His body burned for her, while her body relaxed even further as she drifted asleep. Darian didn't let her go even then, instead soothing her mind enough for her to sleep in peace.

The muffled ring of his new phone woke him just as dawn's light crept through the window. Jenn was asleep, curled against him. Darian withdrew from her and the room, trotting down the stairs to hunt down the phone.

He reached it as it ceased ringing.

Yully flashed across the screen, identifying who called.

Darian called her back.

"Darian!" she sounded panicked. "I can't find anyone! Bianca, Sofi-"

"Wait, what's wrong?" he asked.

Yully responded, her thick Irish lilt and the poor phone reception frustrating him.

"I'll be there in a minute," he said and snapped the phone closed. Darian started towards the stairwell then stopped, not wanting to disturb Jenn after their long night.

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He'd go, grab Yully, and come back, he decided. He closed his eyes to Travel, opening them in the living area of Damian's Texas ranch.

"Darian!" Yully cried from the second floor, where she all but hung over the railing. "They're gone!"

"Yully, gods, can't you tell me what's going on?" he demanded, bounding up the stairs. Yully flew down the hall ahead of him, and he ran to catch up with her, not convinced she hadn't lost it.

"Gone!" she said, throwing open Bianca's door. She raced to the next one. "Gone!"

Darian peeked into one bedroom then the other, a sense of doom sinking into his stomach. His senses picked up more Watcher and Other activity than normal this morning. The house, however, was the opposite. He heard nothing aside from Yully's quick step down the hall to yet another door.

"Charles!" she shouted and opened another door. "Oh. He's here, but … no one else is, Darian."

"You're sure they didn't go out for breakfast?" he asked uneasily, joining her at Charles' door.

Charles was half dressed, wearing sweats only. Darian stared at him. The former vamp's baleful look remained, but his eyes were blue, not red.

"They don't go out for breakfast," Yully said. "All the vehicles are here. But none of the Guardians are."

"That makes no sense. They can't just disappear." Darian moved into the center of the hallway, gazing around.

"Maybe the Others got fed up with you hauling off their people," Charles replied. "You know, girl, not every vamp wants to be human."




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