Telling Chris had been unavoidable. A necessity.

Telling Roland and Sarah … not so much.

But Marcus and Roland were like brothers. Ami didn’t think it fair to ask Marcus to keep the truth from Roland after all the two had been through together. And it would be nice if she could cultivate a close friendship with Sarah, who was a friendly, feminine face in this sea of testosterone. Ami really liked her.

“That’s not an easy question to answer,” Seth stalled. Perhaps he was uncertain as well. Or maybe he had read Ami’s thoughts, though she didn’t think he would intrude.

Roland’s brows lowered in his typical scowl. “How difficult could it be? A simple yes or no will suffice.”

“Roland,” Marcus said, drawing everyone’s attention, “not now.”

To Ami’s surprise, Roland nodded thoughtfully. “As you will.”

Seth consulted his watch. “It’s half past noon already. We need to head over to David’s so you can gear up in the protective suits.”

“Oh, hell no,” Marcus objected. “Those suits chafe like hell. I’ll just wear the regular sun-protective clothing.”

“Me too,” Roland agreed.

“It won’t be enough,” Seth countered.

“It blocks 98 percent of UVA and UVB rays. We’re old enough that that will do,” Marcus insisted.

Seth shook his head. “It’s midday, and we don’t know how much time you’ll have to spend in the sun while Ami tracks down the lair. You’ll either wear the suits, or I’ll replace you with the d’Alençons, who won’t bitch and moan about it.”

Ami breathed a silent sigh of relief. There were probably just as many open fields in North Carolina as there were pockets of forest. She didn’t want to watch Marcus burn and blister if they ended up having to cross several of them to save time. The odd rubber suits would protect the immortals completely so they could be at full strength when they reached the lair.

Nevertheless, the men grumbled as they all rose. Forming a circle so Seth could teleport all of them at once, they prepared to leave.

Sarah met Ami’s gaze and rolled her eyes.

Ami grinned back. Yes, she hoped she and Sarah would soon be good friends.

“All right then,” Seth said, resting a hand on Ami’s shoulder. “We’re off.”

Marcus had to admit he was glad Seth had insisted he wear the damned rubber suit.

They started out in a van. Seth drove since the sun pouring in through the front windshield wouldn’t harm him. Ensconced in the passenger seat, Ami listened or felt for the vampire king’s energy signature (Marcus wasn’t quite sure how that worked) and gave Seth instructions.

Head west. Now northwest. Now west again.

Throughout the long drive, Marcus sat on the bench seat behind her, one gloved hand stretched forward to clasp her shoulder, lending support and, frankly, needing the contact while Roland’s eyes bore holes in him.

When the road ended, all of them clambered out and trailed after Ami’s small form as she took off into a forest broken by many clearings bathed in blinding sunshine.

Did Seth always have to be right? It really got old after a while.

So does everyone around me always being wrong, Seth’s smart-ass voice commented in his mind.

Marcus gave him a mental finger.

Golden rays warmed the rubber mask he wore as Ami led them across yet another clearing. Much like a ski mask, it covered his hair, face, and neck … pretty much everything except for his eyes. Wrap around sunglasses shielded those. Miniscule holes allowed air passage into his nose and mouth, but Marcus still felt as though he were suffocating and drowning in sweat. The day was unseasonably warm for winter.

Of course it would be. Anything to make this more uncomfortable. Like a child, he had wanted to ask at least a dozen times, Are we there yet?

But Ami, as always, made everything better. Just walking beside her and holding her hand eased some of the discomfort. He only wished he could remove his glove and feel her soft cool flesh against his.

Shade once more wrapped its welcome arms around them as they entered the trees again. A collective sigh of relief swept through the group.

Ami stopped, closed her eyes. Her fingers tightened around Marcus’s. “We’re getting close,” she whispered.

“Only silence beyond this point,” Seth murmured, moving to flank Ami’s other side.

From the corner of his eye, Marcus saw Roland tighten his hold on Sarah’s hand and carry it to his lips for a kiss despite the heavy material that separated them.

Ami took the lead, Marcus and Seth just behind her. Roland and Sarah brought up the rear.

A half hour later, Ami held up her free hand to call a halt. Drawing a Glock 18 with her right hand, she touched the fingers of her left to her right wrist, then sighted down the barrel to the northwest, indicating the enemy’s position.

Just through those trees, she murmured in his head.

Heat swept through Marcus and pooled in his groin. She had never spoken to him telepathically before, and the feel of her in his head, her warm timbre firing his neurons, made him want to strip her bare and have her right then and there.

Focus, Seth intoned.

He might as well have thrown a bucket of ice water on Marcus.

Right. Focus. Now was not the time.

But later he intended to ask her to talk to him telepathically while they made love. Over and over again.

File formation, Seth spoke in their heads and took point position.

As Ami fell in behind Seth and Marcus moved in behind her, he realized she had very cleverly led them to the lair from downwind. If any vampires were awake (unlikely at this hour), they would not catch the group’s scent.

Sarah followed Marcus with Roland right on her heels. No one made a sound as they drew their weapons and crept forward. Not even Ami, yet another anomaly explained away by her Lasaran heritage.

Line abreast, Seth instructed.

Marcus drew even with Ami as she stepped into a clearing, but remained in the shadows cast by the trees.

Silent, the five studied their surroundings. A bright golden sun hovered in an otherwise empty sky. A single-story frame home that had seen far better days sat drunkenly on slanted ground in the meadow’s center. It wasn’t very large, so Marcus assumed the so-called vampire king and his soldiers had dug tunnels beneath it in which to shelter during the day.

Marcus wondered fleetingly what had happened to the home’s owners. Bastien had purchased the land on which he had housed his army. But Bastien was immortal. He had spent two centuries investing and building his capital, altering his identity to keep humans none the wiser.

Vampires couldn’t do that. They didn’t remain lucid long enough. The fact that this vampire, the one who had crowned himself king, had kept his crap together long enough to organize all of this was a first.

Or had Montrose Keegan done it?

At least, Keegan was one problem they had solved.

He smiled down at Ami. Or one Ami had solved. Man, he loved her.

I’ll punch you if I have to, Seth warned.

Marcus grinned at him over Ami’s red curls. No need. I can love Ami and kick ass at the same time. I’m multifunctional.

Lips twitching, Seth looked at the others. I will return shortly. He was gone in a blink.

No animals or insects stirred, almost as if the vampires’ presence had spawned a large dead zone in which nothing could survive. Or in which nothing wished to live.

Seth returned, a large bundle in his arms.

Marcus held his breath as the immortal leader gently set it on the ground just inside the trees. Napalm-B was one of the few things that could kill an immortal.

Straightening, Seth focused on the house. Any movement?

Marcus shook his head.

Good. Shoulder to shoulder.

As soon as they complied with his order, Seth teleported them onto the warped wooden floorboards of the front porch.

Roland, Sarah, stay close to the door and don’t let any vampires leave if an alarm should sound. Ami and Marcus, with me.

Seth opened the front door.

Marcus stiffened when the hinges creaked, but no attack ensued.

When Seth stepped inside, Ami and Marcus followed.

So many offending aromas struck them that Marcus had to breathe through his mouth instead of his nose. Old blood. Putrefaction. Urine. Excrement. Many, many unwashed bodies. Stale beer. Rotting fast food.

Rays of sunshine, swimming with sparkling dust motes, struggled through grimy windows to illuminate a living room clogged with stained and tattered furniture, drifts of garbage, and Marcus really didn’t want to know what else.

He’s below us, Ami said, her eyes on the filthy wood floor.

All of the vampires were by the sounds of it. Marcus could hear a plethora of heartbeats beneath his feet.

Seth motioned for them to stay put, then teleported to the kitchen and disappeared from sight.

The shadows around them moved. A familiar sinking sensation suffused Marcus’s stomach as a chill rippled across his skin. Dread rising, he watched ethereal figures shuffle along the fringes of the room.

Ami eased closer until her shoulder pressed against his arm. Everything okay?

Can you hear me if I think a response?

Yes.

The spirits of some of the vamps’ victims are here.

She looked around uneasily. How many?

Marcus swallowed hard. Enough to erase whatever remorse I might have felt about killing every vampire we encounter.

Seth reappeared in front of them. The door to the basement is in the kitchen. I’ll teleport you to it so the creaky floor won’t give us away.

A heartbeat later, they stood before the door, then at the base of the steps just inside it.

Unbroken darkness swallowed them.

Marcus forgot the creepy ghosts as fear for Ami swelled in him. She couldn’t fight what she couldn’t see. The last time she had tried to fight in darkness, she had wound up with multiple wounds and a knife sticking out of her back.

Seth drew something from an inner pocket of his coat and cupped Ami’s free hand around it.

Night vision goggles. Her range would be limited, but at least she’d be able to see what was in front of her.