play nice, he could, too. “The problem was never that I couldn’t find him locally, it was that I didn’t have enough time to spend on it. He’s too heavily shielded, and I had too much other shit going on that couldn’t wait. Sotiris might be the biggest player on the dark side, but he’s not the only one.” He shook his head. “But that doesn’t matter now. What does matter is that I still can’t find him in the time we have—” There were groans all around, but not from Raphael, he noted. The fucking vampire was watching him patiently, knowing there was a “but” coming. “But,” Nick continued, his gaze meeting Raphael’s. “I can find Hana.” “Explain, please.” Well, shit, he couldn’t lord it over the fucking vamp after he’d said, “please,” could he? “At the time of the attack, I was teaching Hana to strengthen her shields, manipulating her magic from inside her awareness, so that she could see what I was doing. It was similar to what I’d wanted to do in using my spell to provide her with shields, but there was no spell involved. We were, however, linked, and since I went after Sotiris without taking time to break the link . . .”

“You still are,” Raphael said. “Will Sotiris notice it? Can he break it?” “Possibly, and yes. But it’s a minor sort of link, something typi​cally used to teach children. It won’t be obvious unless he looks for it, and there’s no reason for him to do so.” “Unless he knows what you were doing here tonight.” Nick nodded. “You think we have a traitor. I don’t. The only people on my side who knew what we were doing are all in this room, and I trust them completely. As for yours? The one thing I’ve never doubted about you, vampire, is that your people are loyal.” “And no one outside the conference room last night knew what we were doing until just half an hour before we came here tonight. Juro suspects a listening post off the coast,” he said, gesturing at the water. Nick looked at Casey who was the most techsavvy of his people. “He’s right,” she said. “Even a cheap parabolic dish would pick up three hundred feet out. An expensive one, with directional mic capabilities could do a hell of a lot better and wouldn’t be thrown off by the water noise.” “So you’re saying that if we talked about our plans for tonight with the door open, or even worse, on the deck—”

“They could pick up every word. Right. Assuming neither of you nor Kato included sound blocks in your handy-dandy wards?” Nick berated himself silently as he looked at Kato, who only shook his head. Nick sighed. “Okay. Check me on this, guys,” he said to his team, “but I don’t think we discussed any specifics, just that Hana was going to be here with Gabriel, with a lot of . . . comments on the fact that you”—he tipped his head at Raphael—“had insisted on providing a vampire escort.” Damian and the others glanced at each other, then nodded agreement. “Sounds right,” he said. Nick continued, “So all they would have picked up is that Hana and Gabriel were going to be here tonight, with no details about why. There’d be no reason for Sotiris to think it was anything other than a dinner among friends, and that means there’s no reason for him to look for a link between me and Hana. If we move fast enough, we should be able to locate Hana and get her out of there before Sotiris tries to force her to help him.” “If he’s gone to all this trouble to grab her, why would he wait to take what he wants from her?” Raphael asked. Nick nodded his understanding of the question. “Because while his attack tonight was a ploy to get me away from here, we were still doing our best to kill each other. That takes energy. Plus, when he ran,

as he always does, he closed the time warp behind him, and that takes serious energy. A sorcerer at his level is never truly drained, but he’ll be tired, and he’ll assume not only that I’m equally tired, but more importantly, that I’m still unable to find him. I figure we have a day before he tries to persuade Hana to help him willingly. And when that fails, he’ll use force.” “We go in tomorrow then,” Damian said. “First thing in the morning, just before dawn, when he won’t expect it.” “No,” Raphael said flatly. “You’re not doing this without me and my people. Not this time.” Damian would have argued, but Raphael was only looking at Nick. “I have a hundred times your manpower, and I’m a vampire lord. That means something when it comes to sheer magical strength, and it’s a power that you sorcerers have never managed to figure out. You take on Sotiris, we’ll rescue Hana and deal with whatever other defenses he has in place. Besides, there’s Gabriel to consider. He needs to be in on this. He deserves it.” “You’re not bulletproof, vampire,” Nick reminded him. Raphael just grinned. “I am when I want to be, sorcerer.” “Okay.” He shrugged. “I’ll wait until sunset, then tug on my link with Hana to get a location fix.” Jared stepped up to Raphael at that moment and

said quietly, “The human authorities are en route, Sire. Our contacts delayed them as long as we could, but they’ll be here in minutes.” “Get everyone moving.” He turned to Nick. “We’ll leave from my estate tomorrow night. Be at the gate at one hour past sunset. You can look up the appropriate time up online.” And then he was gone. No good-bye, no jaunty, “Tomorrow we hunt!” He simply pulled Cyn close, strode out the front door, and a moment later, he was gone. Along with all his people. Nick stared at the empty doorway. “I hate that motherfucker.” “I think we all get that,” Damian commented. “But he gets it done, and he has the fighters we need. Not to mention his own power, which is rumored to be magnitudes above any other vampire on the planet right now.” Nick scowled, but had to admit, “The rumor’s probably true. I’ve never fought him, but we’ve . . . tested each other a few times. No doubt he’s an asset. But I still hate his guts.” He sighed, then looked around. “Jesus Christ, Kato. What the hell did you guys do to this place?” Distant sirens sounded outside. “And what the fuck are you going to tell the cops?” “A kidnapping gone bad,” Damian announced. “Grace’s dad is loaded, right? High-profile international finance guy. They came after Grace,

expecting her to be alone, or maybe with her boyfriend, but not knowing her boyfriend had skills.” A police siren burped in the courtyard, and Nick started for the door. “I’ll handle the cops. We need to start looking for Hana.” HANA WOKE, KNOWING she was in trouble. She had no recollec​tion of how she’d gotten here, but her memory of the last minutes before she’d been kidnapped were vivid. Gabriel covered in blood, so much blood. He’d told her to let him die, not to surrender herself. But Hana had known she’d be taken either way, and if she went along, then maybe Gabriel would live. She wished for the kind of connection Cyn seemed to have with Raphael, so that at least she’d know if Gabriel had survived. Or if that bastard in his armored suit had ordered him killed anyway. She lay quietly, eyes closed, channeling the various sensei she’d studied with over the years, remaining motionless but alert, using her other senses to gain information. She was lying on a bed, the mattress firm beneath her, her fingers resting on something soft and quilted. The only scent she detected was a very faint detergent smell, as if the room had been cleaned sometime in the last month or two, but not recently. A central air conditioning system was blowing cool air, but there was heat on her legs that felt like sun through a window. She sensed no one

else in the room with her. No aftershave or perfume scent, no breathing or sudden throat clearing, not even a whisper of movement. She waited as long as she could, until her bladder told her she needed to respond, and then she opened her eyes and looked around. Remaining still a moment longer, she finally sat up then stood, convinced she was truly alone. She’d been right about the bed, too. It was big and heavy, with an elaborately carved headboard and matching footboard. A brocade chair sat to one side, with a small dresser on the opposite wall. There was a window to her left, and the sun’s position told her it was mid-morning. Two doors stood off to her right. She headed for the one which was open to reveal a bathroom. She dealt with the morning’s necessities, then did a quick search of the bathroom which revealed nothing useful. There was not so much as an extra bar of soap, though unused towels hung on the wall. Hana had no intention of stripping down for a shower, however. She took the time to wash her face and arms, then finger-combed her hair and rinsed her mouth. If her captors were offended by bad breath, they should have given her a toothbrush and toothpaste, or at least some mouthwash. Knowing she might be under surveillance but figuring the one place they might not bother with would be the empty, windowless bathroom, she patted her pockets, looking for potential weapons.

They’d already taken the gun Cyn had given her, throwing it away before leaving the house. They. She was thinking in terms of the entire assault team, but it had been the guy with the 50 cal Desert Eagle, the one who’d threatened Gabriel’s life, who’d carried her out of the house. He’d been big, but no bigger than some of Raphael’s vampires, or for that matter Gabriel or Damian. It was the armored suit and the gun that had made him such a threat. She hoped she lived to see someone take him down. Gabriel deserved a chance at him, since he’d been the one with a gun to his head, but she’d settle for anyone on their team. Maybe Elke. Wouldn’t that be sweet? To watch tiny Elke wipe the floor with him? Assuming her time was short, she put aside dreams of future revenge and searched the bathroom walls and fixtures, looking for any tell-tale sign of a camera. They’d gotten most of her concealed weapons, but not all of them. Sitting on the toilet, where she was out of range of the mirror, she quickly removed her left shoe. Lifting the insole, she retrieved a thin, flat blade. It was a last-ditch kind of weapon, with one end of the blade taped to provide a reasonably safe grip without bulking it up too much for concealment. It wasn’t an easy weapon; she’d usually ended up with at least one sliced finger after training with it. But it was sharp and deadly in the right hands . . . like hers. Sliding it into the thin Kevlar sheath sewn into the waistband of her pants,

she put her shoes back on and flushed the toilet. She then washed her hands one more time, just in case anyone was listening, and walked back out to the bedroom. Crossing to the window, she saw nothing but a long downward slope of scrub brush, patchy with green grass and what looked like miles of green hillsides. Those hills were peppered with widely spaced homes, which told her she was in a city. And not just any city. She was confident this was still L.A., because the scrub on that slope looked an awful lot like what she’d seen on the Malibu hillsides near Raphael’s estate. And while she couldn’t remember much, she didn’t think they’d flown her anywhere. That was mostly hunch, but it seemed like a good one. There was one thing she didn’t need to depend on a hunch for, however, and that was how deep in shit she was. There was no doubt in her mind as to who’d paid the team of killers who’d taken her, and no doubt what he wanted with her. She stood at the window, eyes closed, trying to picture her magic and build some shields. Nico had barely begun to show her the basics, having spent most of the early part of the night teaching her a few easy spells. There was one that conjured fire, which would be great if she found herself stranded in the wilderness and needed a fire to scare off the wolves or keep herself warm. But first, she could probably start a fire much faster

on her own, without any magic at all, and second, the creature threatening her was a lot more dangerous than a pack of wild wolves. She was still standing there when the door opened behind her without even the pretense of a polite knock, and a man walked in, self- importance hanging over him like a halo. He was middle-aged, with an expensive haircut, a fake tan, and clothes that appeared tailor made to fit his slender form—the very opposite of the men she’d grown up with and been surrounded by this last week—most especially, the man she loved. “Hana Himura,” he said smoothly, although he couldn’t keep the note of superiority from his tone, his nose all but raised in the air at being forced to speak to someone so far beneath his status. “Who are you?” she asked, mostly to delay the inevitable, because she already knew who he was. “I am Sotiris. We’ve met, but perhaps you don’t remember,” he said, touching his own chest lovingly, while frowning down at her like a disappointed parent. “You’ve given me a lot of trouble.” “You should probably let me go then, unless you want more.” He fake-smiled in pretentious amusement. “And who’s going to trouble me, you? Or the great Nicodemus? He’s been searching for this place for years and never found it, and you, my dear, have barely crawled from the primordial ooze compared

to me.” He chuckled at his own cleverness. “Then why am I here?” “Because as it turns out, you’re a very useful crawler, which is the only reason you’re alive.” He pinned her with a cold stare that lacked any hint of civility. “Let’s be clear. Should you cease to be useful to me, I’ll kill you. I’d rather see you dead than in the hands of my enemies.” “Why would I help you? You killed my grandfather.” He shrugged aside her accusation. “You misunderstand. Your cooperation is preferable, but not necessary. Would you like a demon​stration?” Hana backed up until she hit the wall, fighting the terror flooding her body with adrenaline, while she struggled to remember everything Nico had taught her about shields. Her magic was there, like a blob of glittery play-slime, just waiting to be formed into something. She drew on it, shaping it into a protective shield and reinforcing it with her will, keeping it flexible so it wouldn’t shatter the first time Sotiris hit her with his much greater power. She was prepared to fight for her life and her sanity, for the people she cared about, for Gabriel. She was prepared to die for them. But she wasn’t prepared for Sotiris to tear through her shield like paper, laughing as he reached for her throat, his touch a searing pain that scorched every nerve with agonizing fire. She screamed, but she was her

grandfather’s student, warrior-trained to set aside pain and keep fighting. Dropping her hand to her waistband, she fumbled with fingers she could barely feel to find the taped end of her blade, slicing herself as she pulled it from the hidden sheath and grasped it in her fist. Sotiris wasn’t paying any attention to what she was doing, too focused on drinking in her screams, feeling her writhe in his powerful grip. Focusing every bit of control she had left, Hana lifted the blade and slashed his throat. Or she tried. At the last minute, the bastard saw something, the flash of the blade, maybe, or the movement of her arm. Whatever it was, he lifted his own arm to block it and caught the blade on his fore​arm instead. The brutally sharp knife sliced through his fine clothes and into his flesh, hitting bone before it stopped. “Bitch!” He let go of her throat but slapped her across the face hard enough to send her to the floor, cracking her head on the heavy bed’s footboard as she fell. Hana lay there, stunned for a moment by the lingering pain from his touch and the blow to her head. But Sotiris didn’t wait. Twisting his hand in her long hair, his fingers coated with the blood running down his arm, he dragged her to her feet. “I warned you. I’m going to tie you up, stick an IV in your arm to keep you alive, and use you like my personal amplifier. And if things get really slow, maybe I’ll let

Bluto have some fun, too. He’s quite taken with you.” Hana gathered what moisture she could find in her dry mouth and spit in his face. He gave a furious shout and punched her in the stomach, doubling her over while everything in her stomach came up, tinged with blood as she threw up onto the floor. Sotiris dropped her, shaking a hand covered in vomit. “Disgusting,” he snarled, then glared down at her with such rage, she thought she’d burst into flames. What really happened was worse. Hana screamed as a spike drove into her skull, as the spike became a funnel and Sotiris began sucking her brain like a vacuum, stealing her thoughts, her magic, everything, until she had to strain to remember who she was, what she was—a person, a fighter, a woman beloved by a warrior with bronzecolored eyes who would come for her. She squeezed her mental self into a tiny ball, hiding from the unthinkable violation of her mind, hoping she could stay alive long enough to be found. He let her go at last, dropping her to the floor like a wet towel, then standing over her and laughing in undeniable joy. “Damn, that felt good. Fuck me. I am a god!” He let out a triumphant shout, then looked down at her. Hana could barely see the frown creasing his face. “I wonder how long it takes you to recharge?” he muttered, then leaned down to cup her cheek in perverse affection. “I’ll get the doctor in

here. You and I are going to have a wonderful relationship.” He grinned. “For me, anyway.” He was still laughing when he left the room. Hana couldn’t move. She lay there, helpless, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Chapter Twelve NICK WORKED THROUGH most of the night and into the morning, going far more slowly than was his usual want as he gently followed his link with Hana. It was delicate work, and the object of his search was so critical—not only to him personally, but to the world itself—that he was exhausted by the time he finally got a bead on where she was being held. He emerged from the office, sweat- drenched, barely able to focus his eyes on the material world because he’d been searching inward for so long, following magical pathways that only a sorcerer could see. “Fuck!” Damian exclaimed, catching sight of him. He strode over and pulled Nick’s arm over his shoulder, bracing an arm around his waist. “Sit down before you fall, man.” He guided him over to the only usable furniture in the house, the dining room table and chairs, which had somehow survived the disaster relatively unscathed. The others all sat there, drinking coffee and eating waffles, of all things. “Coffee,” he said, but Casey was already on her feet, pouring a big mug and sliding it in front of him. Black, the way he liked it. His hand shook as he took a sip, then another. “Good coffee,” he said in surprise.

“I buy it for the others,” Grace supplied, indicating her own cup of tea. Nick nodded blearily, took another, longer drink then said, “I know where she is.” “Shit, talk about burying the lead,” Casey said. “Where?” “I need you to check it out first. We need to be sure. If we hit the wrong place tonight, Sotiris will know we’re looking and might take her somewhere else. If he goes overseas, I’ll lose her.” Casey stood. “Let’s go.” “Wait,” Damian said. “Who’s going and where?” “Get me a map,” Nick said. “Something on the computer’s fine, but it has to be detailed, not the whole fucking state. I need . . .” He thought for a moment. “Twenty-five miles from here. She’s inland, for sure, though, so don’t worry about the coast.” Casey already had her laptop out and was typing rapidly. “Here you go,” she said, and shoved the computer across the table, turning it to face Nick. He squinted at the screen, then closed his eyes, overlaying a magical projection that reflected his night’s work. “There,” he said, then zoomed in even further. “I can’t narrow it to a house, so Casey will have to go. If that’s Sotiris’s hideout, even a parttime one, there’ll be enough magic escaping that she’ll sense it.” “I can—” Kato started to protest, but Nick shook his head.

“It’s got to be the women. You and Damian are too noticeable. You were both in the battle last night, so his people know what you look like.” “You’re assuming Sotiris has those mercenaries guarding his house.” “Raphael’s prisoner said they were.” “He could have been lying to protect the mission or his friends.” “I’m pretty sure Raphael can dig any truth from a man’s brain. Still, why would we assume otherwise and roll the dice?” Nick asked. “It’s not necessary. Casey and Grace can do it just as well and maybe better, since they can keep it low key.” He caught Damian’s frown. “It’s a simple re-con, for fuck’s sake. Casey could do it with her eyes closed, and you know it.” “I’d rather go with her,” Damian insisted. “I’ll be fine,” Casey said, sounding nearly as impatient as Nick. “Not that I don’t love your company, babe, but I’ve been doing shit like this for years. And don’t forget, I’m also a Quantico-trained FBI agent.” “And Grace?” Damian demanded. “What about me?” Grace responded quietly, looking up to give him an even stare. With everyone looking at him, waiting for his response, Damian surrendered. “Fine, but Kato and I will follow in a second vehicle and take up a position no more than ten minutes away.”

Casey glanced at Nick, who gave a small shrug. “Fine by me.” He yawned. “The house is in Hidden Hills, though. You’ll need to get past the gate first.” “I can take care of that,” Grace said, with a pointed look at Damian. “My mom’s best friend lives there with her family. I’m on their per​manent guest list. I can clear you guys, too, as long as you don’t look like you’re getting ready to re-launch the Crusades.” Kato laughed, dropping the arm he’d had on the back of her chair to her shoulder and giving her a hug. “We’ll look perfectly innocent, I promise.” She snorted but leaned in to him. “All right, then,” Nick said on a long, tired breath. “This one’s yours.” He stood. “I’m going to get some sleep while I still can, but I’ll have my cell handy. Call me if anything happens. Anything,” he repeated, looking directly at Casey. “What? I always get the job done, don’t I?” He clapped Damian on the shoulder as he walked to the stairs and dragged himself up. “Have fun, children, and take care. Wake me when you return. We’ll need to have a plan before the vampires rise.” SEVERAL HOURS LATER, the setting sun was burning holes into Nick’s eyes when he came down the stairs. “Someone shut the damn drapes,” he growled. Kato walked over and pulled what was left of the

heavy fabric, his expression showing amusement when the sun continued to stream through the gaps and tears. “That’s fucking worse. Let’s take this into the office, and please God, tell me someone made coffee.” Damian and Kato dragged chairs into the office, while Casey poured coffee into a two-cup travel thermos and handed it to Nick, along with a mug. He smiled. “You know me well.” He hated drinking out of those travel things. “All right, what did you discover? No, start from the beginning; how did you discover it?” Casey glanced at Grace, who lifted an open palm, indicating she should tell the story. “Okay, it took us a while to spot the house. There’s something like six hundred properties behind the gates, and they’re all spread out. But we started in the northeast corner, since that’s where you seemed to think Hana was most likely to be—” Nick grunted. “—and also because I figured Sotiris wouldn’t want a lot of neighbors. We focused on houses that backed up to the Las Virgenes Space Preserve, which is part of the Santa Monica Mountains Con servancy. Basically, a big open space where no one’s allowed to build anything. And that’s where we found it. I’m telling you, anyone with the tiniest bit of sensitivity to magic would get a chill going past this

house. For me, it was like a beacon shining a mile away, before I even laid eyes on the place.” “He must have some serious wards up, then,” Nick observed pensively. “You know my sensitivity is stronger for things than people, but do you really think it was just the wards I was feeling? Do wards count as things?” Nick thought about it. “Not unless they’re tied to an object, which is a pretty low-level spell. I wouldn’t expect it from Sotiris. But then what the hell does he have in that house?” “I can’t tell you that. Maybe he collects magic stuff like you do.” He scowled at her. “Mine’s in a warded vault.” Casey shrugged. “Maybe Sotiris likes to display his for guests. I don’t know. All I’m saying is that I’m sure this is the house. And not just because of the magic. He’s got a twelve-foot wall around the property, with armed guards at the gate. They’re discreet, since few of the other properties had guarded gates, much less armed guards. But they’re there, if you know what to look for.” Grace picked up the narrative. “We looked his property up in public records already. The lot’s about an acre and a half, so he has plenty of room, plus it’s at the end of a dead-end street. That made it difficult to surveil, since we couldn’t get behind it in the car. We ended up parking a couple blocks away, where they were having an open house on a property

that backs up to the same open space as the house with all the magic leaking. We walked through the open house first, asked all the right questions, then went back to the street and walked around a little, as if checking out the neighborhood.” Casey gave Damian a nervous glance before saying, “Eventually, we walked along the side of the house, then climbed down and crossed the slope until we were behind the house we thought was his.” Damian turned his head slowly to stare at her. “You did what?” “It was perfectly safe. All we got were some scratches and bug bites. Turns out the wall goes all the way around. There’s not even a back gate. We had to schlep all the way back to the sale house for nothing.” “Maybe not,” Nick commented. “Walls can be knocked down.” “Not exactly a discreet entrance,” Kato observed. “Maybe we don’t want discreet. Maybe we should take a page from Sotiris’s playbook and make a big noise coming in the front. Let Raphael lead that charge, like he said. He’s good at knocking things down, and he has plenty of fighters. He can engage the enemy, while I draw out Sotiris, hopefully to kill him once and for all. But either way, Gabriel should be able to slip through the main battle zone, find Hana, and get her out of there.” “How many armed guards?” Damian asked Casey.

“We saw ten, including the two on the gate. We got a glimpse of someone who might be that Popeye guy —” “Bluto.” “—but that was on our first drive-by, so we couldn’t linger to be sure. Either way, there’s bound to be more guards inside, some active, some resting. They have to be running at least two shifts.” “Okay,” Nick said, standing. “I need to eat something, then we can gear up and get over to Raphael’s. I can give him a quick brief before we leave, or en route by phone. The plan’s essentially what we discussed last night. He just needs the specifics.” “What about his people? Won’t they need to be briefed?” Casey asked. “You ever seen vampires fight?” She shook her head. “Well, I have. They’re like a hive mind when they attack. Vampire lords can telepath their people and coordinate the strike. It’s as amazing as it is creepy. And very damn effective, which happens to be a good thing for us tonight.” RAPHAEL’S VAMPIRES arrived at the front gate to the community of Hidden Hills in a convoy of five black SUVs. The guard at the gate didn’t blink an eye. The vampire driver of the first vehicle persuaded the man of his credentials for admission, and the rest of

the vehicles followed him in. Homes in the elite community were set well back from the streets, but even if anyone happened to notice their passage, there were more than a few well-known personalities who lived behind those gates, so it wasn’t all that unusual to see a trail of security vehicles in the area. They parked along an empty curve of the street which bordered the wild canyon, and walked the rest of the way, with Raphael in the lead, his power gathering the shadows to conceal their approach. The plan was as simple as they’d outlined the night before. Nick Katsaros would attack from a distance, targeting Sotiris on the magical plane, drawing him out and forcing him to defend his lair. Katsaros was counting on the element of surprise, since he’d never been able to find this house before. He expected Sotiris to be somewhat com​placent, secure in his obscurity. But though his initial reaction would be blunted by the unexpected attack, he’d quickly mount a furious defense, at least partly in rage at being found. Katsaros, however, seemed supremely confident that he could handle Sotiris, no matter how vicious his response. His job was to distract the enemy sorcerer, kill him if possible, and escape alive. Raphael left him to it. He had his own people to worry about and an innocent woman to rescue. He pulled Cyn to his side as his vampires spread out in prepara​tion for the assault. Sotiris thought to hide behind walls and gates, but those things were no

barrier to a vampire of his power. “You will go in with the second wave,” he murmured against her ear, and tightened his hold on her, anticipating her protest. She immediately tried to pull back, rebellion sparking in her green eyes. “Why the hell would I do that?” “I have the greatest respect for your abilities and courage. You know that. But we’ll be facing a significant armed response in a wide courtyard with little or no cover. I’ll have my strongest vampires with me, leading the attack. We will each raise shields, and I will ensure they meld into a single repelling force. It will require intense concentration on my part. Having you there, unprotected and human, will be a distraction I cannot afford. I need to focus, lubimaya. Lives depend on it.” She scowled up at him. “Cheap shot, fang boy, but okay. This time.” He kissed her, hard and fast. “I love you, my Cyn. Be safe.” “Love you, too,” she said, then melted back into the darkness to stand next to Gabriel. He’d also wanted to be in the first wave, but he was too new in his power, and besides, he had the most important task of all—finding Hana and getting her to safety. And he couldn’t do that if he died in the first wave. Raphael watched her go. His Cyn was a warrior down to her marrow. She craved the adrenaline rush

of battle, the challenge of pitting her life against another. She’d been right in accusing him of playing on her emotions to persuade her to go in with the second wave. He’d have preferred to leave her behind altogether, where she’d be safe. Only he’d never betray her like that. Still, he would do what he could to protect her. She was a warrior, but she was also the woman he loved more than life. Turning away, he gathered his strongest vampires around him. Juro and Ken’ichi, Jared, and two others who captained his security teams. Raphael glanced from side to side, making certain of their readiness, although the visual scan was unnecessary. He could feel their power simmering against his own, could feel their eagerness for battle. Cyn wasn’t the only one of his warriors who lusted for blood. The desire was built into a vampire’s nature. The more powerful the vampire, the stronger their aggressiveness and hunger for violence. His eyes cast a silver glow against the darkness as he raised his power and let it swell until it touched every one of his vampires, including fighters in the second wave. Then he contracted it into a concentrated wave of energy ahead of him. Each of the five warriors by his side brought their own shields up to mesh with his, surrendering control to him in an act of supreme trust. By the time he’d woven them into an impenetrable shield, a red star rose slowly into the night sky, barely visible against

the light of a full moon, then faded from sight. Katsaros had begun his attack. Raphael waited three minutes more, then sent a simple telepathic message to his people. “Go.” Sotiris’s guards didn’t see them until they were almost upon the gate. Raphael’s power, combined with the night and a vampire’s natural stealth, concealed them from detection. When he finally lifted his silvery gaze, the two gate guards didn’t bother with words; they simply started firing, while yelling for help over the comm units they both wore. More guards raced to the gate, firing almost recklessly, risking their own people in a frantic drive to kill the unknown attackers who’d suddenly appeared at their gate. Raphael didn’t hesitate, didn’t miss a beat. As the guards’ bullets bounced off his vampires’ combined shields, he diverted a portion of his power and shoved it outward, slamming it in the gate and sur rounding wall with all the force of the most powerful vampire on earth. The gate blew inward, as if made of paper, knocking down guards as it tumbled across the courtyard, while to either side, the wall shattered like glass, sending huge chunks of stone flying through the air, until screams of pain joined the sound of cursing. A large figure strode into the courtyard, shouting as he advanced, ordering the guards to fall back to the house. Raphael eyed the man, if that’s what he

was. He was swathed in tactical gear, covered head to toe in a suit that may have protected him, but made movement almost impossible. This had to be the infamous Bluto. The man responsible for killing one of his vampires, for kidnapping Hana, and for injuring Cyn. Sotiris’s guards retreated across the courtyard to the house as they continued to fire. This was a different battle now. But it was one that Raphael’s vampires had been created to fight. “Attack,” he sent telepathically. The powerful vampires next to him all drew their shields out of the combined energy wall and started forward, leading small groups of fighters surging into the house. He saw Cyn flash past, her eyes wild, teeth bared in a ferocious grin. Bluto saw her, too. Lifting his huge handgun, the coward targeted Cyn when she ran by, but his gun never fired. Before he could pull the trigger, he was screaming in agony, as every bone in his arm, his hand, his fingers snapped, one after the other, until there was nothing but bits of bone in a bag of skin. His armor was no protection against a vengeful vampire lord. Raphael walked up to him where he knelt on the ground moaning, struggling to grip the gun in his left hand. “I don’t think so,” Raphael murmured, and broke the bones in that arm as well. The man shrieked, staring through the mask of his suit, his eyes wide and terrified. He’d thought himself invulnerable, omnipotent. Raphael smiled

and let his fangs slide out to gleam in the moon’s light. “You killed one of mine,” he said quietly, the sound traveling to the soon-to-be-dead man’s ears despite the noise of battle coming from the house. “And you tried to kill my mate.” The man fought to scramble away, pushing with his heels, his arms useless. Raphael followed, the silver glow of his eyes lighting up the face shield of the high-tech suit, reflecting in the man’s horrified gaze. Using no more than a wisp of power, Raphael reached out and grasped the man’s heart, feeling the pulse of the beating organ as he squeezed ever so slowly, wanting the human to know what was happening, to suffer the agony of his heart’s destruction. Bluto gasped at the first touch, keened as Raphael’s grip tightened, his panting breath loud behind the lens of his suit. “Oh, God,” he pleaded, then turned his gaze on his tormentor. “Please. He ordered me to do it.” Raphael gazed down at him and squeezed. “But it was you who pulled the trigger,” he said softly, then closed the fist of his power and crushed the man’s heart until it could have oozed through his fingers like soft clay. He paused only long enough to be certain of the man’s death, then pulled his shield tight around his body and strode into the house. His vampires were in full battle mode, howling as they kicked down doors and tossed aside huge pieces

of furniture, ignoring gunfire to grab the defenders and rip their throats out, sometimes pausing to drink the blood of their enemy before moving on. Some of the guards held out, retreating deeper into the house, while others raced up the stairs to fire from above. Juro and Ken’ichi dealt with most of those, surrounded by their shields, leaping several feet into the air to grab the defenders, drag them off their mezzanine perches, and rip their guns away before breaking their necks or simply punching their chests so hard that their hearts stopped. Other guards, seeing the slaughter, had raced out the back doors, dragging an elegant statue of a naked woman to the back wall to boost themselves over. Raphael’s vampires followed on their heels, until Raphael sent an order to let them go. Our goal is inside. Clear the house. NICK SWORE AS HE followed Sotiris down another fucking worm​hole. As planned, he’d sent up his signal when he was ready, then immediately attacked, before Sotiris could become aware that vampires were about to assault his front gate. As predicted, Sotiris’s initial reaction had been shock that he’d been discovered, but that hadn’t lasted longer than a few seconds. He’d immediately responded with an attack far more vicious than even Nick had anticipated. “Fucker must really have liked this house,” Nick

thought smugly, and hoped the vamps tore it down brick by brick. There was little time for smug thoughts, however. Responding to Sotiris’s attack, he retreated as if wounded, wanting to pull his enemy far from the main battle on the ground. Sotiris’s laughter followed as he chased Nick into the ether, following the trace he’d intentionally left behind, making it easy for the bastard to find him. He could almost hear the sorcerer’s heels skidding when he slammed into Nick’s trap, a sticky mess of a spell that could hold a weaker magic user until he literally died of starvation. It wouldn’t work that well with Sotiris, but it slowed him down and made him even more furious. It was an amateur’s mistake—and Sotiris had fallen right into it. “Think you’re clever, do you?” Sotiris snarled, as he destroyed the spell with a flare of power. “Let’s see if you can fight without your prepared traps and toys.” Then laughing again, he’d opened the damn wormhole and sped away. Nick hated the damn things, but they were Sotiris’s favored escape route, so he’d forced himself to become an expert in maneuvering through the mindtwisting warps of reality, remaining locked on his enemy’s trail. He was just beginning to think this one would never end, when without warning, he popped out of the wormhole and into . . . a desert somewhere. After first making certain his shields

were undamaged and in place, he took a quick glance around and chuckled. They were in Joshua Tree National Park, at virtually the same location where Sotiris had tried to sacrifice Kato in order to steal the Dark Witch’s power. He’d never finished the ritual but had run away instead when Nick had appeared. “Re-visiting the site of your last defeat, old man?” Nick taunted as Sotiris appeared out of the darkness. “I’m the one who should be laughing. You bluster and blunder, but you never can close the deal, can you, boy?” He held his arms out, as if to say, “I’m still alive.” “The night is young,” Nick growled and flung a handful of power, the scattered energy turning to individual explosions as they burst against the sorcerer’s shields, where they clung, pulsing, as they bur​rowed through Sotiris’s protection, until the asshole sent a wave of fire rolling over the outermost shield layer, incinerating Nick’s weapons in an instant, then rolling his fire forward to cloak Nick’s shields in turn, surrounding him in flames. Nick swore as the fire blinded him for an instant, then he sucked in his own magic and cast it out again, surrounding himself in ice that flowed over his shields, dousing the fire and cooling his skin. The flames had never penetrated, but the heat had, and he’d been sweating buckets. Nick schemed within his ice shell. He wanted to hit Sotiris with something

lethal, something he couldn’t easily throw off. It was too bad the bastard had caught on so quickly to the fact that he’d laid traps all along the path of his earlier retreat. But he’d never given that idea more than a fifty-fifty chance of succeeding. Sotiris had never been stupid. Paging through the encyclopedic book of his mind where he stored thousands of years of experience and learning, he seized upon the perfect weapon. But timing would be critical, seconds would matter. Closing his eyes to minimize any distracting visual input—he didn’t need his eyes to keep track of Sotiris—he muttered the words of an ancient language, one not spoken for millennia and never in this reality. Many magic-users spurned the use of words, but some of Nick’s most deadly spells were powered by the combination of his power and the casting of words into the wind. When he opened his eyes again, the spell was lacking only the final few syllables. A single thought would break the icy shield surrounding him, but it wasn’t that simple. He’d have to destroy the shield, cast his weapon, and erect a new, more powerful shield, all within seconds. Because when Nick came out of the ice, he’d be totally vulnerable. It would be for only a few seconds, but Sotiris would be waiting. Sucking in a breath, focusing all of his considerable concentration on the sequence and

components of the individual actions, Nick drop ped the ice, said the final syllables to launch the attack, and brought up new shields, all the space of a heartbeat. An instant later, his shields bucked under Sotiris’s blow, but they didn’t break. The other sorcerer was already bellowing in rage as Nick’s spell slammed into his head, spreading a lava-hot blanket of power over his skull, singing his hair, and turning his face into a mask of melting wax. It looked horrific, deadly to a regular human, and damaging to a sorcerer. But it wasn’t enough to end their battle. Sotiris would already be working to offset the effects of the attack, mind and magic spinning as they analyzed and discarded, needing to understand the weapon in order to destroy it. It took longer than one might expect, because Nick had added a nasty twist to this particular spell. The moment it made contact with its target, it began drawing energy from the victim to power itself. Nick knew the moment Sotiris realized what was happening. The enemy sorcerer reinforced his shields, but shut everything else down for a microsecond, just enough to break the rhythm of the spell and turn the hot goo to ash. He glared at Nick as the ash fell over his shoulder and clothes, his eyes already unfocused and calculating as he prepared a counterattack, while Nick, having used a considerable amount of power, began drawing more magic into himself, sucking up

the sparse bits of ancient magic said to linger in this part of the desert, draining the life force of the plants. One good thing about the desert—the native plants were hardy and accustomed to regenerating themselves after near death. “You’re weaker, old man,” Nick said, mostly to give himself time and to distract his enemy. “My warriors are breaking free.” Sotiris’s mouth lifted in a gruesome grin, the lower half his face still looking like a Halloween mask. “Lost one, though, didn’t you?” he sneered right back. “Vampires got him. That must have been a blow to your giant ego. To have one of your precious warriors prefer blood​suckers to the great Nicodemus. Of course, it was you who left him buried for thousands of years. I’d bear a grudge, too.” Nick kept his face blank, but that last taunt struck hard. He hated that he’d lost Gabriel to the fucking vampires, but at least he was alive and free. And he wouldn’t blame the warrior if he’d felt abandoned, even though he denied it. It hadn’t been Nick who’d dug him out a cave after two thousand years or more. It had been Hana’s great-great- grandfather. Her ancestors were the ones who’d kept Gabriel sane, and it had been Hana who’d understood what was happening and risked her own safety to get him to Raphael, who’d saved his life. Nick had never stopped looking for his warriors. He’d traveled all

over the world, searching, and had even teamed up with the FBI to gain access to their far-reaching resources and manpower—he, a man who despised authority in whatever form it took. He’d done it because he’d been desperate to find them. But then his first warrior—Damian, whom he’d know from childhood—had been found, only miles from a house Nick owned, a place where he’d lived for weeks at a time nearly every year. He figured the fates must have been laughing their asses off that night. Sotiris’s cackling laughter startled him out of his destructive thoughts, and he threw a flash spell, mostly to shut the fucker up, but the asshole wasn’t finished. “You’ll never find the dragon, you know. Never,” Sotiris repeated, his expression so smug that it gave Nick chills. Had Sotiris somehow acquired Dragan’s statue and done something to keep him buried alive, ensuring no one could ever break his curse? God, Nick hated him. There was no one on earth, no one in all his years of life whom he’d hated more. “What have you done?” he growled, hoping the evil bastard would give something away in his rush to brag about his cleverness. “No, no. I’d rather surprise you . . . or not”—he smirked—“since you’ll never find him.” Nick staggered as Sotiris threw a massive energy spell, cursing him​self for letting his guard down, for

letting the fucker get to him. He dropped to the ground in time to dodge a second spell nearly as powerful, but . . . what the fuck? Where was Sotiris getting that power? Had he been playing with Nick all along? Pretending to weaken, lulling him into false confidence? A second, far more awful possibility occurred to him then. Hana. She’d never have cooperated willingly, no matter what Sotiris threatened. Bluto’s threat against Gabriel’s life had been real and visceral, but there was no longer any blackmail for the sorcerer to use. None that Hana would believe, at least. But then, Sotiris didn’t need to threaten, did he? Once he had her in his grip, he could simply strip her mind until she was a shell of herself, stealing everything from her but her magic, keeping her prisoner as his own personal amplifier. He hoped for Gabriel’s sake that it wasn’t true, that Sotiris hadn’t yet had time to use Hana that way. But as a third massive blow struck him, nearly fracturing his shield, he feared the worst. Even that consideration had to wait, however. He couldn’t help Hana if he ended up dead in the next few minutes. And he had no intention of dying. Gathering his power and his focus, he bombarded Sotiris with everything he had, forcing the other sorcerer into a defensive huddle, his shield pulled over his body like a shroud. But despite his situation, despite the fact he should have been worried for his life, the bastard

was grinning. In a moment, Nick knew why. A wormhole opened without warning, and Sotiris stepped into it, turning to give Nick a parting shot. “They don’t have her yet. And I’ll get there before they do.” Then he collapsed the portal behind him and disappeared. Nick cursed. The bastard shouldn’t have had enough power to defend himself against that kind of unrelenting attack and still fashion a stable wormhole. Even worse, no matter how many times Nick tried, he couldn’t find the right path to follow him. And that worried him even more. No sorcerer should have been able to close the time warp behind him the way Sotiris had. It introduced an instability that required an enormous amount of power to control and threatened to dump the traveling sorcerer in a place far from his desired time and place, not to mention with bits and pieces of his body missing. And yet, the bastard hadn’t been concerned for his safety at all. It had to be Hana’s power, and Sotiris still had her. They’d failed. Dreading what he would find, Nick opened his own wormhole and raced back. GABRIEL HAD HEARD Raphael’s order to attack, but he hadn’t needed it. He’d had one goal from the moment he entered the house. The guards he fought and killed were only obstacles to his search for Hana.

Damian and Kato fought at his side, clearing the path as they raced upstairs, and once they’d reached the second floor, destroying any of the enemy who thought to come at them from behind. The three of them had fought hundreds battles together, and they fell into rhythm as if no time had passed. Damian fought two-handed, his sword in one, a sub-machine gun in another, while Kato relied on his black blade. The feral sword sang greedily as it chopped off heads and limbs, blood swimming down the blade against all laws of gravity as it sucked up the life force of its enemies. As for Gabriel, he’d left his heavy blade behind, choosing a gun identical to Damian’s, wanting to travel light in his race to rescue Hana. He knew vampires could form blood bonds with their lovers, bonds that were even stronger with mates. He and Hana hadn’t taken that final step yet, but her blood ran in his veins from the many times they’d made love, and she’d drawn enough of his blood during her passionate bites to forge the beginnings of a bond between them. It would strengthen over time, but it was enough for Gabriel to follow within the confines of the house where she was being held captive. “Up the stairs,” he told his brothers. They moved as one, Kato turning to fight a pair of gunmen, lopping off their hands along with their guns, while Gabriel shot a third fighter who thought to take

Kato from behind. Damian was already halfway up the stairs, clearing their path with brutal efficiency, shooting with one hand while slicing with the other, power gleaming off him like a sheen of sweat as he demonstrated what it meant to challenge a god of war. “Go,” Kato shouted, and Gabriel turned, running up the stairs to meet Damian, who fired over his head, freeing Kato to follow. “We must be on the right track,” Damian snarled. “They’re on us like flies.” “Then like flies, they’ll die,” Kato crooned, having fallen under the spell of his blade. Gabriel clashed gazes with Damian, and they shrugged. This was Kato at his most lethal. What more could a warrior ask for at his back? They raced along the second-floor balcony, Gabriel in the lead as he followed that tenuous thread in his mind, a thread that grew stronger with every step he took. The hallway twisted and turned, and by the time they reached the double doors at the end, they were alone, with a trail of their enemies’ bodies in their wake. Gabriel pushed the doors open, leading with his gun, Damian right beside him. They spread out automatically, taking two steps into the room and freezing. Hana lay motionless on a bed pushed sideways against the wall, a single guard standing next to her, his gun at her head.

“Drop the guns or she dies,” the gunman rasped, sparing a glance for Kato who moved up to stand with his brothers, the three of them in a widely spaced arc, making it difficult for the gunman to keep them all at bay. Kato appeared to be weaponless, since he’d slid his blade into the ensorcelled sheath at his back, thus hiding it from sight. So, the gunman focused on Gabriel and Damian, who both held their guns out flat and slowly bent to place them on the floor. The gunman watched the two of them carefully, his eyes following every move. He never noticed Kato’s blade slicing silently through the air like a thrown spear, cutting through the man’s tactical vest as if it wasn’t there, and stabbing straight into his heart . . . where it immedi​ately began emitting a song of eerie delight as it drank up the heart’s blood of the dying man. Gabriel didn’t wait another second. The moment he’d seen Kato with bare hands, he’d known what the outcome would be. He was rushing to the bed before the gunman began to fall. “Hana,” he whispered, taking out his knife and cutting the ropes which bound her hands. She was unconscious, blood oozing from a deep slash in her right palm and a cut on her forehead, while more blood caked her lips and chin, as if she’d vomited the stuff. “Hana,” he repeated, stroking her face. She didn’t wake up, didn’t respond. “I’m getting her out

of here. She needs a doctor.” Damian looked at Kato and said, “I’ll lead; you follow.” RAPHAEL GLANCED up as Gabriel appeared at the top of the stairs with Hana held closely in his arms. His two friends were with him, guarding him front and back, but they’d clearly already wiped out whatever resistance had been on the second floor. He met Gabriel’s gaze and held up a hand for him to wait, then contacted Juro who was mopping up operations in the courtyard. Gabriel is bringing Hana down. I want two vehicles waiting when he gets there, with three fighters, plus the drivers. I’m bringing him out. Getting Juro’s wordless agreement, he turned and waved Gabriel down, drawing on his full power to create a bubble of protection. “Stay close. All of you,” he ordered the three of them, and started for the front door, ignoring the few fighters who tried to stop them, their bullets and bodies both buffeted aside by the force of his shield. The house doors had remained open throughout the fighting, and he strode out, going directly to the open door of the waiting SUV. Gabriel slid in with Hana in his arms. Damian went in after him, with Kato taking the front seat next to the driver. The second vehicle pulled up behind, with four vampires already inside. “She needs a hospital,” Gabriel said, but Raphael

overrode him. “To the estate,” he told the driver, then turned to Gabriel. “One of my people is mated to an excellent trauma care surgeon. He has a fully equipped medical suite on the estate, and he understands vampires.” He met Gabriel’s eyes intently, hoping he’d understand the unspoken message. Dr. Peter Saephan was, indeed, a world-class trauma surgeon, but he also knew the benefits of vampire blood for an injured human. It was something Raphael wouldn’t speak of in front of the two ancient warriors in the vehicle. They might be Gabriel’s oldest friends, but they were human, and the only humans who knew vampire secrets were their mates. And not even all of those. Gabriel gave him a short nod, and Raphael stepped back, closing the door. The SUV and its escort took off at vampire speed—which meant very fast, since vampires had superior reflexes and night sight, and didn’t have to worry about injuries. Juro stepped up to his side. “Contact the driver of the escort,” Raphael told him. “I want to know the minute they encounter any sign of trouble, and I want status checks when they pass Mulholland, clear the canyon, and arrive at the estate.” “Sire,” Juro said, and pulled out his cell phone to call the drivers, while Raphael strode back into the house. It was time to finish this.

Fifteen minutes later, Juro telepathed him to say, “They’re through the canyon and on the highway.” Raphael threw a deadly punch of power at an enemy fighter who’d somehow gotten behind him, then looked around. With Hana heading for safety, there was no reason for his vampires to keep fighting. There was no way of knowing the status of Katsaros’s battle against Sotiris, which meant the enemy sorcerer could return at any moment to discover his prisoner gone. Raphael wanted Hana, along with all his people, behind the power and security of his own estate before that happened. One on one, he’d face the sorcerer any night, but he wouldn’t risk his vampires in a fight they couldn’t win. Touching Juro’s thoughts, he said, “We’re leaving. Get everyone out now.” Juro acknowledged the order and began giving his own orders, while Raphael circled around toward the back of the house where he could feel Cyn’s presence. She and two vampires were positioned at the narrow opening between the kitchen and a short hallway, trading shots with an unknown number of Sotiris’s fighters. He came up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder. “We’re leaving.” She glanced back. “Hana?” “On her way to the estate with Gabriel.” She scowled and jerked her head toward the enemy fighters. “What about these guys?”

“I don’t care about them. Our objective was Hana. Let’s go,” he said, giving his vampires a mental nudge at the same time. They retreated back to the front of the house cautiously, but most of the mercenary guards seemed to have gotten the message that the vampires were leaving, and were content to hold their fire. They were probably happy to have survived. “Is Hana really okay?” Cyn asked, as their SUV joined the final group of vehicles leaving Hidden Hills and heading back to their coastal base. “She’s injured, but alive. Dr. Saephan was advised and is waiting for her at the estate. Gabriel is with her.” “Any other injuries on our team?” “Some injuries, very few serious. They were already evacuated. No deaths,” he added, knowing what she’d been afraid to ask. “Good. How long—?” Her question was interrupted by a yawn. He smiled. “Two hours until sunrise.” “What’s our next step?” He thought for a moment. “We wait to hear from Katsaros, and hope he brings good news.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “You stopped calling him ‘that fucking sorcerer.’” “The exigencies of war, my Cyn. Never fear, I shall once again anoint him with his rightful title when this is over.”

Chapter Thirteen RAPHAEL CLIMBED OUT of the SUV with Cyn but didn’t follow her up the stairs. “I’m going to check on Hana and Gabriel,” he said. “Oh, good. I’ll go with you.” He cupped her cheek. “Not this time, lubimaya. Gabriel needs me, but he won’t welcome an audience. This will be difficult for him.” She studied him, not quite understanding what he was saying. “Vampire shit?” He smiled. “Yes.” “And you’ll tell me later?” “I will, if Gabriel agrees.” “All right, then. Give them my love and tell Hana I’ll visit tomor​row.” She kissed him briefly, then continued into the main house. He waited until the doors closed behind her, then turned and headed for Dr. Saephan’s basement clinic. He let himself into the anteroom, then paused, listening to the subdued conversation going on in the next room. “I understand the importance of blood when it comes to mates, Gabriel, but you were badly injured yourself, just last night, and you won’t do Hana any good if you bleed yourself dry now. My mate stands ready to help you. He’s done it with others, and—”

“No,” Gabriel growled, though Raphael could hear the exhaustion in his voice. Raphael stepped quietly into the room, returning Dr. Saephan’s grim look with a reassuring nod. Walking over, he placed a comforting hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “My lord.” Gabriel’s head came up, as if just noticing Raphael’s presence. “Gabriel. Dr. Saephan, how is she?” “The head wound appears worse than it is, though she will prob​ably have a headache when she wakes. Her unconscious state is the result of blunt force trauma to the abdomen. In simple English, she was punched by someone much stronger than an ordinary human.” “Magically enhanced, rather than vampire,” Raphael commented. “Her kidnapper was a sorcerer.” Saephan nodded. “She has a ruptured spleen and significant internal bleeding, although thanks to Gabriel’s infusion of blood, it will not be necessary to remove the organ. I’m pushing fluids to improve her blood pressure,” he said, indicating the IV drip by her bedside. “She should recover fully, but it will take some time.” “She needs more of my blood,” Gabriel interrupted. Raphael squeezed his shoulder and glanced at Saephan. “If you could give us a moment, Peter.”

“Of course, I’ll settle my vampire patients for the morning.” “How are they doing?” Raphael asked. “They’ll all be good as new by tomorrow night. Or near enough. It’s difficult to keep any of you down much longer than that, no matter what I recommend.” He disappeared into the next room, closing the door behind him. Raphael waited until he and Gabriel were alone, then pulled up a chair and sat next to him. “Hana knows you’re here, Gabriel. That’s why she’s sleeping so restfully.” Gabriel stared at him. “Are you sure? She hasn’t wakened since we brought her here, except for a few mumbled words.” “Her mind is restful, and look how she holds on to your hand. She feels safe.” Gabriel drew a long, relieved breath. “She could use more blood. Dr. Saephan doesn’t think I can handle a second bleeding, but I can.” “Hana is your mate, yours to care for.” “Yes. Mine.” Raphael smiled. He understood that possessive urge. He’d kill any vampire who tried to feed his Cyn. But he was a vampire lord, while Gabriel’s complicated history made him closer to a newly made vampire, rather than one created thousands of years ago when he’d been forcibly turned. “She is yours,” he agreed. “But Gabriel, you’re

mine to protect, and so, Hana is, too. It was my failure that led to her kidnapping—” “My lord, no. If not for you, that bastard would still have her.” “Even so. I have a responsibility to both of you. You say she needs more blood. If you would permit me, I’d like to help.” Gabriel stared at him. “You would do that for my Hana?” “She is yours, Gabriel. And you are mine. I protect my own.” “I would be honored, my lord. Your blood is far more powerful. By tomorrow night, she’ll be sparring with Dr. Saephan’s other patients and driving him mad.” Raphael chuckled. “Dr. Saephan has quite enough excitement in his life. After she takes my blood, we’ll carry her to your personal quarters, so she can wake beside you. That’s the best medicine for her.” Gabriel brushed a tender hand over Hana’s sleeping face. “Thank you, my lord.” The door opened, and Dr. Saephan returned, stopping when he saw Raphael rolling up his sleeve. “My lord?” “Gabriel has agreed to let me help with Hana. Should I use my fangs, or do you—” Saephan gave him a disapproving look and produced a scalpel. Peeling the sterile wrap, he bared the blade and offered it to Raphael. “I know you

don’t require the protection, but humor me.” “Thank you.” Moving into position on the opposite side of Hana’s bed so that Gabriel could see everything he was doing, he sliced his wrist open with the sharp blade. Blood welled slowly at first, and he rubbed it over her lips, enticing her to drink. By the time the blood was flowing smoothly, she had grasped his wrist and was drinking eagerly. Raphael glanced at Saephan, waiting for a sign that she’d taken enough. When it came, he gently disengaged and stepped back. The doctor wiped Raphael’s arm clean and applied an adhesive bandage, though it was hardly necessary. His blood would coagulate in less than a minute, and the wound would be gone by the time he woke that evening. “We’re going to move Hana to Gabriel’s quarters, so he can remain with her,” Raphael informed Saephan, as he gently wiped blood from Hana’s lips. “Can we disconnect the IV? Or should we—” “By now, she needs Gabriel’s touch more than she needs saline.” The doctor slid the IV needle from her arm, using cotton and a bright pink adhesive wrap to put pressure on the puncture. “You’ll carry her?” he asked Gabriel, clearly knowing the answer. He knew vam​pires. He’d been living on the estate with his vampire mate for years. Gabriel answered by scooping up Hana and holding her close. Knowing what a fierce warrior she

was, Raphael was struck by how delicate she appeared against the vampire’s broad chest and strong arms. “I’ll walk with you, open doors and such,” he told Gabriel, then glanced back as he followed the pair into the hall. “Thank you, Peter. I am, as ever, grateful for your excellent care.” Saephan lifted his chin. “This estate is my home. Its people are my people, vampire and human both. This is my way of protecting them.” Raphael dipped his head in respect and gratitude, then strode down the hall.

Chapter Fourteen NICK STUMBLED AS he stepped out of the disintegrating wormhole and onto the sand of Santa Monica State Beach, just as the sun crested the horizon. There was no one to see him at that hour, at least no one who cared. The drunks barely gave him a second glance, and the early morning joggers were too absorbed in themselves to pay attention to anything else. If anyone had been paying attention, they’d have dis​missed it as a trick of the dawn light, because everyone knew that people didn’t appear out of nowhere. He counted on the human ability to rationalize almost anything, although if he was being honest, he’d have admitted that he didn’t give a damn this morning what people saw. He was worn-out tired and pissed as hell. He’d lost more than Sotiris this time, he’d lost Hana and didn’t know how he could face Gabriel with that knowledge. It was too late to call the vampires, but Damian or Kato would be able to tell him what had gone wrong, besides his own failure to stop Sotiris. But he had to reach his room first. Cell phones didn’t travel well through wormholes. He didn’t know if it was the distortion of time and space that fucked the devices up, or if it was the abundance of magical

currents being bandied about. He tended to think the latter, since he always felt a bit battered himself when he emerged from one of the magical constructs. He hated those fucking things. He crossed the sand without taking his boots off, which he quickly realized was a mistake. He’d been thinking of the hassle of untying the combat style footwear, only to tie it back up once he reached the sidewalk. He should have thought about where he was. He could walk barefoot through the damn hotel lobby and no one would blink an eye. Crossing the concrete strand between the sand and the hotel, he schlepped through the café tables, past the elegant restaurant and piano bar, and into the lobby where he went directly to the elevators. The well-trained staff didn’t blink an eye at his appearance, or the sandy trail that was dribbling along behind him. They were trained to ignore the eccentricities of their wealthy clients. This was L.A., after all. Nick had lost his room key at some point during the hellish night, but it didn’t matter. He could zap the lock open faster than the damn key, anyway. Shoving the heavy door open, he made sure it closed and locked behind him, then added a quick warning spell. If anyone opened the door, he’d know, and the intruder would get a nasty surprise—a jolt of power strong enough to put him down and keep him there until Nick could respond directly.

Stripping off his clothes as he crossed the living room portion of his suite and leaving them wherever they landed, he walked naked into the bedroom and dug his cell phone from the bedside table. He called Kato first, but got his voicemail. That was troubling. His warriors were both well versed enough in his methods to expect him to check in once the battle was over. Granted, past encounters had varied from a few hours to a few days, but he still would have expected to reach his men. He got his answers when he tried Damian. “What happened?” he demanded when Damian answered. Damian didn’t respond right away, but then he said cautiously, “We got Hana.” Nick’s breath caught in his throat. “You got her?” His question was little more than a whisper, as if he was afraid that saying the words would shatter the reality. “Yeah,” Damian said, sounding puzzled. “She was in rough shape and looked like someone had beaten her, but Gabriel called and said she’s going to be okay.” “You got her,” Nick repeated. Was it possible Sotiris hadn’t known? Or had he taken on too much with that final wormhole and fucked up his landing point in terms of time? “Are you okay, Nico?” Damian asked quietly. “Yeah. Just . . . it was a long night. Which hospital

is Hana—?” “None. She and Gabriel, along with the two of us, were tucked into one of the vamps’ big SUVs and whisked away. Juro, the talkative twin, arranged it. He said they have a human trauma surgeon on staff.” Nick was suddenly exhausted. “Well, we won’t get any useful answers until sunset now. I’m going to take a shower and sleep.” “What about Sotiris?” Damian asked the one question Nick didn’t want to answer. “Fucker got away,” he snapped, and Damian knew him well enough not to pursue it. “I’ll see you tonight.” And then he did exactly what he’d told Damian. He took a short, hot shower, made sure the blackout blinds were drawn, then fell into bed. But he didn’t fall asleep until much later, haunted by Sotiris’s taunt about Dragan, his final missing warrior. If that bastard had somehow gotten hold of Dragan’s statue and hidden it away. . . . Hell, it could be centuries more before his man was found. When he finally slept, his nightmares were filled with images of Dragan, trapped in a dark room, surrounded by silence and despair. SOTIRIS WALKED through the ruins of his home, fury building with every step. He’d miscalculated somehow in crafting the wormhole for his return, or maybe he’d spent too much of his strength showing

off, making sure that damn Katsaros couldn’t follow him. He wasn’t the fool they’d obviously thought him to be. He’d known that Katsaros’s attack was timed to pull him away and let his allies rescue the girl. But he’d been so confident, so filled with power after draining her talent to augment his own. Bursting with magical strength like he’d never felt before, he’d taken off to kill his longtime enemy, planning to warp the wormhole’s time calculation on his return home so that he could arrive before they managed to overwhelm his guard forces and steal the girl from him. He was a true genius when it came to tailoring the tricky wormholes, and with so much magic at his disposal . . . he’d been certain of success. But as he wandered the empty house, he found only bodies of the dead. The rest of the mercenaries he’d paid so well to defend him had disappeared, probably frightened off by vampires and their fangs, like small children terrified of the night. Idiots. Worse than idiots. He should track them down and do the world a favor by killing them. He shook his head. They weren’t worth the money he’d paid them, much less the time and energy it would take to eliminate them all. No, this was on him. He’d had the girl and lost her. Katsaros probably thought he’d won the night’s battle, despite his pathetic showing. But he hadn’t won the war between them yet. There was still one major chess piece on the board. Dragan, the final

warrior, and perhaps the deadliest of them all. Hell, Sotiris was doing the world a favor by keeping that one locked away. Philanthropist. The title sat well on him. He snickered, despite his rage, as he stared out at the perfect green hills behind his home. But no longer. He’d have to leave it behind once more, remaining on the move, one step ahead of Katsaros. Until he finally killed him. WHEN GABRIEL WOKE the next night, Hana was still curled against him the way she had been when he’d fallen into his daylight sleep. She’d been asleep then, or unconscious. He didn’t know what medical term Dr. Saephan would have used. She’d responded to Gabriel when he’d laid her on the bed, immediately curling up to him when he’d joined her. But she hadn’t opened her eyes, hadn’t said a word. He tipped his head down enough to see her face, his vampire enhanced vision telling him that her eyes were open. He kissed her forehead. “You want to talk about it?” he asked. She closed her eyes for a moment then nodded. “He tried to persuade me first.” She looked up at him and then away, as if embar​rassed. It infuriated Gabriel that his beautiful, brave Hana felt even the tiniest shred of responsibility for what had been done to her. He didn’t say anything, knowing the best thing for her would be to get it all out.

“It was probably his idea of a rational discussion, but the threat was blatant. He really thought he could kill my grandfather, threaten to kill you, kidnap me by force, and still get me to help him willingly.” “He has no moral compass, no honor or loyalty, except to himself. He can’t comprehend the existence of those traits in anyone else.” She rubbed her fingers along his collarbone in a gesture that seemed half nervous and half comforting. “You’re right. He was furious when I said I’d never willingly help him. But then he laughed and said he didn’t need my cooperation. I think he was happy I’d refused. He likes hurting people.” Gabriel fought to control his own fury. Someday, he promised himself. Someday, he was going to rip that fucking sorcerer to pieces with his bare hands. “He’s the one who hurt you?” The words left his throat like jagged shards of glass. She nodded against his chest, but then pushed away enough to see his face. “But I hurt him, too. His giant flunky had searched me before dumping me in that room, but he only found the gun. I always hide a last-ditch blade in my shoe when a situation is questionable. I knew Raphael was nervous about leaving me with your Nico, especially since Nico put so many restrictions on which vamps could stay and how close.” “Was it a blade? Your fingers were sliced pretty badly.”

Hana lifted her hand, peering closely in the dim light. “It’s gone.” Gabriel took her fingers and kissed them. “Raphael wanted to help. He said it was a matter of honor, since you were under his pro​tection.” He smiled. “I think he just said that to let me save face, since you’re mine, and my blood should have been enough to heal you. But I wouldn’t have objected anyway. All I cared about was making you well, and I’ve tasted his blood. The power in it . . . I don’t know how he deals with that stuff running through his veins all the time.” “It was you who brought me back, though,” she said staunchly. “I couldn’t open my eyes yet, but I knew you were there, and I knew I was safe.” She lay quietly for a moment, then said, “That’s when he hit me. After I cut him.” Gabriel couldn’t stop the growl that rumbled between them. “Fucking coward, beating a bound woman.” “Most psychopaths are. They’re typical bullies, eager to hurt people who can’t hurt them back, and terrified of the tiniest injury to themselves.” “Did he leave then? The plan was for Nico to draw him away, so we could take the house and get you out of there.” She didn’t say anything for a long time, and Gabriel knew there was more. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.” “No, I want to. You need to know, and so do the

others. Because Sotiris forced my magic to work for him. It was a replay of what I felt in Raphael’s office —like a giant bug sucking my brain dry—but it was real this time.” “It hurt?” He didn’t want to ask the question, didn’t want to know the answer. But he had to. He needed to know every damn thing Sotiris had done. So he could recite the bastard’s sins as he killed him. “It hurt.” No details. Just those two words. “I’m sorry, älskling.” “Just promise me one thing,” she said, her voice taking on a hardness it had lacked as she recounted her captivity. “Anything.” “When you kill him, I get to help.” Gabriel hugged her tightly. “I promise.” Hana returned his hug, and the feel of her breasts against his bare chest made him aware, as he hadn’t been earlier, that she was naked. His body responded predictably, which was why he’d left her clothes on when he’d taken her to bed that morning. She’d had a terrifying experience and needed to recover. The last thing she needed was— “Fuck.” He swore as she rolled over to straddle him, her pussy warm against his belly. She leaned over to kiss him. “I thought I’d lost you,” she whis​pered against his lips. Gabriel had to clear his throat to speak. “I’m, uh, not that easy to get rid of.”

Rubbing her breasts against him so he could feel the hard scrape of her nipples, she bit his chin and said, “I don’t want to get rid of you at all.” His cock flexed against her sweet ass, and he groaned. “I’m not sure we should—” “I am. I need this.” She rotated her hips, grinding the growing heat and wetness of her pussy against his groin, while his cock stiffened even further. He put his hands on her hips because he needed to touch her, but he let her take the lead, going at her own pace. That didn’t stop him from watching her, though. She was the very picture of feminine sensuality, her eyes closed, hips swaying, her long hair a curtain of ebony silk that surrounded them both when she leaned forward to kiss him. Shifting his hands to her ass, he gripped the firm globes in both hands and spread her legs wider, his fingers dipping low into the slick heat between her thighs, and then even farther, until one finger slid into her pussy. Her body clenched, and Gabriel held his breath as she began fucking herself on that single digit, her moan filling his mouth as her kiss became increasingly frantic, her teeth clashing with his, her tongue lashing with hunger. She came without warning, her moans turning into cries as her pussy clamped down hard on his finger, slick heat flooding his hand while her nails dug into his chest. Gabriel slid his finger out of her body, dragging it up the crease of her butt, sliding on the

cream of her orgasm. Hana gasped, her heart a throbbing beat against his chest, thumping in time to the pulse of her sex against the root of his cock. She licked his lips a final time then sat up, and giving him a wicked look, raised onto her knees and grasped his cock in one hand. His fingers dug into her hips, but he didn’t have time to groan before she was lowering herself onto him, sliding his hard length into her hot, wet pussy. She began moving then. Slowly, deliberately. Lifting herself up until just the tip of his cock was inside her, then lowering herself even more slowly, until she could grind herself against his groin with gasping cries of pleasure. “I love you,” she murmured, her nails digging into his chest once again, as if afraid she’d fly away if she didn’t hold on. When she began moving faster, grinding harder, Gabriel sat up and wrapped his arms around her. Two seconds later, she was on her back, his arms braced behind her knees as he pushed her legs wider and thrust deeply. Her cries grew desperate as he held back his own hunger, fucking her as slowly as she’d done him, reveling in the delicious wet heat of her, the soft moans becoming pleas as she begged him to go faster, harder, to release her from the building pressure of her orgasm. Her fingers clenched on his arms in the instant her pussy clamped down on his cock, her entire body

trembling as she climaxed. She sucked in a shocked breath and then closed her teeth over his shoulder, biting fiercely as she screamed. Gabriel loved having her teeth sink into his skin, knowing she was drinking his blood, becoming ever more a part of him. He wanted to sink his fangs into her, as well, to savor the dark honey taste of her blood as it rolled down his throat. But she was still recovering from her ordeal. His blood would help her heal. She didn’t need to lose any more of her own. He flexed his hips, driving his cock farther into her body, through the tight grip of her sheath, her inner muscles shivering around him as he began to move faster, his own orgasm building to a fury in his gut. He slammed into her once, twice, and then he was climaxing, his release a flood of heat as it raced down his cock and spilled into Hana, who moaned as fresh tremors rippled through her body. Gabriel lay on top of her for a moment, bracing himself on his forearms, breathing heavily as tried to slow his racing heart. Hana’s arms fell from around his neck, as if she didn’t have the strength to hold them there, her fingers brushing over the tender spot where she’d bit him. Gabriel smiled, then slid his hands under her shoulders and rolled them both, settling her on top of him, right where he wanted her. With his arms around her, he kissed the top of her head and said, “I love you, älskling.”

It was a few minutes later when Hana lifted her head to meet his eyes as she whispered, “And I love you, my angel. My Gabriel.” NICK FOUND A message waiting when he finally woke. Noting the number, he half-expected to hear Cyn’s voice, but it was Raphael’s lieutenant, Jared. He climbed out of bed and crossed to the window while listening to the message. The fact that Jared was calling told him it was after sunset, but he sought the visual confirmation of peering down at the beach anyway. Yep, definitely nighttime. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept so long. Something Jared was saying snagged his attention. A meeting at Raphael’s. A “debrief ” Jared called it. And weren’t they being all hut-hut military? Fucking vampires. Jared mentioned a ten p.m. starting time, which had Nick shooting a glance at the bedside clock. He had less than an hour to get there. Good thing he’d already showered. He called Damian’s cell first and got Casey instead. “Hey, Nick. The big man’s in the shower.” “That’s all right. You guys get a heads-up on tonight’s meeting?” “Yeah. You want to ride over together?” Nick snorted. “No, I do not. I’m taking the Ferrari.” She laughed. “Figured. That’s why I asked. Damian will be jealous.”

“Let him. I’ll see you there.” THE GUARDS WERE expecting him when he showed up at the gate. That didn’t mean they let him pass without inspection, however. Their eyes flashed red as they subjected the Ferrari to the same kind of inspection they’d have given the UPS truck. Hell, probably more, since he doubted they permitted any kind of delivery truck through their gates. Vampires had always been a paranoid lot, but Raphael had raised it to an art form. Nick had to admit the bloodsuckers had good reason for their paranoia. Before there were grand estates like this fucking fortress of Raphael’s, they’d been vulnerable during daylight to anyone who could break a window. The suspicion and delay that these vampires were according him, however, still pissed him off. They were supposed to be allies, weren’t they? At least for another few hours, anyway. He snickered to himself as he waited for the gate to finally roll back, then barely nudged the gas pedal, driving the low-slung Ferrari with painful slowness over the metal tracks. Once beyond the gate, however, he took the wide, sweeping turns of the driveway with unnecessary speed, gunning the engine as he came to a tirescreeching stop at the foot of the stairs. Juro—at least he thought it was Juro—was waiting there, seeming entirely unimpressed with the car or Nick’s

driving. He tried to remember if he’d ever seen any other expression on the Japanese vamp’s face, and came up blank. “Everyone else here already?” he asked cheerfully, knowing they weren’t, because his people were behind him. Juro didn’t answer, just waited for Nick to come even with him, then walked up the stairs. The doors swung open at the top, and they continued through to find the pale-eyed female vamp waiting for them, her nearly white-blond hair short and spikey. Nick wasn’t fooled by her delicate features or petite stature. He could tell she was fit, despite the mannish suit she was wearing, and she was a vampire. Even the weak ones were strong, and this one wasn’t weak or she wouldn’t have been on the front line of Raphael’s security. “I’ll take him up, Elke. The others are right behind him.” “Oh, goody,” she said in a whispery voice. “I get the witch.” Nick gave her a second look. He didn’t sense any power within her, other than the usual vampire weirdness. Maybe she was crazy. Or maybe she was just fucking with him. He gave her a wink and followed Juro, catching up before they reached the top, so he wasn’t following like a dog. Jared and the other twin were in the conference room when he arrived, but no one else. Jared

indicated a small wet bar. “Help yourself, Nick.” It was a surprisingly friendly offer, especially when compared to Juro’s semi-hostile silence. Nick responded in kind. “Just throw me a bottle of water, if you have it.” Jared opened the little refrigerator and tossed the water with an easy underhand, but it still hit Nick’s palm with a slap. Fucking vam​pires. Couldn’t go easy if they tried. That brought up images of vamps fucking, which made him want to scrub his brain clean. Fortunately, the others arrived at that moment, with Damian immediately coming over to whine about the Ferrari. “It wouldn’t kill you to share,” he muttered. “It’s only a fucking car.” “Then it shouldn’t matter if I drive it,” Nick said easily, smiling his greetings at Kato and the two women. “What’s this about?” Kato asked, leaning forward, his arms on the table to avoid putting his weight against his back and the ensorcelled blade he always wore there. Just because it was invisible didn’t mean it was comfortable. Especially not this blade, which tended to dig its sorcerous teeth into Kato’s flesh at every opportunity. “Mission debrief,” Nick replied. “I’m assuming Gabriel and Hana will—” They appeared at that moment, Gabriel first, pausing to scan the room for danger before walking

in with Hana behind him. Nick stood with a smile. “Hana, you’re looking well.” She glanced at Gabriel, before shifting her gaze to Nick. “I am well, thank you. Gabriel has taken very good care of me.” “I hate to ask this, but . . . can you tell me what happened? It might help the next time—” “We’ll wait until Lord Raphael is here, so she only has to say it once,” Juro said, speaking up just as Gabriel opened his mouth, proba​bly to say the same thing. “Right, sorry.” Nick took a drink of water and cursed himself privately for not thinking about Hana’s feelings. It must have been a grueling experience. That last thing she needed was to relive it multiple times, just to satisfy his curiosity. He tended to get lost in the details when it came to magic, and especially if it involved that asshole Sotiris. The great and wonderful Raphael finally showed up, Cyn by his side. She bent over and hugged Hana as she passed her, and even Raphael slowed to place a hand on her shoulder and exchange nods with Gabriel. Fucking vampire lord. Raphael didn’t waste time on pleasantries. He waited until Cyn was settled, then turned his gaze on Nick. “I’m assuming your people briefed you on what happened at the house?” Nick nodded, just as eager as Raphael to get this

over with. “Most of it. Lots of shooting, bad guys killed. You’ll have to tell me sometime how you managed to engage in a firefight in the middle of a tightly guarded city like Hidden Hills without freaking out the neighbors.” Raphael shrugged. “I’m sure you could do the same.” Obviously, the alliance was cooling fast, Nick thought. Fine with him. “What I don’t know is what happened with Hana.” He turned to look at her. “But I suspect Sotiris tapped into your magic, because he was stronger than he should have been.” She looked briefly stricken, then her jaw hardened. “You’re right, he did, after beating me bloody and nearly choking me to death.” “I didn’t mean to imply you were in any way responsible, Hana,” he said gently. “Sotiris is far too powerful for you or anyone else to resist.” “What about you?” she asked, giving him a challenging stare. “I’ve defeated him before, but not this time. It’s been millennia since our armies first battled. He’s learned new tricks in that time, and so have I. All we’ve managed to do lately is fight to a draw, or until Sotiris becomes afraid of losing and runs away. That’s one technique he’s mastered. But anything you can tell me might help for the next time, so I’d like to hear it. Believe me, I want him dead as much as you do.”

She didn’t look like she believed him, and he could hardly blame her. Sotiris was cruel and ruthless. No one was indispensable when it came to getting what he wanted. She probably assumed Nick was the same. “I have a question,” Raphael said. “As you surmised, Sotiris used Hana’s magic to augment his own. Is that effect permanent, or will he have exhausted it in his fight with you?” Nick frowned in thought. “Hana’s gift is rare, but there are enough records going back a long time that I know something about it. I assume Sotiris does too, unfortunately. But to answer your question, the effect is temporary. It boosts the strength of his power, not the volume. Every time he uses his power, he also uses up the boost.” “That much is good news,” Hana murmured. “And it’s consistent with him keeping me alive, instead of just hot wiring his power and killing me off.” Nick watched as Gabriel hooked an elbow around her neck and pulled her closer, scowling when she looked up at him. Nick knew his warriors well enough that he probably guessed the reasons for Gabriel’s scowl before she did. It didn’t take long, though, before she was smiling up at him, understanding that he didn’t like her speaking so casually about anyone “killing her off.” She brushed her lips over his in apology, and Nick had to look

away. There was that love again. The kind he’d never managed to find. Yet. But he wasn’t giving up on it. When he turned back, his comments were for Raphael, but he was looking at Hana. “Hana still needs training,” he said. “Her shields are far too weak. I don’t want to be an asshole here, but that affects all of us.” Gabriel and Hana both looked to Raphael to address the com​ment, which told Nick they’d probably discussed it before he arrived. “We’re all agreed that Hana would benefit from additional training, most especially Hana herself. But her security remains paramount, and I won’t risk another disaster. One of my people died, completely unnecessarily. If there is to be training, it will take place here on the estate.” “I’ve already explained—” “Yes, I know what you explained,” Raphael interrupted, his gaze cool. “We can accommodate your restrictions without putting Hana at risk. My vampires will maintain a security perimeter that suits your requirements, but Gabriel and one other of my choosing will remain in the room with her, at all times. You can use one of my interrogation rooms.” He bared his teeth in a mockery of a smile. “They’re ex​tremely well protected from outside interference.” Nick gazed back him. He understood a challenge when he heard one. The damn vampire was inferring that Nick was too cowardly to lock himself in one

of the fucker’s interrogation cells. He was quite sure they were as secure as Fort Knox, but he was just as sure he could blast his way out if it came to that. Which it wouldn’t. Because the vamp might be an asshole, but he wouldn’t want Hana injured any more than Nick did. His smile was just as phony as the vampire’s. “That sounds great.” He swung his gaze to Hana and smiled. “We’ll start in two weeks. That’ll give you some time to recover, and me a chance to catch up on things back home in Florida. I have several hunters in the field, and the FBI gets twitchy if I don’t report in once in a while.” “And Sotiris?” Raphael asked. “I don’t expect another attack in the immediate future. That’s not his style. Sotiris likes to prepare to the nth degree. Cross all his t’s and dot his i’s. Plus, he has other irons in the fire, and he lost one of his main residences with the Hidden Hills house. He won’t go back there, because he’ll fear we’ve laid traps for him. Besides, once a lair has been compromised, it’s never secure again. “He’s not done with us, but the attack won’t come from the same direction,” he finished, thinking of Sotiris’s parting shot about Dragan. “Good,” Raphael said then stood, indicating the meeting was over. Suddenly, Gabriel and Hana were exchanging hugs and kisses with his warrior brothers and making plans to get together. Kato and Grace

would be remaining in Malibu, of course, remodeling their damaged home, while Damian and Casey would continue working for Nick, going wherever the job took them. Gabriel stopped Nick as he came around the table. The two men clasped hands and bumped shoulders. “We’re still brothers,” Gabriel said, meeting Nick’s gaze. “If you ever need me, I’m here. And when that bastard Sotiris finally raises his ugly head, you give me a call. Hana and I will be there.” “Brothers,” Nick agreed, squeezing the big warrior’s hand again, and getting crushed in return until he thought his bones would break. Fucking Gabriel never would let him get away with that. He grinned. “See you in a couple weeks.” When he finally made it through the doors to the courtyard, he was just in time to see that damn Damian driving away in his Ferrari, with Casey waving good-bye in the passenger seat. Pompano Beach, FL, USA Nick walked into the house he called both home and office, grateful for the blast of cool air that greeted him. But not even Florida’s humidity could take away the pleasure of being home. This was his place. If Sotiris ever wanted to hurt him badly, it was this house that was the closest thing he had to a lair. His enemy’s problem was that Nick’s lair wasn’t on a huge lot, sitting far from any neighbors. It sat right

on Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway, surrounded by a lot of equally wealthy and much more high-profile neighbors. There was also the fact that Nick didn’t keep this place a secret, which took some of the fun out of destroying it. Which said something about a sorcerer’s twisted idea of fun. “Hey, Nick!” His assistant Lili’s soprano voice sang out a greeting as he passed by. “Lili,” he said, stopping in the doorway to her office. He watched her a few minutes and said, “Do you ever regret what I did to you?” She stopped tapping on her computer and looked up, her pale eyes wide and blinking in surprise. “When I took away most of what made you a vampire.” What little color she had bleached out of her face, and Nick’s stomach clenched. Christ, had he fucked up Lili’s life, too? “No,” she breathed. “You know what it was like for me, how the males in my nest . . . sold me for the night whenever they got bored or wanted cash. Your spell saved my life.” Nick blew out a relieved breath. “Do you regret it?” she asked in a tiny voice. “Fuck, no,” he said, crossing over to kiss the top of her pale- blond hair. “It’s just . . . Gabriel has chosen to live as a vampire. The curse messed with his spell, and . . . well, anyway, he’s signed on with Raphael out in Malibu.”

“That fucking vampire?” she asked, those paleblue eyes twinkling with mischief now. “Yeah. Him.” He laughed. “Okay, you know where to find me for the next few minutes, then we can get to work catching up on what​ever happened while I was gone.” “You got it,” she said cheerfully, and when he left her office, she was tapping away as if he’d never been there. Nick’s smile had faded by the time he closed the door to his office and headed for the bookshelf built into the far wall. Sliding his hand to the back of one shelf, he pushed gently, exposing a secret panel that popped open to reveal a biometric lock, keyed to him only. He pressed his left thumb to the scanner and a second bookshelf also popped open on a concealed door. Pushing that door open, he stepped into the closest thing he had to a true inner sanctum and closed the door behind him. Only in here was he truly alone. The fact that he reveled in that aloneness, he considered, might be why he’d never found the kind of love he’d seen between couples like Gabriel and Hana. What woman would tolerate the secrets he held, not only in this vault, but in his head? Secrets he’d never share, no matter how much he loved. “Fuck me,” he muttered, wondering what had happened to take him from a carefree bachelor to a mooning teenager overnight. Shaking off the moon,

he walked without seeing past treasures that other men would have killed to possess—many of which he had killed to acquire— to an alcove in the farthest corner where a soft light always shone on a solitary shelf. He stared, fighting the emotion of this moment. Where once had stood four crudely made statues, there was now only one. Surrounded by the three piles of sand representing his freed brothers, Dragan Fiachna stood alone. Dragan’s beauty had drawn every eye, no matter the company he stood with. But it wasn’t his looks that had given him the heart of a warrior and made him such a fierce fighter. It was his blood. Descended from a long line of Irish kings, he’d had the fury of a beast inside him, and it was that beast that had followed him into his curse. Great wings rose behind his shoulders, his long, black hair tossed as if blown by winds that would lift him into the air with his next heartbeat. Nick frowned, his mind replaying Sotiris’s taunt about Dragan, just as it had endlessly since that night. “Dragan,” he whispered. “Where are you?” There was no response, just as there hadn’t been for the many centuries he’d been searching. He realized he had to rely on hope—such an ephemeral thing to trust a warrior’s life to. But it was all he had left. Hope that he’d been right, that Sotiris’s spell had lost power with every one of his warriors freed, leaving the curses to unravel, one by one. Until only

one was left. Dragan would be free soon. Nick had to believe it. It was either that or give up. And he’d never—not once in the two thousand years since his warriors had been cursed, or in the long decades he’d lived before that—considered giving up.

Epilogue The Finger Lakes, New York, USA MAEVE FINISHED THE last bite of her sandwich and leaned back, putting her feet up on the opposite balcony chair and raising her face to the warm sunlight. The weather was perfect today, the sun full in the sky, but with just a little bit of chill left over from a winter which had hung on far too long. Small clumps of snow still clung to the ground here and there under the thick trees, where sunlight hadn’t yet managed to reach, but it would soon. Spring had finally settled in for good, with birds flitting about everywhere she looked and flowers dotting the landscape with spots of color. She’d even caught the first boat venturing out from somewhere farther down the lake, leaving gentle ripples on the water as they’d motored quietly past. Ah, well. She let her chair drop back to the balcony floor and put her feet down where they belonged. Time for her to get back to work, which was just as well since her fair skin would burn bright pink if she sat out here too much longer. A month from now, she wouldn’t dare sit even this long without sunscreen covering every bit of exposed skin. Tucking her apple in a pocket for later, she balled

up her napkin, drained the last of her diet soda, and was just sliding her chair into place when the soft purr of a familiar engine caught her attention. Heart thumping, she backed quickly out of sight, closing the balcony’s French doors and ducking behind the heavy, drawn curtain. A moment later, the sleek, black sedan arrived, gravel crunching beneath its tires as it turned off the long driveway and onto the paved courtyard of the stately mansion where she worked. What was he doing here? Her employer, Mr. Sotiris—she assumed he had a first name, but in the three years she’d worked for him, he’d never invited her to use it—rarely visited and even more rarely bothered to speak to her. She assumed he was satisfied with the work she was doing, cataloguing his many rare and, to her mind, wonderful oddities, because her paychecks were electronically deposited like clockwork every month, and no one had yet asked her to vacate the house where she lived and worked. Alone for the most part, except for the housekeeping service which visited once a week, disappearing as quickly and efficiently as they arrived every Monday morning. The gentle click of the front door lock echoed up from a foyer that vaulted up to the full three-story height of the house, followed by the hard crash of the door being slammed in its wake. Maeve winced, hearing the delicate panes of glass rattle in their

diamond-shaped frames. Footsteps gritted on the nineteenth-century Italian marble floor, and keys rattled as he strode into his private office where something fragile ended its life with the shattering of porcelain. Maeve’s lips tightened with anger. It was one thing to stomp around like a spoiled child, but quite another to destroy what was probably a priceless artifact because he was feeling pissy. She couldn’t be sure what that artifact had been, since she’d never seen the inside of his office, but everything in this house, right down to the daily silver in the kitchen drawers, was far too beautiful to be tossed about in a fit of pique. Still, she remained out of sight, as he preferred, though he’d never come out and said it. Probably because he didn’t want to lose her services. It couldn’t be easy to find a person with her very specialized expertise, not to mention one who was mentally stable enough to live up here all alone and remain sane. It might be her dream job, but she had visions of some of the other antiquity experts she knew going all Jack Nicholson and taking an ax to the bathroom door. He didn’t spend long in his office. He never did. And she knew where he’d go next. She slipped on silent feet down the carpeted hall to the servants’ stairs, and then to the butler’s pantry behind the high-ceilinged room on the ground floor, where he maintained a small collection of statuary in perfect,

climate-controlled and air-filtered stasis. Statues weren’t generally part of Maeve’s fascination with odd things, but her Wellesley degree in antiquities had, of necessity, included the usual courses of art in the ancient world. So, she knew these pieces were from all different periods and regions. Each was exquisite in its own right, but none of them truly belonged together. Especially not the one Sotiris stormed over to now, the same one he always came to on his (thankfully) rare visits. It hurt Maeve’s heart to watch him stand before the magnificent warrior and vent his rage, pacing back and forth, shouting in a language that not even she, with her encyclopedic brain, had ever read or heard anywhere else. She tallied up every word he screamed, knowing she’d visit the warrior after the man was gone and replace the taunts with words of love and compassion, soothing away the verbal wounds in the same way she’d have bandaged a physical blow. The warrior was her favorite among the statues, the only one that had caught her eye for the fantastic. He was beautifully crafted, tall and strong, with every muscle and sinew carved in exquisite detail. His face was a masterwork of classic perfection, with a sculpted jaw and full, sensuous lips, and eyes that were fierce and yet filled with a terrible sadness, despite the cold stone of their creation. His stance was wide and challenging, head up, face forward, bold sword gripped in one, long-

fingered hand as if ready to take on his enemy. But it was the wings that had first caught her attention, that told her he didn’t belong in this sterile room among the other expertly crafted, but somehow ordinary, pieces of art. Taloned like a dragon’s in one of her favorite fantasy novels, those enormous wings nearly touched the ground at his heels and arched high over his back, flared out as if ready for flight. Her employer lingered later than usual on this visit. He never stayed long enough to eat anything, never spent the night. But today, the sun was dipping toward the horizon by the time he’d vented his spleen, as her Tennessee grandfather would have said, and stormed out of the house the same way he’d blown in. Maeve watched through a small window in the stairwell as he drove away, remaining there until she was sure he was gone. And then she slipped back to the sterile room and over to her warrior, where she stood for a minute gazing up at his beautiful face. “I’m very sorry about that,” she said quietly, mindful of the way sound echoed in the big room with all its hard surfaces. “I don’t know what bug crawled up his ass, but he’s gone now, and with any luck, he’ll stay away a good long time.” Pulling out the apple she’d never had a chance to eat with her lunch, she settled against one of his powerful legs, her head leaning back against his thigh, her body

tucked beneath the glory of his gorgeous wings. “He’s a nasty bit of work, that one. You’re a hundred times the man he is. No, a million.” She snorted softly and chewed. “In most myths, it’s dragons who hoard treasure. I bet you had better things to do, like protecting good people from avaricious assholes like that. I know I feel a lot safer with you around than with him.” She remained there until she’d finished her apple, then stood with a long sigh. “I’ve got to get back to work. I’m not sure why, since no one ever checks, but I like my job, so I’ll keep doing it until someone says otherwise. You take care now, and remember, he’s the beast, not you.” She stroked the edge of his taloned wing. “You? You’re simply mag​nificent.” She left the same way she’d arrived, taking the servants’ stairs, which were the most convenient way to move about the big house. As the heavy door closed on silent hinges behind her, it muffled the gentle crack of sound when the warrior’s wing flexed for the first time in thousands of years . . . in the exact spot where warmth still lingered from her touch. Malibu, CA “I GOT THE WEIRDEST phone call today.” Raphael glanced up at Cyn’s reflection in the mirror, where he was tying his tie. “Weird how?” She stepped in front of him and took over the task

with a quiet smile. He was perfectly capable of knotting his own tie, but his Cyn seemed to enjoy it, and he loved having her take care of him. He rested his hands on her slender hips. “Weird how, lubimaya?” he repeated. “This girl I went to school with in France.” She lifted her gaze to his. “I told you about that school.” He nodded. “She called me today. We were close back then. Her father was some diplomat or other. One of those mega-rich guys who becomes an ambassador mostly for the prestige and because they can negotiate business deals over cocktails. Anyway, they lived in Paris at the time, so she went home more than I did—which was never—and I’d go with her. We’ve stayed in touch, sort of. Birthday calls, and the occasional meal together when we’re in the same city, which isn’t often. She followed her dad into the diplomatic corps, although, to be honest, I think she’s CIA and the State Department thing is a cover.” He tugged on her hips, bringing her against his body as she smoothed his tie. “And you’re telling me this because?” “Because she asked about you. She wants to arrange a meeting between you and some Scottish vampire named Lachlan.” Raphael blinked in surprise, as he ran the vampire’s name through the database in his head. There were a lot of vampires in the world, but only a very few

with the power to propose a meeting with him. Especially one from that part of the world and in the current, hostile climate between the ruling vampires of Europe and North America. Lachlan. The name clicked into place with an audible snap. “Where does he propose to meet?” he asked mildly. Cyn studied him a moment. “I told her that if this guy was worth your time, and if you agreed to meet with him, it would have to be here.” Her expression was set into stubborn lines, as if expecting an argument from him. He smiled. “I assume you want any meeting to be here for my safety?” “Damn right.” “So you think this Lachlan can best me?” “No.” She gave him a withering look. “But I don’t trust anyone these days, so why take chances? Besides, he’s the petitioner; let him come to you.” “I’ll take the meeting. No one except Lachlan, and your friend, if you’d like. No other vampires come with him, not even to North America.” Cyn gave a short nod. “Good idea. I’ll pass it along.” Raphael’s smile broadened into a grin. “I’m glad you approve. Would you like to sit in on tonight’s meeting as well? To ensure my safety, of course.” Her eyes rolled. “Very funny.” She rose onto her tiptoes and gave him a lingering kiss. “I’ll see you

later.” “Yes, you will.” Her laughter followed him as he crossed to the elevator and stepped inside. As the doors closed behind him, he considered Lachlan’s request. There was only one reason for the Scottish vampire to call —he was planning to take out Erskine, who was the current Lord of Scotland. Raphael had only met the Scottish lord once, a very long time ago, when he’d been young and not yet secure in his power. But he’d known enough to recognize Erskine’s weakness. Much later, he’d even briefly entertained the possibility of taking over Scotland for himself, knowing he could easily defeat the vampire lord. Fortunately, he’d recognized the extent of his own ambitions and left for America instead. As for Lachlan, he knew of his existence and that he was strong, but nothing else. It would be interesting to see if his ambitions matched his abilities. Or if he’d die before he left Raphael’s office. To be continued . . . (Please continue reading for more information)

Please visit these websites for more information about D.B. Reynolds Author’s Webpage Facebook Twitter BookBub Experience D. B.’s other titles from ImaJinn Books

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About the Author D. B. Reynolds arrived in sunny Southern California at an early age, having made the trek across the country from the Midwest in a station wagon with her parents, her many siblings, and the family dog. And while she has many (okay, some) fond memories of Midwestern farm life, she quickly discovered that L.A. was her kind of town and grew up happily sunning on the beaches of the South Bay.

Acknowledgements I’m going to start this acknowledgement with the same line every writer uses . . . writing is a solitary endeavor. Yes, it is. But some of us find our salvation in being solitary and are then lucky enough to pursue a career that lets us reach out to others while sitting alone in a big red chair while Buffy fights evil on the widescreen. Or maybe that’s just me. In any event, while I’m sitting there alone, I often reach out to friends who keep me sane in the dark hours. The first of those is my editor, Brenda Chin, who somehow manages to get inside my characters’ heads and discover exactly what I need to do to make my story better. In the last couple of years, she’s also had to talk me off a ledge or two, and I’m lucky to have her in my corner. I want to thank my publisher, Debra Dixon, for letting schedules slip and still getting my books out on time, and for designing such beautiful covers. I also want to thank everyone at ImaJinn/BelleBooks who works so hard on my books. Fellow writers and friends, Angela Addams, Steve McHugh, and Michelle Muto are always there to offer advice, congrats, or commiseration, whichever one the day demands, while John Gorski lends his

considerable expertise to the task of keeping my characters’ various weapons accurate. My friend, Karen Roma, is the best beta reader an author could ask for, and Annette Stone’s cheerful and timely assistance lets me remain focused on writing. A big thank-you also to my reader Mary McMath, for reminding me in time that Gabriel’s first name was Urban, so I could give him a reason for choosing his middle name instead. And, as always, I owe my sanity and well-being to my family who give me their love and care even when I insist I don’t need it . . . but really do. I love you all.