"Geez," she said. "You've got even more money than I thought." Then her eyes landed on the long wooden box in his hand. It stretched from his knee up past his shoulder. "What's in there?"

"You have work to do," he said coldly. "Find them."

Eleisha did not know what to say or even what to feel as she followed Rose down a dark street in the Mission District bordered by rows of run-down, empty-looking buildings.

Rose had drugged Wade and then used her gift to draw Eleisha away from him.

And yet… Eleisha still followed.

She could have done any number of things to stop this, to subdue Rose and run back to Wade.

But she didn't.

"It's not far now," Rose said, moving more quickly. "Just down this side street."

Eleisha stopped.

Rose looked back at her. "You've come this far. We have to trust each other."

How could Eleisha explain what she was feeling? She'd led Wade to San Francisco, and before twenty-four hours passed, Rose had already proven she could not be trusted.

"No, we don't," she answered.

"He is only sleeping," Rose insisted. "Seamus will stay with him, and in a few hours he will wake."

"You could have just asked me to come."

"I couldn't. You'll understand soon."

What could be so important that she would go to these lengths to get Eleisha off alone? In truth, Eleisha wanted to know. She took a few steps forward.

"This way," Rose said, sounding relieved.

They walked down a nearly black side-street, and Eleisha realized the buildings around them were abandoned warehouses. If they'd been two mortal women walking here at night, anyone with half a brain would have considered them quite foolish.

"You've done well with your Wade," Rose said suddenly. "He's a rare one. So kind to my Seamus."

Your Wade.

Eleisha hardly thought of him as her own. Still, somehow, Rose's open sentiments made her feel a little more grounded-a little less shaken about following her instincts.

"But Philip," Rose went on, her voice taking on a harder tone. "I don't know how you ended up with the likes of him. I don't think I want to know."

In spite of her resentment over Rose's methods in getting her here, Eleisha realized they were completely alone and could speak freely-beyond their letters. She had no idea when this might happen again.

"I know he can be a handful," she said, "but we need him."

Rose stopped walking. "A handful? That's how you see Philip?"

Eleisha blinked and did not know how to answer. After the memory share last night, she had not expected Philip and Rose to keep regarding each other in this hostile fashion. But if they were all going to start building a community together, something would have to change.

Finally she said, "With the exception of occasional, and short, periods with Maggie or Julian, Philip spent over a hundred and eighty years alone… and he hates being alone more than anything. Have some pity, Rose."

"Pity?" She sounded incredulous. She seemed about to say more and then changed her mind, walking forward again. "In here," she said.

Eleisha followed, putting aside the Philip argument for now and feeling herself growing almost lost in wonder over whatever it was that Rose needed to show her.

"What is this about?" she asked, following Rose up a questionable-looking flight of stairs. "Where are we?"

"This used to be a warehouse for grain and rice, but it's been long abandoned. I'm surprised any of these buildings are still here. I'm certain that soon some developer will tear them all down and put up a Starbucks, a Gap, and a Pottery Barn. Soulless bastards."

Eleisha glanced up at the back of Rose's head, wondering how she'd feel about Eleisha's plan to sell her shares of Starbucks in order to purchase the church.

The warehouse was so dark inside, it was difficult to see at all. At the top of the stairs, they emerged into a cavernous room. Eleisha squinted, but she couldn't see all the way across to the back wall. The effect was unsettling. She felt exposed and in the open, and yet half-blind.

What was she supposed to see here?

Rose took a few steps into the vast, black room. "I don't think I felt any true hope until after you wrote back to me, and then suddenly… so many possibilities seemed real. That there might be others like us. That someone was willing to fight back. I know that I should have waited for you, I shouldn't have started on my own, but I couldn't help it."

Eleisha shook her head. "I don't understand."

Rose turned to face her. The white streaks in her hair glowed softly. "I started looking. I studied news reports, looking for anything that might give me a clue. And then… then I found recent stories about people in Moscow, Russia, being admitted to hospitals with unexplained blood losses. I sent Seamus to Russia."

Eleisha wavered, almost losing her balance, reaching back for the stair rail. Rose had been looking for other vampires on her own?

"You found… Wait," Eleisha stammered, "the stories were about living people admitted with unexplained blood loss?"

"Yes. The old ones, the ones who existed before us, they didn't kill to feed as we do. They didn't have to."

How could Rose possibly know that? Edward hadn't known, and Eleisha had been able to put some of the pieces together only in the past month.

"Who?" she demanded. "Who told you that?"

"I did." A clear masculine voice rang across the cavernous warehouse floor.

Philip climbed out of a taxi back on Jones Street, carrying a long wooden box. He had made one stop-one purchase-before coming back, but now he was feeling anxious to get up to the apartment to watch over Eleisha and Wade.

He didn't trust Rose, not even after reading her memories. Especially not after reading her memories.

She was nothing like Eleisha or Wade. They both felt things. They liked to please others. Rose did not care to please anyone besides herself. She was cold inside… not at all like Eleisha or Wade.

He walked quickly into the apartment building and took the stairs two at a time up to the second floor. Finding the door locked, he knocked.

No one answered.

He knocked again, louder. "Eleisha? It's me. Open the door."

Nothing.

Fear began swelling inside him, and he knocked a third time. Then he kicked the door open and looked around wildly, seeing Wade lying on a couch with his eyes closed-but still breathing. Philip saw no one else. He rushed over, dropping his wooden box and shaking Wade.

"Wake up! Where's Eleisha?"

Wade's eyelids fluttered briefly, and he murmured something unintelligible, but then his head lolled to the side. Using two fingers, Philip opened one of his eyelids.

Wade was unconscious.

The fear swelling inside Philip exploded into panic, and he looked around. Eleisha was gone, and he had no idea what Rose had done with her.

"Seamus! Where are you?" He strode through the apartment. "You tell me where they are or I swear I'll…"

What? What could he swear? Seamus was already dead.

Panic and indecision flowed through him. He didn't want to leave Wade lying there helpless with the front door broken, but he had to find Eleisha.

This was his fault. He never should have left them in the first place.

Striding back to the couch, he leaned down, jerked open the wooden box, lifted out a machete, and pulled it from its leather sheath. He wouldn't leave Wade for long, but he had to start looking for Eleisha.

He dropped the sheath on the rug. Not even bothering to hide the machete, he walked out the front door.

Eleisha stood frozen in the warehouse as a figure moved from the shadows of the back wall and out into view, and he kept coming closer. Her eyes had adjusted somewhat, and she just stood there, watching him. He was not quite six feet tall, with a solid bone structure and muscular chest. His head was almost shaved, with just a shadow of light brown hair, like a soldier. His face was lean, and his nose had a slight bump in the bridge as if it had once been broken. He wore jeans, boots, and a loose flannel shirt. His eyes struck Eleisha the most. They were almost clear, with a hint of blue.