"You know why you're still so p.i.s.sed at me, don't you?" Vincent snarled, twisting Seraphim's arm behind his back. Seraphim's free elbow snapped backward into Vincent's face. Blood splattered his face, and the two men broke apart, pushing themselves to their feet.

Seraphim attacked first and as Vincent blocked the ferocious blows, he struggled to continue the conversation. "G.o.dd.a.m.n it! Look at yourself! You're so f.u.c.king guilty you're like a nutcase!"

"If anyone should be guilty, it's you!" Seraphim raged.

"You think I'm not? I know I did wrong by Nenet! You think I wouldn't have done just about anything to change what happened? I can't!"

"No, you can't!"

"Sure, we were both to blame for not keeping her safe, but only one of us prevented her from becoming a hybrid!"

Seraphim stopped suddenly. His b.l.o.o.d.y hands remained in a defensive position, his fangs exposed. The vampiric glow in his eyes brightened even more beneath the sunlight, though some of the rage faded. Vincent also stood, feet braced apart, ready to continue the fight. Both Immaculate's chests heaved and they growled.

"They found the teeth marks in her neck, remember?" Vincent shouted. "Remember!"

"I remember," Seraphim hissed.

"I never f.u.c.king bit her! Not once! She's the only mortal I actually listened to when she asked me not to, so I know those G.o.dd.a.m.n fang marks weren't mine! Whose were they, Seraphim!"

Seraphim's hands lowered and he took a step backward, his jaw clenched. Moisture welled in his glowing eyes. He blinked back tears threatening to spill. For a moment, Trixie actually felt sorry for him.

"You were sleeping with my wife!" Vincent snarled.

"She was your wife by the laws of men!" Seraphim bellowed. "She was mine and you used what power you had to keep us apart! She belonged with me!"

"I know, and I'm sorry!"

"You're sorry?" Seraphim's face twisted and he growled, more a sound of inconsolable sadness than rage.

"What more can I say? I could have killed you, Seraphim. When the First Father told me to make sure you burned with Rome, I could have -"

"How many times did I wish you had. If I hadn't taken her, she might still be here!"

"Like you said, she belonged with you." Vincent's voice lowered to a normal tone. "What you did was natural. Both of us should have thought more about her and less about ourselves. She was only a mortal."

"I'll never make such a mistake again," Seraphim murmured. "But right now I don't matter. There are more important issues."

Vincent lowered his hands and looked about to take a step closer to Seraphim. Trixie lifted a warning hand, and he nodded in her direction. "What are you talking about, Seraphim? I know something's going on with you."

Seraphim seemed about to speak when the wind changed, sending the scent of other vampires from the east.

Seraphim cursed and fled.

"Aw, f.u.c.k!" Vincent snarled, chasing after him, Trixie following at their heels. Vincent caught up to Seraphim in front of a cave mouth in the side of a tall, rectangular rock.

Two Immaculates were halfway into the cave. Both pulled guns as Trixie and Vincent pulled theirs. Seraphim had already fired one shot, causing one of the cave's intruders to scream and crash into the rock face, blood oozing from his chest.

Shots fired out of the cave. Apparently the Immaculates hadn't been alone. Trixie detected several scents mingled beneath the aroma of blood from the injured one. One of the shots struck Seraphim in the ribs. He leapt behind a boulder, glancing once at his injury before turning back to the cave and firing another shot.

"Get down!" Vincent bellowed at Trixie as they both dove behind oversized Cacti.

Cover me! Seraphim's voice sounded in their heads.

"He's a f.u.c.kin' maniac!" Vincent snarled.

"Do it. We'll grill him later!" Trixie snapped, taking aim at the cave mouth.

While she and Vincent fired, Seraphim raced for the cave and climbed to the top. Trixie wondered how he'd managed, since the bullet wound must have been agonizing.

The sound of fighting erupted from inside the cave, and the shooting stopped. "I'm going in," Vincent said. "Watch my a.s.s!" "Now's not the time to think about s.e.x!"

He cast her an annoyed look before hurrying for the cave by way of boulders and cacti.

"What the f.u.c.k am I doing?" Trixie muttered. Still firing her gun to keep the attention off Vincent, she moved closer to the cave mouth. Inside, Vincent and Seraphim fought three Immaculates while two others lay dead on the cave floor.

Seraphim had a good handle on one while Vincent fought off two. Trixie grabbed one of Vincent's opponents in a choke hold and snapped his neck. Knowing he would most likely recover, she hesitated before acting on instinct and firing a platinum bullet through his heart.

"Kill him?" she glanced at Seraphim and Vincent who stood panting, amidst the bodies.

"Yes!" Seraphim bellowed, staggering against the cave wall and sinking to the floor, clutching his ribs.

"No!" Vincent grasped Trixie's wrist and jerked it upward as she fired. The bullet bounced off the cave walls and she cringed.

"You f.u.c.kin1 moron!" she screamed. "That could have hit one of us!"

"We need to take these guys in for questioning. The ones left alive that is. We got G.o.dd.a.m.n trigger happy samurai over there!" Vincent released Trixie and knelt beside Seraphim. He tore off his shirt and pressed it to the wound. "Platinum. Get in touch with Jules, will you, Trix?"

"You got it." Trixie pulled out her cell phone and moments later the physician picked up. "Yeah, Jules, honey, we need major backup. Ten miles east of our destination...Yeah, dead and alive. Seraphim's got a bullet wound..." She turned to Vincent. "How bad is it, baby?"

"Yo!" Vincent slapped Seraphim's face. "Stay with me, you pain in the a.s.s!"

"Looks pretty bad," Trixie told Jules. "He's pa.s.sing out on us. Lost plenty of blood. Platinum bullet...Sure, we'll get him stable until you get here...Oh, yeah, definitely get Lindsay involved.. .Thanks, Jules. See you soon."

Trixie hung up, tied up the two vampires still left alive, then a.s.sisted Vincent in bandaging Seraphim who regained consciousness by the time they were finished.

"We know there's s.h.i.t going on you haven't told us about," Vincent said. "After Jules fixes you up, we're all going to have a nice long talk with Adam Lindsay. Most likely the Jury will follow. If you want to level with us now, we might be able to help you."

"You help me? " Seraphim shoved Vincent's helping hand away when he tried to sit up straighter. "Since when?"

"Looks like this is at least the second time I know about he tried to save your a.s.s," Trixie said.

"I'm having a look around this place." Vincent stood and circled the cave. "You're hiding something in here. I know it."

"I'm not hiding anything," Seraphim said.

"You ran in here like a duck with its head cut off."

"Chicken with its head cut off," Trixie said.

"Whatever the f.u.c.k kind of bird with its head cut off!" Vincent snarled. "The point is, whatever you're hiding is so important you risked your life to protect it. Is it The Flower?"

Seraphim tried to laugh but ended up wincing in pain. "You think I'd die for a lousy plant?"

"A nutcase like you? Maybe."

"It has nothing to do with The Flower."

"Then what?"

"Nothing!" Seraphim shouted, nearly leaping to his feet. He fell back, panting, his face chalky.

"That's enough, Dilorenzo," Trixie said, touching Seraphim's shoulder. "We can play twenty questions later."

"You can bet on that," Vincent muttered. "And I'm spending what time we have looking around this place."

"Don't," Seraphim said.

"Why?"

"Just don't," he repeated, his expression weary. "If you do as I ask, I'll tell you and the First Father everything. I haven't much of a choice anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Later. I have something to ask," Seraphim turned to Trixie. "Hannah needs protection if I'm not at the mansion."

"Protection?"

"She's there against her will. Sir Edward is blackmailing her. He's threatened to kill her family if she doesn't work as one of his wh.o.r.es."

"Oh he did?" Trixie felt anger stir in her gut. One thing she hated was some man trying to run a woman's life!

"I promised I'd help her, but I couldn't until all this is over. Would you see that she's safe until I take care of her problem? She can't leave the mansion."

"Sure, I'll stay around and keep her company." Trixie flashed her claws. "Maybe I can give Sir Edward some company, too. See how that puny little f.u.c.ker holds up with an Immaculate broad. I'll give him a night to remember, alright."

"Just don't reveal your reasons until Sir Edward's employees are removed from watching her family," Seraphim said.

"It might be hard for you to help her from prison, if that's what the Jury does to you for lying about whatever you've been hiding," Vincent snarled.

"The Jury will not imprison me." "Oh no?"

"You are such a child, Vincent! You have no idea what -" Seraphim coughed and spit a mouthful of blood.

"Leave him alone, Vincent!" Trixie hissed. "Jules will be here in a few hours. We can try to keep him alive until then so at least we'll find out what he has to tell us."

"Why is it that women always get soft around him?" Vincent's lip curled.

"Oh, I don't know. It could be because he's sitting here all pathetic and bleeding like a stuck pig."

"Sure." Vincent growled, heading for the cave mouth. "He's always got a gimmick. I'll watch for Jules."

Trixie sat across from Seraphim and moistened a piece of Vincent's torn shirt with water from the canteen to bathe Seraphim's face.

"You could do better than him," Seraphim said after a moment.

Trixie grinned. "Vincent's cool once you get to know him. He's come a long way since you knew him."

"Perhaps."

"He's got a heart under all that bulls.h.i.t."

"For your sake, I hope so."

Trixie nodded. Whoever said it was hard to teach an old dog new tricks had never met a vampire.

Seraphim drifted in and out of consciousness for the next several hours. After stepping outside to exchange a few words with Vincent who had just received a message from Jules on his cell phone, Trixie returned.

"Seraphim." It took her several shakes to arouse him. He blinked at her, his eyes hazy yet glowing as his vampiric nature battled for life against the ravaging platinum. "Jules will be here in a few minutes. How are you doing?"

"I'd be better if I could feel my legs," he murmured.

Trixie tried not to look as worried as she felt. In spite of his insanity and his ongoing war with Vincent, there was something she liked about the nut. She hoped the platinum hadn't done long-term damage.

At the sound of an approaching truck, she hurried outside.

"Jules. Finally," she said to Vincent. "He's getting worse. Says he can't feel his legs."

"That SOB better not croak before we get the info out of him."

Trixie sighed and shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder about you, Dilorenzo."

Jules leapt out of the truck and ran to the cave, two hybrid technicians behind him. "How is he?"

"Not good," Trixie said as she and Vincent accompanied him and the technicians to the cave where Seraphim had lost consciousness again. By the look of him, he was better off not knowing what was going on.

Vincent drove the truck, Trixie in the pa.s.senger seat, while Jules and the technicians worked on Seraphim in the back. By the time they reached Jules' office in LA, Seraphim was weak but stable.

"I'm going to stick around for a few hours," Trixie said to Vincent as they sat in Jules' waiting room. "I'll get back to the mansion by morning and say you and I had a lover's spat and you took off for the city. You and Seraphim were old friends, so he went with you."

"Sounds like as good a cover as any. You be careful, baby." Vincent hung an arm around her shoulder and kissed her hard. "I don't like the s.h.i.t that went down today."

"Me either, but it sounds like Hannah can use the protection. Besides, if I stick around, Sir Edward and his goons are less likely to get suspicious."

"He's going to wonder why the h.e.l.l we disappeared along with his guys."

"We'll worry about excuses for that when we're faced with the question. I'm going to buy some clothes to wear back to the mansion. Be back soon."

"Yeah. I'm going to call Adam Lindsay again. See how he wants to handle this."