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When Ethan left, I hurried to the front door to watch Just to be sure he really was going and not playing soht along thepath and on to the stable

I let the heavy curtain fall and turned, sweeping the living roo to me I didn&039;t kno I knew it, but I did I wasn&039;t sure what he was lying aboutbut there was so

He was familiar to me somehow Despite my amnesia, I was sure of it It wasn&039;t a

My senses were sharper than before He&039;d told me as , sense another&039;s essence, al I could feel the approach of danger I could tell whether another being was hue slowlyitself at honition when it cauedto be closer To touch To feel those hands on hts linger He was lying tome And if I had to search this entire place, I would find out what it was

I looked around the living rooin where you are" I vaguely re that phrase often, and hoise I thought it was

A woot a flash of short butterscotch hair that curled inwardly, just below the ear, and blue, twinkling eyes

The life in those eyes had always seemed out of place amid all the dull-eyed others

What others?

I didn&039;t know, but in , "It&039;s always best to start where you are"

Callista

The name floated into my mind as if from nowhere Her name was Callista, and she wasn&039;t like the others

And that was all Though I fought to grab hold of the rab a handful of htest touch of the fan

It eone forever It was returning, albeit in pieces And so I began searching Ethan&039;s haven, hoping to find soht teaseling worry crept intothe curtain and gazing out toward the stable What if he didn&039;t come back? What if he had abandoned ht that had crept, unbidden, into my mind And I was more certain than ever that I knew him We had a history God, why couldn&039;t I re on a fainting couch in a large room that had to be part of a mansion

That was her first impression as she blinked, pressed a hand to her head and sat up slowly She looked around her and saoroups of two and three in different parts of the roo fro on pastries Terry was there

One of the wo her eyes, said, "You&039;re awake"

And then, one by one, the others turned their attention to her Serena noticed that so blown to bits, all because she&039;d tried to help

"Hello, Serena," one of the women said She set down her teacup anda seat beside Serena She was beautiful, probably in her thirties, though she had an ageless look that could be very deceiving All the woested the toned bodies and unlined faces were less than the entire story

The woman indicated the tea service that sat on a table across the room China, a pink pattern that looked Asian Another woer I&039;m the leader here And I&039;m very sorry about your baby "

Serena nodded, tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat Kind hands pressed a warm cup into her own, and she took it and sipped It was hot and sweet and creaht over a plate of pastries

"Didn&039;t know if you take creaured you could use theh"

Serena sipped soain "I&039;m sorry about your about Maureen"

"Maureen wouldn&039;t have a single regret, other thanthe bomb before it went off I can promise you that She lived for this work"

Serena blinked and looked around the room "This hich is ?" Then she licked her lips "Do you knoho took , she added, "Terry said soer said "I suspect a governency is behind this One o It was known as the DPI, and it was a highly classified, top secret sub-division of the CIA"

Serena felt her eyes widen, and a million questions swirled in her mind "What does it stand for? DPI?"

"The Division of Paranor her closely, gauging her reactions, Serena thought Ginger clearly didn&039;t want to upset her, but she wasn&039;t coddling her, either Not telling her she&039;d been through enough for one day or asking her to wait, but giving her direct answers to her questions

"It&039;s a bit of a er went on "Their interest in most areas of the paranormal is shallow, at best Their real focus is on the undead Vaaze shifted froiveaway This had to be a joke But no one was s to tell er said with a wave of her hand "No, but as her mother, you do need to know about theh But she&039;s related to them, in a way You see, every vampire in existence was born huen It&039;s the thing that allows the in this outrageous, impossible information

"I know it&039;s hard to believe, much less understand But if you stay with us, you&039;ll see proof soon enough

And I want you to know that even if you don&039;t choose to join us, we&039;ll try to find your baby for you And we&039;ll trust you to leave with information few outsiders have ever been allowed to possess As the ht to know"

"The Chosen?"

"That&039;s what those with the antigen are called Vampires, by nature, sense them, and they&039;re compelled to protect and watch over the The vampire community is aware of it, too But so far, no one knohere the children are being takenor why"

"But you have your suspicions," Serena asked

"Yes, but we have no real information"

"What did the DPI do before they were supposedly shut down or whatever?"

Ginger looked away, met Terry&039;s eyes and licked her lips nervously Serena knehatever was coood

"They werehow vampires&039; bodies work, how to control them, how to eliminate them"

A small cry flew from Serena&039;s lips before she could bite it back "You think overnment experiment?"

"We have absolutely no evidence of that"

"Oh, God" Serena lowered her face to her hands, sobbing so hard she thought her chest would tear in two

The rest of the wo, felt the eone, then lifted her head and wiped her eyes Terry and Ginger now sat on either side of her

"I don&039;t understand what it is you do here"

"We&039;re the Sisterhood of Athena, and we&039;ve existed for centuries What ell, atch We observe We try not to interfere unless it&039;s absolutely necessary Our stated mission is to protect the supernatural order Which is really the natural order, simply the parts of it that few people know about"

"You protect the vaht to exist They&039;re apart of creation, just as we are, and their elis out of balance, just as the extinction of any species would We want to see the in whatever way they&039;re supposed to, without interference from humans"

"But don&039;t they you know, feed on huer said "There are good ones and bad ones When there is a bad one, though, the good ones tend to get rid of him They feed on blood from blood banks or occasionally take cri except in self defense They&039;re just people

"So we observe," she went on "And yes, when necessary, we protect Even the vampires aren&039;t supposed to know of our existencethat&039;s how discreet we are However, in recent years some of them have learned about us We&039;ve asked the as they have no reason to mistrust us, we expect they&039;ll do so"