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Ferro felt her hesitation. She turned to him alone. We will need to be under some kind of shelter where we cannot get out. Josef will try to reach a gate or entryway just the way all of those that have been infected will try. Gary included. I have no way of knowing how hard any of them will fight to reach their goal. I can only surmise that the deeper the hook in the brain, the more they will try to open the compound for the vampire and his army to enter. You can put him to sleep, but there are so many others, and we may not know all of them.

She gave Ferro the information as if she knew he would know exactly what to do. He relayed the supposition to Tariq. We need to set up our warriors at every entrance to stop anyone who might try to open those accesses to the vampire, he concluded. Anyone with deep burns, like Danny, Amelia and Josef, needs to be locked away or put to sleep until we can see if they need to be controlled. That includes any of the humans in the security force that Gary feels were particularly heavily burned.

Take Elisabeta and Josef to the house Dragomir and Emeline shared. We can safeguard it so Josef can’t leave. Hurry, though, Ferro. The illusion Julija wrought was extremely good. Already I can feel an unease in the night creatures. The stone dragons in the courtyard are beginning to rumble, their bellies glowing with fiery coals in preparation to fight the vampire. That only happens when the vampire draws close, Tariq said.

It wasn’t difficult to scoop Elisabeta’s body into his arms while Traian took Josef. They hurried with their charges across the courtyard to the house Dragomir and Emeline had lived in until their daughter had been born. To Ferro’s surprise, Lojos paced along behind them. Trailing after him was Joie, Traian’s lifemate. She looked very small, someone others might overlook, but there was something about her, and Ferro had been too long in the world to be fooled. The woman was lethal, and if Lojos was a threat to any of them, there was no doubt in his mind that the Carpathian hunter would be dead before he could carry out that threat.

Tariq and Charlotte went with Danny and Amelia to the safe room, where they were locked in. Genevieve took Lourdes and Bella to a second safe room and again, they were locked in. The older couple, Mary and Donald, followed suit.

Tariq was the ultimate general sending his best warriors to the gates to prevent anyone from opening them from within. Isai and Julija stayed at the main gates to defend them. Together they held extreme power. Warriors spread out. Security guards were placed in defensible positions.

He is coming, Elisabeta announced. Her calm was gone. She pulled abruptly out of Josef’s mind. She staggered and threw back her hand to catch herself before she went down. Ferro caught her around the waist, holding her upright.

I am sorry, Ferro, I cannot do this while he is close. I cannot concentrate. I am leaving this poor boy in a terrible state and it is not right, but I cannot . . .

Terror was building beyond anything he had ever experienced with her. It filled the room so there was no way to shield the others from what she was feeling. Her body shivered continuously, her hands rubbing up and down her arms as if trying to peel the skin from her body. Ferro very gently stopped the movement with his hands.

Josef will feel nothing. I have made certain of that. He is frozen until the time you are able to heal him.