When one vampire took a human life for an annual kill, the amount of visible blood was very little, of course. Anwyn had been attacked by a vicious pack that wanted only to play. The purpose here hadn't been nourishment.

I'll figure out another way to get a message to him.

Perhaps the fledgling tried to run, for his muscles tensed with the futile effort. However, like a baby gazelle flushed by a cheetah, the predator was on him before he could manage more than a frightened hiss. One strangled protest, and then Gideon's ghostlike vampire had taken his head with a blade he hadn't even seen. A simple, economical slice, made with enough force that the decapitated portion spun off and hit the pavement, rolling across the alley. The body sank to its knees in a parody of how it would have moved with a brain to direct it, then collapsed, alone. His executioner was already gone.

No, not gone. The tall, swift vamp was back in a half kneel next to the body. Gideon didn't want to face it, didn't want to know they were too late, but he forced his feet to move. As he did, he kept a watchful eye on the shadows in the alley, covering their backs instinctively, even though it was obvious the vampire was more likely to sense a lingering threat than he was.

As Gideon approached, he saw that her chest and neck had been torn open, exposing glistening muscle.

The bodice of the gown had been ripped down to her navel. Blood gathered in the crease beneath one breast. He saw puncture marks in the nipple, around it.

He remembered the soft press of her lips, the sharp intelligence in her eyes, the foolishly brave way she'd held her ground against the three vampires. How she'd seemed to know him from the inside out . ..

The nightgown was hiked up. They had bitten her everywhere, everywhere they could find tender, sensitive flesh. The vampire was doing the same assessment Gideon was doing, such that they reached the juncture of her splayed thighs at the same time. There was torn and bleeding flesh there as well, unmistakable bruising.

The vampire's hand passed over her upper thigh, his thumb wiping away the blood that had obscured the bite scar to which Gideon had reacted so strongly earlier in the evening. A scar he was now certain this vampire had made. This had to be the elusive Daegan Rei.

Those dark, glittering eyes rose, and though the vampire's face remained unreadable, Gideon sensed the monster beneath the opaque surface. Barely leashed violence emanated from the tensile body. Since he wasn't bothering to fight a similar fury rising inside of him, it was an unexpected moment to feel a click of solidarity, a shared purpose, with the creature that was his enemy. Then Daegean's head turned, and he was leaning back over Anwyn.

Gideon couldn't bring himself to look, couldn't bear to see the empty, staring eyes. But the vampire touched her forehead, and suddenly Gideon's heart jump-started, so abruptly it was almost painful. She moved, her lips parting to let out a soft moan of pain.

Though the vampire cut him a measuring glance, Gideon lunged forward, dropping to one knee on her other side.

“What,cher ?” Even with his exceptional hearing, the vampire had to fold his large frame down farther to bring his ear to her mouth. He closed his eyes at her whisper, one large hand cradling her face with undeniable tenderness. “It's all right,” he murmured.

“What is it?” Gideon demanded in a low voice. “What does she need?” The vampire shook his head. “She is saying, ‘Stop.' Over and over. She is in shock.” Gideon closed his own hand over her other one. It was sticky with blood, the fingers twitching. He was afraid to hold it too tightly, for fear it would distress her further. Instead, his heart broke when she clasped his hand like a lifeline, her dilated pupils going to him. They began to swing back and forth between him and Daegan Rei in an eerie rhythm, like one of those old cat clocks. Though it was unsettling to watch, the rock of it seemed to soothe her.

She had some abrasions around her mouth, the corners of her lips torn. Bruises where she'd been struck in the face. She would have fought; he was sure of it. They'd had to knock her down. While her hair was disheveled, he could tell it had in fact been braided, held with that ribbon still snarled in the thick strands.

He wanted to fix it for her, comb it out and braid it again, as if by doing that he could fix what had happened.

What the hell are you doing?She was in pain. She needed help.

Laura had died when he went for help, though. She'd died alone. He hadn't even done that right. He couldn't let go of Anwyn's hand, not when she was clasping it so weakly. He wouldn't.

“Do you have a cell phone?” he asked. Dimly, he realized his voice sounded hoarse, stricken. “We need to call an ambulance.”

“No. They cannot help her.”

Gideon jerked his attention to the vampire. “What the fuck are you talking about?” Daegan Rei turned an expressionless face toward him. “They turned her. They raped her, drank from her and turned her. She's begun the transition. Without his blood to help her through it, she will go completely mad.” He spat to the side, well clear of Anwyn's quivering body.

“His?”

“Three vampires did this to her, but only one turned her. Lift her up, gently.” Daegan stripped off his black duster. Gideon slid his arms under Anwyn so the vampire could get the coat beneath her, wrap her up. An unconscious person, or partly conscious, was usually deadweight, but she seemed light to him, as if she was so much air that might pass through his fingers if he dared to hold her as tightly as he wished. But when he detected her unique scent, that fading fragrance, hidden deep beneath the stink of blood and pain, it was an effort not to crush her to his chest. Hold her in the shelter of his body and say,I'm sorry , over and over, like her plea to stop. It didn't change anything, but it was always an involuntary compulsion, the childlike hope that such mantras might be heard, and the clock would turn back and all would be right again.

He helped Daegan get the coat securely around her, bringing warmth to her shivering, battered body.

Her eyes continued to watch them both, refusing to close. Perhaps she was afraid they might disappear.

“Be easy,” Gideon murmured. “We've got you, and we're not going anywhere. I swear it.” He thought she tightened her hand, a small victory. Her lashes drooped.

As one, the males began to lift her together. When they straightened, Gideon didn't let go, but neither did the vampire. They stood close together in the alley, squared off like combatants, except for the cant and angles that allowed them to cradle Anwyn between them like a bird's egg.

Daegan gave Gideon a hard stare. “You have known her one night, Gideon Green. She has been mine for five years.”

“If she was yours, she never would have been in this alley alone,” Gideon retorted. “You would have been in her head and known—”

Anwyn made a quiet sound of distress, a shudder going through her abused body. She shifted, turning more into Daegan's hold. But she had a grip on Gideon's shirt and didn't let go.

“Fuck it, fine.”Jesus. Sliding his arm out from beneath her, he made sure Daegan had her. Carefully disengaging her hand, he folded it against her abdomen with a squeeze. The vamp adjusted his hold, bringing her closer to the shelter of his body. Leaving Gideon out in the cold, it had him clenching his hands at the loss.

What the hell was the matter with him? She needed him. He was acting like a kid being robbed of a favorite toy by the school bully.

“I'll get the doors and clear a path,” he said shortly. “Most important thing is getting her to a bed.”

“No,” Daegan said, his grim tone foreboding. “It's not. But we will tend to her first and then handle the most important thing.”

Daegan did have a cell phone, and he used it to call James. The man let them in through an isolated maintenance entrance, not the kitchens. After the man's initial cursing, taking his share of the guilt they were all feeling, then his shock when Daegan let him into why they weren't calling an ambulance, they headed for Anwyn's private quarters, which were at the lowest level of Atlantis.

Gideon had learned on his first visit that the underground portion of Atlantis had been a parking garage.

There'd apparently been two levels. While the upper one had been converted into the extreme play-ground he'd experienced, the bottom level was Anwyn's home.

From the outside, he knew there was a private top living area for Atlantis, too, a rectangle of smoked glass that could be seen from the streets. Because it was smaller than the floor below it, and trees could be seen at the right angle, he suspected there was an outdoor area up there for sunning, perhaps a roof garden or even a pool. Maybe she'd spent time there when she wasn't entertaining a vampire. But Anwyn would never experience it during daylight again. She hadn't even had a chance to say good-bye to the sun.

The dimly lit tunnel through which they were passing had an array of equipment and maintenance storage for the BDSM club that offered everything to its clients. Beyond the extra chairs and booths, there were cases of chemical cleaners for sterilizing the toys and equipment, a couple open boxes of discarded whips, probably waiting for oiling. Restraints hung on pegs on the wall and there was the occasional whipping bench or St. Andrew's cross in need of repair.

James gave the military signal to halt and wait in silence, and left them to scout the room they were about to cross. Daegan had made it clear no one could see her like this. Questions would certainly be tricky at this point, but Gideon wondered if it was more than that.

During their session, he'd been angry at her, threatened her once or twice, but he would have cut off his own hands before he crossed the line and done anything to break . . . whatever it was that had drawn him so strongly to her. It seemed Daegan, too, didn't want anyone to see her in this state, as less than what she truly was.

“It's clear,” James said, returning to hold the door open for them. “We should be able to cross through here, and take the accounting office corridor to her elevator. No one will be there this early in the morning.”

Gideon glanced back to see Daegan incline his head in acknowledgment. He and James held open the double doors so the vampire could pass through. Anwyn's hair drifted across Gideon's forearm, her face pressed to Daegan's chest. He hoped she'd passed out, wasn't worrying about anything right now. Her hands were curved over her breasts, like a baby trying to sleep in the womb, but she was still trembling.