Was the transformation the result of restoring so much blood so quickly, or was this how he looked right before a battle? Gideon didn't know, but it kept everyone in place, waiting to see what he would do. Even he and Anwyn.

Daegan turned his attention to her now. "Take the west staircase back up to the club floor. They don't watch that one, because it only opens from this side and they don't expect anyone but Xavier or his people to use it. Tell them Xavier finished his tour and you're leaving. You can say your servant already preceded you."

She stared at him, incredulous. "I'm not leaving you. There's absolutely no way."

"Yes, you are." The deadly tone made it clear she wasn't talking to Daegan, but to a warrior who would brook no argument from his troops.

Gideon could have told him that worked better on males. Anwyn crossed her arms and gave him an "I'm not buying it" look that made it clear she wasn't going unless it was kicking and screaming. Gideon might have found some humor in it, but her earlier words, recalled to his mind now, made it no laughing matter.

I won't run. Not ever again. Not when someone I love needs me.

"Cher," Daegan said sharply; then he closed his eyes, sighed. "You have a vampire's strength, but these are trained fighters, who are also vampires. I don't doubt your courage. If we survive this, I promise to train you to be a guerrilla soldier." Daegan said sharply; then he closed his eyes, sighed. "You have a vampire's strength, but these are trained fighters, who are also vampires. I don't doubt your courage. If we survive this, I promise to train you to be a guerrilla soldier."

"Don't patronize me," she said sharply, but her voice broke, an unexpected snap. Gideon a.s.sumed that was the only thing that kept Daegan from roaring at her. Still, he had no time for tenderness. Instead, he stepped up to her, so close he forced her back a step. It also reminded Gideon that the only thing scarier than his Mistress was Daegan.

"You will obey me, so we know you are safe. If we do not make it out of here, you are the only one who has a chance of explaining to Lord Uthe, with the help of Lord Brian, what happened here. To keep Stephen and Barbra from wreaking havoc on the one vampire governing council that has a chance of keeping order among all of the vampires. I don't have time to explain the Territory Wars and everything that went into the structure we have now, but they could dismantle it. I told you to trust me that all this is important. I need you to continue to do it. Do you understand?"

Her jaw was clenched so hard the muscle was flinching. When he put his hand on her cheek, she closed her eyes. Gideon stepped forward then, taking her hand. Thank G.o.d, she didn't pull back, so she must have heard his mental apology for being an a.s.s. "You aren't running, Anwyn," he said quietly. "This is different. You know it. There's not a drop of fear in you. This is what needs to be done."

"You said 'we,' " she said at last, a note of sullenness in her voice. "Why does he he get to stay?" get to stay?"

"He's a veteran soldier, Anwyn." Daegan offered a grim smile. "If you would grant me the use of your servant, I would be in your debt."

"They're coming."

Gideon snapped his attention to the cell. Sarah had spoken in a disembodied voice, and now she pushed herself upright from the cot, staring at him. Whether they'd marked her so they could enhance her fear or some other intuition told her, Gideon didn't question it. Reluctantly releasing Anwyn's hand, he crossed to the other side of the room, where fortunately Xavier and his thugs kept an a.s.sortment of weaponry. Apparently they'd been ready in case they were challenged by other vampires. He pulled a pair of loaded crossbows off the wall, verified the firing mechanisms.

"We should meet them at the door," he said. "We might take a couple out in the corridor before they get in. It's a defensible position."

"Go, Anwyn." Daegan pushed her toward the exit-only doorway to the upper level. "Go now."

"d.a.m.n it." She started in that direction, then flew back at them both, nipping at Daegan's lips hard enough to draw blood. Then she drew Gideon into a similarly violent kiss. She clutched his shoulders as he clumsily tried not to spear her with the weapons. "If either of you dies, I won't forgive you," she threatened.

Tears were on her face as she turned, and they both felt her frustration, rage and fear for them. As she disappeared up the stairs, Gideon cleared his throat gruffly, but it was Daegan who spoke as he took one of the crossbows from him.

"It's going to be close quarters once they get in the corridor, so speed will be less of a factor. I want you watching my back, getting anyone who makes it by me. I know you can do that."

Daegan lifted his gaze, locked with Gideon's. It was f.u.c.king embarra.s.sing, but Gideon felt a flush cross his face, spread out through his chest, as if he were a Spartan soldier who'd just received praise from King Leonidas, right before they faced the 10,000 Persians.

A perfect parallel, since it was going to be the two of them against G.o.d knew how many vampires.

"Yeah," Gideon said, managing to sound casual. "I can do that. Unless it looks like we're done for. Then I'll shove you in the middle of them and make a run for it."

Daegan's sensual mouth curved in a feral smile, so devastating that Gideon's groin and heart tightened at the same time, painfully. "You know the saying, vampire hunter. When two friends are running from an enemy, the one in the lead doesn't have to run fast. Just faster than his friend. I think I have you on speed."

They moved to the door, one on either side, watching the short corridor down which Xavier had brought them. "Not if I trip you," Gideon retorted, but then there was no time for further talk.

The metal door at the bottom of the stairwell opened, and five vampires came through it, twenty feet of hallway between them and where they stood.

Here we go.

He and Daegan surged into the opening, shoulder to shoulder, and let the crossbows fly. The bolts took out the two in the lead, finding their heart targets dead center.

No time to celebrate, though. Despite vampire speed being hampered in narrow quarters, it still made crossbows effective for only the first shot of a full forward charge. Unless the sniper was hidden, which they weren't. As soon as the shots were made, the other three came sailing over the bodies, like those fierce, fast monkeys they showed on doc.u.mentaries. Only these were sleek gorillas, combat ready, weapons in hands. Daegan tossed his crossbow to Gideon and moved into the hall to meet them. As Gideon quickly reloaded, and flipped Daegan's crossbow over to use the second arrow, Daegan's blade came up and out, a silver thing of deadly beauty.

The cleanup crew upstairs had apparently requested some rough and brutal heavy-metal music to finish up the night. It pounded and ricocheted down the corridor, telling Gideon these guys had left the door open at the top of the stairwell, or more vampires were coming down.

s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t. There they were. Four more. There they were. Four more.

Thank G.o.d for a small corridor, and f.u.c.k, but it was a small corridor. They were moving too fast for him to get a shot past Daegan. So for a few seconds all he could do was watch. And in those few, heart-stopping blinks, he saw why Daegan Rei scared the Council s.h.i.tless.

Gideon had a clear-eyed grasp of his own not-inconsiderable battle skills, and how they matched up to fighters better and worse than him. Yet there was nothing and no one he'd ever seen that could stand toe-to-toe with the fighting ability he was witnessing now. If he believed in warrior archangels, like Michael or Lucifer, he imagined this was the way they would fight.

Fighting seven to one, Daegan picked up the rhythm of the music, used it. There was no other focus for him but this moment, his body twisting and sliding in the perfect place, at the perfect moment, as artistic and graceful as a divinely ch.o.r.eographed dance. Gideon saw no enthusiasm for the bloodtaking, but Daegan was consumed by his own composition. His blade came down, cut across, as his knife went up for a block. He ducked under an enemy blade, swept right to avoid a shower of blood and spun in a kick that knocked one vampire into the wall. Clean through the wall. He took his head in the resulting cloud of rock dust.

It was awe inspiring, horrible and riveting, all at once. Gideon was seeing the Grim Reaper at work, his victory a calm certainty because it was divinely ordained.

Two more down in the first ten seconds. The second vamp fell with a gurgling noise. When one lunged past, Gideon was ready, firing the crossbow and taking him down before the vampire could get behind Daegan and attack his flank. In that last fatal moment, the speared vampire's eyes found Gideon. An incredulous look crossed his face before his body crumpled.

He'd once told Anwyn that a hunter's greatest danger was a vampire's servant, because it was easy to forget about them in the focus on the vampire, the greater threat. He He was now the servant who'd been unwisely forgotten. It was a different, somehow satisfying feeling. For that second, he forgot he was only Anwyn's servant and not also Daegan's, watching his back. was now the servant who'd been unwisely forgotten. It was a different, somehow satisfying feeling. For that second, he forgot he was only Anwyn's servant and not also Daegan's, watching his back.

Daegan cut down two more with one sweep of his blade, sending an impressive fount of blood arcing across the stone walls, dousing one of the torches. As the two vamps collapsed, he came back up in the follow-through to jam his wooden eight-inch blade under the ribs and deep into the heart of the third. That was the last one. He finished the motion in a half-bent position that looked like a graceful bow to his vanquished enemies. Then he whirled with that same economy of motion. Pulling a cloth out of his coat, he slipped it over his samurai blade, taking away the blood.

Just like that. Done. Bodies littering the hall, and not a scratch on him, though Gideon saw a flash of weariness in Daegan's face, probably because he needed yet more blood, the stubborn b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

"I've sent a thought to Anwyn, a.s.suring her she has no reason to be angry at either one of us, as we are very much alive. You might do the same."

Gideon nodded, shouldering his own weapons. He straightened in the doorway, turning back toward the cells. "Some pa.s.sable fighting out there."

"Some pa.s.sable shooting." Daegan slanted him a glance, then bent his head to fit his blade back into the coat.

"Yeah, when you cared to let somebody get by. Selfish-"

It was like getting hit in the face sometimes, the sense that something was going to happen right before it did. It had felt that way the day his parents had been hit by a lightning strike. For years he'd wondered why he'd been given a gift that, when it mattered the absolute most, did him no d.a.m.n good.

Sarah screamed, the others too frightened or catatonic to warn their rescuers. The door that was only an exit, the one Anwyn had used, had opened, and two more vampires stood there. In those few seconds, they'd raised two crossbows and fired. Both at Daegan.

The vampire was moving forward, pa.s.sing Gideon into the room. Looking down at his sword, tired from his blood loss, he hadn't seen or sensed them.

Since Daegan was too big to stop his forward momentum in time, Gideon simply rammed his back, shoving him aside with everything he had.

The first wooden arrow took Gideon high in the shoulder, the second puncturing his chest, through the heart. It threw him back, so he hit the wall and then dropped to the floor. The metal tip was searing fire, the wooden shaft a tearing agony as it punched out through his back.

Mortal. Holy c.r.a.p, he was dead. His heart stuttered in panic at the invasion. He'd gone down like a felled tree, just like Xavier had. He tried to scramble for a blade or any other weapon, something to lend additional help to Daegan. It was a warrior's instinct only, or useless pride, because his body was jerking with the loss of motor control. He had no ability to defend himself, let alone anyone else.

Daegan had moved across the room, too fast to follow, a phantasm of light and shadow. If it had been a movie, Gideon thought there should have been more to it, a longer action sequence to justify the suspense, his dramatic fall, death hovering over him. But he'd barely hit the floor himself when two decapitated heads were rolling across it, the bodies. .h.i.tting stone with a thud, just like Gideon's. The girls who could were screaming, in an annoyingly high pitch.

"How many come here at night to rest?" Daegan demanded, his blade glistening with the blood. When Gideon blearily heard more hysterical crying, he wasn't surprised by Daegan's commanding roar, though it made him wince. He couldn't breathe. His heart had to be a mangled mess. f.u.c.k, this hurt. "How many?" "How many?"

It was Sarah, bless her brave soul, who came up with a coherent answer at last. "It's always fifteen," she stammered. "Always."

That was the right number. Should be all of them, but there was always the possibility of first- or second-marked servants who wouldn't fall at their Masters' deaths. They really needed to get out of here.

Daegan was back over him. With a warrior's brutal mercy, no advance warning and doing it quick, he broke the two arrows, pulled them free from either side and flung them away. "Anwyn is leaving Debra outside. She's coming back down. Hold on."

"No . . . not safe yet. Got to get out of here. I'm dead."

"She is insisting. She felt you fall." Daegan pa.s.sed a gentle hand over Gideon's sweaty brow. "I am not in a position to stop her. The arrow would have killed me, vampire hunter, not you. The shaft was wooden. But since the tip was steel, you need her blood, if you are going to walk out of here on your own two feet. As I know you must to maintain your fearsome reputation."

"Bite me. No cute jokes."

"I have rarely been accused of cuteness." Daegan pressed his hand against the wound. "I told Anwyn to have Debra contact Lord Brian, have him bring the Council here immediately."

"Think . . . they'll come?"

"Yes. They need to see this. We will wait, make sure Sarah and her friends get home."

Daegan knew. Knew how it was eating at Gideon's gut, seeing those hopeless faces, the lank hair, the blood and bruises in places that no woman should have them. Those pretty dresses, meant to work a guy up but not to do . . . not to do what had been done to them. Gideon closed his eyes. Did Daegan know all that because he knew him better than Gideon wanted to admit, or because Daegan shared his feelings on it? Did it matter?

"Be easy, Gideon. Anwyn will be safe. If there are marked servants here, they will scatter. They are no threat to her or anyone else. When Lord Stephen's role is determined in all this, I expect he will be replaced as Master of this territory. And on the Council. That may be the least of the punishments he faces."

"Maybe you'll get to be the one who takes him out."

"If the Council does not authorize it, I will take care of it, regardless." Daegan's mouth was a firm line, his face resolute in a way that Gideon wholeheartedly supported. "He will answer for what he did to Anwyn."

Gideon tried to move, and choked on the vicious wave of pain that squeezed his chest in a vise. "Jesus."

"Shhh. Easy. Do as you're told for once and stay still. She's coming." Daegan shifted so Gideon's head was braced on his thigh, his hand still pressed on the wound in a way that comforted and rea.s.sured, even though Gideon told himself he didn't need coddling.

"You know"-Daegan studied the opposite wall with great interest-"you could have held back, let the shot find its true mark. Then you would have had her to yourself. I guess you didn't think of that in the heat of the moment."

"No, d.a.m.n it, I didn't." Gideon coughed, had the remarkably horrible sensation of his own blood bubbling up into his throat. "But . . . time machine . . . handy, I'll go for the . . . do-over."

Daegan looked down at him. "If I'd been at my full strength, I would have seen them. Your n.o.ble act would have been unnecessary."

Gideon shook his head. "Still think you're invincible. How'd they get you . . . on that table, Superman?"

Daegan grimaced, his lips twisting. "Snipers were already hidden and in position when I arrived. I might have sensed them, but the girls' plight distracted me. Though I don't think that was part of their plan. They don't know what mercy is, and wouldn't have expected it from another vampire. However, they took me through the chest, the throat and the stomach with their arrows, and the arrows were poisoned. It was enough to debilitate me temporarily. Then they set upon me, beat me into unconsciousness, and used a similar form of narcotic to keep me incapacitated, along with the t.i.tanium chains and electrical charges. Most drugs have no effect on me, so I'm sure Brian will want to test my blood, see what it was."

"Might be good . . . not to give him your Kryptonite. She's going to need you . . . for a long time."

"She will need us both. Don't even think of dying, vampire hunter. You are not getting out of this that easily. She responds to your temperament far better than mine."

"Can take out . . . ten vampires, but can't handle one . . . vampire fledgling . . . shrew. Going to tell her." Gideon closed his eyes, though, and was mortified to feel wetness on his face. "Not tears. Pain. f.u.c.k, this hurts."

"I know. It will be all right."

Gideon managed to shake his head. "I screwed up, Daegan. She . . . already knew I didn't belong, but I convinced her of it, for real. Too much happening here, and yet . . . I couldn't put it aside." This time the coughing almost vaulted him off Daegan's lap, but the vampire's arm was around his chest, bracing him. The male was curved over him, pressing his jaw against Gideon's temple, keeping his head from exploding.

"Enough," Daegan said, with stern firmness this time, easing him back down. "Emotions run high in battle. It changes afterward. Shut up and save your strength."

Gideon indulged him, though he told himself if it didn't feel like an elephant was slowly depressing his wide gray a.s.s on his chest, he would have talked about anything he d.a.m.n well pleased. Then he noticed Daegan studying him in that intent, disturbing way he had, the way that made it hard for Gideon to meet his eyes, but he couldn't look away this time.

The vampire stroked his hair back along his temple. It wasn't the gentle touch of Anwyn's slim fingers, but the caressing strength of the large hand didn't feel bad, so he decided not to complain about it.

"No one has ever saved my life before, Gideon Green. I thank you for it."

"Don't . . . get all mushy. You'll try to kiss me. f.a.g."

A light smile touched Daegan's firm lips, but his gaze slid over Gideon's mouth like a caress, or the kiss Gideon claimed to fear. "You'd be in a poor position to stop me, if I wanted to do so."

"Haven't brushed this week. Onions for breakfast. Healthy dose . . . of garlic." He wheezed then, and more b.l.o.o.d.y froth gathered at his lips. "I would have . . . you know. Given you blood. If you needed it. Wouldn't have been thrilled, but . . . you know."

"Yes. Rest easy." Daegan's eyes darkened and he wiped the froth away, cradling Gideon's face. "She's coming. Hang in there, Gideon."

He sent a follow-up into Anwyn's mind then, so strongly that Gideon received it.

Hurry.

When Anwyn arrived and knelt beside him, her blue-green eyes were hard, her mouth taut with worry for him.

"You shouldn't have come back," Gideon managed for form's sake. "Wasn't safe."

"Shut up." She glanced at Daegan. "What does he need?"

"Just your blood, cher cher. I'll tell you when to stop." Daegan began to draw his knife, but before he could complete the motion, Anwyn had her wrist to her mouth and punctured open a vein. Swiftly, she brought it down to Gideon, her blood welling up fast and bright.

As always, the smell of it activated his taste buds. He'd a.s.sumed that was part of the bonding between them, but he'd had a similar reaction in the past to Daegan's blood. He was too tired right now to deny it.

Putting her wrist to Gideon's lips, she shifted to take Daegan's place when he rose. Though he watched over them, he moved a few feet away to talk to the women, give them an idea of what was about to happen. It gave them some privacy, so Gideon could focus on Anwyn's beautiful face. Her hand cradled his jaw, helping to steady him as he drank, and that brief touch was blissful. He inhaled her through all his senses, though his eyes closed as he did it. He still couldn't handle the reflection in her eyes, the way he looked, taking blood from her arm. Nevertheless, strength and health flooded back into him, in addition to an absurd, lazy arousal. It never failed to amaze him, how her nearness, or putting his mouth on her flesh, could do that, no matter that he couldn't have gotten to his feet, let alone gotten anything else up right now.

She was withdrawn, pensive. Maybe just worried, as Daegan had said. Her hands were gentle, firm, but she could have been twenty miles away. He didn't have the strength to really plumb her mind, see if she was near a seizure.

"Mistress . . ."

"Shhh, Gideon. I'm fine. I want to take care of you. Just drink."

Anwyn stroked Gideon's hair as he obeyed, relieved to feel the chest wound under her palm closing. The shoulder puncture was likewise healing. Daegan's gaze kept flicking to her, so she knew Gideon wasn't the only one who sensed something amiss. It didn't matter. She was locked down right now on purpose. If she loosened the latch on her emotions at all, she was going to become shrapnel, flying out and striking everything within reach with lethal intent.

They'd a.s.sume, rightly, she was a little overwhelmed by everything. Though she ran a BDSM club, Atlantis was, after all, all about consensual pain and pleasure. While it tapped into the most raw and volatile areas of a person's psychology, it was in a controlled, civilized environment with rules, and the underlying rule was love and respect, or at least healthy l.u.s.t. Even that, while sometimes bordering on violence, was never criminal or evil in its intent.

She'd experienced the evil of her uncle, of Barnabus and his cohorts. But seeing something like this, where evil was a daily practice, a method of operating that connected closely to the vampire propensity for domination and brutality . . . she'd known they were going to face something terrible tonight, but perhaps it was good she hadn't expected this to be as truly heinous as it was.

Exposure to it made her comprehend better what Daegan and Gideon faced in the profession they'd chosen, with two such different perspectives. Still, whereas Gideon dealt with the fallout with entertainment tabloids and bitterness, Daegan had exorcised his demons in the time he spent with her. It had merely amused her in the past, the pleasure he took in the smallest things. On her days off, his favorite pastime was to lie on the sofa and watch her read. Requiring nothing other than that she indulge his regard. Sometimes she could tell he was just listening to all the minute sounds of the apartment. Her breath, rising and falling, the tick of the clock, the hum of the refrigerator, and probably myriad other things she couldn't hear with human ears.