Bats can’t fly out of here if there aren’t any in here, now, can they?Shewas sweetly reasonable. Trust me, little red hair, it is only a short distance farther.

You aren’t going to make me sleep in the ground, are you? Because I won’t do it, not even if there are ten vampires stalking us.

Vampires cannot stand even the dawn, Shea. Killing his prey does something to the blood. The sun would fry him immediately. He might betray us to the human servants he is in league with if he marked the entrance to this cave. Or they might be watching for just such a sign as bats flying unexpectedly into the early sun.

You’re telling me thereare bats in here.

He tugged at her wrist. Stop being such a baby. I can control the bats, and they will serve to warn us of any danger.

Shea made a face but followed him. With every moment Jacques’ abilities, his knowledge and power, seemed to be growing. He was confident almost to the point of arrogance. Sometimes it grated and made her want to throw something at him, but she was proud of his growing strength.

The passage began to widen and slowly move downward, as if they were going into the very bowels of the earth. Shea could feel sweat beading on her body and her lungs laboring. She concentrated on breathing, the only thing that would keep her sane.

Jacques realized she was trembling, her fingers twisting nervously in his. His mind pushed through her natural barrier and found her uneasiness, her ridiculous fear of bats and closed-in places. She was uneasy with the Carpathian ability to shape-shift. Even his thinness, as he moved through the cave, made her uncomfortable. Used to being in control of every situation, she was finding it hard to follow his lead so blindly.

I am sorry, little one. I am introducing you to things that seem so perfectly natural to me yet must be confusing and frightening to you.Hisvoice was a soft caress, sending warmth curling through her body.

Just his voice could give her strength. She straightened her shoulders and followed him. There’s a bed in here somewhere, right?She tried to inject some humor into the moment.

The passageway widened enough to allow Jacques to resume his true form. He immediately did so, hoping to alleviate Shea’s distress. He also sought a comfortable topic for conversation. “What do you think of Raven?”

“I thought we had to be quiet.” Shea was looking in every direction for bats.

“The bats know we are here, Shea, but there is no need to fear them. I will keep them away from you.”

He spoke calmly as if it was an everyday occurrence to control the movements of bats. His fingers curled around the nape of her neck as much in reassurance as to prevent her from fleeing. His thumb caressed her satin skin, found her pounding pulse, and stroked gently, soothingly.

“Raven seems very nice, even if she’s married to another wild man like you.” She probably has lousy taste, just like me.She tacked the thought on deliberately.

“What does that mean?” He tried to sound indignant, to keep her talking, to help her sustain her sense of humor. Jacques appreciated her courage and her unfailing determination to keep up her end, no matter how difficult it was on her.

“It means she can’t have much sense. That man is dangerous, Jacques, even if he is your brother. And the healer is positively scary.”

“Did you think so?”

“Didn’t you? He smiled and talked so gently and calmly, but did you ever look into his eyes? It’s evident he feels no emotion whatsoever.”

“He is one of the ancient ones. Gregori is the most feared of all Carpathians.”

“Why is that?” Because Gregori was far too powerful, his voice alone able to make strong men, Carpathian males, do his bidding?

“He is the most knowledgeable in all the ancient and modern arts. He is the most lethal and the most relentless. He is the hunter of all vampires.”

“And he’s ancient enough and solitary enough to turn at any moment, right? Makes me feel really secure. And you forced me to drink his blood. That is going to take a long time to forgive.” She stumbled, not realizing how tired she was.

A scream echoed up through the very soil, through the earth’s crust. More felt than actually heard, it struck terror, a frozen, helpless grasp on nerve endings. The sound vibrated through their bodies, through their minds, and passed back into the earth itself. The rocks picked up the scream and echoed it back and forth.

Jacques went very still, only his icy black eyes moving restlessly. Shea clutched at him, horrified. That sound was of a creature in terrible need, in tremendous pain and suffering. Without conscious thought she sought outside herself, feeling for the source, trying to fix on the location.

“The betrayer,” Jacques said in a venomous voice, a low sound of hatred and promised retaliation. “He has another victim in his hands.”

“How? You are all so powerful, how can he trap any of your kind?” Shea tugged at his arm to bring his attention back to her. He seemed a stranger in that moment, a predator every bit as lethal as the wolf, as the vampire.

Jacques blinked rapidly, searched his mind for the answer. He had been trapped by a betrayer, hadn’t he? How that had happened was locked somewhere in his damaged mind. Until he could find and repair the fragments, all of his kind were in danger.

Shea rubbed her hand down his arm. “This is not your fault. You didn’t cause this to happen, Jacques.”

“Did you recognize the voice?” His tone was completely devoid of expression.

“It sounded like an animal to me.”

“It was Byron.”

Shea felt as if he had knocked the breath from her body. “You can’t be certain.”

“It was Byron.” He said it with absolute conviction. “He came to me to ask for friendship, and I refused him. Now the betrayer will turn him over to the human assassins.”

“Why doesn’t the vampire keep him for himself?” She was struggling to understand, her mind already formulating plans. She could not leave Byron or anyone else in the hands of butchers, murderers. She had lost a brother she never knew to these madmen. She had nearly lost Jacques. “If he hates all of you enough to want you tortured and killed, why doesn’t he just do it himself?”

“The vampire must seek the earth before the sun rises. Unlike us, he cannot take even early sunlight. Dawn would bring his destruction. It limits his reach.”

“So he was in the woods watching us, just as I feared, and must have followed Byron and somehow trapped him. And he has to turn Byron over to the humans before dawn. The humans must be close.”

“Gregori said the very soil groaned under their boots.”

“So this betrayer cannot help the humans as long as the sun is up.”

“Absolutely not.” He said it with conviction.

“But the dawn does not have such an effect on us. We can stand it, Jacques. If we move now, we can find them. All we have to do is get Byron back and hide him until around five or six this evening when we are strong again. We can do it, I know we can. There are only so many places he could be. We can stand the early-morning sun, and no one will be expecting us. The humans who have him can’t come into this cave; they can’t go into the earth. They have to have shelter somewhere. You know this area, and if you don’t, the others do. Let’s get Byron back. The vampire might get so angry he’ll quit hiding, make a mistake, and the others can get him.” She was tugging at his arm, trying to drag him back toward the entrance to the cave.

“I will not expose you to these men.”

“Give it a rest, Jacques. I mean it. We’re in this thing together. I hate to brag and put you at an obvious disadvantage, but I can take more of the sun than you.”

His hand caressed the nape of her neck. “That doesn’t mean I will allow you to be exposed to danger.”