Mateo waited until Selena was asleep before he slipped out of the house and drove down the mountain. He needed to make a few calls, but he didn’t have any cell coverage up at Broadmoor. Soon he was pulling into the parking lot of an all-night mini-mart. After he finished, he’d run in and grab a few things for Selena.

Zeph answered on the fifth ring, out of breath again. Maybe this time he was getting busy with some chick.

“What do you know about the dakai?” Mateo asked. Prior to coming to New Orleans, his partner had worked with a group that helped female vampires escape the sisterhood.

“Hold on a sec.” Zeph put his hand over the phone, mumbled something, and, wouldn’t you know it, a feminine voice replied. There was a rustling of clothes or sheets and then Zeph came back to the line. “The blood goddess cult?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re straight up crazy, is what they are.”

Zeph told him that after a new member gave the group all her worldly belongings and renounced her family and friends, her goal was to become pure-blooded in order to be accepted by the Great Mother. Then when she died, she’d supposedly become a blood goddess, worthy of being worshipped herself.

“How do they become pure-blooded?” Mateo asked. “What’s the process?”

“At every full moon, they mix their blood, say a bunch of hocus-pocus shit, and drink from a special chalice. Why all the questions?”

Mateo told Zeph what he’d learned from Selena about her catering client who had a particular fondness for Sweet-laced rum. He’d had his suspicions, but it wasn’t until she’d shown him a picture of a cake she’d made for one of their events that he’d known for sure what he was dealing with. They’d had her decorate it with the dakai insignia, an infinity symbol above a red rose.

“Are you sure?” Zeph sounded skeptical. “They’re generally not violent—when dealing with non-members, that is. And they keep to themselves. As far as I know, they use their own blood in the purification rituals.”

“Then how does that explain the rum?”

“Okay, well, they’ll occasionally use the blood of willing donors, but it doesn’t make sense how Selena’s blood got into the black market through them. They have nothing to do with the Darkblood Alliance.”

“There could be sects out there that operate differently, like making deals with DBs in exchange for something they want. Protection, blood, whatever.”

“Maybe,” Zeph said. “So what’s your plan?”

“At sundown, I’m heading to their compound.”

“On your own?” Zeph sounded skeptical.

“Well, you’re not here, are you?”

“For fuck’s sake, man. Call the local field office and get them to send a few agents. Or wait a few days for me to come up and help. What’s the rush? Selena’s safe with you, right?”

He didn’t expect the guy to understand why this was so personal. Hell, he didn’t understand it himself. But he couldn’t wait. Not when the ones responsible for taking Selena’s blood were free, out walking around.

Zeph continued. “If you’re right and this group is working with local Darkbloods, it’s too big a situation to handle on your own. The Agency needs to be in the loop calling the shots.”

Normally he’d agree with his partner that going by the book and playing by the rules was what he needed to do, but this wasn’t a normal situation.

He was starting to lose patience with his friend. “I told you. I’m not waiting.”

Zeph sighed loudly. “How’s Selena? You two hooking up again?”

Mateo gave a humorless laugh. “I’m not a fucking fool.”

“I’ve told you about my sister, haven’t I?”

“You’ve told me a lot of things.” A lot of things that went in one ear and out the other, to be exact. The guy ran his mouth so much that Mateo didn’t listen to him half the time. They’d be on a stakeout and Mateo would put in earbuds just to drown out the guy’s incessant chatter. Zeph could be the one-man equivalent of a cocktail party.

“My sister is training to be a doctor up at Region headquarters. And she’s married to a human. I met him when they were first dating and…”

Mateo knew a few vampire/human couples making it work too, including his friend Andre, but none of the vampires he knew were romantically involved with a sweetblood human. Big difference.

Zeph rambled on and Mateo occasionally threw in a few words like ‘no kidding’ and ‘seriously.’ He appreciated his friend, but the guy clearly didn’t get it. You couldn’t decide to turn off your dark nature. He’d tried with Selena already and failed. Miserably. He wasn’t going to let it happen again.

“Yeah, it was a pretty bad situation, but it turned out fine.” Zeph paused a full five seconds. For a moment, Mateo thought the guy’s lady friend must be doing something to him. “Are you even listening to me?” Zeph growled.

“Your sister. Human guy. Things are peachy. Yep.”

“Dickwad,” Zeph said. “You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said, have you? The guy’s a sweetblood, and the two of them could have some helpful tips and advice for you.”

“For fuck’s sake, Zeph. Who says I want to try making things work? Or that she does? The woman just learned that monsters exist and have been preying on her. And that once upon a time the guy she used to date almost killed her. You seriously think all we need is a little relationship advice?”

“Whatever,” Zeph said, dropping the subject. “Listen. I’m texting with…my future brother-in-law…about them…coming to the island.”

“Jesus, Zeph. I not going to—”

“Too late. He’s going to see about flying a few agents over to Vancouver Island tomorrow evening. And if I can catch a flight, I’m going to join you.”

Mateo was confused. “Flying? Out here?” How had Zeph coordinated that so fast? It occurred to him that maybe he’d been tuning out his friend longer than he thought.

“If you’d been listening to me,” Zeph said slowly, enunciating each word, “you’d have heard me say that Finn is a helicopter pilot for the Horseshoe Bay region.”

“Wait. The sweetblood guy your sister’s married to works for the Agency? And he flies agents around with him in a tiny enclosed space?” If he didn’t know Zeph like he did, he’d have thought the guy was lying or grossly exaggerating the facts.

“Yeah, amazing, huh?” Zeph said, his tone saccharine sweet. “And sometimes they’re even cooped up together for hours. A sweetblood and several vampire males. But then, you’d have heard all that if you’d been paying attention.”

Mateo was glad his friend wasn’t here to see him rolling his eyes. He could be so goddamn sensitive sometimes.