We showered together afterwards. There was nothing sexual about it, but a wonderful closeness; an intimacy that went beyond sex.

Kael and Gage returned not long after, while Milo and I were still in bathrobes. Kael looked us up and down.

"You seem to be doing better." His face was serious, but I thought I saw a twinkle of humor in those near-black eyes. I hoped so, I didn't want it to be weird between us because I had slept with his friends. I like them all. "We come bearing supplies."

"Do you come bearing answers?" I hadn't forgotten the promise he had made me before leaving.

Kael looked at me and could see that I was done waiting for answers. "Take a seat."

We all sat down.

"Where to start," Kael ordered his thoughts. "You're right. We're Lawkeepers. More than that, we're ELs; Elite Lawkeepers."

"The 'E' used to stand for Experimental," put in Gage, darkly.

"Experimental?" I began to understand some stuff.

"The bio-enhancements we have are unique to us," said Kael. "For now. Tests on us have proved them to be a success and soon they'll be rolled out for all Lawkeepers above Officer Class."

"They only tested on three people?" I wondered.

Gage shook his head. "No."

"Not all the tests went so well," said Milo. "But we turned out great."

Despite the seriousness of the moment, I couldn't help smiling - they had turned out fantastic.

"I was assigned to your case about a week ago," Kael got back to the explanation. "The official line was - and, as far as I know, still is - that you had gone rogue; killed a whole bunch of people, culminating in an attack on your roommate's boyfriend..."

"Sister," I corrected.

"Sister - sorry. Layla had been uncomfortable with your behavior for a while and when you attacked Tyler Gray, that pushed her over the edge and she went to the police. You then attacked the transport, killed the Lawkeepers - all save the driver, Michael Wambach - and kidnapped your sister."

I snorted.

"Something funny?"

"Ironic. Michael Wambach is the only one I did kill and he's the only one your 'official report' says I didn't."

Kael forced a smile. "Glad you can still see the funny side."

"How does any of this square with Gray calling the police and accusing Layla of attacking him? How did he do that if I'd already killed him? And why was Layla being arrested if I was the one who did the attacking?" There were now at least two layers of contradictory horse shit before you got to the truth, and both versions came from the Lawkeepers. How the fuck did things work at Central?

"The official line is," said Kael, holding up his hands in the internationally recognized gesture of 'don't kill the messenger', "that what I just told you is the truth. The version you heard about Layla is the public version, put out to avoid panic about a rogue vampire at large."

"Me."

"Unarmed and extremely dangerous."

"Damn right I am."

That all seemed to make sense, although it would take me a little time to unpick the three different versions of reality I was currently working in, and all this was predicated on me trusting these guys. Which I guess I did, now. I had to trust somebody and my gut instinct told me to trust them. That gut instinct had been serving me better than logic lately.

"So this is where you guys come in?" I pushed the story into the area I wasn't sure I wanted to hear.

Kael nodded, and I could see in his face that he hadn't been looking forward to this bit either. "We were all assigned to your case as a sort of final test of our bio-enhancements. I took lead and made first contact with you."

"At Carlos's Place?"

"I'd seen you there a few times."

"But you didn't approach me, I came to you." As I remembered the night I had met Kael, I felt a rush of sensation from the memory of that first encounter. The touch of him, the smell of him, the sense of him in the air; that overtly masculine presence. I fought hard to stop my eyes from turning green.

Kael nodded. "I... Well, I'd seen the kind of guys you liked and the kind of guys you didn't. I made a point of being the kind you liked."

I looked him up and down. "Wasn't that hard."

"No. I guess I was lucky to be your type." He shot me a charged glance. "I still feel lucky about that."

"So you set out to seduce me with an eye to taking me down."

He had the grace to look guilty as he nodded. "As far as I knew, you were just a killer."

"So why didn't you take me down?"

He shook his head. "Well, it didn't take me long to figure out that if I tried to tackle you alone, then you'd break me in half like a twig. But also... There was something about you. I guess I didn't buy it - didn't buy you as a killer." He gave a rueful smile. "Or maybe I just didn't want to believe it. I liked you."

I nodded. I could identify with that. I still wondered how much of my trusting these guys was a matter of desperation to save Layla combined with genuine belief in them, and the fact that I really, really wanted to trust them. We were all in the same boat - on separate sides but wanting to believe we were on the same, struggling to find a way to trust each other because there was an unspoken bond between us that went beyond trust, and which could not be denied.

"When we met on the second night," Kael went on, "I asked Milo to come with, to back me up. But by the time he'd arrived, I was... well, I was enjoying our time together and I had to put Milo off."

"Which Milo got a bit pissed about," said Milo. "Until I danced with you."

"I was suspicious when I found you in my bedroom," said Gage, jumping ahead. "But then we got to talking and..."

They all looked at each other, unable to put it into words.

"There's a connection," I said, voicing the sense that each of them felt. Perhaps they had needed me to be the one to say it, to join in their confession. "I felt it, too."

The only connection I had felt to a guy in over three hundred years was a physical one, but there was no denying that this was more than that. It was hard to say, but once I had said it, it felt like a weight lifted that had borne down on me for the longest time.

The guys smiled, and then they kissed me, one by one, as if sealing the honesty of what we had said with a kiss. It didn't matter that there were three of them and one of me. This was the situation and, frankly, numbers felt like the least of the obstacles to it.

"So what now?" I asked. I knew what was next for me, but didn't want to assume anything from them.

"Now, we get Layla back," said Kael, and Milo and Gage backed him up with their eyes.

"She's my sister." Much as I appreciated their help, I didn't want them to feel obligated out of guilt over all that had happened.

"And it's our job," said Gage.

"Just because certain areas of the Lawkeepers have become corrupt," Milo went on, "doesn't mean we don't still believe in the principles we swore to uphold. We're determined to keep doing our job and doing it right."

"And that means getting your sister back," finished Kael.

I nodded. "Okay, then." I'm not great at thanking people - that sort of emotional display doesn't sit well with me - but I was sure they all knew how grateful I was. "Sounds like we need to look at the involvement of your friends."

Kael nodded. "If the Lawkeepers are involved in this, then there's a reason. And based on the level of involvement - changing reports, inventing victims - it goes right to the top."

"Marin Self is head of the Lawkeepers," said Milo. "Lawkeeper Chief of Operations. He'd be the one to talk to, he'd know where Layla is. But I've no idea how we'd get near him."

"The guy's got security you wouldn't believe," Gage nodded. "Never goes anywhere without a team of bodyguards. All Elite Lawkeepers..." His voice trailed off as the three men looked at each other.

"No one's more Elite than you," I finished the thought.

The plan was not without its problems, chiefly because of the events of the previous night. Before they defended me and helped me get away, Kael, Milo and Gage would have been ideal candidates for the protection of their Chief of Operations, but now...

"It all depends on who those guys were who attacked us yesterday," Kael had pointed out.

"They weren't Lawkeepers?" I asked.

Kael shook his head. "They didn't fight like Lawkeepers and they carried blessed silver. My guess is that they're someone's private army. That person must have some connection to the Lawkeepers and right up to Chief Self. Chances are, that after we helped Sonja get away last night, they reported back to their boss, who in turn told Self what happened. Now, we can sell it that we were supposed to bring you in alive, not hand you over to vigilante justice, so we were right to fight on your side, but there will still be some questions."

"Like why did we take you off someplace rather than bringing you in to Central," nodded Gage.

"Bottom line," added Milo, "we don't look as trustworthy to Lawkeeper Central as we did yesterday, and they might be a bit cagey about putting us anywhere near Self, let alone on his security detail."

"But," Kael went on, thinking out loud, "I think we could tell them that we were worried about the prisoner's - that's you, Sonja - about the prisoner's safety. After all, we were attacked by a lot of people, and even rogue vampires are entitled to a trial before we let them see the sun rise. Taking you back to Central would be dangerous - that's where they'd be looking for you."

"You think you can spin that?" I asked, uncertainly.

Kael shrugged. "It's a bit thin. In fact, it's fucking thin. But it should be believable enough for us to still be able to walk into Lawkeeper Central without the alarms going off and us ending up in the cells."

That was all they needed for the next part of the plan. There was no way they would now be assigned to Marin Self as bodyguards, and asking to be assigned would just look suspicious. But the bodyguards' body armor hid their faces.

"I've got a friend in admin," said Milo. "I trust her. She can find out who's on bodyguard detail."

By paging three of the guards from the locker room, the guys could overpower them, then take their uniforms and their places on the detail. Then they would be close enough to Marin Self to abduct him. But...

"Lawkeeper Central is probably the highest security building in the city," Gage pointed out. "Even if we take out all the other bodyguards, we'd never get Self out of the building."

"We need to get him out of the building," mused Kael.

"If there was an emergency, he'd be evacuated," said Milo. "Standard procedure. We could set off a fire alarm."

Gage shook his head. "Then the whole building would be evacuated. We'd never get him away quickly in all that chaos."

"It needs to be something targeted specifically at Self," agreed Kael.

"Me," I spoke up.

The guys looked at me, questioningly.

"It should be me. After last night, he has to assume I know the connection between the Lawkeepers and Layla's kidnap. He has to assume that I've figured out his involvement. Is there anything more scary than the most powerful vampire in the city coming to get you?"

The guys looked at each other, sharing their concerns without words. Kael spoke, "You're probably the most wanted person in the city right now. And if you turn up at Central when we've told them that you're in protective custody, then they'll know you've broken out of a safe house, which makes you even more of a risk."

"Isn't that the point? To scare the shit out of Self so he wants out of the building? If he so much as sees my face on a security cam, then he'll be bricking it."

"Yes, but..." Kael pulled a face. "What I'm saying is; they won't be taking any chances. Every Lawkeeper will be on orders of 'shoot to kill'. They'll be breaking out the wooden bullets for you." Wooden bullets were not as reliable as a good old-fashioned stake to the heart - you had to be incredibly accurate where you aimed - but theoretically, they could take a vamp down at a distance. "We don't want to put you in danger."

I sneered. "Is it possible you've forgotten who I am? I don't get put in danger; I put others in danger. Besides, there's no risk I wouldn't take for Layla."

The guys could see I was serious, and that arguing with me was anyway, a waste of their time.

"We have a plan."

All of which, is how I came to be trudging through the sewers under Central Plaza at midday.

The one problem with the plan - beyond how dangerous it was - was that it had to be carried out in the day and that meant I had to get to Lawkeeper Central through the sunlight. Obviously, you couldn't get into the building itself through the sewers - if you could, then that would be a pretty serious security issue - but you could get into the covered walkway that ran across the plaza, allowing people to get where they were going sheltered from sun or rain or whatever other weather was going on at the time. Because of its proximity to Central, the walkway was strewn with security cams, which automatically registered faces, fed them through a processor, and compared them to the massive Lawkeeper database, flagging up anyone whose facial features were within a seventy-five percent tolerance of someone on the wanted lists. I wasn't going to try and disguise myself, so I would be a hundred percent match for the person right at the top of that wanted list - me.

What exactly was going to happen when they spotted a 'rogue vampire' coming towards them in broad daylight, I wasn't sure. Things were going to get interesting very quickly, and quite possibly, terminally. But it ought to be enough to make sure that Marin Self was evacuated, and would also provide a distraction as he was being abducted by his own bodyguards.

Guided by an app on my phone - City Sewer Stroller - I made my way to a metal ladder that led up out of the damp tunnel to a circular exit set in the roof. I climbed up and pushed open the lid.

The reactions of passersby ranged from politely ignoring me to wide-eyed astonishment, and I paid no attention to any of them. I had come out at the southeast extreme of the Plaza and the walkway would take me across in the direction of Lawkeeper Central. It would not be a pleasant walk, and I winced in the daylight.

The roof over the walkway protected me from direct sunlight - which would have been fatal - but even filtered daylight is not good for a vampire. My skin itched and I was already feeling a bad headache coming on. I had put on dark glasses, but even so, my eyeballs were starting to feel like they were being cooked inside my head. I was very aware of the fact that, as I walked down the center of the path, I was six feet from death on either side. If someone pushed me, then I was a smoking pile of ash on the stones of the Plaza. That was something that might come up later - normal bullets might not be able to kill me, but if they knocked me backwards, I was dead already.

As I walked with stern determination towards Central, I was aware of the cameras all around me, swiveling their bird-like heads to catch every face as it passed. They had clocked me already, and it didn't take long for shit to start getting real.

The sounds of walking and talking that pervaded the Plaza, suddenly became more urgent; there was a buzz of interest and excitement from up ahead and the sound of clomping feet that suggested heavy boot running. I kept on my path like a guided missile.

Seconds later, I saw the Lawkeepers spreading out across the plaza, heavily armed, ushering civilians out of the way. What would they do about those alongside me under the walkway? It might not matter, many of them were trying to get out of the way already, noticing the hubbub and seeming to sense that it was centered on me.

"Sonja Parish!" The voice blared over a megaphone. "We have you surrounded! Stop where you are!"

I did as I was told as panicking civilians ran to get away, escorted by Lawkeepers, who darted in towards me as close as they dared and ran away even quicker dragging humans with them by the arm. Maybe it's wrong, but it does feel good to be feared by that many people, to that extent.

"Give yourself up!" the voice blared again.

I pointed towards the sun. "I have a skin thing. Doctor says I need to keep out of direct sunlight."

The man with the megaphone had the decency to look sheepish. How do you get to be a sergeant in an organization that deals exclusively with vamps without knowing that sunlight is a serious no-no?

"We will come to you! You will surrender yourself!" It might have been my imagination but I thought there was just a hint of question in that last instruction.

I didn't answer, but started walking again towards Central. I was pushing my luck a bit, but I had to be sure that Self was scared enough to evacuate. This had to work, and that meant that it couldn't seem like I was going to just roll over.

"Stop or we fire!"

This rapid response squad didn't seem to be armed with wooden bullets - credit where credit is due; Lawkeepers do only kill vamps as a last resort - but if I kept on walking, the wooden bullets wouldn't be long in coming. And, of course, the impact of a normal bullet could still kill me if it knocked me into the sun. To keep walking was not a safe thing to do.

I started to run.

"Stop!"

Presenting a moving target, at least I made things more difficult for them, especially at the speed I can move. Those to either side of me couldn't get a bead on me, and those in front were too busy getting out of my way to get a shot in. Those behind me were still a problem. Gun shots rang out and I weaved from side to side, making it difficult for them to aim, and forcing them to run the risk of hitting their own people.

Screams and cries from up ahead heralded what I had been expecting. The Rogue Squad was arriving; Lawkeepers specifically trained to take out rogue vamps, armed with wooden bullets and other vampire-killing paraphernalia. Time for me to leave this party.

The next drain cover arrived just in time and I pried it open. A bullet scored an angry path across my arm but I shrugged off the pain - I'd had worse. I dropped into the sewer, then pulled the cover back into place.

"After her!" was the last thing I heard before the cover cut off all sound.

With an effort, I yanked one of the metal ladder rungs out of the wall into which it was set, the crumbling masonry barely putting up a fight. I jammed it into the drain cover's fastenings, twisting the rung to lock it in place. They'd get it open, but by that time, I would be long gone.

As I dropped into the sewer and ran off as fast as I could, before they thought of going in through another drain cover, I smiled to myself. This part of the plan had gone pretty well. Now, I just had to worry about the other half of it.

Kael pulled the black bag off of the head of the man tied to a chair in the safe house, to reveal the scared face of a man in his early fifties, with greyed hair and wild, blue eyes.

"What do you want?! I..." The words died on his tongue when he recognized me.

"Looks like we can skip the introductions, Mr. Self, and I guess you know your best Lawkeepers, too."

Kael, Milo and Gage stood behind me, a wall of muscle.

"You're all traitors!" spat Self angrily.

Kael shook his head. "We all swore to uphold the principles on which the Lawkeepers were founded. I think you're the traitor, Chief Self."

"I don't know what you mean."

I bared my teeth. "It's about Layla Parish, and don't pretend you didn't know that already. You only get so many lies before you start paying for them."

Kael strode up to Self. "You know who and what she is, Mr. Self, and you know what we are. Even the three of us together would struggle to keep her from hurting you - and after what you've done, I'm not sure how hard we'll try. I'd say your best option is to tell us what you know."

Self's eyes passed between us, gauging his chances and not liking them. "You don't understand."

"Then explain," suggested Milo.

"You don't understand what it takes to keep the Lawkeepers running," Self snapped. "The money it takes, the political situation. I get death threats from Vampire Liberation groups who think we're too hard on vampires, alongside death threats from groups who think we're protecting them when we should be exterminating them." He shook his head. "Overall, we do a good - a fair - job in a difficult situation. But to be able to do that, certain concessions have to be made, certain palms need to be greased. What do a couple of individual vampire lives matter against keeping our organization intact?"

"If our organization isn't honest," growled Gage from behind me, "it isn't intact."

Self laughed hollowly. "Idealism. How ridiculous."

"What's any of this got to do with Layla?" I asked.

Again, Self's eyes travelled between us and about the room. He looked like a cornered rat, trying to find any way out. He was scared of someone else almost as much as us, and that was saying something, given his situation. How scary did a person have to be that Self was considering lying when he knew what I would do to him? How powerful did a person have to be that even the Lawkeeper Chief of Operations was scared of him?

"The people I'm talking about don't want money," Self finally continued. "They have money to last nine lifetimes. They want something else. There is a certain generous benefactor whose support we need, who has a..." Self paused to pick his words, "... penchant, for vampires."

"A vamp lover." That wasn't rare.

But Self shook his head. "I doubt very much that he loves them. He likes to have power over them. And the more powerful the vampire, the more he likes it, and the worse he treats them."

Usually, vamp lovers are the subs. I had heard of people who liked to control vampires, to be the dominant ones, and sometimes vamps like that - I had certainly enjoyed the guys going rough on me. But there is always, in the background, the knowledge that, really, it is the vamp in charge, and if the human forgets that, then they don't last long. Actual mistreatment of vampires by vamp lovers is rare for that reason.

"But Layla isn't powerful," I pointed out. Even for her relatively young age, Layla was a weak vampire.

Self laughed. "I'm sure the gentleman in question is enjoying having your friend as a fuck-toy but she is not..."

The sentence went unfinished as I slapped him across the face and he spat blood.

Kael stepped in. "Don't."

I met his gaze. "Don't, what? He had it coming. And considering that I could break his jaw between my finger and thumb, I think I went easy." I turned back to Self, who was looking properly cowed. "You were saying?"

"He doesn't want your friend. He wants you."

Suddenly, it made sense. Even with the might of Lawkeeper Central covering for him, picking me up off the street wouldn't have been easy. I would rather die than be taken prisoner, so all his blessed silver wouldn't help. But using Layla made me compromised. I had to stay alive for her, and he could use her as bait.

"Are you alright?" asked Gage.

I realized I was smiling. "He only had to ask."

"What?"

"I'd have traded myself for her in a second."

Self shook his head. "He likes the hunt."

But while I was processing the news about Layla, Kael had clearly been thinking about something else. "You said 'people'. When you talked about greasing palms. For how many 'generous benefactors' are you procuring vampires as their personal playthings?"

Self didn't look happy to be asked the question. "Ten or so. But they bore easily and the vampires don't always last, so the turnover is... the demand is more or less constant."

"The vampires don't always last?" Gage's voice was filled with disgust.

"They seem so hard to kill," said Self. "And yet, have such simple weaknesses. Chain one up with blessed silver and use a mirror to direct sunlight onto various parts of their body and you can make the toughest vampire shriek. If you want to," he added, as if he hadn't seen that very thing happening. "He won't be doing that to your friend. She's not powerful enough to interest him."

"You're running a sex slave ring," said Milo. It was not so much said with horror as with disbelief. The group to which he had dedicated his life was corrupt in a way that made his skin crawl.

"They're just vampires."

I could have killed him, but I was too sickened at that moment to even take pleasure from it.

"Now, Chief Self," I leaned in close, "I think you know which part of the conversation we've reached. You are going to give me the name of the man who has Layla, and you are going to tell me where I can find her. That is going to happen. Everyone has their breaking point, and it would save me time and you pain if we don't have to locate yours."

There was terror in Self's eyes, but I wasn't sure it was because of me. "You don't know what he's capable of."

"You don't know what I'm capable of. I can kill you slowly, inch by inch, over long hours. That is the easy way - you don't want to know the hard."

But Self met the threat with eyes wide open. "It won't matter. There's nothing you can do to save her. He's too powerful."

"I'm pretty powerful, too."

"You don't know the meaning of the word."

Whatever darkness there is in me, I don't like torturing people, even those who have wronged me and hurt those I love. That said, I would have tortured Self if I had thought it would work. Torture isn't always an effective way of getting at the truth because people tell you what they think you want to hear rather than the truth, but it wasn't that that stopped me, it was Self's eyes. As I looked into them, I saw a man who wasn't for breaking. Fortunately, when you're a vampire, there is another way.

"Sonja!" Kael called out to stop me, but it was too late. I bit into Marin Self's throat and felt the hot blood pour into my mouth. Self clutched at the arms of the chair to which he was tied as I drank deep. It's impossible to accurately describe to a human what feeding feels like to a vampire. It's more than just nourishment, it's like taking on life, and it can be hard to stop, especially for young, inexperienced vampires, or for those who haven't fed for a while. Like me. The taste of Self's blood was like liquid euphoria, and I could feel it coursing through me. I could taste his fear in the blood, which just made it more piquant.

"Sonja."

I think I would have stopped anyway, even if I hadn't heard Kael's voice. I think I would have stopped before I drained him. But I was still glad that Kael had stepped in just then to pull me back from the brink.

I let go and wiped my mouth. Self looked upwards, the movement looking like an effort. His face was ashen, his eyes heavy-lidded.

"You shouldn't have done that," breathed Gage, shocked.

"Get him something to eat and drink," I said. "He'll be fine. Now," I looked down at Self. "Tell me what I want to know."

If I had turned him - and no way did I want Marin Self added to the ranks of the vampire - then he would have answered immediately, such was the power of that relationship. As it was, I simply had a hold over him and it would fade fast. Even so, and weakened as he was, he struggled against himself to keep his mouth shut.

But the power of blood is hard to deny. "His name is Cosgrove Lafferty."

"The tech giant," Milo muttered.

"He is keeping Layla at his private mansion outside the city."

I flicked a look at Milo, who nodded - he knew where the place was.

"Thank you, Mr. Self." I smiled. "You've done well."

"He'll kill you," Self murmured. "At least, he'll kill you." He indicated the guys. "You," back to me, "you'll wish he'd killed you. He's been trying to find a way to add you to his collection for years. He has plans." Self's head drooped with exhaustion and he shook it to himself. "I was there once. I'll never forget the screams. I've never felt so sorry for vampires."

"But you still handed them over to him," I snarled.

Self looked up, pathetically. "Of course, I did. I didn't want those screams to be mine."

Gage untied Self and locked him in a room where Milo brought him food and water. He was soon asleep. He would recuperate, regain his lost blood, and regret everything he had done.

I sat silent. Was Layla enduring the tortures Lafferty inflicted on the more powerful vampires he encountered? Now, I was remembering Olga Akinova, a vamp nearly as powerful as me, who had vanished mysteriously - everyone had thought I'd killed her. There was the one who called himself the Leopard, too, and Kieran Knight. Now, I thought about it, there were more than a few powerful vamps who had left the city unexpectedly over the past few years. How many had met their end in the dungeons of Cosgrove Lafferty?

And Layla? I steeled my mind against the thought. She wasn't powerful enough to be of any interest. Her weakness would protect her. Perhaps she wasn't in the best place, but she wasn't being tortured. She was fine. Fine. Fine.

Repeating the mantra in my head, I looked across at the guys, and found them all as introspective as me. They had just found out that everything they had believed in, everything they had spent their adult lives working for, was a lie. They had, in their own way, been cogs in an organization that advocated kidnap, torture and sexual slavery.

At that moment, I wasn't sure who had more to deal with; them or me.