"Changed her how?"

He licked his lips again. "She was a monster."

I was about to ask him what in the h.e.l.l he meant when Sean burst through the front door, his eyes wild.

G.o.ddammit. This really wasn't my f.u.c.king day.

I expected him to give me a hard time, but I wasn't prepared for him to grab my arm and drag me down the hall.

As I recovered from the shock, I tried to pull loose. "Get your hands off me."

He gave me a hard shake. "I'm trying to save your life. Come on."

"What are you talking about?"

"They know you're asking questions. You have to go!"

"I'm not going anywhere with you until you give me answers."

"Rachel, listen to me. You have to go." He pushed the back door open and shoved me out, then I heard cras.h.i.+ng and shattering gla.s.s from the front. The yelling started next.

"Too late," he said, rus.h.i.+ng into the alley with me. "Come on!" He grabbed my hand and took off running toward the street.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere to hide."

I didn't have time to wonder if I should trust him. There didn't seem to be much of a choice. Self-preservation kicked in and I pushed to keep up with him as we crossed the street and continued on down the alley.

He stopped next to a derelict door and threw his shoulder into the wood, busting it open.

"Why are you running?" I asked. "Weren't those your people back there?"

He turned back to me in surprise. "No. They definitely were not." He pulled me into the backroom of what appeared to be a bakery, then into a windowless office in the middle of the building.

Adrenaline had kicked in, making it difficult for my complex reasoning skills to work, but I knew none of this made sense. "Do you know about the Asclepius Project?"

He groaned. "Oh, f.u.c.k. You know about the Asclepius Project?" He kicked the desk. "d.a.m.n it all to h.e.l.l. I prayed Derrick hadn't told you about it."

"So you're not denying it?"

His face hardened. "It's a little late for that now, isn't it?"

"Then what do you know about it?"

He grabbed my hips and pulled my body in front of his, not touching but close enough to spike my hormones. "It was created by a terrorist group. The ultimate bioterrorism-taking civilians and turning them into fighting machines."

"How so?" I asked.

"We don't know. But people started to go missing. Inmates started to die at a f.u.c.king crazy rate. And then the murders..." He paused. "We think the group has taken their experiments out of the lab and into the wild."

"Wait. Inmates? What inmates?"

"They've been buying inmates and using them for experiments."

I let out a shaky breath. I had never dreamed my two stories might be connected. If I could get the work order from the guard tomorrow, I might be able to track down who'd ordered it. But there was no way in h.e.l.l I was going to share that with Sean. "They've been creating vampires."

He looked surprised. "Yeah, but not just any vampire. Out-of-control vampires that aren't right in the head."

Was Sean right? Derrick had been certain that the government was behind this, but what if Sean was really out to stop them? "So that's why you were in the alley that night?"

He nodded. "I knew Derrick was on the case too, and I tried to get him to back off. I warned him the group would find him and kill him to keep the information secret. But you know Derrick..."

"I still don't understand why we're hiding in this room."

"My agency doesn't trust anyone with this information. They think you know what's going on and they want to lock you up. I can't let that happen." He looked into my eyes and I felt my resolve weakening.

"Why not?" I whispered.

"Because I still love you." His lips lowered to mine, soft and tentative, but when I didn't resist, the kiss became harder and more urgent. He cupped my face with both hands and pulled back, fear in his eyes. "I can't let anything happen to you."

What was I doing? But if Sean could help us in any way, maybe it would be best to see how this played out. At least that's what I told myself. "I can take care of myself."

"I know that, Rach, but I can't help feeling protective of you."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"Back off this case. If you stop digging, I think I can convince them to leave you alone."

I lifted my eyebrows.

"But I know you," he said with resignation. "You're incapable of backing off."

I knew he was playing me like a Stradivarius violin, and it wasn't hard to figure out that I was much closer to the truth than he liked-because I knew there was more to the story than he was letting on. But he was right. He did know me, and he would have been suspicious if I'd caved too fast.

"I can't do that. I can't let those people get away with murdering Derrick."

"And I promise I'll do everything in my power to make them pay for what they've done."

I took a step back, breaking free from his hold. Free from his spell, more like it. I sucked in a deep breath to clear my head.

He grabbed my hand. "What can I do to earn your trust?"

"Why don't we-"

A m.u.f.fled metallic sound clanged in the backroom.

Sean's back stiffened. "Dammit. They found us."

"Who?"

"The terrorists." He pulled a handgun out of the shoulder holster inside his coat and loaded the chamber. "You still carry a gun?"

"Yeah."

"Get it out."

s.h.i.+t. I'd suspected-no, hoped-the whole terrorist story was a ploy to sway me. I pulled my gun out of my bag and turned off the safety.

"Shoot to kill," he said quietly, his voice tight. "These boys won't be playin'."

My heart slammed against my ribcage. Had I gotten him all wrong? Why was he trying to protect me if he was part of the conspiracy? "What's the plan?"

"I'm going to distract them and you're going to run."

I shook my head. "No. I'm not leaving you here."

"I didn't just find you to lose you. Please. Just do as I say. This is my area of expertise, remember?" I started to protest, but he interrupted. "That wasn't a s.e.xist statement and you know it. I'm a trained soldier. Your martial arts aren't going to protect you from bullets."

He had a point.

He grabbed the back of my head and pressed his mouth to mine, his tongue finding my own. He pulled away, leaving us both breathless, and me more confused than ever.

We heard another sound, closer this time.

"They came in through the back door," he said. "Just like we did. I'm going to distract them and you find a way out the front." He dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a card. "There's an address on there. Meet me at this location in two hours. And if Derrick gave you any information, bring it with you." A hard glint filled his eyes. "Then we'll go after the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. Together."

"Sean."

"I know I haven't given you much reason to, but I'm begging you to trust me. Just this once. We'll work on the rest later."

Did I really have a choice in the matter? If he wanted me dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation. "Okay."

"Thank G.o.d," he muttered. "Now, on the count of three, I'm going to run across the hall to the prep area. You run to the front door. Shoot the lock if you have to."

"Be careful. I want to see you in two hours." I was surprised how much I meant it.

A ghost of a grin tipped the corners of his mouth. "That's the best thing I've heard all day." Then he bolted across the hall, shoving a metal rolling cart into the wall.

Within seconds I heard gunfire as I ran to the front door.

It was locked, which didn't give me a lot of time to figure out how the h.e.l.l I was getting out of this mess. A brush of air on the back of my head turned me around. There was a vent right above me...just big enough for me.

I had a feeling things were about to get ugly.

CHAPTER 21.

LEA.

The young vampire's name was Louis, and he was a fan of Anne Rice-his mother had named him after the main character in her books. How was I not surprised?

"You see, the vampires in her books were really just tortured souls that..." he rambled as we climbed the steps to Rachel's apartment. G.o.d he was young, in so many ways.

"What made you want to be a vamp?" I asked suddenly, for the first time in a hundred years curious about what would motivate someone to do such a thing. Rarely did I actually talk to any of them, I just killed them and was done with it.

Louis grimaced and tapped his right thigh. "I had cancer. It was in my bones really deep, and they were about to take my leg to the hip. Then they found it in the other leg, and both my arms, too. They said that it was a long shot, but they could take everything off and maybe I'd live. Maybe."

I frowned, wanting to believe I wouldn't have taken an out if faced with those odds. "And?"

He laughed, but it was a nervous sound. "You need more of a reason than facing the rest of your life-short as it may be-with no limbs? I don't believe Ms. Rice was right, you know. I don't think we're tortured souls unless we want to be."

Now that was way too f.u.c.king deep for a kid of nineteen. I had to force myself to smile at him. "Well, I guess you might be right."

"Why did you turn?"

His question caught me off guard, and I answered without thinking. "I didn't have a choice."

Louis sucked in a sharp breath and stopped on the landing in front of me, Rachel's door behind him. "That's against the rules. You should complain to the council."

Rules? Since when did vampires have rules? And what was this council he was talking about? I shook my head. "Happened a long time ago. Don't worry about it."

I stepped past him and tapped on the door. Three rapid-fire knocks followed a slap of my palm against the wood.

Calvin opened the door. "What the h.e.l.l took you so long? I've been back here for-"

"Calvin, we have a guest." I stepped sideways so he could see Louis. Louis gave him a big grin, his fangs hanging long in his mouth. The young pup hadn't even figured out how to properly hide them.

Calvin froze, his eyes flicking between Louis and me several times. "I see. Is he...staying long?"

"Long enough to meet Rachel and have dinner."

Louis laughed and pushed past me. "Is she here? You said she was beautiful, but I have a hard time believing she's prettier than you." He looked over his shoulder and winked at me.

"No," Calvin said, "she isn't back yet."

I stood in the doorway, doing a quick calculation in my head. She was overdue by at least half an hour. Maybe in another situation that wouldn't be so bad. But with the a.s.sholes we were dealing with...I knew I couldn't chance it.

I grabbed one of the coats hanging on the back of the door and breathed in her scent, settling it into my brain. Earthy like a heavy incense, with more than a hint of gun oil. Very unique.

I pointed at the young vampire. "Louis, you stay here with Calvin. Don't eat him, he's mine."