My hands grew clammy at the mention of the Master, but I swallowed back my fear. I was proud of how steady my voice was when I said, “I killed Eli.”

Ava’s eyes widened and then she clapped her hands in delight. “Oh my, this just keeps getting better! I wish I could have seen his face. What went through his mind when he realized a little Mohiri orphan had bested him?”

I leaned back in my seat and took Nikolas’s larger hand in both of mine. “You can ask him that yourself when I send you to be with him in hell.”

The smile bled from her lips. “Your killing days are over, little hunter. When the Master gets through with you, you’ll be begging me to kill you.”

“Don’t underestimate me, vampire.” I said the word as if it was something nasty stuck to the bottom of my boot. “I’m not done with you yet.”

She got up from her seat and stood over me. I didn’t see the syringe in her hand until she plunged it into my arm. “Oh, you’re done. Nighty night.”

* * *

I opened my eyes slowly and blinked several times until the dirty wooden beams above me came into focus. My head pounded, and my stomach churned. I rolled over onto my side and fell off the small stone platform I was lying on. My knees smacked against the stone floor, and I moaned as pain shot through them. I pulled my body up onto my hands and knees, fighting the urge to retch as I took in the damp stone walls and the iron bars that made up one wall of the small cell.

Panic washed over me in waves and I struggled to stand, fighting off the effects of whatever drug the vampire had given me. I didn’t need to look around the cell to know I was alone.

“Nikolas?” I grasped the bars and strained to see past the circle of light provided by the single bare light bulb outside my cell. “Nikolas!”

“He’s not here,” said a small voice on the other side of the cell wall.

“Who are you?” I demanded hoarsely as I rubbed my arms. My coat and boots were gone, and I shivered in the cold dank air. “Do you know where he is?”

A slender arm waved, and I moved to the end of the bars. “I’m Grace,” the girl replied tearfully. “They didn’t bring a man, just you.”

Oh God, Nikolas. Pain stabbed me in the chest. I stood very still, feeling for him, and I stifled a sob when I sensed him faintly. He was here somewhere and still alive. Nikolas, can you hear me? I called to him.

Silence.

“I’m Sara.” I stuck my hand through the bars until my fingers touched her cold ones. “Grace, do you know how long I was out?”

“A few hours. Anna and I were afraid you wouldn’t wake up.”

I drew my hand back and closed my eyes against the throbbing pain in my head. “Who is Anna?”

Grace sniffled. “She’s the other girl down here with us. There was a girl named Jen, but she never came back when they took her yesterday.”

Neither of us spoke for a long moment because we both knew why Jen had not returned. I fought the mounting terror. Be strong. Losing it is not going to help you. I needed to stay calm and clearheaded if I had any hope of getting us out of this alive.

“Where is Anna now?” I asked with a calmness that belied the fear churning inside me.

“One of those things took her right after they brought you in. What if she doesn’t –?”

Grace fell silent as a door at the end of the hallway opened and footsteps came toward us. I could hear a girl weeping as the door of the cell on the other side of me opened and slammed shut.

“Sleep tight, beautiful,” taunted a male voice. The vampire sauntered over to leer at me and Grace. “Don’t worry ladies; you’ll get your turn soon enough.” He snickered and left, and I heard a key turning in a lock.

“Anna, is that you?” Grace called softly.

The crying paused. “Y-yes.”

God, she sounded so young. She couldn’t be more than fifteen or sixteen. Grace didn’t sound much older than that. I rubbed my temples. I’d thought I only had to worry about getting Nikolas and me out of here, but I couldn’t leave these girls behind in this hellhole.

I hung my head helplessly. I had no weapons and my power was still blocked from me. Without my special radar I couldn’t tell if there was one or a hundred vampires in this place. How was I going to protect myself, let alone two teenage girls?

“Anna, this is Sara. She’s the girl they brought in today.”

“Hi,” Anna said weakly.

“Hi, Anna,” I called back. “How long have you girls been here?”

Grace let out a shuddering breath. “I think I’ve been here for three days.”

“Me too,” Anna said. Then she started crying softly again. “I want to go home.”

I walked to the other end of the bars to be closer to her. “We’re going to get out of here. Just hang in there.”

“No, we’re not.” Her voice rose then fell off again. “They’re monsters. They did... things to me. They hurt me.”

I closed my eyes, but I couldn’t stop imagining the vile things this girl had suffered. I could hear Grace crying softly, and it was all I could do to keep myself together.

I cleared my throat. “Where are you girls from? I’m from Maine.”

“I’m from Scarsdale,” Grace replied.

“Mount Vernon,” Anna said.

I bit my lip. Both of those places were in New York. Did that mean we were in New York too? “Do you know how you got here, or were you drugged like me?”