Van

Hailey limped through the doorway. Red splotches blemished her blonde hair and cheeks, and the tight black t-shirt she wore was torn down the middle, exposing a lacy bra and impressive abs. She held a gun aloft and did an efficient sweep of the hallway before lowering it and nodding to Van.

"Any chance it's a coincidence this attack happened the night you woke up?"

Van sagged against the wall in relief. She wasn't sure she had another round in her, and Paula needed almost as much protection as Van did. Hailey could get them to safety.

"My mother used to say there was no such thing as coincidences," Paula muttered, giving Van her arm for assistance. "Hailey, let me look at that leg."

"No need," the girl replied, wiping at her face and leaving a pink smear behind. "I twisted it when a big vamp pushed me down the stairs, but that's my only injury. None of this blood is mine. I don't want any efforts wasted on something so small."

"I'm glad you're okay," Van said, biting back a squeal when Hailey scooped her up in a hug.

"That's what I should be saying to you." Tears turned her blue eyes watery. "I really didn't think you were going to come out of it."

Paula nudged Van. "As sweet as this reunion is, we should be moving. It's not safe."

Hailey palmed her forehead and then pressed a finger against her ear. "East Hallway is secure. Phoenix has been located as well."

"Phoenix?" Van scoffed.

"Sorry, I should've told you both first thing. All areas are secure. Paula, the Commander wants all healers in the med bay. I'll take Van from here."

Paula didn't argue or question the Slayer's ability to look after her patient, which said a lot about Hailey. The duality of her friend's personality constantly amazed Van. Sultry, angel-faced teenager and kick ass warrior woman- Hailey was a force of a nature, but what Van admired most about the girl was her openness. She had tossed aside years of programming when faced with the truth, and Van trusted someone willing to question orders more than a blind follower.

"Where are we going?"

"Mom calls it the Command Center, but it's really just the dining room," Hailey answered.

Hailey hooked her arm around Van's waist for support, but after a few steps, she wondered if Hailey needed the support more than she did. Perhaps her ankle was the only injury she sustained, but from the way the Slayer dragged it, something broke during the fall.

"Is everyone okay"

"Xandra and Walker are fine. I saw her arguing with him before I found you. Apparently, he wasn't enthusiastic about being forced to go with the other kids."

She chuckled. There were times Walker made her look mild tempered. But she cut the laughter short when Hailey didn't continue.

"What about the others?" What about Luca?

Hailey inhaled deeply, then winced as she stepped wrong. Clearing her throat, she explained, "We'll get a full report in the Command Center. I'm sure he's fine. Luca is always fine."

Telling herself Hailey was being evasive because she truly didn't know and not because she was hiding something helped ease some of Van's worry. Not that she wasn't concerned for the others at the Chateau- she wasn't that callous, but it broke her to think her last interaction with Luca had been fraught with tension. He'd sat by her side for weeks, and then for that moment to be their last-

No. She shook her head, drawing side-eye from Hailey. You can't think like that. He's fine.

"Hailey, are you okay?"

Nancy hurried toward them as they walked into the dining room, her wide eyes betraying the even tone of the question. As the Commander of the Deltas, motherly panic didn't have a place in public, but her inability to completely smother her emotions made her a moral leader. Unlike the Supreme, she wasn't a well-oiled machine. Her humanity burned through her polish.

"I'm fine. Just twisted my ankle."

The Commander blinked and visibly relaxed. At least until she saw Van. "What is she doing here?"

"Excuse me?" Van snapped.

Hailey hissed in her ear. "I might have been told to send you with Walker. My bad."

Nancy touched Van's elbow and tried to steer her to the exit. "Van, I really think you need to be resting. Let someone help you-"

Jerking away, she bared her teeth at the older woman. A warm tingle blossomed in her fingers, and she desperately hoped she hadn't sprouted another tree branch. "Will all due respect, I feel perfectly capable of staying upright at the moment, and I think I've missed out on way too much during my naptime."

Someone snorted to her left. Only one person could make a sound like that and still come across as dainty and feminine. Looking away from Nancy, Van found Livy reclining against the wall, her eyes twinkling as she watched the exchange. The weeks had been good to the girl, returning some of her curves, and she wore her hair in soft curls rather than a perfectly coiffed bob.

Livy winked and threw up a peace sign. Her pink lips mouthed something, but Van no longer paid her any attention. Her gaze locked on the boy at Livy's side. A jagged scratch ran from his temple to his chin, and the sweater he sported was three sizes too small- and possibly belonged to a girl. But he was okay. Luca was okay.

He stared at her hungrily, his relief mirroring her own, and she knew they were okay. Whatever had passed between them earlier would come up again, but for now, they were both equally glad to have survived the attack on the Chateau. Now, Van wanted answers.

Nancy, either unwilling to fight with Van in front of an audience or uncaring, returned to the head of the long, ornate table taking up most of the large room. It was a cherry red monstrosity she could easily imagine her father sitting at while servants hovered nearby. In the center, a sheet covered a human sized shape, and there was no mistaking the spreading red stain.

Someone entered the room and shut the door. Looking over her shoulder, she saw her mother turning the lock and then nodding at Nancy. Spying Van, Xandra frowned but remained silent. Van looked around the room, surprised by how small the inner circle was. She remembered the witch, Luce, and the bear shifter, Scott. Nancy. Xandra. Luca. Livy. Hailey. Bane, of all people. A man who looked very much like Luca and kept glancing at Van, a small smile teasing his lips. Four others rounded out the crew, but they were not faces she recognized.

"Tonight's attack is confirmation of what we have feared," Nancy said, scanning the crowd gathered before her. Everyone but Van appeared to know exactly what their leader meant, judging by the grim expressions her words conjured. Thankfully, she continued.

"The night Abe Helsing was captured, we suspected there were enemies who had access to the house when the bodies of two Slayers, Dean Kingston and Isaiah Abott, were removed from the basement without our knowledge. We didn't want to think someone was actively spying. The Deltas are a group that has grown its ranks using great caution, hand-picking each member only after intense interviews and tests. However, that changed when we took down the Supreme. To win, we need more allies, but larger numbers come with additional weaknesses. In the last few weeks, our numbers have swelled with people we barely know."

She spared a hard look at Bane. The shifter didn't flinch, instead offering her a smolder that made Hailey shift uncomfortably at Van's side. There was something going on there. Something more than the distrust of a stranger, but this wasn't the best time for idle curiosity.

Nancy tugged on the corner of the sheet and revealed the individual. Mutters spread across the room like wildfire, but Van said nothing as she stepped closer, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. Then, she saw it. The second Slayer in the chapel that night. A shaking hand went to her temple as she tried to recall the events of that night, but the harder she pressed, the fuzzier things became. And slowly, the void flickered in her mind, making her ache at its vivid memory.

"Van," Luca said, his arm going around her and tugging her away from the body. "Are you okay?"

Blinking rapidly, she glimpsed herself in Luca's eyes. Pale face and blinding bright eyes reflected at her from his pupil's, but as she calmed, the gleam faded.

"I'm fine. Why does he have fangs?" she asked, her gaze snagging on the strange detail before Nancy covered him up again.

"Because whoever took him from the house likely turned him, which means our spy is more dangerous than we thought," Xandra fumed. She ran a hand through her long copper hair. "It was bad enough to think our spy was from the Holy Asylum, but this means someone is feeding information to the vampires. Someone had to tell them Van was awake."

"Why would the vampires care if I was awake?"

Luce chimed in. "I doubt it was so much about you as about the opportunity for a distraction."

No one looked like they believed the witch, but no one argued either. Livy chewed on a thumbnail and spoke up. "Why would the vamps be against us? Enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"

Nancy sneered. "The vamps have no friends. They have to know if we bring down the Holy Asylum, we will still hunt their kind. They're true abominations."

Everyone started talking at once. Nancy's words didn't settle well. It was true the vampires took a very dark road to achieve power and immortality, but people changed. There had to be some out there who regretted what they'd done and tried to do differently. Hunting an entire people group to extinction simply because of what they were as a whole and not who they were as individuals would make them no better than Slayers.

"You're humanizing them," Bane whispered. "I can see what you're thinking, and it won't go over well. I don't agree with most of what happens in this room, but I agree with that point. There aren't any good vamps."

He pushed off the wall and walked out of the room. Two sets of eyes followed him, one brown and one blue, and once again, Van felt there was a story she was missing.

"Van," Luca said, pulling her into a corner. "Speaking of vamps, we have a problem."

"Bigger than the one we already have?" she asked, hooking her thumb over her shoulder.

He sighed and rubbed his jaw. "They're related."

"Well, spit it out."

"They took Dean and Isaiah that night."

Just thinking of Isaiah made her skin crawl. "And?"

"And, if they turned Dean, there is a very good chance they turned Isaiah too."