T he Learjet touched down at the small airport hours before sunrise. It taxied into one of the hangers where Jack waited. As the engines powered down, the side door opened. Jack watched the three vampires exit. The sweat beaded on his brow. It’s show time.
     “Welcome back!” Jack beamed. “Your Jeep has been refueled, checked out, and ready to go.”
     Gabriel looked around the vacant hanger. “Where is it?”
     “It’s just outside. Follow me.”
     Evonne picked up something strange about Jack’s demeanor. He seemed too eager to get rid of them. He didn’t even mention the payment for his services. Perhaps it was already taken care of—a wire transfer or something.
     The Jeep came into view like a familiar beacon. It was the closest thing Evonne had to a home in recent days, and the comfort it invoke was no less relaxing.
     Helping Gabriel with the bags, they secured them in the back before saying their final goodbyes to Jack. Demetrius, remaining quiet until now, couldn’t take his eyes off of the human. If Evonne picked up on his uneasiness without any effort, then Demetrius was reading through and through.
     “I hope you all had a nice trip,” said Jack, digging his hands into his pockets. “You missed one hell of a snowstorm this winter. Thank goodness for summer!”
     “Who did you talk to?” Demetrius whispered.
     “Keys are in the visor,” continued Jack. On the surface, he ignored the question, but his mind spoke differently.
     “Jack,” said Demetrius, his voice calm, “who did you talk to?”
     “I talked to no one.” They said they’d turn me over to SEVEN if I didn’t help them. “I don’t know why you’re so paranoid. There’s nothing to worry about.” They have mind readers on there side. I couldn’t lie to them. “Go on before the sunrises.” They’re watching us.
     Demetrius nodded. “Thank you for your help.”
     As Jack turned from them, the gunshot rang out, the bullet ripping into his abdomen and exiting from his back. Demetrius caught him as he collapsed. More gunshots filled the air, pelting the concrete and Jeep.
     Evonne felt a burning as something struck her shoulder blade. She reached around to place her hand to the wound but found an object sticking from her. She pulled the object free. It was an empty dart. The burning that filled her body turned cold. Her eyes grew heavy.
     Gabriel took two bullets to his body before reaching Evonne. He gathered her up and placed her in the passenger seat. Demetrius, too, grabbed Jack and climbed into the back of the Jeep. The gunshots stopped as Gabriel got in and started the Jeep. There was a brief moment when he imagine that Jack had sabotaged the engine to keep them from escaping. But the Jeep ran fine. It maneuvered over the road and away from the airport, its speed nearing that of eighty.
     “I couldn’t sense them,” said Demetrius as he fought to assess the damage done to Jack’s body. The human shuddered at the pain and loss of blood.
     “I couldn’t either,” Gabriel admitted, “even after they made their presence known.”
     “They must have a necromancer.”
     Jack began to cough, the blood welling up from his mouth. He fought to speak.
     “They called themselves The Brotherhood of Osiris,” he choked out. “I did as they said. Why did they shoot me?” He moved his hand to his stomach, fighting away Demetrius’ hands to see the damage. He lifted his head to gain a better look. “Fuck me, this is bad.” His head dropped back down. “There goes my retirement plans.”
     Demetrius urged him to roll over to check the exit wound. Jack called out in pain. Lifting his soaked shirt, the sight was even more dire. Blood poured out of the hole with each shudder and cough. Demetrius rolled him onto his back, his hands returning to his stomach.
     “Don’t look… don’t look at me like that,” Jack said, his breathing labored.
     Watching his friend suffer, Demetrius found himself acting before thinking. He raised his wrist to his mouth. Jack stopped him, his weakening hand pushing the wrist from the vampire’s mouth.
     “You’ve known my choice since the day we first met. I didn’t want it to end this way or this soon, but this is my choice.”
     Demetrius’ hands went back to Jack’s stomach. He began to whisper a prayer in Latin.
     Gabriel kept to the back roads. His knowledge of the area was limited, but the thought of The Brotherhood trailing them remained in the back of his mind.
     “Did they do anything to the Jeep?” Gabriel asked.
     Jack struggled to speak. “I kept it hidden. They were no where near it.”
     Demetrius spoke up. “How’s Evonne?”
     Gabriel reached over to brush the hair away from her face. Her body was quiet, sleeping under the command of the foreign substance working its way though her blood.
     “They drugged her,” he replied, his eyes returning to the road.
     “So they’re still after her,” assumed Demetrius.
     “They’re after Alex. They know he’s still searching for her.”
     “Turn around.”
     Gabriel glanced back at him. “Why?”
     “You know why,” he said, the first hints of rage beginning to show.
     “We can’t fight them. As much as I hate running, we are at a disadvantage. It’s two hours till dawn. We need a place to stay.”
     Demetrius stared at Jack. The humans eyes threatened to close with each shallow breath.
     “No caves, no motels, and no havens,” he ordered.
     “Then where?”
     “We will have to commandeer a house for a day or two, far away from any main roads.”
     The search for the perfect house took them deep into farmlands. Each house they passed, Demetrius sensed for the right place stay. The Jeep slowly approached a simple, beige house with a garage. A barn sat further back on the property with paddocks and fences lining the fields. Demetrius’ mind picked up the single human sleeping inside.
     “Here,” he said, leaving Jack’s side to look out the window.
     Gabriel continued driving and finally pulled onto the grass beside the dirt road. He turned off the engine. He leaned over to check on Evonne. Her body was still resting.
     Exiting the Jeep, Gabriel and Demetrius stepped through the fence and headed toward the house.
     “What’s your plan?” Gabriel asked.
     “If she has a husband or children, she is to remain alive,” he replied.
     Gabriel left his side and went for the barn. He had been hunting with Demetrius before and knew of the strategy he wanted to use.
     Demetrius waited by the storage shed. He kept his eyes on the house’s back door. From the barn, the horses began to neigh, and somewhere inside the house, a dog began to bark wildly. The porch light switched on as a middle-aged woman stepped outside, rifle in hand and wearing a dark robe. As the horsed riled up once more, she made her way off the porch, marching through the dark field leading up to the barn.
     Halfway across the field, the horses grew quiet. She paused, debating whether or not to check on them. Something fast moved around her, grabbing at the rifle in her hand and ripping it from her. The woman lost her balance and fell, her eyes searching through the darkness. She saw the dark form of something towering over her.
     She heard the voice of a young man speaking. “What is your name?”
     The woman stammered out her reply. “Ma-Margaret.”
     “Margaret, are you content with your life?” The voice was cold but there was no maliciousness to it.
     “Don’t—don’t kill me!”
     “I’m truly sorry.”
     Margaret felt a hand grab her hair, forcing her to stand. Terrified, her body obeyed. She felt his hands on her as her head was pushed back and neck exposed. A blinding pain encompassed her. She began to scream.
     Demetrius wrapped a hand underneath her jaw and squeezed, sealing off her airway. The woman’s screams stopped, but her thrashing continued.
     From the barn, Gabriel walked up to Demetrius. He waited for him to finish. Pulling away, Demetrius handed the dying woman to him. Gabriel took the woman into his arms and turned her head, delivering a fresh bite to the other side of her neck. He lowered her to the ground and began to drink.
     Demetrius’ eyes and mind scanned the surrounding area. Nothing threatening followed them, nothing that he could sense, at least. His mind located the dog inside the house, locked away in the basement. His mind then brushed over the Jeep. He sensed no life inside.
     Gabriel looked up to see Demetrius running for the Jeep. He took after him, the fresh blood strengthening his body enough to match his speed. As they reached the Jeep, Gabriel could sense what drove him there. Jack lay dead, not from the gunshot, but from the savage bite on his neck. His eyes went to the front seats. Evonne was missing. Glancing up and down the road, he tried to sense her.
     “She’s in the woods,” Demetrius said as he closed the door. He walked across the road, away from the house. Entering the woods, he had no need to use his mind in locating her. The scent of Jack’s blood was enough.
     Gabriel struggled to keep up. They way in which Demetrius moved through the forest seemed as though he wanted to lose him, to do what must be done without interruptions. Gabriel began to run faster. He turned his attention from Demetrius to Evonne. As his mind located her, he changed his direction. He sensed Demetrius do the same, trying to beat him to her.
     Deep within Evonne’s mind, she slept, her body on autopilot. She ran through the woods, saplings and briars lashing at her. The primeval side of her brain picked up on her pursuers. A strong force slammed into her, sending her to the ground. She threw an opened hand at her attacker and struck him from the collar bone and upward, catching his neck and face. The blood left the deep wounds and fell on her. Her body recognized the scent.
     Demetrius fought to grab Evonne’s wrists. He pinned them above her head with one hand and used the other to grab her neck. He heard Gabriel approach from behind and stop. Evonne’s body thrashed underneath him as she attempted to free herself. She began to scream, her voice shrilling in frustration. As with the woman before, Demetrius pressed down on her windpipe, silencing her. Evonne’s mouth parted, fangs visible as she struggled to find any breath for her screams.
     Demetrius move in fast and bit into her neck, opening her flesh with two long gashes. He began to strip her blood. He spat out each mouthful before returning for more. Evonne’s body began to weaken.
     As her body lost all life, Demetrius leaned back, his hands leaving her. “I can taste it,” he said, spitting once more. “The rancid substance has poisoned her from blood to flesh.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
     Gabriel stepped forward, his eyes gaining a better look at Evonne. Her body was completely silent, a state reserved for those either staked or slumbering underground for years.
     Demetrius stood up, still trying to get the taste out of his mouth. “Let’s get her inside.”

Inside the master bedroom, Gabriel gently laid Evonne on the bed. Demetrius returned from the garage with some rope and began to secure her wrists and ankles to the headboard and footboard. It wasn’t for their safety but hers.
     “The owner’s truck is in the garage,” Demetrius said as he tied the last knot. “Move it to the barn, as well as the Jeep. It must look like she isn’t home.”
     Obediently, Gabriel left the room.
     Demetrius stepped away from the bed, his attention settling on the pictures lining the long dresser. One by one, he carefully laid them facedown. He moved about the house, doing the same with each picture he found. He stopped by a calendar on the wall. The woman had a doctor’s appointment in three days. This gave them their deadline. He headed for the basement where the dog was kept. Opening the door, the German Shepard mix began to bark at the stranger. Demetrius closed the door and returned to the master bedroom to await Gabriel.
     As he sat by Evonne, he felt her body struggling to reawaken. The drug continued to hold strong.
     The back door opened as Gabriel returned. He stepped into the room to hear Demetrius’ assessment.
     “We have four days to help her,” he said. “Any longer and we risk being found.”
     “This is similar to the drug used on Keelan, if not the same,” Gabriel pointed out. “We need to take her to Saros.”
     “We can help her here.”
     “Saros can have her healed within a day.”
     Demetrius looked at him, eyes turning cold. “If you take here there, then I will not be going with you.”
     “You hate her that much?”
     “Nothing good follows Saros,” he snapped out. “She likes to she is a god. But I don’t bow down to her.”
     “Then what is your plan?”
     Demetrius’ eyes left him and settled on Evonne. “We will flush out the drug and give her our blood.”
     Gabriel stepped further into the room. “I think we should’ve stayed in Europe.”
     “It was her idea to return,” he reminded him. “You should have talked her out of it.”
     “No. She hates running as much as I do.”
     “Perhaps we should deliver Alex to The Brotherhood. No longer will they be after her, and no longer will he come searching for his daughter.”
     “I can’t do that.”
     Demetrius scoffed. “Always true to your word. Why do you protect him?”
     “You know the answer to that.”
     “I find it more amusing to hear the words.” He looked at him, deciphering his hidden thoughts. “Alex isn’t Edward, no matter how much your mind skews things.”
     Gabriel’s jaw tensed at the mentioning of Edward’s name. “No, he’s not. He’s more stubborn.”
     A sigh escaped Demetrius. “Then we must protect Alex, as well.”