Houston let out a whistle. “He doesn’t play, does he?”
Diego shook his head, his expression stony. “No. Two of the women, I fear, will need help being removed, as well as David. And then they will need to be hidden and given medical attention. There is a good chance there are more somewhere.”
“How are we going to get five out of there?” Houston’s gaze roved around the street, unhurried, thinking. Unobtrusively, he pushed Laney further behind him. Before Titania could ask, Diego had shifted, turned, and she found herself blocked behind their two large bodies as well.
“What is it?” she asked, her fingers clutching at Diego’s leather coat.
“There is a man watching us from the other block,” Houston replied.
“Do you think he recognized me?” Titania asked. She had basically disappeared in a puff of smoke from the public eye. An eyewitness sighting of her would be good money for a tabloid.
“I don’t know. Just stay put for once.” She frowned at Houston’s order, but she didn’t argue. She gripped Laney’s fingers briefly when she reached out, whether in comfort or reassurance, it didn’t matter.
She noted it when Diego relaxed beneath her fingers. “It is all right,
cara
. It is Nathan.”
“Nathan? Who’s he?” Houston asked, perplexed.
“A friend,” Titania answered, partially moving to stand with Diego. Nathan cautiously approached them, keeping a wary eye on Houston.
He swept a glance to Diego. “I’m glad I found you two.” Nathan kept his hands loose at his sides, even though he looked ready to run at the slightest sneeze.
“Why?” Diego asked.
“I found this.” Nathan pulled a page clipping from his pocket, handing it to Diego. He took a mincing step further away from Houston. “The article was printed in all the inner-city rags.”
“What is it?” Laney asked, trying to peek around Houston’s arms and shoulders, which were keeping her completely apart from Nathan.
Diego read the clipping. “Tenorio is hunting. He is looking for any information on his ‘niece’ abducted from her home. The description is Titania’s. It says the last sighting was here, in San Francisco.”
“He’s offering big bucks,” Nathan pointed out. “Everyone who wants the money will be trying to spot her.”
“Why do you think this applies to us?” Diego asked, a cool demand.
Nathan blanched, if possible, but stood his ground. “I recognized her, man. I’m not an idiot. I know who Titania is. Denise loved her music.”
“How did you know she was connected to this?” Diego held the paper between his fingers.
Nathan’s gaze fell like lead, his hands plunging into his pockets. “I followed you last night.”
Diego’s hand snapped out and wrapped around Nathan’s throat, dragging him away from the street. “Why?” he snarled.
Nathan’s gaze rounded. “Look, man. I only stayed for a minute.” He clutched at the hand around his throat, then let his hands drop when he was pointless. “I was curious. I was scared. I still am. I didn’t know how much I could trust you.”
“Diego, let him go. Please,” Titania said, placing a light touch to his arm.
“He deserves to die.”
“Why? Because he’s having as hard a time as I am? Let him go.” Titania pulled on his arm until he grudgingly released Nathan. Nathan swallowed and rubbed his throat.
“I’m sorry, all right? I didn’t hang around, but I recognized the crib. Everyone in the Bay area knows who Albert Tenorio is. And when I saw this, I knew it had to be for her. Mr. Tenorio doesn’t have any relatives.”
“That’s all right, Nathan. Thank you for wanting to warn us,” Titania said, ignoring the undercurrent running through the males.
He started to offer her a smile, but it died on his mouth when Diego snarled again.
“Stop it! You’re just mad that you didn’t know he was there.”
“How is that?” Diego asked, a silken threat, his gaze flashing in the shadows of the doorway where they stood.
Nathan quivered but answered. “I just didn’t hang around. Hell, with all those damn guns, I didn’t want to test this immortality crap.”
Diego snorted. “They hurt, but bullets will not kill you.”
“I am sorry,” Nathan offered again with a repentant expression to match his tone. “I hope this makes up for not trusting you. I won’t bother you again unless you look for me.” He whirled to trudge up the street.
Titania tugged on Diego’s sleeve. “We could use an extra set of hands.”
Diego frowned, glanced at Houston, who only shrugged in confusion. “Hell,” he muttered. Diego followed after Nathan.
“Stay with Houston. Nathan and I will hunt and meet you.”
“Great, I’m still being passed around like a child.” She glared down the block, but both men were gone. “Well, come on. I know where he wants to meet us.”
“Is he another…?” Laney asked. Her eyes were a little rounded now that Nathan had left them.
“Yes.” Titania waved a hand. “Come on. I can give you an idea of the compound on the way.”
Houston drove outside the city limits as Titania described what they were up against, the injuries of the other women and David. “He’s got a ton of men and enough cameras to make his own production company.”
“This won’t be easy,” Houston said.
“No, but I will not leave those women behind. I can’t,” she added in a quieter tone. “I was almost one of them.”
“I know, Tani.” He caught her gaze in the rearview. “I wouldn’t ask you to either.”
Her smile felt brittle. “Thanks.” She reached out for Diego, closing her eyes, letting her head drift to the leather rear seat in Houston’s car. He was already on his way to join them.
Houston parked over a mile from the compound, killing the engine, blanketing them in complete darkness. Diego and Nathan appeared a few feet away from the vehicle, joining them.
“We flew over the compound on the way,” Diego began. “Tenorio is not there.” There was a strong note of frustration in his voice. “The situation is as it was last night.”
“Does anyone have a plan yet?”
The silence was long, with no one seeming to have a clue on how to go about the planned rescue.
Nathan cleared his throat. “I do, if you want to hear it.”
The group huddled closer, Diego automatically pulling Titania closer when Nathan began to explain what he had thought of after flying over the buildings.
“How is that going to work?” Laney asked with a worried frown.
“I was an electronics major. I know how to jump electrical pulses. You can at least get into the cells without them knowing about it.”
“And the cameras?” Houston asked.
“The same thing. They’ll feed a loop view.”
“You can do this because you’re a vampire?” Laney asked.
Nathan grinned, though his laugh was a shaky gurgle. “Hell no. I have to get into the computer room and reprogram the computers. I can get in because I’m a vampire,” he finished with a shrug. “It’s amazing how quickly you can clear a room when it drops by twenty degrees.”
Titania’s brow rose at that, but Diego said, “How long will you need to do this?”
“About ten minutes ought to do it.”
“We still only have room for one in the back of the car,” Houston pointed out.
“You will have to take two, if they are still physically able. We will remove them first. You need to be gone before we disappear with the other three.”
“The cabin?” Laney asked.
“It is the best option. No one knows of it.” Diego shifted, sensing the night around them. “There will be rain before the night is over. That will help us.”
“What about Tenorio?” Houston looked over his shoulder in the direction of the compound.
“He will be found.” Diego’s tone had gone deathly cold. Titania shivered. “It is time.”
“One diversion coming up,” Nathan said right before he shifted to a barn owl.
“Can he be trusted?” Houston asked as soon as Nathan was gone.
“I believe so.” Diego found Titania’s hand with his. “Wait here and leave as soon as we return. We will meet you at the cabin.”
“Be careful. Both of you,” Laney said.
* * * *
Wispy clouds were beginning to drift in from the ocean, a sign of the rain Diego had foretold. Titania sat in the bower of the trees where she and Diego had hidden the night before, her lips caught between her teeth as they waited for Nathan’s diversion.
“Can we do this, Diego? There are so many men. And how are we going to move so many?”
“You are stronger,
cara
. You will not have any difficulty carrying one of the women,” he told her absently, watching the patterns of the patrols beneath them.
Titania steadied herself on her perch, focusing toward the one voice she knew.
“
Lily? Can you hear me?”
“Titania! Oh, thank God.”
The sob of relief was deep.
“Is everyone able to be moved?”
“I think so.
Tabitha is weak.
I don’t know how she’s held out for so long.”
The voice in Titania’s head was scared, hopeful, and very worried for the other woman.
“We will help everyone. Stay calm no matter what happens. It’s going to get wild in a few minutes.”
“We’re ready.”
Titania firmed her lips, watching as Diego was, waiting. A shrill alarm began to blast from the far side of the compound, drawing several groups of guards away at a sprint from the carriage house.
“There is diversion number one,” Diego said. A second alarm began at the top of the mansion. “He is good, forcing them to more than one point. It will thin them out regardless of what we are doing.” Diego waited a few more seconds, then with a quick kiss to Titania’s lips, changed his shape. She did the same, following closely on his heels.
“Stay close,
cara.”
He stopped on the roof, slipping through a vent as a cloud of mist.
Well, if he can do it,
she muttered to herself and concentrated. It was a good thing mist couldn’t make sound. At some point, she would get used to the gifts that had been given to her by becoming a vampire.
She watched as, one by one, the four guards on the first floor collapsed. Diego reformed before her eyes, his expression grim, seeing his handiwork. “They are not dead, but they deserve to be.”
Tani stood with him. “Are there more?”
Diego shook his head. “Two of them were below when the alarms sounded. Let us get David and the others out while we can. Hopefully, Nathan has released the alarms on the cells.”
He turned and marched into the basement of the small building. Titania had to cover her mouth to not cry out. “This is awful!” She raced to David, still hanging limply in his bonds, wrenching frantically on the cell door until it popped open. “Oh, God! David!”
Diego made small work of his bonds, and David collapsed into a pile at their feet. He was alive, but barely.