In the car, Calhoun waited until he got the signal from Kai before rolling up the divider between the front and backseats.

"I need to make a confession," Kai said. His thumbs were twiddling.

"Oh?" A cold sensation ran down Hunter's back.

"Remember when I was talking to you about Evermore, and how we can mix it with just about any substance if it needs to get into the bloodstream?"

Hunter's eyes narrowed slightly, causing Kai a brief moment of panic. "Yes," Hunter said flatly.

"I, um, I added... a few drops... of my own blood to it."

Hunter seemed confused at the admission.

"Let me explain," Kai said quickly, defensively. "Since we're not kindred - uh, since I haven't made you a vampire... we don't have a bond. That is to say, I can't track you."

Hunter shook his head. "What? What are you trying to say?"

"A vampire and his progeny have a deep-seated bond between each other. One can know what the other is thinking, feeling, experiencing... they also know where the other is at all times. The only way a vampire and a mortal human can have that bond is if the human drinks some of the vampire's blood.

"I'm not about to ask you to do that," Kai continued. "But I need to have some way of knowing where you are. At least... temporarily. If we're ever separated during this investigation, knowing that you're wanted by InnerCore..."

"I get it," Hunter said. "If they take me, you'll know exactly where."

"Yes. I figured this would be the easiest way and least invasive way of doing that. Dr. Ife told me the effect would only last a few weeks, a month at most. I-I'm sorry," Kai said. "I know I should have told you beforehand."

Hunter nodded. "Yes, you should have." He took a deep breath and took both of Kai's hands. "You can't do that to me again," he said, sternly. "Not if we're going to be partners in this. Not if we're going to be lovers. Alex withheld so much from me in the past, and it looks like it's starting to come back on me. No matter if you think it's for my benefit or my safety, or what--do not hold back from me ever again. Am I clear on that?"

Kai bit his lower lip and nodded.

"Besides, if this is truly going to help you keep tabs on me, it makes this even easier to suggest," Hunter said. "If the key to this, if the most important thing now is figuring out where all these missing people are, I figure the easiest way to do that is... to go missing myself."

Kai opened his mouth but couldn't find the words. "What?"

"I realized at the cabin. The windows," Hunter said with a sad smile. "That window had already been unbolted and ready to take down. Both there... and at the club. Whether it was Alex or me or maybe even both of us..."

"Someone had known one or both of you would be in or near the club that night," Kai finished.

"Any number of our coworkers knew we went there all the time," Hunter said. "It would have been easy for whoever's behind this to just set a trap if they knew we'd be there."

"They just hadn't counted on The Order running an operation the same night," Kai added. "Tell me," he said. "Do the initials D.K. mean anything to you?"

"D. K.," Hunter repeated. "Not off the top of my head, no."

"When Messinger, that guy we were targeting at the club, was being interrogated, he told Mugan he was 'acting under orders from D.K.," but we never got further than that. Messinger didn't seem to know who D.K. worked for. We still don't know why Alex was trying to sell Messinger the InnerCore DRS list."

Hunter thought for awhile. "Doctor Kahn... Could 'D.K.' be Doctor Kahn?"

"The guy that gave you the injection? It's possible," Kai said. "But why, then, would Messinger be buying an InnerCore list for the doctor who works at InnerCore?"

There was a pause. "Maybe Alex had been doing his own detective work," Hunter suggested. "If he'd hacked into InnerCore and taken that one document, there had to have been more. Perhaps he was trying to stop InnerCore from doing this once he learned people were going missing."

"It's a good theory, but we're going to need solid proof. There wasn't much on Alex's computer to connect those dots," Kai said.

"That's why I need to go back," Hunter said. "That's why I've got to get back into InnerCore."