he saw what the world of man was capable of firsthand, he no longer had any question about the rightness or wrongness of his actions. This was war. His people needed a champion, and he’d been chosen to be the one. If this wasn’t proof positive of that fact, he didn’t know what was.
Any people who could try to annihilate innocents while they slept, completely helpless to fight back, had long since tossed morality to the winds. And one couldn’t fight that kind of evil by following the rules.
He was going to do whatever it took to raise Utanapishtim from the dead, and then he was going to fight by that ancient immortal’s side to preserve his race.
Lucy’s arms around him, her head on his chest, finally drew his eyes to hers. She was shaken right to the core, and hot tears were burning streaks down her face as she tipped it up to his. “I don’t see Willem anymore. Where did he…?”
Alarm clamored in his veins, and he looked toward the sea. “He’s gone inside, after them. Thank God.”
“But…he’s just a mortal.”
“And as such, he’ll have a better chance against the flames than they have.” He met her puzzled frown and went on. “Vampires are highly flammable. Fire is one of the few things that can kill them.”
“But—how did he get in? How did he get past the firefighters, and—wait. The tunnel. He told me there’s a tunnel.”
“Yes,” James said, nodding, and wondering just what else Lucy and Willem—the man his middle name had been chosen to honor—had spent the day discussing. “There’s a tunnel that leads from the basement to an opening in the cliffs, above the sea.”
“Where?” she asked, stepping away from him, shielding her eyes with one hand and staring out toward the water.
For the first time he noticed the skirt she wore. Full and whipping in the wind. And the blouse, baring her shoulders, hinting at the breasts beneath. And then her hair, long and loose, satin sable-brown locks he wanted to bury his hands in.
“James?” she asked.
He met her eyes and realized that he was falling for this woman. In spite of everything else going on, he was falling for her. And he was being forced to make her his enemy.
“It’s right there.” He nodded toward a spot farther along the shoreline. “Where the sand turns to stone and the beach rises.”
“I see where you mean.”
“Don’t stare too long or you’ll draw attention,” he said.
She sighed as if relieved.
“Vampires have a penchant for escape hatches,” he said.
“I can see why they would. But there are too many of them for him to move by himself,” she whispered. “Can’t we try to sneak away, too?”
“We?” he asked.
“I can’t stand the thought of all those people…” New tears flowed down her cheeks, and then she blinked rapidly, as she processed a new idea. “Can you talk to Rhiannon? You know, with your mind, to find out if she’s okay?”
“Not while she’s asleep, no. And believe me, it’s killing me not to rush into the flames myself, but we’d definitely draw the notice of those firefighters. We’d have to pass them all to get to the shore. Look, they’ve already noticed Will’s absence. And if they follow him and find—”
“I’ll distract them,” she said. “And when I do, you go. All right? Go help Will get them out.”
“And how do you intend to distract them?”
“I…spent some time in the drama club in high school,” she said. “Trust me, I’ve got a lot of angst to draw from right now. You can move fast, right?”
“Very fast.”
“Then do it.”
And before he could guess what she was even intending, Lucy lifted her voice in a scream that sounded as if it came straight out of a horror film and went running straight toward the burning house. It looked for all the world as if she planned to rush inside, despite the flames, and three firefighters dropped their hoses to race after her. All the others were entirely focused on the little drama she’d instigated as she shouted about having to try to save her cat.
Shaking his head in admiration, James poured on the speed. Three seconds later he was at the top of the cliff, and a moment after that he was diving over the side. He hit the water, plunging deeply, knowing exactly where to knife through it without cracking his skull on hidden rocks. Hell, he’d played here often throughout his childhood. He knew the beach like he