Jake’s eyes went wide. She opened her mouth to say, “Gabriel , I didn’t know…” but decided better of it.Gabriel turned back to look at her. “And I don’t know why, but I cannot get that image of her out of my head. She haunts me, as real as any ghost. Because I’m supposed to be the man with the answers, the person saving the world. The person breaking the vampire’s curse but I put… a hammer… through her skull. I crushed her skull until she stopped moving and then I crushed it some more. And I maybe could have saved her. I didn’t know then, but I maybe could have saved her by breaking this curse.“So… so maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t really have feelings for you and maybe I am just a selfish bastard and maybe I don’t deserve to be with you like I want to be with you. I don’t know. But I know that I can’t do that again. I can’t. Not while there’s still a possibility of saving you.”“No! Gabriel !”He was backing away already. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m really, truly sorry.”“Gabrie

It took him a long moment to get the shaking under control. He felt like his nerves were about to give out on him. He spent several minutes just taking long, deep breaths and closed his eyes, trying to shut out the horrible image in front of him. When his heart finally settled in his chest and his body stopped quivering, he rose.Doing his best to ignore the gruesome reminders of his enemies lying at his feet, Gabriel stepped back inside the cave.For a long time he wandered around the insides of the mountain. He looked for any trace of life or death or otherwise, but found nothing. The complex had truly been abandoned. Nothing remained to prove his theory beyond the gruesome scene with the two vampire guards that had played out just moments earlier.Finally he came back to the room where he had met the vampire queen. The room where, he knew, Jake had been tied up and still had managed to kill a vampire, dozens of zombies, and make it out of the room. The carnage was all still there.

Mills smiled brightly as he accepted the cup, drinking deeply and letting out a sigh of contentment.“Thanks, Sara, you’re a life saver.”She rolled her eyes at his little “joke.” For nearly a year after they met, the sheriff had honestly thought her name was Sara, and she hadn’t corrected him. When someone else they both knew finally did, he briefly attempted to save face by pretending he knew all along what her real name was. So now it had become a bit of a joke between them.“I will never see the point of drinking decaffeinated coffee,” she said, ignoring his jest.“It’s full of delicious proteins.”“I don’t think that’s true.”He chuckled, “Guess you’re too smart for me, kiddo.”Zahra looked past the gate house and out to the part of the external fence that she could see from her position. All she saw through the chain links was what she always saw. More trees. “Any big news over night?”Mills shook his head and took another drink of his coffee. “All stations reported in this mor

“Uh, yeah. Obviously. What of it?”He stared at her for a long moment. “Did anyone ever tell you, you have a serious attitude problem?”“There’s nothing wrong with my attitude. Maybe you just need to adjust your attitude.”He sighed and lifted the chain back over his shoulder. “Please move,” he said, and started forward again. She didn’t budge, and after a couple steps he stopped again. “What is it you want?” He demanded. “I want to know what it is you’re doing out here all alone. I want to know why your box there is all wrapped up in chains.”“So nobody steals my stuff.”“What stuff do you have that’s so nice that you don’t want people to steal it?”“It doesn’t matter. It’s my stuff, and I don’t want other people to have it.” He started moving again, angling past her. She moved in front of him and he threw his arms out in frustration.“Little girl!” he snapped.“Zahra,” she replied, cutting off his tirade.“What?” he demanded, a little louder than he intended. “My name is Zahra.”

Kevin nodded his head solemnly.“Nano?” Mills called, not taking his eyes off the stranger. “Open the gate.”Mills, Kevin, Jensen, and the rest of the group, minus Nano who stayed behind to continue monitoring his post, and Zahra, who Mills had demanded go home, rounded the corner of a building and came into one of the best views of the whole town.Mills waved his hand to indicate all that lay before them, like a salesman, and stated, “Welcome to our town.”“It’s massive,” said Kevin, simply. From the vantage point from the crest of the small hill you really could see quite a distance. The towering wall that contained the community stretched out past them until it almost managed to disappear in the distance, barely visible through the tops of trees along the horizon. At one point between here and there, though, the wall dove inward to a smaller, though still quite large gated area. This smaller area was a singular neighborhood, comprising, Kevin guessed, several dozen houses.No, not