Keller watched Toria's sleek figure as she pulled shut the door to his room. He was not worried. When she'd gone, he opened the door and took a quick look around. He smiled, noting how nothing looked out of place. She was good at her job.

But now he had a job to do. Toria had made him into an unholy monster, and he had to be cleansed. He dropped to his knees and unhooked the stays at the collar of his robe. It fell to the floor around him, leaving his chest bare.

Reaching under the bed, he wrapped his hand around the hilt of a whip. He slid it out and looked at its vicious ends. Once they had been just knotted horsehair, but horsehair could no longer do him harm.

After his transformation, he'd had special blades fashioned with a hole at one pointed end that flared out into two slightly curved sharp edges so each blade resembled a tiny scythe. Three were knotted into the end of each ta.s.sel of the whip.

He forced his arm up and back, felt the blades slice and hook into his flesh, and then he pulled up, ripping them free. The pain was intense, but guilt still ate at him because he knew it wouldn't last. He could carve himself into ribbons, but his traitorous flesh would still be whole by the next evening. He could not be a proper servant in this body. None of them could.

CHAPTER 38.

Delilah tried not to scream as another contraction ripped through her. Her hand gripped maniacally at the bedclothes as Samson's child made its way into the world. Barely seven months had pa.s.sed since Samson's capture, and so much had happened so quickly, it hadn't even occurred to her that she could be pregnant until a few months ago.

She'd known, of course, that Samson was beloved, even in Sorek, but she hadn't counted on being run out of town. Demos had protected her for a time, but when his business began to suffer and the animosity toward her showed no sign of blowing over, even he turned on her. In the end, he'd helped her get established in Gaza, but he had made it clear that there would be no future contact. He couldn't afford it. There was no explicit mention of how she would support herself.

No matter. She had enough money to delay the inevitable for quite some time-at least long enough to bring her child into the world and see to its future.

Delilah didn't know what effect her drink of demon blood would have on the child. Hopefully none. Whatever Lilith's plan had been, this child had been conceived before the night of Samson's capture, before he had drunk of her blood. That should be enough to ensure her child would have its own soul.

An astonishing pain roared forth from between her legs and drenched her whole body in sweat. She almost lost consciousness, hanging on only because she heard a faint cry. Her baby daughter.

She hated that she would never get to know her, but the servants of Lilith would inevitably seek her out and kill her once they discovered they'd been betrayed. Neither she nor the child would be safe in any Philistine city, and the child would be much safer separated from her.

Her maid, Morah, washed and wrapped the babe while Delilah regained her breath. When Morah laid the babe on her chest, Delilah stared in surprise at a tiny pair of blue eyes, more vivid than she had ever seen. Perhaps this was Lilith's contribution, she thought.

The maid pulled the child away, as she had been instructed. She and her young husband would take the girl to a new city and raise her as their own. Delilah had sold most of her jewels to get them enough money to get established anywhere they chose. They just weren't to tell her their destination. She could never know what had become of them or the child, nor could anyone else. Their lives depended on it.

When the plane hit the runway at John F. Kennedy Airport, Ariana jerked awake. She held her breath as the flaps went up to slow the winged beast, and her mind reeled from the latest dream.

Delilah... she... had borne Samson's child. Not the demon host Lilith had intended, but his real child. And she'd given their daughter away to keep her safe. She wondered what had become of her. And she wondered how she had suddenly come to have so many secrets.

CHAPTER 39.

Outside the terminal in New York, the sky was almost dark. She gave the dispatcher at the cab stand the address for Ash's townhouse and slid into the backseat of the next waiting taxi.

As the cab crossed the Queensboro Bridge onto Manhattan Island, Ariana leaned closer to the plastic divider. The city glittered through the front window, and she realized she'd missed it.

At the townhouse, the cab sped away, leaving Ariana on the sidewalk fumbling for a moment with the purloined key chain. She considered her choices and opted to try the big bra.s.s key on the iron gate that now barred her way.

A mere second of jiggling and the heavy grated door swung inward before her. Ariana's shoulders sagged in relief. One down, one to go, she thought.

She wasn't as lucky on the next door, taking three tries to get the right key, but eventually it too succ.u.mbed. She pushed it open and stepped inside.

There were no lights, so she dropped the keys into her bag, turned, and searched out a switch with her left hand. Finally, a small table lamp in the foyer flared to life.

She shut the door behind her and headed for Ash's study.

Halfway down the hall, she froze in her tracks when she heard the faint but unmistakable sound of Ash's front door swinging slowly inward on its metal hinges. Could he have followed me so quickly? No. She'd barely made it onto the last flight out of Heathrow for the night. He would be at least a few hours behind her, and probably more.

Ariana drew in a sharp breath, and the raised hairs on the back of her neck gave her the split second of warning she needed. As she spun out of the way of her attacker, she let her own fist fly out. It connected with something hard, hurting her already injured hand.

The hard thing was a black-clad woman. Ariana knew instantly she was a vampire. "Ash," she said quickly. "I know Ash. Samson. He'd be very angry if you killed me."

"I doubt that," the woman smirked. Her eyes roved over Ariana from head to toe, and she smiled darkly. "Don't worry," she said. "I promise not to kill you if you tell me who you are."

Ariana said nothing, and the woman moved closer, studying her intently. "I want you to tell me who you are," she said with a voice like a silken razor.

Ariana coughed nervously. "That's the $64,000 question, I'm afraid."

The woman stopped short when she got close enough to look Ariana in the eye. Ariana was surprised to see a flash of recognition.

"Are you her?" the woman asked bitterly. "Is it really Delilah come to grace us with her presence after all this time?"

Ariana understood instantly that this woman wanted Ash for herself. Tricky. What would Delilah do?

"I see you've heard of me," she said with a smile. "Good." Ariana raked the woman with her gaze. "Guess you didn't get the other memo. Goth is out this year."

The woman opened her mouth and hissed. Long white fangs glimmered in the darkness.

Okay, no more channeling Delilah, Ariana thought, taking a nervous step back from her rival. She was no match for this woman, but she didn't want her hanging around getting in the way either.

"Do you know James?" Ariana asked.

"Who?" the woman asked, her eyes narrowing.

"My husband, James," Ariana said slowly. "I think he's been turned recently into..." she couldn't say the word, "...one of you."

The woman's tight body relaxed somewhat as she considered Ariana's question. "And if I could bring James back to you?" she queried guardedly.

"That depends," Ariana hedged. "Who are you?"

"Toria," the woman replied. "Ash and I are old friends."

"Hmmm..." Ariana forced herself not to point out that Ash had never mentioned her. "And you know what happened to James?"

"That depends," Toria replied, giving her a knowing glare.

Ariana shook her head. "I don't have designs on Ash, if that's what you're asking," she said. "Can you take me to James?"

"But does Ash have designs on you?" Toria asked.

Ariana hesitated before answering, but that was all the answer Toria seemed to need.

"That's too bad," she muttered as she drew back her fist and let fly.

Ariana hit the floor at Toria's feet with a m.u.f.fled thud.

CHAPTER 40.

He just had to be patient, Ash told himself again as he stared at the wall in his study. He still couldn't figure out how she'd escaped, but it didn't matter. He would get her back.

The electronic jangling of his cell phone startled him, but the brief flash of hope in his eyes died when he saw that it was Justin's number.

"What?" he barked into the tiny device.

"Hi to you, too, Ash," Justin said, sounding offended. "What's got you in such a foul mood? Is Ariana okay?"

"Yes."

"Well, you'll forgive my concern," Justin insisted. "You did kick me out of the manor rather abruptly, and I never saw her before I left."

"She's fine," Ash said, hoping it was true. "Look, is this important? I really need to go."

"Well, I don't know. Is finding out who broke into your company important?"

Ash sat back in his chair and forced himself to focus on the matter at hand. "Okay, what did you find out?"

"Thomas really came through," Justin began. "He took all the surveillance video and matched each entry to the electronic access logs. There was an unauthorized entry a few weeks ago."

Ash was pleased to have a result so soon. "So who was it? Do we know?"

"Well, the access logs say it was you."

Ash wasn't sure he'd heard him right. "Me? That can't be."

"I know," Justin said, "but I saw them myself. Someone swiped your keycard at the gate, but it definitely wasn't you."

"We got a picture?" Ash asked eagerly.

"Yes, I'm emailing it to you right now."

Ash jiggled his mouse and waited for his laptop screen to come back on. After an impatient few seconds, he opened the file and watched a tall, dark, green-eyed vampire walk through the access doors at Hemogen.

"I'll be d.a.m.ned," Ash said softly. "Keller."

"So you do know him?" Justin asked. "How do you want to proceed?"

"Don't worry about it," Ash said. "I'll get the next plane to New York and find out first hand what Keller's up to."

"Okay," Justin said hesitantly. "But let me know if you need anything."

Ash laughed. "I said not to worry. Whatever Keller's twisted brain has come up with, he's no threat."

Justin said goodbye and hung up, still sounding to Ash's ears a little too motherly.

Ash pressed the intercom call b.u.t.ton and within moments, Nancy appeared at his study door.

"What can I bring you, sir?"

"Nothing, Nancy. I will be leaving for New York immediately. Can you get packed and come over on a flight tomorrow?"

Nancy's eyes lit up. "Yes, sir. I'd be delighted."

Ash gave her a puzzled glance. "Really? You normally aren't any more pleased than Ben to have to leave here."

Nancy smiled. "Well, it's getting to be that time of year, sir. I can start my Christmas shopping in the city."

Ash frowned. What was it about shopping that turned women into totally different people? And who Christmas-shopped in June?

CHAPTER 41.

Unlike Ash, Luc liked to live amidst the bustle. He kept an apartment down in the East Village, but Toria wasn't headed for his apartment.

Across the park, on the west side of the city, Luc rented some warehouse s.p.a.ce behind a string of car dealerships. Not many others knew what he did there, but Toria had found him out when she'd first gone searching for James several weeks ago.

Luc's little setup was disgusting, but harmless enough. And the holding facility would be the perfect place to store this kitten out of sight for a while.

At this hour, there weren't many people out on the streets Toria chose to traverse. The few people she did pa.s.s couldn't be bothered to inquire about one unconscious woman-and if they could, a scalding glance from Toria made them think twice about interfering.

The heavy door to the warehouse was locked and, from all appearances, long unused. Toria flipped open the door of what looked like a fuse box. Inside a tiny screen flickered. A face appeared on it, a chiseled, masculine face surrounded by hair the color of desert sand.