to be killed, so I did the only thing I could. I called in a favor. I decided to test Ethan’s cherished honor.

As I reached the parking garage and unlocked the car, three huge dogs came out of nowhere. Cash, of the scarred face and long hair approached, holding a gun pointed at me. “All right girly-girl, come along quiet like.”

I reached for my pistol and fired, the bullet grazing the top of his head. He fell. The others ran for cover behind a car. Another gun went off and searing pain ripped through my shoulder.

“Shit!”

I wobbled on my feet for a moment. Another bullet whizzed by my ear. I ducked behind the car, as a siren wailed in the distance, and six armed security guards raced toward us.

Cash called to the others. “Let’s go!”

They took off with the guards pursuing them. I crawled under the rental car to hide. My shoulder hurt like hell, and I was bleeding copiously. After the coast was clear, I crawled out. I stuffed a pair of panties from my knapsack under my jacket to stanch the wound, and then eased myself into the car. Reeling with pain, I drove toward the interstate.

Faint with blood loss, I pulled up to the gate at Caithness a few hours before sunrise, and buzzed Ethan. “It’s Mia, I’m hurt.”

The gate opened and I drove through. I was very weak. Ethan ran out of the house toward me. I collapsed against him.

“Who in hell’s name did this to you?”

“Brovik’s dogs,”

“What have you done? Never mind that. You need blood. I’ll take the bullet out and dress the wound. You can explain later.”

Ethan gave me warmed blood to revive me, and then fetched forceps, some soap and water and a worn white cotton sheet. “Haven’t done this in over a century.” I winced as he washed the blood away and probed the wound. He located the bullet and yanked it out with a sharp movement, applying pressure until the bleeding stopped. He tore strips from the sheet to bandage the wound. “No worries about infection, but this won’t heal overnight. It will hurt like hellfire, and you’ll need more blood. Another couple of inches and it would have hit your heart. What happened?”

I told him the whole story about killing Dirk as he dressed the wound. I ended with the decision Kurt and I had made to join Leisha.

Ethan was horrified. “Sweet bleeding Christ!”

“Gaius’s people mapped our genome. Brovik’s have isolated the mutating agent. We had no choice but to strike out on our own.”

“The three of you can’t pull Brovik down on your own! You’ll have Brovik and Gaius after you, and when word gets out the Grand Council will scream for your blood as well. Why come to me now? You should have consulted me before you totally took leave of your senses!”

“Kurt is hiding outside Munich with a band of rats. We have to help him.”

Ethan darkened. “Let him make his own way.”

“I can’t let him die!” I appealed to his sense of chivalry. “You said if I ever needed anything you’d help me.”

“Brovik will kill us all!”

“He won’t kill you.”

“Don’t bet on it. Can you get in touch with Kurt?”

“His cell is disconnected.”

“Smart. He could be tracked by it.” Ethan thought for a minute. “Incredibly risky, even if we could locate the rats.”

I broke into tears. “Please. I’m begging! I can’t live without him.”

Ethan heaved a complicated sigh, as he finished the bandage. “Very well, cara mia, I’ll do whatever I can.”

We departed for Germany on a commercial flight the next evening, landing in Munich before dawn. From there, we drove to a pensione outside the city, where Ethan booked a room, saying Brovik’s dogs might be watching the big hotels. He didn’t sleep, but ordered me to, while he got on the phone. After sunset, he went out, telling me to stay put, returning shortly with a pistol concealed in his coat.

“Where’d you get that?”

“Always ways of finding anything if you’re resourceful, let’s hope we have the same luck with Kurt. Now about this pack, they tend to frequent abandoned buildings. I’ve made some inquiries, and there are several likely places.” He laid out a map on the table. “This one however is intriguing, an abandoned tubercular sanatorium in the mountains, lots of room to house them, and convenient to the city, but secluded enough to avoid scrutiny. We’ll look there first.”

We set off in a leased car. It began to snow, the deserted