Derek stared Raul down for a long minute. "Last time we met...I wound up having to kill your best friend." I was shocked. Yeah, Chloe had told me about Raul and Liam. That Derek had accidentally broke Liam's neck. But to just say it like that? As a taunt?

Raul laughed. "Best friend?" he asked with a scoff. "Liam was just one of my business partners. Maybe a buddy, at the most." Okay. Now I understood. This guy was a total asshole.

"And you carted him away after telling me that you gave up." Derek countered. Raul nodded.

"Yeah. I know. And I'm truly sorry for this." He smiled. A particularly creepy smile. "But Edison Group put out some feelers. For a tracker. And I guess Margaret told them about me. Either way...here I am. All healed up. And with a secret weapon."

Derek seemed to think the same way that I did, because just then he asked, "Then why did you say 'Victoria Enright'?"

Raul looked confused. "Why do you assume that I'm after you?" He looked to his friend. "I never said that, did I?" He looked back to Derek with that creepy smile. "True, you were my rival before. And still are, since you'll be the one fighting me. But I'm here for the girl." He looked to me. "You are Victoria Enright, correct?"

I didn't answer.

He turned to Derek again. "You know...the last time I saw you, you had a different girlfriend." He examined me and nodded. "Liam...he used to like 'em young, so he'd probably disagree with me, but I think you traded up." He walked closer, while Derek growled and put out a hand to touch me. Derek snarled and Raul laughed. "Hmmmm...And I was sure that the little blonde was your mate. Must just be a pack member."

I was bewildered. Confused. But I wasn't going to ask what was going on. It was tense. "Get out of here." Derek grumbled. Raul just shook his head, a sad smile on his lips, like he didn't want to do what he was about to do. But he had to.

"Some real important doctors want your mate. And I was paid to get her." he said. Derek snarled. Mate? He thinks that I am Derek's mate?

"I'm his friend." I said angrily.

"Hmmm." Raul started. "I guess that could be true. But back in my day, we didn't argue like that with our friends. Sounded like a lover's quarrel to me." I harumphed and tapped a foot.

"See, my friend here is an astral projector. He was checking you guys out for a while before he popped us on over here." Raul told us. I didn't know that astral projectors could project their bodies too. Especially didn't know they could project other people with them. Apparantly, neither did Derek.

"Oh!" Raul exclaimed, looking to the guy. "Toby here, is also an Edison group experiment. His powers were enhanced. He can project others as long as he has the materials...Which I heard is what happened to you." he told Derek. "And this one." he said, touching my hair. "And the little blonde too."

"Then why would they only send you two?" I asked. It didn't make sense.

Raul looked to his friend again. "Oh...did I ever say that it was just us two?"

I panicked. The others were probably at the hotel. I closed my eyes and hit Raul with the fatal spell that I'd seen my mom cast at the guard back at Edison Group's lab. It hit him and he screamed. I opened my eyes to see him on the ground, smoke billowing from him. I could hear the sizzling off his chest hair burning and the stench. He wasn't moving.

"He's dead. Let's go." Derek said quickly, grabbing my arm. I looked up to find that Toby was already gone.

We took off for the hotel, but I guess I wasn't going fast enough, because Derek picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder and sprinting even faster toward hotel. We got there in seconds and even I could hear the rucus inside.

Derek set me down on the ground and nudged me toward my room. "Go! Keep them safe." I ran to my room, throwing the door open and going in. The room was completely dark and quiet. I crossed the room and flipped the switch. Empty. I ran into the bathroom. Empty.

I ran back out of the room, into the yard and onto the patio of Derek/Simon/Kit's room. I went straight in and froze. Lauren and Chloe were knocked out, lying on one bed with their hands tied behind their backs. Kit and Simon were backed into a corner sending spells back and forth with two other sorcerers.

Toby was standing at the door as if he didn't actually do any of the fighting. Two men were standing in front of Derek, all poised for a fight. I sent out a binding spell.

Not to anyone specifically, but almost immediately, the room fell silent. I looked around. EVERYONE was unable to move. I kept concentrating, trying to only unfreeze Kit. He let out a deep breath and put his arms down. "Let's tie 'em up. Quick!" So we scrambled around the room, tearing the blankets and sheets into strips and binding them as tight as we could. Not just their wrists and ankles, but we also bound their arms to their bodies and their legs were bound together.

We did Toby first, because as soon as my spell broke, he'd project. He could probably project without using his hands, but I didn't think he could do the ritual or whatever, to take others, without his arms.

The spell broke as we were tying the second sorcerer. The two men that had been facing Derek, came out of it and immediately started for the door. Derek clotheslined one and tripped the other. Kit held one in a spell while Derek held the other down and I tied him. Then we tied the last one.

I stood over Chloe, patting a wet washcloth over her forehead. "Wake up! We gotta go."