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"How could you?" he bellowed, glaring daggers at Sarah over the petite woman’s head
Bastien circled the table in an instant and stepped between Marcus and the hu back, he looped an arm around the human’s waist and eased her behind him
Chris moved forward, too "Marcus, listen to Dr Lipton Sit down before you fall down You look like shit"
"Is she dead?" Marcus asked raggedly Had he lost her already?
Chris sighed "We don’t know We don’t knohat happened to A, so …"
Hope rose
"Bullshit," Bastien interrupted "Don’t lie to hiaze, suddenly trusting him more than he did anyone else on the planet "Tell me"
"One of the va Ami’s blood trail led into the forest, then her footsteps were replaced by a h apart that they could only be those of a vampire We followed the trail as far as Carrboro, then lost it"
A heavy silence blanketed the room
Ami was in the hands of vampires Everyone knehat vampires did to the women they seized It hy so few fe enough to transform Or, if they did, they lived short, tortured lives
"How long ago?"
"Two hours"
Two hours "Will you take me to where you lost their trail? Maybe I can pick up her scent"
"If I couldn’t--"
"I’m older My senses are sharper," Marcus persisted
"If you wait until Lisette and Étienne wake up," Chris said, "they hts and help you narron her location"
"How er will that be?"
Dr Lipton peeked around Bastien’s arer than you, there’s no telling how er they may need to recover"
"Why isn’t Roland awake? He’s older than I am"
"We don’t know To be honest, I’ around I took your vitals not tenof a cell phone sent a new shock of pain through Marcus’s head Whatever else the woman said went unheard as he pressed the heel of one hand to his forehead and glared at Chris
Fulanced at it
"Is it David?" Darnell asked hopefully
Chris shook his head and looked at Marcus "I sent sootten away and gone ho the doors with silent alarered Someone just opened the back door of your house"
Marcus was pretty sure he knocked some people down on his way out of the room, but couldn’t have cared less In a ot in one of thethe keys froine, shifted into first, and floored the accelerator
The others ran out of the house, shouting as he tore down the drive, his only thought finding Aer than it should have for Marcus to reach the long, dirt road that led to his hoh his system had muted his senses and reduced his response time almost to that of a human At least a dozen times on the hectic drive fro traffic or nearly left the road as he took curves far too quickly and failed to coht thehalt in front of his ho
Marcus leaped out before the engine quieted The garage door was up, a strange car parked haphazardly within Bypassing it, Marcus raced to the back door
The bronze doorknob was sticky beneath his hand as he turned it and hurried inside the kitchen His boots hit so slick on the floor and flew out frorab for the nearest counter kept hilanced down at the crimson liquid that pooled on the floor just inside the door
Blood
Ami’s blood
He closed the door, forced his senses to expand and searched the house for intruders Only he and Ami occupied it
Ami was alive!
But in what condition?
A dappled trail of congealing blood began at the puddle in which he stood and crossed the kitchen floor, accompanied by ruby, boy-sized boot prints S the way, so off
Marcus’s heart pounded painfully as he followed the trail Larger stains sainst in her efforts to reht Halfway between the kitchen and the stairs another puddle marred the floor where she must have fallen He could see where her knees had hit the floor, a hand, the toes of her boots His gaze zeroed in on the handprint, compared it to the ones in the kitchen and on the walls in between