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“Rhage told me. Well, showed me, too.”

“You mean he hasn’t wiped…You remember him?”

“I’m staying with him.”

“You’re what?”

“Here. At the house. With a bunch of men, vampires…God, that word…” The female cleared her throat. “I’m here with about five other guys just like him.”

Bella put her hand over her mouth. No one stayed with the Brotherhood. No one even knew where they lived. And this female was a human.

“Mary, how did you…how did this happen?”

When the story was all out, Bella was stunned.

“Hello? Bella?”

“Sorry, I…Are you okay?”

“I think so. I’m all right now, at least. Listen, I have to know. Why did you put the two of us together? Rhage and me?”

“He saw you and he…liked you. He promised me he wouldn’t hurt you, which was the only reason I agreed to set you up on that date.”

“When did he see me?”

“The night we took John to the training center. Or don’t you remember that?”

“No, I don’t, but Rhage told me I’d gone there. Is John…a vampire?”

“Yes, he is. His change is coming, which is why I got involved. He’ll die unless one of our kind is with him when the transition hits. He needs a female to drink from.”

“So that night, when you met him, you knew.”

“I did.” Bella chose her words carefully. “Mary, is the warrior treating you well? Is he…gentle with you?”

“He’s taking care of me. Protecting me. I have no idea why, though.”

Bella sighed, thinking she knew. Given the warrior’s fixation on the human, he had probably bonded with her.

“But I’ll be home soon,” the female said. “Just a couple of days.”

Bella wasn’t so sure about that. Mary was so much deeper in their world than she realized.

The smell of gas fumes was nasty, O thought as he maneuvered the Toro Dingo around in the dark.

“That’s good. We’re good to go,” U called out.

O shut the thing off and surveyed the area he’d carved from the forest. Flat, about forty-by-forty-feet square, it was the layout of the persuasion building plus room for them to work.

U stepped into the leveled area and addressed the assembled lessers. “Let’s start getting the walls up. I want three sides raised. Leave one open.” U motioned impatiently with his hand. “Come on. Move it.”

The men picked up frames made out of eight-foot-long two-by-fours and carried the things around.

The sound of an approaching vehicle stopped everyone, though the lack of headlights suggested it was another lesser. With their superior night vision, Society members were able to dance around in the dark as if it were high noon; whoever was behind that wheel dodging trees had the same acuity.

When Mr. X got out of the minivan, O went over.

“Sensei,” O said, bowing. He knew the bastard appreciated the respect and somehow pissing off the guy just wasn’t as fun as it used to be.

“Mr. O, it looks like you’re making progress.”

“Let me show you what we’re doing.”

They had to shout over the clapping of hammerheads, but there was no reason to worry about any of the noise. They were smack-dab in the middle of a seventy-five-acre plot of land about thirty minutes from Caldwell’s downtown area. To the west of the property was a swamp that served as one of the Hudson River’s flood zones. Covering the north and east was Big Notch Mountain, a pile of state-owned rock that climbers didn’t favor because of its rattlesnake dens, and that tourists found all-around unappealing. The only point of exposure was from the south, but the rednecks who lived in the scattered, decaying farmhouses didn’t seem like the type to wander.

“This looks good,” Mr. X said. “Now where are you putting in the storage facilities?”

“Here.” O stood over a section of ground. “We’ll have the supplies in the morning. We should be ready to receive visitors in a day.”

“You’ve done pretty well, son.”

Goddamn it, O hated the son shit. He really did.

“Thank you, sensei,” he said.

“Now walk me to my car.” When they were a distance away from the work, Mr. X said, “Tell me something. Do you have much contact with the Betas?”

O made sure