hit a switch on the wall that brought the steel security shutters down around the windows and doors.

I tried to grab for the switch, but Kurt pulled me away. “We can’t leave Ethan out there!” I screamed.

“Mia, this is what he wanted! Don’t you see?” Kurt took my hysterical face in his hands. “I hated him, but I understand why he did this. He had to. It’s his redemption.” I broke down crying in a heap on the floor. Kurt wrapped his arms around me and tried to comfort me. “Hush, he’ll finally be at peace, while we have many more trials to face.”

We huddled in the cave, numb from the events until the sun rose and set again. Outside, we followed a blood trail through the snow to the boat. We found two bodies onboard, disfigured and lifeless, only the hair, fair and dark identified them. Necrotic flesh, overcooked meat covered in a putrid jelly-like substance, fell away from the bones. I turned and vomited while Kurt held me.

Kurt found a can of gasoline in the boathouse and poured it over the deck. Then he started the motor, while I waited on the dock. Kurt lit the gasoline, and flames leapt up over the boat. He jumped out onto the dock, and set the boat adrift on the fiord. We watched, hand-in-hand, as the burning craft disintegrated and sunk below the icy water. Kurt’s troubled eyes blinked back tears, as it finally slipped out of sight.

Suddenly, the sound of a helicopter thumped toward us and we began to run.”

Mia looked up, a single tear running down her face.

“Ethan sacrificed himself for you?”

“One hundred and sixty-eight years he walked this planet, then nothing. Poof, it’s all over. Now do you understand why I’m here?”

“I’m sorry, Mia.”

“Vampires aren’t supposed to cry.” She wiped her eyes. “Gaius knows we’re here somewhere. It’s only a matter of time before he puts this all together.”

“That’s why this place is so well protected.”

“If Gaius succeeds, the average mortal’s life won’t mean a thing. Immortyls will inherit the earth. Genocide on a scale never seen before.”

“How did you manage to finally get here?”

“Philip hid us for a while in London. He was shocked of course, but understood why we acted as we did. He gave us money to fly here. We hid with another group of rats in LA until Leisha was ready for us. Little did we know she was building us a prison here… ”

“All that data. It will save years of work. If she agrees to allow you to be together, you’ll give it to her?”

“That’s all it’s going to take.”

“I’ll get her to agree,” Joe said.

Mia looked doubtful. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“I’m not going to let her get away with this.”

“I don’t want that bitch Loy there when I talk to her.” Mia subsided into silence, her thoughts far away again.

Joe felt it was best to let her alone now. “Thanks Mia, I understand things a lot better now.”

She looked up, her misty, mirrored eyes reflecting Joe’s image. “You’re a good man Joe. You tied yourself to the mast and resisted the siren.”

TWENTY-TWO

* * * *

Lydia stood in her office, attired in the lab coat Joe suspected she wore to bed, while Leisha gave him an appraising stare. He’d never seen anything like her. She was cold and frightening, over six feet tall, athletic, and a hell of a lot bigger than the two in the cells.

“Doctor Ansari, a great pleasure to meet you. I want to personally thank you for your work with the female subject.”

“Her name is Mia.”

Lydia shot him a warning look. “Joe has established quite a rapport with our subjects. If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

Spooky amber eyes fixed on his. “You’ve made great strides. You’ve begun looking into their empathic ability?”

“It appears to stem from a biochemical transmitter stimulating the brain, to produce a psychic vibration so to speak, echoing the feelings of the donor inside of the receiver.”

“No magic involved?”

“Well, we aren’t quite sure how they transmit to the brain so rapidly or what component in the blood they latch on to. We need to isolate it. It’s my guess that hunger floods the transmitter into the brain. I’m still reviewing the data on tests we made. Hopefully we’ll be able to track it down.”

Leisha smiled her chilly smile. “I’m thrilled but it’s just a start. There’s so much still to be done.”

Joe took a deep breath. “Cut the crap,