e's taking an awfully long time."

Bastien shifted behind the wheel of the van and glanced in the rearview mirror at his mother's face. Her expression reflected the worry and concern that had been in her voice, the same worry and concern he himself was suffering. Bastien had been most reluctant to let his younger brother go into Norman "Pudge" Renberger's house alone. Etienne had been so cold and furious, he'd feared what he might do. But that was Etienne's problem. It was his woman and his battle and, in the end, Bastien had decided to let him handle it... until he proved incapable of it.

"It hasn't been all that long," Lucern said from his position in the front passenger seat. "Don't forget he had to--What's this?"

Bastien glanced back to the house in time to see an older woman come rushing out. Short, gray-haired and cherubic, she carried a small furry bundle in her arms. They watched in silence as she rushed across the yard and into the house next door.

"That doesn't look good," Marguerite spoke the thought they all shared. They had expected Pudge to have Rachel here but hadn't even considered that anyone else might be in the house. Now they didn't know what to think. What had the woman been doing there? Had she seen Etienne? Or Rachel? She'd been fleeing as if all the demons of hell were on her tail.

"Perhaps you two should go in and see if Etienne needs any help." Their mother sounded anxious.

Bastien exchanged another glance with Lucern, reading the uncertainty in his brother's mind. Neither of them were sure they should interfere. Etienne wouldn't thank them if he had everything under control. The younger man hadn't said as much, but it had obviously been important to him to be the one to find and rescue Rachel, not to mention deal with the man who had been making his life such hell.

"Why don't we give him another couple of minutes?" Lucern finally suggested and Bastien nodded. They fell silent as they turned their attention back to the house. It was a short, tense wait. The three of them stiffened in their seats and exchanged wary glances when they heard the wail of a siren in the distance. They remained where they were as it drew nearer. It was a big city; the vehicle could be either the police or the fire department, it could be headed anywhere.

Bastien and Lucern reached for their door handles, however, when a police car turned down the street they waited in.

"Wait," Marguerite barked, making them pause. The brothers stayed where they were but unrolled their windows as the cruiser pulled into the driveway of the house next to Pudge's--the one the woman had just dashed into. She ran back outside now, still clutching something small and furry to her chest as she rushed the patrol car. There were two officers in the vehicle, one short and blond, the other a tall brunette. The dark-haired officer was the closest and the one the woman ran to as he got out from behind the steering wheel and slammed the door closed.

"He's gone crazy!" she shrieked. "He thinks he's a vampire! He wanted to eat my Muffin!"

"I certainly hope her muffin is the furball she's carrying," Lucern said with a dry humor that made Bastien laugh and dispelled some of the tension that had been gripping him.

"Who's gone crazy, ma'am?" They heard the blonde officer ask as he rounded the car to join the pair.

"Norman. My neighbor." She pointed toward the house Etienne had disappeared into. "He has a poor young woman chained up in there. I think it's that girl from the news, that hospital worker who went missing a couple of weeks ago. She's pale and doesn't look well at all. He's obviously been starving her. He tried to make her eat my dog."

"Your dog?" the darker officer asked with disgust.

"My Muffin." She lifted her arms slightly, then petted the trembling ball of fur she held.

"Was that before or after he tried to eat your Muffin himself?" the blonde asked with a trace of amusement that made Bastien frown. It was obvious that at least one of the men thought the woman was batty. Apparently, he wasn't alone in gathering that. The woman narrowed her eyes on the officer like a first-grade teacher spotting a troublemaker in her class.

"Don't mess with me, young man. I'm not some dotty old fool. There are two people in that house right now in jeopardy."

"Two?" the second man asked.

"Yes. That pretty redhead from the news and a handsome young man who came in and set me and Muffin free and told me to call you."

The officers glanced toward the Renberger house, then back.

"Why didn't they come out with you?" the blonde asked.

"I was just tied up. He was able to untie me, but the girl was chained to a coffin."

"Coffin?"

"I told you, he thinks he's a vampire," she explained with exasperation. "He's insane! Now stop dawdling out here. Go help that young man rescue the girl. That's your job."

When the two officers still hesitated, obviously unsure what to make of her wild claims, she made a sound of disgust and turned toward the house. "Very well. I'll go get the young man and have him come out... if he hasn't already been noticed and killed by that nasty Norman."

She was out of her yard and across Norman's before the officers kicked out of their frozen state and hurried after her. The little woman could really move when she wanted to. She mounted the porch and entered the house before they could reach her.

"Turn me."

Rachel shifted a little to the side to look around Etienne's shoulder at Pudge. After the tense silence that had passed since his reappearance with the crossbow, those weren't the words she'd expected to hear.

"Come on," Pudge whined when both Etienne and Rachel stared at him blankly. "Why should you have all the fun? Turn me. Please?"

Etienne glanced toward Rachel, seeming to ask her whether Pudge's request was for real.

"Turn me and I'll give you rest," Pudge promised.

"Rest?" Etienne echoed with amazement.

"Vampires always want rest," Norman announced solemnly, then frowned. "Well, mostly they do. Once they're staked they look at peace in the movies. Sometimes they even thank their staker. Except for Dracula. I don't think he wants peace, but he's been alive forever." He peered at Etienne curiously. "Have you met Drac?"

"Pudge, do you understand the difference between fiction and reality?" Etienne asked.

"Of course I do," he said with a scowl. Then he added impatiently, "Just turn me already, and I'll put you to rest."

Etienne released a short laugh. "Are you even thinking about what you're suggesting? You're asking me to give you an eternal life... and in exchange you'll end mine? Hellooooo. You want eternal life. What makes you think I don't?"

"Oh, come on. You must be tired by now. How old are you? Five, six hundred years old?" he guessed. "You have to be way old. I looked up the Argeneau name and it goes back a long way. There's a reference to a Lucern Argeneau back in medieval days, and that's your brother, right? There was a Lady Marguerite married to some Claude guy too. And I know that's your mom and dad."

Rachel noted Etienne's startled expression. Apparently, he hadn't considered that Pudge might do research. It was obvious he didn't care for the fact, or the possibility that his family might now be targeted as well. She shook her head with disgust. Woe and betide the idiot for bringing Etienne's family into it.

The man was as easygoing as could be most of the time, but he also had a protective nature and that was coming to the fore. His usually smiling face had become a cold, hard mask.

Etienne moved so quickly that he was across the room and grabbing Pudge by the throat in the blink of an eye--far too quickly for Pudge to stop with his crossbow. It did go off as he dropped it, but the stake harmlessly hit the wall. Rachel saw Pudge reach into the front pocket of his black jeans but didn't understand the significance of it. She didn't realize trouble was coming until he pulled out a remote control and pushed several buttons. Light immediately exploded in the room even as a whirring sound filled the air.

Rachel gaped at the sunlamps pouring warm illumination down on her, then her head twisted to the side as the whirring was explained by a huge cross sliding out of a recess in the wall and swinging across the room like a pendulum. Her gaze shot to Etienne to see that he had been startled enough by the sudden explosion of light and sound that he was gaping as well. But he hadn't seen the six-foot cross crashing toward him.

Rachel cried out in warning, but it was too late, merely making him turn toward the large object in time to take a full frontal blow. She cried out again as he was slammed backward and crashed into the far wail. She started to run toward him, but changed direction and ran at Pudge instead when she saw what he was up to now. The moment Etienne had been knocked down, Pudge had bent to retrieve his crossbow. He tugged a fresh stake from his pocket.

Despite her speed, Pudge had the weapon reloaded by the time she reached him. His back turned to her, he didn't see her coming, and she took advantage of that fact and jumped on his back. He straightened with a shriek and attempted to throw her off, but Rachel held on like a monkey as animal rage poured through her. With one arm around his arm and over his chest, she snaked the other around his neck and grabbed his jaw. Rachel wasn't even thinking when she twisted his head sideways. It was pure animal instinct that made her do it, and bend her own head to his neck with every intention of biting the little weasel and draining him dry.

"Freeze!"

Rachel heard that shout and quickly pulled her mouth away from Pudge's neck without drawing any blood. Her head shot up as Pudge wheeled toward the stairs, the crossbow waving wildly. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of the two uniformed police officers standing at the base of the stairs, their weapons drawn and pointed in her direction. Then the crossbow went off.

"Oh," Rachel breathed as the officers tried to jump out of the way of the whizzing projectile. There was a curse, followed by a thud as the blond officer was hit. At first she thought the man had taken the missile in the arm, but as he began tugging at it, she saw that it had missed flesh and bone and was merely caught by his sleeve, which was now pinned to the wall.

Rachel was still gaping at the struggling man when Etienne suddenly moved. He was at her side, ripping her from Pudge's back and dragging her out of the line of fire before she even considered the need to move. But the officers didn't return fire. The dark-haired one kept his gun trained on Pudge, but his gaze kept returning to the blonde struggling to free himself. It gave Pudge the chance to snatch yet another stake from his back pocket and reload his weapon.

Pudge had just finished locking the stake into place and turned to aim it at Rachel and Etienne when the trapped officer managed to pull his sleeve free. The two men immediately shifted several feet apart, both aiming their weapons at Pudge.

"Drop it! Drop the weapon, buddy! Just drop it!" the blonde shouted. He sounded pretty angry. Perhaps pissed off was the better word, Rachel thought, as Etienne shifted her behind him and stood like a brick wall between her and the stake Pudge was aiming their way.

She appreciated the concern obvious in this action, but it made it difficult to see what was going on. Rachel ended up having to duck and twist to see past him. She almost felt sorry when she saw Pudge's reaction to finding himself the target of the officers' anger. He was staring at them in dawning horror, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. He obviously hadn't expected this.

"Come on, buddy. Put the weapon down," the dark-haired officer suggested in cajoling tones. "We don't want to have to shoot you... but we will."

"Me?" He stared at them in amazement. "Shoot me? I'm the good guy here. I'm like Van Helsing! It's them you want! They're the vampires!"

Rachel caught the glance the two officers exchanged and knew everything was going to be all right. They weren't buying what must sound like nonsense to them. However, she couldn't help but think that, had their entrance been one moment later and had she managed to sink her teeth into Pudge's neck as she'd intended, this whole scenario might be completely different.

A glance at Etienne had her suspecting he was thinking the same thing.

"Really!" Pudge was squealing like a pig. "They're vampires. Both of them."

The officers glanced in Rachel and Etienne's direction out of reflex. Both then started to look away, but the one who had so recently been pinned to the wall stopped midway and swung his gaze back. Rachel felt herself stiffen at the recognition on the blonde's face.

"Dr. Garrett? Dr. Rachel Garrett?" the officer asked. "It is you."

Rachel nodded warily but didn't get the chance to say anything. Pudge jumped in there, his voice excited. "Yes. That's her. She was working in the morgue the night I went in to finish him off." He waved the crossbow wildly toward Etienne, making Rachel flinch. It had already gone off once accidentally and could easily do so again. "She jumped in the way when I went to cut off his head and I axed her by mistake. I hit her in the chest. She should be dead, but he turned her. Now they're both vampires," he explained, sounding completely insane. "They're both soulless bloodsuckers, cursed to walk the night forever."

Rachel bit her lip, almost embarrassed for the man. Everything he had said was true, of course. Well, except for the soulless part. But really, where was his common sense? Surely he must realize no one would believe him. She wasn't terribly surprised when the officers began easing farther apart and approaching Pudge in a rather wary manner.

"Okay, buddy," the dark-haired officer said. "We get it. They're vampires and you're the good guy. But we're here now. You're safe. So drop the weapon and put your hands up, huh?"

Pudge frowned, his gaze shifting between his weapon, the police, and Rachel and Etienne. "But what about them? You should be pointing your guns at them," he said finally.

"Well, now," the blonde drawled, "guns don't work on vampires, do they? But I'm sure they'll come along peaceable-like." He glanced at Rachel and Etienne, "Won't you?"

They both nodded.

"See?" the first officer said soothingly. They know they're caught. Now you just need to give up your weapon there, buddy."

When Pudge hesitated, the second officer added, "We didn't come prepared for a call like this. You know, vampires aren't exactly thick on the ground these days. We aren't armed properly. Why don't you give us the weapon so we can take them into custody?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah." Pudge looked relieved. "You should be armed too." He started to shift sideways toward the nearest officer, making sure to keep the crossbow aimed at Rachel and Etienne. "I have more weapons in the back. You can keep this trained on them while I get more. I have holy water, crosses, and more stakes. I'll get them while you watch them."

"Good thinking," the blonde said agreeably, lowering his gun slightly and holding his free hand out to accept the crossbow.

"Don't take it off them," Pudge warned as he handed it over. "They're super fast you know. And super strong. I--Hey!"

The moment the weapon changed hands, the officer tossed the crossbow aside and raised his gun to aim it at Pudge. Ignoring his wounded expression, the policeman gestured with it. "Against the wall. Come on, against the wall and spread 'em."

"But--" Pudge's protest was cut off as the second officer hurried forward and caught him by the arm.

"Spreadeagle," the dark-haired man barked, all trace of cajolery gone. The blonde kept his gun trained on Pudge while his partner ripped off his cape and proceeded to frisk him. The maniac had a couple more stakes in the back pocket of his jeans that the officer took away.

Rachel and Etienne watched in silence as a protesting Pudge was cuffed and led to the stairs. He was still babbling about their being soulless vampires and he was the hero in this piece and that they were making a huge mistake.

"Well," the officer who had been pinned to the wall said as his partner disappeared upstairs with Pudge. He turned to survey Rachel and Etienne, then his attention focused on Rachel. "I gather this is where you disappeared to from work a week ago?"

Rachel glanced at Etienne as she felt him standing tense beside her. She knew what he wanted her to say. He and his whole family wanted her to claim that Pudge had brought her here that night over a week ago. It wasn't true, though, and she was a lousy liar. She hesitated briefly, considering her options. The man had kidnapped her. She certainly hadn't come here from Etienne's place willingly. On the other hand, she couldn't explain where she had been for the past week without there being questions that would be difficult to answer. Rachel decided to be honest but cagey.

"Pudge kidnapped me, brought me here, and held me against my will," she admitted solemnly, and felt Etienne relax beside her. She almost turned to ask him why he was relaxing; they weren't out of the woods yet. But she caught herself as the officer nodded.

"How did he get you here, ma'am?"

Rachel hesitated, then said, "He came into the morgue wearing a trench coat over fatigues. He had a rifle and ax under the coat and was shouting something about vampires and such and..." She hesitated and glanced at Etienne again. He seemed to be holding his breath. Swallowing, she turned back and said, "I'm afraid my memory gets rather blurry after that. The next thing I can tell you is that I woke up here today chained to that wall. He was still rambling on about vampires and geeks, and he seemed fixated on Etienne's game."

"Game?" The policeman glanced between them in confusion.

"Etienne is the designer of Blood Lust," Rachel explained. "It's a vampire video game."

"Oh," the man said, but still appeared lost. "Okay, he was fixated on your game," he said to Etienne, then turned his gaze back to Rachel. "But if that's the case, why did he kidnap you and not him?"

"Because she's my girlfriend," Etienne said calmly.

Rachel added, "It was really quite confusing. Half the time he thought I was a vampire and Etienne was one too, then he thought he was one or wanted to be one. The fellow seems quite insane."

"Yeah. It would seem so," the blonde said dryly and shook his head. Then he told her, "Every cop in the city's been looking for you, ma'am. And him." He gestured toward the now empty stairs. "The girl who was supposed to replace your assistant arrived as this guy stormed into the hospital morgue. She went to find security, but they were dealing with another issue at the time and slow getting to your offices. The room was empty when they got there, and it was assumed the fellow had taken you." He shook his head. "She did a pretty good job of describing him too. They did a police sketch and put it on all the news shows. I don't know why no one picked up on it being this guy. He's a dead ringer for his picture."

Rachel nodded but remained silent, afraid to draw any more questions from the man. Fortunately, he turned his attention to Etienne to ask, "How did you end up here today, sir? The next-door neighbor said you came in and set her free, but she didn't seem to know who you were."

Etienne hesitated, then said, "I've been quite concerned about Rachel since she disappeared. I spotted Pu--this guy while I was waiting at a streetlight. He was driving a van. I recognized him from the pictures on the news and followed him here," he lied blandly.

Etienne was very good at lying, Rachel noted with interest. She supposed it shouldn't surprise her. He'd had over three hundred years to perfect his technique.

"You should have called the police at once," the officer said with disapproval.

"I intended to," Etienne assured him solemnly. "But I wanted a closer look at the guy. I didn't want to raise a false alarm. By the time I parked, he was out of his van and had entered the house. I peeked in a couple of windows, hoping to get a better look at him, but he must have gone straight downstairs. I came around the back of the house and found that window--"

Rachel followed his gesture and noted with some surprise that there were indeed windows in the basement. She hadn't noticed them before, but they hadn't been unblocked to allow sunlight in earlier. She supposed one of the buttons Pudge had pushed had uncovered the windows as well as turning on the sunlamps. She wondered what Pudge had made of the fact that they hadn't burst into flames the moment the sunlamps and sunlight hit them as he had no doubt expected.

"When I looked in and saw Rachel chained up down here, all I could think of was getting in to her. I forgot all about calling you. I could see the coffin, and the old lady. Not to mention the fellow dancing around in a cape and fake teeth." Etienne shook his head. "It was obvious he was crazy and I was afraid to leave the women alone. So when the back door turned out to be unlocked, I slid inside and crept down here to free them."

"Well, I guess I can understand your concern, but you really should have called us," the officer grumbled. "The old lady said she was tied up, but that Ms. Garrett was chained and you couldn't free her. How--?"

The question died midsentence and the officer appeared confused for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice sounded almost robotlike. "Well, that's enough questions for now, I suppose. You've been through enough. We should get you out of here."

Rachel arched an amused eyebrow at Etienne. It was pretty handy to be able to control people's minds. She really had to learn that skill, she decided.

"After you." Etienne's grin was unrepentant as he gestured for her to lead the way upstairs. He obviously felt no shame at using his skills so shamelessly. And frankly, she couldn't blame him. She was exhausted and starving. The sunlamps, on top of her original hunger, were making her body cramp with need. Getting back to his place and partaking of blood was the only thing on her mind right then.

Rachel managed the stairs on her own, but it was slow and wearying. By the time they left the house she was swaying slightly on her feet, and Etienne put out his hand to steady her as they crossed the lawn.

"We'll have to call an ambulance to take you to the hospital, Ms Garrett. You look in pretty bad shape." the officer said, taking in her weakness and pallor. "Has he fed you at all since taking you?"

"No," Rachel answered, grateful she was able to be honest.

"I'll see her to the hospital," Etienne announced and the hypnotic tone of his voice told Rachel he was digging inside the officer's mind again. He was probably planting the suggestion that his seeing her there was the better option, she thought.

"That will be fine, sir," the officer agreed. "My partner should have already called for backup to come and collect our friend there." He gestured toward the vehicle where Pudge stood, still vehemently trying to convince the dark-haired officer that Etienne and Rachel were the bad guys, while he was trying to save the world from their soulless selves.

"We'll meet you at the hospital. If the doctor says you're okay, you might have to come to the station while we type up your statements."

"That'll be fine," Etienne agreed, as if he had some say in the matter. Which, she supposed, he did. He could probably wipe the memory of their presence from their thoughts had he wished, but then, this all worked to his benefit. Pudge was no longer going to be a threat to him or any of his clan.

Including herself. The thought ran through Rachel's mind, and she recognized at once that it wasn't her own. Her gaze slid to the van parked on the street as Etienne finished talking to the officer and took her arm to lead her toward the vehicle. She recognized his brothers sitting in the front seat but was sure neither of them had been the voice in her head. It had been a woman's thought placed there. Rachel wasn't terribly surprised when Etienne slid the side door open to reveal Marguerite seated on the bench seat.

"Come in, dear. You look terribly dehydrated. Etienne, fetch the poor girl some blood from the back," the Argeneau matriarch ordered. "She's in terrible pain."

Etienne helped Rachel into the van, then followed and slammed the door closed before crawling into the back to retrieve several bags of blood from the medical cooler there.

"How are you?" Bastien asked solicitously as Etienne settled on the bench next to her, sandwiching her between himself and his mother.

"I'm fine," Rachel murmured as she accepted the first bag of blood. She was hungry enough that she didn't bother with the straw business, but merely opened her mouth and punched the bag into her teeth to let them do the work.

"You'll have to tell us what happened. Don't leave out any details," Lucern said from his seat.

Rachel stared at the man, the bag still affixed to her teeth, as he drew a small pad and pen from his pocket. He obviously intended to take notes, and she was aware that he had done this the other times he had come around Etienne's home. When she had asked Etienne what his brother was doing, he had muttered something about Lucern being a scribbler, whatever that meant.

"Later, Lucern," Marguerite said quietly. "Let the poor girl recover a bit before you bombard her with questions."

"I take it we're to go to the hospital?" Bastien asked, turning in his seat to start the engine.

"Drive slowly, Bastien. Rachel needs a lot of blood and the time to consume it," Marguerite said by way of an answer. "You'll have to go in with Etienne to help at the hospital. We all will. Between her working there and the fact that she's big news, shell draw a lot of attention. Etienne will need all the help he can get."

"Help with what?" Rachel asked as she pulled the now empty bag off her teeth and accepted the next one Etienne held out.

"They'll want to examine you," Etienne explained.

"And we simply can't allow that, dear," Marguerite pointed out. "Bastien, Lucern, and I will go in with you to make sure the doctors and nurses think they've examined you and found you dehydrated and undernourished, as you should be after being kidnapped and starved. We'll attend you to be sure all goes smoothly."

Rachel nodded her understanding, silently allowing her teeth to soak in the blood her body needed so badly. She was exhausted enough to let them handle it whatever way they saw fit. Rachel was even starting to think she should have listened to them regarding the issue of Pudge and agreed to lie about him, bad at it or not. They had all lived an awfully long time. No doubt the collected wisdom they had gained over the centuries was monstrous. The very thought of what might have happened to Pudge's neighbor, not to mention Etienne and herself, because of her stubborn insistence on telling the truth was frightening. Perhaps there were times when honesty wasn't the best policy and a small lie might save a bad situation.

"You'll learn," Marguerite said quietly, obviously having read her thoughts. "Time is not the great teacher. Experience is. A man may live a whole life, but if he never leaves his home to experience that life, he dies knowing nothing. A mere child who has suffered and lived can be the wiser of the two."