“Could they be hiding, hoping we’ll leave?” the telekinetic Harvey asked Sam. I noticed that his stance wasn’t as cocky as usual – the guy might be a little slow on the uptake, but even he had the sense to be wary right now.

Sam considered that for a moment. “If that was the case, they would be sure to make no sounds at all. Besides, why would they have any reason to hide?”

A puddle of mush appeared beside Stuart and quickly returned to its normal form. One of Denny’s animal-mimic abilities was to reduce himself to a soft liquid just like the sea cucumber. “I couldn’t get in. The door’s sealed so tightly that there are no cracks for me to wiggle through.”

“None of this makes any sense, and it’s severely pissing me off.” Sam turned to Cristiano. “Can you sense your vampires better now that you’re closer to them?”

Looking grim, he shook his head. “The connection’s still fuzzy.”

Chico released a long breath, stroking his Johnny Depp style moustache and goatee. “So I’m thinking we”

“We’ll have to force our way inside,” interrupted Evan, glaring at the caves. I had the distinct feeling that he had insisted on coming along so he could blow off some steam and distract himself from thoughts of Alora and whatever the hell had happened between them. Or maybe the problem was what hadn’t happened between them.

“If we do that, they’ll attack instantly,” David pointed out, fidgety and nervous.

Butch nodded his agreement. “Considering we have no idea how many are in the caves, it would be a dangerous move.” Not that Butch sounded particularly moved by the prospect of danger. In fact, he never seemed to be moved by anything, always appeared deceptively calm, collected, and laidback.

“We’ll have to take our chances.” Evan’s tone was practically lifeless. “It’s the only way we can retrieve Cristiano’s vampires.”

When the squad turned questioning gazes mine and Sam’s way, I said, “I’m not comfortable with the idea of invading their home, but I think Evan’s right.”

Sam nodded. “We have no other option at this point.” She turned to the heavily muscled Pagori who was currently tying back his brown shoulder-length hair. Stuart did the same with his own blond curls. “Reuben, I need you to use your gift on Chico, David, and Salem.” With a single touch to their shoulders, Reuben’s gift of power augmentation had made Chico’s poisonous thorns, David’s psionic boom, and Salem’s psychic punch all fatal. “Don’t move quietly – give them plenty of warning that we’re approaching the door so that they aren’t alarmed. If they still don’t open up, we’ll have to let ourselves in.”

Making no attempts to conceal our presence, we covered the distance to the entrance of the caves. The door was camouflaged to look like part of the mountain in order to fool any humans, but a vampire’s enhanced eyesight could easily spot it. When there was still no reaction to our presence, I projected a lightning bolt powerful enough to completely shatter the door. Fanning away floating dirt, I looked to see a downward channel about eight feet deep.

“Not even the noise of someone breaking in has gained a reaction from them.” Cristiano shook his head, incredulous.

“Damien, Reuben – I want both of you to wait here and keep watch,” I told them. “If you see any movement at all out here, you contact me straight away.” They both nodded obediently and took on an alert, aggressive stance. Satisfied, I turned back to the entrance in time to see that Evan had taken the lead and jumped down the channel. He was obviously feeling shitty enough to be careless with his own safety.

Sam looked at me. We shouldn’t have let him come. His head’s not in a good place right now.

I’ll talk to him. I swiftly descended only to find myself at the entrance of a tunnel. Evan was waiting there impatiently. At least he hadn’t set off on his own. I held his gaze. “Evan, you need to get your shit together.”

His eyes flared with anger. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not, and this isn’t the time to talk about it. But I swear if you act careless and put Sam and my squad in danger, I’ll teleport your ass out of here. Got it?”

He gave me a curt nod and returned his attention to our surroundings. Although it was dark, my vampire night vision allowed me to see the junction further down the extremely long tunnel. Signalling for the others to follow, I moved aside to give them room. One by one, they descended the channel. Before I could give any further directions, Evan began walking, clearly intending to take the lead. Sam and I exchanged an exasperated look but let him be.

We flanked him as he slowly led us through the tunnel. There was no one at all around. No sounds other than our own footsteps. “They have to know we’re here,” I said to Sam.

“It doesn’t make any sense that they wouldn’t care.” As she repeatedly clenched her hands, as if eager to attack a threat we couldn’t see, tiny sprinkles of silvery-blue energy dripped from her fingers, peppering the air like fairy dust. Now that she was a hybrid and much stronger, she didn’t have to absorb the surrounding energy anymore; it came to her, filled her, waiting for direction. Silvery-blue glimmers of it played around the surface of her body.

We continued down the tunnel, stopping only when we reached the junction. There were no sounds coming from any direction. Sam indicated for Evan to keep moving forward, and we again followed closely behind him. Then I was gagging as a foul stench crept up on me. I wasn’t the only one balking.

“It’s like rotten fish.” Sam’s words were muffled by her sleeve as she used it to cover her mouth and nose.

“Jesus,” exclaimed Chico, coughing along with the others. “What is that?”

Evan suddenly held up his arm, gaining everyone’s attention. “Do you guys hear that?”

I did. A voice…but it wasn’t speaking. It was…moaning?

“Do you think they’re all hurt? It would explain why no one’s come.”

Evan’s theory was a decent one, made sense…yet, my gut said no. Every instinct I had told me to get out of there and to get out of there now. I could sense that Sam’s anxiety equalled my own. Good, maybe that meant I could talk the crazy bitch out of going any further. Sam never allowed fear to hold her back, she used it as fuel. While that was admirable, it drove me f**king insane because I wanted her safe. Sure she was strong, but she wasn’t invincible.