They started down the hallway. June placed her hand on her hip, over the gun.

  The place was eerily quiet. They walked through a series of hallways, past windows looking down on the courtyard. Eventually, they came out into a wide-open space with a huge bank of windows reaching up to a high ceiling. As they crossed the area, June started in recognition.

  This was the atrium she had stood in and watched Micha talking to his supporters, after their first meeting; however, she’d been on the other side, which wasn’t enclosed and where people congregated to smoke. She looked down into the atrium, the space dark and silent. In her mind she envisioned Micha walking across, a line of young people following him.

  They entered a doorway on the other side. After a short distance, June slowed, her heart crawling into her throat. Footsteps, not their own. A figure appeared at the other end of the hallway and June froze, her hand on her gun.

  Occam looked over his shoulder. “Steady. Don’t shoot your sister, now.”

  Belle stood in the glow of a security light. June didn’t relax much. They walked toward her.

  “What’s the situation?” Occam asked.

  She handed him something: a walkie-talkie.

  “Robbie is upstairs.” Belle’s voice was light and soft. June had never heard her speak before. “In the executive offices. We’ve taken all but two of his men; they’re on the floor with him. Too close.”

  “Excellent.” Occam played with the radio. “We should move before the two left start trying to communicate with their fallen comrades.”

  “Why didn’t you just take them all out?” June asked. “It’s not like Robbie can hear you coming.”

  Occam jammed the radio into his back pocket. He leaned toward her and whispered, “Do you know what sort of thoughts go through a man’s mind as he’s dying? Robbie would hear that.”

  June shuddered.

  Occam leaned back. “Is everyone on the vampire floor?” he asked Belle.

  She nodded. “They’re having fun.”

  Occam turned to June. “I’m going to stash you and Sam there for the time being, so you have someone to watch over you.” He pointed at Anthony. “You and I are going up to pay big brother a visit.”

  June frowned. “Why are you going up with him?”

  Occam sighed. “It’s a good thing I’m here to think one step ahead, isn’t it? Of course Anthony could go up and see his brother alone, but isn’t that going to seem a bit odd?” In a blink, he turned back into the blond man he’d murdered.

  “And Robbie won’t realize it’s you?” June asked.

  “He didn’t realize it was me the last time I saved your ass, did he?”

  She flashed back to the night Muse died, when Occam disguised himself as a henchman.

  Occam tapped the side of his head. “Shapeshifting isn’t just physical, if you’re good enough.” He winked at Sam. “But you won’t live long enough to perfect it.”

  Sam glared at him. “Find out exactly where Robbie is, and then come back for us. He’s going to pay, and he’s going to pay at my hands.”

  Occam shrugged. “Whatever you like. I’m just doing what I was bribed to do.” He nodded at Belle. “Take them to the vampire floor. I’ll contact you when I’m coming back down.”

  He motioned to Anthony and started down the hallway. Anthony—his face blanched even in the dim light—quickly followed. June prayed that somewhere, deep inside, Robbie actually felt some brotherly love.

  Did Robbie feel anything besides spite and malice?

  Belle led June and Sam to an elevator. The lights were off, but the electricity was still on. As they climbed, June stood tense, hands clenched at her sides. She had no good memories of elevators inside the Institute.

  When they stepped out on the vampire floor, they were greeted by the sound of breaking glass and laughter.

  June stopped short. “What the hell is going on?”

  “We’re having a party,” Belle said. “Come on.”

  Reluctantly, June followed her. The vampire research floor was alive with—vampires. Vampires who were gleefully trashing everything. They were tearing things out of filing cabinets and desks. Furniture was toppled over, pictures ripped down, anything that was breakable broken. A woman was spray-painting one of the hallway walls. She had oh-so-creatively written “Death to Normals.” Slightly more foul, one man was taking a piss on a pile of papers. He sneered at Sam and June as they passed.

  “Guess they don’t like science,” June said.

  They stopped outside what appeared to be a lab. The lights were on in the room, the place in massive disarray. Carts and shelves were toppled over, broken glass everywhere. Two vampires were busy smashing samples on the white tile floor, turning it red.

  A third tall, wiry man with short brown hair and a long goatee strolled over to them. He held a tube full of blood. He popped the stopper and sucked it down like a shot, focused on June.

  “Is this her?” He tossed the tube over his shoulder, and it smashed on the floor. “Our new sister?” He moved closer to her.

  June cringed, but held his appraising, curious gaze.

  “Yes,” Belle said. “No touching, Logan. Occam wants to do the honors himself.”

  Logan looked her over. He was even creepier than Occam, gangly and hunched, and he had a weird fluid way of moving as he eased toward her. She tilted her chin up, refusing to be intimidated.

  “Not bad,” he murmured. He narrowed his eyes at Sam. He smiled a broad, not entirely charmless smile. “Sam Haain. It’s an honor to meet you.”

  “Is it?” Sam said coldly.

  “Why, of course. After all, I was one of the vampires who bled your brother’s killers dry. That was so much fun.”

  Sam stared at Logan.

  Logan waved a hand. “Apart from Ethan Roberts, of course. He escaped. That’s the problem with those pyros. They’re so good at creating a smokescreen.”

  Sam gasped. He took a step back.

  Logan lifted his eyebrows. “You didn’t know Ethan Roberts was the fourth man?”

  June gripped Sam’s arm. This wasn’t the place for emotional revelations. They needed to concentrate on the imminent danger ahead of them.

  Logan chuckled. “I don’t know how the knowledge escaped you. Your brother was badly burned. You knew it was a pyro that killed him. How did you not suspect Ethan?”

  “He’s not the only pyro in the city.” Sam spoke tersely. “And he’d been a friend of the Paranormal Alliance for a long time.”

  “He was a friend of Robbie’s, always.” Logan pointed upward. “Don’t worry. If you live through Robbie, you can make Ethan pay too. He’s not here, which means he’s out there, somewhere. The hunt is still on.”

  Sam clenched his jaw. His eyes glittered. His muscles were tense under June’s fingers.

  “Why don’t you two sit tight?” Belle said. “Occam will call soon.”

  Logan smiled widely. “Yes, enjoy our hospitality.” He motioned around the room. “If you want to help us get rid of the trash, you can.”

  They declined and instead sat in chairs in the hallway, two that were still upright. Sam sat across from her, staring at the wall above her head. June flinched every time something broke, her nerves at their snapping point.

  “You didn’t ask Muse?” she said. “When I gave you the Oracle?”

  “I couldn’t bring myself to do it. She didn’t deserve her peace disturbed like that.”

  “We have bigger things to worry about right now. Try to put it out of your head.” She couldn’t coddle him at the moment.

  “After I found out Ethan betrayed me, I should have realized it.”

  “You can find him and make him pay after you take out his boss.” She could barely catch her breath, her chest tight with fear and tension. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry he did this to you, to your brother, but he’s not our concern right now.”

  “You’re right. I have to take Robbie out first. His sins are even greater.”

  She slid to the edge of her seat. “You can’t face him, Sam. He’ll kill you. What are you planning?”

  “Why should I tell you? You didn’t tell me your plans.”

  She bristled. “You cannot walk up to Robbie and take him out.”

  “Probably not.” He sat forward too. “But there’s no other way. I have to stop him.”

  “Don’t be an idiot!” She slammed her hands on the arms of her chair. “We came here to stop him from blowing the place up. That’s what we have to do.”

  “Do you think if we stop him from blowing this place up, he’s just going to fade into the woodwork?” Sam got to his feet. “He has to die tonight. He can’t be allowed to plan anything else. And I’m going to end him. Me.” He pointed forcefully at his chest. “It’s me he’s ripped the most from, and I’m going to shred him to pieces.”

  He walked away. Her heart was in her throat. This was a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. She couldn’t talk him out of it. She couldn’t stop his impending doom. But she also couldn’t end the night looking at his corpse. She had to find a way, or save him.

  Would Occam be willing to make him a vampire? Would Sam allow it? Maybe if she convinced him, they could remain together….

  She looked around, trying to breathe. Then, she stopped breathing entirely.

  Someone stood down the hallway, motionless and staring into one of the rooms. Not a vampire.

  Rose.

  June got to her feet. Curiosity overrode fear. A ghost sure as hell wasn’t as scary as the living right now.

  June walked toward her. A few feet from the ghost’s stone-still figure, she stopped. Rose stared through the open door of a darkened office. Her gaze was blank, but something seemed different about her expression. It was forlorn, despairing.

  June edged past her and into the room. The vampires had already trashed it, papers everywhere, furniture overturned.

  “Was this your office?” June asked.

  Rose didn’t respond. The nameplate on the door didn’t bear Rose’s name, but then, Rose had been dead since January.

  “I was a means to their end,” Rose whispered.

  June flipped on the light.

  The windows were covered with the same light-blocking blinds as the rest of the floor. No one would see them up here, no matter how long the vampires partied.

  June picked her way across the room. Rose remained outside the doorway. The ghost wasn’t merely staring into the room, but at something.

  The desk.

  June approached it, stepping over the toppled desk chair. Everything on top had been pushed to the floor, including the computer, the monitor lying broken against the wall.

  “Underneath,” Rose whispered.

  June’s skin prickled. She bent over.

  “Where?” June peered beneath the desk. “I don’t see anything….”

  June dutifully searched under the desk, running her fingers across the carpet. She tugged at it, testing to see if a piece was loose and could be pulled back, but it stayed in place.

  “You have to tell me where,” June said.

  Rose remained silent.

  June attempted to push the desk across the floor in hopes of revealing something. She pushed it a few feet but found nothing. She got down on her knees and felt around on the carpet again.

  “Underneath,” Rose whispered again.

  June’s heart thudded in her ears, her breath quick from the exertion of pushing the desk.

  She pulled out one of the side drawers. Papers fell out. She flipped the drawer over. Nothing.

  She did the same with the one below it and pulled out the middle drawer beneath the desk. Pens and paperclips scattered on the carpet. Laughter erupted from the doorway.

  June jerked her head up. The vampire who had been graffiti-ing the wall. She breezed past Rose.

  “That’s the spirit!” the vampire called. “Destroy the lies!” She moved on down the hallway.

  June looked down at the broad, flat drawer in her hands.

  Something was taped to the bottom of it—a large manila envelope.

  June stood and plunked the drawer on the desk.

  “You put this here?” She scrabbled at the edge of the tape and started peeling it back. “You wanted me to find this?”

  Rose continued staring, that same forlorn expression on her face.

  June removed the envelope. The flap was tucked but not sealed. She opened it.

  Inside was a half-size spiral notebook and a USB stick. June held them up. Rose was no longer staring at the desk but at the objects in June’s hands.

  “This is yours?” June asked.

  For the first time, Rose eased out of her corpse-like posture. She sagged, including her face, as though melting in relief.

  “Micha,” Rose whispered, her voice filled with anguish. Her eyelids drooped.

  Then, she faded—she didn’t vanish all at once, but lifted onto the air like a puff of smoke and was gone.

  June stared at the blank spot where she’d stood, quietly amazed.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Chapter 25

  “Bit of an odd time for reading, isn’t it?” Occam said from the doorway.

  June looked up. She sat Indian-style in the middle of the trashed office, the notebook open in her lap. Her eyes burned with unshed tears.

  Occam leaned in the doorway, arms folded. Belle and Sam stood behind him. The commotion from the rest of the floor had dwindled. Maybe they were running out of things to destroy.

  “She was set up.” June’s voice was thick. “The Institute, they tricked Rose.”

  “Imagine that,” Occam said.

  “She didn’t feed Micha to them. She was trying to do the right thing, but they had her cornered.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

  “What is that?” Sam asked.

  June touched the notebook. “She was keeping a record. She wanted to find someone to expose the Institute. She knew about the serum. They came to her and wanted her to work on the project, but she refused. So they threatened her.”

  Sam moved into the room. He stepped over the mess, and she held the notebook out to him. He took it.

  “They told her if she didn’t cooperate, they would give Micha the vampire vi—” She stopped short of saying “virus.” Occam was staring at her. “They would make Micha a vampire. After what happened to her sister, it must have terrified her.”

  Sam flipped through the pages.

  “One of the higher-ups came to her,” June said. “Her name was Lena Burke. She told Rose she wasn’t willing to work on the serum, either, and she would help expose them. She gave Rose the powder with the receptors in it. She told her it was a secret project they were working on that would block vampirism, and she should give it to Micha to protect him.”

  Occam barked out a laugh. “There’s no such thing.”

  “We know that.” June climbed to her feet. “Rose didn’t know that. She was frightened and desperate. She started giving it to him, but then she got suspicious.” She held up the USB stick. “She began testing the powder.”

  Sam eyed the stick. “I take it those are the results of her tests? It could tell us a lot about that serum. The FBI would take a keen interest in it.”

  “They knew she was a liability.” June squeezed the stick in her palm. “They knew she could expose them. That’s why they killed her. That night in the parking garage, they weren’t trying to kill me or Jason. When they saw she was helping us, they probably ordered the security guards to take her out. It solved their problem.”

  Sam closed the notebook and held it out to her. “This clears her name, then.”

  June took the notebook. “She doesn’t care if anyone in authority knows the truth.” She clutched the notebook to her chest. “Micha has to see this. He has to know his wife wasn’t using him as a guinea pig. She was trying to protect him.”

  “This is all very touching,” Occam said. “However, there’s a man upstairs who’s very happy to see his brother and very distracted as a result. What would you like to do with him?”

  June jammed the notebook into the back pocket of her jeans. She pushed the stick into a front pocket. No time for being emotional, like she’d told Sam. Focus on the enormous obstacle in front of them.

  “He has a blueprint of the explosives,” Occam said. “I peeked. They’re on the desk in the office where he’s camped out. Sorry I couldn’t snatch them. That would have looked a bit funny.”

  Sam turned to Occam. “Take me up to him.”

  June stepped forward. “No, Sam.”

  “I have to. I’ll go up and take my best shot. Maybe it’ll work.”

  “We’re here to stop him from setting off those charges.” June gripped his arm. “We can’t kill him.”

  “We have to kill him.” He looked into her eyes. “We can’t stop this place from blowing up without killing him. It’s not going to happen.”

  “Then let Occam turn me now. As a vampire, I can take him on. Maybe.”

  “No.” Sam pushed her hand off his arm. “I want you to get the hell out of here. You’ve done your part.”

  “Are you out of your fucking mind? Do you think I’m going to walk out of here and let him kill you? We have to stop the bombs!”

  “I can’t defuse a goddamn bomb.” He gripped her shoulders. “Certainly not as many as he’s probably got set up. The only way to stop this is to stop him, and then we can get people in here who know what they’re doing. I promise you, though, if he takes me out, he’s coming with me.”

  “No.” She shook her head wildly. “No, Sam! That’s not how this works.”

  “I have to stop him.” His voice cracked. “I let him kill my brother. I let him kill Muse. I let him kill my followers. I didn’t see what he was doing, for years. I was blind while he worked against me. I have to stop this, here and now.” The unshed tears in his eyes spilled over, slipping down his cheeks. “I can’t let him destroy anything else I care about.”