for blood, even though he’d left the house on an empty stomach. He felt it growl now, but he pushed back the hunger. For a few hours, he would be all right. Then later, when this raid was over, he would feed. The memory of drinking the bottled blood the night before still haunted him: it had left him empty and unsatisfied. And he had no intention of repeating the experience.
Oliver slowed the car. “This is where I was when Ursula asked me for help.”
“Okay. Which direction did she come from?” Zane asked over the open line of the cell phone.
“East,” he answered and pointed toward the intersection.
“Yes, I think so.” There was a hesitation in Ursula’s voice.
When he looked at her, she nodded quickly. “I’m pretty sure.”
Oliver turned into the next street and kept the car at low speed, giving Ursula a chance to find her bearings.
“Do you recognize anything?” he asked softly.
Her gaze darted around, first to the left then to the right, then straight out front. Her hands fisted at her thighs. “Yes, it looks familiar. But I was running. And afraid.”
“Try harder!”
At Zane’s harsh command, Oliver noticed her flinch.
She instantly pointed her finger to a target in the distance. “That way. I noticed that boarded up shop.”
Yard by yard, they progressed through the area, slowly reaching the edge of the neighborhood where it bled into the worst of what San Francisco had to offer: Hunter’s Point, a place no tourist ever saw, a place even most San Franciscans never ventured into. Few people lived here, and many of those who did lived in desolate public housing projects. Closer to the Bay, many of the plots of land lay bare; others were occupied by old warehouses and industrial complexes.
Not far from India Basin Park, Ursula’s breathing suddenly changed. “Stop,” she whispered.
Oliver brought the car to a stop and confirmed with a look in the mirror that Zane had done the same. “What is it?”
Her hand trembled when she pointed it toward something past the windshield. “There. The sign for the import/export company. I ran past it.” She swallowed. “The building where they held me is just around the corner. Right on the next block.”
Oliver put the car back in gear and inched forward.
“No. Don’t go too close,” she begged.
He glanced at her. “You’ll have to point out the building to us, and since I doubt you want to get out of the car, I have to drive closer to it.”
Oliver noticed her jaw tightening in concert with the rest of her body as if she was trying to steel herself against an invisible attacker.
“Don’t worry, if anybody approaches us, we’ll speed away.” And then he and his colleagues would come back later without her. But he didn’t tell her this.
“Which building is it?” Zane asked.
Oliver turned the corner, slowing to a crawl, then his eyes followed Ursula’s outstretched hand.
“That one.”
16
The four-story building was built of bricks, and it looked just as foreboding as it had the night she’d escaped its walls. A chill ran down Ursula’s spine just looking at it. Fear tightened her throat, making her unable to say anything else.
“The brick building?” Zane asked over the loudspeaker.
“Yes,” Oliver confirmed.
“Looks dark. There are no cars in the vicinity, no movement I can detect. Nothing. I say it’s deserted. I wouldn’t normally do this tonight, but let’s not waste any time and check it out now.”
“No! No, they’ll catch you. You’ll need more people,” Ursula warned, overtaken by panic. If they went in there just the four of them, they could easily be overpowered. And then she wouldn’t be any further than before: her kidnappers would recapture her.
“Cain, stay with the girl. The rest of us, let’s go.”
Before she could stop Oliver, he opened the car door and got out. She saw how the two other vampires, Zane and Amaury, left the Hummer.
Oliver had described Zane to her earlier while they’d been waiting for him and Amaury. But even his comment that Zane only looked tough because of his bald head, couldn’t have prepared her for what she saw. He was tall and lean. When he briefly turned his head to look in her direction, his ice-cold gaze chilled her to the bone. His mouth was pressed into a thin line. His gait was determined, purposeful, and she knew instinctively that those long legs could chase down their prey in seconds. She never wanted to be caught on Zane’s wrong side.