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All I needed to see were Dorian”s fangs to understand the mess Dan was in. He was surrounded by people with darkness inside them. My stomach clenched with dread as I heard him give another low cry. Dan was scared to death. What had these people done to him? And who the hell were they, anyway?

”I don’t like this,” the cold voice said. It was hard to tell which voices were coming from which figures in the shadowy distance. It was like they were in their own little smoke screen. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, or a clever ruse to hide their identities.

Something really isn”t right. The vampires” senses were messed up; they would”ve sensed true darkness much earlier in normal circumstances. I had seen how powerful Dorian”s senses were before this. We waited in tense silence as the group discussed their circumstances among themselves. They made no attempt to lower their voices, so I assumed they didn”t know we were here.

”Stay low,” Arlonne muttered. So, she was worried that they could sense us. I hid with the others, taking a few steps back to get better coverage from the shrubs. Above our heads, the dome sloped downward. It was narrower and shallower here. I could see the top of it, although the atmosphere up there was hazy.

Sike was right when he’d explained how he’d first felt—unnatural and unsettled— during our initial discovery of this place. The Pocket Space was wrong. I had a feeling the people surrounding Dan were part of the problem.

”I”m hungry,” Dorian whispered next to me. I nodded, knowing full well what his extended fangs meant, but Cam”s face went stony. Chandry placed her hand over her mouth, as if trying to contain her own urge to feed. None of our vampire teammates had fed in a few days, and while I”d seen them go longer than that, they preferred to eat more frequently.

”Over here,” Bryce whispered. We followed him several yards to the left, behind the dense plants, and when I peeked out through one of the openings, the smoky shadows had faded around the group and revealed the gathered figures.

There were ten of them, all different shapes and sizes, in the same uniform. It would make them hard to tell apart. I noted hooded black cloaks over bodysuits; the latter I could only see thanks to one feminine figure having thrown her cloak back. Her hand rested on her hip as she stared down at Dan. I couldn”t see her expression, but Dan”s cowering posture said everything we needed to know.

”Not even good for information,” said the figure next to the woman. This guy, an older male from his tone, had his hood pulled up, like some of the others. For the first time, I realized that there was a gold edge to the hem of their uniforms, in neat stitches. It glinted beautifully in the light.

”We could take him back,” said the woman purposefully. Back where? A figure across the huddle let out a dark laugh.

”And what purpose will the boss have for him?” the other person asked scathingly. Dan squirmed further into the ground, as if he wanted to burrow down. ”He”s dead weight. You know what we do with dead weight.”

My pulse staggered. A gang of random people or ragtag anarchist survivors was one thing. But these people had a leader, a base, and uniforms. Whoever they were, they were organized. But to what purpose? I glanced at Dorian, who furrowed his brow worriedly in response.

Funny enough, I don”t get along well with mysterious leaders who have evil followers. And they had to be evil, if they wanted to kill poor Dan just because he wasn”t useful to them. What had he ever done to them?

”Are they human?” I asked under my breath.

Dorian shook his head, and Arlonne growled softly, her lips curling to show her extended fangs.

”They aren”t like anything I’ve ever seen before,” she said.

Finn, Cam”s squirrel, poked his head out for a moment and nervously sniffed the air. It was like everyone but humans could pick up on how off these guys were. Luckily for me, the menacing cloaks and casual discussion about murder gave it away.

”You don”t make the decisions,” the woman cut in icily.

”Oh, excuse me,” the scathing figure said. I judged their heights from a distance. With the cloaks, I guessed a few were around the average size for humans, while others skewed more toward vampires. One, the man with his hood up next to the woman, was tall enough to be a small ruler.

It was a variety that made me nervous. Dorian would”ve said if they were arbiters, but what other humanoid creatures existed besides the obvious ones from the Immortal Plane? Could they be rulers?Dan sat like a stone on the ground. His tears had dried for the moment. Whoever this group was, they had no compassion.

”We”ll have to go in soon,” Dorian said softly, but his tone had an edge. He didn”t trust these people, and neither did I. To the side, my teammates lined up in preparation to ambush the group.

The woman bent over Dan with a sigh. ”Well, maybe we can just tie him up and leave him to rot. There are other energy signatures in the area. We might want to attend to those first.”

Dorian stiffened beside me. Could these people sense us?

A rustle caught our attention. From outside the circle, a familiar flash of long brown hair appeared, and a high-pitched voice spoke.

”Leave him alone,” Jessica shouted. Her eyes were wide and wild. Dark circles marred her usually composed face, from exhaustion, possibly, or smeared mascara. With her teeth bared, Jessica looked crazier than I”d ever seen her. When had she gotten separated from Arlonne?

That idiot!

She was going to get herself killed. Jessica proudly shoved a pointed stick toward the group. It was made from mortal bark, but she must”ve found it here. Perhaps some debris that the Ghost had brought back by accident? Fear filled her face as the tallest figure, the man, rounded on her. He towered over her, even with her model-like height.

”What do we have here?” the woman asked, amused. She was cool and collected. Jessica”s face flickered with worry, but her eyes hardened when they landed on Dan again.

”Leave him alone,” she said with a snarl. Her voice rose as she gathered her courage. ”I don”t know what you want with Dan, but you can”t have him.”

Arlonne buried her face in her hand. What was this woman doing? I shook my head in disbelief. She really thought she could somehow take them all with a stick. They were a large group, and from a few of their stances, I suspected warriors might be among them. Jessica and her vlog didn”t stand a chance.

She”s brave, I”ll give her that. Even if she makes terrible choices…

The one with the scathing tone loped forward gruffly. He walked with a slight limp. In one rough motion, he pinned Jessica”s arm behind her back. The stick clattered to the ground. Dan jerked up a bit. He was breathing hard, delirious, like Joseph had been. Probably dehydrated.

Jessica let out a dramatic yell, but it held no sway over the group.

The woman snorted. ”Well, this one”s livelier. What are we to do with her?”

”She”s interesting,” the large, hooded man said. Underneath his cloak, I could see a pair of sharp eyes as he surveyed Jessica, who fought against the other man”s grip.

”Interesting?” the woman echoed. Her collar was high. When she turned to look at the large man, a flash of arctic blue eyes made my heart speed up. They were as cold as ice.

”She”s got something…” The man spoke vaguely as they dragged her into the circle.

”Take me and let Dan go,” Jessica cried. Oh, Jessica, you are not in the position to be bargaining.

The large man moved like a storm cloud. He did a semicircle around Jessica, muttering to himself. I couldn”t catch what he was saying, but it made the woman let out a mocking laugh.

”Her?” The woman sounded skeptical.

”Yes, she”s special,” the man confirmed. The figure behind Jessica, who had her immobilized, let out a low whistle.

”How lucky for us,” Jessica”s captor said. She yanked against his grip again, but it was futile. These guys were strong. All the while, the other figures in the group remained silent as they watched the show. A few times, I was sure one of them would turn to our hidden group and announce our arrival, but none of them did. Perhaps, if some of them could detect auras, their senses were as scrambled as the vampires”.

My heart squeezed painfully at the idea that we might be dealing with rogue vampires. It was highly possible some of them had fled from the Mortal Plane after seeing what kind of treatment they were going to get there… but it could be a group mixed with humans, given the shorter statures of some of these characters. Regular humans shouldn’t have been able to survive for months in a place like this. How were they getting here?

Jessica”s panic melted into a curious expression as she raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows at the hooded man. ”I”m special?” It was every person”s dream to be told that. Dan let out a weak cough and muttered something, but he rested his head back on the ground. He didn”t have the strength to bring Jessica back down to earth.

These guys are good.

”You”re part of a group of people we”re looking for,” the woman said stiffly. ”You should come with us.”

”Why?” Jessica asked. Her tone was hostile but intrigued. It was like watching a cult draw in a new member with special promises. My hand balled into a fist as we waited, helpless to do anything for the moment. If we ran in now, the group might kill Jessica and Dan before we could get to them. Plus, we needed information about these guys. They weren”t out for a simple jaunt in some bubble tunnels.

”If you come with us, we can promise you a great destiny,” the hooded man said. When he bent over to get closer to her, Jessica let out a little gasp. She must”ve seen his face. I cursed the fact that I couldn”t see it for myself. ”You”re going to do great things. You”ve already felt your powers growing, I presume?”

Jessica opened her mouth, but for what must have been the first time in her life, she was speechless. She gave a surprisingly tame nod.

”We can answer your questions about the universe and help you adjust to what”s happening to you. You”ve suffered without anyone who understands you, I”m sure,” the man told her. His charming voice was like hot butter on toast. Even I felt swayed toward him, as if he might be a wise paternal figure who could lead one through life without any trouble. Instantly, my mind flashed with the faces of the only purely confident men I”d met in my life—Irrikus and my Uncle Alan—people driven by power and their own egos.

”Why did it start?” Jessica asked, lapsing back into her interrogative mode. This woman had some sense in her, but she was intrigued. Maybe Jessica”s strange powers had fueled her obsession with the Leftovers. Now, it made a lot more sense why she had an obsession with the supernatural. She might be turning supernatural herself… I found myself wanting the answer to her question.

”We can show you why,” the man promised. The woman beside him crossed her arms. Jessica looked between them, sizing them up. ”If you come with us, we can show you an entirely different world.”

”This isn”t good,” Dorian whispered to me. ”These guys are dark. I don”t know what they”re planning, but it”s not good. I”m getting hungrier… It’s harder to resist after you haven’t fed in a while.” His eyebrows pinched together.

I nodded in agreement. ”We have to step in.” I glanced to my other teammates, who responded with looks of approval. It was time to show ourselves.

”Hey,” I called out. We sprang from our hiding place. Some of the figures started, but the others, like the woman and the large hooded man, seemed unsurprised, like they’d known we had been here the entire time. ”Jessica, you can”t trust these guys. They”re full of dark energy.”

Jessica stared at me, and then her eyes went to Dorian. Seeing his fangs extended, she gave a frustrated growl.

”I knew it,” she cried. ”You are a vampire.”

”We had to protect his identity,” I told her, feeling my skin prick underneath the gaze of the mysterious group. I didn”t want to say too much in front of them. ”Please, trust us. Ignore these guys. They”re clearly up to something.”

”Sounds like they”ve treated you badly,” the woman said in a near purr. When she looked at me, her tan skin and blue eyes cut a striking contrast. She was tall, muscular underneath her cloak. A long thin scar ran next to her left eye. She grinned wider when she spotted me looking. ”I see your anger, and I also see that you’re armed, newcomers. It sounds like you haven”t been kind to everyone you”ve found.”

You were just skeptical about Jessica”s power yourself. I bit my tongue to keep from saying so, knowing it would only be giving in to her baiting. She wanted us to look bad in front of Jessica.

”We want Dan and Jessica. We”re here to protect them,” I said evenly. Dorian was silent beside me, but he and the other vampires were intimidating figures with their silent presence and exposed fangs.

”You didn”t protect Dan,” Jessica said.

Arlonne growled. ”You were the one who got Dan kidnapped.” She let out a slow exhale. ”Look, I don”t like you much. It”s why you ran away from me when I refused to look for Dan with you, saying we should prioritize our own survival, but I”m here to save you.”

Oh, so that was how it happened. It was logical. Arlonne must have told Jessica they needed to find a safe base to recover before looking for Dan, and, again, Jessica had run off on her own.

This reminder made Jessica button her lip for the moment, but her captor clicked his tongue.

”They can”t help you find the truth,” the man with the limp said. ”We will.”

He had her number. Jessica wanted the truth. And, as much as I hated to admit it, our behavior with her—deserved, based on her grating personality—hadn”t made us trusted pals.

Jessica paused. She turned to stare at the hooded man. ”Will you let Dan go if I go with you?”

”Of course,” the man said.

”He”s lying,” Dorian snarled, but Jessica”s eyes were staring up into that hood. What did she see in this figure that she trusted so much? He was luring her in. I refused to let the civilians go like this. It was my job to prevent them from coming to harm, even if they seemed determined to dive into it. Bryce shot me a sharp look and a tiny nod, clearly thinking the same thing. We couldn”t let these weirdos get Jessica and Dan.

”We won”t let them take you,” I growled fiercely. ”It goes against my duties and my morals to see anyone endangered.”

”A human with grand morals,” the woman cooed. ”How wonderful. You”re a dime a dozen, you superhero types.”

Her comment stoked a tiny flame of anger inside me. It was thanks to ”superhero types” that this woman was alive and not floating around as destroyed particles in the chaotic aftermath of the planned apocalypse. I gritted my teeth, but she met my gaze with an assured smirk that made me want to throttle her. I suddenly wished Roxy were beside me, knowing she would have just the right one-liner to throw at this smug woman and her creepy friends.

She”s human. I”m not sure about the others, but we can take them.

Finn let out a little squeak from Cam”s backpack. He could sense the oncoming battle.

”I”m not sure,” one of the other hooded characters muttered. ”They”re not worth the fight. I don”t sense anything of interest among them.”

The large hooded man grunted in disagreement. ”I sense something. Not enough for our purposes, perhaps, but these people would be better disposed of than out running around.” When he looked our way, I felt like his gaze was right on Dorian and me. ”We can”t have any obstacles in our way.”

A tense second of silence passed as Jessica fervently whipped her head back and forth between our two groups.

”Well, if it”s a fight you want, it”s a fight you”ll get,” the woman said. Her cocky smile grew as her hand landed on the hilt of a blade hidden just beneath the curve of her open cloak.

I steeled myself for battle. Much like Jessica, I had no intention of allowing this group to run off without first answering all my questions. If they needed a good fight to convince them to talk, I was more than willing to provide it. Dorian hissed low beside me. My team was ready.