I was cautious walking through the parking lot of Sisters of Mercy, which was full now it was after dark. I wasn’t going to be surprised by some stray animal again.

There wasn’t time to exchange pleasantries with the reception nurse, so I barreled on through the facility, straight to Jack’s office. He didn’t look up from his computer when I barged into the room and dropped the book bag on a chair.

“This is everything, I said, removing all the electronics from the bag and piling them onto Jack’s desk.

“Come on, Matthew. Don’t mess up my papers. Everything’s exactly where I want it.”

“It’s all a jumbled mess,” I scoffed.

“Only I understand the organization,” he countered.

“So, like I said on the phone…if you can go through his computer and erase anything associated with me, including cloud storage and whatever email accounts you can hack into.”

“I know; I know,” Jack said, putting his laptop aside to make room for everything dumped on his desk. “It’s going to take me a few hours.”

“That’s fine, but we don’t have much more than that. I need to get everything put back before he wakes up.”

“Where’s he now?”

“In my trunk.”

Jack shook his head disapprovingly. “I’ll work as fast as I can. Is this everything now?”

“I think so.” I went through all the bag pockets to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, then confirmed that yes, it was everything.

Jack booted up the laptop and got to work.

While I had a few hours to kill, I snagged a blood bag from Jack’s fridge, then returned to my Land Rover. I needed to hit up an automotive store for a new battery before they all closed. Then I’d swap out Sean’s battery, so I could get his car back to his house.

You’re welcome.

Once I completed the battery swap, I switched cars again—stuffing Sean’s sleeping body into his trunk while storing his dead battery in mine. But just as I was about to leave, I noticed lights on in Fiona’s apartment. Susan was home. I checked the time, wanting to confront her, but ultimately decided I had enough on my plate and needed to take care of Sean first.

“I’ll be back for you,” I said, climbed into the driver’s seat, and headed back to Sisters of Mercy.

When I got back to Jack’s office, I found him flipping through Sean’s phone.

“Why does he have so many email addresses; it’s so inefficient,” Jack complained. “I should delete a few of his accounts too.”

“Seems everyone’s doing favors for him tonight,” I laughed.

“Why? What other favors have been done for him?”

“I got him a new car battery. His was dead, so his car was stuck at Fiona’s.”

“I’m not really sure where to begin with that,” Jack said, looking up from the phone.

“Then don’t,” I said. “Are you about done yet?”

“Do you want me to be thorough or not?” he snapped and set his attention back on the screen.

I plopped down in the chair across from him, not exactly in a patient mood. It was nearly midnight, signaling the official start of visiting hours. I knew all too well what that meant for the patients here—what that meant for Fiona and Mallory.

I hadn’t yet heard any word on a decision to move the girls from that facility to the True North compound, due to the new threat imposed by the Vampire Order. Fiona’s life had been threatened once, and now Martin had been killed, I didn’t know what their next move would be. I didn’t know how much danger Fiona was in; it seemed like the Order might be a bigger threat than Frederick, though I knew I couldn’t rule him out. As long as he was alive, he would be a danger to anyone I cared about.

As I thought about Fiona and everything that was going on, I found the one bag of blood I’d had earlier in the evening wasn’t cutting it.

“Mind if I raid your fridge again?” I asked, though it wasn’t really a question; I was already up and headed in that direction.

“I should have at least one more bag of animal blood in there,” he said without moving his attention from his work.

He did have a bag of blood; I’d seen it previously. I heated it up and poured it into a glass this time like a civilized vampire and sank back into the plush chair positioned across from the desk. Those chairs weren’t from my time here, and not nearly as comfortable. It made me antsy to sit, but I knew I’d make Jack anxious if I was pacing the room, so remained seated.

“How’s she doing?” I asked, needing to get out of my own head.

“Who?”

“Who do you think? Fiona,” I answered.

“Sorry; it was a reflex response. I wasn’t really listening,” Jack said, putting the phone down again. “She’s doing fine. I heard that the girls are actually starting to communicate with each other—becoming cordial. But it’s still early.”

“That’s a good sign,” I said.

“The pictures that guy took are pretty good,” Jack said, reaching for one of the tablets. “I almost feel bad destroying them.”

“I thought the same thing, but he’s got plenty more that I’m not in.” I tried to sit silently, but so much was running through my mind—and being here at this time of night when I knew Fiona was only a few rooms away… My heart was pounding just thinking of her. Maybe I could catch them both before they were chosen by one of the staff.

“I’ll be back in a little bit,” I said, standing and finishing the last of the blood. “I’ll drop this off at the cafeteria.”

“Where are you headed after that?” Jack asked, and I could hear the suspicion in his voice.

“Getting some fresh air; I need to think some things through.”

“Don’t go to see Fiona,” Jack warned. “We talked about this. It will only make things worse.”

“That’s not true,” I said. “I can assess how they’re doing. Report back to the Society. I need to see her, Jack.”

“No; you don’t. You need to leave her alone, so she can work out her issues with that friend of hers—without distraction.”

“I’m not a distraction. I can provide motivation.”

“You’re a distraction,” Jack argued. “Promise me you’re not going to visit her.”

“Fine; I promise,” I said. “So hurry the hell up, so I can get out of here.”

“If you’d stop talking to me, I could get this done faster.”

“I’ll get out of your hair and drop this off at the cafeteria,” I said, holding up the now empty glass.

“Remember; you promised,” Jack said, a stern expression on his youthful face.

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved him off and stormed out of the office.

As much as I craved the presence of her—to be near her, smell her, hold her in my arms—I intended to keep my promise. I headed straight to the cafeteria and placed the glass on the dirty dishes cart, but also stopped to look around at all the quiet and solemn patients eating their breakfasts. There weren’t many. It was late for most of them to be eating.

It wasn’t exactly on the way back, but I made a slight detour and stopped at the entrance of the Common Room, taking a spot by Dr. Blackley and Nurse Oleander.

“Are you supposed to be checking in on your patient?” Dr. Blackley asked.

“Not you too,” I sighed. “This is my facility and I can do whatever the hell I want.”

“I’m merely pointing out what was agreed to.” He shrugged. “But she’s not here.”

I scanned the room and quickly discovered he was right.

“Nurse Dalio took them back to their rooms a short while ago,” Nurse Oleander said, her gaze fixed on a particular young man by the board game bookcase.

“Who signed in to visit them?” I asked.

“I didn’t check.”

I glanced over at Dr. Blackley, expecting a better answer.

“I can inquire with admin,” he said, not sounding like the task required any urgency.

“Don’t bother; I’ll do it myself,” I said, exasperated, and rushed toward the nurse’s station. But on the way, the urge to go straight to her room took hold and I turned down the next hallway. I could take one little peek in the window and no one would know. As much as I didn’t want to picture Fiona or Mallory being attacked, I’d feel better knowing who was assigned to them. If I found their treatment excessive, I could take it up with Jack.

I marched straight to the girls’ room, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to see—but when I peered in through the tiny portal, my worst fears were realized.