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Her eyes opened and looked at me in confusion.

Carefully, I laid her back down and grabbed another prisoner as Ana drained the first. Without remorse, I tossed his carcass aside.

“Please, please don’t hurt me,” the woman begged as I dragged her forward.

Angrily, I slapped her across the face.

“What do you suppose you were doing to Ana?” I demanded.

I repeated the process and was relieved when Ana roused herself to fasten on.

Another person did the trick, and Ana stood unsteadily on her feet.

“Jacques!” Amelia called from the doorway. Heading towards us were five armed men carrying Julius.

“Get back from the door. Knock them out, don’t kill, we need their blood.”

As they entered, Amelia and I swung into action, taking two guards apiece, and Ana grabbed the last and drank. The colour returned to her cheeks as the blood rushed through her veins.

“I’m fine,” Ana said as I reached out.

Without an argument, I released her, and Ana turned to Amelia, who was repeating the process with Julius and James.

I took over feeding Julius and left Amelia to deal with James. Amelia looked gratefully at me as she held James’s head in her lap. James only required two people. He was still weak but could stand and walk under his own power.

The minute Julius stirred, I handed him over to Ana and took guard at the door.

“Thank you,” a weak voice muttered, and I turned to face James.

“Nothing that I didn’t owe you.”

“It’s more than that, and you know it, Jaq. Even though they could have caught you too, you stayed.”

“As I said, I owed you, James.”

“Thank you, Amelia,” Ana announced in her soft voice.

Amelia rounded on Ana angrily.

“It wasn’t just me. Jacques helped, too. What about a thank you for him?”

“You don’t understand—”

“Too damn right, I don’t. Jacques risked his life to save you, and all you do is insult him and the aid he gave you. Jaq could have left you to die and didn’t. That deserves some thanks, it doesn’t matter what Jacques did in the past, he is here now.”

“Amelia…” Ana began again.

“Don’t bother,” Amelia said sharply and turned to James.

“What’s the plan?” James questioned.

“We have to get the others out.”

“They are here?” Julius asked.

“The idiots came to rescue you tonight and got caught themselves because they thought, like Kaltons, they were invincible,” I replied bitterly.

Julius rocked back at my words. But couldn’t deny them. The Vam’pirs had acted arrogantly, and I knew Julius was plucking the images from Amelia’s mind, just like Ana.