phineas's grin faded. "yeah, that's why they transformed me. they wanted a drug dealer." he crossed his arms, frowning. "i don't do that shit anymore. i'm one of the good guys."

"i know you are," roman replied. "but if we had some nightshade, we could teleport prisoners like hermes. when the malcontents kidnapped angus two years ago, they paralyzed him with nightshade, so there was no need for silver chains. then they were able to teleport him."

"i know." phineas shifted his weight. "i feel really bad about helping them, but they said they'd kill my family - "

"we doona blame you, lad," connor said.

"it would really help us to have some nightshade," roman said. "unfortunately, i don't know how it's made."

"oh, bummer," phineas mumbled.

"exactly," roman continued. "but i think i could figure out the formula if i had the right ingredients. do you remember them? can you procure them for me?"

"yeah, i remember." phineas grimaced. "we're talking some bad-ass illegal shit."

connor gave him a wry look. "we have every confidence in you."

"yeah. thanks." phineas leaned close to phil and murmured, "if latoya finds out about this, she'll be really pissed."

"no one needs to know." connor had overheard him. "once ye have the drugs in yer possession, ye can erase the mortals' memories."

"look at it this way," phil said to phineas. "you'll be taking dangerous drugs off the street."

the young vamp's eyes lit up. "you're right. i'll be doing the world a favor."

roman smiled. "thank you. this could be a valuable weapon in our war against the malcontents."

"dr. phang at your service," phineas boasted.

"then off ye go." connor gave him a pointed look.

"right." phineas nodded. "i'll have to drop by the townhouse first to change clothes. can't go into the hood looking like this." he teleported away.

connor waved phil over. "can ye take heather and lara to the townhouse?"

"sure." phil frowned. "but i'd rather go with jack and be where the action is."

"i doona believe there will be any more action in maine tonight," connor whispered. "and once austin and darcy get the prisoner here, this is where the action will be. i'm counting on yer help with the prisoner, so get yer rest now while ye can."

it was almost like old times with a full house to guard. phil drove lara boucher, heather echarpe, and heather's daughter bethany to the townhouse. then he excused himself to go to the basement to get a few hours sleep. he had to stay alert during the day, when he guarded the vamps.

he was up again shortly before dawn. vanda, cora lee, and pamela teleported in from the nightclub. jack and jean-luc returned from apollo's compound in maine, reporting that there had been no more activity there. angus and the rest of his team had decided to stay there. phineas arrived home with good news. he'd managed to find all the drugs roman needed to figure out the nightshade formula.

the house grew quiet as the vamps went off to their rooms to fall into their death-sleep. around 11:00 a.m., austin and darcy dragged in.

darcy, a former member of roman's harem, had met austin erickson when he worked for the cia stake-out team. now a married couple, they were invaluable mortal employees at mackay security & investigation. they'd delivered the prisoner to the silver room at romatech before arriving at the townhouse. exhausted, they headed straight to a bedroom.

howard barr called around 6:00 p.m. to ask phil and austin to come to romatech and ready the prisoner for questioning. since the vamps were still in their death-sleep, darcy and lara took over guard duty. phil regretted that he would miss seeing vanda. he hadn't had a chance to talk to her since they'd made love. she could call it "just sex" if she wanted, but to him it was making love.

at romatech, he and austin went straight to the safe room in the basement. angus had designed the room, completely encased in silver, to prevent a vampire from teleporting in or out. a wooden crate rested on the floor with hermes inside.

phil noted the lid had been nailed shut. a few air holes dotted the lid. part of the journey from maine had been in the dark, and during that time the malcontent would have been alive and breathing.

austin had left a crowbar in the room earlier, and now he pried the lid open a few inches. phil grabbed the top and wrenched it off.

the sleeping vampire lay wrapped in silver chains. he looked about thirty-five years old, with a tall, gaunt body. his pale, pockmarked face was accented by deep-set eyes, sunken cheeks, and thinning brown hair. he couldn't have been a very healthy mortal when he was transformed, and now he was stuck looking ill for centuries. but his pasty skin and frail body was deceiving. as a vampire, he possessed superior strength and speed.

phil peered around the room. "where do you want to put him?"

"the bed and easy chairs look too comfortable." austin grabbed a kitchen chair from the dinette set and set it in the middle of the room. "this will do."

phil helped austin lift the vampire out of the crate. "he's gotten a little stiff."

they propped the body against the chair with hermes's feet on the floor and his shoulders against the back of the chair. the body didn't bend to conform to the chair, but remained stiff as a board.

austin snorted. "holy rigor mortis."

phil chuckled. "maybe we should lay him on the kitchen table. we could chain him to it."

they soon had hermes chained to the wooden table and the table standing on its edge.

"we could practice throwing knives," austin suggested. "like a circus act."

"good idea." phil grinned. "but i think it would be more effective after he wakes up." he checked his watch. "that should be in about ten minutes."

"let's find something to eat." austin wandered into the kitchen area and rummaged through the cabinets. he found a loaf of bread and some chips.

phil checked the refrigerator. it was stocked with synthetic blood but also had bottled water and lunch meat.

they sat in the easy chairs, eating their dinner, while they waited for hermes to wake up.

austin told phil about some of the adventures he'd had as a former member of the cia stake-out team. "one time, i shot a malcontent full of silver bullets and he was still able to teleport away."

"really?" phil bit into his sandwich. "that's interesting."

austin swallowed a bite from his sandwich. "i asked angus about it, and he said silver needed to be external to keep a vampire from teleporting. it acts like a boundary that they can't get through. but silver inside a vampire would hurt like hell and eventually kill him. i guess silver bullets would kill your kind, too?"

"yeah. silver inside me is like poison. but externally, it's not a problem. i can touch it without it burning me."

"roman can touch silver, but he's the only vamp i've ever known who can." austin took another bite from his sandwich.

"i've noticed that the older vamps can do things the younger ones can't," phil said. "i've seen angus teleport two mortals at once. and jack and ian have both managed to teleport me while i was armed with silver bullets." he recalled how vanda had been unable to teleport him with the silver chain in his pocket.

"yeah, the older they get, the more powerful. i wonder how old this one is." austin motioned to the prisoner. "oh, look. he's waking up."

the prisoner's body jolted. his chest heaved, straining against the silver chain as he sucked in his first breath. his eyes opened, then narrowed on phil and austin. his nostrils flared. he struggled against his chains, shaking the table.

"you know." austin grabbed a handful of chips out of the bag. "i think he wants to bite us."

phil drank some water. "i've noticed they're extremely hungry when they first wake up."

"yeah," austin agreed. "i heard it can get really painful."

hermes glared at them. "you are inferior creatures," he grumbled with a thick accent. "you think you can hold me? where have you taken me?"

austin gave phil a confused look. "is he asking questions?"

"looks that way." phil finished his sandwich. "maybe he hasn't realized yet that he's the prisoner, and we ask the questions."

austin nodded. "they can be amazingly stupid sometimes. you would think they'd acquire a certain amount of wisdom over the centuries, but no - "

"silence, mortal!" hermes growled.

a surge of cold air pressed against phil's brow. the prisoner was attempting to use vampire mind control on them.

you will release me at once.

phil quickly tapped into the power of his inner wolf to keep his mind protected. he glanced at austin to make sure he wasn't affected. he'd heard austin was psychic but wasn't sure how strong he was. "are you all right?"

"oh, yeah." austin lifted a hand, and a bottle of water flew from the kitchen counter to land in his hand.

phil drew in a sharp breath. "you're telekinetic? you must have more psychic power than vampires."

"yep." austin unscrewed the top of his water bottle. "it really pisses them off when they realize they can't control me."

"i will not be ignored!" hermes thundered. "obey me."

he hissed at them, and his fangs sprang out.

"now that's just nasty." austin drank some water.

"really." phil helped himself to some chips. "someone should tell him about whitening strips."

another wave of cold air circled about the room.

come to me, mortal. i must feed.

austin gave phil a wry look. "do i look like breakfast to you?"

phil studied the prisoner. "i think the hunger's getting to him. he's sweating."

"and his legs are quivering," austin added. "i think he would fall down if we didn't have him chained up."

hermes hissed at them. his arms strained against the chains, his hands fisted.

"if he wasn't so rude, i might offer him a sip of synthetic blood." phil passed the chips back to austin. "we've got plenty in the fridge. but he hasn't even told us his real name."

"you will get no information from me," hermes snarled. "i'd rather die than drink that synthetic piss."

"i guess he wants to die." austin took the chips back to the kitchen area.

"well, technically, he's already died once," phil said. "he should be pretty good at it by now."

the door to the silver room opened and phineas sauntered inside. "what's up?"

the prisoner glowered at him. "i know who you are. the traitor. your time will come."

phineas studied him with a wry look. "oh yeah, i'm scared."

"want some breakfast?" phil walked toward the refrigerator. "we've got type o, a, ab, whatever you like."

"i'll take some ab negative. thanks." phineas sat in one of the easy chairs. "can you warm it up, bro?"

"sure." phil popped the bottle in the microwave.

the scent of blood permeated the room. hermes's body racked with a shudder. his face glistened with sweat.

"here you go." phil handed phineas a glass filled to the brim with warmed-up blood.

phineas guzzled down half the glass, then licked his lips. "damn, that's good."

"so where's connor?" austin sat next to phineas in the second easy chair.

"he's in the security office with jack. they're watching us." phineas motioned toward the surveillance camera above the bed. "connor's looking through the malcontent database to figure out who this hermes dude is."

"i'm done," connor announced as he strode into the room. he gave the prisoner a challenging look, then referred to the clipboard in his hand. "hermes is polish, about four hundred years old, and he fought on the wrong side of the great vampire war of 1710."

"fuck you," the prisoner growled.

connor arched a brow. "as you can see, his english is somewhat limited."

"what's his name?" phil asked.

"sigismund."

chapter 12

phil growled low in his throat as he unleashed his alpha power. because of his blue eyes, everything took on a luminous blue tint. his sight sharpened until he could see each vein in his prey's neck. smell the fear emanating from him. hear his heart racing like a scared rabbit.

his form wavered on the brink of an instant shift. he controlled it for now as he stalked toward his prey.

sigismund pressed back against the table. "what - what kind of shifter are you?"

phil allowed his face to change. his nose and jaw crackled as they elongated. his canine teeth sprang out. he snarled.

"no!" sigismund fought frantically against his restraints. he shot connor a desperate look. "call off your wolf!"

connor shrugged. "he's no' my wolf."

phil halted in front of the prisoner. a primeval urge to kill swept through him, more powerful than he'd ever felt before. in the past, he'd killed animals while in wolf form. werewolves always enjoyed a good hunt when the moon was full. and he'd killed malcontents while engaged in battle. but never had he been tempted to commit murder - till now.

sigismund extended his fangs in a futile attempt to defend himself. phil knew if he drew too close, the vampire would snap at him. but he was seized by a murderous rage that dismissed any threat. his body vibrated with raw power. with lightning speed he latched onto the prisoner's neck with one hand. he clamped down, squeezing with his superior strength.