Riley looked up at the two strangers. Jade had been right about the girl, Haven. She had popcorn colored hair that was styled beautifully to her shoulders and dark blue eyes. Her body was in shape and she was curvy in all the places that she should be. Riley thought that she looked more like a Barbie Doll than Rambo.

The boy on the other hand was cute. He had black hair and his eyes that were a mix between moss green and gray. He was wearing a dress up shirt and slacks complete with a tie, which was very unusual around the warehouse. Suddenly she was really wondering about this story that he had. The guy looked more like a freaking Bible schoolteacher than a vampire hunter.

"And with that said," Riley replied, "Feel free to leave if you think this is too much for you. Either you shoot or get the fuck out of our way. Simple enough right? So if you walk out that door," Riley added pointing to the door that she had entered from. "No one is going to blame you."

Lucky walked up beside of Riley, looking down at Ramiro. "Well Italian Stallion, I think you got your face rocked." He threw some paper towels down to Ramiro and then stepped away going to get the mop and bucket. It sure as hell was a hard knock life, but what Riley was noticing more was the fact that the two strangers weren’t moving an inch.

She cleared her throat, "Courage may be a virtue, but it sure as hell doesn’t give you invincibility. I’m going to get some donuts. If you’re staying with us, you’re more than welcome to help yourself to them, but if you’re going, get the hell out." Riley’s blue eyes traced over the Homecoming Queen and then Charlie Brown before she spun on her heels and left the warehouse. Those were some damn fine last words if she did say so herself.

Casper’s wide eyes met Haven’s with a new respect. "I’d just like to say: what in God’s name was that?" His fingers went to his tie loosening it from his throat as the other ran through his closely cropped black hair.

Haven’s voice came out as light as air with an Irish accent attached to it. "I’d say that the Sex God over there touched the wrong lassie."

A grin formed on Casper’s face, "Yeah, I’m sure he’s going to be feeling that one for awhile."

Haven smiled back at Casper, but her thoughts were elsewhere, "What do you think about this?"

"All this?" Casper asked looking around seeing the gentle nod of Haven’s head. "Truthfully…." He stated his eyes looking back to the tan guy getting off the ground, "I think that we had better watch our backs. None of them seem very friendly and if it comes between you and them dying, I doubt they’ll have to think twice about the choice."

"Kind of ruthless eh?" Haven commented her eyes looking over Ramiro. Suddenly the saying: the harder you’re built up, the harder you’ll fall. "Well just for the record, I don’t plan on backstabbing you. You seem like a nice lad, far nicer than these guys."

Casper looked into Haven’s dark blue eyes. She reminded him of Christine in the old days when they had first met. She had been sweet and very strong-minded; now a days it was a whole different story. "I guess that will be good leverage for you and I. We don’t look like we’re going to blow someone’s head off," Casper muttered rolling the sleeves up on his shirt.

"Yeah," Haven agreed, "But there’s something about that blue eyed girl. She told us to get out if we couldn’t handle it." She tucked a piece of her sunny blonde hair behind her ears and turned her eyes to Casper.

"Definitely, but there was still something dangerous about her," Casper stated looking towards the door to see Riley entering with, as promised, a nice box of warm donuts. Casper immediately felt a pang in his stomach and a thirst for some good, stout coffee.

"Aye, I say that if we ever want to be part of their team, we’ve got to socialize some?" Haven suggested walking down the steps and towards the box of donuts.

Casper looked at the people that were populating the room. He didn’t doubt that any of these people could kill someone in one shot, but did he trust any of them to have his back? He may be called one of their team, but he doubted that he’d ever actually be one of their team.

Riley placed the donuts on the table where the coffee was brewing, but didn’t really have an appetite. Ramiro was okay now. Someone had obviously set his nose back into its right place, and the only hint that something was wrong with it was the fact that it was still flushed. Riley didn’t dare make any eye contact with Ramiro. She might have sympathy for the poor creature, but not enough to warm his bed.

She saw that Lucky had already dug into the donuts snatching up the chocolate covered custard cream that she had specifically ordered for him. Usually they would have battled it out for that damn donut, but today she didn’t feel much like competition. Haven and Casper came down the stairs, and she wondered exactly what they were thinking. They probably were thinking that Jade was a psycho, but if they thought that of her now…what would they think of her when she really let loose the blood bath? Jade was messy when it came to slaying. Her philosophy was the bigger the hole, the better. It was a little scary in Riley’s opinion; but then again everything about Jade was a little scary to her.

Riley’s eyes turned back to the cage, to the frightened eyes that were peering back at her from the bars. Riley had been blessed with almost all of the possible vampire powers for a younger generation lamia. Her mind flickered with an idea, but she wasn’t sure what she could be opening her mind to if she tried it. It really pissed her off when she had powers, but no one to play with them with. Humans couldn’t pick up telepathy, unless they were psychic. That’s when you could tell the reals from the fake.

She swallowed hard and looked into those dark brown eyes of the vampire. Her mind focused on opening a path, her voice flowing over it, the power touching the other vampire like a knock on the door to let her in. Hello, my name is Riley. I know you’re scared, but I promise that we won’t harm you. I’m like you.

The brown eyes looked back at her. They were blank and unreadable. If the vampire had read the path, Riley couldn’t tell. She could only hope that it would open up. She turned away from the cage to look back at where the donuts were when she heard the gentle hum of a voice with a slight European accent. You’re not like me. I can feel you and you’re not complete, but you have…

Riley blinked looking at the girl. She had what? What do I have?

The vampire’s luscious red lips curled up in a smile and Riley felt bile rise up in her throat. You bear the mark of my master you little freak. Riley’s knees almost gave out on her. Freak. She hadn’t been called freak since she was nine. Since she had moved halfway across the country and gotten a new identity. No one knew her as Ilia Razi anymore. She was Riley St. Gregory, a human girl. Not some half vampire, half-human freak. Secrets. Secrets. Razi, secrets. The vampire looked at her more taunting and without warning Riley began screaming.

Lucky had been shoving another donut in his face when he heard the most inhuman sound in his whole life and it was coming from Riley. Her hands were on her ears and she was crouched down on the ground with her eyes closed screaming. Another noise weaved in with Riley’s screams and that was laughter. The cackling was coming from the vampire in the cell in front of Riley.

Jade came storming out of her office, demanding, "What the hell is going on out here?"

Lucky tried to find his voice, but Jade’s green eyes were already looking over the scene, fierceness in her eyes. "Ramiro, you and I, are going to do what we should have done with this vampire. Lucky, newbies, shut Riley the fuck up."

When Jade spoke, no one argued. Ramiro and Jade both went in the cell armed with an ax big enough to decapitate the vampire. Ramiro held the beast down over a cold metal slab that they kept in all the cages. The vampire’s fingernails tried to rip through Ramiro’s skin as Jade raised the blade over her head. She didn’t hesitate as she brought it down, the sound of metal slicing the flesh and then hitting metal, echoed sickeningly through the room. Lucky thought that he was going to lose his lunch, but he shook it off and pulled Riley up. Haven and Casper were at his heels. "Get her legs, we’ve got to dunk her," Lucky informed them.

Confusion reigned their eyes, but they did what they were told. Towards the back, there was an icy water chamber made especially for Riley. Her body wasn’t like a human’s and wouldn’t shut down. On three they heaved her body into the water. Lucky saw the water touch the two newbies and he knew that they were going to have to do some explaining.

"You can’t do that! She’s going to die! We’ve got to get her out," Casper stated immediately going to the steps to reach in. The water that had hit his arm was ice cold.

Lucky was quick, rendering Casper defenseless as he slammed him to the ground. "Don’t touch her Boy Scout."

"She’ll die!" He stated trying to get his body maneuvered to throw the other man off of him.

"She’s already dead," Lucky yelled slamming Casper’s head into the wall, so that he’d black out.

"Why in bloody hell did you have to do that?" Haven yelled, her pale cheeks flushing red with frustration.

"Darling your little sidekick was about to pull out one of our most useful team members, and if you would have pulled her out now…she would have died. Sort of," Lucky finished walking towards the cell.

"You could have killed him!" Haven admonished leaning down and touching Casper to make sure he had a pulse.

"Yeah I could have," Lucky admitted, "But I didn’t." He walked over to the table and grabbed a bottle of aspirin. "The best you can do for him is to give him this when he wakes up," Lucky stated throwing the bottle. "Oh…" He added turning, "And if you try and get Riley out again. I really will kill him, and you." With that, Lucky walked out of the room.

Haven’s dark eyes looked towards the door where he had made him exit. Her first instinct was to haul Casper over her shoulder and get the hell out of there, but she couldn’t. Haven had made a promise. A promise that speared through to her heart, and one that she would keep until she died. She would find her sister who they took unwillingly and she would destroy the monster that she had become in the name and honor of her family.

Haven closed her dark sapphire eyes and remembered the pain. She had only been sixteen; it had been three years ago. Kiana had gone for a walk in the Irish countryside and Haven had declined her offer to join her because she was feeling ill that evening. Kiana had come in that night feeling light headed and she had what looked like a welt on her lower hip. It had really been a vampire’s mark. The same vampire that had come right through the front door and injured them all, taking Kiana and leaving them with not knowing if she was still alive or if she was a vampire.

It had been a hard three years. She often wished that the vampire had just killed them, then they wouldn’t be in so much misery. Her mother had just about lost her mind and she was now in a mental clinic. Her father suffered from manic depression and seemed like he was on the same track. Her memories came back in sharp flashes, which made her weak in the knees as she bent down to nurse Casper’s head that was already swelling. Failure was not an option, she told herself. She just couldn’t fail.