'I'm still thinking,' he said truthfully.

'What's to think about?' Bianca replied quickly. 'You know what you would gain: power, prestige!'

'I don't care about that,' Jason told her.

Bianca gave a wry smile. 'I forget how young you are. Of course you don't care about that now. But you will. Trust me,' she replied. 'I'm your aunt. I just want what's best for you. I want you to have health and long life. That's something your mother would want for you too. Anyone who loves you would.' She put her hand on his arm. 'Accept the gift. There's no end to the wonderful things you can have if you become one of us.'

Jason looked at her hand. The nails were bitten to the quick, and her red nail polish was chipped. He pulled away, startled. Aunt Bianca was all about appearances. Her nails were always perfectly manicured.

'Aunt Bee . . . are you OK?' he asked. 'You seem really stressed out lately.'

'I have a lot of things on my mind,' she replied. 'A lot of people to deal with.'

Jason frowned. Was she saying there were bad people to deal with? Or bad vampires? Jason had no real sense of just how many vampire communities there were in the world like DeVere Heights. Were there turf wars? Political differences? Had Bianca become involved in some sort of vampire struggle she couldn't handle?

That's unlikely, Jason thought. She's too powerful. 'Listen, I'm still thinking about transforming. I really am,' he a.s.sured her. 'But I have to go now.'

Bianca stared at him, her eyes suddenly cold. She pulled her hand away. 'Don't think for too long!' she snapped. 'I'm not going to keep your secret with Sienna forever.'

'I won't. Just . . . just keep this between us for a little longer,' he said. 'Please.'

'Maybe I should talk to Danielle,' Bianca said, her eyes narrowing. 'She might be more willing to make a change than you are.'

'No!' Jason cried. 'Just give me another day or two. I promise I'll give you an answer then.'

'Fine.' Aunt Bianca sighed, and suddenly she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. 'You know how much I love you, don't you? You and Dani both.'

'Of course,' Jason said, surprised at her sudden warmth. 'We love you too.'

Bianca released him and turned away abruptly. 'See you later,' she called, walking into the house.

Jason climbed into his Bug. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to Aunt Bianca's sudden mood changes, but he was very relieved that he'd managed to convince her not to tell Dani about the transformation. Or at least he hoped he had. The way Bianca was acting lately, he was a little worried she might just change her mind and tell Dani all about it anyway.

'Dani,' he murmured thoughtfully. He was going to the lab tonight. He'd find out for sure whether he could become a vampire or not. Why not find out for his sister at the same time?

Jason jumped out of the car and ran back inside. Dani was still out by the pool, on her cell. But her bag sat on the table in the hall where she always left it. He grabbed it and began rummaging around inside.

'What on earth are you doing?' Bianca asked, peering at him from the kitchen table.

'Oh. I, uh, forgot to get this DVD from Dani. She said I could lend it to Adam.' Jason turned so that his body blocked the bag, then he pulled out Dani's hairbrush and stuck it in the inside pocket of his jacket. 'Bye, Aunt Bee!' he called. Then he was out the door.

'Let me get this right. You want me to help you break into a top-secret vampire laboratory monitored by security guards and a high-tech alarm system, so that you can use outrageously expensive scientific equipment to test your own DNA,' Adam said an hour later.

'Is that a problem?' Jason asked.

'No, not at all,' Adam replied with a grin. He jumped up and grabbed a backpack from his closet. 'Just wanted to be sure I had it straight. So, let's see . . . we'll need a couple of lock-picks, probably a smoke bomb or two, in case we get caught . . .' He rummaged around in the messy closet, pulling things from boxes and shelves. 'Flashlights for all of us, walkie-talkies. Ooh, a taser! We better bring that-'

'Are you insane?' Jason began to laugh. 'We're not infiltrating the C.I.A.'

'But we could, my friend, as long as we had the proper tools.'

'Where did you get all this stuff?' Jason asked.

'Shh. If I told you that, I'd have to kill you.'

'From your dad's office, huh?' Jason guessed.

'I never reveal my sources,' Adam said, stuffing his equipment into the backpack. 'How about a dog whistle? There are probably German shepherds. In the movies, whenever you break in somewhere, there are German shepherds. Or Dobermans. Do you think they'll have Dobermans?'

'I told Sienna we'd meet her at eleven,' Jason said. 'I'll drive.'

'OK.' Adam followed him toward the door. 'Maybe they'll have pit bulls instead. Pit bulls are trendy . . .'

When they got to the DeVere Center, Sienna's Spider was already parked along the street outside the ivy-covered wall of the property. Jason pulled up behind her and cut the engine. He got out of the Bug as Sienna climbed out of her Spider.

'Hey there,' Sienna called softly.

'Hi. I brought Adam along to help.' Jason gestured to his friend, who was wrangling the over-stuffed backpack out of the car.

'I didn't bring anything to deal with the gates,' Adam called. 'Should I go back and get some dynamite?'

'Just ignore him,' Jason told her. 'He's a little overexcited.'

'But look at those gates,' Adam said. 'They're huge!'

Jason glanced up at the wrought-iron gates. They stood at least twelve feet tall and had sharp spikes on the top. 'How are we going to get through those?'

'Relax, spy boys,' Sienna said. 'We don't need the nitro and detonators tonight. I borrowed Dad's key card. The gates are no problem.' She led the way over to the edge of the stone wall that surrounded the Center. 'We have to stay out of sight of the gates until the security guy goes by. Then I'll open them.'

'How did you get the key card without your dad noticing?' Jason asked in a whisper.

'Same way I always used to "borrow" his credit cards without him noticing,' Sienna said with a wink. 'I'm crafty.'

'How often does the security dude go by?' Adam asked, slipping into a camouflage jacket.

'Every ten minutes. I've been watching him,' Sienna replied. 'We have to stay far away he's got a dog with him.'

'I told you!' Adam said, nudging Jason.

'Shh! Here he comes,' Sienna said. They all fell silent as the guard slowly walked up to the gates, his boots crunching on the gravel of the driveway. He came straight up to the gates and peered through the iron bars onto the street.

Did we park far enough away? Jason wondered, suddenly paranoid. Their cars were to the side of the gates, so hopefully the guard couldn't see them from where he stood. His dog gave a soft whine, and he said something to it. Then they heard him crunch away again. None of them spoke for a minute or two.

'I think he's far enough away now,' Sienna whispered. 'Let's go.' She pulled the key card from the pocket of her jeans and held it up to the electronic pad mounted on the stone wall. Her eyes met Jason's. 'Ready?'

He nodded. 'Let's do it.'

Sienna swiped the card through the slot. The gates gave a loud clang and began to swing outward.

'That was loud,' Adam whispered.

'It only seemed loud to us,' Jason a.s.sured him, hoping he was right.

Sienna led the way past the gates as soon as they had opened wide enough to squeeze through. On the other side was another electronic pad, and she swiped the card again. The gates halted, then began to swing closed. 'No reason to let them open all the way,' she whispered. 'Someone might notice that.'

Jason nodded. 'Where do we go now?'

Sienna pointed across a wide lawn. A two-story building loomed on the other side. Jason couldn't tell how big the place was: all the windows were dark, and there was no real light but the moon.

'There's a door near those bottlebrush trees. You see it?' Sienna asked.

Jason squinted into the darkness. He thought he could make out a faint blue light near the black blobs of the trees.

'Is that a light over it?' Adam asked. 'A safety light or something?'

Sienna nodded. 'Yes. It's the closest entrance. We need to get in before the security guy comes around again.'

'Come on,' Jason said. He took off running for the blue light, moving as quietly as he could. The others followed. As he got closer, Jason could see that the blue light was just a dim bulb next to a plain door. No windows, no signs just a door with a tiny nightlight illuminating the keypad next to it.

'This is a back door,' Sienna said breathlessly. She swiped her key card. 'It has double security. I need to enter a code as well.'

'Do you know the code?' Jason asked.

'I memorized it. My father keeps the codes written on his calendar. They change every week.'

'It's been seven and a half minutes since the security guy pa.s.sed,' Adam said, jogging up to them. 'Hurry!'

Sienna punched five numbers into the keypad. Nothing happened.

'When do they change the codes?' Jason asked. 'Is it before the weekends?'

'I don't know,' Sienna replied, biting her lip.

'I hear the guard,' Adam whispered frantically.

'Try again,' Jason told Sienna.

She took a deep breath and slowly punched in the numbers again. There was a soft click as the door unlocked. Jason yanked it open and ushered his friends inside. He pulled it closed again just as the security guard came into view on the lawn outside. They all held their breath, waiting to see if he had spotted them.

'I don't think he saw us,' Jason whispered after a minute.

'I put the wrong number in the first time,' Sienna murmured. 'I hit the three instead of the six.'

'It doesn't matter now: we're in.' Jason squeezed her arm. 'Nice job.'

She smiled at him, her expression playful now that the danger had pa.s.sed. 'Thanks. Let's get to the lab. We've got to do this quickly and quietly, and just hope none of the security guys hear us.'

Inside the building, the hallways were lit with faint green lights every ten feet. Once Jason's eyes had adjusted, he found it pretty easy to see where they were going. The part of the building they were in looked just like the science wing at DeVere High: lots of rooms filled with lab tables and standard equipment like microscopes and test tubes. But Sienna led the way past all that, and into another wing.

This area was different. The lighting was the same, but here there was a faint humming sound that pulsed through the air. Jason thought he could actually feel it like a vibration in his body. 'What is that?' he asked.

'Machinery,' Adam answered, keeping his voice quiet. 'I had to get an MRI once when I hurt my wrist, and the room it was in felt like this all magnetized.'

'He's right,' Sienna said. 'There's a lot of high-tech stuff down here. All the testing equipment. MRIs, CT scans, PET scans, X-rays . . . plus a few things I don't even know the names of. We have some toys that other labs don't have.'

They reached the end of the hallway and went down a flight of stairs. 'We're below ground now,' Sienna whispered. 'They keep the most sensitive machinery down here because it stays cooler. And here's the test room we're looking for.' She pushed open a heavy door and stepped inside. Jason and Adam followed.

Once the door had closed behind them, it was pitch black. 'I got this!' Adam said. Jason heard him fumbling around, then a flashlight beam cut through the darkness. 'Bet you're glad I brought these,' he said, handing a flashlight to Jason and another to Sienna.

'I am,' Jason agreed. 'I don't think we can risk turning on the lights.'

'No, but we do have to turn on all the equipment,' Sienna said. She began punching power b.u.t.tons, and various sleek black machines sprang to life with low beeping noises.

Jason examined them, baffled. 'I've never seen anything like this before,' he said, peering at a two-foot-square box. It had a single opening on the top that looked like a shallow bowl. 'Is it a centrifuge?'

'Kind of,' Sienna replied.

'Then what's this?' Adam asked. He was staring at a tall, thin machine with a slot in the side. 'Am I supposed to stick a dollar bill in here?'

Sienna laughed. 'We're going to stick a DNA sample in there. I don't think a dollar bill will help much!'

Adam shook his head, impressed. 'This is truly beyond. I mean, I've been in the police CSI lab, and let me tell you, the Malibu police have serious money compared to most cops. But they have nothing like this stuff.'

'I'm not sure anyone has stuff like this,' Jason said slowly. 'Regular research labs . . . do they know about this technology?'

'Not all of it, no,' Sienna admitted. 'The whole point of this center is to work on vampire research. We've had a lot of time to develop new technology, and we . . . uh . . . have pretty good funding. It's a very high-tech place.'

'High-tech? It's astronomical-tech!' Adam exclaimed. 'I don't even know what these machines are.'

'Honestly? Neither do I,' Sienna told him. 'But the lab technician was more than happy to show me how they work. He explained all the science, but I was too nervous to pay much attention. I doubt I would've understood most of it, anyway. I remember which b.u.t.tons to push and that's about it.'

'How did you get him to talk so much?' Jason asked.

'Well, first I told him who my father was. And then I flirted with him,' Sienna said matter-of-factly.

Jason raised an eyebrow.

'I smiled at him and acted impressed,' she clarified. 'The guy spends half his life in an underground lab with a bunch of computers. It doesn't take much to make him talk. I think he was just psyched to speak to someone other than himself.'

'I know just how he feels,' Adam cracked.

'Let's get on with this,' Jason said. 'Before we get caught.'

'OK. I have everything turned on, and I'm telling the main computer to set up the human genetic test for one subject.' She typed a command into a keyboard set up beneath a flat-screen monitor on the wall.

'Make it two subjects,' Jason corrected her. 'I brought some of my sister's hair. I figure we may as well test her too. As Aunt Bianca wants her to undergo the transformation too.'

'OK, let's see . . . Here it is: multiple subjects,' Sienna said, clicking on a box on-screen. 'We're set. We need to get the samples on slides and put them in the slot.'