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Annabel’s body dropped in a sprawling heap long before her head stopped bouncing over the uneven ground.

“We need to move up our departure,” Dominique said without preamble as he walked into the Strikers’ hotel suite just past eleven o’clock.

Garrett, who had opened the door in a paisley silk robe, didn’t hesitate. “Okay. When?”

“Tonight. I want us to be underway and clear of this city as soon as possible.”

“What happened?” Jackson asked, rubbing his eyes as he staggered out of the suite’s bedroom in boxer briefs and a T-shirt.

“The blood-drinker who sent the attackers is dead, but she had a spy in Isao’s camp. Adilla and Esteban know I plan to return during the day with reinforcements.”

“Fuck,” Jackson muttered. “I thought Isao was such a pro?”

“He is,” Garrett argued. “He was tricked, I take it?”

“He was. He took in youngling twins who could no longer stomach the colony’s rules. One of them had a history with the woman we killed tonight, and that woman took full advantage of this to manipulate the girl into revealing everything she learned about Isao’s family and, by extension, us.”

“And took it straight to Esteban,” Jackson concluded, shaking his head. “Fuck.”

“We now must move before they realize we know this and send other operatives. We also need to take added precautions.” Dominique laid these out as he saw them, and the hunters added a few of their own until a workable plan had solidified.

“So they’re all coming now?” Garrett asked at one point.

“They all want to come. Since none of us will remain, there is no need to maintain security here.”

Garrett and Jackson exchanged a dubious look.

“They are sired to me now. I know their minds.” Though Isao had been willing to execute Carly on the spot for her hapless treachery, Dominique offered the girl a re-siring with the understanding that if he found deceit in her heart, she would still die. She submitted, sobbing, at her brother’s urging—and lived. Her brother, Lyle, submitted eagerly, his heart pure and possessed of a great deal more common sense than his twin.

“I can trust them all,” Dominique confirmed. Isao and his younglings were formidable, but how useful a pair of teenage blood-drinkers could be in this situation was debatable. Lyle was eager enough, but Carly had given herself over to boundless despair over Annabel’s deception.

Their discussions completed, Dominique reinforced his human army of two by pouring a measure of blood for each, and then left them to their preparations.

His next stop was Vancouver General. But before meeting the emotional cataclysm awaiting him there, he made a call. Samantha picked up on the second ring, and as he had hoped, Serge was nearby. The old pirate had yet to embrace the magic of his own mobile phone.

“All is quiet here, blood-child,” Serge reported. “Morbid quiet,” he added, and filled Dominique in on the suicide of Natalia’s companion. “There was no future cast in his light,” he concluded. “Without her, his life didn’t exist.”

Dominique half sagged against a wall under a dripping awning. The rain and wind had followed him into the city. “What do you see for Cassidy?”

This brought a snort. “You know I need to see someone’s light with my own eyes to know what shadows it casts in time.”

“Bien. Whatdidyou see for her the last time you saw her?”

“What I always see. She is the key to you, blood-child. She sets you free.”

“Did you ever see a child for us?”

“A child? No. No child.” No hedging or hesitation in that gruff voice, nothing to hide or obscure. “Not possible, that.”

“It was possible, Serge,” he said softly. “But she lost the child today.” Dominique braced for the inevitable declaration of all things being as they must be, but for once, the oracle stayed his tongue. “What did you see for me in what is coming?”

The reply was swift and sure. “You will face Adilla alone.”

“Non.I am bringing others.”

“Are you?” A rising note of worry in that tone. Serge caught himself a moment later. “No matter. You must deal with him alone, and you must consider all the lives tied to his.”

“All the lives tied to his are close at hand. He destroys his companions rather than allowing them to leave him. Including his younglings.”