broke loose. They came pouring out like the house was on fire.”
“They were tipped.” Ryan said. “Either they noticed the surveillance or they were warned.”
“We weren’t seen. I’m sure of it,” Steffan said. “We hadn’t moved out of those trees in two hours.”
“Could Molyneux have spotted you when he left?” Ari suggested.
“No, he turned the other direction. Never came near us.”
Ryan’s jaw tightened, and he looked at Andreas. The vampire stared back. It wasn’t hard for anyone to see what Ryan was thinking.
“We’ll worry about it later,” Ari said, before something got started between the two. “Let’s check the house. See if we can find our vamps.”
Ryan nodded once. He wasn’t a happy man. Andreas started across the lawn.
Victor, one of the four vampires Andreas had brought, caught up with Ryan. “Shouldn’t we be chasing the van? We can’t be that far behind. If we lose them, we might never find Marcus.”
Ryan shook his head. “They’re long gone from here. Patrol officers will call us if they spot them.”
“How likely is that?” Victor grumbled. “We should try.”
“It’s too late,” Ryan said, not without sympathy. “Now, let’s go get the evidence in this house before we lose that too.”
Victor looked like he wanted to continue the argument, but Andreas shook his head. Victor subsided into a sulky silence as they entered the house. Ryan and his team began clearing the first floor, the wolves sniffed around the untidy mess, and the vampires charged into the basement. Ari started flipping on lights, until she heard Andreas yell. She dashed for the basement stairs, Ryan and Steffan close behind.
At first glance, the poorly lit basement looked like every other old cellar, damp and cluttered with junk. Ordinary, except for the smell. The faintly sweet scent of vampire mingled with a stronger stench of decay. Ari’s witch senses recoiled, and she paused halfway down the stairs. A single dirty lightbulb revealed a gruesome sight in the far south corner. As she moved closer, she saw a nude male vampire wrapped in heavy ropes and secured to the wall by chains. On the far side of the room, a shrunken creature with leathery skin was confined in a similar way. For once, Andreas’s still face spoke volumes. They’d found the missing vampires.
The chained victim whimpered intermittently, as if in great pain. The other creature sagged, limp, unresponsive, so mummified that Ari hadn’t immediately identified it as another vampire. Andreas knelt beside the first victim. Puzzled that the other vampires weren’t helping, Ari hurried forward. As Andreas started to unwrap the ropes, she shoved his hands away, finally seeing the problem. Over the ropes, both vampires were wrapped in thin, silver chains.
“Ryan, I need your help.” She unwound the first layer as Ryan took Andreas’s place. “Silver isn’t strong,” she explained in answer to the question on Ryan’s face, “but it immobilizes vampires and burns their skin. The rest of this stuff—the iron chains and the ropes—is just overkill.”
As soon as they’d freed the first victim, Andreas pulled Ari back and nudged Ryan to one side. “Stay back,” he warned. “They’ve been starved. This one will be desperate for blood. Healing demands it. And you will smell like ambrosia.”
Ryan jumped back, nearly tripping over a broken chair. The vamp’s eyes flew wide open, his nostrils flared. An intense primal look focused on Ari. She backed out of reach, more than willing to let Andreas take charge.
Ryan and Ari moved to the second creature. The cop’s face displayed his raw emotions at what he was seeing. Revulsion, yes, but also pity. His biases had limits. Even after they removed the ropes and chains, the vamp didn’t move. His life force was so faint, Ari wasn’t positive it was there. She was afraid they were too late.
Andreas crouched beside her. He reached out and gently touched the creature’s face. After a moment, he told them there was still hope. “Where the life force exists, even a flicker, there is possibility.”
Ari wasn’t sure whether Andreas was being realistic or fantasizing the outcome he wanted. The emaciated creature was young Marcus.
“This kind of healing requires the blood of a master level vampire,” Andreas said. “Marcus and Gordon must be taken to our community for treatment. Gordon’s recovery should be swift. At least physically. It is early to predict his emotional stability. Denial of blood is the worst torture imaginable for a vampire.”
Ryan and Ari gave their approval to his plan, and the vampires prepared for departure. A big vamp cradled