“I am,” Gregori said softly, his hand suddenly on Gary’s shoulder. It was the first time Gary could remember the Carpathian voluntarily touching him out of camaraderie. “Gary is saying all these things, chérie,yet he intended to go up against a man brandishing a knife with only his lab jacket for protection.”

Gary blushed a fiery red. “You know why I was in the lab,” he reminded Gregori, ashamed. “I made a tranquilizer that works on your blood, and they turned it into a poison of some kind. We’ve got to do something about that. If something goes wrong tonight, and they get me, all my notes on the formula are in my laptop, too.”

“This is beginning more and more to sound like a bad movie.” Gregori sighed. “Come on, you two amateurs.” He was impassive on the outside, but he couldn’t help laughing on the inside. “Do not worry about the formula. I allowed one of the members to inject me with it, so we know its components and are working on an antidote now.”

“It didn’t work?” Gary was appalled. He had spent a tremendous amount of time on that formula. Although Morrison and his crew had perverted it, he was still disappointed.

“You cannot have it both ways, Gary.” Exasperated, Gregori gave him a little shove toward the entrance to the hotel. “You should not wantthe damn thing to work.”

“Hey, my reputation is on the line.”

“So was mine. I neutralized the poison.” Gregori nudged him again. “Get moving.”

Gary concentrated on remembering the code to the door of the small hotel, which was locked when no desk clerk was about. When the lock slid open, he turned around to grin in triumph, but the two Carpathians were gone, dissolved into thin air. He stood a moment, his heart beating fast, half in and half out of the entryway, hoping he hadn’t been deserted. Rambo.The name swirled in his head like a talisman. Determined, he marched down the hall to his room and inserted the key into the lock.

As Gary pushed open the door, he felt a reassuring brush of something cold along his skin. It had to be Gregori pushing past so that his body was protecting the mortal’s—at least, Gary hoped that was what it was. In any case, it gave him added courage.

Two men whirled to face him. The room was a mess. Drawers upended, his clothes scattered, even his books shredded. Gary stopped just inside the doorway. One of the men produced a gun. “Come on in. Shut the door,” he ordered tersely.

After facing Gregori, no one could look menacing. Gary found he wasn’t nearly as afraid as he would normally have been. He closed the door carefully and faced the two strangers. They exchanged a quick look between them, clearly uneasy that Gary wasn’t visibly upset. They had been led to believe this would be an easy job.

“Are you Gary Jansen?” the one with the gun asked.

“This is my room. Perhaps you should introduce yourselves.” Gary glanced around at the mess. “Are you thieves, or were you looking for something in particular?”

“We’re here to ask the questions. You called Morrison’s private number, said something was going on at the warehouse. When we got there, the place was going up in flames, and two of our people were dead. A vampiress was gone, taken to the hospital.”

“Then you realize she was not really a vampiress. She was one of those poor kids who come out at night and play vampire because they like gothic stuff. It’s just a game to these kids. An attention-getter. It isn’t the real thing. You should know the difference between a kid playing games and the real thing,” Gary scolded.

“Do you know the difference?” the one with the gun asked, sudden insight making him suspicious.

Gary looked around and lowered his voice in a conspirator’s whisper. “Tell me who you are first.”

“I’m Evans, Derek Evans. I know you’ve heard of me. I work for Morrison. And this is Dan Martin. He’s the one you talked to on the phone the other day.”

“You should have listened to me,” Gary reprimanded Martin. He pushed a hand through his hair and sank into a chair. “That girl was no vampire, and those two idiots had gone crazy. They weren’t serious about finding the real thing. They wouldn’t know the real thing if it bit them in the neck.”

“But you would, wouldn’t you,” Martin said. “You’ve seen one.” In spite of himself, there was awe in his voice.

“I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen,” Gary said, shaking his head. “I told you to bring Morrison down to the warehouse. Where is he?”

“He sent us to find you, Gary. He thought you had betrayed us.” Evans lowered the gun. “What happened in that warehouse?”

“Before I tell you, I have to know whether Morrison and the society sanctioned killing that poor girl,” Gary said, keeping his tone very low.

Martin risked a quick look at Evans. “Of course not, Gary. Morrison would never want an innocent hurt.”

“And what of my formula? I developed a tranquilizer to aid our society members so that we could subdue a vampire, capture him, and study him, not cut one up into pieces. When I was approached about this, I was told that was the society’s ultimate objective. But my formula was tainted with poison. Morrison must have ordered it.”

“Morrison is the vampire expert. He realized the tranquilizer would never hold anything that strong,” Martin supplied quickly.

“It wasn’t just any poison,” Gary bit out. “It was designed to be painful. Morrison wants to kill the vampires, not study them. The poison is fast-acting, extremely virulent, and agonizing.”

“He wants to talk to you. Come with us, Gary. Let him explain all this to you.” Martin added, “He sent us here to protect you. He was very worried after what happened in that warehouse.”

“Is that why you trashed my room?” Gary asked.

“You didn’t come home last night. We waited all day before we decided to look for clues to your disappearance,” Evans said reasonably.

“And the gun?” Gary pushed.

“We were worried for our own safety. Morrison thinks maybe a real vampire went to the warehouse. He was afraid maybe the vampire turned you, that’s why you weren’t around during the day. We couldn’t take any chances.”

“Have you ever seen Morrison during the day?” Gary asked suddenly.

There was a shocked silence. “Well, sure, yeah,” Evans stuttered, frowning, trying to remember. Shards of glass seemed to pierce his skull. He rubbed at his pounding temples. “You have, haven’t you, Martin?”

Martin snarled, his face twisted and evil. “Of course. All the time. So have you, Evans. You remember.”

He is lying,Gregori said softly in Savannah’s head. He is a servant of the master vampire. He intends to bring Gary somewhere out in the bayou.

Can you stop him without bringing the police down on Gary?

We must pursue Morrison. He is the one behind the hunt for the proof of the existence of our people. He is using the society in an attempt to destroy our race. We can do no other than stop him.Gregori laid a hand gently on Gary’s shoulder and was pleased when the mortal didn’t give himself away by jumping. Go with them. Allow them to lead us to the one who rules them.

It was a little disconcerting to have Gregori’s voice swirling imperiously around in his head, but Gary nodded slowly. “I didn’t think Morrison would have anything to do with those idiots at the warehouse. That’s why I called him. I thought maybe he could control the situation. Sure, let’s go see him. I’ve got some wild tales to tell. Hell, no one’s going to believe what I saw.” With studied, casual grace, Gary reached into the mess of papers on the floor and snagged his laptop. Between the two men, he marched confidently out of his room, down the hall, and out into the night.

What are you going to do?Savannah was anxious on Gary’s behalf. He had to live in the human world. That meant no suspicion could fall on him if the two men in his company were found dead.