Vicky ruffled Elmo’s already disheveled hair when she walked by him. “No eavesdropping.”

“I would never,” he replied.

“Good, and don’t send any of the other kids to eavesdrop either.”

Elmo pouted and tossed another log onto the fire. Nathan couldn’t help but laugh.

“I grew up with too many siblings not to spot a way out,” Vicky said to Nathan as they entered the smoke tunnel behind Sister.

Nathan blinked against the smoke burning his eyes and followed the two vampires into the tunnel. Only months ago, he never would have put himself in a situation like this with two vamps in an unfamiliar place, but he didn’t hesitate. He suspected his willingness to follow had more to do with Vicky than his alliance with Ronan. For some reason, he trusted her.

They stopped about five hundred feet away from the children. Nathan clicked on his flashlight and aimed it at the floor. The smoke trickling through here danced insidiously within the beam. He didn’t hear or see anything lurking in the tunnel, but he didn’t like that the smoke obscured his vision and smell.

Stepping away from the women, he strode further down the tunnel, shining his beam back and forth over the cracking concrete walls. Other than another sewer pipe and some rats, he didn’t discover anything else.

“Where’s Duncan?” Vicky inquired from behind him.

“He took four of the kids to a movie tonight,” Sister June replied. “I’m sure they stopped for pizza after, but they should be back soon.”

Nathan recalled the twelve mattresses in the other room as he returned to the women.

“Full disclosure,” Vicky said to Sister. “Nathan is a hunter, the born kind.”

Sister June gave Vicky a look of such heartrending despair and betrayal that Vicky blurted her next words.

“It’s okay! He’s not going to attack you, Duncan, or the children! He knows what I am, but we’ve been working together to stop one twisted bastard of a vampire.”

Sister June didn’t look at all appeased as her gaze swung back and forth between them. “You brought him here? I trusted you!”

“I brought him here to keep you safe,” Vicky said. “What’s going on isn’t good.”

“We’re safe in our tunnels.”

“You’re not always in your tunnels, and I don’t think you are safe, not anymore. I never would have brought Nathan otherwise, and I took such a winding route he’ll never be able to find his way back here.”

“Really?” Nathan asked her.

“Yes,” Vicky replied without remorse. “Sister June, please listen to what I’m going to tell you, and then you’ll understand why I believed it best to bring Nathan here.”

Vicky told her all about her captivity, Joseph, and Ronan, as Sister had no idea who Ronan was. She also revealed the pact the hunters and Ronan’s men had forged, the growing number of Savages, and the possible looming war with the Savages.

Sister’s eyes filled with tears when Vicky succinctly talked about her imprisonment. She went to hug Vicky before stopping herself, lowering her arms, and listening to the rest of what Vicky had to say without any reaction.

“And are you sure you’re okay, dear?” Sister asked her when Vicky finished speaking.

Vicky realized Sister sensed something off with her and worked to cover it up. “I’m fine,” she drawled.

“Victoria—”

“Truly, Sister, I’m good. The shackles put a crimp on my lifestyle for a bit, but I’m making up for lost time and currently living it up at a luxurious hotel.”

Sister looked at Nathan. He could tell she wasn’t buying Vicky’s response either, but she didn’t pressure Vicky further about it.

“Sometimes, I fear what is coming might be so big the humans will learn of our existence,” Vicky revealed to Sister.

Her admission startled Nathan before he realized she might be right. Unable to relax, he walked back toward where they’d left the children.

Halfway through her story, Sister June started to relax and stopped staring at Nathan as if she were going to tear out his throat. As Vicky revealed this final bit, Sister slumped against the wall. Lifting her hands, she pulled at the sides of her wrinkled face until her flesh became smooth again.

“Oh, Jesus,” Sister murmured before crossing herself. She bowed her head and clasped her hands beneath her chin in prayer.

Vicky left Sister and walked down the tunnel to join Nathan. “You didn’t trust me enough to bring me straight here?” he inquired.

“It’s not my trust you have to gain,” Vicky replied. “It’s hers.”

Nathan glanced back at the praying woman. “Sister as in nun?”

“Well, it’s certainly not sister as in we’re related. I’m a born vampire, remember? And Sister wouldn’t have aged so much if she were born too.”

“A vampire nun?”

Vicky rested her fingertips against the cold concrete wall. “Is that any weirder than the leader of all hunters aligning with vampires after his sister became one?”

Nathan scowled at her, but Vicky’s attention was drawn away from him by a soft scrape. “Go back, Elmo!” she called down the tunnel.

“Aw, shit,” a disgruntled voice muttered, and a sneaker squeaked on the concrete.

“Language,” Vicky scolded.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Elmo muttered, and she pictured him flipping her off again as she listened to his retreating steps.

“Do the children know she’s a vampire?” Nathan inquired.

“No,” Vicky replied.

“If they do figure it out, we change their memories, for their own good,” Sister said.

Vicky and Nathan turned to find her staring at them. Vicky strolled back to her, but Nathan remained where he was, alert for any kids who might try to spy.

“Where did the children come from?” Nathan asked as he leaned against the wall.

“Some ran away from home or their group homes. Some were found wandering the streets as they sought to flee their parents and some horrific situations,” Sister replied. “Elmo was a newborn when I found him in a trashcan. I didn’t beat the rats to him, but thankfully I wasn’t far behind the rodents. A couple of drops of my blood in his formula healed the rat bites, but he still has some scars from them.”

“How can someone do that to their child?” Nathan muttered.

“Human, hunter, or vampire, there are many monsters in this world,” Sister replied.

“True,” he agreed. “How long have you been taking in children?”

Sister June glanced questioningly at Vicky.

“It’s your story to tell,” Vicky said again. “He saved my life; I trust him.”

“For over a hundred years,” Sister said. “When I was a young human, I was a nun, and I loved my calling. Unfortunately, I also loved liquor. At thirty, I was thrown out of the convent, and with nowhere else to go, I lived on the streets of Boston. After a time, I started to find a purpose in caring for the numerous orphaned children roaming the streets, and one day I found my way down here. The children came with me. I couldn’t quit drinking for God, but I did for them. They needed me, and after a while, I realized the children had always been God’s plan for me.

“One of those children, Duncan, went to work on a fishing vessel when he grew up, but he always returned to visit while in port. One day, he came back different and offered me the chance to be different too. He presented an opportunity to continue helping countless children for centuries to come. Perhaps God wouldn’t have approved, but I didn’t see Satan’s hand in Duncan’s offering; I only saw the saving of many lives, so I accepted his gift.

“The two of us have cared for children ever since. Three hundred and fifty children have come and gone from our care over my lifetime. Twenty of them went on to be doctors, eighteen lawyers, thirty teachers, and many went to work in the foster care system. All of them came back at least once to visit, most returned more often, and some came so often we had to make them think we'd died. Even the few who went out into the world and turned to drugs or crime are successes to me as they are all my children.”

The gleam in her eyes dared Nathan to disagree with her; he couldn’t. “What you’re doing here is a good thing,” he said.

“It’s tougher now with all this newer technology,” Sister admitted. “We had to get tutors for the children. Duncan takes them every week to meet with their tutors at different libraries throughout the city. The tutors have no idea who the children are, but they teach them about computers and those cellular phones and stuff. Duncan takes classes to help teach them the newest things too, but I don’t go above often. So far, it’s prepared them for life after the sewers, but with the way things are always evolving, we may have to up those sessions to get them into college.”

“How do they have the documentation to go to college or afford it?”

“Vampires have a way of working those things out,” Vicky replied.

“So what do you need from me?” Sister June asked her.

“Have any of the other groups living down here gone missing? Have you noticed anything different or a little off down here?” Vicky asked.

“I stay far away from most of the other groups; many of them are up to no good. They’ve given up on trying to steal our supplies, but many of them aren’t a good sort.”

“What about Duncan? I know he ventures out more than you.”

“He hasn’t mentioned anything.”

“Sister June?” a deep baritone voice called down the tunnel, and Nathan suspected the footsteps approaching belonged to this Duncan.

“Down here, Duncan,” Sister called back.

Nathan directed his beam onto the mountain of a man coming toward him. Stooped over to make it through the tunnel, the guy had to be at least six foot six with the shoulders of a bull. He scowled when he spotted Nathan.

“Who are you?” Duncan demanded.

“Nathan Holter, who are you?”

“He’s with me, Duncan,” Vicky said and sauntered forward to greet the giant man.

Duncan’s scowl vanished, and a broad smile spread across his weathered face. With his warm brown eyes, brown hair, flannel shirt, and bulky build, Duncan reminded her of the Brawny paper towel man, if the Brawny guy also sported a beard as Duncan’s thick beard hung to his chest.

“Look at what the cat dragged in,” Duncan greeted and embraced her.

A flash of trepidation crossed her face before she wrapped her arms around Duncan’s neck. The irrational urge to pull her away from the man swallowing her within his embrace hit Nathan. When Duncan let her go, Vicky straightened her coat, and he realized she was trying to hide her discomfort over the embrace.

Nathan clasped her elbow, and when her haunted eyes met his, he opened his mouth to tell her she deserved kindness and to stop punishing herself, but he held back the words. She wouldn’t appreciate him saying those things in front of others.

“Duncan, these two require your help with something,” Sister said.