"We're going to die."
"I want to die."
Lying on his back, Gray's eyes were trained upward.
Again, he had been moved. This time to a hole in the floor of the mansion Dare and his recruits had taken over from some Hol ywood actress who seemed to like al things
"fang." The pit he was in looked as though it had been an indoor pool at some point. But now it was dry and stank of bleach and mildew.
Above him, Ethan Dare circled the pit that held him and the other seven captives, who were shooting off pitiful little whines and thoughts every other second-that is when they weren't praying for their masters to come and get them.
"Do you think they give a shit about you?" Ethan cal ed down, his voice echoing off the stained white wal s. "Do you think that the Purebloods who held you captive even know you're gone?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
Gray's head ached, the continual sound and manic voices were like a jackhammer in his brain now. But he forced himself to remain calm, remain lucid as he was moved around like an animal in a trap. He needed to find out where they were. He needed to listen to Dare and his recruits for any clue. Because if he got free, he could lead the Romans right to Dare's front door.
"Perhaps they do care," Ethan continued, chuckling to himself. "But only because their beds are not being made and their asses are not being wiped." He stopped then, glared down at them. "Is this al you are? A slave? Is it al you want to be?"
"I want to go home."
"Please. Please."
"Perhaps he's right, but . . . oh God."
"I offer you more," Dare shouted, his eyes traversing the oval space. "I offer you a new life, freedom. I offer-"
"You don't offer," Gray yel ed back, his head pounding so hard he was pretty sure he was going to vomit. "You're just like their masters, Dare! You give them no choice."
"Oh God. Cease. Cease before he kills us all."
Ethan's gaze slid over to Gray.
"If I didn't have to use you . . . If that balas didn't dictate my feeding schedule, I would run you through and toss your bleeding carcass out the front door and into the Hudson."
Gray's limbs went light and hummed.
Hudson River . . .
"You wil drink," Ethan said, continuing to walk the perimeter of the pit. "And you wil join us in this fight."
"Fight?"
"No! No!"
"Feast, my brothers," Dare cal ed, waving his arm over the empty pool.
In seconds, males and females jumped in, crash landing on the concrete and heading straight for their victims-al holding terrified looking veanas in their grasp.
"Purebloods."
Gray spotted Marina heading straight for him, dragging one helpless veana, while two males closed in around him.
"He looks scared."
"He looks hungry."
"He is mine."
"Fuck you," Gray said to Marina as she sidled up next to him.
But the female just smiled, grabbed the wrist of the veana in her arms, and tore open a vein.
"Time to feed, pet."
As the veana screamed, as every veana inside the pit screamed, Gray fought his bindings like an animal fighting his steel trap.
But it was no use.
In seconds, his head was forced back by the males, and the veana's wrist was yanked over his mouth, and as her blood slithered down his throat, Gray stared into her tearstained eyes and wished to God he could answer the prayers she spoke reverently inside her head.
"Well?" Kate said as the credits rolled on the huge television screen above them. "What did you think?"
In the light of day, the Romans' house went dark, and it had become increasingly difficult for Kate to come up with new and fun ways to entertain the balas. But today she'd real y hit it out of the park.
"I loved it!" Ladd exclaimed, his smal body tucked into one of the corners of the couch in the smal den off the living area.
"And the popcorn?" she asked.
He nodded and said dramatical y, "A lot better than seeds."
Kate laughed softly. She hadn't meant for it to happen, but the kid was real y growing on her. She supposed it was inevitable, but even in their strange, tragic circumstances, they had fal en into a very copacetic rhythm. Bedtime, playtime, meals.
As young as he was, Ladd needed blood only once a week, but he did require sustenance several times a day.
His system was used to the diet of the credenti, and Kate had made sure he had everything he needed.
"Who was your favorite, Kate?" Ladd asked, his dark eyes bright and curious.
"Hmm, I think I like the cowboy best. What about you?"
"It's so hard to choose."
Kate laughed at the expression of exaggerated pain on his face. "Don't hurt yourself, kid."
He grinned. "Al right. I wil say Sid is my favorite."
"The mean one?" Kate asked incredulously.
His grin widened. "What? Maybe he's just misunderstood." He drew the word out, then shrugged.
"That's what my teacher at school says about me."
Kate burst out laughing, even reached out and tickled the bottom of his feet. "You're nuts, you know that?"
He dissolved into laughter. "Yeah, I know."
"What's going on in here?" Nicholas walked in, eyed the two of them on the couch, and said in a stern voice, "Having a good time in this house in strictly forbidden, balas."
Ladd's smile died and his eyes went silver dol ar- wide as he stared up at the Pureblood paven whom he knew could be his father.
"He's kidding," Kate whispered to the boy, then turned to Nicholas. "Aren't you, big scary vampire?"
"No," Nicholas said, then flashed Ladd a quick, hard grin.
"So what kind of il egal fun were you two having when I walked in?"
Kate rolled her eyes. "We were discussing our favorite characters in the first Toy Story movie."
"It's Sid, hands down," Nicholas said without hesitation-
or being asked.
"No," Kate cried. "Not you, too."
Ladd started laughing again, and Kate couldn't help but fol ow.
Nicholas looked from one to the other. "What?"
"Nothing," Kate said, shaking her head. "Last night, Sara introduced me to movies and popcorn, and I'm passing on her genius to the boy here."
"Do you eat popcorn, Nicholas?" Ladd asked, jumping up, off the couch.
"Never had it."
"Me neither. Not until today." He grabbed the bowl with his smal hands and thrust it toward the paven. "Try it. It's kind of like the rations at home."
Nicholas sneered at the contents of the bowl. "I am a Pureblood paven, balas, not a credenti rat who consumes-"
"Hey." Kate shot him a fierce look.
He grumbled. "Fine." He grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it in his mouth.
"So?" Ladd pressed, too excited to wait for Nicholas to swal ow. "Is it good?"
"I wil stick with blood."
Ladd nodded. "Me too."
Nicholas eyed the child, his intensity and ferocity easing a fraction. "However," he began, walking over to the television, "this movie you are watching-"
"It's over," Ladd said quickly.
Nicholas glanced over his shoulder. "It has a second part."
The boy gasped. "It does?"
"I'm sure Lucian left it in here." He thumbed through a large col ection of DVDs before pul ing one. "Ah-ha. Success."
"That's Lucian's movie?" Kate asked, her eyebrow drifting up.
"Yes."
She nodded. "Okay. Not at al weird."
Nicholas slipped the disk in the player and grabbed the remote.
As he came toward the couch, Kate looked up at him.
"Aren't you supposed to be on the hunt?"
His face was unreadable, his eyes too, but his words said everything his expression did not. "When the sun is down, I go. Until then, I think we deserve to spend this time together." His eyes moved over Ladd, then her. "Al three of us. Yes?"
Ladd nodded, then smiled. "I want to sit by you, Kate."
"As would I," Nicholas said, then before he dropped down beside her, raised a brow. "If that would be al right."
"Sit, paven," she said good-naturedly. "But no hogging the popcorn."
"Nothing to fear from me," Nicholas said, then added dryly, "But I'd watch the boy's hand, if I were you."
As Ladd giggled sweetly, Kate relaxed back in the center of the couch. She refused to give way to the feelings-the trappings of sentimentality and romance. It wasn't a family sitting together watching the second Toy Story movie, or a picture-perfect moment to revel in-the veana, the paven, and the balas. To be real, Ladd stil thought about his mother's death every other second and Nicholas remained closed, his eyes heavy with a pain he wouldn't share and a burden he refused to unload. And Kate, well, she was caught somewhere between wanting to run from her past to a future she couldn't see, and fantasizing about an unpredictable now.
And then the boy tucked his smal feet under her leg and Nicholas put his arm around her shoulders.
