"I 'll tell you how this is going to go," Gregor said softly.

Reaper wasn't looking at him but at Briar. She'd gone from kneeling to bending forward over folded knees, her face on her thighs, her arms wrapped around her head, her entire body trembling.

"Here," Gregor said.

His voice drew Reaper's head around, and he saw that Gregor was holding out a blade to him. It was golden and four inches in length, its handle carved of bone. Its edge appeared razor-sharp. "Take this," Gregor said.

Reaper took it from him.

"Now I want you to kneel."

"Gregor, this is-" Reaper began.

Gregor thumbed the button. Didn't threaten to, didn't suggest he might, just thumbed it. Briar howled in pain, and her body slammed flat to the ground, facedown, outstretched. Then, when he let off the button, she curled up into the fetal position in her side, hugging her knees to her chest, trembling.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Waste time speaking to me again and I'll do it until she dies. Now kneel. Don't speak, don't question, don't argue, just obey."

Reaper nodded, and then he knelt. Being on his knees before this worthless piece of preternatural refuse made him want to throw up, but he didn't see that he had any choice.

"Now, hold out your right arm, palm up."

Reaper lifted his arm, turning it so his wrist and palm faced upward. In the other hand, he clutched the blade, and he was even then wondering if he could bring it across the bastard's throat before Gregor would be able to press that damned button again.

"Slice your wrist, Reaper. Then drop the knife to the ground and kneel there, docile and silent, while I drink your power into me, until there's nothing left in you at all. I'm going to drain you. I'm going to take your blood and your power. I've got you here, at my mercy, for myself, not for the CIA, not for anyone. Slice your wrist, Rivera. Feed me your life."

Reaper opened his mouth to argue, but the bastard held up the remote again, his thumb hovering over the button. "You want me to hurt her? I'll reduce her to insanity, maybe even torture her to death, right now if you refuse me, Reaper. Say the word. I'd rather enjoy it."

Reaper closed his eyes. He lifted the blade, brought it to his other arm and laid its edge against his skin. Then, biting his lip and opening his eyes, he focused on Briar. She was lying there, hurting, and he knew he had to do this, had to spare her any more pain. But looking at her would make it easier.

He looked at that mass of dark hair, and he prepared to draw the blade across his flesh and end his own life. A vehicle was racing toward them, but he paid its glaring headlights no heed. It didn't matter. It was too late.

And then, as he watched her, Briar lifted her head weakly from the ground and, with her fingers making claws and digging into the very earth as if for strength, she met his eyes, opened her lips and whispered a single word.

"Nightingale."

Seth held on for dear life as Roxy swerved into the vacant lot so fast that the van rocked up onto two wheels. She braked to a skidding stop the second her headlights illuminated the nightmarish scene.

Reaper was kneeling before Gregor, holding a blade in one hand and looking for all the world as if he were about to slice his opposite wrist with it. There was a dark, low-slung car nearby. Briar lay on the ground near it, barely moving, and Seth wondered for a moment if she was dead.

As they piled out of the van, though, Briar lifted her head. Her eyes fixed on Reaper's, and she moved her lips.

The word emerged on a whisper.

"Nightingale."

"Noooo!" Roxy shrieked, racing forward, hands ahead of her as if she could somehow prevent disaster, but, of course, it was already too late. Seth knew that.

"Dammit, we need a tranquilizer dart," he said.

"We used them all on the drones," Topaz told him. "Just get him before he loses it!" They rushed forward, even as Reaper's eyes went blank, the blade in his hand frozen in midair.

"Bitch!" Gregor barked, thumbing the button on a small device that hung from his neck as he said it, sending Briar into screaming spasms on the ground. Seth realized it was the damned collar in the space of a heartbeat, but there was no time to give it more than a passing thought.

Gregor opened his mouth to say something more, but he never got the words out. Reaper grabbed him by the throat and picked him up off his feet, crushing his larynx as he kicked and twisted and gagged.

"Stop him!" Roxy cried, as the vampires ran forward, leaving her to catch up. "We have to stop him. We need to know the second word, the one that will bring Raphael back. If he kills Gregor-"

Seth didn't need to hear more. He poured on speed, surprised that Jack came along, right at his shoulder. Topaz and Vixen were right behind them, Roxy struggling to catch up.

Seth and Jack jumped at Reaper, prying at his hand to get it off Gregor's throat. Reaper used his free hand-the one holding the blade-to drive them away. He took a swing with it, his arm arcing, the blade flying toward Seth's face.

No time to duck, Seth thought, getting ready for the cut.

But something thudded to the ground just before Reaper's hand connected, and Seth realized in a brief flash before the pain exploded, that Reaper had dropped the blade.

And it couldn't have been an accident.

Seth landed hard on the ground, then pushed himself up in time to see Jack tumbling along the ground and coming to a stop beside him. Beyond Jack, he glimpsed the van and the blond woman standing in its open door, watching them with wide eyes. Then he shifted his focus to see that Reaper still had Gregor.

"His eyes are starting to bulge," Seth observed.

"Funny-looking, isn't he?" Jack asked.

He would have been content to sit right there and let the bastard suffer, but by then Topaz and Vixen were leaping on Reaper. Vixen wrapped her arms around his forearm, the one holding Gregor, and tried with all she had to pry his fingers loose.

Topaz jumped on his back, wrapping his neck in a choke hold, and talking rapidly and demandingly into his ear.

Roxy joined in, too, yanking Gregor as hard as she could, and adding her fingers to those already prying against Reaper's grip.

"Hell," Seth said. "We'd best go protect the womenfolk."

"I hear that." Jack got up with him, and they both joined the fray, yanking and pulling and prying, until finally, Gregor's body dropped to the ground, free at last of Reaper's grip.

But it didn't much matter by then, because Reaper had turned on them now. His fists were flying, feet kicking, and his friends were taking the beating that had been aimed at Gregor only a moment earlier.

Gregor got to his feet and dragged himself toward the car. On the way, he grabbed Briar by the hair and jerked her upward, toward the passenger door.

"Stop that bastard! We need the second word!" Seth shouted. Reaper decked him, and he hit the ground, then bounded back to his feet and tried again to subdue his friend, gripping Reaper's arms and pulling them behind his back. "Reaper, stop it. It's us!"

Vixen rose to her feet, turned, and ran toward Gregor and the car. Seth tried to keep one eye on her, even as he sought to reason with his mentor. "Reaper, you don't want to hurt us. You know you don't. Search your heart. We're your friends."

Gregor didn't see Vixen coming. She raced right up behind him, as he dragged Briar by the hair toward the Porsche, and she snatched the chain from around his neck, breaking it. The remote fell to the muddy ground.

Gregor released Briar and turned to face Vixen, who immediately punched him in the face. His head jerked with the blow, but then he backhanded her, knocking her flat to the ground beside Briar.

Then Seth couldn't watch anymore, because Reaper let out a growl of pure animal fury, tearing his arms free of Seth's grasp and reaching for Topaz, who'd gone to stand in front of him and was still trying to talk to him.

Seth leapt forward, even as Jack yanked Topaz behind him, and stood nose to nose with Reaper. "Afraid not, big guy. You're not going to hurt her."

Seth heard the car squealing and knew Gregor had gotten away. He dared to glance that way in a panic, but Vixen was all right and kneeling beside Briar, who was still lying on the ground. It was probably too late to hope for the second word.

Topaz and Jack were about to grab Reaper again, but Seth held up his hands. "No. Stop. Everyone else, just back off. Get out of the way. Vixen," he called, "get that collar off Briar before the bastard decides to torture her some more."

She held it up, already in one hand. Way ahead of him, as usual. The remote dangled from its chain in her other hand. He nodded and said, "I want you all to keep your distance. It's him and me."

"But, Seth, he'll kill you," Vixen cried. She bounded to her feet and ran closer, stopping only a couple of feet from where he stood, facing Reaper, crouching, ready. Reaper had adopted much the same pose.

"You know what? I don't think he will," Seth said. Then he licked his lips and glanced her way, but only briefly, because Reaper was ready to spring, circling him slowly now. "But just in case he does, baby, I gotta tell you-I was an idiot, and I know it. I'm in love with you. All of you-the woman, the fox, the vampire. And if I live through this, I hope to hell you'll give me another chance. Not another chance to hurt you-that's not gonna happen again. But another chance to make you happy, since I blew the first one. I need another chance to prove to you that what I feel is real. And total."

She blinked, shaking her head. "Seth, I-" Her words turned into a scream as Reaper lunged, and Seth couldn't do anything more than defend himself from then on.

Jack and Topaz gripped Vixen's arms, and tugged her toward where the car had been, where Briar lay unconscious on the ground. "We have to try to help her. It's a long time before daybreak."

That was all Seth heard. The blond woman, Ilyana, was still peering from the van's open door, watching everything with frightened eyes. Roxy stood nearby, but she didn't interfere.

Reaper attacked, and Seth defended, blocking blows, rolling out of the way of punches, ducking, weaving, but not hitting back. His plan was to let his friend exhaust himself.

But he was the one getting exhausted. He tripped Reaper, watched him fall, but then Reap sprang up again and landed a kick that sent Seth flying through the air. He hit the ground hard, and it knocked the wind out of him. He had to shake his head to clear his vision.

He glimpsed Topaz and Jack carrying Briar between them, heading back to the van. He saw Vixen coming closer, her hand closing around Roxy's as they watched wide-eyed. Reaper was coming toward him, and Seth would have been content to wait, to rest a minute, but then Reaper turned, catching sight of Roxy and Vixen, and started to move toward them instead.

Seth surged to his feet and ran to intervene, putting himself in Reaper's path. "Not so fast, pal. You're not finished with me, yet."

Reaper swung.

Vixen lifted her head, opened her mouth, and Seth read her thoughts and screamed, "Vixen, no!" The blow landed, and Seth went down again. Hard. He was dizzy and hurting. "Don't go summoning any wildlife," he managed. "They might hurt him."

She lowered her head. "He's hurting you! Stop it, Reaper. Stop it!" she cried, and she tore free of Roxy's restraining hand to jump onto Reaper's back even as he prepared to club Seth in the head yet again.

Seth scrambled backward. Vixen clung. Reaper reached behind him to fling her aside, but before he could, the blonde popped up out of nowhere, jabbed something into Reaper's arm and ran like hell.

She only went about five yards, then stopped and turned to watch.

Reaper blinked as if stunned, and staggered a little. Vixen clung to his back, her arms anchored around his neck, as she looked down. Seth looked, too, and saw the little dart sticking out of Reaper's shoulder.

Then the big man sank to his knees.

Vixen released her hold on him, lowering her feet to the ground. Reaper fell slowly forward, facedown in the dirt.

Vixen lifted her head, meeting Seth's eyes. He was on the ground, the prone Reaper between them. But then she leapt the fallen leader, and even as Seth rose, she flung herself into his arms.

Her face wet with tears, she clung to him, trembling, shaking all over. Seth kissed her face, her neck, held her so hard he had to consciously ease off, afraid he might hurt her. "It's okay now," he said, over and over. "I love you. I love you, Vixen. I love you. I've never loved anyone else. Never. Never will. It's you. Only you."

She was sobbing, and he wasn't sure if there were words or just tears coming from her. He didn't know if she was happy, sad, heartbroken, traumatized, injured or all of the above. So he just held her, thanking his stars that she was okay.

The blonde stayed where she was. Roxy went up to her and said, "I think you may have just saved the day."

"I found the dart on the floor of the van. I heard Seth wishing for one, so I figured it might help."

"It was the only thing that could have."

Her eyes narrowed on Roxy. "You're not one of them."

"No. I'm one of you, actually."

The woman frowned, clearly confused, and Roxy slid an arm around her shoulders and started walking her back toward the van. "Come on. We have a long talk ahead of us, Ilyana. And when it's done, I'll give you a ride to wherever you want to go, okay?"

Ilyana nodded.

Jack and Topaz had left Briar in the van, and now they crouched on either side of the fallen Reaper. "He's really out," Jack said.

"Yes, and he'll wake with a hell of a headache and a nasty temper. But he'll be alive, at least," Topaz added.

Together they picked him up and dragged him toward the waiting van.

Vixen lifted her head and stared into Seth's eyes. "Gregor got away."

"We'll hunt him down sooner or later," Seth said. "He can't be allowed to run around with that kind of control over our friend."

She nodded. "I agree with you. And I'm...I'm staying with you."

"Why?" He searched her eyes, awaiting her answer. She blinked as if confused. "Vixen, what I'm asking is, are you staying with me because you want to stay with the gang and help us bring Gregor to justice, or repay Reaper for something? Or-"

"I'm staying for all those reasons, and for one more. I love you, Seth," she told him. "I thought love was the most foolish and useless of every human emotion. Until I felt it. And now, I think-now I think it's the most wonderful."

Seth smiled, pulled her closer, pressed his mouth to hers. "I love you, too, Vixen. And I know now that's what I was put on this planet to do. I always felt I was destined to do something big, something important. I think you're it. Saving you from Gregor's prison, bringing you into the gang, falling for you. Hell, loving you...I think that's my destiny."

She stared into his eyes and whispered, "Part of your destiny, perhaps. But there's more, I think. In fact," she whispered as she looked toward the van and all the others, "I'm sure of it. There's something more, and it's not just your destiny. It's ours. All of ours."

He held her close to his side, and they started walking toward the van. "He could have killed me seven times over just now, you know. But he didn't."

She nodded. "You're sure of that?"

He made a face, then shrugged. "No. But I want to be." He glanced down at her. "You kept Gregor from taking Briar."

She nodded. "I couldn't let-I had to."

He nodded. "She'll never hurt you again, you know."

"I know." She smiled and glanced up at him. "I kept the collar."

The stars looked down, and they climbed into the van. Seth pulled the door closed and said, "Let's go, Roxy."

"Where to?" the other woman asked.

"To our destiny," Vixen told her. "Where else?"