"Let me go!" The new vampire struggled, yanking against the hold. The man's voice was guttural and determined. "I'll tear out your throat!"

The ancient one wasn't concerned by the threat. "You will do my bidding from now on."

The new vampire's eyes glowed like hot fire, a silver and gold mixture like nothing the ancient one had ever seen. "No! I will not hurt them!"

"Yes." He walked closer to the vampires and stared down at them from a much superior height. Capturing the skinny vampire's gaze, he held him in the thrall, drawing his will from him. "There's nothing you can do but obey. Nothing. I am in your mind. Thedarkest is in your mind. There is no freedom for you. You are a slave. Open your mind wider, deeper, to thedarkest ."

"Feck you!" the skinny vampire said with a viscous snarl.

Unaffected by the inferior vampire's wrath, the ancient one snickered. "I don't think so.

You're not my type."

As the ancient one bellowed another laugh, the new vampire wriggled against the invisible force field once more. "No!"

Sighing, the ancient one said, "Isn't that refrain getting a little old?" His voice went deeper, harsher, invading the other vampires' skulls with ease. "Open to me. Open!"

Grimacing, the skinny vampire appeared to resist with everything inside him. No words parted the immortal's lips, but the ancient one could read chaotic thoughts. The ancient one sensed both vampires' minds going blank, once again under his complete thrall.

The newly made vampire shifted against the cold tunnel wall, his eyes wild with anger.

Certainly, the ancient one had to admire the new immortal's lack of fear, or at least the ability to hide it. "You wonder why I brought you across? Why I didn't just kill you as I have all the others? Because you have a mission to fulfill."

"I don't give a shit what you say," the new vampire rasped, his voice sounded choked and rusty.

With a hollow laugh the ancient one disengaged the force field. Both captured men slid down the tunnel wall.

The ancient one said, "You will bring ClarissaGaines and ErinGreenway to me. When they first see you they will trust you and it will take them off guard. Bring them here and we will feast on their blood. Do you understand?"

The skinny vampire nodded and so did the new vampire. They spoke at once, "Yes."

The ancient one gestured down the tunnel. "Then go."

The vampires walked sluggishly toward the outside world, and within a couple of seconds they'd disappeared completely from the tunnels.

Amused and satisfied with his work, the ancient one laughed again, this time allowing the hearty, happy sound to bellow forth full strength. Tonight all of Pine Forest would pay for its stupidity.

Lachlan Tavish and Ronan Kieran would know special pain when the veil between worlds became most thin. After they watched him feast on their women, he would kill Tavish and Kieran and enjoy their blood as well.

Clarissa woke and her entire body felt achy and the mysterious nausea returned. Somewhere in the time since he'd last made love to her, they'd rolled over and faced away from each other. They'd spent all that morning making love, cherishing each other between trips to the refrigerator to gain sustenance. She'd lost count long ago how many times they'd made love. If their world was to come to an end, they would have no regrets.

The others in the house sequestered themselves in the living room listening to news reports and keeping the doors barred. To their surprise some of the violence in Pine Forest had calmed, not something they expected. Clarissa knew a growing hope in her heart that maybe she'd been totally wrong about the mayhem to come...maybe all of them had been wrong.

She could hope.

Wincing, she looked at the digital clock and noted the time read almost four-thirty in the afternoon. Night rapidly approached. Ronan would be stirring soon from his daylight slumber. She felt the need to think, to enjoy a little personal space.

She got out of bed and searched for her clothes. As she slipped into her boots and tied them up, an odd notion came to her.

She looked at the dresser and hesitated, then moved toward it with sure strides. She didn't have to fumble to find the second pregnancy kit Erin had given her. Clarissa headed for the bathroom with the idea of taking the test, but a strange intuition made her stop. A creepy feeling ran down her spine like a worm traveling with a slow and insistent pace.

Leaving the pregnancy test on the bathroom counter, she went downstairs. She saw the porch light on through the back living room curtains. Peaking between the curtains she saw Erin standing outside. Clarissa went through the dining room and opened the back door.

Erin jumped and turned swiftly. "Oh jeez, you scared the hell out of me."

Clarissa smiled and closed the door behind her. "What are you doing out here without a coat?"

"I could ask the same of you."

Clarissa's smile widened. "Touche."

Erin's expression turned serious. "I haven't been out here more than a minute. I heard...it must have been my imagination, but it scared me."

An odd premonitory sense kicked in and tickled Clarissa's psyche. She approached Erin, oblivious to the iciness for a moment. "What did you hear?"

"I was walking through the living room and I heard your voice calling to me. When I stepped out here, though, you obviously weren't here. I was just about to come back in when you startled me by showing up."

Clarissa's sense of danger increased. "Something's wrong, Erin. Come on let's get back inside and-"

Before either of them could move, two dark shadows swept out of the encroaching night from around the right side of the house. Though it could only be a few seconds, time seemed to slow down for Clarissa. She flinched but stopped short of a startled shriek.

Erin seemed stunned, her eyes wide, hands going up to defend.

Clarissa moved in front of Erin, her body feeling lighter and stronger than it had in some time, as if another power gave her strength. Her defensive stance in front of her friend made Erin grab her arm from behind, but Clarissa didn't move.

"Sorley?" Erin asked, her voice choked with fright. "You scared the hell out of us.

What's going on?"

Clarissa recognized the other man with him and stiffened with apprehension. Something still wasn't right. "Jim." Jim's hair was tousled and his face held two or more days'

growth of beard. His down coat was torn in two places near the zipper and smudged with dirt. "Are you all right?"

"He's all right now," Sorley said, a hint of Irish wryness peeking through their startling appearance. "He wasn't before, but he's seen the truth."

Although her heart hadn't stop pounding, Clarissa said to Jim, "You've decided the paranormal is real?"

Jim's smile held an uncanny edge, and then she observed a change in Jim's eyes, a flicker of flame that matched Sorley's. "Jim, were you bitten by a vampire?"

He nodded. "You could say that."

"Enough chitchat. That's not what we're here for," Sorley said.

Sorley's clipped tone scraped over Clarissa's nerves. "Everyone's been worried about you, Sorley."

When he smiled she saw his fangs and another trickle of unease did a dance across Clarissa's skin. "Did something else happen that we don't know about?"

Jim laughed softly. "Oh, yes. And now that I know what it is, I want you to be a part of it. With me."

She glanced and Erin and her friend returned her worried look. A niggling panic worked itself into her like a slow splinter into a finger. "Jim, there is no us. I'm with Ronan Kieran."

He looked confident. "No, you're going to be mine. You were promised to me."

As Jim's lips parted she saw his fangs and then the reality hit her full force. "Oh myGod.

You weren't just bitten, you've been turned into a vampire."