“Right,” I told Kelso a half hour later, consulting a map of France on my phone. “Savian says driving there is too far, even though it looks close on the map, so driving to the town where Ellis is being a vampire is out of the question. We’ll have to take the train. Luckily, we can catch one in half an hour. Done pottying?”

Kelso wandered over from where he had been watering a shrub, and snuffled my shoe. I took that as an assent, and went inside to order a taxi to the station. A short while later, we were seated, the countryside slipping past us in a hypnotizing blur.

From: Merrick

What are you doing?

To: Merrick

Right now? Sitting on a train looking out of a window, and trying to ignore the woman across the aisle who is glaring at Kelso sitting on the seat next to me.

From: Merrick

Where are you taking a train to?

To: Merrick

St. Gennevier. It’s the town that Carlo had a rental house. Ellis is there. Didn’t Savian text you? He said he would.

From: Merrick

No. What is he texting about? Why aren’t you at the hotel?

To: Merrick

Ellis called me. He’s fine, so I told Savian to stop looking, and to cancel the other guy. I’m so relieved that Ellis is OK. Which ... uh ... reminds me that there’s something I need to tell you.

From: Merrick

Are you insane? You can’t go there by yourself! Get off at the next station, and go back to Nice. I’ll return as soon as your cousin lands in Rome and we capture him.

From: Merrick

You’re making a face, aren’t you?

To: Merrick

Yes.

From: Merrick

I knew it. I would apologize for sounding domineering, but you know as well as I do just how dangerous Carlo is. You can’t go to his house alone.

To: Merrick

I’m not alone.

From: Merrick

The dog doesn’t count.

To: Merrick

Now you’re being an ass, and I don’t want to talk to you anymore. And before you text me again demanding that I stop doing what I’m doing, which you know full well annoys and irritates me, just remember that my cousin, if he is Victor, is on a plane heading straight for you.

From: Merrick

We don’t know who he left behind.

To: Merrick

We’ll know soon enough. And you might want to brace yourself for some news about Ellis. He called and in between telling me about this man he met, and a wet T-shirt contest he was going to judge ... well ... never mind. I’ll tell you in person.

Merrick didn’t answer after that, and I spent the next couple of hours alternating between wondering what was happening in Rome, and considering whether Ellis was in his right mind.

The town of St. Gennevier was small, barely worth stopping at, or so I thought as I surveyed one main street, and a few scattered houses that seemed to crawl up one side of a mountain. Green terraced fields indicated grapes were a primary form of agriculture, but other than that, and a very ruined castle on the top of a big hill, there wasn’t much to see.

Luckily, I had managed to get the name of the house out of Ellis before he hung up, so I stuffed Kelso and myself into a tiny little taxi, and we headed out to see what was going on.

“This isn’t very much like a villa that has a dungeon, is it?” I asked Kelso when we were deposited at the entrance to what looked like a modest rambler set against a sheer rock face that led upward to several terraced fields. To one side stood a small shed, outside of which were a couple of goats, who stared at me with bored eyes.

The house didn’t even have a fence to keep people out. I glanced around, didn’t see anyone other than the goats, and, with a mental shrug, went up to the door and knocked. “Stay with me, though, just in case something bad is going down that we don’t know about,” I told Kelso. We waited for a couple of minutes, then knocked again. Faintly, a woman’s voice could be heard approaching, and after what seemed like another two or three minutes, the door opened to reveal a short white-haired wizened woman.

“Oui?” she asked in a husky voice, then proceeded to fall into a coughing fit. She wobbled and weaved like she was going to fall down, so I hustled forward and, taking her by the arms, got her onto a wooden bench just inside the door.

“Are you OK? Man, that’s a dickens of a cough. Can I get you something? A glass of water, maybe?”

The woman hacked up a few more times, then waved one gnarled hand at me, and said in heavily accented English, “You are American?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I have met Americans before,” she said, pausing to cough a little more. “The Americans liberated our town. They were very nice, very pleasant.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Are you sure about the water? Is there someone I can call for you?”

“Non, non, I am well. It is my lungs, they do not march, you know?”

“Uh ... sure.” I glanced around the inside of the house, but like the outside, it was perfectly innocuous, with open doors showing what must be a sitting room, where a TV burbled loud commercials, while farther down, the hall opened into a big country kitchen. “How about some water?”

She shook her head, and gave me a curious look. “Guy, my grandson, will be here soon for supper. Who are you?”

“Sorry, we didn’t get to introductions, did we? I’m Tempest, and this is my dog, Kelso. Er ... what’s your name?”

“Belloir.” She got to her feet, her knees popping loudly as she did so. She barely came up to my shoulder, so must have been under five feet tall.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. You wouldn’t happen to know of another American who is supposed to be here, would you? His name is Ellis.”

“Another American? From the liberation?”

“No, no, one like me, only male. He said he was at Villa Pinoir.”

“This is Villa Pinoir,” she said, nodding, and, grasping my wrist to brace herself, shuffled into the room with the loud TV. “There is no one here but me. Not until Guy comes home.”

“Oh.” My shoulders sagged a little when she released me to plop down in a padded rocking chair. “Either I got the name wrong, or he did—”

“There are the Dark Ones, of course, but they are below,” she said, gesturing with a tissue toward the floor. “In the wine cellar. They were not here during the war.”

I gawked at her for the count of ten before I managed to get my wits gathered up again. “You have vampires in your wine cellar?”

“Oui. Monsieur Carlo, he arranged for them to stay there.” She clutched a remote control, and changed the channel. “Ah, it is time for my shows. Close the door behind you when you leave. Guy tells me never to leave the door open in case the Dark Ones try to escape.”

My head was spinning a bit at the matter-of-fact way she was speaking about vampires. “Would you mind if I made a quick visit to the wine cellar? My friend might be down there.”

“It matters not to me,” she said, her gaze glued to the TV, which was displaying some sort of game show with scantily clad men and women. “The key is next to the door. Don’t let them out. Guy would not like that.”

“I will do everything in my power to keep Guy as happy as a clam,” I said, feeling the full weight of the surreal situation. I found the key next to a wooden door that opened into the kitchen. There were three chain locks on the door, all of which I unhooked before using the key, and opening the door just a smidgen.

I don’t know what I was expecting—maybe a group of vampires clustered on the other side of the door just waiting to knock me down in their haste to get out of their prison—but there was on no one on the stairs.

A deep pulsing beat of music could be heard, however.

I looked down the wooden stairs, dimly lit by a naked bulb dangling overhead, and back to the kitchen.

“There is no way I’m going to go down there when the door can be locked against me,” I told Kelso, and, after a moment’s thought, took one of the kitchen table chairs and wedged it under the doorknob.

“There. Now no one can trap us. I’m so glad I watched all those horror movies last month, or I wouldn’t have thought of the door. You ready, boy?” Kelso, who had been watching me with interest, wagged his tail. “That’s as good a yes as I’m going to get. Onward, my brave one!”

We descended into the near darkness, an odd thumping noise seeming to come up from the ground. I really wished I could reach Merrick by mind-radio, but he hadn’t answered when I tried earlier. The noise was creepy enough it gave me goose bumps.

“It’s like it’s a heartbeat,” I whispered to Kelso, glancing around once we arrived in the cellar. There was not a lot to be seen, certainly not a wet T-shirt contest full of partying vampires. A few wooden crates lined one wall, while the other bore a massive black iron coal furnace, a hot water heater, and a fuse box.

The heartbeat continued to throb. “Just like we’re at the heart of the house. OK, now I’m freaking myself ... what are you doing? Leave it, whatever it is. Kelso!”

With one eye on the still-open door at the top of the stairs, I shuffled over to where Kelso was pawing and snuffling something on the ground. The dim light just barely revealed a metal ring set into the stone.

“Clever dog,” I praised, patting Kelso on the head before curling my fingers around the ring. “Let’s pray that Ellis is under here, and not some horrible disembodied heart beating away.”

I was expecting to have to fight the trapdoor, but it swung upward without too much effort. I staggered back regardless, not due to the effort, but from the blast of pounding music that exploded upward.

I peered down into the hole to see a dirt floor, colored lights flashing around in a simulation of a rockin’ nightclub, and six men spraying one another with bottles of what looked like champagne. “Ellis?” I shouted over the pulsing techno music. “Ellis, are you there?”

“Darling!” One of the men in the back pushed forward, dancing an intricate step until he was directly under the trapdoor. “You rescued us! How thoughtful. Everyone, this is Tempest, one of my oldest friends, and vamp hag.”

“Hey!” I said, fluffing up my hair. “I might be a little disheveled, but ‘hag’ is a bit harsh—”

“Sorry, love, it’s just a term the boys tell me is all the rage. Can you grab the rope ladder? I haven’t yet learned how to master the art of turning into a bat.”

“Dark Ones don’t turn into bats,” I scoffed, and retrieved a bit of rope that poked out behind the water heater. It turned out to be a somewhat motley rope and wood ladder. “At least I don’t think they do. What are you guys doing down there?”

It took a good five minutes before I got the answer, because first everyone climbed up, but then one man realized he’d left his phone below, then another wanted to grab some of the champagne just in case they got thirsty, and finally, Ellis had to go back to retrieve his shirt, which he said he’d taken off in order to keep it from getting stained.

It was then that I realized I’d met one of the vampires before.

“Spiky Pink!” I said, astonished when the vampire turned out to be the one who had dropped off Merrick.

He wrinkled his nose at me. “Eh? Do you have a problem with my hair?”

“Not at all. I know you!”

“I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure—”

“You don’t remember me? I saw you when you left Merrick off at C. J. Dante’s castle.”

For a moment, the man looked terrified. “Shite! That was you?”

“Yes, but don’t worry, I’m not going to tell your boss that you were merciful instead of killing Merrick. Far from it, I’m very grateful you did so.”

He looked faintly embarrassed. “I just didn’t like to kill one of my own, you know? And Giovanni would have done so had he not been called back to Carlo. As it is, I had to lie and tell them he overpowered me when they found out he was still alive. It was a close thing for a few minutes, let me tell you. I’m sorry, I’m babbling, aren’t I? It’s just that Ellis says you’re a good un, and that you would never give us away.”

“Never,” I said. “I’m glad you didn’t get in any trouble over Merrick.”

Spiky looked mollified. “I won’t say Carlo is happy with me, but that’s why when he demanded I turn your friend, I made no protest. And I don’t think Ellis minds terribly that I did so, do you?”

“It certainly doesn’t seem like he does. In fact, he looks very happy.”

By the time I herded the six men upstairs, my brain and ears were buzzing with their constant chatter, jokes, teasing, dramatic explanations, and occasional bits of song lyrics.

“I’m so glad to see you,” Ellis said once we had taken over the kitchen of the villa, the door to the old lady’s room remaining firmly shut. The other vamps were milling around, poking into drawers and opening cupboards. One of them found a huge pair of shears, and immediately announced his intention to give himself a pair of booty shorts. “I thought I was a goner once you bailed out, and then of course, Armande turned me, and that was high drama, let me tell you! You do not know the value of your bladder muscles until you have a vampire chomping down on you.”

“I’ve been chomped on several times and not had any bladder issues,” I said smugly.

“Yes, but you’re a girl. You have superior bladder parts.”

“What I don’t understand,” I said, idly watching the others as they all stripped out of their jeans in order to make shorts, “is why Carlo wanted you to be a vamp. What does that do other than make you allergic to garlic and burn up in sunlight? Is that his way of punishing you?”

“Don’t you know? I suppose you don’t, although I’d think that vampire you’ve been doing the sheet tango with might have told you. Your dear cousin Carlo and that dead-eyed henchman of his are building a vampire empire.”

“A what?”

“Just what I said. The boys here are hired out to attend parties. Special parties for only the very rich.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” I stared at him in disbelief.

“It’s god’s honest truth, I swear! Armande’s team—that’s him there with the pink hair—gets sent to super-exclusive parties of the rich and wannabe famous, and then they feed off everyone. Armande says the people get their jollies off of being with a real vampire, and the boys get fed, and your cousin rakes in the cash.”

“Who in their right mind would want a vampire to feed off—” I thought of what it was like when I was feeding Merrick, and stopped speaking.

“That’s right,” Ellis said, nodding, and flashing a grin at Armande. “When I say the mortals get their jollies, I mean they get their jollies.”

“I don’t know whether to point out that’s awfully close to prostitution, or to just let it go because it’s none of my business.”

“Do the latter. It’s much easier on your blood pressure,” he advised.

“We do not like that part, being intimate with the mortals.” Armande paused when passing us. “We want to have a dance troupe, you know? All male dancers.” He did a couple of pelvic thrusts and a triple spin. “Like the Chimpendales.”

“Chippendales, darling,” Ellis corrected, and applauded when Armande did a split jump. “Such lovely thighs you have. I think a dance troupe is much nicer than having to service all those dreary mortals with their vampire obsessions.”

“You were a mortal yourself half a day ago,” I pointed out.

“And life is so much better now,” he said, blowing me a kiss.

Armande had been doing a few more pirouettes before saying, “Yes, the dance troupe will be good. We have practiced many routines during our years working for Carlo, and all we need are a few costumes, and then we will be megastars! If we can get Carlo to agree to it, which I know he will not do. Jon-Marie! What are you thinking? You cut out the heart over your left butt cheek, not your right cheek.”

I shook my head when Armande bustled off across the room to fix whatever fashion faux pas one of the other vamps was about to make. “It’s kind of hard getting to grips with the idea that your own cousin spends his days pimping out vampires. I wonder if Merrick knows the sexy stuff goes on.”

“Oh, Carlo doesn’t just send the boys to parties,” Ellis said, shaking his head when one of the men offered him the scissors. “Armande, tell Tempest what you told me about the research groups.”

“It is true. Carlo and Giovanni take the vampires who refuse to cooperate, and auction them to labs.” Armande frowned as one of the others paraded by in a very short pair of cutoffs.

“What sort of labs?” I asked, torn between suspicion and fear.

“Ones where they research the ways of the Dark Ones, naturally,” Armande said with a shrug. “It is why we, in general, do as Carlo says. We do not want to be sent to the labs. Instead, we go to parties and pretend to make love to the mortals, and they let us drink their blood.”

I forestalled any comments about the morality of such a thing and focused on what was important. “Where does Carlo send the other vampires to?”

“No clue. I only know they round them up every month or so and sell them to the highest bidder.”

I looked at Ellis. He cocked an eyebrow at me.

“I think we need to talk to Merrick,” I said after a moment’s thought, and despite doubting it would do any good, sent out a mental call. Hello, Tempest calling Merrick, Tempest calling Merrick. Come in, Merrick.

There was no answer from him, not even the feeling of him touching my mind.

“I must be out of range. Text it is.”

To: Merrick

I just found Ellis. He’s OK.

Three minutes later I received the response:

From: Merrick

Good. Go back to Nice. I’ll meet you there once we’ve got your cousin.

To: Merrick

I have a lot to tell you about what he’s doing. Ellis, not Carlo.

From: Merrick

Tell me later. We’ve followed Carlo to a villa, and Han is about to break through the security system.

“Troubles?” Ellis asked when I made a face at the phone.

“Not really. Merrick is in Rome busy breaking through Carlo’s security so they can storm his villa, which means he’s incommunicado right now. The big poop. You’d think he’d want to hear your news, since it is all about Carlo and what he’s doing.”

Ellis stilled for a few seconds before taking my arm in a grip that was borderline painful. “Say that again.”

“Say what? That Merrick is a poop? I suppose that’s unfair, but he is the sort of man who likes to protect people rather than keep them informed—”

“No, the part about him being in Rome and breaking into a villa. What villa?”

“I don’t know, and you’re going to leave bruises if you keep squeezing my arm like that.”

Ellis clicked his tongue, but released me, turning to call across the room to Armande, “What was the name of the villa where Carlo sells the vampires to the vivisectionists?”

“Villa Luna,” Armande answered without even glancing toward us.

Ellis turned back to me.

“On it,” I said, my blood suddenly sporting little icebergs of pure dread.

To: Merrick

What’s the name of the villa you’re at?

From: Merrick

I told you that I’d talk to you later. We’re going in.

To: Merrick

WHAT’S THE NAME?

From: Merrick

Villa Luna. I’m turning my phone off now. I’ll call you when we have him.

“Jumping giant green frogs and all their little tadpoles.” I lifted eyes that I knew were filled with fear to Ellis. “He turned off his phone.”

“He’s there?” Ellis asked, his normally sunny expression somber.

I nodded.

“God help him.”

“Maybe they’ll be OK. If it’s just Carlo and Giovanni, the three vampires should be able to take them.”

Ellis stared at me, his expression turning to horror.

I gasped as a thought occurred to me, and turned to where the other vampires were putting final touches on their cutoffs. “Armande! You said Carlo auctions off the vampires. Where do they do that?”

“Usually in Rome,” he answered, pointing to a spot one of the others had missed trimming. “No, no, François, not that short. Your balls are hanging out now. No one wants to see hairy balls. If you shaved them like I told you, then it would be acceptable. But as it is?” Armande tsked. “Deplorable.”

An iron hand seemed to grip my insides, squeezing everything until I wanted to scream with frustration. “They walked right into it, Ellis,” I said in a hoarse whisper. “They’re walking into some horrible vampire auction, and Carlo will capture them, three of the Horsemen, and will sell them to the highest bidder. If they don’t kill them outright.”

“Lordisa, I hate to agree, but ...” Ellis’s Adam’s apple bobbed a couple of times. “We should think positive. Perhaps they know what goes on there, and they’ll be cautious.”

“They don’t, or they would have said something. Sweet, glorious grape juice, they’re sitting ducks!” I swayed for a few seconds, seriously thinking of swooning, but just then Kelso bumped my hand with his wet nose.

I patted his head, and strength returned to me, strength and the determination to do whatever it took to save Merrick. “No one touches my vampire and lives to tell about it!” I swore, then lifted my chin and said loudly, “Vampires, assemble! We have to get our butts to Rome and fast. I have a hunky man to save, and you guys are going to help me do it!”