I'm so sorry that it's taken me so long to get this out and that it's so short. I'm writing my stories as the ideas come to me. Unfortunately, at the moment, there's not a lot coming to me. I don't want to write just for the sake of doing it, it comes out forced that way. So, I will write as it comes to me but I can't say how often that will be. I'll do it as soon as I can, though!!

Thanks for sticking with me!

Susanne

CHAPTER THREE

Feeling like he'd aged a hundred years, Derek gained his feet and headed off toward the pier. There was something he'd been avoiding but he was going to have to deal with it, right now. As the San Francisco Precept climbed onto the wooden pier and headed for the vehicle, Alex knelt down beside the blood droplets. Carefully, she took a sample of the blood stain. The scientist in her wanted to make absolutely sure that this had come from, that would require running the DNA against the Legacy data base. Sighing as she stood up, Alex hurried to catch up with Rachel as both women left the ferry.

OOOOO

"What are you talking about?" Dean demanded. He and Sam had made their way to the now familiar kitchen for breakfast. Neither of them was feeling particularly spry but their bodies had insisted they eat. Then they found Alex and Derek standing around the kitchen island, cups of coffee in their hands. What Derek had told them made Dean suddenly not so hungry.

"Nick didn't make it across the Sound this morning. Alex found the GPS coordinates of his cell phone and we're searching the area. So far, though, we've found nothing," Derek admitted. He was only partially in the present. Most of his mind was running over the images he'd seen after touching Nick's blood.

"Why didn't you wake us up?" Sam demanded. The earlier lethargy had vanished, along with his appetite. There weren't that many people in the world that Sam had a real connection to but Nick Boyle was one of them. If there was something he could do to help the older man, he was going to do it.

"You needed the sleep," Rachel said as she entered the room. It was hard to not hear the raised voices even from the foyer. "There wasn't anything you could do anyway."

"That's not the point. Where's my car?" Dean asked. He had no idea where to start but sitting around the kitchen wasn't going to help matters either.

"I'm not sure," Derek responded. "I think Bobby had it hauled back to his salvage yard."

"Yep," Bobby said as he walked into the room. From the tense expressions on the Winchesters' faces, something bad had happened.

"Nick has a car, right?" Sam asked. The fact that Dean's car was at Bobby's Salvage yard was a problem. There was a lot of equipment in the back of that car, stuff that would come in handy at the moment.

"Where would you start looking?" Derek wondered. He knew the two men were concerned for Nick. Hell, he was concerned for his security chief. But going off half cocked wasn't going to help anyone, least of all Nick.

"You've searched the GPS coordinates with no luck. We will start on the mainland," Dean responded. He was all ready coming up with a list of supplies that they were going to need. He only hoped that Derek was willing to supply the things they needed. If they had to go looking for stuff, it would slow them down considerably.

"The mainland is a pretty big area," Derek said. "Do you have any idea how to narrow down the possibilities?"

"Nick isn't your average citizen. He knows what's out there. He knows what to look for. That means whoever or whatever it was took him by surprise. That should narrow it down a little, right?" Sam said, almost pleading. There had to be a way to find Nick. Brushing wayward chestnut hair out of his eyes, he looked around the room at the two people he trusted most, Dean and Bobby, hoping desperately that they would come up with an answer.

"Sure, kid," Bobby said, trying to give the youngest Winchester a reassuring look. The old hunter wasn't sure he was entirely successful. This was like looking for a needle in a stack of needles. He heaved a huge sigh as he glanced over at Derek. Things weren't looking good at the moment.

Silently, Alex left the room. The despair in the room was oppressive. Slipping the sample out of her pocket, the dark haired Legacy member headed for the lab area.

OOOOO

"I think I found something," Alex announced as she stepped into the kitchen. Despite Sam and Dean's need to head out immediately, the arrival of Andrew and Jacob had prevented that. Derek was getting tired of telling the same bad news over and over again but it seemed to be his lot in life today. The new arrivals were standing by the kitchen island, cups of coffee in both their hands. Thanks to recent events, neither of them were feeling particularly spry today either. The coffee seemed to be helping though.

"What?" Dean demanded. He was chomping at the bit to get going. There was one thing Dean Winchester didn't do well, that was sitting still. The only thing that was keeping him here at the moment was the fact that Sam still looked pretty pale.

"I took a sample of the blood on the ferry. It's definitely Nick's DNA but it was mixed with something," Alex stated as she passed out the results she'd found. Automatically all of the people in the room took a copy but from the look on Dean's face, not all of them understood what they were looking at.

"Well?" Dean grumbled in impatience.

"There was saliva in the sample. While there wasn't enough for a complete DNA profile, I did find out one thing. We're dealing with vampires," Alex said. Well, it was someplace to start anyway.

OOOOO

The world came back slowly. Nick wasn't entirely sure he wanted to go to the light because he knew pain was waiting for him there. The only problem was that the only chance he had of saving himself resided in the light. Steeling himself, Nick pried his grey eyes opened.

It was rather anticlimactic. All Nick found was a pale stone wall reaching up into darkness. For whatever reason, his eyes were still not quite focusing properly. Looking down his body, Nick found that his jeans had been pulled up again but there was a cold, stiff spot where the blood from his leg had seeped through the material. His body was still aching and complaining but he was able to push the noise to the back of his mind. Now that he was lying down, he found that his neck didn't even hurt quite as badly. If only it wasn't so damned cold in this place.

Shifting his head to the side, Nick saw that the fire was still burning in the fireplace. Then realization hit him. He was hypovolemic. Of course he was cold. Pulling against his restraints, Nick found that they were still as tight. A stick in his right side stopped him short. Apparently his old injuries weren't as old as he'd hoped. Sucking breath between his teeth, Nick tried again to look around.

The light from the fire place didn't illuminate the area very well but Nick realized he all ready had the lay of the land. He was in a small stone walled room, very similar to a dungeon. Somehow that knowledge didn't bring him much comfort. As hard as Nick tried to stop it, his eyes kept trying to close on him.

"So," a quiet voice asked from somewhere beyond Nick's feet. "How are you feeling?"

Tracking his eyes toward his feet, Nick's blood ran cold. Even in the dim light he recognized the slight blond man standing in the entrance. No! Not again!! screamed in Nick's mind. It was Marcus.