“Let’s buy some things that we’ll need before we go to the castle,” Levka said, then added telepathically, “But after we’re settled, Ruric and Stasio can make a blood run. Then we’ll come up with some plans for what we’re going to do as far as staying long-term somewhere.”

  Stasio glanced at a girl watching them as she made her way to the rental cars. Maybe she was just intrigued by the four males in the party. But he hadn’t lived as long as he had without learning to be wary. Instead of warning the others, he backed away from them and walked over to the other side of the row of cars and joined the girl.

  “Do I know you?” Stasio didn’t expect her to say anything but no. He didn’t know her. And she probably wasn’t interested in them either, but maybe she was curious about them since they all appeared to be teens like her.

  “I don’t know.” Her lips smiled fractionally, but the smile was pure show. “Do you?”

  He cleared his throat and noticed his companions were quiet, listening in on his conversation with their enhanced hearing, most likely wondering why Stasio would be checking out the girl. They knew he wouldn’t have her join them to offer Caitlin blood. Only the rogues consistently fed on humans for the power and control. As if the rogues truly had any power over the humans other than their ability to hypnotically entice their victims to give into their needs. Otherwise, it just wasn’t done. Well, except in an emergency.

  Which, unfortunately, Stasio and his companions had to do quite often when it came to finding forms of travel and places to live.

  Private blood banks were stocked and monitored for every occasion, and at many locations where vampires lived. The vampire, under the guise of a blood donor organization, paid humans a goodly sum to donate their blood, though the humans wouldn’t know that the blood was used for vampire consumption. Likewise, the vampires had to pay a premium for the blood, which was why some chose to get their meal from the source. The only other time they could do so was in an emergency. But still, procedures had to be followed, cases reported and documented, and reviewed. Not that all vampires, except Arman, who diligently tried not to break any rules, did so. If they were on the run, like Stasio and his friends, then protocol went out the window. Which made them rogues. Though they saw themselves as a different class of rogues. They only sought to help others in need, no matter if they were human or vampire. They hadn’t intended to break any rules just to defy authority.

  Someday, they would like to be able to be more open about who they were. Even though most of the vampires were good guys, humans didn’t always trust them. And sometimes, for good reason.

  Police forces, or individual citizens sometimes, hired vampire hunters to eliminate rogue vampires. But who was to say that the vampire was a rogue? If a vampire wasn’t, yet was targeted for termination, why wouldn’t he fight back to save his own life? So, Stasio and his friends kept a low profile, and at least with the Dallas League, the vampires were never to get involved in human affairs. Let them figure it out for themselves. But if an innocent human needed rescuing, Stasio and his friends had defied the vampire league rules on several occasions. Mostly, they hadn’t got caught at it. Luckily, this last time they got involved, the police thought the situation between them and the boys who had targeted the girls was gang-related and had nothing to do with vampires. Thankfully.

  They were fine for now, able to go for long periods without needing blood and they ate and drank human food and liquids, which helped them to blend in. Except for Caitlin. She was so newly turned that she needed small amounts of blood more frequently, at least twice a day, sometimes managing to skip a day if they were lucky. He hoped she would soon be able to last longer between feedings. They could go a considerable time without any blood themselves, but they’d been vampires for a very long time. It was hard to remember what it was like when they had first been turned.

  Stasio glanced at the pretty girl, her hair long and dark and shiny. Maybe because he was so fair-haired, dark-haired girls appealed to him. He smiled. “Are you just visiting Wales?” He thought she had an American accent. New York, maybe, but so slight it was hard to tell. It was impossible to recognize the vampires from the humans. Unless the vampire showed off his extended canines.

  “Here’s my row.” She didn’t answer his question and headed down the row of compact rental cars with keys in hand.

  Stasio tried not to make anything of the fact that she didn’t answer him. She probably thought it was none of his business concerning what she was doing there, though he wondered about her being alone in a foreign country. Maybe she had family or friends somewhere nearby, but she wanted to drive her own rental car. Or maybe she was wary of his intentions.

  Then he wondered how she could get a rental car when she looked like she was around nineteen or so and most rental car places didn’t rent out to teens. They only got theirs because Ruric was so good at hacking into computer systems and making reservations, but also, as long as they could use their vampiric abilities on the rental clerk to persuade her that they were of legal age, no problem. They could tell the person they were a hundred years old, and he would believe them.

  Except in Caitlin’s case. She was a witch, and she could use different skills, but hadn’t needed to yet.

  In the worst way, Stasio wanted to talk further with the dark-haired girl, get to know her, and…bite her. It was still a natural instinct, even if they had rules against such behavior. They were human after all—just changed because of the Black Death that had killed so many. Some who had survived the plague had enhanced abilities—to see in the dark of night, to fly, to telepathically communicate, to shift into animal forms even—the older the vampire was, the more enhanced their abilities. The only real downside was the need for blood.

  For Caitlin, they couldn’t risk going to a league-run blood bank and alerting authorities that they were back in the area. They would have to break into a human-run one.

  The girl disappeared behind some vans, and Stasio hurried to join his friends as they headed down a different row.

  “Well?” Levka asked telepathically when Stasio didn’t share his concerns right away.

  “She is not one of us,” Stasio communicated back. At least if she was, she hadn’t responded to his telepathic comment. Then again, she hadn’t responded to his question spoken aloud either. After having lived so many years, it was more gut instinct than anything else. Unless she was an assassin, a vampire who was sent out by a league to terminate a rogue vampire, he figured she was just a woman who looked young enough to be a teen. He didn’t believe the league would send a young woman to do the job when there were five of them she would have to eliminate. Though he and his friends wouldn’t be as suspicious of a single female either. They were careful to channel their psychic conversation with each other so that no other vampires could listen in on their private talk.

  “And you know this because?” Levka asked, ever wary.

  “Instinct, but of course I can’t be certain.” Stasio figured Levka would interrogate him further about the woman.

  “She is pretty,” Ruric said, as if trying to learn why Stasio would leave them to talk to her.

  “She was…interesting,” Stasio responded as they loaded up in a black minivan.

  “Why did you speak to her?” Levka finally got to the point.

  “She seemed interested in us. Curious. Her reaction made me…wary.”

  “You are sure she is not one of us?” Arman asked. “If the league with jurisdiction over this area has already discovered we’re here, I suggest a change of plans and we go somewhere else.”

  “When I just made reservations for Stasio’s castle?” Ruric shook his head. He loved hacking into systems to get them the best possible places to stay and the same with transportation and food. But he didn’t like it when he had to change plans quickly and give up on all the hard work he had done already for them.

  “We’ll trust she was just a curious human,” Levka said, though Stasio was sure he was still wary of the whole situation.

  They had to be to remain free and safe.

  They headed first for a department store that had men and women’s clothing, food, furniture, you name it. Though all they needed were luggage, clothes, and toiletries. As soon as Stasio went to pay for them, he smiled at the pretty, dark-haired clerk. “Do you want to get a cup of coffee when you’re off?”

  “I have a boyfriend, but thanks for the offer. I can’t place your accent. Welsh and American?”

  She was a vampire so Stasio had to pay for the purchases with cash. “American with Welsh parents,” he said, out loud, so that his friends who were waiting to see how he would pay for the items, listened in.

  “Oh, cool.” Then she rang up everything and bagged their clothes. “Looks like you’re going on a trip.”

  “Lost luggage on the trip here.”

  “Oh, wow. All of it, eh?”

  “Yeah. Way too many connections. They’ll probably catch up to us when we return home.”

  “To?”

  She was too curious for his own good. “New York,” he said.

  “Cool. I always wanted to visit the Big Apple.”

  Then he said goodbye and they took their purchases out to the rental van. Arman was sweating. Ruric shook his head.

  Levka said, “Why were you talking so much to her?”

  They wanted to keep their anonymity.

  “I was trying to learn if she was a vampire or not so we could get our items free,” Stasio said.

  “We have enough money, and it’s better not to give away too much information to anyone, should Petroski or Vlad learn we’re here.” Levka sighed.

  “I didn’t tell her the truth about us.”

  “Yeah, but there are five of us, four males and a female, and that makes us easier to remember,” Arman said.

  “Which is why we should have all checked out our own stuff separately, except for Caitlin,” Stasio said.

  “It would have taken too long,” Levka said.

  “I’ve checked for human blood banks, none that are close by,” Ruric said. “I suggest that we have Caitlin go on her own to a vampire blood bank. I know we were worried about us showing up for one because we might get caught, but she’s not known in Wales.”

  “I don’t like that idea,” Levka said.

  “I know. But it’s the best-case scenario. She’s a tourist and needs to have blood,” Ruric said. “I can’t hack into their computer system, and we can’t use vampiric persuasion on them.”

  “I’ll go inside with Caitlin. She won’t know how to do this, and we don’t want anyone to know she’s newly turned.”

  “Alright, Levka.” Ruric gave Levka directions to the blood bank then. “Live long and prosper.”

  “Star Trek, Spock said it, right?” Caitlin asked.

  “Of course,” Ruric said.

  When they arrived at the blood bank, Levka parked the van, and then he and Caitlin went inside.

  Stasio moved into the driver’s seat, just in case they had to make a fast getaway.

  Caitlin couldn’t help being nervous about this. She wanted to enter the building invisibly, using her witch’s skills, but Levka told her she needed to learn to use blood banks for when they were finally settled.

  They walked inside the pristine entrance, several people waiting in the lobby to donate blood. She’d never donated blood when she had been human, but she admired those who did. She went up to the check-in counter and said she was visiting the region and then telepathically, she said, “I need some blood.”

  She had to show her passport, and then the woman smiled. “American. Go ahead and have a seat and we’ll call you when we’re ready.”

  “Thanks.” Then she and Levka took a seat together.

  Another guy who was waiting in the lobby smiled at her.

  Levka said to her, “We need to teach you how to direct your telepathic conversation to only those you want to hear it, like to me, so I know what you were telling the clerk, and to the clerk. The man smiling at you probably is a vampire getting some blood, not giving some.”

  “Sorry. I don’t know how to do it.”

  “I know.” Levka wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “It probably will take time. We can practice when all of us are in the same room, and you can try to direct your conversation to only one of us. In the beginning when my friends and I were turned, we had no clue how to do it, but it has been so long ago, it’s hard to remember just how we learned to control our conversations. Before that, it was chaos, believe me, with vampires telepathically communicating with each other, but everyone within hearing distance being privy to the conversations.”

  “I bet that was unreal.” Caitlin couldn’t imagine anything so strange.

  Then the smiling guy was called in and a few minutes later, he left the back rooms and winked at Caitlin, carrying a little package. Her face felt hot, and she was sure she was blushing. Levka scowled at the guy. Luckily, he didn’t show his fangs.

  She was called in next, and she noticed that several other people who had been there before her frowned at her, probably wondering why she was able to go in ahead of them. She wondered if it was because they were donating blood as humans, but she was a vampire needing blood.

  Levka went with Caitlin and the lab technician looked a little surprised. Caitlin had planned to go in by herself, but Levka was ever protective. Still, she didn’t want to make this appear that anything was out of the ordinary.

  “We’re probably set up just like your American blood banks,” the lab technician said.

  “Oh, sure, but I’ve never been here before, so my friend is here for moral support,” Caitlin said.

  The technician smiled. “Here you go.” She gave Caitlin a sack like the one the man had been carrying.

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem. Enjoy your stay here.”

  “I will. Thanks.” Then with much relief, Caitlin and Levka left the building, and she was so glad nothing wrong had happened. It seemed like while she was with the guys, something was always bound to occur—and often in a bad way.

  Levka indicated to Stasio that he had the wheel, and Stasio moved back to the next row of seats.

  “Everything went fine, we take it,” Stasio said.

  “Yeah, I’m all set,” Caitlin said. “Now that I know how to do this, I can go on my own.”

  “With me,” Levka said.

  Everyone laughed. Caitlin knew that’s exactly what he would say.

  Stasio breathed in the fresh air, and he was glad that for even a short time they would be able to enjoy their homeland again. The majestic mountains were tall, the beaches vast and beautiful, the forests verdant, and the wildflowers were colorful and spectacular.

  Taking in all the sights, Caitlin stared out the window as Levka drove. She still hadn’t gotten the hang of channeling psychic conversations, so for now, she spoke to them aloud, unless they were certain they weren’t within “earshot” of another vampire. If she spoke telepathically, she would be broadcasting to all vampires withing hearing distance.

  As soon as they stopped at a drugstore and picked up some other items, Stasio was looking over a brochure of places to go and things to do. One of them mentioned the castle they were staying at.

  “They’ve added more gardens and a pond.” Frowning, Stasio looked over the pictures of the gardens.

  Ruric walked over and looked at the photos. “I swear if you could live forever in the past, you would be happy.”

  “I am happy, and for your information, the past would have been the present and not the past.”

  “Semantics,” Ruric said.

  The castle sat atop a crop of rocks, overlooking the Irish Sea.

  Stasio settled back in his seat and was dismayed to see all the changes—the growth, the traffic, the buildings. Still, it was beautiful, green, luscious, mountains in the distance, and home.

  No one said anything and he knew his friends were absorbing their surroundings. Ruric, who liked everything high-tech and futuristic, probably was enjoying all the changes. Stasio preferred the simpler life.

  When they reached Stasio’s castle, he stared in awe.

  Battlements were in place on top of the walls and towers, firing galleries to defend the castle on the northern and southern walls. The griffin tower had three turrets and the royal family’s lodgings had been grand at the time. Four stories and basements, and one of the basements had a sea gate for visitors coming there by boat.

  “It’s beautiful,” Caitlin said. “Just beautiful. Ohmigod, the walls surrounding the castle are huge. It overlooks the water as an added bonus. No one said anything about the castle overlooking the water. And it has a beautiful garden. I could lose myself in there.”

  Stasio thought it was beautiful too. “It is.” The impressive great hall, chapel, turrets, and walls were all still there. He couldn’t have been gladder that his castle had been well taken care of. The garden had been expanded and flowers they’d never grown were now planted there. But they had a restaurant in the great hall that had a great menu too, which he approved of. “We fought many a battle from these battlements, but we always managed to keep the enemy at bay, until the last battle which was with our own kind.”

  “Aye,” Arman said.

  “We’ve had a tail while we’ve been driving to the castle,” Levka warned.

  Stasio glanced back at the black car following them. “For how long?”

  “Since we left the car rental place.” Levka cut the engine in the castle’s parking area, and they all remained in the van while they watched the black car pull into a parking spot.

  Stasio eyed the car, waiting for the driver to exit the vehicle. That’s when he saw the pretty brunette he’d talked to before, leave the vehicle, open the trunk, and grab a large black bag. She slung the bag over her shoulder like it didn’t weigh anything, slammed the hatchback trunk closed, then walked to the castle entrance.

  “I thought you said she wasn’t one of us,” Levka said as they watched her walk through the doors, not sparing him or his companions a glance.