For a long moment, Gabrielle didn't say anything. Lucan saw her throat working. There was a great deal of hurt in her soft brown eyes. "She was charged with abandoning her child."

"How old were you?"

She shrugged, shook her head. "Young. An infant. She stuffed me in a trash bin outside an apartment building. It was only about a block from where the police picked her up. Fortunately for me, one of the cops decided to check the surrounding area. He heard my crying, I guess, and took me out of there."

Holy Christ.

A jolt of recollection flashed hard in Lucan's mind as she spoke. He saw a dark street, wet pavement gleaming in the moonlight, a wide-eyed female standing in transfixed horror as a Rogue vampire sucked at her throat. He heard the shrill wailing of the tiny baby nestled in the young mother's arms.

"When did this happen?" "A long time ago. Twenty-seven years ago this summer, to be exact."

To one of Lucan's age, twenty-seven years ago was a blink of time. He clearly remembered interrupting the attack at the bus station. Recalled stepping between the Rogue and its prey, sending the terrified female off with a stern mental command. She 'd been bleeding profusely, some of it raining down on her baby.

After he'd killed the Rogue and cleared the scene, he had gone to look for the woman and her child. He hadn 't found them.

He'd often wondered what had happened to the both of them, and cursed himself for not having been able to at least remove the horrific memories of the a.s.sault from the victim's mind.

"She committed suicide in the mental facility not long afterward," Gabrielle said. "I was already a ward of the state."

He couldn't stop himself from touching her. Gently sweeping aside her long hair, he cupped the delicate line of her jaw, stroked the proud lift of her chin. Her eyes were moist, but she didn't crack. She was a tough one, all right. Tough and beautiful and so incredibly special.

In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and tell her as much.

"I'm sorry," he said, meaning it with utmost sincerity. And regret, something he wasn't used to feeling. But, then, since he'd first laid eyes on her, Gabrielle made him feel a lot of things that were entirely new to him. "I'm sorry for both of you."

The computer beeped again.

"That's all of them," she said, reaching up as if she might stroke his hand, but couldn't quite bring herself to touch him yet.

He let her back out of his caress and felt a sharp pang of remorse for the way she silently turned away.

Shutting him out like the new stranger he was.

He watched her remove the last memory stick and place it with the other. When she began to close the application, Lucan said, "Not yet. I need you to delete the image files from the computer and from any backups you might have. The copies we take out of here have to be the only ones remaining."

"What about print copies? The ones on the table there, the ones I have downstairs in my darkroom?"

"You wrap up here. I'll get the prints."

"Okay."

She got right to work, and Lucan made a quick sweep of the rest of the apartment. He gathered all the loose snapshots and took down her framed images as well, wanting to leave nothing behind that could be of use to the Rogues. He found a large duffel bag in Gabrielle's bedroom closet and brought it downstairs to load it up.

As he finished packing and zipping the bag closed, he heard the low rumble of a muscle car coming to a stop outside the townhouse. Two doors opened, then slammed shut, followed by urgent footsteps coming toward the apartment.

"Someone's here," Gabrielle said, sending him a stark look as she shut down her computer.

Lucan's hand was already inside his trenchcoat and snaked around to the base of his spine, where a custom Beretta 9mm was tucked into the back waistband of his pants. The gun was loaded with maximum blast, Rogue -smoking, t.i.tanium rounds-one of Niko's latest innovations. If a Rogue stood outside that door, the Bloodl.u.s.ting son of a b.i.t.c.h was about to get a belly full of hurt.

But it wasn't Rogues, he realized at once. Not even Minions, which also would have given Lucan a bit of satisfaction in blowing away. There were humans on the front stoop. A man and a woman.

"Gabrielle?" The doorbell rang several times in rapid succession. "h.e.l.lo? Gabby! Are you in there?"

"Oh, no. It's my friend Megan."

"The one you went to last night?"

"Yes. She's been calling here most of the day, leaving messages. She's worried about me."

"What did you tell her?"

"She knows about the a.s.sault in the park. I told her how I was attacked, but I didn't tell her anything about you... what you did."

"Why not?"

Gabrielle shrugged. "I didn't want her involved. I don't want her to be put in any danger because of me. Because of all this." She sighed, shaking her head. "Maybe I didn't want to say anything about you until I had some answers for myself."

The doorbell rang again. "Gabby, open up! Ray and I need to talk to you. We need to know that you're okay."

"Her boyfriend's a cop," Gabrielle said softly. "They want me to file a report about what happened last night."

"Is there a back way out of here?"

She nodded, then seemed to change her mind and shook her head. "The slider opens onto a shared backyard, but there's a tall fence-"

"No time," Lucan said, discarding the option. "Go to the door. Let your friends come in."

"What are you going to do?" She saw that his hand had just slipped back out of his trenchcoat, easing off the weapon concealed behind him. Panic flooded into her expression. "Do you have a gun back there? Lucan, they won't do anything to you. I'll make sure they don't say anything."

"I won't have to use the weapon on them."

"Then what will you do?" After so deliberately avoiding any physical contact with him, now she finally did touch him, her small hands clutching at his arm. "G.o.d, please tell me you won't hurt them-"

"Open the door, Gabrielle."

Her legs moved sluggishly beneath her as she approached the front door. She twisted the deadbolt and heard Megan's voice on the other side.

"She's in there, Ray. She's at the door. Gabby, open up, honey! Are you all right?"

Gabrielle slid the chain free, saying nothing. Not sure whether she should a.s.sure her friend that she was okay, or shout for Megan and Ray to get the h.e.l.l out of there.

A look behind her at Lucan gave her no indication either way. His sharp features were emotionless and still. His silver eyes were rooted on the door, cool and unblinking. His powerful hands were empty, down at his sides, but Gabrielle knew he could spring into motion with no warning at all. If he wanted to kill her friends-even her, for that matter-it would be done before any of them knew to take the first breath.

"Let them in," he told her in a low growl.

Gabrielle slowly turned the k.n.o.b.

The door was barely open a crack before Megan pushed inside, her boyfriend, still in uniform, right behind her.

"Holy s.h.i.t, Gabby! Do you have any idea how worried I've been? Why haven't you returned my calls?" She pulled her into a fierce hug, then released her, only to frown at Gabrielle like a frantic mother hen. "You look tired. Have you been crying? Where have you-"

Megan broke off abruptly, her eyes, and Ray's, catching a sudden glimpse of Lucan in the middle of the living room behind Gabrielle.

"Oh... I didn't realize you had someone here... ."

"Everything okay here?" Ray asked, stepping past the two women and letting his hand rest lightly on his holstered weapon.

"Fine. Everything's fine," Gabrielle quickly replied. She held her hand out toward Lucan. "This is, uh... a friend of mine."

"Going somewhere?" Megan's boyfriend strolled forward, and gestured to the stuffed duffel bag that lay on the floor beside Lucan's feet.

"Um, yeah," Gabrielle interjected, walking swiftly past Ray and putting herself between him and Lucan. "I've been a little shaken up tonight. I thought I'd go to a hotel and chill out. Lucan stopped by to give me a ride."

"Huh." Ray was trying to peer around her to where Lucan remained rudely stoic and silent. Lucan's scathing stare said he had already sized up the young cop-and dismissed him in that same instant.

"I wish you hadn't come, you guys," Gabrielle said. And that was the G.o.d's honest truth. "Really, you don't have to stay."

Megan walked over and took Gabrielle's hand protectively in hers. "Ray and I were hoping you'd consider coming with us to the police station, honey. It's important. I'm sure your friend would agree with us. You're the detective Gabby's mentioned, right?

I'm Meg."

Lucan shifted a step. The small movement brought him right up in front of Megan and Ray. It was such a slight flex of muscle, so fast, time seemed to slow around him. Gabrielle saw him take those handful of impossibly quick strides, but her friends blinked and found Lucan standing in their faces, crowding them with his ma.s.sive size and a menace that vibrated in the air around him.

Without any warning at all, he lifted his right hand and took Megan by the forehead.

"Lucan, no!"

Meg cried out, a half-uttered noise that died in her throat as she stared into Lucan's eyes. With viper speed, he reached out with his left hand and clamped Ray in a similar hold. The officer struggled for a mere second before his face drooped into a trancelike stupor. Lucan's strong, clutching fingers seemed to be all that was holding the pair upright.

"Lucan, please! I'm begging you!"

"Get the memory sticks and the duffel bag," he told her, his voice calm. Coldly commanding. "I have a car waiting outside. Get in, and wait for me. I'll be right out."

"I'm not going leave you here to bleed my friends dry."

"If that had been my intent, they'd already be dead on the floor." He was right. G.o.d, but she had no doubt that this man-this dark being she had admitted into her life-was dangerous enough to do just that.

But he hadn't. And he wouldn't; she trusted that much about him.

"The pictures, Gabrielle. Now."

She jolted into action, hefting the bulky duffel bag over her shoulder and dropping the two flash drives into the front pocket of her jeans. On the way out, she paused to look at Megan's blank face. Her eyes were closed now, as were Ray's. Lucan was murmuring something to them in a voice so low she could hardly hear it.

The tone of his words didn't sound threatening, but oddly soothing, persuasive. Almost lulling.

With one last glance at the bizarre scene taking place in her living room, Gabrielle dashed out the open front door and down onto the street. A sleek sedan waited at the curb, parallel parked in front of Ray's red Mustang. It was an expensive vehicle-incredibly expensive, from the looks of it-and the only other car around.

As she approached, the front pa.s.senger door opened as if it had been willed to do so.

Willed by the sheer strength of Lucan's mind, she knew, wondering just how far his preternatural powers might reach.

She slid into the deep leather seat and closed the door. Not two seconds later, Megan and Ray appeared on her front stoop.

They calmly walked down the steps and right past her on the sidewalk, eyes straight ahead of them, neither of them saying a word.

Lucan was directly behind them. He closed the apartment door and came around the car where Gabrielle waited. He climbed in, stuck a key in the ignition, and started the Maybach's engine.

"Not a good idea to leave these behind," he said, dropping her purse and camera bag into her lap.

Gabrielle stared at him across the subtly lit c.o.c.kpit of the vehicle. "You did some kind of mind control on them, like you've tried to do with me before."

"I suggested to your friends that they had never been at your apartment tonight."

"You erased their memory?"

He inclined his head in a vague nod. "They won't recall anything about this evening, or your having been at Megan's apartment last night after the Minion's attack on you. Their minds are no longer burdened with any of it."

"You know, right now, that sounds pretty d.a.m.n good. So, what do you say, Lucan? Will you do me next? You can start erasing right before I made the terrible decision to go to that nightclub a couple of weeks ago."

He held her gaze, but she didn't feel him so much as trying to get into her head. "You aren't like those two humans, Gabrielle.

Even if I wanted to, I couldn't change any of the things that have happened to you. Your mind is stronger than most. In many ways, you are... different from most."

"Gee, I feel so lucky."

"The best place for you now is with us, where the Breed will protect you as one of our own. We have a secured compound in the city. You can stay there to start."

She frowned. "What, you're offering me the vampire equivalent of the Witness Protection Program?"

"It's a bit more than that." He turned his head, looking out through the windshield. "And it is the only way." Lucan hit the gas and the sleek black car shot up the narrow road with a low, silky growl. Clutching the leather seat on the pa.s.senger side, Gabrielle swung her head around to watch as darkness slowly swallowed up her residential block on Willow Street.

As the distance grew wider, she saw the vague silhouettes of Megan and Ray getting into his Mustang to leave her apartment, none the wiser. Gabrielle felt a sudden jolt of panic that made her want to leap out of the car and run back to them, back to her old life.

Too late.

She knew that.

This new reality had her in a tight grasp, and she didn't think there would be any turning back, only a steady march forward. She turned away from the rear window and sank into the seat 's b.u.t.ter-soft leather, staring straight ahead as Lucan wheeled sharply around the corner and drove her deep into the night.

CHAPTER Twenty