it was late afternoon as paige strummed her fingertips against the desktop while staring at the displays before her. she clicked her mouse to switch between the various miniature surveillance windows, expanding one at a time to review the images. she momentarily lamented taking brief turns with the rest of the security staff to do the thankless task.

still, my staff respects me for it, she determined, believing that it was the right thing to do. so very unlike the major, who wouldn't be caught dead taking a turn at it.

she enlarged the image of the front lobby entrance and noticed the returning shuttle passengers filing onto the sidewalk. as she watched the faces of the arriving humans, something subtle nagged at her.

then she perked up and used another camera view to look outside the front entrance where she had a clear view of the shuttle. she quickly scrutinized the images of the lobby interior and realized that something was missing, or rather someone.

"where's caleb and dori?" she wondered out loud.

she surveyed the small office, and her eyes settled on the auburn-haired female guard who was typing information into a computer.

"hey, enora," she snapped. "come over here and cover this station. i have to check into something."

the woman got up with a nod, but paige was already halfway to the door before the guard took two steps. she rushed down the hallway and through the lobby until she reached the main doors, though she stopped where the first set of doors stood closed; they were the ones with the uv-protective coating. she paused to await two of the human security guards who were entering.

"problems, captain?" one guard asked.

"didn't you count everybody before heading back from town?" paige insisted.

"yeah, i counted before we left," the other guard replied. "we had twenty-three."

the first guard looked at his partner with surprise. "twenty-three? we took twenty-five with us."

the other guard looked completely embarrassed. "oh, shit."

paige shook her head and ordered, "you two get back to town with that shuttle right now. you're looking for dorianne rousseau and caleb taylor. you probably remember caleb."

both guards sharply looked up at the mention of caleb's name.

"well, hell," one guard cursed with immediate recognition.

"yeah, hell, and it's coming soon if you don't bring them back now!" paige confirmed with a flash of her bright blue eyes.

both men almost ran into each other as they barreled back through the two sets of sliding glass doors to board the shuttle outside.

"just great, all the guards in the world, and i get the keystone cops," paige muttered under her breath while shaking her head.

she paused and added, "gawd, what an outdated reference. i must be getting old."

she turned to cross the lobby in the direction of the security office then stopped, wondering if she should inform katrina and alton. discarding the idea, she looked outside to the waning afternoon sun, wishing she had brought her leather riding outfit and cycle helmet.

"get a grip, paige," she mumbled. "kiddo probably just got distracted and missed the bus."

just after sunset, paige made the fifth call asking for the status of the search for caleb and dori. she had sent two additional human guards to help inquire around town, hoping to expedite the process.

then the radio buzzed to life.

"captain, we just talked to a shop owner downtown. the lady said she saw ms. rousseau and mr. taylor being driven away in a local police car earlier in the day, but she didn't recall the time," the guard reported.

paige frowned. police car? what the hell?

"i'll call the local police," she said. "in the meantime, you head over there with another guard and find out what you can."

"well, that's the problem, captain," the guard explained. "i called the police station a few minutes ago after we talked to the shop owner. they said they don't have anyone there by those names, but when i pressed the matter, they said there were still people in custody that haven't been processed. and they insisted that they won't discuss detainees until they've been processed."

paige cursed under her breath and snapped, "fine, fine. keep trying to dig up what you can from anybody else who'll talk. i'll handle things at this end."

"yes, ma'am," the guard replied.

shit, she thought.

hastily, she penned out a note for katrina and alton and barreled down the hallway to the conference room. the two suit-clad guards at the front of the hallway held out their hands as she started to walk past them.

"uh, turner, they're still in session," one guard tried to inform her.

she glared at him with blazing blue eyes and declared, "too bad. i'm on a mission from god."

the vampires reflected surprise from her response, clearly taken aback by her insistence. as if sensing something grim, they each stepped aside. she proceeded to the door, knocked twice, and entered the room before being invited.

the room fell silent as all eyes turned to her with a mix of curiosity and incredulousness at the interruption. however, upon seeing that it was paige in a tense state, both alton and katrina's expressions turned stony. the blonde vampire passed the note directly to katrina, turned on her heel, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

katrina read the note: caleb and dori in trouble in town. detained by police. can't get information. three more minutes, and i'll handle it.

she glared at alton as she passed the note to him. he took a mere second to scan the note and immediately turned to address the group.

"my apologies, but we have an urgent matter requiring immediate attention," he explained in a firm tone. "we're adjourned until tomorrow morning."

katrina sprang from her chair before alton was able to push himself back from the table, but he managed to catch up to her as she barreled down the hallway towards the lobby.

he caught one of the suit-clad guards by the sleeve and ordered, "bring a vehicle to the lobby entrance immediately."

katrina could only contemplate dire thoughts as she scouted the lobby for paige. spotting the young vampire, she was at her side in seconds. paige filled her in on what she knew, and katrina listened even while she focused on getting to caleb and dori as soon as possible.

dammit, dammit, dammit! what the hell happened?

paige sensed her friend's concern and gently touched her arm. "whatever's happened, we'll fix it. i promise."

katrina forced a heavy sigh. "i know. don't worry. we'll get to the bottom of this. stay here."

"oh, no, i won't," paige protested. "our boy's in trouble."

"yes, you will," katrina ordered. "i need you here to coordinate resources, if necessary. if you don't hear from me in less than an hour, you bring everyone you can trust and meet us downtown."

paige nodded her assent with hooded eyes as she folded her arms before her.

alton beckoned to katrina from the front of the lobby, and she moved like a blur to the exit and the vehicle waiting outside.

katrina barely contained her growing agitation as the suv seemed to take a leisurely pace down the dark mountain road leading to town. in fairness, the vehicle was moving at a rapid pace thanks to the keen reflexes of a vampire driver, but any delay seemed unbearable.

alton spent most of the time on his cell phone, which from the part of the conversation that katrina could overhear, indicated that he was consulting with legal counsel on the finer points of slovene law.

i don't care about slovene law, she darkly resolved while chewing the inside of her lip. i'm getting them out of there tonight.

the podjelje police station was a two-story brick building with a small parking lot and a single police car parked in front. their suv barely came to a stop before katrina opened the passenger door, but alton managed to grab her by the upper arm as he held his cell phone in the other hand.

she glared back at him with a stern expression.

"go in, but don't attack anybody, for god's sake," he urged. "i'll follow as soon as i finish this call. i'm sure they're fine, katrina."

she tried not to slam the vehicle's door closed too hard as she exited. the vampire guard observed her from the driver's seat as she proceeded up the front sidewalk.

the building's exterior lights cast a pale glow across the front entrance of the building as she approached the dual glass doors. the door made a swooshing sound as she deliberately controlled her strength and speed. a short hallway led into a small waiting room where a lone, young-looking police officer stood before a long, high counter idly sorting paperwork before him.

the front part of the facility appeared to be devoid of other people, which she confirmed with her keen sight and hearing as she stalked to the counter and glared at the man standing there. he warily observed her.

"i understand you are detaining an american named caleb taylor and a french woman named dorianne rousseau. i want to know the charges," katrina commanded with authority.

the young man fumbled for a clipboard next to him and deliberately studied it for a moment. he moved to a small computer to his left, and following some quick typing, he regarded katrina with a blank expression.

"we do not have people by those names processed here. are you sure --" he said in english, but with a strong slovene accent.

"yes, i'm certain," she insisted. "they were brought in earlier this afternoon. check again."

the officer raised an eyebrow and flipped some pages on the clipboard.

"strange. the lieutenant mentioned two people detained, but i do not see any processing information."

"and that is proper procedure?" she pointedly countered.

the young man swallowed and appeared slightly unsettled. "actually, no. i'm sorry, but i only arrived within the hour. please, remain calm, and i will call my superior, lieutenant boleslav. he is upstairs, i believe."

he reached for the phone, but katrina leaned across the counter to stare into his eyes. "listen to me. i will see them now, and then you can call whomever you like."

the officer shook his head as he regarded her with a sincere expression. "i do not think i can do that."

katrina steadied herself before asking in a lethally calm voice, "i know exactly what i'm going to do in twenty seconds. do you?"

the man started to protest, but then frowned as if wrestling with conflicted feelings. "things are already irregular. i will let you see them and then call my supervisor."

the young man seemed earnest in his behavior, and she detected no attempt at evasiveness.

"fine," she replied simply. she wondered what could be taking alton so long.

the man hesitantly opened the wooden partition to katrina's right, thereby allowing her passage behind the counter. he led her down a short hallway where he unlocked a metal doorway at the end and allowed her to enter past him. the room held only two small jail cells, partitioned from each other by a concrete wall. dori sat on a small bed in the first cell and launched to her feet at seeing them. katrina noticed she had a blistered lower lip and slightly swollen cheeks, but otherwise seemed unharmed.

"dori, are you okay?" katrina asked.

"never mind me, help caleb," she urged.

her words impacted katrina at the same moment that she smelled caleb's blood scent in the air. her eyes flashed bright green, but were hidden from view of the police officer with her back turned to him. she peered around the corner wall partition to see caleb lying on his right side with his wrists still cuffed behind him. his wrists were bloody where the metal dug into his flesh. he appeared to be only semi-conscious and had obviously been beaten from the contusions on his face, one side of which was badly swollen.

katrina turned to glower at the officer with barely contained contempt. part of her was breaking inside over concern for caleb's welfare, while another part of her wanted to tear the place apart. "open the cell," she flatly ordered.

the officer spied caleb, and his eyes bulged to twice their normal size. "oh no, this is horrible," the young officer protested with a look of alarm as he viewed caleb's condition.

"you're damned right it's horrible," she snapped as her anger quickly skyrocketed. "open this cell now!"

the officer fumbled with his keys as caleb tried to raise his head slightly and peer at her with squinted eyes. "kat?" he weakly asked.

"stay still, my love," she urged in as calm a voice as she could muster. in his wounded state, she was having a hard time tearing her eyes from his prone form.

"...beat me, but...didn't tell them anything," he muttered with a strained voice.

the implications in that simple statement impacted not only katrina, but the officer before her.

"what?" the officer asked with disbelief.

"katrina!" dori exclaimed.

"stop!" ordered a gruff man's voice.

katrina turned to see a senior-level officer wearing a lieutenant's insignia, presumably boleslav, holding a shotgun pointed directly into dori's cell. another police officer stood behind the lieutenant with an assault rifle pointed past his superior in the direction of katrina and the young officer next to her. she noted that he had an ideal firing angle on them, which only complicated her available options.

the junior officer asked something of the lieutenant in slovene. while katrina didn't speak the language well, she understood some basic phrases and terminology that she had studied before their trip overseas. the young man had no idea what was taking place and was confused at multiple levels.

boleslav ordered his subordinate to step away from the cells and leave the room. the young man looked at caleb and katrina and shook his head.

"they need medical attention," he insisted.

at least katrina appreciated the junior officer's sense of ethics. her eyes darted to caleb, who remained prone on a cot in his cell.

"move away, or you will be shot for aiding criminals in escape," boleslav ordered.

it momentarily appeared that a standoff of sorts was in progress. katrina's eyes narrowed to glowing green slits as she prepared to attack at her earliest opportunity. one problem was that the officer next to her was partially blocking her path.

where the hell is alton?

the young man was visibly shaking, but he moved to stand before katrina with his hands out in a placating fashion. in slovene, he attempted to appeal to his supervisor's sense of proprietary and ethics, but failed to realize he was way out of his league at the moment. katrina thought that he would be lucky to survive the next few minutes given the hard look in the lieutenant's eyes.

alton suddenly appeared in the hallway behind boleslav's crony and pulled him to the floor with one deft motion. the man's rifle discharged, but fired into the wall to his left.

as the lieutenant's attention was momentarily distracted, katrina raced past the young officer in a blur of motion, knocking him into the bars of caleb's cell. she managed to reach the lieutenant, knocking the shotgun barrel upwards. a spray of pellets blasted into the plaster ceiling.

katrina broke boleslav's right arm with one motion while slamming the man's head into the nearby concrete wall. his head impacted the wall with a simultaneous meaty thud and cracking sound. fully enraged, katrina openly growled as she picked up his body and threw it with amazing velocity.

boleslav's body sailed across the room, impacting against the opposite concrete wall with a deep boom. it dropped lifelessly to the floor in a tangled heap as both dori and the young officer watched in horror.

alton rushed into the room to inspect both dori and caleb. meanwhile, katrina snatched the cell keys from the young officer's shaking hand and proceeded to unlock caleb's cell door. she entered long enough to remove his handcuffs then casually tossed the keys to alton, who turned to release dori from her cell.

katrina knelt beside her mate, gently rubbing her hands across his body to assess the damage to him.

"it's okay, my love," she cooed. "i'm here now. we're taking you to safety."

she meaningfully looked to her right at the junior officer, who was still in a state of semi-shock as he stared at her.

"yes, yes," the officer insisted. "medical attention for him."

"are you okay, my darling?" alton asked dori as he momentarily embraced her.

"yes, i'll be fine," she gratefully replied.

dori hastily explained that the lieutenant had beaten caleb, while the other officer had secured her in the police car earlier that afternoon. she recounted how caleb was beaten again during a brief interrogation in his cell, but that she had been spared anything harsher than being repeatedly slapped.

alton's jaw clenched as he looked at the younger officer, but dori quickly explained that she hadn't seen the young man before.

"he just came on duty," katrina irritably snapped as she lifted caleb's shirt to view the bruises on his back and stomach.

"get on the phone and call your senior officers. get them here immediately," alton ordered the young man. "i already called your town's mayor before i came in."

"yes, of course," the officer dutifully stammered. "this -- this is -- no excuse. i don't understand."

"we'll talk about this soon enough," alton interrupted him. "go make the calls."

the man nervously slipped past alton for the main office area. the stately vampire immediately went into caleb's cell and stood over katrina as she examined him.

"we need a doctor," she insisted in a tight voice.

"we'll use dr. reynolds back at the hotel," alton replied. "i don't trust anyone else right now."

she merely nodded in agreement, not trusting her voice to utter anything further.

at the hotel, a blanket from the police station was used as a makeshift gurney to carry caleb gently from the suv. the eyes of everyone in the lobby turned to stare with surprise as caleb's gurney was carried at one end by katrina and the other by alton. dori followed behind them with one hand rubbing at her jaw.

dr. reynolds was already standing in the lobby wearing his white physician's lab coat with paige at his side, and he led them to his small examining room.

"whoever did this is going to pay," paige angrily muttered as she stared down at caleb with painful disbelief as he lay on the examining room table.

i'll personally rip them apart, she promised.

caleb weakly moaned, but his eyes remained closed as he appeared to drift in a semi-conscious state.

"the primary culprit is already dead," katrina coldly muttered between clenched teeth.

"good," reynolds whispered as he used medical scissors to cut the shirt from caleb's body, being careful not to tug on the material or cause him further pain.

katrina's and paige's eyes met briefly with surprise at the doctor's comment.

after a moment's pause, he added, "i'm a doctor, but whoever did this obviously enjoyed the task. the world's a better place without them."

agreed, katrina thought.

a momentary pang of curiosity echoed in her mind at what must have transpired in the hours that caleb and dori had been gone, though she realized that the time for explanations would come soon enough. her primary focus returned to the wounded man whom she loved so dearly.

"caleb? it's ethan. can you hear me?" reynolds quietly asked as he lifted each of the young man's eyelids to quickly shine a penlight into them.

caleb moaned again, and his eyes fluttered open.

"ethan?" he asked.

he felt confused, and pain coursed through his midsection and head. his eyes managed to focus slightly, and he looked up into the faces of the doctor, katrina, and paige as each peered down upon him.

"dori? safe?" he asked with sudden recollection of the events at the police station, only hazily remembering arguing voices and the sounds of gunshots.

"i'm here, caleb," dori softly replied from a nearby chair.

alton stood with his arm gently wrapped around her shoulders.

"we need to examine you for injuries, caleb," ethan said.

"ladies first," caleb offered in chivalrous fashion.

he had no idea how injured dori might be.

"sorry, caleb. this is a triage situation, and you won first pick," reynolds lightly said.

"lucky me," he groaned as a wave of pain shot though his stomach.

"i'll need to ask everyone else to move into my office next door, please. i need to examine him," the doctor politely instructed.

alton gently led dori from the room. katrina looked at paige and motioned with her head to the door. paige patted her friend on the shoulder as she passed.

"i'll be right outside," she said.

after she shut the door, reynolds looked at katrina.

"i'm going to need a little space to work, please," he said before returning his attention to his patient. "i'll try not to hurt you further, caleb, but you'll need to communicate with me as best you can. can you try to do that?"

"work your magic, doc," caleb said with a chuckle, which only sent another wave of pain coursing though his body.

katrina marveled at how deftly and gently the doctor's hands played across caleb in assessment of his condition. it was readily apparent to her that the handsome physician wielded his medical skills with both experience and passion. she had never seen a vampire with such a measured or sincere sense of duty to care for complete strangers before; certainly he was an anomaly in her centuries of encounters with her kind.

she watched as he continued to examine caleb, and she was proud of how her mate was enduring what must have seemed a painfully slow process. when the doctor produced a small digital camera from his lab coat, katrina's eyes flashed bright green, and her hand caught his wrist.

"it's okay," he reassured her in a soft voice. "we may need this as visual evidence in the future. i'll need to do the same with dori. my intention is to begin their healing process immediately, which means there may not be as compelling evidence by tomorrow."

katrina hadn't anticipated that. she reluctantly assented and released her grip on his wrist.

he offered a supportive expression and turned to take the photos. she helped to turn caleb so he could more easily photograph the young man's back. the bruises and contusions on his body were distasteful hues of red, purple, and blue.

"you're missing my good side," caleb weakly mumbled as he gritted his teeth to endure the discomfort of his body being rotated.

"well, at least his sense of humor's intact," ethan observed.

minutes later, katrina assisted the good doctor as he cleaned the wound areas on caleb's body while further examining him. it amazed her that no bones were broken, though ethan suspected that caleb had bruised ribs.

"would you be willing to use your saliva to close the wounds on his wrists?" ethan asked while turning to retrieve items from a storage locker.

"you have to ask?" she shot back as if insulted.

i'd do anything to help him.

"i've learned not to make presumptions about humans relative to their vampire partners," ethan smoothly explained.

she began licking at caleb's wrists. the normally pleasant taste of his blood was tinged with the flavor of the rubbing alcohol the doctor had used to clean the wounds. still, she felt useful being able to help minister to his wounds.

familiar and soothing numbing sensations proceeded through caleb's wrists as he realized what was happening. despite the pain still coursing through his body, he was suddenly so grateful for the caring vampires in his life, particularly his beautiful, red-haired mate.

reynolds produced a handful of gauze and a small syringe. katrina anticipated the task at hand and immediately unbuttoned the cuff of her blouse sleeve to allow access to the veins in her arm. he delicately withdrew enough blood to fill the syringe and turned to his patient.

"caleb, i'm going to inject some of katrina's blood beneath your skin now. my plan is for the healing to begin subcutaneously and work its way outward," he patiently explained.

caleb briefly moaned and then managed, "okay."

"katrina, since you're here, would you please use your saliva to numb the areas next to his wounds while i follow by injecting the blood?" the dark-haired physician asked.

"don't you want me to heal the actual topical wounds?" she countered.

he shook his head. "unfortunately, no. if he's examined by other human physicians or government officials as part of an investigation, there would be too many questions about his rate of healing. however, if we begin the healing from inside first, nobody's the wiser, and caleb still benefits. we can always use your saliva to expedite the surface healing later on," he explained.

she admired the doctor's forethought.

you're good. much more than i could have hoped for, in fact.

for the next few minutes, the doctor injected small amounts of blood below or near the various wounds after katrina numbed the injection points.

caleb had already learned firsthand how robust the healing powers of a vampire's blood could be. and while the process sparked renewed waves of pain, he nevertheless appreciated the assistance.

once reynolds completed the injections, he turned to his medical cabinet and retrieved a fresh syringe and a small bottle.

"just a little something to help him rest," he explained while injecting caleb's arm with the clear liquid. "you can use the wheelchair in my office to take him upstairs to your room now." he put the syringe aside.

"thank you, dr. reynolds," katrina sincerely offered as she opened the doorway to reveal paige standing there with a worried look on her face.

"please, call me ethan," he encouraged. "and you're welcome. i'll come up to check on him in a couple of hours."

reynolds and katrina gently placed caleb in the wheelchair that paige retrieved, and the two women prepared to take him upstairs. alton and dori entered the examining room as caleb was wheeled out, but not before the brunette woman lightly touched caleb on the shoulder in passing.

the lobby seemed overly busy for the evening as onlookers watched caleb being wheeled away. a number of faces reflected sincere concern, while others appeared merely curious.

"i think i like ethan reynolds," katrina mumbled to paige in the elevator as she lightly ran her fingertips through caleb's tussled hair.

paige softly replied, "yeah, me too. he's something, isn't he?"

katrina's eyes darted to her friend as if recognizing something more in her statement, but paige's expression quickly turned stoic.

katrina continued to watch over caleb at his bedside while her mate slept. she felt so helpless just sitting, watching, and waiting. while she understood the need to curtail surface healing of his wounds, she nevertheless hated seeing the harsh appearance of his swollen face. just imagining how painful it must have felt to him made her appreciate that ethan had given him a sedative.

caleb's body was slightly feverish as his immune system tried to kill the vampire blood cells that were rapidly repairing the damaged tissue below the surface of his skin.

she gazed down at his still form, wondering when he might wake. despite his need for rest, katrina wanted to chat with him about what had happened. she was dying of curiosity to hear his perspective on what had taken place in town. yet she was relegated to sitting in the chair staring at him while listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

at least it's strong and healthy-sounding. that's certainly a good sign.

she lost track of time as her thoughts fluctuated between her mate, the conference, and a host of other concerns. when she heard a light rapping at the suite door, she quietly admitted paige into the room. the blonde vampire offered her one of the two thermal mugs of warm blood, which she gratefully accepted.

"how's our boy?" paige asked as katrina shut the suite door behind her.

she had wanted to stay with katrina as she watched over caleb, but her duties interrupted her plans. not for the first time since her arrival, she wished she were just a guest and not a key support person for the conference.

"still asleep, but his heartbeat is strong," katrina replied. "thanks for stopping by."

"i'd have been here sooner, but -"

"no, it's okay. i completely understand," she interrupted as they sat next to each other on the living room couch.

"i met with alton and dori a few minutes ago," paige said.

"how is she?" katrina asked, suddenly ashamed that she hadn't called or gone-->>

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