"If you can let yourself believe there are vampires, then why not believe in the power of symbols?"

"You mean magic?"

He shrugged. "Call it what you will."

I headed to the back of the SUV. "We're taking weapons with us."

"Of course, I wouldn't think of going in without them."

I sorted through a bag in the back of the SUV, sorting through the different guns and ammo.

"Care to tell me where we're going?"

He cast a glance at me before taking the Glock I handed him, checking the safety, and sliding it against his lower back. "Fort Tilden. On Rockaway Beach."

The abandoned military base. It was brilliant. That part of the peninsula was pretty much uninhabited.

"We can contain...research there."

"Monsters of your own."

"No. Not monsters, Rachel. Or, rather, only a special type of monster. Vampires."

"Why?"

"Their blood...it's special."

"What does it do?"

"I'd rather show you."

That remained to be seen. "And you're keeping vampires here?"

"Yeah."

"So, Lea...the symbols...they're for what? To make her stronger?"

"We don't know. But we do know she's a dangerous rogue vampire and we need to test her blood." He cast a glance at me.

"Are you using vampire blood to create the monsters?"

He released a short laugh. "No. Their blood is going to save the world."

I started to ask him how, but my phone vibrated in my pocket. I wasn't surprised to see Tom's name on the screen when I dug it out and took several steps away, keeping my eye on Sean as I answered. "Yeah."

Tom hesitated. "You're not alone."

"No."

"Then I'll keep it short. I have more information on the pill."

Sean was pretending to focus on the gun in his hands. "Go on."

"I told you we thought it was a suicide pill, but I don't think it's for humans."

"Then who-" But I didn't finish. I already knew what it was for.

"The chemicals are overkill for a human. I would say it's for an animal, but it would sure be a strange way to kill one. It's full of a variant of VX, a nerve toxin that was supposed to have been wiped out by now."

"What do you mean, 'wiped out'?" I cast a quick glance at Sean, but his eyes were sweeping the area.

"VX was a nerve toxin used in the '50s. All the stockpiles were supposedly destroyed. Tell me you used gloves when you picked up that bottle." His tone made sweat break out all over me.

"Yes, but they were thin."

"s.h.i.+t, Rachel, this is bad. Wherever you are, you need to get tested to see if you have any of that stuff on your skin. Now."

"Thanks." I hung up and stuck the phone in my pocket. I swallowed hard. There was nothing I could do about it now.

"Business?"

"Yes and no." I debated how much to tell him, but my skin was already crawling with the thought of that nerve toxin. "I may have come into contact with a substance similar to VX."

Sean's jaw tightened. "Then it's a very good thing you're coming with me. We have the antidote in the lab."

I would have felt relieved. If his superiors hadn't just told him to kill me.

He didn't ask any more questions and I didn't volunteer any more information. We walked in silence through the forest the rest of the way to Rockaway Beach. I tried to guess where his allegiance truly lay. Or if there was an antidote for the VX...and if I would actually be given it.

When we were close, he motioned for me to slow down. We were in a forest in the middle of nowhere, and he wanted me to be quiet. A s.h.i.+ver of unease crawled up my spine.

"We need a plan," he said.

"You know the facility. I presumed you had one."

"I wanted to sneak in through the hangar, but I think we should be more straightforward. We'll go through a security checkpoint. They know me, so they won't question me being there. I want you to pretend to be unconscious. I'll bring you in as a bite victim."

I lifted my eyebrows, keeping a blank expression.

"I know. You'll have to trust me. Do you?" His face gave nothing away.

"I don't trust anyone, right now."

He took my hand. "Fair enough." His free hand cupped my cheek. "I know we've had our differences, but I loved you once, Rachel. I still do. We have a second chance, you and I. Let's avenge Derrick's death and then we'll start over."

"It's not that easy."

"Why not? We have something. You feel it." He leaned forward and kissed me. I tried hard to resist, but Sean had always had a pull on me that defied logic.

I pulled free, panting. "Now isn't the time, Sean. I could be covered in that toxin s.h.i.+t."

He blew out a breath. "You'd be dead already if you'd touched it, Rach. Just tell me there's hope. Please." His thumb stroked my cheekbone.

"Why?"

He inhaled deeply, then pushed out a breath. "Dr. Stravinsky's research is dangerous. The public needs to be protected. I can't leak the information, but you can. I want to sneak you in and show you where it's located."

"Why didn't you tell me that two hours ago?"

"I wasn't sure how you'd take it. I didn't think you would trust me."

He knew the carrot he was dangling. I leaned forward, my lips lightly brus.h.i.+ng his. "Let's get going."

CHAPTER 29.

LEA.

Following Rachel and Sean through the forest was a snap.

Their voices slid back to me as they walked, their conversation making me more than a little crazy.

I hissed in frustration as Sean continued to push Rachel to trust him, cajoling her and teasing her with bits and pieces of info. And the way he didn't tell her right away that she was clean of the VX s.h.i.+t? "f.u.c.king a.s.shole."

Of course, VX was what was in the suicide pills. Something that would literally light a vamp on fire from the inside out. And of course, Sean had the antidote.

They paused in a small clump of trees, and Sean continued to try and convince her to see his things his way.

"Dr. Stravinsky's research is dangerous. The public needs to be protected. I can't leak the information, but you can. I want to sneak you in and show you where it's located," Sean said. I knew what he was doing, holding the ultimate prize in front of Rachel. The chance to break a story that would rock the very beliefs of the human existence. Heady stuff for a journalist of any sort, but especially one of her calibre.

The doctor's name shouldn't have shocked me.

Stravinsky. The monster maker. I'd never met him, only heard about him through reputation. And even that was enough to make me wary. He'd be able to manipulate the humans into believing him, making them think he was really a doctor. But if this was the same Stravinsky I knew by reputation...he'd understand all too well how to make vampire blood into a cure-all for every disease they had, at least enough to get the humans to believe they needed him.

"Why didn't you tell me that two hours ago?" Rachel said, irritation plain in her voice.

"I wasn't sure how you'd take it. I didn't think you would trust me."

There was silence, and then she breathed out a sigh. "Let's get going."

That was my cue.

I slid out from behind the tree, but my dark clothes still allowed me to blend into the darkness. If Sean thought he was sticking her in there, he had another think coming. It worried me, though, that she thought she could trust him. I shook my head and waited.

They stopped two trees ahead of me, and Sean grabbed her around the waist. "One more time, for good luck."

She gave him a soft smile, far too soft. s.h.i.+t, she did believe him. d.a.m.n love and the strings it pulled. He jerked her tightly against him and they wrapped around each other. Behind her back, his right hand slowly slid up her spine, then back down to his hip and a square metal thing waiting there.

She'd let him have weapons back? What. The. f.u.c.k.

His eyes slid sideways as he kissed her and I stepped to the side so he could see me. He stumbled back and whipped out his weapon. It wasn't even a real gun.

"Seriously, that is not impressive. A stun gun? You think that would work on me?" I put my hands on my hips and stared him down. It would work, all too well, but I was hoping he didn't know that. Electricity would fry me almost as much as the bright sun would. "Rachel, you cannot trust him."

"And you think I can trust you?" Her blue eyes flashed with anger.

I spread my hands. "I've never lied to you. Not even when the truth made you angry. I didn't lie to you about Louis's death, either, but I could have quite easily manipulated you into believing whatever I wanted."

Her eyes flickered and I saw the doubt there. "Why did you kill him?"

"Calvin did it before I could stop him. Louis looked like the vamp who killed Calvin's wife and boy." The only way she was ever going to even halfway trust me was if I continued to tell her the truth, even when it wasn't mine to tell.

Sean snorted. "Please. You're a killer, a Cazador. The Cazador."

I nodded. "I am. But I gave Rachel my word. That means something to me. I will protect her, with my own life if I must."

I kept my eyes on Rachel, watching her for signs of understanding.

She took a step toward me. "I want to trust you, I do. I want to trust both of you."

I shrugged my shoulders. "One of us is lying to you." I pulled out the paperwork I'd found in Derrick's bag, and more importantly, the paper I'd pulled off the solider at the hotel. "Proof it isn't me."

With a quick scoop, she grabbed the papers from the ground, her eyes widening. "These are orders to have me killed as soon as Lea is tagged and bagged."

Sean shook his head. "You heard me and Justin. I'm not going to follow through."

Rachel slowly lifted her head. "You're the one who made the order. This is in your name."

"Rachel, it isn't like that. Those papers are probably forged." He was still trying to get her to believe him. I had to give him credit for persistence. Sweat broke out across his forehead. A sinking s.h.i.+p if I ever saw one.

Rachel threw the papers at him and they fluttered to the ground at his feet. "I recognize your signature, Sean. You made the orders, you signed these f.u.c.king papers."

Sean lifted his hand with the Taser in it and pointed it at Rachel. "d.a.m.n, I was really hoping to f.u.c.k you one more time."

He pulled the trigger and I leapt forward, putting myself in the path of the p.r.o.ngs. They bit into my left side, driving through my jeans. Bolts of electricity rocketed through me. My whole body arched and I hit the ground as Sean hit the trigger again and again.

I was useless, and completely at the mercy of Sean and his one little finger.