Sheridan froze, terror coursing through her like ice in her veins.

"I’m serious, my little friend," the blonde vampire hissed. "Give it to me or you’ll regret the day you were born."

"No!" Sheridan yelled in panic, pulling Kenzy’s arm back. "They’ll kill us the second they have it." Her gaze never left the vampires that surrounded them.

The blonde looked thoughtful for a moment, then she smiled. It was anything but friendly.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Colette, and these are my colleagues." She gestured to the other vampires, who all produced their own feral smiles. "We only want the chest, so it’s your choice whether we get it the hard way or the easy way. Hand it over and we’ll end you as painlessly as possible."

Her gaze shifted to Sheridan alone. "Otherwise I’ll tear your little companion apart piece by piece."

Sheridan shook in terror as she saw the vampires’ gleaming fangs in the low light of the chateau. Colette advanced a step, her expression hardening. "Kenzy," Sheridan said softly, "Stay back and let me handle this."

"Are you kidding? Just let them have it," Kenzy whispered in response. "Maybe they’ll leave us alone if they get what they want."

A low chuckle emanated from the circle of vampires. Their eyes glowed red in the dusky light. Fangs flashed, and Colette advanced two more steps. "Do you know what it sounds like when a head is severed from the body?" she asked. "It’s a curious combination of crunching and tearing. Wet and crispy at the same time." She licked her lips.

Kenzy made a horrified gasp and Sheridan’s stomach lurched. She pushed Kenzy behind her. "You can have the box and me but you need to agree to let her go."

"Really? You think we’d negotiate with you?" Colette’s expression morphed into something vicious and deadly. Inhuman. "You have our possession," she hissed, "and you are expendable. I’m done playing games. Give it to me…now."

Kenzy burst into tears, stretching out her arm, but before Colette could reach for the prize a low rumble filled the air and every vampire in the room froze, gazes darting from ceiling to windows to each other.

Colette screamed in frustration, her hands fisted at her sides as the other vampires suddenly began to disappear, leaving only gusts of air behind. "He’s coming, mistress," the last vampire minion said to Colette. With one final shriek, they also vanished.

"Hurry!" Sheridan instructed, grabbing Kenzy’s free hand and turning to run. They made it to the front door, but when Sheridan swung it open they both jumped back in shock. Before them stood Hunter, rage radiating off his six foot two frame.

Instead of the expensive tailored suits Sheridan had seen him in at the hotel, Hunter now wore black leather pants, thick-soled motorcycle boots, and a leather vest that left his muscular arms exposed.

"Did I not forbid you from leaving the lodge?" he thundered.

Sheridan swallowed, her throat dry, and her stomach flipping again. "My friend needed me. I didn’t have time—"

"You either have a death wish or you fail to understand what is at stake here," he interrupted, giving Kenzy a cursory glance only.

Out of the corner of her vision, Sheridan saw Kenzy put the chest into the pocket of her jacket.

"And what would you have me do when the only surviving member of my—"

He interrupted her again. "There is no time for this," he snarled.

"Fine." Sheridan pulled her phone from her pocket and swiped to open the Uber app.

Hunter hissed in displeasure before reaching out and grabbing both Sheridan and Kenzy in vice-like grips. "You will do as I say from this moment forward." The next thing Sheridan knew she was spinning through darkness like nothing she’d ever experienced. A darkness that absorbed everything—light, sound, thoughts, even movement.

Then she blinked as she looked at the lobby of the lodge.

"Oh my God," Kenzy gasped next to her. "What the hell was that?"

"We will need a single room for this young lady," Hunter was telling the front desk.

The desk clerk handed over a key card and Hunter stepped to them, his tone curt. "Follow me."

"Do you ever say please?" Sheridan snapped. He gave her an incredulous glare.

Though Kenzy was clearly bursting with questions, the tense anger rolling off of Hunter left no room for conversation on the ride up to her room. After settling Kenzy in, Hunter looked at Sheridan. “A word, please.”

As they stood in the hallway outside Kenzy’s door Hunter turned to her furiously. "What were you thinking? Leaving the premises, going to the rescue of a teenage girl you knew had been compromised by the same dangerous forces that killed the Barlows?"

Sheridan felt her skin heat in anger. "She was part of my family. How could I let her meet the same fate as the rest of them?"

"You cannot trust her," Hunter argued, "she lured you into what could very well have been your death. Why would you not come to me as soon as you heard from her? I could have helped."

"Yeah? And how do I know I can trust you? How do you know you can trust me? How does anyone trust anyone? I’ve known Kenzy for years. She’s just a teenager."

"Exactly, vulnerable to the wrong influences, easy to control. You don’t think it’s odd she’s the only one who survived the attack?"

"She’s not the only one who survived," Sheridan responded, suddenly tired to her very bones. "I survived too."

Hunter sighed, his tone softening. "I know you think you know her, but we’ve looked into her and we cannot find any information about her before she started working for the Barlows. It’s as if she appeared from thin air. What I do know is that she is definitely underage, and now I have her in my hotel of vampires . Hardly the environment for a teenage human girl."

Sheridan crossed her arms, leaning back against the wall outside her door. "She may only be seventeen, but she’s had to grow up fast. I’m not surprised you didn’t dig up anything about her childhood—she grew up in the system. She’s not some naïve little girl. Besides, you brought her here. What do you expect me to do about it?"

"You will do nothing, you’ve done quite enough for one day."

Sheridan ground her teeth.

"I have a friend in Romania—Parker. He runs an estate there called Hathaway. There is at least one other human in residence. I will send the girl there. She’ll be safe and we’ll be assured Colette can’t use her against us again."

"No." Sheridan’s voice was like a whip in the silent, elegant hallway. "She is my responsibility now and she stays with me. ."

"You need to see reason—"

"No," Sheridan repeated. "You need to see that I will not abandon someone I care about. She’s my only remaining family, she’s frightened, and she has no one else. If she goes, I go."

Hunter’s dark eyes snapped and sparked with frustration, but he didn’t say anything else as Sheridan turned and walked into the room before slamming the door in his face.

Inside, Kenzy leapt from the sofa and ran to Sheridan. "Oh my God! Those—they—there are vampires everywhere! How did you end up here? Who is that angry dude? Why did he save us? What is that stupid box? Why do they want it so badly? Why did the Barlows have it?"

"Shh, shh, slow down," Sheridan coached, leading Kenzy to the sofa. Over the next hour she explained how she’d gotten the chest from the Barlow’s safe deposit box, then found the bodies and assumed everyone in the house, including Kenzy, had been killed.

"I was picking up carry-out for dinner," Kenzy said sadly. “When I got back to the house they caught me, demanding that I give them that chest. Once they realized I wasn’t you, they used me to get to you. They kept me in a room, all alone. I had no idea what was going on. You…you saw the house. You know what they did to everyone. I thought I was going to die." Her eyes welled with tears.

Sheridan hugged her tightly, her own eyes prickling at the memory. They sat in silence for several moments before she spoke again. "I have no idea what’s in that chest and I don’t want to know. But until we sort this out I’m not willing to let anyone else have it either. The Barlows trusted me to retrieve it and specifically said I shouldn’t tell anyone about it. I’m so sorry you’re in danger because of it."

"It’s okay," Kenzy said, leaning her head on Sheridan’s shoulder as they sat side by side. "At least we’re in this together now."

They were, but Sheridan knew she needed to be the one to keep the box safe and told Kenzy so.

"But then they might kill you," Kenzy answered, her big blue eyes blinking heavily. “I can’t lose you too.”

Sheridan touched Kenzy’s cheek. "It’s okay, they won’t get me. We’re safe here." She explained how Hunter had found her and brought her to the hotel, how they were vampires, yes, but the good kind, how they wanted to help. At least I hope so, she thought to herself.

She noticed that Kenzy’s eyes were getting glassy and gently reached into the pocket of the jacket Kenzy still wore and retrieved the chest. "Believe me, I know this is a lot to take in. Why don’t you get into bed. I’ll put this somewhere safe."

"Will you please stay with me? I’m just…freaked out."

"Of course," Sheridan answered. She quickly put the chest in the room safe on the shelf of the closet. She knew where she wanted to hide it, but it would have to wait until tomorrow. She stripped down to her bra and panties before climbing into the big bed next to Kenzy.

As the younger woman fell into a deep sleep, Sheridan wondered if they’d ever be able to leave the lodge, or if they’d been consigned to a very beautiful prison.

***

A scream woke Sheridan from the depths of a black sleep. She sat up, frantically peering around the still dark room trying to orient herself. But when her gaze fell to the bed next to her, she saw the only thing that mattered—Kenzy—was gone.