Derek had gotten into the building earlier that day while it was still open. He was wearing a business suit and touting an appointment to the security men at the front desk that he didn't really have. Along with everything else he had done while upstate, he had received a crash course from Natalia and Ragnar on how to use the psionic abilities he never knew he had. And one gift he possessed was the power of persuasion.

The other two security guards were distracted, sitting down in the back, talking with each other. But the guard standing at the front desk, once Derek held eye contact with him, he convinced him not to call upstairs about his appointment and let him pass to the elevators without signing in.

Once Derek made it past the front desk and got into an elevator, he went to the top floor of the building and then got off. He walked past desk after desk of office personnel that looked like they were ready to leave for the day. Once he found a cleaning staff closet that was unlocked, he ducked inside and locked it behind him.

For the first time in days, Derek could not sense Ragnar's thoughts. The disconnect from the Carpathian's mind was a little disturbing to the Wolf. The Carpathian had taken his blood with permission to keep track of him while he was in the woods on his journey of self-discovery. Ragnar had gone to join him in wolf form from time to time over those few days and fostered a relationship between Derek and the wolf pack. The two had developed an unexpected bond of brotherhood while in wolf form and it made Derek a little antsy to be out of contact with him in his newfound identity. But the Wolf had to do what he had to do to help get Lena back. She was like a sister to him and it would break him to pieces if something happened to her and he had to be the one call Tanya and tell her.

So Derek found himself a place to perch, sat down and waited until the building's personnel left for the day. He also waited to see if he could sense Ragnar's approach.

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The flight into the City had been undertaken by all six of the males in the form of Hawks. They left the sky at the point that the Hunters that had been there the day before knew was the beginning of the spot where that pulse could be felt and heard.

They landed on top of a tall building and Gregori surveyed each of them. "We are just outside of the perimeter. I can already sense what it is you've described to me."

"What is it?" asked Julian almost eagerly.

"It is Mage in nature, yes. But I do not know exactly what it is that has been concocted. There is something I may be able to carry out to counter its effects. It may not give you full protection, but it will give you a fighting chance to ignore what it is trying to hurt or sway your minds," he said as he looked at Armand last.

"Then do it," Andriev said decisively as he stepped forward first. "I'll be your first guinea pig."

Gregori went to Andriev then and began a series of movements and steps around him that looked something like he was erecting a Safeguard, but this one was made to protect a person and not a structure.

Andriev could feel bands of something settling around him like armor. He could still feel Danica in his mind clearly, but the beginning echoes of that building were being blocked out little by little as Gregori worked and chanted words here and there from time to time. It took the ancient hunter five minutes per person, including himself, to cast the Safeguard on all of them.

Armand's mind, out of contact with Lena, was filled with nothing more at that point than seething rage. It was dangerous. Gregori, as a result, made certain to leave Armand's safeguards for last since he did not want him doing something impulsive such as flying off without all of them together.

Half an hour after they'd landed, they were all able to take to the skies again. "Once we penetrate the barrier, you should be able to contact Derek once again," said Gregori to Ragnar. "And we should, those of us who have taken her blood at least once, be able to sense Lena."

Each of them shifted back into the form of a Hawk just before they hit the barrier.

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Derek was sitting in the utility closet, still, when he suddenly got wind of just the edges of Ragnar's thoughts. Having gotten the signal, he cautiously unlocked the closet and snuck out of there and began his search. He had never noticed before Shifting for that first time, but everyone had a distinct scent of their own.

He had an item of Lena's given to him by Natalia before they had left to go downstate and find her. Some of Natalia's scent was on the scarf, but he could detect the undercurrent of Lena in it. He had inhaled heavily and memorized who it was he was looking for.

Crouching low, Derek tried to follow the scent. But for the time being, he could not detect her.

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"What is your name?" Lena asked the one whom she suspected was a half Carpathian.

"Do you need my name to proceed with your demonstration?" he asked. He had already opened his mind to her. Why was she waiting?

She swallowed back nervousness as she shrugged. "Manners," she continued to stall. "Wouldn't it be rude to not ask your name before I touch your mind?"

He smiled grimly. "My name isn't important. However, I appreciate the gesture. Manners are not what they used to be," he inclined his head to her in an almost bowing way.

Lena knew if she didn't do something soon he would get suspicious that she was stalling him. So she decided to go ahead but not get crazy with her first demonstration. So she simply slipped into the very outer layer of his mind since he allowed it. What she found was not what she expected to find.

Off to the side of the edges of her consciousness outside this person's mind, she could suddenly detect that Armand was coming… And Derek was even closer than Armand? How was that even possible?

She quickly returned her attention to demonstrating something small to Unknown Man that didn't take much effort since she was trying to make certain her mind remained blocked while she touched his.

Before his eyes materialized the illusion of Hans Otto. Fake Hans went and sat down in the chair she had previously been sitting in, looked over at the half Carpathian that still had no name and declared, "Where is Lena? You said I could have her!"

The man across the room from her looking at fake-Hans went red in the face with delight as his mouth turned upward into a true smile, the first real one she had ever seen him make. He stood quickly, an indecipherable look upon his face. And then his laughter began.

Lena's small tendril she had reached into his mind quickly withdrew. Fake-Hans Otto disappeared. She checked inside herself, saw that no damage had been done. The thing that bothered her somewhat was that the man across the room from her was definitely half Carpathian… and he was no vampire. What he did, he did because he wanted to, not because he had given up his soul like those monstrosities out there. His soul was still very much intact! And there was something more, there in his mind. She had dared not go in too deep for fear she would not be able to get back out or that he would cross over into hers. No, she would not afford him any opportunity to breach her internal shield!

For the time being, he was standing there, no longer laughing, but there was a large smile on his face. It was obvious that something in his estimation of her had changed. "You, my dear, have upped the ante in ways I never anticipated," he said with a partially shadowy whisper.

She frowned. She wanted to ask 'how' but the word was trapped in her throat. She had a bad feeling about this.

"I can't let Hans Otto have a power like yours!" he continued as his eyes squinted. "To do what with it? With you? Nothing! You are very very valuable to me… Imagine what you will be in a century or two after I've converted you, trained you…" He sighed as if he only just remembered, "But for now, on with the start of my deal. Come with me."

He moved rapidly across the room, shackled one hand over her wrist with some kind of vise grip and took her out of that room and started on his way to take her to another.

Lena realized that he was physically touching her. He had previously not bothered to do that at all. She suspected this man now really meant to keep her… Forever.

But even if he was touching her, her shield was still up. He had never taken her blood, at least not yet, and while she was able, her mind cast outward and sent a strong mental trail of breadcrumbs. She watched the hallways as he pulled her down them and then they came to the other room.

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Derek had begun traveling down the staircase, trying to detect Lena's scent. When he reached the landing just before the middle of the building, not only his sense of smell, but his mind was nudged by her!

He began to follow her trail faster as he sent out to Ragnar that he was close to her position.

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Derek is almost at her physical location! Ragnar informed them all, mind to mind. The only one he did not have a direct line to was Armand and for some reason he was grateful for that. It would only prove to be a distraction for the Carpathian fighting back rage.

Gregori acknowledged what he had said, but kept one eye on Armand. The closer they drew to the building, the more he detected that Lena's growing presence in his mind was beginning to ground the hunter a little more. He was spewing venom and fire in his mind no less, but he was being more careful about what he was willing to do with whomever he found or whoever stood in his way. His true emotions of love and concern for her, not just wrath, were beginning to return in waves.

Wherever she was, she reached out directly to Armand at that point and his mind clamped down on her signal. He began to charge in even faster than before. She was THERE!

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Lena was practically being dragged into the room. The door was fastened behind them. She had attempted, already, to pull herself away from whoever the man in charge happened to be, but he was physically too strong and would not let her go.

The next room was almost clinical looking. There was a contraption in there that, frankly, looked to her like some kind of torture device. It was tall and oblong with this thing that looked like a swinging arm, almost like a sickle. A large needle rested at the end of it.

"What in the hell-" she began, but he was holding her arm to the device and it punctured her skin at the wrist lightning fast. "Oh!" she yelped involuntarily.

"See, quick, painless… well, not exactly painless," he smiled and then laughed as if the two were old friends.

This bastard is crazy!… she thought to no one in particular, but each of the hunters heard her thought. At least no one chastised her for the bad language this time.

She watched as her blood spilled into a waiting receptacle that, up until then, she had barely had time to notice. The door on the far end of the room opened and one of the vampires entered. Lena could see the other three that were left clamoring behind him to get through the door, but it closed instantly.

The man in charge picked up the collection receptacle that looked like a beaker when her blood began to slow down to a trickle.

The vampire was standing there with his beady, disturbing, soulless eyes, looking at the blood and then looking at her… looking back and forth… and she knew what it was she was seeing. He was looking at the blood in the beaker and looking at her thinking he didn't want it from that beaker, he wanted it from the source!

"This was not what we agreed to," hissed the vampire from between black blood-stained teeth. His breath, everything about him was noxious.

Lena shied away from him and stepped back. At least the nameless one that held her arm let her stand partially behind him for the time being. "You'll take what I give you or you'll get nothing at all," he responded.

"And if it does not work?" asked the vampire half threateningly.

"It is not my idea that her blood will bring you back to your original state. It is yours. So drink or don't drink. But the effects are all on you."

The vampire seemed to look at her one more time since she was only partially behind the other man. He looked as if he were thinking he could snatch her quickly, but seemed to think better of it. Taking the beaker quickly, he drank the thick liquid and Lena turned away in disgust.

The man in charge began to back away somewhat after less than ninety seconds and she was forced to move back with him. But she couldn't help but look at the vampire to see what would happen next.

Before her very eyes, something was happening to him. The color of his skin was beginning to turn healthy. His eyes lost its red haze and a normal sky blue stared back at them both. "It is working," he said, and even his voice had changed somewhat, the grating nature of it had lessened.

But within thirty seconds, the effects began to wear off. Not only did he revert back to his old decrepit looking state, in Lena's opinion he looked monumentally worse. "OH!" she found herself exclaiming against her will. She didn't mean to, but the involuntary exclamation sounded blatantly comical.

"What has happened?!" the vampire asked, outraged.

The man in charge didn't seem at all concerned. "Apparently, you did not consume as much as you needed to."

"I felt it working." His eyes had returned to being beady and red. They looked back at Lena again and he became bolder at that point. "Give her to me… I need ALL of her blood!"

The man in charge said, "I think you've forgotten the bargain we had."

The vampire lifted his arm as if he meant to strike, but that quickly he was down on the ground, writing in agony. Angry, now, the mage telekinetically lifted him and allowed the door to open where the other three vampires remained waiting. He hurled him through that doorway with haste and announced, "Whoever's next, get in here!"

All three tried to clamor through, but only one made it in and the door slammed shut behind him. Her arm was held, once again, to the needle looking thing and she was bled yet again. This time, he bled her twice, back to back. Lena suspected he was sincerely curious about what would happen if the next vampire got more of her blood.

"If this keeps up," she said, already starting to feel a little light headed, "I don't think I'm going to be able to stand for much longer." She was slightly exaggerating how she felt in order to try to get out of that room!

He smiled at her as if he were being kind. "Don't worry. If you lose too much, I'll replace it with mine, all right?"

No this crazy man did NOT mention that like he was only talking about hooking me up with something like an extra roll of toilet paper or something! I have GOT to get THEE hell out of here!