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“Will you keep it down?” Slade warned. “All I know is this is the direction that black van was headed. I lost sight of it a few miles from here.”

“Lucky us, you just happened to be in the area when that explosion went off,” Colin’s sneering answer rumbled at Liam’s back.

Slade snarled. “You got something to say to me, then say it.”

Fists connected with flesh and a body slammed into the wall.

Liam spun to face them, snapping, “Knock it off, you morons. I swear, it’s like hunting with a couple of rabid squirrels, both of you grabbing each other’s nuts.”

Slade stepped back, a promise of retribution on his ugly mug. Colin peeled himself off the wall, flashing an anytime-you’re-man-enough grin.

Liam’s eyeballs rolled to the ceiling. Gods help him. ColinandSlade. How the hell did he manage to draw the short straw? They didn’t have time for this schoolyard bullshit.

He peered around the corner into the shadowed passage. Filtered moonlight spilled through a broken window, and a howling gust of wind stirred dust motes into the air. Death’s fragrant calling card lingered in its wake. The metallic tang of blood hit his nostrils. Maybe Slade was on the right track after all.

“Let’s go.” Liam rushed forward in a low crouch, then stopped short.

Three bodies lay in the corridor in front of an open door. The dead stared with unseeing eyes, faces frozen in an expression of pain. Blood leaked from their noses and ears. The fine hairs on the back of Liam’s neck prickled. What the hell could have done something like that? If anything had happened to Jericho or Alex…

Colin clasped Liam’s arm, holding him back. Fuck that. Liam jerked free, whipped the blade from his hip, and gave the metal door a shove. It swung open with a screech of hinges, then stuck, thumping against something solid.

Liam squeezed through the opening, and the scent of blood thickened, its source a sticky puddle beneath his boots. He stepped over a male missing half his face.

Alex’s red hair drew him like a homing beacon. She lay on Jericho’s chest—so still. Liam’s heart jackknifed. “Sunshine?”

Slowly, her head lifted, and she turned toward the sound of his voice.

The breath he’d held shot from his lungs. Praise the gods. She was alive. “Fuck. Thought we lost you. Is Jericho—”

Static crackled in the air, nipping the skin on his arms.

What in tarnation was that? He waved the others back, then took a cautious step forward.

“Stop. Don’t come any closer,” Alex warned, hovering over the fallen male. Her metallic silver eyes sparked with fury, and fangs scraped her bottom lip.

His heart did a cannonball into his stomach. “Vampire,” he grated.

“Holy shit.” Colin peered around his shoulders. “But she can’t… She’s a… That’s not possible. Right?”

“It’s possible, but it isn’t good.” Liam shook his head. From the wild gleam in Alex’s eyes, something had gone wrong.

She leveled him with a wary glare, one with littlerecognition.

“Easy there, Sunshine. We’re here to rescue you.” How the hell was a male his size supposed to appear non-threatening? Smaller. He needed to get smaller.

He took a knee. Cartilage cracked in the battered joint. At least from this angle, it was easier to see the rise and fall of Jericho’s chest. Blood trickled from Jericho’s nose, just like the corpses outside.Shit.

“Alex, honey. Jericho needs help. How about we get the two of you out of here?”

Her vacant gaze followed the direction of Liam’s stare. “He’s better now,” she murmured, stroking Jericho’s cheek. “They tried to take him from me. But I fixed him.”

“Sunshine, I understand you’re confused. But you can trust me. Let me help you.” Liam held out a hand.

“Can’t.” She pressed back into Jericho and raked her fingers through her hair, grabbing her head. “Can’t help me,” she groaned, rocking. “Too many voices. Can’t control it.”

“Alex, just take my hand.”

“No!” She snapped out her palm. “Don’t touch me.”