I laughed. Was he joking?

Gabriel seemed nonplussed at my reaction. "Submit, Patricia."

I wrenched my wrists free of his grip; then I wrapped my hand around his cock. "Tell you what, stud. We can submit to each other or ..."

He sucked in a sharp breath. "Or what?"

"Or I'll pull off your dick and feed it to the demons."

Startled, he stared at me. Then his lips stretched into a wicked grin. "You are definitely the one for me, Patricia."

"Tell it to my vagina." I fell backward onto the bed and nearly cried when he covered me and finally, finally, finally guided his thick cock inside me.

I met every thrust, moaning and mewling and acting a fool. But I didn't care. In no time at all, I plunged over the edge into sparkling bliss and then he did, too.

I should've known that happiness like this was as fleeting as a good-hair day.

When Gabriel and I got dressed and entered the main cavern, we were met by a pissed-off Terran, an indifferent Zerina, and a happy-to-see -us Arin.

I stayed close to Gabriel. He smelled yummy, like chocolate chip cookies and sex, and he felt really good, too. Y'know, being bound to him wasn't too bad.

"We've been worried sick!" yelled Terran as she marched over to Gabriel and gave him the stink-eye. "How many times have I told you to carry your phone?" She thrust the slim, red cell phone at him and he meekly took it.

"I thought you lost it in the woods," I said.

"I found it. I always find it. I'm the cleanup girl." Terran punched Gabriel in the shoulder. "Jerk."

"We have a visitor," said Arin, clearing his throat.

Patrick sat on the edge of the fountain, looking like someone had ripped out his heart.

"Jessica's missing," he said.

"He thought she was here," said Zerina. She was looking as if she wanted to push him into the pool.

"When you didn't show up at the shelter," said Patrick, "I figured you came back."

"I couldn't get in to the shelter. The blood lock wouldn't open for me." I put my hands on my hips. "So, you thought we kidnapped Jessica?"

Arin looked nonplussed. "Why would we do that?"

"I can't reach her by phone or through our mental connection," said Patrick. "Everyone else is in the compound, so I thought ... maybe she was here."

"How's Wilson?" I asked.

"He's fine," said Patrick. "He's been helping out with the younger children. He asked if you were okay."

That made my inner mama bear roar with happiness. Gabriel draped his arm on my shoulders, a sign of comfort or possession, I didn't know. Who cared so long as his arm was around my shoulders?

"We have to help," I told him quietly. "You know how many times I cried on her shoulder or stayed at her house when my ex-husband got crazy? I can't count the number of times she took my son to the movies or for ice cream so he wouldn't have to listen to me fight with Sean. I owe her. I don't renege on my debts."

"Your debts are my debts." He kissed me. "We will save Jessica."

Patrick's phone rang. We were all startled by the sudden noise. He flipped it open and listened.

"It's just static," he said. He looked down at the display. "It's her number."

"Don't close it!" I pointed at his phone. "Maybe she's calling you, but she can't talk. Use the GPS thingie to track her location."

"The Thrifty Sip?" asked Patrick as we drove up to the abandoned convenience store. Terran owned a Hummer, of all things, which had been camouflaged in the woods. Arin stayed at the cave, which was real close to the cemetery. Patrick had pointed out that the cavern was near to where the Consortium had blown up the Wraiths.

The Thrifty Sip was a few miles from the town proper. It was also on the schedule for demolition - a security risk or some such. The compound had the only available gas station nowadays.

I didn't have a car. Sean took ours when I told him it was over and I hadn't been able to afford another one. Sometimes, I caught a ride with others, but mostly I walked to where I wanted to go. I got to places a whole lot faster after becoming a vampire.

We all piled out of the huge gas-guzzler and stared at the empty, dark building. I turned to Patrick. "Is she in there?"

"No," said Patrick. "She's right here."

I didn't want to second-guess him, even though I was dying to say something along the lines of, "Are you sure you know how to read a GPS?"

Everyone looked around. It was quiet and dark. Nothing and no one stirred.

"Spread out," commanded Terran. "We'll check a hundred feet in every direction and meet back here."

I touched Patrick's elbow. "Is your mind-mojo working yet?"

"No. I can't sense her at all."

While Terran barked orders, the rest of us walked down the road in both directions, behind the store, into the little pocket of woods nearby, and across the ditch to the empty field.

Jessica wasn't here.

We met back at the Thrifty Sip. Patrick looked about ready to spit nails. "Where the bloody hell is my wife?" Patrick ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry."

"I understand," said Gabriel. "I would feel the same if it were Patsy who'd been taken."

"Would you?" asked Patrick. "Because of the prophecy?"

"Hey, now," I interrupted. "Let's not forget all the crap you put Jessica through going on about your sonuachar."

Patrick had the grace to look abashed.

"Is it just me, or does the air stink like testosterone?" asked Zerina. Gabriel sent his gold glare to the girl. She didn't care. "Maybe Jessica would appreciate being found. Ya think?"

"The GPS pinpointed this location," insisted Patrick.

"Maybe we need to look down," said Zerina. She was dressed in a pink shirt, black jeans, and black leather ankle boots. She stomped on the circle of metal under her boot.

"Aw, hell," I muttered. "She's somewhere in the sewer."

When Zerina pulled off the manhole cover, Patrick jumped the forty or so feet into the sewer line. Then Terran dropped into the hole. We heard one big splash and I flinched. The stink rising up from the manhole, especially to all of us with overdeveloped senses, was dis-gus-ting.

Well, if everyone else could stand swimming around in it, I guess I could, too. I just couldn't guarantee I wouldn't yak.

Gabriel climbed down on the metal ladder that extended down into the dark, smelly space. Then I went. Zerina stayed topside to be the lookout.

Gabriel splashed into the water (yuck, yuck, yuck). It was waist-high on him. He waded to the side where there was a small concrete ledge that wound alongside the sewer water. I nearly died from the stench, but I remembered that I could fly, too.

So I drifted down the hole and over the nasty water. I stepped onto the ledge.

Terran asked, "Do you still have the Glock?"

"Er ... it sorta got blown up in my trailer." It seemed like that had happened years ago instead of just days.

"Don't worry, Terran," said Gabriel. "Patricia can handle herself."

Patrick did some clever things with his hands and muttered Gaelic. Glowing orbs filled the air. Patrick flew about two feet above the water, staying between those of us walking.

Jessica was flattened against a wall on the left side, pinned through the shoulders with metal stakes. Each thigh had a stake through it, too.

She was unconscious.

The ungodly sound that issued from Patrick made every hair stand up on my body. Whoever had done this to his wife was going to pay with their lives.

We all ran toward her.

Patrick got there first. He grabbed the metal stake in her left shoulder and Gabriel grabbed the one in her right. Terran and I knelt to get the ones in her thighs. We all pulled with every bit of our supernatural strength.

Not one budged.

"Bespelled?" asked Terran, panting.

Poor Jess' clothes were black with her blood. She was still blindfolded, too. Whoever had done this to her was cruel. They didn't want to kill her. They wanted to torment her.

"We need Zela," said Patrick.

"You're the only one who can get to her the fastest," said Gabriel. "We won't leave your mate."

Patrick nodded, and then he sparkled out of sight. While he was gone, the rest of us kept pulling on the ugly spikes.

God, Jess looked pale. Beyond vampire pale. And there was so much blood. I couldn't begin to imagine the kind of pain that had consumed her when they drove those stakes into her body.

When Patrick returned, he was alone. "She's on the way," he said.

"What the hell is going on?"

I heard Jessica's voice, so I looked up. Her eyes were closed and her mouth wasn't moving.

Oh, no.

The spirit of Jessica stood next to her body.

I saw a thin silver line that connected her spirit to her physical form. If that chain broke, she would be free of this life for good. And then we would lose Patrick, too.

Jessica kept talking to Patrick, hands on her hips, her expression pure pissed off.

"Jess."

She looked down at me. "Could you tell my stubborn husband that ignoring his wife is a no-nookie offense?"

"Honey, you're ..." I couldn't finish the sentence. She didn't know she was a wandering spirit.

Patrick reached over and grabbed my shoulders. "Please," he said in a broken voice. "Do not tell me you see my wife. She is not dead."