The sliver of light streaming under my door told me the night was over. I worried about Rafe, wondering if they had provided a dark place for him to spend the day.

  Rising, I relieved myself, then paced the floor, my thoughts chasing themselves like a cat chasing its tail. Where was this place? Where was Rafe? Tests, Travis had said. Tests to see if the formula concocted by his grandmother and Edna could cure the Werewolves and the Vampires. Tests to see how the shape-shifters, and ordinary people like me, would react to their so-called cure. I broke out in a cold sweat. What if it had no effect on the Supernatural community? What if it turned me into some kind of ravenous monster? Suddenly, being a run-of-the-mill Vampire didn’t seem so bad.

  The hours passed with agonizing slowness. A man wearing a mask and a white lab coat brought me a breakfast tray. The smell of scrambled eggs and sausage made me sick to my stomach. I drank the coffee, ate a slice of toast, and left the rest.

  Agitated, worried for my future and Rafe’s, I paced the floor again.

  Lunch arrived a little after noon. Even though I wasn’t hungry, I forced myself to eat a little of the turkey sandwich, felt a rush of unwanted gratitude for whoever had included a chocolate malt.

  Sitting on the edge of the cot, I stared at the opposite wall. Time hadn’t passed this slowly since I was a little girl waiting for Christmas morning.

  Rising, I paced until my legs ached, then stretched out on the cot and closed my eyes. What were Edna and Pearl doing now? Where was Rafe? Had anyone noticed that I hadn’t opened the store today? If I never returned to Oak Hollow, would anyone even miss me? I wished that I had told my mother that I loved her the last time we talked, just in case it really was the last time.

  As the hours passed, I grew increasingly more fearful. “Rafe.” I whispered his name, wondering if I would ever see him again, wishing that we had made love when we had the chance. “Rafe, where are you?”

  Kathy?

  His voice whispered in my mind, calming my fears. “Rafe!”

  I’m here.

  “Are you all right? I’m so afraid.”

  I know. Strange, I tried to contact you before and couldn’t.

  “That is odd,” I agreed. He was the one with the Supernatural powers. I had always seen things, heard things, through him. I was about to ask him if he knew where we were when the door to my room opened and two men wearing white lab coats stepped inside.

  Without saying a word, they took hold of my arms and escorted me back to the lab I had seen the night before.

  Something new had been added, a double row of large animal cages, six on each side of the room, facing each other. Seven of those who were locked inside were strangers to me, but I knew the people in three of the cages—Cagin, Susie, and Rafe. The fourth was a pretty girl with dark blond hair and violet eyes. I frowned, thinking she looked familiar. Of course, Jennifer Something-or-other. She had come to the bookstore once or twice.

  The last cage was empty, the door open. I knew it was for me.

  I fought a losing battle as the two men dragged me toward the cage. They locked me inside and then left the room.

  I stared at Rafe. He sat hunched over in the middle of his cage. He stared back at me, but said nothing. His face and neck were badly burned where the holy water had touched him. I felt his pain as if it was my own, wondered what drug they had used to subdue him.

  This couldn’t be happening. Any minute now I’d wake up in my own house in my own bed. Yet even as I told myself it was nothing but a nightmare, I registered the fact that the cages held two human men, three Werewolves, three Vampires, and three shape-shifters. The Vampires and Werewolves were bound with silver, which drained their Supernatural strength. Each group consisted of two males and one female, all between twenty and thirty years old.

  Edna and Pearl were totally insane, I thought. Effectively testing something as radical as this would take years. You couldn’t test a new drug on twelve people and call the results conclusive. And what about its effects on dogs and cats, on birds and fish and livestock? On the water supply and agriculture, the atmosphere itself?

  I noticed that Cagin was holding Susie’s hand through the bars, though she seemed unaware of it. I was surprised to see them there, since Rafe had told me that Cagin was taking Susie away from Oak Hollow.

  The other prisoners sat in silence, their faces reflecting nothing of what they felt, if indeed they felt anything. Drugged, I thought, all the Supernatural creatures had been drugged to render them incapable of fighting back.

  I tensed as the door to the lab opened and Edna and Pearl walked briskly into the room. In addition to their usual colorful skirts and sneakers, they wore lab coats, rubber gloves and hospital masks. The two men who had brought me into the lab earlier followed them inside. I fought down a rising tide of panic as Edna and Pearl moved around the room. Why had I never noticed that insane gleam in their eyes before? Hard to believe it had always been there and I had never seen it. I had been amused by their outrageous appearance and eccentric behavior and dismissed them as two slightly unconventional grandmothers. How could I have been so blind?

  I couldn’t help wondering where Travis was. I thought it odd that he wasn’t there to watch the tests.

  “We’ll start with the shape-shifters,” Pearl decided. She picked up a small glass bottle, removed the cap, filled a nasty-looking syringe with dark green liquid, and moved toward the first cage.

  One of the lab assistants unlocked the door. He grabbed hold of the shape-shifter inside and held him down while the second assistant extended the shifter’s arm. Quickly and efficiently, Pearl injected the serum into his vein. The assistant locked the cage door, and then Pearl and her assistants moved to Jennifer’s cage. She offered no resistance.

  Cagin was next. He snarled when they opened the door. In spite of being drugged, he tried to put up a fight, but in his weakened state, he was no match for the two burly assistants who held him down while Edna administered the dose.

  “The Werewolves next, I think,” Edna said, filling another syringe, “and then the Vampires.”

  Pearl looked at me. It was hard to read her expression behind the mask, but it seemed her eyes were sad. “And then the humans,” she murmured.

  I could only watch in horror as Pearl and Edna moved from cage to cage, injecting the Werewolves. My stomach clenched when they opened the door to Susie’s cage. She seemed unaware of what they were doing to her.

  Rafe’s gaze locked with mine when they opened his cage. Bound with silver chains, he was helpless to resist, but his eyes never left mine.

  The other two Vampires were quickly inoculated.

  I glanced at the shape-shifters. They sat as before, unmoving, and I wondered how long it would take to see what the serum’s effects would be, if any.

  Minutes passed and then the first Werewolf that had been injected howled with pain as he changed into a wolf and then quickly resumed his human form. He howled again and then, foaming at the mouth, he collapsed and lay still.

  In moments, the second Werewolf let out a long wail that sent chills down my spine, and then he, too, collapsed.

  I stared across the aisle at Susie. She lay on the floor of her cage, her teeth bared. She moaned piteously as her body convulsed.

  In the cage beside hers, Cagin growled softly.

  I glanced at the other two Vampires and then at Rafe. They didn’t move, only sat there, unblinking. And then, one by one, they toppled sideways and lay still.

  “Rafe.” His name whispered past my lips. He didn’t seem to be breathing.

  I watched with mounting horror as Pearl injected the two human males, and then one of her assistants unlocked the door of my cage. I stared at the needle in Pearl’s hand, more frightened than I had ever been in my life.

  I screamed, “No! Let me go!” when the two men grabbed me. Though there was little room in the cage to maneuver, I kicked and bucked for all I was worth in an effort to free myself, but I was no match for their greater strength.

  Terrified and helpless, I stared up at Pearl. The needle in her hand looked huge and deadly. “Please,” I begged, “please don’t do this.”

  “I’m sorry, dear,” she said, and jabbed the needle into my vein.

  I watched the sickly green liquid disappear into my arm. A burning sensation shot through me, and I went limp as the two men released me. My blood felt like it was on fire, my body felt heavy, numb. Helpless, I could only lie there, wondering if I was going to die like a lab rat in a cage.

  As from far away, I heard Edna’s voice. “It’s obvious the formula doesn’t work on the Werewolves.”

  Pearl picked up a long stick and poked Susie with it. She didn’t move. “Perhaps it was too strong, or we used too much.”

  “Yes, perhaps,” Edna murmured thoughtfully. “We’ll have to change the dosage and round up more subjects.”

  “Yes, dear, I think you’re right,” Pearl agreed. Removing her mask and gloves, she tossed them on a table.

  “I didn’t expect the results on the others to take so long,” Edna said. She peered into the cages that held the two human males. Like me, they lay unmoving and unresponsive when she poked at them.

  “Why don’t we go have dinner while we’re waiting?” Pearl suggested.

  “We might miss something.”

  “Nonsense! The cameras are recording,” Pearl said, glancing up at one of the monitors mounted on the wall. “We can watch from the kitchen.”

  “You’re right, as always,” Edna said with a smile. She peeled off her gloves and removed her mask.

  “Let’s go, dear,” Pearl said. “Travis should be back by now.”

  Unable to move, I lay there for what seemed like forever, only gradually becoming aware that some of the others were moving.

  And then I heard Rafe’s voice. “Kathy? Kathy! Are you all right? Dammit, answer me!”

  With a great deal of effort, I managed to roll over so I could face him. “You’re alive.”

  He grunted softly.

  “Are you still a Vampire?” Even as I asked the question, I wondered if I wanted him to be cured. I had fallen in love with a Vampire. Would I feel the same about him; would he be the same man, if he were human?

  “I don’t know.” Head cocked to one side, he touched his elbow to one of the silver bars that imprisoned him and quickly jerked away. “I’d say so.”

  I was relieved and disappointed, but mainly glad that he was still alive, still my Rafe.

  “Can you move?” he asked.

  “I think so.” I sat up cautiously. The world spun around me for a few seconds before righting itself. So I could sit up. Big deal. I was still locked inside a steel cage.

  Moving carefully, Rafe sat up. “Dammit.” He closed his eyes for several minutes. I could almost see him conquering the pain the silver caused him, feel the effort it cost him to gather his power and focus his energy. He stared at the lock on the door of my cage.

  I held my breath, afraid to move or speak for fear of distracting him, even though I wasn’t sure exactly what he was doing.

  Several long moments passed into eternity and then, miraculously, the padlock fell open.

  “Find the keys,” Rafe said. “Hurry!”

  I found a set on the counter, near several bottles of serum. Grabbing the keys, I opened Rafe’s cage. Moving cautiously, careful to avoid touching the bars, he crab-walked out of the cage. It took me several tries to find the key to the shackles that bound his hands and feet. My stomach churned when I saw the angry red burns at his wrists and ankles.

  But there was no time to do anything about them now. I quickly unlocked the other cages. The two male Werewolves were dead. Susie lay unmoving. Her face was pale and sheened with perspiration, but she was still breathing.

  As soon as I unlocked the door to Cagin’s cage, he scrambled out and drew Susie into his arms. I freed the other two Vampires, then removed their restraints. I had the feeling they were both very young in the life.

  “What now?” I asked when the last cage had been opened.

  “We need to gather up everything we can find,” Rafe said. He pointed at the two human men. “You two, gather up all these bottles and anything else you can find.”

  Without a word of argument, the two men quickly found a couple of empty wooden crates and began filling them with bottles of serum, along with the contents of the drawers and cupboards.

  It took only a few minutes.

  “Cagin,” Rafe said, “take everybody to my house. Kathy, go with him.”

  “No way.”

  Cagin looked at me. “You staying or going?” he asked impatiently.

  “Staying.”

  For once, Rafe didn’t waste time arguing with me.

  “Be careful, you two,” Cagin said. Opening the door, he glanced up and down the hall before leaving the lab. The shifters moved out behind him, followed by the Vampires and the two men.

  “What are we going to do?” I asked.

  “Look for the formula to that damn serum.”

  “Do you think it’s here?”

  “I don’t know.” He checked the drawers to make sure nothing had been left behind. “Come on, let’s check the rest of the building.”

  I followed Rafe down the hallway. He stopped at each room along the way to peer inside. Most of them were empty; two contained cots, no doubt for the guards. A third was the room where I had been held. The last room was an office.

  Rafe went inside, and I closed the door behind us. Several large metal filing cabinets lined one wall. They were locked, but that was no problem for Rafe. I stood lookout while he went through the drawers, pulling out the files that looked promising.

  He had scanned a dozen or so when he said, “Got it!”

  “Someone’s coming.”

  Folding the file in half, he shoved it under his shirt, closed the drawer of the cabinet, then grabbed me by the hand. “Shh, not a word.”

  Pearl’s voice. The sound of footsteps coming closer.

  My heart was pounding a mile a minute when Pearl opened the door and stepped inside. To my amazement, she walked right by us as though we weren’t there.

  She rummaged around in the file cabinet a moment, muttered an oath that sounded even worse coming from a grandmother, and hurried out of the room.

  “Come on,” Rafe said, “let’s get out of here.”

  “Why didn’t she see us? Never mind, don’t tell me. A little Vampire magic?”

  “Right, let’s go.”

  I stayed close behind Rafe as he searched for the nearest exit. Twice, he stopped as men in white lab coats appeared in the hallway. Both times, the men walked past us as if we weren’t there. A handy trick, I thought, surprised they couldn’t hear my heart pounding.

  We finally found a door that led outside.

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  Rafe shook his head. “Beats the hell out of me. Come on.”

  We walked away from the lab until we came to a block wall that must have been twelve feet high.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  Before Rafe could answer, the wail of a siren split the air.

  “Looks like they’ve discovered our absence,” Rafe said. He held out his hand. “Here, get on my back.”

  “What?”

  “Do it.”

  Muttering, “This is a heck of a time for games,” I took his hand and he swung me around until I was riding piggyback. I choked back a shriek as he vaulted effortlessly over the wall.

  He landed softly on the other side. I slid off his back, then fell into his arms when he turned around.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I guess so. I wish they’d turn that siren off. I feel like we’re breaking out of prison.”

  His teeth flashed in a smile. “Don’t think we aren’t.”

  “Do you have any idea where we are?”

  He glanced around, then lifted his head and sniffed the air. “We’re in Clear Glen,” he said, “about fifty miles from home.”

  I groaned. Fifty miles! Did he expect us to walk? I gasped in surprise when he lifted me off my feet and settled me on one hip, the way a mother might carry a child.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Going home the fastest way I know how.”

  The next thing I knew, he was running, or maybe flying, through the night, so fast that, to my mortal eyes, the world was nothing but a blur.

  In less time than it takes to tell, we were at Rafe’s house.

  My admiration for Vampire powers was growing by leaps and bounds.

  “No one’s here,” I said, and then realized that, unless Cagin and the others could fly, they couldn’t possibly have arrived before we did. “What are we going to do now?”

  “Destroy those vials,” Rafe said, “and hope that no one else knows how to make the damn stuff.”

  “Do you think that’s what Pearl was looking for in the office? The formula?”

  “I don’t know.” He removed the file from inside his shirt and tossed it on the coffee table. “I’m hoping they were too paranoid to give anyone else a copy.”

  “Why didn’t it kill Susie? It killed the other two.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it doesn’t have the same effect on males and females. Maybe it affected her differently because she hasn’t been a Werewolf very long.” He ran his hands up and down my arms. “How do you feel?”

  “I don’t know. All right, I guess.” I stared at the raw, angry-looking skin on his face and neck. It must have hurt like the very devil. “What about you?”

  “Same as always.” His gaze met mine. “Were you hoping it would make me mortal again?”

  “I thought about it,” I admitted, “but I love you just the way you are.” I touched his cheek with my fingertips. “Does it hurt terribly?”

  “More than you can imagine, but it’ll heal.”

  “How long will it take?”

  “A few days, a week, maybe longer.” He took my hand in his and kissed my palm. “Stop worrying about me.”

  “Somebody has to. How long do you think it will take for Cagin and the others to get here?”

  “An hour or so. What do you say we wash away the stink of that place and change clothes?”

 

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