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Alert, I glanced around, seeing machines I had no hope of understanding. I was not a scientist. A few appeared to work with blood, while others tested a substance. There were microscopes and small refrigerators. Test tubes abounded everywhere, as did syringes and other stuff.

The question was, what were they doing? How long had this been here, and was anyone aware of it? This must have been a government program, considering the armed guards. They didn’t want anyone getting in or out.

Amelia tugged on my shirt as she spied James.

Instantly, I was riled. James was in a steel cage, and the bars were at least three inches thick and were close together. He looked pale and ill and was slumped listlessly in a corner.

There was nothing in it apart from him and a bucket. Two guesses what the bucket was for. Not that we needed it, but thedebasement was infuriating. I was livid! How dare they treat a Vam’pir so?

The bastards would treat an experimental animal better.

I opened my senses and learned that James was weak from the lack of blood, and then I clicked on what they were doing.

“God!” I whispered, appalled.

The scientists, for that’s what they were, had identified James as a Vam’pir. They were taking his blood and trying to understand how it worked.

Amelia nodded pale as she caught the implications. “Why?” she asked, and I shook my head.

I wasn’t sure, and at the moment, it didn’t matter. It was impossible to attempt a rescue without help. There were simply too many, and we remained unaware of how they had captured James. Those guns might contain something that neutralised a Vam’pir.

Gently, I tugged at Amelia’s arm, and she shook her head, refusing to leave James alone.

‘Amelia, we must get help,’ I sent the thought to her.

Amelia received it and baulked.

‘Do you want both of us to end up imprisoned with James? No one will know where we are, and nobody will care. Others must be warned about this.’

Finally, Amelia nodded and rose silently.

Amelia sent a message to James, and he raised his head a little. Pretending disinterest, James glanced around the room. James blinked when he spotted me standing next to Amelia. For a brief instant, I thought James would shout out, but then he looked back down.

James’s eyes had told the story, and he wondered if I was making a move on Amelia.

Typical James.

That idea was what made me believe James was going to call out. James hadn’t, thank God, and we quietly made our way back outside.

I breathed in a sigh of relief that we hadn’t been found. Quickly, we left, dragging the body of the dead man into the forest.

“What are you doing with him?” Amelia asked.

“Bury him. Hopefully, the others down there will not realise he is gone until it is too late. He might have finished his shift and been on his way home. I bet those locked rooms are offices and there’s at least one corridor leading to cells. They’d lock that to prevent an escape. There must also be more research rooms. Help me dig a hole and we’ll put this carcass in it. While we are doing that, send out an SOS. I’ll hide my presence, so maybe any Vam’pirs in the area will come.”

Quickly, we dug a hole and rolled the body into it, and as we filled it, a vampire answered the call. Dan was a middle-aged man and quite confused as to what was happening, but he was sound of mind. He presented well and was unlike the rabble with which I had dealt with in the past.

Dan grasped the situation and wanted to go storming in, but we held him back.

“Who knows what’s happening in there?” Dan argued.

We told him to wait for others to answer, and Amelia repeated her call. It was very rare for a vampire or Vam’pir to shout an SOS. However, I was surprised when five more vampires arrived.

I sighed because they were all young and more interested in the caller than the reason for the call.

But at least they had arrived to assist. Just as I was thinking none of the Vam’pirs would answer, I got the shock of my life. I turned and faced Ami, Li’zel, Nathan, and Ricardus.

They stared at me with bitter hatred on their faces and began to leave; only Amelia stepped in and begged them not to. Quickly, Amelia explained the situation, and they settled down to listen.