After a few minutes that seemed like an eternity, Gena finally pushed herself up and took a few tentative steps to the body in front of her. As she looked down at Kilk, she didn’t see any signs of life. She knew she should check for a pulse, but she was in no hurry to touch a vampire who, if still alive, would like nothing better than to rip out her throat.

She noticed the hilt of the knife still sticking out of his chest. If he were still alive, that had to hurt. She cautiously lifted a foot and slightly tapped the still embedded knife. She jumped back as soon as she could but still saw no movement from Kilk. Feeling a bit more secure, she bent closer to him with two fingers out. His skin was still warm when she touched him, but she had no idea whether that was normal or not. A human would not be cold so soon after death.

After a few seconds, she was certain that he had no pulse. She’d done it. She’d killed a vampire.

Quickly, she ripped the knife out of his chest and let out a deep breath she didn’t even know that she’d been holding.

Marcus. She had to find Marcus now. She grabbed her t-shirt off the floor, her shoulder bag that contained the now reloaded with silver bullets gun, and bolted out the door.

She left Lady in the bathroom. She didn’t want her innocent dog roaming free around a dead vampire and had no idea how to get rid of the body, so for right now the dog was stuck.

She hurriedly pulled her shirt over her head and tucked the bloody knife away in her bag as the numbers in the elevator counted down. She rushed to the doorman on duty, trying to recall his name as she ran. “Frank! Did you see two men just walking out with Marcus? Maybe five or ten minutes ago?”

Frank’s brow furrowed as he seemed to think really hard. “I, uh, no. I don’t think I have seen him.”

Gena cocked her head. How hard was it to remember if you saw someone five minutes ago? “What do you mean, you don’t think you’ve seen him? You either have or you haven’t.”

Frank shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t remember much about the last few minutes. It’s the strangest thing.”

Frustration bubbled up inside Gena. Rok or Goff had messed with Frank’s mind. He couldn’t tell her anything of use. “That isn’t even the strangest thing that has happened in the last ten minutes,” she muttered as she walked out into the cold night.

She looked around her at the street, trying to envision where they would have gone. Who could she even go to for help? All of Marcus’s people thought he was a traitor except for the king, and she had no idea how she could track down a vampire king.

She could barge into the Tower, but obviously Rok had plenty of his people in place there. Hope might be able to help, but this was way out of her league at this point.

That left only one place Marcus might have allies. The club where they’d met. She had to go back to Fang.

By the time the cab dropped her off at Fang, it was already four thirty in the morning. The cabbie insisted she wasn’t dressed right for the club, even if it was open. Gena dismissed his words and paid him for the ride.

The club was long closed, but it was run by vampires, so she doubted that every one of them was home sleeping just yet. She avoided the front door and walked straight to the back entrance that Marcus had walked her through the first night they had met.

Hoping for a change in her luck, she tried to turn the handle, but, unsurprisingly, it was locked. Instead, she went for her next best option, screaming like a crazy woman until someone let her in. Her fists banged on the door as she screamed for Vlad, or anyone within a half-mile radius of where she was to open the door somehow.

It took a few minutes and a few sore fists for Gena, but soon enough the door opened just as she was preparing to kick it solidly once again with her tennis shoe clad foot. She managed to just stop herself from slamming her foot into the imposing man who stood in front of her. He already looked pissed, and kicking him wouldn’t win her any favors.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he asked in a deep voice.

“I need you to get me in touch with Vlad somehow,” she said with a steady voice.

“We’re closed. Come back tomorrow night, dressed more appropriately.” With that, he started to shut the door.

Gena pulled the bloody knife from her bag and shoved the blade between the door and doorjamb to prevent it from closing.

The man opened the door and suspiciously looked at the knife in her hand, obviously sensing it was silver and seeing the blood on it. “What’s that?”

Gena held the knife in a more threatening position, the blade pointed directly at his throat. “This is what I used to kill a vampire with earlier tonight. If you don’t want to be number two, I suggest you get me Vlad. I don’t care if it’s on the phone or in person, but I need to fucking talk to him about important vampire business.

“And for the record, that mind control shit doesn’t work on me so don’t insult me by trying. If you doubt it, just ask Gareth.” She stared him down, daring him with her eyes to call her bluff.

Before he responded, she heard a familiar voice from behind him. “You have changed since we last met,” said Vlad.

Gena looked at the bloody knife in her hand. She really had changed. “I know what I’m capable of now. The rebels took Marcus. You need to help me get him back.”

The man she’d been threatening raised a brow. “You know Marcus?”

“She has been staying with him this past week. Somehow I think they became more than friends, don’t you, John?” Vlad’s gaze raked over Gena and he frowned. “You really killed a rebel by yourself?”

“Believe me, he had it coming.”

“Let me tell you a secret that isn’t so secret about me.” Vlad walked closer to Gena. She lowered her knife but still kept it firmly in hand.

“I don’t care if he had it coming,” he whispered. “Even so, I’m impressed. A week ago, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“They have Marcus and they’re going to kill him. I don’t know who else to go to. Even if you don’t care, please help me.” She hated the idea of begging him for help, but if she had to grovel to protect Marcus, then that was what she’d do.

Vlad put one hand on the door to hold it open and waved her inside the club. “I have my own reasons for wanting to stop the rebels, which is why I helped to arrange the meeting between them and Marcus in the first place. I’ll help you look for him, but I can’t make any promises.”

Gena walked into the warm club, not realizing how cold she’d been outside until she stepped into the heat. In her panic to chase after Marcus, she’d forgotten to put on her jacket. Vlad walked with purpose deeper into the club that looked completely different now that it was closed.

The dance floor, tables, and booths were empty, and the mess of a busy night was evident under the bright lights that were now on. A couple of girls wearing Fang shirts helped to clean until Vlad walked in. At his entrance, everyone stopped what they were doing to look curiously at Gena.

He approached and handed her a bottle of water. “Try to make yourself comfortable and I will see if any of my contacts know anything.”

Gena nodded and looked for a chair to sit down in. “Thanks for doing this. I didn’t know where else to go.”

Vlad considered Gena for a moment and walked over to her. Close to her ear, he whispered, “I would keep that knife hidden if I were you. Also, keep your mouth shut around the staff. You never know who is listening.”

Gena discreetly glanced around the room at the scattered waitresses and bartenders who were finishing up their shifts. They probably were not all vampires, and she had no idea what they knew about Vlad.

“Thanks for the warning,” she muttered and tucked the knife away. Once her hands were free, she twisted the cap off the bottle. She hadn’t realized how thirsty she was until she had the cool drink in her hand.

“So is there anything you can think of to help? Did you see what car was taken or what direction they went in?”

Gena shook her head as she took a swig of water. “They left me in the penthouse with one of their men, who was supposed to finish me off. I didn’t see them after they got on the elevator.”

“Well, I will call around, but I’m not sure what I can find out with that limited information,” said Vlad sympathetically.

“No,” said Gena. “There has to be some way to track him down.”

“There’s only so much I can do. Marcus doesn’t carry any form of a tracking device. All I can rely on is hoping one of my connections saw him in the rebels’ car or if they were seen taking him anywhere. How many men did you see take him?”

“There were three of them. One stayed behind with me and two carried Marcus away. They injected him with something. The leader said it was some type of silver. It basically paralyzed him, but I could tell he was in a lot of pain. Have you ever heard of something like that before?”

Vlad’s brows furrowed and she could tell he was concerned. “I’ve heard of vampires and vampire hunters using colloidal silver or silver nitrate as a weapon and injecting it, but the concentration of silver was never strong enough to have the reaction that you’re describing. It hurts like a bitch, but never paralyzes.”

“So we don’t know who these rebels are, where they’re from, or what kind of weapons they’re using. Brilliant,” muttered Gena. She was sick of feeling three steps behind at all times. If only she could track Marcus like Ryan had tracked her down.

The thought caused Gena’s eyes to open wide in surprise, and she grabbed Vlad’s sleeve. “Ryan’s phone. Marcus has Ryan’s phone.”

Vlad stared blankly at her. “Are you expecting him to call you?”

“Ryan’s phone was in my car. We think he used it to track me to New York. If Marcus has it, we can get Ryan to trace it again. We can find him before it’s too late.” She jumped up and grabbed for her bag. “We have to go now.”

Vlad stood to let her pass, but made no motion as if to leave. “What are you waiting for?” she asked.

“Gena, I know you want to go to Marcus, but it’s five in the morning. There are very strict time limitations I have to work with,” he pointed out.

Gena looked around her, but there were no windows to the outside. “We have at least another hour or two of darkness. You can make it work.”

“Even if we get to Ryan in the next hour, I will have to mobilize my men and prepare to invade unknown rebel territory. These things take more than an hour and we could not avoid getting burnt to a crisp by the sun.”

“Then I will cover you with a fucking blanket!” she shouted in desperation. “We can’t just leave him. They are torturing him for information right now!”

Vlad’s cold expression never changed. “That’s why I will be risking my men and my own life to drag Marcus’s sorry ass back to you, but that will have to happen tomorrow.”

“Give me his address and I will track down Marcus my own damn self,” she spat out.

“I have a handful of humans under my control. I will have Ryan brought here during the daylight so my men and I can rush off to retrieve your Marcus as soon as the sun sets,” assured Vlad.

“He isn’t just my Marcus! He wouldn’t be in this mess if he wasn’t trying to protect you and every other godforsaken vampire from another war!”

Vlad had obviously had enough of her shouting as his expression changed from blank to angry, yet his voice remained eerily calm. “Listen, human or whatever the fuck you are,” he said as he moved toward her. “I assume that at some point since we met you crawled into Marcus’s bed and you two became mighty friendly, but right now, you aren’t dealing with Marcus. You’re dealing with me, and unless you want to start taking off your clothes and bend over that table over there,” he pointed to a table behind her, “you are going to shut up and do as you’re told. Do you understand?”

Rage boiled inside Gena as she kept reminding herself that Vlad could be dangerous if pushed too far. “You go ahead and take your sweet time then. I’ll go out and see what I can do while you are safely tucked away in your bed.”

Vlad’s eyes shot to a spot behind Gena and she looked to see the thug who had opened the door for her approach. She had a bad feeling about this. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“This is vampire business. I know you mean well, but you’re very emotional and I can’t have you running around on a wild-goose chase. Even if you found Marcus, what could you even do?”

The thug walked up behind her and one hand wrapped around each of her biceps. Her water clattered onto the floor. She gasped at the sudden contact and quickly tugged, but she stood no chance against his strength. “You can’t keep me here against my will,” she protested.

Vlad gave a quick bark of laughter. “I have rooms here specifically for holding people against their will. Don’t worry. They’re comfortable.”

Gena couldn’t believe this was happening. “You’re just going to lock me away? I have to find Marcus!”

“We will find him,” he assured her.

She shook her head and pulled away from the man holding her, but his grip didn’t loosen in the slightest. “My dog is locked up at Marcus’s apartment,” she said, trying out a different tactic. “I need to let her out.”

Vlad crossed his arms over his chest. “We will take care of your pet while you relax.”

She lunged toward him, to no avail. “You can’t do this!”

Vlad waved a hand in front of his face as if he literally brushed away her concerns. “Don’t be so melodramatic. It’s only for a few hours. You’ve had a stressful day and look like hell. The sleep could do you good.”

Gena stared blankly at him, finally speechless. Did he just say she looked like hell? She didn’t have any time to respond even if she had thought of something clever to say, as she was being pulled backward.

She was led down a dark hallway and deposited into a room. She quickly turned to face the door and heard the telltale sound of a lock being turned. Even knowing the door was locked, she instinctively reached for the handle. The door wouldn’t budge.

It was pointless anyway. Even if the door wasn’t locked, Vlad’s people wouldn’t let her make it out of the building. Her best chance was to wait until sunrise. At least then she’d be dealing with mostly humans.

In order to get out, she’d have to find something to help her break down the door. She turned around and got her first good look at the room. There was hardly any furniture for her to use in her escape. There was a chair in front of a small vanity in the back corner of the room.

The obvious focal point of the room was the massive king bed. The mattress was decorated with black silk sheets but no comforter. Gena could only imagine that this bed wasn’t made for sleeping.

The only color in the room was the bright red pillows on the bed, the red metal vanity, and a few pieces of red artwork on the wall. Vlad expects me to relax in here?

Gena quickly looked through the few nooks and crannies of the room but found nothing to help her force the door open. Her only option would be to break down the door with the creepy bright red vanity and chair. It wouldn’t be quiet, and there would definitely be vampires on the other side waiting for her if she did manage to get through.

Sighing in frustration, she let herself fall backward onto the kinky bed, which was surprisingly soft against her back. If she had any chance of getting out of there, she’d have to wait until the sun was high in the sky.

What was she supposed to do until then? How could she just lay back and do nothing while Marcus was being interrogated and tortured?

Her thoughts tumbled uncomfortably in her mind, and the lethargy of going all night with no sleep and countless adrenaline rushes caught up with her. Her eyes started to close, but she forced them open. She had to remain alert just in case she had an opportunity to get out of the room.

Her muscles suddenly felt heavier and her eyelids closed again, but this time there was no opening them to snap herself awake. Swiftly, Gena floated away into sleep.