Evan narrowed his eyes, looking at me curiously and probably wondering why I was smiling like a Cheshire cat. It was a smile that had been on my face all evening. "Don't tell me there's something going on between you two. I mean, I know you wanted there to be. But I kind of got the feeling that she wouldn't be up for the consort lifestyle."

"She's not," was the only answer I gave him, but Evan wasn't dumb. He could guess the rest.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're not going to let it be a one-off thing?"

"Because I'm not."

"I'd say don't hurt her, but I'm sure she's the last person who needs protection and I'm just as sure that she could kick your a.s.s herself if she needed to."

She already had not a good memory for my ego.

"But I'm asking as someone who considers her a good friend: when you do decide you're done, don't do it harshly the way you usually do when it comes to women."

I didn't like the way he thought he had a right to be protective of her. I felt like that was my job, which made no sense and yet that was how I felt all the same. Just like since the day I'd met her I'd thought of her as mine, no matter how much I'd tried to ignore it. Again it was something that made no sense but it was there. And with that thought I just had to see her. Immediately I teleported to the office...and the sight that I found made me feel like I'd been hit on the chest with a sledgehammer.

There was Sam sitting on the edge of her desk with her arms and legs locked around Max who she was kissing so hard and urgently while he skated his hands down her back. An ache started in my stomach and quickly blossomed until every single part of me hurt. I was in agony both inside and out. I wasn't even sure if I was breathing, it was like I'd been winded. As much as I wanted to dive on Max and snap every limb off his body I couldn't seem to move. Shock had me rooted to the spot, paralysed. I couldn't tear my eyes away from them. I didn't want to watch but I couldn't seem to look away. Then the shock and hurt swiftly gave way to anger, and a deep, dark rage surged through me.

Seething I advanced on them. Both their heads swung to look at me and then Sam gasped and backed away, hiding behind Max. Instantly I stopped still. Sam was backing away? Sam was hiding behind another person? That didn't ring right.

Something else occurred to me then, too. My senses weren't hyper the way they usually were when she was around. I didn't feel that pull to go to her that I usually felt.

There was something else I realised too, something that shocked the h.e.l.l out of me and had me spooked, but I didn't want to think about that yet.

"She's made her choice, Michaels," said Max. "It's me she wants."

"Is that right?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

"The only reason she slept with you was because she wanted to get back at me."

"To get back at you?"

He nodded. "That's right."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to hear this from the horse's mouth." I raised a brow at her. She was still hiding behind Max. As I expected, she didn't speak. "If you expect me to believe you want him then I'm going to need to hear you say it." Still she didn't speak.

"Tell him, Sam," urged Max, stroking a hand through her hair, "tell him it's me you want."

She edged closer to Max but still she said nothing.

"Did you rob her ability to speak or something?" I asked Max who was starting to look a little confused and unsure. "I'm getting pretty agitated now, Sam. Tell me to my face that it's Max you want. What're you hiding for? If you really think I'd ever hurt you then just get out that pretty whip of yours? If you want to defend yourself you can do it easy. Unless...you're not Sam."

Chapter Fourteen.

(Sam) I halted mid-stride as I entered the office to find Jared and Max having some kind of face-off. Not only that, but there was a woman cowering behind Max.A woman who was identical to me. "b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l." Three heads turned to look at me. Max looked stunned, my doppelganger looked anxious, and Jared seemed completely unsurprised.

Max spun and glared at the woman behind him. Then his eyes repeatedly darted from her to me as though he was trying to work out which one was the real me. "What's going on?"

I snorted. "I was hoping one of you three could help me with that."

Jared spoke, "Short version is I teleported here and got to watch while Max had you wrapped around him almost sucking your mouth off. Only it wasn't you, I realised." His eyes bore into the imitation of me. "Game's up, Joy."

"Joy," I echoed with irritation. I was even more irritated by the fact that she was wearing my jacket which I'd left on the chair.

"I think she thought she could cause a nice big rift between us. I told her before that she'd never be you. It's stupid that she didn't just listen."

Joy's entire body seemed to twinkle and then she was back to her old self.

Max stepped away from her, rubbing his mouth as if to rub away any trace of her. He looked over at me. "I came here like you asked me to and she was sat at your desk. She said she'd made a mistake when she slept with him and that it was really me she wanted."

"And you bought her little act? You thought that was me?"

"Well, I mean, I thought you sounded a little weird. Your accent seemed off and your scent wasn't as strong -"

"Probably because it was my jacket that had my scent on it, not her."

"- but I didn't think it was someone else. Why would I?" He turned to Jared then. "How did you know?"

"I just did."

Wearing the scowl from h.e.l.l, Joy began ranting at Jared. "Maybe now you know what it feels like seeing the person you care about with someone else! Maybe now you have a tiny idea of how I feel! Shame you didn't think it was really her and then attack us. I would've liked watching Max steal your senses and then pummel you."

"Bloodthirsty isn't she," I commented to Jared before then concentrating my focus on her. "I strongly advise you to scarper out of this office before I seriously end up losing it. I have no time for anyone who thinks it's their right to play with people's lives."

"I'm not afraid of some Svente."

"Then you're dumber than I thought," said Jared, his voice heavy with impatience and aggravation.

"A good lay, isn't he," she said to me, wearing a c.o.c.ky smirk. "I quite like his tongue. Does he call you baby too? I'll bet he tells you you're blood tastes real good too. Feels good when he zaps your c.l.i.t with that gift of his, doesn't it."

"Are we supposed to be comparing notes? Or is this just your way of telling me that I mean nothing more to him than any other woman?" It wasn't something I didn't already know. It was dumb that I cared. I shouldn't care about that fact, I shouldn't care that when he called me baby it wasn't because he saw me as more than a s.h.a.g, I shouldn't care about him. And yet I did. It made me want to slap myself.

"It seems only fair that you know. He has this way of making you think you're special to him when the truth is you're nothing to him but another piece of a.s.s."

I placed my hand over my heart and said mockingly, "Oh, I think I feel it shattering. You've killed the dream." What worried me was that my words were a lot closer to the truth than I was comfortable with. "Now. Get. The. h.e.l.l. Out."

"It'll be a pleasure to." Looking rather self-satisfied, she shrugged pa.s.sed Jared and Max. As she was pa.s.sing me she made an extremely stupid move: she abruptly reached out and clawed my face with her nails like some sort of wildcat. Without hesitation I dived on her, or at least I meant to. Instead, the strangest thing happened. I fell into her. My body invaded hers, fused with hers, melded with hers. It was an odd feeling. It was like stepping into an all-in-one suit, stretching my limbs into place; a suit that I could see out of. Then the other senses came to me; hearing, smelling, touching, tasting. And then the feeling changed again, as though the suit was being burnt into my skin so that it became part of me, but the pain was only slight and brief.

And just like that I felt utterly invincible. I knew that I wasn't, but I felt it. Power was coursing through me, making me feel drunk on it. It was like a caged, pacing, agitated tiger: it wanted to be released, and I knew that if I unleashed it I'd have a hard job controlling it.

"What the h.e.l.l has happened?" My voice didn't sound like my own, nor did it sound like Joy's; it was kind of a mixture of the two. I looked down at my body and gasped: it was neither me nor Joy; there was a likeness of us both. I realised then that I hadn't possessed her body. By merging with her I had made us one being, one stronger being.

"Sam," drawled Jared in a soothing voice. "It's alright."

I looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding me! I'm far from alright." I could hear Joy's voice in my head: it wasn't a shock that she was cursing me. Oddly, I could pick up everything about her; as though I now had total access to her thoughts and feelings and memories. What I learnt surprised me: she loved Jared, and she believed he loved me. Had she always been daft?

"Holy s.h.i.t," muttered Max. "It looks like you've developed a new gift or something."

Then it all fell into place. "Antonio. I'll kill him."

Max looked pale even for a vampire. "I think you might be a Merger."

"Oh really, whatever made you think that?" said Jared sarcastically before turning back to me. "Sam, I can sense how you're feeling but I swear you're going to be fine, just concentrate. You can undo this. I know it must be weird and unfamiliar, baby, but you can control it just like you control anyone else's gift."

I nodded, sucking in a long breath. His presence was like an anchor, and I so needed one of those right now. I concentrated on my water tank metaphor. I imagined water filling me so completely that there was no room for Joy any longer. I realised that I seemed to be involuntarily draining the energy from her half; taking it into me, soaking it up. Then suddenly I was myself again and she was stumbling away; it was an odd sensation; like peeling away a bulky layer of clothing that was attached to your flesh like Velcro. It left a weird sensation behind on my skin like little bugs crawling over me. Thankfully it quickly faded, as did the feeling of being omnipotent.

Immediately Jared was there, his hand ma.s.saging my nape. "You okay?" His concern was beating at me; I could feel it as distinctly as if it was my own. It seemed that drinking his blood had made that weird link stronger. Great.

"I'm fine," I said. "But I still intend to kill Antonio."

He smiled a half-smile. "You'll have your chance soon. There's a meeting for all the commanders. Bran, Connelly and Kaiser will be there too. Apparently Bennington very briefly hinted at the idea of invading The Hollow and they came to tell tales on him."

"That's one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in my life." Max shuddered. Then he looked at Jared, his eyes seemed to be searching for something. "You knew it wasn't her." He still seemed confused. His gaze flicked between us both and then he sighed as if he had resigned himself to something. "What happened today at the arena won't happen again," he a.s.sured me with a semi-smile. Then he strode out, roughly dragging a dazed Joy with him.

Jared pulled me against him, still ma.s.saging my nape.

"You alright?" I asked him.

"You're asking me if I'm alright when you're the one who's just discovered you're a Merger as well as a Feeder?"

I shrugged. "You're feeling really, really unsettled about something, I can sense it."

"Of course I am; I've just watched you merge with another person."

But it wasn't just that, I knew it wasn't. I wondered if maybe he was just shocked after hearing Joy make it clear she cared about him. It probably wouldn't be a great idea to tell him she actually loved him. Nor was it a good idea to tell him that I cared about him as well.

Evan was just as freaked as what Max had been when I revealed, on the way to the meeting, I was now a Merger. I almost stumbled in surprise as he stopped statue-still as we entered the conference room. Turning to look at him, I saw that he was staring hard at something with his mouth hanging open. Following his gaze, I saw a red-headed woman who was sitting beside Bran I remembered her as his Consort looking rather bored. By the awed look on Evan's face, I had a good idea who she could be.

"Is that her? The girl from the vision?" I asked discretely.

He only nodded. His words came out in a whisper. "She's real. She's here."

Jared put a hand on my back, urging me forward. "Who?" When neither me nor Evan responded he frowned at Evan who quickly turned to look at him. I gathered that they were having a telepathic conversation and I wondered how much Evan would tell him.

Seeing that people were looking at us curiously I made my way to one of the few empty seats. Evan and Jared placed themselves either side of me. Evan was then directly opposite Bran's Consort who was staring at Evan like he was a snack. Well it's a start.

"Why Samantha, how are you?" asked Connelly after having greeted Jared and Evan and talked to them like they were G.o.ds. It almost made me laugh.

"Fine and dandy, thanks."

I don't know how you're not drained, you should've took some energy from me, said Jared.

The person who went away drained was Joy. Besides, I don't fancy teleporting to the arena and the bottom of the pool every five minutes like last time.Feeling particularly put out by my new gift, I added, When Antonio and Luther come in, let them know about my gift having manifested itself, but don't tell them what it is. He smiled at my eagerness to have them kept in suspense.

"I was telling Jared last night that he may set off a trend by having a Svente as a Consort," Connelly said to Evan.

Jared smiled. "Actually, Consort isn't the correct word. She's a commander."

"Within the legion?"

Still smiling, Jared nodded.

Kaiser scoffed, "A Svente , a female Svente, working as a commander within the legion? Absurd."

Yes I know I should be used to this by now but apparently I'm not. Before he could twist the cap off his NST bottle I, in a movement so swift he didn't see it coming, sucked energy into my hands and manifested my whip which I then cracked toward him and used to s.n.a.t.c.h his bottle. I then dragged the bottle to me with the whip, picked it up and read the label as I let the whip fade away. "Nah, I don't like that flavour." With that, I placed the bottle back on the table and released a gust of air from one hand, sending it zooming across back to Kaiser. The commanders chuckled.

"A Feeder," gasped Bran.

"A Svente Feeder," said Kaiser. I winked at him and leant back in my seat. "But that is only a Pagori gift."

"And that is only one of many things that make Sam unique," announced a new, deep, rhythmic voice as he, Luther and Sebastian strolled into the room. Antonio.

As usual Nero came to greet me with a lick to my arm and then he squeezed himself between mine and Evan's chair, eager to be stroked. When both Antonio and Luther looked sharply at me with intrigue written all over their faces I knew Jared had told them telepathically about the surfacing of my new gift. I could see that they were itching to know more. I merely smiled.

After Antonio made all the introductions he began, "Bran, Rupert" he called Connelly by his first name the same as Jared did "and Kaiser have arrived to inform me about certain things that Bennington of Great Britain was heard to have said last night at Rupert's gathering. All of it supports Luther's vision: Bennington intends to attack The Hollow and is trying to recruit as many vampires as possible. Bran, Rupert and Kaiser have agreed to support the defence of The Hollow by adding their own legions to ours, which has increased our numbers greatly. In fact, their legions are being teleported to the Guest House and other accommodations as we speak. This sense of urgency I have is in light of what we didn't otherwise know before: Bennington intends to attack at midnight tomorrow."

There were gasps and mutterings and curses. I was pretty much mute with the dread running through me. That gave us no additional time to train: we would literally have to put ourselves in place tomorrow evening and lie in wait. Jared's hand gripped mine under the table. I could sense his rage and his unease. Bennington might himself be nothing but a little fart, but his army of specially gifted vampires were a big concern. And G.o.d only knew how many allies he'd manage to secure.

"It would seem that he decided to bring his time-table forward, probably because he suspected that my Advisor may have had a vision and so he hoped to catch us off-guard. We may not have had as much time to prepare as we would have liked, but had it not been for Luther's earlier vision we might never have been as psychologically prepared as what we are now. I would advise all commanders to spend this evening familiarising yourselves and your squads as much as possible with the surrounding rainforest. I have additional security measures in place, including a stronger shield over The Hollow so that no onemay teleport there until I have removed it. Even now the other vampires and humans are being hidden underground." Antonio cast a look at the three High Masters. "If you wish for your Consorts to also be hidden then that can easily be arranged."

"I think I can help," the red-head blurted out. Bran castigated her with a look but Antonio waved away the break in etiquette.

"We have become used to outspoken females," said Antonio with a smile. "How is it you believe you can help, Miss...?"

"It's Alora. Well, you said you'd be using the rainforests and I can communicate with and charm animals. Ordinarily they wouldn't aid us in any way: they see as the ultimate predator. However they'll sense that Bennington's lot are a threat to their surrounding environment, they won't like that. Even having them as spies would be useful."

I saw how Evan had stiffened and I knew he fully intended to suggest she was locked away for safe-keeping. I subtly kicked him under the table and then said, "I agree that she might be able to help." She smiled at me gratefully for that. Last night she'd looked at me like I was no better than a dung beetle just because I was a Svente. I felt Evan's eyes drilling into me and condemning me. "Haven't you learnt anything from me being here?"

He sighed and looked away but mumbled something about G.o.d needing to save him from women with iron-wills.

"Jared, Lou, Will," began Antonio, "I consider you three to be the specialists on formations. Where do you suggest we place each squad?"

Jared spoke immediately, his voice filled with determination, "I'm covering the front line."

"We agree that it would be an advantage for Jared and Sam's squad to be one of the squads covering the outer perimeter," said Lou. "From what we have heard and seen, although the squad is reasonably new the recruits are as prepared as any can be."

"They kicked the a.s.s of my squad," grumbled Evan.

Antonio nodded. "The fact that they will have both Jared and Sam leading them makes them an excellent choice for that position."

"Wait," said Jared. "I'm not sure Sam should -"

My voice was like a whip. "I really would ask yourself if you like your eyes because if you finish that sentence there's a good chance I'll gouge them out."