“That’s the information I have.”

Gabriel sat forward on the sofa. “That means Thomas is as strong as they are. He can fight them. So why isn’t he included in this discussion?”

“Thomas almost died during the confrontation with Keegan. I’ve therefore decided that he won’t join in this fight.”

It wasn’t exactly the truth, nor was it an outright lie. But he couldn’t violate Thomas’s confidence and disclose that Thomas feared that any more contact with Keegan’s protégés would push him over the edge and unleash the dark power within him. Thomas trusted him to keep his secret.

Haven stepped forward. “On the contrary, he’s the ONLY one who can fight him, if what you say is true.”

“I agree,” Amaury added.

“No! My decision stands. We have to fight them with other means.”

“And be annihilated in the process?” Gabriel questioned him, jumping up. “I respectfully disagree.”

“What do they even want?” Quinn interrupted.

“To dominate the vampire world. They’ve started by driving decent vampires from the city, buying up their businesses for peanuts, threatening them. They killed Sergio and his mate when they refused to give in to their demands. What else do you want?” Samson tossed his friends a defiant glare.

“Is it confirmed that Xander’s people did all this?” Gabriel asked.

“He admitted it to Thomas.”

“Tell me another thing,” Gabriel continued. “How is it that Thomas is still alive if he confronted Xander?”

Samson threw back his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter how. It just matters that he was able to get away unscathed.”

“I think it does, because it proves my point: Thomas is as strong as they are, if not stronger,”

Gabriel insisted. “Otherwise why wouldn’t Xander have taken the opportunity to kill him? Why leave an enemy alive who can give us information about their group that may help us prepare against them?”

More than one pair of eyes shot to him, all of them waiting for an explanation. An explanation he couldn’t give.

“Are you questioning my authority?” Samson thundered. He hated having to put Gabriel in his place by reminding him that he was the boss. He’d always looked at his friends as equals, not as subordinates, but today he had no choice but to issue his commands without taking his friends’ concerns into account.

Gabriel glared back at him, his lips tightening into a thin line. “Very well. What do you suggest?” he asked after a pause.

“Good. Let’s get prepared. We need a head count of the newcomers. Their headquarters needs to be kept under 24-hour surveillance. Zane will give you the address in Chinatown.

Follow anybody who leaves and find out where they’re going, who they’re meeting. Find out if they have any other safe houses apart from the one in Chinatown. Assign somebody to tail the guy who now runs Al’s motorcycle shop. I want to know whom he meets with and where he goes. I also want you to assess the defensive features of their headquarters. How can we attack them there without causing civilian casualties? The place is located at the edge of Chinatown where it borders on North Beach. It’s a densely populated area with lots of nightly activities. The area is packed with restaurants and bars that are open late into the night. Attacking their stronghold will draw attention to us. We have to find a way to draw them into a less populated area before we can strike.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet. Put your heads together and come up with possible scenarios.”

“Fine,” Gabriel agreed.

Samson acknowledged his second-in-command’s words, but knew it was a long shot to draw them away from their stronghold. If they had to fight Xander and his people in Chinatown, there would be human casualties, and he didn’t relish that prospect. Besides, they would also be at risk of exposure as vampires, which was a whole other problem.

If only he could convince Thomas to change his mind and use the power he had to fight their enemies. Was there no way to convince him that he wouldn’t succumb to the dark power and turn evil in the process? He’d known Thomas for over a century, and never even suspected the demons he fought against every day. Didn’t that prove that Thomas was much stronger than he believed himself to be?

“Let’s rock ‘n roll,” Samson announced and swept one last, long look over his friends, hoping that he wouldn’t lose any of them in the coming fight.

31

At the chiming of the doorbell to her medical offices in the basement of her house, Maya took a deep breath and walked to the entrance door. She already knew who stood on the other side before she even opened the door.