Making a beeline for her private room, Siobhán took Trevor directly into the bathroom and placed him in the narrow but deep aluminum bathtub. She careful y removed the blanket from around his painful y thin body and something twisted in her chest at the sight of the hundreds of fang punctures and tears marring every inch of his skin. His memories of what he’d suffered would haunt her for many years to come.

She plugged the drain and turned the water on, then summoned a pair of scissors into her hand with a thought, using them to cut his long black hair and scraggly beard as short as possible.

When she graduated to using a straight razor on his face, she found herself riveted by the features she revealed with each careful swipe of the blade. Even haggard and drawn, the perfection of his bone structure was unmistakable. She found herself looking forward to seeing him at a normal weight, seeing his face fil ed out and restored to its former beauty.

Finished with shaving, she set to work on scrubbing his body. She emptied and refil ed the tub three times before she felt certain he was as clean as the mortal bathing process all owed. Then she wrapped him in a towel and carried him out to her sofa.

Since she didn’t require sleep as mortals did, she had no bed, so she made him as comfortable as possible with what she had, bundling him in as many blankets as she could find. Then she pul ed a chair next to him, set up an IV line, and transfused a pint of her powerful angelic blood into him.

Trevor began healing before her eyes. A healthy flush spread across his alabaster skin, erasing his scars in the process. His flesh began to pump, his breathing becoming deeper and more even, his heartbeat becoming stronger and steadier.

She surprised herself by reaching out to touch his jaw. “I’m very sorry it took us so long to find you.”

His head turned as if he was responding to her, pressing his cheek into her palm. She reached gently into his mind, dul ing the recol ections of his ordeal. She sealed them behind a haze, like a song you know you’ve heard but can’t remember where. Later, she would take the memories from him completely, but for now it was best not to. It was bad enough to be emotional y empty; it would only make it worse if he felt mental y empty as well.

Satisfied that he was on his way to a ful physical recovery, Siobhán started a saline drip to provide him with necessary fluids. Then she stripped out of her blood-soiled clothes and showered. By the time she left to begin cataloging the new infected intakes, Trevor was looking almost healthy and she felt the strangest sense of deep-seated relief.

Chapter 3

With one last look at the rows of occupied hospital beds and endless stretches of hanging intravenous lines, Siobhán left the infirmary and headed to the lab to cal Adrian Mitchel , captain of the Sentinels.

She sat at her desk and hit the speed dial for Adrian’s home office, her mind turning to thoughts of her leader and the trials he was presently facing, many of which came because of his forbidden love for a once-mortal woman named Lindsay. It was an affection that Siobhán—and every other Sentinel—couldn’t relate to; they all remained as emotionless as they’d been created to be. Only Adrian had been changed enough by his time on earth to grow a heart.

“Mitchel ,” Adrian greeted her on the fourth ring.

“Captain. Siobhán here.” Adrian had tasked her with studying the disease ravaging the vampire ranks and she’d been working ceaselessly on that assignment for weeks.

She was the one who’d inadvertently discovered that Sentinel blood cured the il ness. Considering the tens of thousands of vampires in North America alone and the less than two hundred Sentinels left in existence, it was information they couldn’t afford to have the vampires discover before an alternate cure was found. When panic about the disease spread faster than the disease itself—which would definitely happen, it was only a matter of time—Sentinels could be hunted to extinction for their healing blood.

“How are you progressing?” he asked.

“Slowly but surely. I’ve got a dozen infected in stasis now. We can keep them alive with steady blood transfusions, but they have to stay anesthetized or they’re impossible to control.” She didn’t have to elaborate; Adrian knew how mindlessly violent they were. When he’d come to visit her here in the lab, he had seen them in action firsthand.

“How quickly do they lose higher brain function?”

She was intrigued by the question. “How far do you want me to go to find out? They’re already infected by the time I get them. If you want a play-by-play of what happens from exposure to il ness, I’l need to deliberately infect healthy subjects.”

“Do it. Our blood is a cure, so we can reverse the damage.”

It was a brutal order, but Adrian had the strength of conviction to see it carried out. It was one of the many reasons why he was the Sentinel leader and why the Sentinels still respected that leadership, despite the fact that his love for Lindsay—who was now a fledgling vampire—broke the very law they’d been sent to earth to enforce. That law barring fraternization with mortals had been on Siobhán’s mind a lot over the last couple days since she’d found Trevor.

It had all begun with the Watcher angels. The Watchers had been sent to earth to observe and report on the advancement of Man without interference, but they’d disobeyed and began mating with the mortals instead. This development displeased the Creator greatly and the Sentinels had been sent to punish the Watchers.

The Watchers were stripped of their wings and became known as the Fal en—the first vampires from which all other vampires came into being. The Fal en were more powerful than the minion vampires they created. They were stronger, faster, and able to walk in sunlight—they also had nothing left to lose.

“Have you been able to spot any patterns in the rapidity of progression?” Adrian asked.

Some minions were dead within a few days, others lasted a few weeks, and still others appeared to be immune. Why?

“I think I’m on to something in that regard.” Her excitement came through in her voice. “I’m not entirely positive yet, but it seems as if the advancement varies depending on how far removed the minion is from the Fal en heading their vampiric hierarchy.”

“You need to test Fal en blood,” he surmised.

“It would be helpful, yes,” she conceded, knowing how difficult it would be to attain. “Then I could see if it at least slows the development of the disease.”

They discussed the logistics for a few more minutes. Then Adrian signed off with the order to keep him posted.

“Yes, Captain,” she said. “Of course.”

Hanging up, Siobhán found herself eager to return to one of her patients—a handsome mortal with the eyes of an angel. She’d spent more time in her room over the last forty-eight hours than she ever had, unable to resist watching the health return to Trevor’s body.

She told herself she had a valid reason for being so focused on him; it was about time someone looked after him. He’d been through so much and since she was the one who’d claimed him, it was her responsibility.

It was irrelevant that the duty just happened to give her a great deal of pleasure.

* * *

She was the most gorgeous creature he’d ever seen. Trevor watched her as if from a distance, his warrioress angel. She was a smal thing but fierce, her body clothed in urban camouflage and Army-issued jungle boots. Her hair was as black as his and her eyes just as blue, although her irises glimmered, as if fil ed with cerulean flames. She was such a contradiction—part otherworldly beauty, part contemporary woman.