"What?" Russell gave him an incredulous look.
"What year is it?" Zoltan asked him.
"Nineteen seventy-one." Russell's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Why do you ask?"
"Lad, there's no easy way to tell you this," Angus said. "Ye've been in a coma for thirty-nine years."
Russell flinched. "Thirty-nine?"
"Aye." Angus nodded. "Ye'll find that the world has changed quite a bit."
Russell looked askance at him and Robby. "Men are wearing skirts now?"
The Scotsmen stiffened while the others in the room snickered.
"This is a kilt," Robby announced.
"Aye," Angus added. "'Tis a fine, manly tradition amongst the Scots."
"Right." Russell turned to Caitlyn and smiled. "And what's your name?"
"She's my wife," Carlos growled.
Angus chuckled. "And some things havena changed at all."
"Look, whoever you guys are - Agh!" Russell doubled over, holding his stomach. "Damn."
"'Tis the hunger." Angus accepted a bottle of synthetic blood from Mikhail, then offered it to Russell. "Here. Ye need to drink this."
Russell lifted the bottle to his nose. "Blood?" He threw the bottle aside and it smashed into a rock wall.
"Lad, ye need blood." Angus extended a hand so Mikhail could pass him another bottle.
"You're crazy!" Russell shouted. "I'm not drinking - Agh!" He slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Those are yer fangs coming in," Angus told him.
Russell's eyes widened with horror.
"I know it is hard to believe," Angus said softly. "Ye were attacked by a vampire thirty-nine years ago. He put you into a vampire coma and abandoned you here. We revived you, but yer life will be different from now on. Ye'll have extraordinary strength and speed. Yer senses will be extra sharp. Even now ye can see amazingly well in this dark cave, can ye no'?"
Russell nodded, his hand still covering his mouth.
"Ye can hear our heartbeats," Angus continued. "Ye can smell the blood running down the wall over there. And it smells good to you, does it no'?"
Russell nodded. He opened his mouth and felt his elongated fangs. "Is this for real?"
"Aye, ye're a vampire." Angus passed him another bottle of blood. "The pain in yer belly will go away if ye drink."
Russell took the bottle and gave it a dubious look. "A vampire? I didn't think they existed." He winced and rubbed his stomach. "Aren't vampires evil?"
"Do ye feel evil?" Robby asked.
Russell shook his head. "I feel the same."
"Exactly." Angus patted him on the shoulder. "Death canna change yer true nature. Now, drink."
Russell took a sip from the bottle and grimaced. "It's cold."
"Do you see a microwave around here?" Zoltan asked dryly.
"A what?" Russell took another sip.
Zoltan chuckled. "Why don't you come stay at my house for a while? Robby and I can show you how to be a proper vampire."
"You guys are vampires, too?" Russell drank more blood.
"Aye," Robby said. "We're the good Vamps."
"Cool." Russell drank more blood. "This actually tastes good." He downed the rest of the bottle.
Angus introduced everyone, then Zoltan and Robby teleported back to Budapest, taking the new Vamp with them.
"I will leave for Tokyo now." Kyo bowed. "And I will begin investigation of Master Han." He teleported away.
Angus turned to Carlos. "And what about you two? Do ye want to hitch a ride to Moscow?"
"We need to go back to the village," Carlos said. "Our stuff is there, and our guide left a car nearby. We'll leave in the morning and head east of Chiang Mai. We've heard there's a group of panthers close to Laos."
"Verra well," Angus said. "Keep in touch." He and Mikhail teleported them back to the Akha village, then went on to Moscow.
The next morning, Carlos and Caitlyn wished everyone farewell in the Akha village, then hiked back to the main road where Tanit had left the rental car. A few times, Carlos heard a twig snap in the jungle. He suspected one of the tigers had come to see them off.
They reached the main road, and he dropped his backpack on the trunk of the car so he could fish out the second set of keys.
Caitlyn leaned against the car and sighed. "I am so looking forward to a real hotel room with a real toilet and a real bathtub."
Carlos straightened suddenly and sniffed the air. Sweat and tobacco. There were mortals close by. He glanced across the road at the dense jungle and spotted the glint of a rifle barrel. He considered handing Caitlyn the car keys and urging her to drive away, but what if the car had been tampered with?
"Catalina," he whispered. "Go back to the trail, then run to the village."
Her eyes widened. "Why?"
"We've walked into a trap."
Chapter Twenty-six
Caitlyn stiffened just as gunshots were fired behind them.
Carlos pulled her down, using the car as a shield. He glanced over his shoulder. "I've been shot. Some kind of dart."
She yanked it out. "What is this?"
"Tranquilizer." He drew his pistol. "When I start shooting, run for the trail. Don't stop. Don't look back."
A chill skittered down her spine. "I'm not leaving you."
"Hurry!" a voice yelled behind them. "Get him!"
The shout had been in Thai, Caitlyn realized. And it sounded like the professor, Pat, from Chula. She eased up a few inches to peer through the car windows.
Ten men armed with rifles charged from the jungle. One of them was the professor. An old army truck crashed through the underbrush onto the road, and three more armed men jumped out.
"Run!" Carlos yelled at Caitlyn, then aimed his weapon over the car trunk. With rapid fire he took down four armed men before the others began shooting back.
"Careful!" Pat shouted. "We have to take him alive!"
Carlos ducked down and glared at Caitlyn. "I told you to run."
She shook her head and pulled the knife from her belt. Her hand was trembling, so she gripped the handle harder.
Three armed men came around the end of the car. Carlos shot the first one, and the other two leaped back out of range."Look at his arm," Caitlyn whispered. The dead man had the same tattoo as Tanit and the professor.
Gunfire rang out, and she jerked at the sudden pain in her rump.
Carlos winced, then rose to his knees. "They shot darts under the car." He pulled darts from her bottom.
She yanked three darts from his rump. He suddenly pushed her head down and fired his weapon. She glanced toward the hood of the car and saw another man fall. How many were left now? Seven? She and Carlos were still badly outnumbered.
More shots were fired, and Carlos jerked. She gasped at the sight of five more darts in his back. One of the thugs had rounded the end of the car while Carlos was busy killing the one by the front.
"Stop that!" She threw her knife.
It hit the man in his gut and he fell back.
"Bitch." He pulled a gun. "We don't need you alive."
"No!" Carlos threw himself in front of Caitlyn just as the shots were fired.
Caitlyn screamed as his body jerked with the impact of real bullets.
"Dammit!" Pat ran toward them. "I told you we needed him alive!"
The man writhed in pain, his hands gripping the knife in his gut. "I was aiming at the bitch. She deserves to die."
"You deserve to die. You failed the Master." Pat drew a weapon and shot the man in the head.
Caitlyn gasped and held onto Carlos tight. Blood oozed from two bullet holes in his chest. His breathing was shallow, but she wasn't sure if it was because he was dying or just tranquilized.
Pat and the remaining five men fanned out, their rifles aimed at her.
"Hurry, load them into the truck," Pat ordered. "Maybe we can still save him."
The men advanced toward her.
"No!" She pulled a knife from Carlos's belt.
Gunshots rang out as they sprayed her with a dozen tranquilizer darts.
With a huge roar, a tiger sprang from the jungle and leaped on the nearest man. Lethal claws ripped the screaming man apart.
Caitlyn pulled darts out of her arms, but she couldn't reach those that had hit her on the back. Her sight blurred as she watched the tiger attack another man. Her ears rang with the din of multiple gunshots, all aimed at the tiger.
"No," she moaned as the tiger slumped onto the ground, drugged by too many darts.
The tiger shimmered, then shifted into human form.
"Rajiv," she whispered.
The men gasped, then shouted with victory.
"Another cat shifter!" Pat exclaimed. "The Master will be pleased."
Dots swirled before her eyes and their voices sounded very far away.
"Load them up," Pat ordered.
She collapsed on top of Carlos as everything went black.
Caitlyn slowly came to, her mind in a fuzzy haze. Memories of the ambush flitted through her head, and she sat up with a gasp. Where was she? A single lightbulb on the ceiling dimly illuminated the small room. The one window had been boarded up from the outside. There was a table against a wall. She was sitting on a hard pallet covered with a white sheet.
Her heart lurched. Where was Carlos?
A noise across the room made her jump. She peered into the dark corner.
"Miss Cait?" Rajiv pulled some of the white sheet covering his pallet into his lap to cover his nudity. "I apologize for my appearance."
"It's not your fault," she answered in his language. "I'm sorry you were dragged into this."
He shrugged his broad shoulders. "I was considering leaving my tribe, so I could experience the world and have interesting adventures. I thought I might find that with you and Carlos. I suppose I have."
She winced, hoping his search for adventure didn't get him killed. "Do you know what happened to Carlos?"
"No. I just woke up a few minutes ago, and he was gone. Who are those people?"
"They're working for a chiang-shih called Master Han."
"A chiang-shih?" Rajiv repeated. "I didn't know they were real."
"Apparently, they didn't know until recently that cat shifters are real." She stiffened when she heard the metallic scrape of a bolt sliding and a lock being turned.
The door cracked open and the muzzle of a rifle appeared. Rajiv growled and started to shimmer.
"Don't even think about shifting." A man swung the door farther open and shot tranquilizer darts into Rajiv. When Rajiv started pulling them out, the man drew a handgun from a holster. "Stop it. This one has real bullets."
Rajiv glared at him, then slowly slumped to the side. Two men hauled him from the room.
Meanwhile, the man pointed his gun at Caitlyn. "Don't move."
Her heart raced. "What have you done with Carlos?"
The man looked surprised. "You speak Thai?" He glanced out the door. "They're bringing your husband now."
Two men entered the room, carrying Carlos. She winced at the sight of his blood-soaked chest. They shuffled over to where she sat and dumped him on the pallet.
"Careful," she muttered.
"Why bother?" The man with the gun smirked. "The bastard is dead."
She flinched.
"That's enough, Sawat." The professor, Pat, entered the room. "Carlos's death is a tragedy."
The man with the gun scoffed. "He deserved to die. He killed a lot of our men."
"They died in the service of our Master," Pat argued. He turned to Caitlyn with an annoyed look. "You neglected to tell us you spoke Thai. We removed the bullets and tried to save your husband. We were too late."
Tears filled her eyes. She knew Carlos should revive in a few hours, but it still grieved her to think how much he had suffered. She brushed the hair back from his pale face, and a tear ran down her cheek. "Why are you doing this? Carlos considered you a friend."
"Master Han is in need of a powerful cat," Pat explained. "Once I realized cat shifters might truly exist, I knew they would be the most powerful cats in the world. I thought Carlos could lead us to a cat shifter. It didn't occur to me that he was one until Tanit told me."
Caitlyn sniffed as more tears streamed down her face. "Tanit is dead. We left him in the Temple of Death."
Pat inclined his head. "It is an honor to die in service to the Master."
She snorted. Then that was an honor she wished on the professor and the rest of his crew. "What are you doing to Rajiv?"
"We need him alive, so he will not be harmed. We are fitting a silver collar around his neck. I believe that will keep him from shifting. If not, we will have to keep him tranquilized until we can bring him to the Master."
"What will the Master do to him?"
"The real question is what will the cat shifter do to the Master?" Pat headed out the door, then paused. "We must keep you locked up until this evening. I may be able to release you at that time, but I do not know. The decision will not be mine."
She swallowed hard. "Who makes the decision?"
"Guardians of higher rank than I. I am merely a mortal, but they are chiang-shih. They will awaken in a few hours."
Pat and Sawat left the room, and she heard the scrape of a bolt sliding into place.