I cannot freakin' believe this!"

Max got out of the car, which was nose down in a ditch, and surveyed the blown-out front tire. "This is great. Just great."

"It's no big deal, hon. We can fix it."

Max sighed, nodded and trudged to the trunk for the jack and the spare, but as soon as she gripped the spare tire, she realized that it was flat, too. "Hell, Storm. We are so screwed."

Stormy came up beside her, thumped the spare with a fist and made a face. "Not screwed, exactly. We still have the cell phones"

"We have reception?"

Stormy yanked a phone from her pocket and looked at the panel. "Yep. Three bars. Almost full power."

"That's odd, isn't it? We usually lose it by the time we get this close to Endover."

"Hey, who am I to turn up my nose at small favors? Maybe somebody's looking out for us"

That, Max thought, was what she was afraid of. "I'm worried about Lou. I've got this bad feeling, Storm, and I just can't shake it."

"Lou's fine. And we'll get this tire changed and get back there in no time. We just need to call a garage or something. I don't suppose you know a number?"

"I think there's an auto-club card in the glove compartment, " Max said, then zipped around the car to get in and dig it out. She found the card and took it back to Stormy, who dialed the number, pushed buttons to negotiate her way through the menu and then entered the membership number from the card.

Then she looked up from the phone. "Your membership has expired. Would you like to renew?"

"Will it get me a tow truck?"

"You want me to ask the computerized voice? 'Cause all she's giving me so far is one for yes or two for no."

Rolling her eyes, Max said, "One for yes" Then she dug a credit card from her purse and read off the numbers while Storm punched them in.

Finally they got to a real live human being, only to be told it would be an hour before a tow truck could get to them.

Stormy disconnected and pocketed the phone. "An hour. Hell, Max, maybe you should lock yourself in the car."

"For what?"

"Look around, Max."

Max did. They were on a deserted stretch of highway-well, off it, to be more precise. Another car hadn't passed since the tire had blown and they'd gone skidding across the pavement and into the ditch. The road stretched like a black ribbon, unwinding over hills, around curves and vanishing into the trees in the distance. They'd come to rest off the shoulder, nose partway into a ditch where water trickled in a thin stream along the bottom. It could have been worse. A grassy bank rose up for twenty yards on either side, ending at a tree line of pines. It was as if they were in a tunnel with a pavement floor and a blue-sky ceiling.

She looked at Stormy again, then let her mouth fall open in surprise. "You think I'm afraid to be alone with you?" "Aren't you?"

"No!"

"You should be. Jesus, Max, what if she comes back?"

"She...oh, hell, Storm. You're in control now, if what Martha did worked."

"What if it didn't?"

It killed her to see her friend so worried about what she might do. "I told you, I'll make friends."

"Don't joke, Max. This isn't funny."

"All right, all right. Look, if your eyes so much as start to change color, I'll get into the car and lock you out, okay?"

"Promise?"

"Promise, " Max said. "Otherwise I might be forced to kick your scrawny ass, and I don't want to do that."

Stormy picked up on the teasing in her eyes, and sent it right back. "You couldn't if you tried."

"Oh, please. I'd wipe you all over the pavement." Max playfully shoved Stormy's shoulder.

"Yeah, you would, if you had a dozen friends for backup" Stormy shoved back. They got into a pushing match, started laughing, and wound up tripping back and falling into the ditch, arms around each other. When they got untangled, they sat there in the damp grass, catching their breath as their laughter slowly died.

"You'd never hurt me, Stormy. Not really. Come on, deep down, you know that."

Stormy sighed, and Max thought she didn't agree. How awful it must be to doubt yourself that way.

"I wish we could get back, " Stormy said, looking at her watch as she got to her feet and brushed the twigs and dirt from her jeans.

"Me too. I was tough on Lou, I think. Made him feel bad."

"He deserves to feel bad after that episode. For crying out loud, how could he go that far with you and still not acknowledge his feelings?"

"He did acknowledge his feelings. They just turned out not to be the feelings I was hoping for."

"Bullshit."

Max sighed. "I was kind of mean to him. He didn't deserve that."

"He deserves my size eight in his butt."

"Well, yeah. Maybe a little." Max sighed. "How long has it been since we called?"

"Twenty minutes. You really that eager to get back to him, Max?"

She nodded. "I've gotta make things right with him. If I let last night ruin our friendship, then I'm just proving he was right all along."

"That's probably why you're having all these feelings of dread, " Stormy reasoned. "Guilt. Just a big pile of guilt."

"I hope so, " Max whispered. She looked at the position of the sun in the sky. "I just want to get back to Lou and find out for sure."

As it turned out, though, she wasn't getting back to Lou anytime soon. The tow truck took closer to an hour and a half, and then all it did was haul them to the nearest garage, close to forty miles in the opposite direction, where they waited two more hours for their tire to be changed. During that time, Max tried three times to call Lou, both on his cell and in the motel room, but there was no answer at either number. She tried Jay, too, and got no better results.

Finally, just as she was waiting for the mechanic to run her credit card, she tried the motel office.

Garyanswered.

"Hey, Gary . This is Max Stuart. Room three."

"I know who you are, " he said. His tone was dull, lifeless-but then, so was he, most of the time.

"I was wondering, have you seen Lou Malone or Jason Beck? I've been trying to get them on the phone, but they don't answer."

"No. Haven't seen them."

"Um, is Jason's car in the lot? It's a Jeep Wrangler. Light brown. Kind of caramel co-"

"Yep, it's out there."

"Well, where could they be?" By now Stormy had come over and was staring at her, looking worried. She covered the receiver. "Jay's Jeep is there, but the guys aren't answering the phone."

"How would I know?" Gary answered.

Max thinned her lips. "Could you go check the rooms, see if they're in there?"

The kid sighed so heavily she was surprised she didn't feel the breeze hitting her ear, but he said, "Just a minute, then, " and set the phone down. She heard heavy footfalls, heard the door bang, wondered if he were really checking on the guys or just making sound effects for her benefit.

Minutes ticked by. Eventually she heard the door again, the footsteps again. Then, "They aren't in their rooms, but that goddamn kid is back here. I can't have him lurking around outside the rooms. It's bad for business."

"Yeah, almost as bad as night stalkers who try to kidnap your guests, I'll bet."

"Huh?"

"Just leave him alone. I'll be there in an hour. Let the kid wait, okay?"

"Whatever." He hung up the phone, and Max felt like bashing him in the head with it.

The mechanic was back with her card and a receipt. "Sign here, " he said.

She scribbled her name as fast as she could, tore off her copy and headed for her car. Stormy was on her heels. "You really think something's wrong, don't you, Max?"

Max nodded. "I know something's wrong. And goddammit, it's getting dark."

Lou lost his grip on consciousness at some point while being dragged into the house. He regained it some time later, all at once coming wide-awake with a surge of adrenaline between the space of one heartbeat and the next. He found himself in a locked room in what had to be a basement. No windows, just concrete floor and walls. He looked at his watch, shocked when he realized that the entire day had passed. No way had he been out that long due to the beating those thugs had delivered. He suspected a more supernatural cause. The room had only one door-a steel door without a pane of glass in it. It opened outward, so the hinges were completely out of reach on the other side. The doorknob wouldn't budge, but he messed with it enough to know where the lock was engaged just below the knob. No dead bolt, or at least he thought not.

He pulled up a pant leg and took out the small, snub-nosed .38 he had hidden there in a pancake-style calf holster. It was the same gun he'd been insisting Stormy keep with her when she had to be alone-although since her attack on Max, he'd decided it might be better to keep firearms out of her reach. They'd never spotted it. Hell, they must think they were dealing with someone who'd never tangled with criminals before. Much less vamps. He knew better than to show up under-armed.

He took off his shirt, wadded it up as tightly as he could, buried the gun barrel in the fabric and rested it against the door. Without hesitation he pulled the trigger.

Even muffled, the shot was deafening.

And yet it did its job. The door swung slowly open, its lock blown to bits. Lou shook the shirt open and put it on, despite that the bullet had ripped through several folds, creating a holey pattern. He kept the gun in one hand, not sure if it would be better to conceal it in case he was caught. Then he decided if he were caught, he would damn well shoot his way out of here. He had to get to Max before she came charging to the rescue. The thought of her walking into the trap of a goddamn rogue vamp as powerful as this one was too frightening to contemplate.

He crept out of his cell, pulling the door closed behind him, so it would take a few extra moments for anyone to realize he had escaped. Then he crept through a basement that was like a labyrinth, with corridors that twisted, turned and branched off. He passed several rooms with closed doors. He thought the place was deliberately designed to confuse. Freaking Magellan could get lost down here, he thought.

He wandered for a very long time, eventually finding a staircase that led upward and following it. At the top was an ordinary-looking door, and when he tried the knob, he found it unlocked.

Listening intently for any sounds, he opened the door, back to the wall, peering around it, gun first, before he crept through and into pure opulence. The house was lush-he couldn't think of another word for it. He stepped onto deep carpet. The walls were covered in velveteen paper, the windows draped in multiple layers of jewel-toned fabrics over black, which blocked the glass.

"The windowpanes are tinted, " a man's voice said. "But one can never be too careful."

Lou whirled to see the vamp standing in the middle of the room. Behind him, the two teenage girls stood docile and frightened, their hands bound behind them. "It's okay, " Lou told them. "I'm here to get you out." He nodded to the vampire. "It's time to let these girls go, don't you think?"

"And you are going to use that weapon to force me? I think you know that gun will do me no harm."

"I think you know we've covered all this."

He lifted his dark eyebrows. "I'm impressed by your courage, Malone. Tell me, how is it you've come to know as much as you do about the Undead?"

"I get around."

"And just how much do you know about my kind?"

"Enough to know you're not the animals some make you out to be. At least, not all of you. As for you personally, I think you're the scum of the earth."

The vampire smiled slowly. "And why is that, when you barely know me?"

"What did you want with those two girls? They're children, for crying out loud." As he asked the question, he tried to gauge the girls' well-being without shifting his gaze from the vampire for more than a second at a time. They were clean, groomed. Dressed, apparently, in their own clothes. He didn't see any outward signs of injury-only fear.

"What do you think I wanted with them? Hmm? Use your imagination, Malone." He smiled slowly as he watched Lou's face, had to know exactly what Lou was thinking, and seemed to enjoy letting him think it before he went on. "Fortunately for them, my...tastes do not run to children. Or I'd have drained them and left their bodies like dry shells on the shore."

Lou blinked. "Now you're lying."

"Am I?"

Lou nodded. "You've kidnapped a lot of women, but they always turn up again. Alive and unharmed."

He shrugged. "I don't have to kill in order to feed, Malone. Do not mistake that for an inability to do so. I kill when I want to. When I need to. I have no remorse for it when I do. Just as I will have no remorse if I have to kill you."

"Just what the hell do you want from me?" Lou demanded.

"From you? Nothing. It's the women I want."

"Find another font to assuage your sick appetite, pal. You're not getting close enough to smell them."

He nodded slowly. "I do not wish to feed from them. The fiery-haired one-she is the one who is the real expert on my kind, yes?"

"I know as much as she does."

"Gallant, the way you try to protect her." He smiled slowly. "You love her." Then his brows rose. "Oh, you deny it, do you? Even to yourself? It baffles me how you mortals waste what precious little time you have on such trivial matters as self-deception and fear."

"Let the girls go. You don't need them anymore, you have me."

"Yes, but I want the women. Both of them."

Lou felt a fissure of anger open up in his soul. It felt as if hot lava were bubbling out of it. "What do you want with them?"

"Oooh, you can imagine so many things, I see it in your eyes." He smiled again. "There's something puzzling about the one you call Storm. Something about her that I must understand for my own peace of mind. She...intrigues me." He sighed. "I grew so impatient waiting for Jason to bring her to me that I broke my own rules, I risked discovery, to go after her myself. You should have just let me take her, you know. It would have been easier on us all."

"And what do you want with Max?"

He shrugged. "From your woman, I want only information. For the most part. And, well, maybe just a taste. Just a sip. It's not as if you can stop me."

Lou fired the gun dead-on at the vamp's heart. But the man moved so fast it seemed he vanished, then appeared again behind Lou.

Lou spun, hit him with all his might, using the gun to send him sailing across the room. He hit hard, and the vamp grunted in pain. Then Lou lunged at the girls, yanking the ropes free that bound their hands. "There's a boat hidden, " he whispered. "Walk counterclockwise around the island about fifty yards. It's near the shore, in the bushes. Get the hell out of here. And if you see my friends, warn them that they're walking into a trap. Go!"

The girls didn't hesitate, they ran. The vampire lunged again, and Lou turned to take him on, knowing he had very little hope of defeating one of the Undead. Especially one as powerful as this one.

But he held out, fighting with everything in him to give the girls time to escape. Praying there were no longer any thugs outside to grab them again.

He ducked a blow, then delivered one. Then he took one full on to the center of his chest, and it hit him so hard he thought it stopped his heart, even as he slammed backward into the wall, cracking the plaster.

"You are a worthy opponent, " the vamp said, standing over him as Lou pulled himself to his feet for more. "It's going to be a shame-it really is. But I thank you for the amusement." He shook his head slowly, sadly; then with a great sigh, he flung up a hand and barked a single command. "Sleep!"

Lou blacked out instantly.

By the time the tire was repaired and they were on their way, Max was petrified with worry about Lou. What the hell could have happened to him? She drove as fast as the little Bug would go all the way back to Endover and skidded to a halt in the motel parking lot.

There, in front of Lou's motel room door, little Sid stood uneasily, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Max jumped out of the car and ran to him. She dropped to her knees, gripped his shoulders. "Sid. Do you know what's happened? Where is Lou?"

"I don't know."

She looked around frantically, but there was no sign of either Lou or Jason, so she turned her attention back to the boy. "Did you have something you wanted to tell us, Sid?"

The boy met her eyes. "Something to tell Lou."

She nodded and fought for patience. "I don't know where he is, Sid. I'm very worried about him, and I promise, I'm going to go find him very, very soon. But first, why don't you tell me what it is you came to tell him? That way I can tell him for you when I find him."

He pursed his lips and seemed to think it over.

Max decided to help things along by digging a twenty out of her pocket and handing it to him. "And I'll pay you for him, too, " she added.

The boy smiled and took the money. "I came to tell him about the other one. Jay-man."

"Jason?"

"Yeah. He's hurt. Pretty bad, I think."

By now Stormy was standing beside her. Max shot her friend a look of alarm and saw Stormy's eyes widen with concern. "Where is he, Sid? Do you know where he is, so we can go help him?"

Sid nodded. He pointed behind the motel. "By the water. I go down there sometimes to look for seashells. He started to walk back here, but then he fell down. He didn't get up again."

Max blinked, not sure how the hell he knew as much as he did, and not wanting to take the time to ask. "You go home now, okay, Sid? I want you to stay in your house tonight."

"I will. Mom says I have to go to bed early. 'Cause tomorrow we're going away."

The visit to the private school-right. She'd nearly forgotten. "That's great, honey. You get home now, so you won't be late."

"Okay." He turned and ran to his bike, got on and started off.

"Sid?" she called after him. He looked back, and she said, "Thank you for your help"

His smile was quick and bright, and then he pedaled away.

When he was out of sight, she and Stormy exchanged glances. "We need to get inside Lou's room, " Max said. "If he didn't take his guns with him, we should."

Stormy nodded and stood back as Max kicked the door open, too impatient to wait for a key. The two raced into the room and began tossing it in search of Lou's guns. But Max paused when she saw the note lying on the telephone stand.

It was written in Lou's hand, and it was addressed to her.

Max,

I'm heading out to the island, even though I know it's going to piss you off. I figure I've screwed things up royally with you and me. And I've been kicking myself ever since. I just hope I get the chance to make things right again.

Love, Lou.

She swallowed hard. "He went out there, " she whispered to Stormy, her fingers trembling as they traced the word love.

"Let's go find Jason, see what he knows." Stormy put a hand on her arm when she didn't respond. "He'll be all right, Max."

"He damn well better be, " Max said. She shoved the note into her pocket, and the two left the room. They ran together into the woods behind the motel, far from the glow of the parking-lot lights and neon sign. They found the path and raced down it to the shore. The little boat that had been there the night before was long gone. And Jason lay still on the ground.

They fell to their knees on either side of him. "God, he's bruised to hell and gone."

"And for once, I know it wasn't me, " Stormy said. She touched his face. "Jason. Jay, honey?"

Max ran to the water's edge, scooped up a handful and brought it back to splash him in the face. "Dammit, Jason, wake up!"

His eyes flickered. Then opened.

"Where is Lou?" she asked, voicing the top question on her mind. Even though she was sorely afraid she already knew the answer.

"I-I-I..."

"If he says I don't know-" she muttered.

"Island."

Jesus, that was even worse. "He's on the island? With that insane vampire?"

"Captured."

"Let's get him to the room, " Stormy said.

"You get him to the room. I'm going after Lou" Max rose, fully intending to do just that. But there was no boat. She spun to Jason again. "You were on the island with him?"

He nodded weakly.

"How the hell did you get back here, Jason? How did you manage to get away and leave him behind, and all without a boat?"

Jason opened his eyes. "They...brought me back. Dumped me here."

"They? Who?"

"The vampire's thugs. Locals, I think. And Fieldner." He closed his eyes; one was purpling and swollen, and his lip was split. "Don't go, Max. It's a trap."

She stomped across the beach. "They're gonna think it's a fuckin' trap when I get my hands on them-"

"Max."

Stormy rose from Jason's side and went to her. "Max!"

"What!" She hadn't meant to snap, but dammit, she had to get to Lou.

"Help me get Jay to the room. We'll get a boat and go right back out. Okay?"

Jason was already trying to get to his feet. Max turned toward him, to help him up, but then she heard something. Splashing. Voices in the water.

She turned and saw the boat moving slowly closer. Her heart jumped. "Lou?" she whispered, straining her eyes. But no. It was a woman in the boat, her long blond hair blowing in the breeze behind her. No. Two women. Two...girls.

"Delia!" Jason cried. He went staggering into the surf, and probably would have drowned if Max and Storm hadn't lunged after him, gripping his arms on either side.

"Jason!" Delia clambered out of the boat, into the water, and slogged toward him. The other girl was in the process of doing the same, so Max let go of Jason and went to grab the vessel before they let it float away. She tugged it to the shore as the happy reunion went down in the surf. Jason and the two girls dragged one another out of the water. Delia was hugging Jason and sobbing. Jason was crying openly, as well, and had one arm around the other girl, Janie.

"God, Jason, what happened to you?"

"There will be time for that later, " Stormy said, and she said it firmly. "Are either of you girls hurt?"

"No. No, he didn't hurt us, " Janie said. "He said as long as Jason did as he was told, we would be set free."

"As long as Jason did as he was told, " Max repeated, turning to pin Jason to the ground with a glare that should have set him on fire.

Janie nodded hard. "There's another man out there-your friend. They were fighting, and he knocked the guy down and untied us. Told us to run, told us where the boat was, and to tell his friends not to come-that it's a trap"

"We didn't know how to start the motor, " Delia said. "We had to row the whole way. I thought for sure that strange man would come after us. I think he was through with us, or he would have." She stared at her brother. "He's not human. I don't think he's human, Jay."

"I know." He hugged her close, his eyes meeting Max's.

Max marched up to him, gripped his arm and jerked him away from his sister. She nodded to Stormy who got the message without a word. She took the girls a few steps away and continued questioning them to give Max a moment with Jason.

Max held his arm hard. "You betrayed us."

"He said he'd kill her."

"You led Lou out there like a goddamn sacrificial bull."

"No, Max. He's the one who insisted we go out there. I tried to stop him."

"Why?"

He lowered his eyes. "Because you're the ones this guy wants. You and Storm. Not Lou" He paused, swallowed, caught his breath. "They took him captive and then beat me up to make it look good, and dumped me back here. I'm supposed to tell you where Lou is, so you'll go out there after him."

She nodded. "So can I trust you at all anymore, Jason?"

"I'm sorry, Max. He said he'd kill my sister. I was only trying to keep her alive."

She thought about her own sister, the lengths she had gone to, trying to protect her. Finally she nodded. "Will you do something for me? Can I trust you to do something for me, Jason?"

"Anything. Jesus, if I can make this up-"

"You can't." She dragged a pen from her jacket pocket and wrote a telephone number on the back of Jason's hand. "I want you to take these two girls directly to your Jeep, get in and drive out of here. Don't stop to take your stuff or check out or pay your motel bill. Nothing. Just go straight to the car and drive the hell out of here."

He nodded.

"I'll bring your stuff later, if I survive this. The second you're out of range of Endover and picking up a signal on your cell phone, you call this number. You tell whoever answers that you are calling for Max, and that she's in trouble. And then you tell them where I've gone. Warn them it might be a trap. Tell them there's a rogue vamp on that island and that he has Lou. Understand?"

He nodded.

"Do you swear to me on your sister's life that you'll do this exactly as I've told you?"

"I swear. I will, Max. But I wish you wouldn't go out there. Come with me. When your help arrives, then we'll all-"

She shook her head. "I love him. I can't leave him out there alone. I'm going. And a freaking army of rogue vamps couldn't stop me."

Stormy led the two girls back over to Jason. "Get him up there to his Jeep, and get out of this town, " she said. "We will."

"Good. Go." Stormy turned to Max. "Don't even think about telling me to stay behind. I'm going with you. Are you ready?"

Max nodded. "You realize we're walking right into it, right?"

"Yeah, " Stormy said. "I picked up on that part of the conversation."

"So there's no point being sneaky. We may as well march right up to the front door."

"I wish we had some of that goddamn vamp-tranquilizer that Stiles jerk used on your brother-in-law, " Stormy said.

"Remind me to stock up." If we survive this, she thought.

They got into the boat and Max yanked the ripcord until the motor came to life. It wasn't long before the island came into view, and then lights. Torches, she realized slowly, marking a lighted, fiery path all the way along the shoreline, leading the way to the house.

"Guess he really rolled out the red carpet, " Stormy said.

"Yeah, let's just hope it's not blood-red."

They killed the motor, beached the boat and got out, and Max rubbed her arms against the chill that came only partly from the early spring night and the fresh, salty breeze that wafted in from the ocean. She started along the path.

And then she heard a sound. A man's voice, crying out in pain.

Lou's voice.

"Goddammit!" She stopped walking, grabbed a torch and ran. And she knew damn good and well that her best friend was right beside her. "What the hell did I do, Stormy?"

"What do you mean? You didn't do anything. He came out here on his own!"

"I wasn't here. I took off, left him alone, and brushed him off because he hurt my feelings. Burst my little fantasy bubble. Didn't feel the way I wanted him to feel. I left in a huff, and he did just what he always does. He tried to fix everything for me. He came charging out here thinking he'd have the vamp on ice and the girls safe and sound by the time I got back, and then I'd forgive him for the rest."

She paused at a fork in the trail, held her torch out in front of her, peering in each direction.

"He didn't come out here because of you, " Stormy said.

"Of course he did. If it wasn't for me, he'd be on a fishing boat, sucking down a beer and telling cop stories with his friends."

Even Stormy couldn't argue with that.

The gut-wrenching cry came again, and, a moment later, another sound. A voice, deep and rich. Not loud in a normal way, but so full it carried all over the island, as if it were aided by a loudspeaker or megaphone. And yet Max had the feeling it wasn't.

"Miss Stuart, don't keep us waiting much longer. I don't want to have to keep hurting your beloved, but I will if you delay."

Max clenched her hands into fists at her sides and released a feral shriek that split the night.

She heard the vampire's laughter then, echoing like that of a god, through the trees and reverberating on the very air.

Clutching her torch in her fist, she began running, racing for all she was worth, until finally the house rose into view, palatial and elegant. She lunged up the steps and pounded on the door.

It opened. Just swung slowly inward, as if by itself. She sprang inside and shouted, "Where the hell are you, you sick bastard!"

"Shall I provide more sound effects for you to follow?"

"That's it. I'm done" She lunged at the nearest window and swung her torch, painting the beautiful, lush draperies in strokes of pure fire. Then she moved to the next window, and the next.

"You don't know who you're messing with, do you? But you're about to find out. And then you can burn in hell, you son of a bitch. Starting right now."