Cursed

hospital. “We’ve got to get back to Alan. It’s been close to two and a half hours.”

“Could be two and a half years. I’m telling you, he’ll be right where we left him.”

“Unless someone showed up at Green Leaf and freed him. Alan’s recollection won’t corroborate our story. We need a vampire to wipe his memory, and I’d much rather ask Evan to do it than try to reach Kallistos.”

“We are not asking Kallistos,” Zack says, his tone and expression thunderous. “He’s helped us enough for one day. If we can’t get Evan, I’ll make a call or two.”

He helps me to my feet. A couple of Bureau representatives are already on the scene and taking charge of the joint investigation with SDPD, freeing us to take our leave and return to headquarters. One of the Suburbans they arrived in is at our disposal, and we head for it now.

Only we’re going to make a quick stop before reporting in.

A fifteen-minute drive never seemed so long.

When we finally arrive at Green Leaf, I have to climb carefully out of the SUV. I stretch to loosen the knots, slowly, and take a deep breath.

“Emma?”

Zack’s pointing to the front gate. It’s open. His gun is already out.

“You’re still feeling the effects of the explosion,” he says. “You should stay here.”

Like hell. “Yeah, yeah.” I pull my gun, look around. There are no cars parked in front except ours. Nerves tingling, I walk through the gate, then quickly move up the steps to approach the front entrance. My back is flat against the front of the house. Zack’s is, too. We form mirror images on each side of the door, which is ajar. It’s cracked just enough to give me a glimpse of inside.

Zack points to his ear, shakes his head, then tilts it toward the door. He’s not hearing anything inside.

I give the door a push, calling out, “Hello? Agent Monroe here.”

No answer.

I slip inside the entryway, leading with my gun to sweep the area.

It’s so quiet I hear the beat of my heart.

“Alan?”

No answer. No noise at all.

Zack comes in, gun at the ready. He moves past me, through the waiting room. I see his shoulders relax. He lowers his weapon.

“Damn it!”

“What?”

I take a step closer, then see what he does. Across the way the door to Alan’s office is standing wide open.

Zack’s cuffs are still attached to the radiator.

But Alan is gone.

“Shit.” I holster my gun. He couldn’t have left of his own accord.

A kernel of suspicion takes root in my stomach. But someone could have taken him. I don’t like what I’m thinking.

I release a breath, holster the Glock. “Fucker.”

“Sums it up nicely.” I watch as he walks to the radiator, unhooks his cuffs, and pockets them. He turns and frowns. “This has Kallistos written all over it.”

He begins rummaging around on Alan’s desk. The spreadsheets have been disturbed, and a file that wasn’t here earlier is thrown haphazardly on top of them. He picks up the folder, opens it. Without a word, he pulls out a sheet of paper and after perusing it, hands it to me. It’s a computer printout, a list of surgeries Dr. Pierce performed in her hidden clinic.

“Why would Alan have this?” I ask.

“He shouldn’t have it,” is Zack’s curt reply. “It’s Pierce’s personal log, a record of the illegal organ transplants. She names Mager as her accomplice. The names of their human victims are listed, too, as well as the names of the organ recipients. She even notes dates, how much they paid for the surgery, and how much she earned from each.” He looks up at me. “It’s all here. Up to a point.”

I release a breath. “Up to the point where she started using vampires. Either those surgeries weren’t logged—”

“Or Kallistos omitted those pages in order to protect his own.”

“Still, he’s given us evidence,” I say. “Evidence we can use against Mager.”

Zack’s expression doesn’t soften. “Frankly, I’d rather he’d left Alan.” He holds another scrap of paper out to me. “Besides, he has an ulterior motive—you. This was clipped to the spreadsheet.”

It’s a note addressed to me. Precise, old-world cursive. Emma. You owe me. If you don’t get Mager, I will. Until next time. Kallistos.

I scrunch the paper up into a tiny little ball. “Is this a game to him?” I feel as if my head’s about to explode. I pull my phone out and start to dial once more. “I’m calling Liz. She’ll know how to reach Kallistos. Ask him if he took Alan.”

“If?” Zack stays my hand. “Wait. How did Kallistos know about Alan?”

“Maybe he was following us earlier? Or had someone else following us? He knew about the investigation. About the missing vampires.”

Zack thinks about the possibility for a moment, then rejects it. “I don’t think anyone’s been following us. Checking for tails? It’s a hard habit to break.”

I have another idea. This one chills my blood.

How did he know about Alan? Maybe he divined it from my head when I was so cleverly testing him. Or when he was kissing me.

“You think maybe he just wiped Alan’s memory and sent him home?”

Zack gives me a look that tells me I don’t want to know what he’s thinking.

“Spit it out,” I say.

“I don’t think Kallistos is that forgiving. He didn’t bat cleanup to help us. He did it to make sure we didn’t get our hands on evidence involving his vamps.” He points to the spreadsheet in my hand. “He left what he wanted us to have. If we don’t move quickly to see that Mager is brought in, that note says he’ll exact his own brand of justice.” He jabs at the spreadsheet. “He played us.”

“He played me, you mean.” I stuff the note he left for me in my pocket. When I do, my fingers brush against the object Zack placed in my hand earlier. I pull it out. It’s a smooth, polished stone the size of a quarter. “What is this?”

Zack plucks it from my outstretched palm. “No, I mean he played us.” He palms the stone. “It’s an old talisman. It’s supposed to offer protection. It didn’t. Kallistos used thrall. Either he’s exceptionally strong or the power’s faded.” He slips it into his pocket.

“Well, my power is perfectly intact. In thousands of years I’ve never been wrong when reading someone. Whatever he’s done with Alan, he decided to do it after we left him. I’m sure of it. Unless . . .”

“Unless?”

“Unless I didn’t probe deep enough, push hard enough.” Unless I was as caught up in Kallistos’ spell as he was in mine. I find myself thinking of his kiss, the heat that infused my body, the same heat sending color to my cheeks now. I give myself a mental shake. Concentrate on what is real. Tally up what we were able to accomplish. We saved Isabella, Amy, Evan, and Owen. We lost two other vampires, possibly more, depending on how long Pierce has been running her clinic from hell. Possibly one human—Alan. Shit. I look hard at Zack. “Well, at least we have something to give Johnson. With the spreadsheet we can link Mager to Pierce.”

“We can tell him Pierce gave it to us.” Zack looks around the office once more. “I don’t see anything else here that’s out of place. Do you?”

Before I have a chance to reply, my cell phone rings. I turn to answer it. “Hello?”

“Agent Monroe?”

It’s Michael Dexter. He sounds almost euphoric.

“Yes, Michael. How are you?”

“Never been better. You aren’t going to believe this. Isabella is home!”

“Wait a minute, Michael. Zack is here. I’m putting you on speaker.”