The young women clung to one another. Tabitha pulled back first and began with instructions. "Listen to me. I won't know you're safe unless someone else from the house is there too, so I want to talk to anyone. Someone there at the estate and anyone but ..." She choked on the words before she spat out the final request, "Do not put Almonzo on the phone. I cannot talk to him now. Not ever." Tabitha's eyes watered with the emotion only a woman in love can feel.

"You love him?" Natasha only wanted her sister to confirm it so she could tell Orlando. Tabitha realized it as she questioned her. "Why didn't you tell him?"

"Maybe because I don't even understand what it is I feel for him." Regret washed over her. "Natasha, don't." She gave her sister a firm warning. "I don't want him. Not now. I can't worry about him and survive Darian."

"You haven't bonded with Almonzo, have you?"

"No, and if I had, Darian would only kill me now, so this is the best for everyone. Eventually, our paths will cross and we'll meet again." She didn't bother telling Natasha about the new drugs Darian developed. It was pointless. There were a lot of rumors. Supposedly, these drugs were designed to kill a mated vampire and severely damage the immortal race.

"And you never told him how you felt about him?" Natasha choked out. Now, she probably wanted more than three minutes. They didn't have a minute remaining. "I want you to go home with us and find the kind of happiness I found with Orlando. He loves you, Tabitha. Oh, G.o.d, he loves you so." Tears ran freely over her face.

Tabitha shook her head. "Natasha, promise me, you have to swear to me you won't tell him what I've told you. I know what the Sabbat clan is capable of doing. It's why I left the country and stayed on the run for awhile. They have ways of killing their own kind..." There wasn't time for a warning based on nothing more than suspicions or what few facts she'd discovered during the time she'd spent previously with Darian and his family.

The older sister's arms fell to her sides. "How on earth am I supposed to leave you with this ... this monster?"

"You stop it now!" Tabitha backed away slightly, still holding Natasha's wrists to yank some sense into her. Then, she lowered her voice.

"You have a responsibility to that child over there. To her family, our family." She couldn't go on. She felt devastated by her chosen words and hardened almost the second she'd said them. She nodded toward the door. "Now go!"

The two women embraced and Constance ran over to hug her once more, taking the time to whisper into her ear. "My mother would want me to tell you this. You were the woman Almonzo was supposed to marry. He's going to come and save you because that's what my brothers do when they love." She smiled gently and then turned away quickly. Tabitha couldn't stand to watch them leave, so instead she went to the bay window and watched as the next generation of Sabbat children played on the compound grounds.

The emergency panic b.u.t.ton sounded as soon as Tate saw the limousine coming up the driveway. Marion continued to slumber and wouldn't know about their return until later. By the time the limousine pulled up in front of the house, the Spenser men were running through the halls. They weren't fast enough and were unable to stop the car from leaving after it dropped off Natasha and Constance. It didn't matter. A dominant male enforcer like Darian wouldn't care about losing a delivery driver. Most of the drivers were granted immunity clauses anyway, so they typically didn't worry about the possibility of torture. These men were able to withstand it for long periods of time and they always survived.

Orlando hugged Constance tightly and then held onto Natasha like tomorrow would never come. They all talked at once. "Where did they take you? What exactly happened? Where is Tabitha? Is she all right?" The questions spilled and answers were slowly supplied.

Almonzo set a supplement down on the credenza. He'd nursed one throughout the day with the full intention of sipping one until they left. He needed energy stores and he wanted the strength of ten thousand men behind him.

After the men learned what they could from Natasha, Samuel disappeared with his daughter to have a talk with her. Perhaps the little girl remembered something they would find helpful when they later left to find Tabitha.

"I need to know something, Natasha, and I need to know it now." Almonzo wasn't one to beat around the bush and he wasn't like his brother. Leaving everything to chance and luck was fine if he was in Vegas but not here. Not in Scotland and d.a.m.n sure not in Spain, if that was indeed where they were headed.

Constance ran back in to interrupt their pending talks. She motioned to Almonzo and he stooped down to accommodate her. A little mouth went to his ear and she cupped her hand to keep the secret from her other brother and his wife.

"She said to me strong words, Almonzo." The little girl knew she delivered news he needed to hear.

"Is that right?"

She nodded her head slowly. She covered her mouth again with a dainty hand and moved closer. "She said to me, 'Constance, I want you to listen to me, okay? This is very important.'" She stressed the words at the appropriate places, remaining true to her personality and forever the drama queen, even in times of trouble. She stepped away from him and nodded again before moving close once more.

"She did say this, Almonzo, and I bet you she told Natasha too, so just ask her." She lowered her voice again. "She said to me, 'Make sure you tell your brother I would've loved being a part of your family' and I wanted to tell you so you can save her." Her eyes batted and she waited for his response. He didn't have one immediately so she gave him a firm request. "And you will bring her home to us."

Constance leaned back and then opened and closed her little trap before finally adding. "She made me promise to tell you!" She squirmed out of his arms and ran back down the hall when she heard her father call for her. He was thankful because he knew his lavender eyes were suddenly streaked with blood as pain wracked his body with an unexplainable pulsating thumping harder in his chest.

Doubling over, he held tight to his sides. "Argh!"

Orlando patted him on the shoulder. "Hang on, brother, I'll be right back." He quickly returned and shoved another supplement into his brother's hand. He then took Natasha down the hall and disappeared for a few minutes. When he came back, Tate joined them with more of the red fluids in a crystal pitcher.

"He swears it is helping him. I think it makes the spells worse." Tate nodded toward the concoction.

"When did he start having these episodes?" Orlando questioned.

"The first one was about a month ago. He didn't want anyone to know."

Almonzo continued to hunch against the pain binding him. "d.a.m.n it! Don't talk around me!" A beastly sound growled in his throat.

Orlando nodded. "I guess I realized it. I didn't acknowledge it. He's too much like me, d.a.m.n it. The supplements wear off too fast without the blood of the one he's supposed to have."

Almonzo regained some of his composure and returned to the work at hand. "Natasha is sure they were near water. Was it a river or the ocean? Which was it?"

"It was a lake. She's certain of it." Orlando stopped too abruptly. "She's also sure about something else."

Almonzo held his breath. After what their sister only just revealed, he could only imagine what else he'd learn. He read the expression found in his twin's face. He stood taller and with a newfound recognition before he replied. "I already know. I couldn't hurt like this if she didn't love me. Dear brother, I know she loves me."

"Natasha's getting ready to call her. They programmed a phone which allows her to call once at six o'clock to tell Tabitha she made it home okay. Evidently, Tabitha agreed to be agreeable if the terms she put in motion included the safe return of Natasha and Constance."

Almonzo's back straightened and he sprinted toward his twin's bedroom with Orlando at his heels. His dark hair cascaded behind him as he ran through the compound. "And let me guess, she doesn't want to talk to me?" He shot his brother a look loaded with contempt as he shouted back over his shoulder.

He rushed into his brother's matrimonial suite, which is what he thought of it now that Natasha had decorated it with frills and lace. She was already on the phone. He s.n.a.t.c.hed it from her hand.

"I love you and I'm coming for you." Breathless, he spat the words into the phone.

He heard her breathing.

"Do you hear me?"

"I..." Her voice clearly shaken, Tabitha managed one syllable. Only one.

"Tabitha, listen to me. I will not let him have you. You belong to me. Only me. Understand? We're calling in the elders and pulling out all the weight we can to stop him. Tell me what you see, tell me about where you are."

A blood curdling scream pierced through the receiver, loud enough to ring throughout the room. Almonzo fell sick when he heard it.

"d.a.m.n you! Leave him alone! I love..." She screamed into the phone as the struggle began. He heard it all the same, the only confirmation needed to a.s.sure him she was worth the effort.

Clearly through the line, he heard the slap come down on her skin and the hair on his arms stood up as he winced from the pain he felt too. His anger exploded into the atmosphere and he recognized a newly discovered basic need. Killing the b.a.s.t.a.r.d on the other end of the phone would come easy.

"Oh, loverboy." Darian's voice oozed through the phone. "I'm waiting for you and Daddy Spenser." He laughed wickedly. "h.e.l.l, let's just make it a party. Why don't you just go ahead and bring your brother too. You're the honored guests and I think you'll be quite impressed with the ceremony we have planned."

His hand must have come down on Tabitha once more because Almonzo heard the hard hit and then her chilling vocal response. "On second thought, come alone. Your father won't be all that interesting. I don't think the elders would take too kindly to a father stepping in between matters that should be handled appropriately between the younger generation of true men."

"You lay another hand on her and I will..."

"You'll what? Kill me? Huh. I'm dead already and so are you. We just go around taking the mortal women who will have us long enough to make us feel alive. You know the kind, like the one lying on my bed right this minute." The other vampire's smug chuckle would cost him his life. Almonzo just needed to figure out where his weak points were and once he found them, he'd use them against him.

Tate came rushing in. He gave Almonzo a signal. Tate had the limo that dropped off Natasha and Constance followed and it went right back into the hills of its home camp. They had a lock on where to find Tabitha.

Motioning for Orlando to stay behind, Almonzo began walking toward the front of the house. He realized the caretaker knew what to do and how to handle himself once they found Tabitha. If he could keep the idiot talking, then it was safe to say Darian didn't have his hands or lips on Tabitha. If he kept him on the phone long enough, then it might help them sneak up on them unannounced.

Sliding into the backseat of the Spenser limo, Almonzo made up his mind to go alone. Their father would be in the way and he realized Orlando didn't want to leave the safety of his wife or their sister in the hands of fate. Almonzo understood Darian better than anyone. They'd been introduced before and since the earliest signs of trouble, Almonzo made it his business to find out all he could about the head of the Sabbat Empire. Now, he wanted to face him alone.

It took them about ten minutes to find the driveway where the Sabbat limo was last spotted. Nine of the ten, Almonzo kept Darian talking with an exchange of threats both men recognized as an invitation for nothing more than a never-ending fight. When the call disconnected, Tate reminded him of the obvious. "That cell phone is potentially wired with equipment to trace your every move."

Almonzo tossed it out the window and stared straight ahead into the distant forest. It looked like ma.s.sive branches overshadowed whatever they would find behind the blanket of green spruce trees. "No matter what happens up here, you get her out. Do you hear me?"

"You have my word." Tate was the one they wouldn't be able to kill. The immunity clause clearly forbade it, never mind the other issues that it would take to terminate a man marked by a promise of forever.

Tate leaned over the seat and gave Almonzo a quick warning. "Remember, there's a rumor of a new potion or drug of some sort. Your father said it was the main topic at the emergency summit meeting the elders called several months back. Darian is believed to have an on-site chemist working on a new formula designed to destroy the vampires he wants terminated."

"I imagine if that's true, I'm at the top of his list."

Chapter 6

Almonzo wasn't a traditionalist. He typically used doors and stairways instead of flying everywhere but when time prohibited following his own code, he returned to his roots. As Almonzo stood on the ledge right outside the master suite, he cringed when his eyes went to the ground below. He knew he wouldn't fall but he still wasn't particularly fond of heights and hanging on windowsills never appealed to him or even his more adventurous side.

He heard Tabitha's voice ranting in the distance. A smile shaped his lips. "Give him h.e.l.l, baby." Tabitha offered any man a little bit of cursed pleasure just by fighting with him but that was okay. If she fought him, she wasn't in his bed and it bought them some much needed time.

Almonzo leaned his head back against the exterior wall of the home. He closed his eyes and contemplated his first move.

"Well, since you're here, you might as well just come on inside."

Startled, Almonzo's eyes flew open as his head snapped to the left.

"Over here." Darian leaped over him from the right. He quickly disappeared through an open window. Almonzo sneered before he allowed himself to fall victim to a trap.

"Oh, darling!" Darian taunted. "Your lover is here!" Almonzo didn't wait for the scream he realized would soon follow. In one quick movement, he slid through the same open window and onto the floor, only to find several spears pointed straight at his heart.

"Tsk, tsk!" Darian shook his head. His back was to Almonzo and he stood at the bar with a drink in his hand. "d.a.m.n d.i.c.ks; leave it to a raging hard-on to get a man killed."

Almonzo slowly straightened and when he did, one pointed blade nicked him at the throat. He quickly put his hand over the wound to prevent what little blood he had from seeping through. If Darian saw the drip instead of a squirt, he would quickly surmise that his opponent wasn't just stupid for falling into his trap but also weakened by the absence of human blood.

"I must say, Almonzo, you surprise me." Darian's amus.e.m.e.nt seemed to fade away after one sip of liquor touched his lips.

"How so?" Almonzo eyed the men standing around him. There were five of them. One was mortal, Darian's first mistake, and the others were enforcers by the immunity clauses they'd earned and he had a problem with them. He couldn't do anything about them and he was certain the rest were protected. They generally had a more ashen blue tone to their skin and he was most definitely surrounded by them.

Darian took a gulp of his drink and slammed the gla.s.s down on the bar. "I never took you for one to be led around by your c.o.c.k...even if it was hardened by perfection." He chuckled and went on. "She does define exquisiteness, does she not?"

Almonzo couldn't see for a moment. His eyes blurred with the temper that found him quickly. "You'll wish you never..."

"Never what?" Darian turned to the door, probably realizing she would be there. He reached for Tabitha with one hand and gave his instructions. "Come."

She never looked at Almonzo.

"Kneel."

She knelt down in front of him.

"Sit."

She sat.

"Ha! It appears your lady isn't even aware of your presence." He glared into her empty eyes and tilted his head from side to side in mockery of her trance.

Almonzo felt like someone stabbed him through the heart. He started to move closer to her but the spears reminded him he could not. "Tabitha!"

She didn't respond at all.

"Tabitha, love, answer me!" He screamed out again, fiercely fighting for a control he would not gain quickly. All the spears pointed at his chest.

A cross between a grunt and a grimacing chuckle left Darian's lips. "She can't hear you unless I choose to allow it." He snapped his fingers to prove his point.

She seemed to literally snap out of her daze. She looked around the room and immediately spotted Almonzo. Fear jumped across her expression.

Almonzo's breathing became labored when he saw the love spread across her cheeks, and the pain. "Almonzo! The...poison!"

Snap! Snap! Snap! Darian reeled her in quickly by snapping his fingers.

"What the f.u.c.k have you done to her?" Almonzo lashed out his anger in words meant for all of them. He turned in a complete circle. "Whatever he is paying you, I'll triple it."

No one budged. In fact, the arrowhead tips only moved closer.

Darian's words proved he didn't worry about a traitor among them. "Sleep well, my friend. I'll see you in the desert." He nodded and one of his henchmen stepped forward. His arm dropped and the weapon fell into Almonzo's leg where it pierced the skin.

Before Almonzo tried to move or even contemplate his fate, he blacked out, entering into a world of darkness that seemingly swallowed him whole. Poison, she said, it was poison....

He was unable to focus. He knew he was inside and he was somewhere vaguely familiar. He realized there was a bed in front of him and the music he heard was modern, similar to what he always heard in the casinos of Las Vegas. "Tabitha." He almost didn't recognize his own voice. Surely that distorted sound didn't leave his heavy lungs.

"I'm here, Almonzo. I'm over here." He couldn't see her, but her voice seemed stripped of all hope.

"Come closer." His words were tortured. Slow to speak, it took all of his energy just to call for her.

"I can't!"

The sound of her pain shook him and his head immediately snapped upright. She was near the head of the bed, naked. Her wrists were handcuffed and chained to the bedposts. He blinked to be sure she was there. "You're chained?" He fought against his own restraints and looked down to see he was securely tied to a chair.

"Don't use your energy, Almonzo. I'm begging you. Please, you are going to need it. Whatever you want to do, however you think you can try and save me will not work. Think smart and work against your instincts. Trust me, you are going to need every ounce of strength you can find. I'm going to..." She stopped herself before she reluctantly continued, "I will need you and we're going to help each other."