Colt turned her back for a second, and when she turned around, she almost dropped her water bottle, physically taking a step back as her brain took in what she saw.

Adeline cradled Dana in her arms, almost as if holding a child. The coroner's mouth clamped to her neck, right over the carotid artery, and those small slurping noises left no doubt about what she saw.

Her body reacted instantly and instinctively. Bile rose in her throat, and her stomach revolted as she stumbled backward. This was so wrong, unholy, and unnatural in a way her mind refused to accept. She reached for the small cross around her neck without even realizing it.

Something alerted Adeline to her distress, and her eyes popped open. Their gazes met across the distance, and the woman looked so content. No pain registered in her eyes or fear, and she looked almost drugged. A small indulgent smile curled her lips, and that touch of mocking challenge stilled Colt's feet.

This is why Adeline had looked at her like that when they met. Somehow, the other woman had guessed she wasn't prepared for the reality of vampires.

She had watched the movies and read the books, but this was too much. Her heart hammered as if she had wandered into a room filled with hungry lions, and sweat broke out all over her skin. Her fight-or-flight instinct went nuts, and she struggled to breathe normally.

"Go get some fresh air before you pass out," Elissa mocked, and Colt had trouble tearing her eyes away from Adeline.

She turned her head and focused on the vampire. This time, she expected the mockery and yet not the pity, and it occurred to her that they could probably hear her heart thundering and smell her fear.

"Elissa," Gillian chided quietly, and Elissa stared her down. "She did not ask for this."

Elissa did not back down.

"No one asks for this, little sister. Either she can handle it, or she can't."

With the clarity of a lightning bolt from clear skies, Colt realized this was a test she was failing.

Their eyes were on her, and Colt didn't have to look at them to understand they were not threatening her. They sympathized with her as if she were a child who finally figured out there is no Santa Claus or the tooth fairy, just monsters and men.

***

Adeline tapped Dana against the shoulder once, and the vampire slowed herself before letting go and licking the blood away. The wound disappeared, leaving no mark.

So much for movie wisdom.

Adeline helped Dana to sit upright before dusting off her clothes, taking her compact and a wet wipe from her purse to wipe the blood from her neck. She removed the little square of white linen that kept her tan suit free of blood, removed a water bottle from her purse, and sipped it.

Her casual manner shouted only one thing—this was Adeline's purpose among these vampires. She allowed them to drink her blood, and they paid her for her services, just like a maid or a prostitute.

"Let's get miss Dana out of here, mistress. This chill is not good for old bones," Adeline joked, and Elissa shifted her attention from Colt, which was probably the intention.

"Old bones?" Elissa teased, and Adeline kept her expression mockingly neutral.

"You may not have aged, Elissa Drake, but this human did. Come now."

This time she was just a little more assertive, and another realization hit Colt—Adeline was forty-something, close to fifty. Yet the kinship she sensed between Elissa and Adeline wasn't that of an older woman to a much younger one.

She glanced from one to the other.

Something told her Adeline's words meant what they said; Elissa hadn't aged. They were childhood friends—the slightly older girl that played nanny to a younger one, which meant they were nearly the same age.

Her gaze wandered to Gillian. She looked nineteen, but her file said she was twenty-seven. Was it the truth?

"Come old one, time to get you out of here," Gillian would have picked Dana up from the floor, but the coroner shook her head.

Colt stepped up to the mark, and between the two of them, they helped Dana down the corridors and outside to the van as she hopped along on one leg.

***

Dana sucked in deep breaths of clean air. She thought she would never smell the morning breeze again or see the sun rising over the horizon, and it would be an unavoidable certainty if it were not for Elissa and Gillian.

"Thank you for finding me," she said, and they glanced at her.

"It was all your doing," Elissa said.

"You are amazing. I don't know if I would have had the wherewithal to keep my head like that," Gillian admitted.

"Bullshit, Princess. You really have to stop underestimating yourself," Dana said, far past observing propriety.

"She'll live," Elissa declared, and her mistress was right; she would live. She didn't want to glance at the stumps where her hand and lower leg once were, and a fire raged in her heart.

Only once had she savored the bitter taste of hatred, but it paled to what filled her. Even if she recovered just enough to dedicate the rest of her life to finding this bastard and killing him, it would be enough.

They got into the van and headed to the apartment, each jolt still hurting, but she silently persevered. Once they reached their destination, another van awaited them. She recognized it as Elissa got out and greeted the men, speaking to them quietly, and they helped Dana into the back, rigged to look like an ambulance.

"Will you be okay, old friend?" Elissa asked, and she nodded out of habit, even though they both knew she was lying.

"Get him," she hissed, her mask slipping for a moment, and Elissa nodded.

"We won't rest until he has paid for what he did to you," she promised.

"Actually, take a nap; you look like I feel. Take a few days off. Recover. Then hunt the bastard down."

"What if he strikes while the iron is hot?" Elissa asked, starting to shut the doors.

"A dull blade cuts your fingers, not the meat. This has been a hard road, Princess, and you both sacrificed your blood for me. You're too weak to meet him head-to-head. A wise lion waits in the long grass for the pride to drive the herd toward him; he does not run after them. We've been chasing after this bastard for too long; it's time to change strategies."

Elissa nodded and closed the doors.

***

Colt watched the van drive off, darkness dancing at the edge of her vision after only an hour of sleep. She would have walked directly to the police van, but Adeline's voice stopped her.

"Detective, forgive my mistress'. They sometimes forget that we humans are not impervious. You are too tired to go home. Come up, and I'll make you a cup of coffee.

"You can take a nap in one of the guest apartments," Adeline's fondness when she spoke of her mistress spoke volumes, but her tone brooked no argument, and Colt hesitated.

She wanted to decline but struggled to keep her eyes open; at the same time, she needed distance from them.

Blurry, spacey thoughts rushed through her head and she could barely hang onto them. It convinced her that her sensitivities were less important now—she desperately needed to sleep.

She followed them up to the apartment, and in the elevator, her knees almost buckled when it started up. After having burned the candle at both ends, she was paying the price.

She barely made it to the couch and only meant to close her eyes for a second, but she fell into a deep sleep before the coffee arrived.

***

Adeline watched Gillian pick the detective up like a child.

"She's going to be pissed that you did that," Adeline warned as she watched her carry Colt toward the guest room. For a second, the devil-may-care teenager Adeline only saw from a distance peaked out.

"Tough shit, we still have work to do," Gillian said with a laugh, but none of it really touched the dark, hidden pain in her eyes.