This is the place. This is it! This is the place. You're here! She's here. She's here. She's here! She's-
"What do you think?" Jameson asked, staring through the barred gate at the mansion beyond.
Edge was crouching on the ground, holding his hands to the sides of his head, trying to silence the damned voice that had grown steadily louder and more powerful. "I think she must be here. Somewhere." He squeezed his eyes together. "Shut up, dammit!"
Miraculously the voice went silent.
Edge felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Jameson staring down at him, his brows etched into a worried frown. "It's getting worse, isn't it?"
Edge shrugged.
"I could feel the pain from ten feet away," Jameson said. "It's stopped now?"
"Yeah." Edge got slowly to his feet, massaging his temples. "First time it's responded to my shouting at it."
"I'm sorry, Edge. If I knew what the hell this was, how to stop it-"
"You wouldn't do a damn thing," Edge said. "Neither would I. It's the only thing we have to go on."
Jameson thinned his lips but acknowledged Edge's words with a sigh. "I suppose you're right." He looked around. "I don't see Rhiannon's car."
"No. Still... " Edge got to his feet, looked at the stone wall.
Jameson nodded. "Shall we?"
"Let's do it while my head's in between explosions."
The two vampires leaped easily over the wall, strode up the walk to the front door of the massive place, paused outside. "You going to knock?" Jameson asked.
Edge pursed his lips, gripped the knob, gave it an experimental twist. "Doesn't look like it's necessary. Door's open."
He met Jameson's eyes. Jameson gave a nod, and Edge opened the door. Then the two of them stepped inside, Edge looking right, Jameson left, before they both moved silently into a great hall that belonged in a castle.
"I don't feel her," Jameson said.
"Neither do I," Edge whispered. And he should, he thought. If he were this close to her, he should damn well be tingling all over with the sense of her being near him, the way he always did. God, he missed her, and it had only been a matter of hours. What was wrong with him?
That thought was chased away by another. A niggling sense that there was something terribly wrong here.
And then he did pick up someone's energy-but it wasn't Amber's. It was other people, women, many of them, all around him, hiding, watching, waiting.
It sent a shiver up his spine. He glanced at Jameson, saw that he felt it, too, and the two of them turned to slip right back out the door again.
But they never got there.
The women sprang, dozens of them. Blows rained down on Edge's head and body, driving him to the floor like a blade of grass in a hailstorm. The last thing he heard was the voice in his head, laughing like hell.
Alicia arrived at the small all-night diner twenty minutes ahead of schedule. Amber saw her cherry-red Corvette pull in from the window beside her booth, and forced herself not to spring up and sprint across the diner to meet her. It wouldn't do to create a scene, and besides, it would scare Alicia senseless.
Still, she rose from the booth as Alicia pushed open the glass entry door. Her friend spotted her, smiled broadly and hurried to wrap her in a hug. Amber's arms tightened around Alicia in return.
When they broke the embrace, Alicia's smile was gone and a searching look had replaced it. "Okay, give. What's wrong?"
"What makes you think anything's wrong?" Amber said, sliding into her seat at the table, averting her eyes.
"You hugged me hard enough to crack a rib, and you're shaking. And your eyes are big. And you're not looking at me." She frowned, glancing around the diner. "Where are Angel and Aunt Rhi?"
"They went out to get something to eat."
Alicia lifted her brows. "One of the locals piss them off?"
Amber smiled. "Nah, we passed a clinic ten miles out. We need them strong."
"Okay. So what's got you so off your game?"
"You mean besides the fact that someone I love is dying?"
"Yeah," Alicia said, matching her friend's sad but sarcastic tone precisely. "Besides that."
Amber lifted her head, met Alicia's eyes. "It's a long story, 'Leesh."
"Then talk fast."
Amber nodded. "It's got to do with that dream."
"The recurring one? The one where the vampire with the sexiest, most intense eyes you've ever seen gives you something that scares the hell out of you?''
Amber opened her mouth to object, but Alicia beat her to the punch, holding up a hand. "Hey, that was exactly the way you described it to me."
Amber sighed, lowering her head. "It's actually a pretty accurate description. He's real."
"You met him?" Alicia's eyes widened.
"Gave him a ride to Salem."
"Holy cow. You mean it was Edge?"
Amber frowned.
"Will and Sarafina told me about him. So? What happened? Did he give you anything?"
"You might say that, yeah."
Alicia tipped her head to one side, studying her. Amber met her friend's eyes, saying nothing. Then Alicia clapped a hand to her mouth. From behind it she muttered, "You slept with him."
Amber nodded. "Yeah. And now I'm pregnant."
Alicia frowned. "You're panicking, that's all. You can't be. You know male vamps can't-"
"This one can."
"But... are you sure?''
"I took a test when I was with Stiles, but I couldn't be sure he wasn't faking it for some sick reason. But he wasn't. My mother knew it as soon as she saw me. No test needed. It's for real, Alicia, and I'm scared."
"Does Edge know?"
"No, and I'm not sure I want him to. This is my issue. I don't need him involved."
"Well, he's kind of already involved, sis."
Amber made a face. Alicia smiled a little crookedly. "God, I'm going to be an aunt."
Shaking her head slowly, Amber reached across the table. "I had the dream again, 'Leesh. This time I could see what it was Edge was giving me."
"Was it a baby?''
Amber nodded. A tear surprised her by swelling and spilling over without warning. "Yeah, but... it was... it was... "
"What, honey? It was what?" Alicia slid out of her seat, coming around to Amber's side of the booth, sliding in beside her.
"It wasn't moving or... or breathing."
"No," Alicia whispered.
"I think it's going to be stillborn, 'Leesh. I think there's something terribly wrong with it, and it can't survive."
Alicia wrapped Amber in her arms, held her hard, stroking her hair. "No," she said again. "You're overwrought, you're scared to death, you're confused."
"My precog dreams are always on the money, Alicia. You know that."
"Yeah, well, I also know that male vampires are sterile. Apparently there really is a first time for everything, Amber. A first time for a male vampire to be fertile, and a first time for the Child of Promise to misinterpret a precognitive dream. It's not so far-fetched."
She sat back a little, pushing Amber's hair behind her ears gently. "And I know you. You're afraid to let yourself believe it might be all right. You think you're protecting yourself from being let down. You're being all strong and practical and tough, just like always. God, you're afraid to love a man so much you can't live without him-how much more scary must it be for you to let yourself get attached to your own baby?"
Amber licked her lips. "I suppose you're right."
"Honey, you're carrying a baby. And right now it's alive and well, isn't it?"
"It feels as if it is. My mother... she seems to think it is."
Alicia nodded slowly. "Well, you want my take on this?"
"I need it, 'Leesh. I barely held it together when I found out. I don't know which way is up right now."
Alicia nodded. "For a freaking borderline genius, you can be a real dope, you know that?" She drew a breath, sighed. "Listen, if this baby doesn't make it, you're going to be crushed right to bits. It isn't gonna matter one bit if you let yourself get your hopes up or not, or how practical or realistic you try to be. It'll destroy you. You know it, and I know it."
Amber leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. "So far, not being so helpful, pal."
"No, I'm being honest. It's not going to make any difference if you let yourself believe or not. It's gonna hurt just as much."
"Still not feeling cheered up."
Alicia ran a hand over Amber's hair. "The point is, it's not doing you any good to refuse to acknowledge this baby. It's not doing you any good to refuse to love it, or be happy about it, or excited, or any of those things. It's not doing you one bit of good, Amber. You'll be devastated anyway if you lose it. So what the hell is the point? Let yourself be happy about this. Let yourself be excited, and think of names and sing lullabies and pick out baby clothes. Let yourself be overjoyed. It's not doing you any good to go into mourning nine months early. There will be plenty of time for that later. Maybe. Because maybe there won't be any mourning to do at all. Deal with that when it gets here."
Amber opened her eyes, staring at her friend in wonder. "How did you get to be so smart?"
Alicia shrugged. "I hang out with a really brainy crowd," she said. She pressed a hand to Amber's belly. "Ohh, gosh, I could swear you're swelling up already. I wonder if it's a girl or a boy?"
She met Amber's eyes and smiled so hard Amber couldn't help but smile back. And it wasn't a fake smile. It was an outgrowth of the joy she'd been too afraid to allow herself to feel.
"What would I do without you, Alicia?''
"I don't know. You sure wouldn't have any fun, that's for sure." Then she blinked, and her eyes widened. "Does your father know about this?"
"No. If he did, Edge would be dead by now."
"Oh, hell. We're going to have our work cut out for us."
"You can say that again." Amber saw Rhiannon's Mercedes pull in. "Mom and Aunt Rhi are back."
"Oh, God, does Rhiannon know?" Alicia's eyes were even wider.
"Yes, she threatened to eat Edge's liver, and I told her she'd have to go through me to do it." Amber licked her lips. "I really hurt her feelings. She's still pretty mad at me."
"She'll get over it."
"'Leesh, neither Mom nor Aunt Rhi knows about the dream. I want to keep it that way."
"All right. I'll be really careful not to think about it without shielding."
"Thanks."
"So what's the deal with the cure for Will?"
Rhiannon blew the horn once. Amber got to her feet, grabbed her chocolate milk and headed for the door. "I'll explain on the way. Let's go."
Voices, whispering. Eyes, staring. Women, all of them, all around him.
Edge lifted his head, wincing at the pain that shot through it when he did. He pressed a hand to the most tender spot and blinked his vision into focus.
He was in the center of a very large concrete room. There was a white line painted on the floor, like the boundary line on a basketball court. It outlined a ten-foot square around him.
"What the hell?" He started to get to his feet.
"Don't step outside the line or you'll be destroyed," a woman's voice said.
Edge frowned, staring into the darkness, but the bright light glaring down on him and his little square prison from above made it impossible to focus on the darkness beyond.
He shielded his eyes, looking down, spotting Jameson lying on the floor near his feet. A rush of real concern rose up, catching him by surprise even as he knelt beside the other man, rolling him onto his back, smacking his cheeks.
"What did you use, some of Stiles's tranquilizer?" he asked, his voice flatly accusing them.
"We don't need it," a woman said. "Repeated blows to the head will render a vampire incapacitated just as effectively, but for a shorter period and with far fewer side effects."
"That's real considerate of you, bashing our heads in rather than using that nasty, relatively painless other method. I should probably be thanking you."
"You're welcome."
The woman, whoever she was, didn't seem to have any sense of humor. "So what is this place? And exactly what's going to happen if I step over the white line? Besides my draining you dry, I mean?"
"Sarah?" the woman said.
Another woman stepped forward, into the edge of the pool of light, right up to the white boundary line. She was tall, slender, dressed in a blazer and skirt, with her hair pinned up and a pair of plastic framed glasses perched on her nose. All business. She held a broomstick by its neck. "Watch," she told him.
He watched. She held the broom's business end over the white line, and in a flash, flames shot from both the ceiling and the floor, meeting in the middle. When she jerked the broom back, it was blazing. She lowered it to the floor, dipping it into a waiting pail of water. Smoke rose in ribbons, stinking up the place.
Edge was still swearing under his breath when the one called Sarah explained.
"The nozzles line the entire border, from both the ceiling and the floor. Any movement sets them off, and they go off too fast for even a vampire to beat them."
He lifted his brows.
"Yes," said the other woman. "We know what you are."
Edge swallowed hard. "So I take it you're the headmistress of this... Academy for Brutal Bad Girls, is that it?"
"I'm in charge, yes."
"Do you have a name?"
"Not that you need to know."
"Are you going to tell me what you're doing with us? Why you're holding us?"
She shook her head. "We're holding you because we don't yet know what sort of a threat you pose to us. What we'll do with you-well, we'll let you know as soon as we've made a decision on that."
She remained out of the light. It drove him mad that he couldn't see her face, the better to remember it and exact vengeance later.
"You won't be harmed. Just so long as you don't try to get out, you'll be fine."
"I'm afraid I have urgent business to attend to, headmistress."
"Yes, and I'd like to know what that urgent business might be," she countered. "Why did you come here? What are you looking for?"
He frowned, searching her mind. He found she'd made an effort to guard it, but she was no professional. He saw no hint of Amber or other vampiresses in her thoughts. She knew nothing about them. He wasn't about to tell her.
And then, just then, he became aware of that tingling sensation that heated his blood and tightened his loins. Alby was here. She was close. She hadn't been, but she was now.
"I came here out of curiosity," he told her. "I heard a group of beautiful women lived here, and I, being a red-blooded male, wanted to check it out."
"Or perhaps you thought to feast on us tonight," she said. "Or perhaps you heard other things about this place."
"That implies there are other things to hear. You're piquing my curiosity, headmistress."
"Melina, someone's at the gate," another woman said.
"Melina, hmm? That's a very-pretty name."
"You're wasting your time," she said. "Everyone, back to your duties, with the exception of those on guard duty. Guards, don't talk to them, don't engage them in any way. Keep your minds shielded. And if they give you any trouble, page me."
"Yes, ma'am," several voices said in unison.
"Good God," Jameson moaned, opening his eyes. "What the hell is going on? Where are we?"
The women were filing out of the room. Edge couldn't see them, but he could hear their steps, feel their retreat.
"I think we've landed in some sort of dominatrix boot camp," Edge said. "Could be fun, don't you think?"
"Stop fidgeting. They'll see you," Rhiannon whispered, as the three of them crouched in the bushes across from the lush, rolling lawns of the mansion.
"I can't see her!" Amber tried again to crane her neck so she could see beyond their shrubbery shelter, across the street, past the gate that had swung slowly open to admit Alicia after she'd spoken to someone through an intercom. Alicia stood now in front of the open door, pouring out the story she'd rehearsed to the woman who stood on the other side. The gate behind her closed with a finality that made Amber's heart trip over itself.
"She'll let us know if she needs help," Angelica said. "She's nearly as capable telepathically as you are."
It was an exaggeration, Amber thought. But her mother had a point, Alicia could send a mental shout for help if she needed to. Amber strained her ears to hear the conversation, but even her honed senses couldn't pick it up from this distance. She knew what Alicia was saying, though. That her car had broken down a mile away. That she'd been fleeing an abusive lover and feared he wasn't far behind her. They would let her use the phone to call her auto club. And it would take a few hours for the tow truck to be dispatched, so they would let her stay there, safe behind the stone walls, until it arrived.
Maybe.
From her crouched position, Amber could see the woman as she stepped out onto the stoop, looked around beyond Alicia and, finally, nodded and put a hand on Alicia's arm, guiding her inside. The door closed.
Amber sank to the ground. "Well, that's it," she said. "She's in."
Angelica nodded. "She'll be fine, Amber. She's smart."
"Smartest mortal I know," Rhiannon put in.
Amber nodded. The worry for her friend's safety, and the constant questioning in her mind as to whether she'd done the right thing by letting Alicia take this risk, were things she would rather not have clouding her mind, but she welcomed the distraction, all the same. Ever since they'd come back here from the diner, Amber had been getting niggling feelings, like tiny sparks being set off in her nerve centers. The sense of Edge, that instant feeling that came over her whenever she was near him-that feeling of being drawn inexorably closer to him, that irresistible tug of his invisible tractor beam, pulling her. But the prickles of awareness were brief and only lasted an instant. They did bring him to mind, though, and so much else with him.
She shook herself, reminded herself that Edge was far away from here, escorting Stiles to Eric's lab, along with Donovan and Dante and...
"Dad," she whispered. Her frown deepened.
Her mother clasped her shoulder. "You felt it, too, then?" she asked.
Rhiannon frowned at her. "Felt what?"
Amber gave her head a shake. "I just got the oddest feeling Dad was nearby. And Edge... "
"It's faded now," Angelica said. "But for a moment, I felt your father, as well. As if he were standing behind us." She closed her eyes for a moment, then shook her head when she opened them. "It's gone now, whatever it was."
"They probably called Salem to check on us," Amber said. "They probably found out we'd taken a detour and got worried. Maybe it was just their worry we sensed."
"Their attention and focus, rather than their actual presence?" Rhiannon asked. Then she shrugged. "It's possible, though I think you would know the difference."
"It was so fleeting." Angelica frowned, "And almost... muffled."
"Diluted was the word that came to me," Amber said.
Rhiannon sighed. "Don't let it distract you. We need to focus on the job at hand. We have no idea when Alicia will manage to slip away from them long enough to... " She stopped then, arching one brow and looking toward the house.
Amber and her mother followed her gaze to see the outdoor light flash off, then on again, off, then on again.
"That's three," Rhiannon said. She nodded hard. "She works fast, that one."
"The faster the better, as far as I'm concerned," Amber said. "I hate her being in there alone. Come on."
They skirted the stone fence, finding the spot that seemed least likely to be visible from within. Amber crouched low and sprang, pushing off with her feet, catching the top of the wall with her hands and using them to propel her the rest of the way over, swinging her legs to the side like a gymnast on a pummel horse. She let her knees bend low to absorb the impact of the landing, then remained crouched there, palms pressed to the cool grass as she looked up, her senses open wide.
Her mother and aunt hit the ground on either side of her.
"This place has a half dozen doors," Rhiannon whispered. "Which one?"
Amber peered through the darkness, looking for a signal. Then... "There," she said, pointing to a glass enclosed annex. "That sunroom or greenhouse or whatever it is, attached to the back of the house. See the door there?" She waited for the others to spot it, to notice Alicia's trademark pink sunglasses dangling by their beaded chain from the doorknob.
"Come on," Amber said.
Staying low, the three of them raced forward, moving fast and silently. The glass structure sloped downward, its ceiling and walls entirely made of glass panels supported by a green metal frame. The door was glass, as well. Amber felt utterly exposed as she opened the door, sensing beyond it and snatching Alicia's sunglasses from the knob before stepping through.
The first thing that hit her was the humidity. It was steamy and moist, incredibly warm. And yet the glass was barely steamed up. Everywhere she looked, there were exotic plants, vines dangling from above, trees and ferns all around. Here and there, she spotted wicker tables, chairs, benches. A fountain bubbled and splashed in the center, and in one corner, a hot tub was the source of the steam. It looked as if it were made of stone, though the inside was clearly smooth and man-made.
Alicia lounged within it in a borrowed bathing suit. A dewy glass sat close to her hand.
"Workin' hard, 'Leesh?"
Her head came up fast, eyes popping open. She looked around, spotting them, then shooting a quick glance toward the double doors on the opposite side-doors that must lead into the main part of the house. "Shh. Lock the door behind you."
"Already did," Amber said. She tossed the sunglasses to her friend. "Good thinking."
"What did you expect?" She caught the glasses and draped the beads around her neck. The women moved closer, keeping an eye on the doors. "I haven't figured out what sort of sorority this is yet, but they seem genuinely nice."
"Sure are hospitable." Rhiannon splashed a hand in the water. "Putting you right in the hot tub out here."
"I got the feeling they'd be going through my clothes and purse while I was distracted. Little do they know I'm the one trying to distract them."
"Is there anything in there that will give you away?" Amber asked, alarmed.
"What difference does it make? You're in." She rose from the water, reaching for a terry robe that was slung nearby, pulling it on. "Through that door is a hallway. Kitchens are off to the right, pantry to the left. After that, there are libraries-I counted three-and offices on the east side of the house. The west side has a formal dining room, a sitting room, and a living room. The entire front is foyer. That's where the stairs to the second floor are, but I'm sure I spotted a second set off the pantry, right next to another set that goes down below."
"You are good," Rhiannon said.
"What did you think I'd been doing, soaking in a hot tub sipping fruit punch the whole time?''
Amber said, "I'll go below. Mom, you take the ground floor and offices, and Rhiannon can go upstairs and check the bedrooms. See if you can find out what kind of place this is, what these women are up to. But remember, the main objective is the serum. It's probably in some kind of vials or syringes, and most likely refrigerated. If it's labeled at all, it will say something like 'Ambrosia-Six.'" Rhiannon's brows went up in question. "That's what Stiles calls it."
"Clever."
"What about me?" Alicia asked. "What should I do?"
"You need to keep playing the role you've been playing, 'Leesh. Keep them from getting suspicious while we creep through this place."
She sighed but nodded. "Fine, then. If you insist." She shucked the robe and stepped back into the water. "Just don't forget me when you take off, or I might decide to stay." She sent Amber a wink, which for some reason brought a shiver of something else along with it.
Footsteps approached, and Amber, Angelica and Rhiannon ducked behind a nearby bush, melding into the greenery as the door opened and a woman came through. Green silk lounge suit, fiat shoes, short blond hair that was ultraneat. She exuded class and a sort of easy grace as she crossed to the hot tub and sank into a wicker chair nearby.
"How are you feeling? Calmer now?"
Alicia nodded. "This place just oozes calm, Melina. I don't know how to thank you," she said. "Has the auto club called back?"
"No, not yet. But you're more than welcome to stay until they do. They said no more than two hours, didn't they?"
Alicia nodded. "But I'm taking advantage of your hospitality." She got up, again reaching for the robe and pulling it on.
"You're no trouble at all."
"So what is this place, exactly?" Alicia asked. "I'm guessing it's not a spa, since there's just the one hot tub."
The woman called Melina smiled. "It's just... where we live."
"How many?" Alicia had slid her feet into slippers now. They were pink terry cloth and matched the robe.
"Twelve, at the moment."
"All women?"
"Mmm-hmm." She slid an arm through Alicia's and walked her toward the double doors.
"And you just threw in together, bought this place? I don't get it. Are you like a commune?"
"More like a sisterhood. We... share the same interests."
"What kind of interests?"
The woman smiled gently, leading Alicia through the double doors. "Mary made some of her famous turtle cheesecake for our nightly snack-and-coffee break in the sitting room. You have to try some."
"Cheesecake? Oh, honey, you don't have to try too hard to talk me into that."
They both laughed softly as they walked together back into the house.
Amber crept out of her foliate cover. "I don't like this."
"She obviously doesn't intend to tell Alicia what this place is really about," Angelica said.
"I couldn't read her,'' Amber put in. "She knows how to shield. Ordinary mortals don't."
Rhiannon lifted her brows. "There's something a little more ominous than that going on," she said softly. "I have the distinct feeling there are other vampires in this house."