"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Alex half prayed and half chanted as she slammed Cale's rental car into park on the side of the off-ramp. Her own car was a crumpled mass ahead, mangled against the dividing rail. There was no sign of the pickup that had hit him. When Cale had crashed, it had gunned its engines and taken off. Probably a drunken idiot fleeing the scene before the cops could show up, Alex thought grimly as she shoved the driver's side door open and stumbled through the snow toward her car.

She hadn't been able to believe her eyes when the pickup had suddenly swerved into Cale and begun to force him off the road. Alex had instinctively begun to slow to stay out of the way, but the moment she'd realized that the impact had steered the little car toward the concrete divider and that Cale was staring at the pickup and didn't yet realize it, she'd laid on the hornof the rental car to try to warn him. Much to her relief, he'd jerked his head around, apparently spotted the problem and managed to pull away from the pickup. But she'd known at once that he was going too fast. Her ears were still ringing from the horrible crash as the car had hit the rail, but there was also a rushing in her ears as adrenaline pumped through her, helping her slog through the snow to get to Cale.

Alex had a terrible feeling she would get there only to find him dead. She just wasn't lucky enough to be given a gift like him and be allowed to keep it. Her parents and grandparents had been taken from her, why had she thought for even a minute that she could have him?

Tears blurred her eyes, and Alex dashed them impatiently away as she reached the driver's side door. The front end of her car looked like a squeeze box with the driver's side taking the worst of the damage. The windows had shattered, and she cut herself on the broken glass chips still embedded in the frame of the door as she grabbed the cold metal to lean in. All Alex could make out was Cale's still form lying across the seats, his head in the passenger seat. He wasn't moving.

Despair sliding through her, Alex released the window frame and immediately began to stumble her way through the snow to get to the passenger door. This side had a lot less damage, and much to her relief the door still worked. She was able to pull it open so that she could lean into the car to examine Cale. Alex glanced over his dark form, then opened the glove compartment and reached in for the emergency flashlight she kept there. She flicked it on with fingers nowstiff from cold, and then shined it on Cale, a small sob slipping from her lips when she saw the damage.

His eyes were closed, and he was as pale as death, his chest and face covered with blood. Alex moved the light beam down to his legs and closed her eyes briefly against the sight of metal crushing them against the seat from the knees down. If it was as bad as it looked, they would need the Jaws of Life to get him out, she thought with despair, and reached into her coat pocket for her phone, but it wasn't there. She hadn't thought to grab it before leaving to go antiquing, Alex realized. It would still be in her charger at home, where she'd put it after returning from the hospital.

Cursing, she glanced to Cale, and then switched off the flashlight and set it on the floor so that she could lean in and search his pockets for his phone. She had just started on the first pocket when Cale suddenly jolted slightly upward with a loud, deep gasp as if she'd just hit him with defibrillator paddles.

"Cale?" she said with disbelief, her hands moving to his face as he fell back on the seat. "Can you hear me?"

When he moaned and turned his face into her hand, Alex sighed with relief. Tears began to fall down her cheeks in earnest, and she pressed a kiss to his forehead, whispering, "Thank God."

"Blood," he moaned.

"Yes, I know baby, you've lost a lot of blood. I need to call for an ambulance." She started to withdraw her hands from his face, but he caught her hand weakly and returned it to his face.

"No ... phone," Cale groaned, nuzzling her hand. She thought she even felt his warm tongue slide across her cold palm, but was more concerned about what he had said.

"You don't have your phone either? But I thought you called Bricker-you must have used the restaurant phone. I hadn't realized it was hooked up yet." Frowning, she turned her head to peer out the front window, wondering how far it was to a building or house where she could use a phone or at least get someone to call for an ambulance.

Pain shot through her hand, and Alex instinctively jerked it away from Cale with an "Ow!"

"Sorry," Cale sounded as miserable as he was weak, and she sighed and kissed his forehead again.

"It's okay. I cut it on the broken window when I first came up. It's a little tender." She half straightened to peer around again, hoping someone would take the offramp and stop to help. She didn't see anyone. Traffic wasn't completely absent on the highway, but apparently this wasn't a popular off-ramp. She'd have to go for help.

"Cale." She turned back to him and frowned at the rustling he was making. Picking up the flashlight, she turned it on and bit her lip when she saw the way he was twisting on the seats. He was obviously in terrible pain.

"Oh, God, Cale," she whispered, and then reached out to touch his cheek again with her free hand, and said in stronger tones, "Honey, I have to go for help. I'll be as quick as I can but-"

Cale moaned and turned his face into her hand again,and this time she could see his tongue slip out to lick across her bloody palm. Despite the situation, the caress sent a shiver of excitement through her, and that raised a maelstrom of shame inside her. The man was delirious and half-dead, and she was standing there getting turned on. Her attention shifted back to Cale as he suddenly pushed her hand away.

"The trunk," he gasped.

"Trunk?" she asked uncertainly.

"The rental. A cooler," Cale got out in hoarse tones.

He was definitely delirious, Alex decided. "Honey, this is no time for a beer. You need help."

"The cooler," he insisted, sounding desperate, and then a tearing sound drew her eyes toward his legs and she shifted the flashlight beam there to see that he was trying to pull his legs free of the twisted metal as if to get out and get the cooler himself. Another tearing sounded, but this time she suspected it wasn't cloth. The man was doing himself damage in his desperation.

"Okay, I'll get the cooler," she said quickly, trying to calm him. "Just stop moving. You're only hurting yourself."

Much to her relief, he sagged and went still, merely murmuring, "Need it."

"Okay. I'll get it. Just don't move," she pleaded, and then backed out of the car and straightened to hurry back to the rental. The snow along the side of the ramp was a good two feet deep. Already knowing how hard it was to wade through, Alex risked the ramp itself but found it wasn't much faster. The road was icy, and she couldn't move too quickly for fear of slipping and hurting herself in a fall that would stop her from being able to get Cale the help he so desperately needed.

Alex was slowed down again when she finally reached the car. She'd left the keys in the ignition and the engine running in her rush to get to Cale and now had to wade through the snow to get to the driver's side and the keys. She was panting with exertion by the time she got to the open door. Alex reached in and hit the button on the black fob hanging from the key in the ignition. She then hit it again until she heard all the doors unlock. Straightening, she hurried around to the trunk and opened it to reveal a small cooler inside. Alex grabbed the handle and jerked it out, then slammed the trunk closed and hurried back to her car and Cale.

"Here, I got the cooler," Alex said soothingly as she bent to lean into the passenger side. She set the cooler on the front passenger floor, and then shined her flashlight over Cale, almost moaning when she saw that he'd continued trying to free himself while she was gone. He'd succeeded somewhat. His legs were half-out of where they'd been crushed against the seat, but it wasn't pretty. The front of his lower legs resembled hamburger, and she thought she saw bone in a spot or two.

"Oh, God, Cale, I have to get you help," she moaned, wondering if he'd ever walk again.

"In the cooler ... blood," Cale growled, and she shifted her eyes and the flashlight beam to his face. He looked even paler than he had the first time she'd seen him. He was almost gray from lack of blood, butstill struggling to pull himself across the seat, his eyes now a burning silver and focused on the cooler she'd set down. "Open it."

The words were almost a snarl, and Alex automatically shifted the handle out of the way and opened the cooler. Her eyes widened when she saw the stacked bags of blood inside. She stared at them with confusion, and then lifted one out to look at more closely. "What-?"

He suddenly snatched the bag from her, and her eyes widened with horror as she saw fangs suddenly slide out of his mouth. When he tore into the bag with them, she took a panicked step back, bumped into the car door, lost her footing, and landed on her butt in the cold snow. But the flashlight beam and her eyes never left Cale. He had closed his eyes, whether against the light shining on him, or with relief or pleasure she didn't know, but she could see that the bag was emptying, the plastic shriveling in on itself as its contents were removed.

"Another," he gasped, ripping the first bag away as soon as it was empty.

Alex didn't even glance to the cooler, but simply stared at him.

"Alex," Cale growled. "Please."

"What are you?" she asked shakily.

Cale closed his eyes. "I didn't want you to find out like this."

"Find out what? That you're a vampire?" She heard the hysterical note in her voice and snapped her mouth and eyes shut, thinking this then was the flaw. He wasperfect ... except for being a bloodsucking demon. Jesus, could she pick 'em or what?

A rustle and more tearing brought her eyes open to see that Cale had dragged himself a little farther along the seat, doing himself more damage as he did. But then he didn't have much choice, she supposed. If he was a vampire, he couldn't afford to have EMTs and firemen seeing him like this.

"Please," Cale repeated, panting.

Alex hesitated, but when he pulled himself another half an inch closer, she quickly snatched another bag of blood and shoved it at him to keep him at bay. He took the bag of blood but didn't thrust it to the fangs she could see so clearly.

"Alex, it's okay," he said.

A little burble of disbelieving laughter slipped from her lips, and she covered her mouth with dismay at the hysterical sound.

Cale sighed, a sound filled with despair, and finally shifted the bag to sink his teeth into it.

Alex watched, and suddenly wondered if he'd bitten her. She hadn't seen any marks, but there were places on her body she couldn't see without the use of a mirror or bending herself up like a pretzel ... and he'd given a lot of attention to one specific such place. Dear God, maybe that was why she'd been passing out, she thought suddenly. He wasn't just licking and nibbling, but biting and sucking as well. She was probably a couple of quarts short on blood right now. Jesus!

She stared at Cale wide-eyed, wondering how he'd managed to keep her from feeling the pain. Man, she'dthought the pleasure he'd given her was like nothing she'd ever experienced. Now she knew why, he must be able to make her think she was enjoying it ... which meant he could somehow control her mind, Alex realized. That explained why she'd suddenly gone from scrambling to get her clothes on to blithely going in to take a shower when she'd woken alone in the office.

Seeing that the bag at his teeth was almost empty, Alex snatched another from the cooler, but then hesitated. Maybe she shouldn't be giving him blood. He was weak and in pain now, but what if the blood healed him? She knew what he was now. He wasn't trying to control her at the moment, but that might just be because he was too weak from blood loss to do it. If she kept giving him blood and he got stronger ... then what? Would he make her forget what he was? What else could he make her do? Would he keep her as a pet, a walking blood supply and sex slave until he tired of her? Again, then what? Would her body be found by the side of the road, drained of blood? He'd gotten the bagged blood in the cooler from somewhere. Did he find victims, drain their blood, then bag it and keep it for future use until he found another victim?

"Christ," she breathed.

"Alex?" Cale pulled the bag away and peered at her worriedly. "What are you thinking?"

She glanced to him as another thought suddenly struck her. "You're a friend of Mortimer's. He's not ... like you? " she managed.

Cale didn't speak, but she could see the answer in his eyes. Mortimer was a vampire too.

"Oh God," Alex breathed again, thinking that explained why Sam had suddenly dumped a career she'd worked toward her whole life just to play den mother to Mortimer and his friends. Mortimer was controlling Sam, probably using her as a walking blood bag and sex slave too. She had to warn her.

"Alex?"

Cale watched her with such an intensity that she fancied he was trying to control her but was too weak. She couldn't afford for him to get strong enough to do it. Alex dropped the bag she held back into the cooler, slammed it closed, and scrambled to her feet, dragging the cooler out of the car as she did.

"Wait! Alex. No!" She heard the rustle and tearing again and knew he was struggling to get free and come after her. Unsure what he was capable of, and terrified that he'd succeed, she raced back along the road toward his rental car. She was only a couple of feet away when her feet slid out from under her. Alex dropped the cooler as she started to skid and was trying to stay upright when the ice patch suddenly ended. Her right foot stopped abruptly as it hit the rough tarmac, and she was suddenly falling forward. She threw her hands out, trying to brace her fall, but her head swung forward as she went down, her forehead making a bone-jolting impact as it hit the ground.

Moaning, Alex squeezed her eyes closed against the pain, but then crawled to her hands and knees and glanced back the way she'd come. Cale had dragged himself out of the car to come after her. Scrambling to her feet, she charged around the rental to the driver'sside and pretty much threw herself inside, almost closing the door on her ankle in her desperation to get it shut and locked.

Grateful that she'd left the car running, Alex shifted into drive, and then glanced toward Cale in time to see his legs collapse beneath him, too damaged to carry his weight. Her heart wrenched at his roar of pain as he fell, and she hesitated, but then spotted the cooler she'd dropped. It had opened as it fell and several bags of blood had spilled out and were gleaming dark crimson in the beams from the rental's headlights.

Grinding her teeth, she spun the steering wheel and hit the gas, fishtailing to head back down the ramp the wrong way. She wasn't even going to risk driving past Cale. She just didn't know what he was capable of. Fortunately, no one appeared on the road ahead, coming in her direction, and the way was clear when she reached the highway. Alex turned on to it, tires spinning and back end fishtailing again before she got control and shot off up the highway. Her mind was now focused on only one thing; she had to get to Sam and warn her.

On his knees and panting heavily, Cale watched his rental car speed away, then collapsed onto his back and roared with pain and despair. He'd nearly ripped his own foot off trying to get out of the car. The pain was excruciating. But then his whole body had been in terrible pain since he'd woken after the accident. Without the seat belt to restrain him, he'd flown into the dashboard and had heard the crunching of bone on impact. He suspected he had a cracked skull, brokencheekbone, broken nose, a broken collarbone, several broken ribs, and he didn't even want to speculate on the internal damage. Then there were his legs and feet. He raised his head and glanced down at them, grimacing at the state of them.

The two bags he'd managed to consume had started the healing, but he needed much, much more to heal fully. And then he had to find Alex, calm her down, and try to save this situation. He couldn't lose her now, he thought, and cursed the idiot who had hit him.

Grimacing as a shock of pain ran through him, Cale dug into his pocket to find the cell phone Alex had been searching for earlier. Fortunately, she had only managed to try the one pocket and had mistaken his attempt to tell her he didn't want her calling in help, for his saying he didn't have his phone. Now he dragged it painfully out and began to punch in Bricker's number but paused when he realized nothing was happening. He turned it over and saw the large crack across the back. The damn thing had been destroyed in the crash.

Cursing, he tossed it away, hearing it skitter in the snow. He then rolled onto his stomach with a groan to peer at the cooler lying up the road. He couldn't call for help and couldn't walk, but he would get to that damned cooler, he thought grimly, and began to drag himself through the snow, using his arms to pull himself forward, his useless legs leaving a bloody trail behind him.

Alex pulled into the driveway of Mortimer's house, only then recalling the ridiculous level of security hehad. Probably to keep anyone from sneaking in and staking one of them, she thought as she hit the button to roll down her window. Usually they recognized her car and let her in without stopping her outside the first gate, but she was in Cale's rental tonight. However, they apparently recognized that as well and before she could lean out to press the button and lie and say she was just stopping by for a visit, the first gate began to open.

Sighing, she sank back in her seat and hit the button to roll her window back up, but then began to fidget as she realized they would stop her between the two gates to glance under the car while finding out why she was there. Alex had no idea what they were capable of but suspected she should keep the real reason for her visit out of her mind. If they could control people like she suspected, they might be able to read minds too. She was pretty sure that in books and the movies vampires could read minds.

It had been stupid of her to come here. She should have called Sam and had her meet her at a coffee shop or something. Alex had barely had the thought when an SUV pulled into the drive behind her. Realizing she had no choice but to go forward now, she cursed under her breath and removed her foot from the brake, allowing the rental to slide forward into the area between the two high gates barring the entrance to the house. A glance in the mirror showed the SUV following her inside, and then pulling up beside her as the first gate began to close.

Alex watched it unhappily, wondering if she would ever leave this place ... alive.

A tap on her window drew her attention, and Alex glanced around to see Russell smiling in at her quizzically. Her gaze slid from Russell's blond hair and golden eyes to the dark-haired man moving past him toward the back of her car to look underneath. Francis was the second man's name, and while no one had said so, she suspected the two men weren't just work partners on the security detail but life partners as well. They were the only two Sam hadn't introduced to her and Jo. Besides, there was just something about the way they looked at and treated each other that made her think there was more than friendship between them.

Alex shifted her gaze back to Russell and hit the button to roll down her window again, quickly trying to blank her mind as she did in case they could read her thoughts.

"Hi, Alex. What's up?" Russell greeted her.

Something about his stance or the way he spoke made her fear it was already too late to hide her thoughts, but she forced a smile and tried to sound casual as she said, "Nothing. I just swung by to see Sam."

"It's kind of late, isn't it?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

"A little," Alex agreed, realizing that it was nearly dawn. Her gaze slid to the SUV to see two men getting out to talk to Francis, who had finished at the back of the car. She recalled them from other visits. They were usually on duty during the day. She'd arrived at shift change she supposed.

"I'll call up to the house and have someone meet you at the door."

Alex turned sharply back to Russell. His expressionwas closed, and there was concern in the depths of his eyes. She was positive he'd been able to read her mind and considered shifting the car into reverse and trying to crash her way back out through the first gate.

Russell nixed that idea by saying, "I wouldn't if I were you. You could get hurt."

Alex swallowed. The words had been softly spoken, but they sounded like a threat to her in that moment. Worse yet, there was now no denying that he could read her mind.

"Go ahead."

Alex glanced to the front to see that Francis had opened the second gate for her and now stood waiting for her to drive through.

"It isn't as bad as you think," Russell said quietly when she hesitated. When she glanced to him again, he added, "Go on up to the house and let someone explain things to you. Everything will be all right."

Swallowing, Alex hit the button to close the window and drove through the gate, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. That drive, short as it was, was the worst of her life ... because she suspected she was driving herself to her own doom.

Cale could have sobbed with relief when he finally reached the cooler. That relief just increased when he saw that it was already open, its contents spilled out onto the snow like precious rubies. Grabbing the nearest bag, he dragged it to his mouth and sank his teeth into it, waiting impatiently as it emptied, his thoughts on Alex and where she could have gone.

He should have explained everything before revealing his teeth, Cale berated himself. It must have been something of a shock when his fangs had suddenly appeared. However, he'd been in such need, and she had been bleeding, the smell and taste of the blood on her cut palms taunting him ... It had been a case of the lesser evil, suck on a bag of blood or give in to his desperation and bite Alex. Either one would have revealed what he was; but he was in no shape to woo and caress her so that she would be excited enough to open her mind and feel his pleasure rather than her own pain. His biting her then would have hurt, and while he would never deliberately hurt Alex, with the hunger on him as it had been, he hadn't trusted himself not to. Getting her to bring him the cooler of blood had seemed the only recourse.

If he'd been in a little better shape, Cale might have thought to have her leave the cooler and go for help so that he could feed without her seeing, but once he'd seen the cooler, he hadn't been able to think of anything but the sweet relief the blood would give him.

Cale ripped the now-empty bag from his teeth and dragged another over to replace it. He fed on four bags like that before worrying about anything else ... like the fact that he was presently lying at the side of the road where anyone might find him. And that within seconds the blood would hit his system, it would start to heal him, and he would be in so much pain he wouldn't be able to control himself. If a Good Samaritan should come by at that point, he was likely to rip into their throat without even being aware of what he was doing.

Sighing, he glanced around. There was nothing but the metal rail and a triangle of snow between the highway and the off-ramp on this side, but there was a small copse of trees starting about fifty feet from the road on the other. It seemed a long way away at that point, but Cale didn't feel he had much choice. It was that or risk hurting someone. He had already been incredibly lucky that no one had come along yet, he couldn't risk-

Cale's thoughts died as lights splashed over him. Raising his head, he saw that someone had turned onto the off-ramp and was slowing as they approached.