He took a sip of blood and approached her. “I heard you were upset.”
She scoffed. “That’s putting it mildly. You didn’t tell me you would be dead.”
“I said I slept like I was dead.”
“It wasn’t like death. It was death. You should have warned me.”
He took another sip. “I tried to tell you twice. Once here and again in the tub.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” She stood. “I asked you about it at the nightclub, and you said it was just a sleep. You lied to me!”
He winced. “Abby, we’re totally vulnerable in our death-sleep. And I have thousands of Vamps depending on me to keep them safe. There was no way I could let the government know how easy we are to kill during the day.”
“I’m not the government.”
“You work for them.”
She flinched. “You don’t trust me.”
He paused.
Anger flared inside her. “You don’t trust me!”
Someone cleared his throat, and she glanced to the side. J.L. was standing on the beach with the other three guys.
“Sorry to interrupt, but we’re moving out.” J.L. motioned to the west. “When we spot the village, we’ll give you a call, so you can teleport over.”
Gregori nodded. “All right.”
J.L. and Russell each grabbed hold of a shifter, then they teleported away.
She sat back down on the boulder. “How can you claim to love me if you don’t trust me?”
Gregori stiffened. “It’s not a claim, dammit. It’s the truth. And maybe I didn’t trust you very much at the nightclub. That was a few days ago before we . . . got closer. I do trust you now.”
He stepped toward her. “I was lying there completely helpless. I would have never fallen into my death-sleep with you next to me if I didn’t know I could trust you.”
Tears misted her eyes. “I hate to think of you dying every day at sunrise.”
“I don’t enjoy it much, either.” He drank more blood. “I’m sorry it upset you.”
She blinked away the tears. “I was terrified. I thought I’d lost you.”
He moved close to her. “Sweetheart, you can’t lose me.”
She swatted at his arm. “I even tried to revive you with CPR.”
“You did mouth-to-mouth on me?” His white teeth flashed in the dark. “I’m sorry I missed it.”
“It’s not funny.”
“I’m not laughing. I’m just deliriously happy that you care so much about me.”
She sighed. “I don’t see how it can work.”
His smile vanished. “What do you mean? We’re doing just fine.”
“I couldn’t do anything this afternoon. I had to wait for you to wake up.” She motioned toward the karsts that she could no longer see in the dark. “I couldn’t even go look at the rocks.”
“I’ll take you there.”
“That’s not the point. I wanted to go, but I wasn’t allowed to. It’s like I traded one set of prison guards for another.”
“Only while we’re here in China. Abby, it’ll be different once we’re home. I would never imprison you. I know how much you value your freedom.”
“Because it’s always been so scarce.”
“You’ll have more freedom with me than you would with a mortal guy. You can do anything during the day, and I can’t stop you. Hell, you could even have an affair during the day, and I wouldn’t know.”
“I wouldn’t do that!”
“Well, that’s good news.” He set his bottle on the boulder next to her and grasped her hands. “Abby, I’ll give you all the freedom and love that I can. We can make this work. Trust me.”
Tears crowded her eyes once more. “I love you, Gregori.”
He pulled her to her feet and into his arms. “I love you, too.”
She held on to him in the moonlight for a long time. He stroked her hair.
“Is there anything else I should know about you?” she asked. “You don’t turn into a fruit bat or something?”
“Well, there is something.”
She leaned back. “What?”
“I love disco.”
She grimaced. “You’re kidding.”
“Is it a deal breaker?”
She smiled. “It’s close.” She nestled her head against his chest. She loved him, and he loved her. Somehow, it would all work out. She needed to trust in their love.
J.L. called to let them know they’d sighted the village. She grabbed a flashlight and a bottle of water, then Gregori teleported her there.
They landed on the crest of a hill overlooking a valley where the village was situated.
J.L. hung up his phone. “No flashlights, please. We don’t want to announce our presence to the villagers.”
“What villagers?” Russell muttered as he scanned the valley. “I see chickens. Cows. No people.”
“Maybe they at church,” Rajiv suggested. “Or party.”
“We would see lights,” Howard grumbled.
“Strange,” J.L. murmured. “Where did all the people go?”
An uneasy feeling crept along Abigail’s skin. She squinted but could barely see the village in the dark. “Is there any smoke coming from chimneys? Any signs of life at all?”
Gregori shook his head. “Nothing.”
“I go look,” Rajiv offered.
“I’ll go with you.” J.L. started downhill with the were-tiger.
The closer they came to the village, the more anxious Abigail became. Something was seriously wrong.
J.L. and Rajiv reached the edge of the village and stopped. J.L. called out in Mandarin Chinese.
No answer.
Rajiv shouted in the Bai language.
No response.
Abigail’s uneasy feeling spiked into alarm. She sprinted down the hill.
“Abby!” Gregori followed her.
She reached the valley and turned on her flashlight. Gregori stopped beside her. She moved the beam of light around. Chickens pecked in the grass. A few cows were gathered in a pen.
They joined J.L. and Rajiv at the edge of the village. The main street was empty. No sound came from any of the buildings. Tables lined the street, covered with fruit and vegetables. A market with no buyers or sellers.
J.L. gave her a worried look. “I’m not sure if it’s safe for us to investigate.”
She aimed her flashlight beam at one of the tables and gasped. The food was rotting.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, stepping back. “Don’t touch anything.”
“You think people sick?” Rajiv pointed at the insects buzzing around the food. “The bugs okay.”
The cows and chickens were all right, too. And she couldn’t detect the odor of decaying bodies, so that was an encouraging sign. “The villagers could still be extremely ill. Or for some reason, they all ran away.”
“And left everything behind?” Gregori asked softly.
She winced. J.L.’s warning about the Demon Herb flitted through her mind. Those who go looking for it are never seen again.
“I could look around,” Rajiv offered. “I would be okay. I have seven more lives.”
She stiffened. “What?”
He grinned. “Were-cats have nine lives. I still have eight more. I be okay.”
Stunned, she watched him head for the first building. “He has nine lives?”
“Eight,” J.L. corrected her. “He lost one, so he’s what you call a level two cat shifter, which means he can shift whenever he likes.”
“Oh. Okay.” She forced her mind to wrap around that strange bit of information. Good Lord, less than a week ago she wouldn’t have believed any of this. Yet here she was in China with vampires and shape shifters, and something seriously bad going down in this village.
“Don’t touch anything,” she reminded Rajiv.
He nodded and kicked the door in. He looked inside.
“What do you see?” J.L. shouted.
“People,” he calle
d back, then stepped inside.
She held her T-shirt over her mouth and nose, waiting for him to return. A feeling of doom settled over her.
Rajiv came out and waved at them. Then he went into the next building, checked it out, and ran back to them.
“They all asleep,” he reported. “They even lay on floors, sleeping.”
“Like a death-sleep?” Gregori asked.
Rajiv shook his head. “No. I poke them with my shoe, and they groan. They still alive. Just sleeping.”
Abigail swallowed hard. She’d come here to discover a way to help her mother. What if she brought back a terrible disease? “Did they look ill? Were they pale or sweaty? Was there any sign of vomiting?”
Rajiv shook his head. “They look fine to me.”
She took a deep breath. “I’ll have to examine them.”
“No,” Gregori said sharply. “You’ll do nothing to risk yourself.”
“They need help,” she insisted.
“We’ll find a way to alert the authorities,” J.L. said. “For now, our top priority is keeping you safe.”
“Let’s go.” Gregori grabbed her and teleported back to the top of the hill.
J.L. and Rajiv materialized beside them.
“Well?” Russell asked.
“They all asleep,” Rajiv said.
She shook her head. “It’s not normal. I’m afraid it’s some kind of disease. And we’ve all been exposed.”
“Did you see anything else that was unusual?” J.L. asked Rajiv.
Rajiv shook his head. “They look fine. But they all have tattoo on arm.” He pointed to the inside of his right wrist. “It was something in Chinese.”
Russell stiffened. “What did it say?”
Rajiv shrugged. “I don’t read Chinese.”
Russell pulled back the jacket on his right wrist. “Did it look like this?”
Abigail shone her flashlight on it.
“Yes!” Rajiv said. “That’s it.”
J.L. sucked in a breath. “It means slave. It marks the people who belong to Master Han.”
Russell yanked his sleeve down. “I don’t belong to the bastard.”
“How did you get the tattoo?” Howard asked.
“How the hell would I know?” Russell growled. “I woke up in a damned cave, Undead with a tattoo on my arm. But if these people are his slaves, then it means I’m close.”
“That’s why you were so quick to volunteer?” Gregori asked. “You’re searching for Master Han?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Russell snapped. “The bastard destroyed my life!”
“I can understand why you want revenge,” Gregori said, “but our first priority here is keeping Abigail safe.”
“Who is this Master Han?” she asked.
“A chiang-shih,” Rajiv answered.
“A vampire,” J.L. clarified. “We’ve run into him before.”
A loud gong sounded in the distance.
“What the hell is that?” Howard grumbled.
“It came from the south.” Gregori pointed. “Past those fields.”
The gong sounded again.
“Look!” Rajiv pointed at the village.
One light after another flared till the whole village was well lit.
Abigail gulped.
The villagers were awake.
Chapter Twenty-five
Gregori reached over to turn off Abigail’s flashlight. “We should get the hell out of here,” he whispered, although like the others, he didn’t move. He was too damned curious about what would happen next.
Villagers poured into the main street, carrying torches. They stood there silently, their faces without expression. Even the children were still and emotionless, and Gregori knew from spending time with Roman’s kids that this was not normal.
“Could be some sort of mass mind control,” J.L. murmured.
“By Master Han,” Russell added.
A third gong sounded.
The villagers turned en masse and marched toward the south. The light of their torches illuminated blank faces and robotic movements.
“I see this on television,” Rajiv whispered. “Zombies.”
Howard snorted. “They’re not going to eat us.”
“You sure?” Rajiv asked. “They not eating food in village.”
Abigail winced. “That’s true.”
“Let’s see where they’re going.” J.L. moved south along the crest of the hill.
Gregori held on to Abigail to help her maneuver in the dark, although he had a secondary motive for keeping a grip on her arm. If the situation turned dangerous, he wanted to be able to teleport her away in an instant.
The villagers came to a field and divided, half walking to the east side of the field, half to the west. They set their torches into poles that lined the field on each side.
The field was vast, row after row of knee-high leafy green plants. The villagers—men, women, and children—spread out among the rows. The adults pulled knives from their belts and cut leaves off the plants. The children gathered up the leaves and dropped them into baskets that were located every ten yards.
“They’re slave labor,” Abigail whispered. “This is terrible.”
“What’s Master Han doing with those leaves?” Russell asked.
Gregori leaned close to Abigail. “Is it the Demon Herb?”
“I can’t tell from here,” Abigail answered. “Can we get closer?”
“I’ll see.” J.L. moved down the hill and stopped behind a pile of rocks. He took a rock the size of a cantaloupe and rolled it into the field.
No reaction. The villagers went about their work. Those close to the rock simply walked around it.
“They remind me of the Borg from Star Trek,” Abigail whispered. “They’re so intent on their work, they don’t notice anything unless it interferes with their mission.”
“I could cut you some leaves,” Rajiv offered.
“Are you crazy?” Howard growled.
“They all cutting leaves,” Rajiv said. “They will think I one of them.”
“Give it a try,” Gregori said, “but be careful.”
Rajiv moved quietly down the hill and joined J.L. behind the pile of rocks. He leaned close to whisper in J.L.’s ear, and J.L. nodded.
The villagers never looked in their direction, just kept working.
Rajiv eased out from behind the rocks, then walked quickly toward the field. He turned into the first row, pulled his knife from his belt, and started cutting leaves.
None of the villagers looked at him.
He dumped a handful of leaves into the nearest basket, then went back to work. He cut off a branch of leaves and slipped it under his shirt.
“Shit,” Gregori whispered.
“What?” Abigail asked.
He pointed at two men with rifles who were walking along the rows toward the north end of the field where Rajiv was working. They reached the end of the field and turned to watch the villagers.
Rajiv glanced over his shoulder at them, then looked at J.L. He bent over and started cutting more leaves.
“I should teleport you out of here,” Gregori whispered.
“Don’t you dare.” Abigail pulled her arm from his grip.
Another gong sounded.
The villagers slipped their knives back into their belts and turned south. They moved quietly down the rows. The men picked up the baskets and carried them.
Rajiv hesitated.
One of the guards shouted at him.
He turned south and moved slowly.
The guard shouted again.
He dropped his leaves in the basket, then picked it up and walked down the row like the other villagers.
J.L. glanced back at the rest of the team on the crest of the hill. He pointed at a thicket of trees to the south and mouthed the word teleport.
Gregori was tempted to whisk Abigail back to base camp, but he knew she’d be furious if he decided what she wasn’t allowed to do, so he teleporte
d her to the spot J.L. had pointed to. Russell materialized with Howard.
They were now at the south end of the field, and from here, Gregori could see the gong. The large brass circle was sitting on a red lacquered table. There were three guards there, and they were busy filling wooden cups with a dark liquid and setting them on the table.
The villagers approached and dumped the contents of their baskets into a large brass bin. Each one was handed a cup. They drank, then turned and went back to work.
“That must be what’s sustaining them,” Abigail whispered. “Instead of food.”
Rajiv was last in line. His eyes widened at the sight of one of the guards, and he ducked his head. He dumped his basketful of leaves into the bin, then accepted the cup.
“Don’t drink the Kool-Aid,” Gregori muttered.
A guard yelled at Rajiv. He turned away, still holding the cup. The guard strode toward him and yanked him around.
The guard stiffened. “You!”
Rajiv glared at him. “Sawat! Why you here? I thought you still in San Francisco, looking for your balls.”
J.L. winced. “We’ve run into Sawat before. I’ll grab Rajiv and we’ll all teleport back to base—”
Russell zoomed down the hill and pointed his rifle at Sawat. “Where is Master Han?”
Another guard grabbed Rajiv and pressed a knife to his neck. The cup tumbled to the ground.
“Dammit.” J.L. teleported behind the guard and smashed the butt of his pistol against his head. As the guard crumpled to the ground, J.L. grabbed hold of Rajiv. “We teleport now!”
“No!” Russell cocked his rifle and yelled at Sawat, “Where is Master Han?”
Sawat shouted something in Chinese. A guard drummed on the gong till the air vibrated with the metallic sound. The villagers turned and drew their knives.
“Master Han, Master Han,” they chanted as they advanced on Russell.
“Holy crap.” Howard raced down the hill and grabbed Russell.
Gregori pulled Abigail close. She was trembling.
“Teleport!” J.L. shouted, then he vanished with Rajiv.
Gregori teleported back to the beach with Abigail. J.L. and Rajiv were there.
“In here.” J.L. rushed inside the cave and lit one of the kerosene lamps.
Gregori led Abby into the cave and winced at how pale and frightened she looked.
“Where’s Russell and Howard?” she asked, then spun toward the cave entrance when the two men strode inside.
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