Chapter 10

The Following takes place between 9 am and 10 am on the day of the Autumnal equinox.

As Connor Stevenson jogged the last bit of his route on his way to Political Science, he again marveled and the beauty of the day. The sky was so blue and the temperature was so crisp, it made him feel like singing even though he couldn't carry a tune to save his life.

Man, Tracy would laugh at this whole Sound of Music thing I've got going on, Connor thought to himself as he thought of his kid sister.

But he couldn't help himself. He had always been a cheerful young man, but over the last few months in particular he had been feeling so joyous. And not just over his getting 1460 on his SATs or getting a scholarship to the University of Southern Califronia. It was the small, trivial things that made him feel glad. The taste of an ice cream cone, the smell of flowersfor some reason it didn't take a great deal to make him feel glad to be alive.

Oh, life wasn't perfect. There were the dreams for one thing. He had bad dreams every other day or so. Most of the time they faded by the time he had breakfastbut sometimes they stayed with him. And they were strange dreams that seemed to come out of a Spielberg film. Nightmares of fire falling from the sky and the sun turning black. Of being locked in a box and sinking beneath an ocean. Of strange people whose faces morphed when you came near them. But none of this was as troubling as the fact as they didn't seem like dreams. They seemed familiarlike memories. But that was Looney Tunes, right?

He tried to shrug it off. He didn't want the buzz he was feeling to go away. He wanted to feel like the hills were alive with the

He heard something behind him.

Another thing he didn't understand. His senses, particularly his sight and hearing, had always been very good but now he was beginning to feel like Superman. He could hear a door creak a hundred yards away and, right now, he heard people walking behind him.

He turned around and saw that he had been right. A black man and a white woman were about twenty feet away from him. And they reacted strangelyas if they weren't sure what to do now that they had found him.

"Can I help you?' he said trying to sound upbeat.

The woman - she couldn't be much older - than he was looked at him for a moment. "You're Connor Stevenson?"

"That's me." They studied each other. "Do I know you?"

"No," said the girl. "I can say with certainty that we've never met."

"Then how do you know my name?" he asked cautiously.

The girl seemed vexed on how to answer that question. Finally, she said, "There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just be blunt."

"O-kay." He was beginning to question this woman's behavior.

"Connor…we think that your life may be in danger," the girl said carefully.

This wasn't what he expected. "From who?'

"Some very dangerous people."

"And you know this how?"

She took a deep breath. "Because they're probably watching us right now."

9:05:22 - 9:05:23 -9:05:24

Despite being better versed in science fiction than science fact, Andrew didn't think that it was possible under any system for Justine to get Dawn out of the building without being stopped. The numbers just didn't support it. There was only Justine (and she was injured) and maybe three or four evil henchmen still alive in a building that none of them had been in before. Weighed against this was the fact that there were a minimum of fifty or sixty well armed men and women looking for her. They should have been able to track her down easily.

But the building's security system still wasn't working at a hundred percent, and none of them were entirely sure that they could count on some of Wolfram & Hart employees to help them. As Xander had told Andrew as they had swept the fifth floor, "It's not like they jimmied a window open. Somebody had to tell them where to come in."

But that was a problem for later. Right now Andrew was trying to find a needle in a very big haystackif the needle was even still there. And as he looked on the video screens on the second floor security office he was beginning to think that this was less and less likely.

Suddenly his cell phone rang. "Andrew." he said, hoping it wasn't Buffy. He didn't want to be the one who had to tell her that they had lost her sister.

It wasn't. "Andrew we need you to meet us in the science lab." Giles was speaking with a calm Andrew couldn't understandbut he was English after all.

"I'm a little busy looking for Dawn," he said pointedly.

"That's why we need to speak to you. Now." There was a tone in his voice that Andrew had learned it was better not to disagree with.

"I'll be right there." He hung up and started moving. But even at top speed it took him more than two minutes to get there. By the time he arrived, he felt like a sixth-grader rushing to make it to homeroom.

When he got there it was clear something wasn't quite right.

Giles and Xander were standing on one side of the room Gunn, Fred and Angel were on the other. Fred was checking over a panel of some kind. But everyone seemed to be focused on the center of the room where Kennedy was standing looking abashed but firm.

"Where's everyone else?" asked Andrew. He did not like the mood in the room. It seemed extra tense.

"Faith's working with Cho-san on the vamp Angel and I brought in," said Wes. "Leonard and Lorne are making sure the building's secure." He looked at Kennedy. "The other Slayers are trying to find Justine."

"Enough with the roll call I would like to know why we're not trying to stop Justine from escaping with Dawn." said Xander.

"They've probably gotten out of the building by now." Giles was speaking calmly but it was pretty easy to tell he was pissed.

"Why the hell didn't we stop her?" said Andrew angrily.

Fred looked towards the center of the room. "Kennedy?"

The usually confident slayer seemed nervous. Finally she spoke.

"Because she asked me not to."

9:11:06 - 9:11:07 - 9:11:08 -9:11:09

Buffy knew that what she was asking of Connor was a very hard sell. She had been at least a little encouraged by the fact that he had agreed to move out of the open air to the hallway of a dorm.

However, then Connor had asked her and Robin to explain what they meant about his life being in danger. Buffy then realized that she was going to have to tell Connor his life story fast and convincingly and, because she hadn't been around for any of it, she was going to have to do it using second and third hand information.

It wasn't going very well.

"Let me just see if I'm following you so far," said Connor in a voice that sounded like he was humoring her. "Vampires are real."

"That's right," said Buffy.

"The whole blood-sucking, cross fearing, sunlight-hating bit, it's all true."

"Yeah." Buffy tried to sound hopeful.

"I am the child of two vampireswhich is kind of impressive cause, if I remember my horror movies correctly, vampires can't have children." Connor was beginning to sound like he was questioning her sanity. "I am a super strong hero who is the focus of a lot of evil groups attention."

"Yeah."

"And I was born when exactly?'

This wasn't going to help her much. "About a year ago."

Connor took this is. "O-kay."

Robin spoke up: "You were raised in a hell dimension where time flows differently."

"Yeah, because alternate dimensions can be tricky that way." Connor was definitely looking at them as if he was fitting them for straitjackets. "I then escaped from that dimension how exactly?"

Buffy looked at Robin. "I'm not entirely sure how."

"Well, I am the child of two vampires. I'm sure I escaped four hell dimensions before breakfast." Connor wasn't quite laughing but he seemed on the verge.

"Look, I realize this is a lot to take in" said Robin.

"How exactly is it that you know all this?" said Connor.

This wasn't going to bolster their argument. "I used to go out with this vampire," Buffy said weakly.

"But you're not a vampire. You're a fearless vampire hunter."

"Uhh, 'slayer' actually." By now Buffy was trying to look at anything but Connor.

"Vampire slayer, my mistake. And vampire slayers are allowed to date vampires. It's not a violation of some code or anything?"

"It's frowned upon."

"I see. Yours is a forbidden love I take it. "

Buffy really didn't like being mocked. "Could we get back to the point?"

"Yes, because you're on much safer ground saying I'm a Wonder Twin."

"Look, I know how crazy this sounds" said Buffy.

"No, no, I don't think that crazy is anywhere near accurate enough to describe how truly bonkers this whole spiel is," Connor looked at Buffy dead in the eye. "But let's just say that everything you've told me is true. How come I don't remember any of this?"

She was beaten but she knew that she had to finish this off. "Angel made a deal so that your memory would be erased so that you could live a normal life."

Connor took this in. Seemed to weigh it for a few seconds

"Then why is my life in danger?'"

Buffy wished she had a good answer to that question. "We're not sure, but we think it might have something to do with the end of the world."

Connor considered all this. Finally he got up from the chair he'd been sitting in.: "Uh-huh. I see. Well, this has been very entertaining but I'm going to be late for class."

"Connor, I know this is hard to believe" Robin started.

"Hard to believe? If you tried selling this story to TV they wouldn't buy it because it's too implausible!" He thought for a moment. "Well, maybe the WB would. They put anything on."

He walked towards the door.

"Connor, please…"

"No, this has been very interesting but I need to get back to the real world. A place I recommend you two get to know." He exited.

Robin looked at Buffy. "Any more bright ideas?'

Buffy sighed. "Call Angel-Slayer and find out what the hell is going on there." She headed to the door.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to make sure no delusions attack Connor."

9:17:11 - 9:17:12 - 9:17:13

As he looked at the computer-drawn map of Los Angeles they were using to track Dawn, Xander couldn't help but marvel, for what must have been the hundredth time, at the power of the building where he had come to work. Even though the previous owners had been evil, they sure were up-to-the-second technology-wise. He thought about saying it out loud so that maybe the mood might be lightened. On the other hand, as he looked at the faces of the others, it probably wouldn't and they didn't look like they were in a laughing mood.

"Let me just see if I've got this straight—" For some reason Andrew was the most upset about this plan. "when Dawn heard that she might be part of the prophecy, she came to you, Fred, and discussed the possibility that the forces of darkness might grab her."

He stared at Fred hard enough to burn holes in her. Fred didn't back down. "That's right."

"So you put one of the tracking devices that you've been working on in the science department on Dawn just in case." Xander said. It was clear he was having a hard time with this as well.

Fred looked right at him. "Yes."

"Then when Leonard told you that the bad guys were going to attack us, Dawn came to you and said that this might be our best chance at finding Ethan, Harmony and whoever's working with them." By now Andrew was practically nose to nose with Fred.

"That's right."

"And youthe smartest person herethought that that was a good idea."

Fred began walking towards Andrew. "Willow was kidnapped, they'd performed the dysnotipia, we were running out of options."

"So you decided that it would be smart to give the bad guys exactly what they needed." Andrew had stopped moving but now he seemed to be shaking with anger. "How much of your mind did you lose when you were stuck in Pylea?"

Fred barely twitched but it was clear the remark had hurt.

"Andrew, there's no need" started Wesley

"No need? Do you know how many Bond movies and Star Trek episodes I've seen where they tried that plan? You know how many times it worked?"

"This isn't TV Andrew. This is real life," Giles said calmly.

"And that means it's more likely to work?" By now Andrew was shouting. "They might kill her! Hell, they probably will!"

"Possibly," said Wesley. "But not likely. Dawn's very important to this ritual."

Xander couldn't let this pass. "In case you've forgotten, the last time she was important to a ritual she nearly got killed!"

"I know that!" said Fred. "But we're running out of time. In less than three hours, they perform the eutrasia. And I don't think they're going to bring back Spike with this one."

"Fred's right," said Wesley. "We need to end this before the next raising. Maybe we'll get some information from our undead prisoner but I'm not holding my breath. This is probably going to be our only chance. We have to do this."

Andrew looked at the resolve on the faces of the two Englishmen and Fred. Finally he spoke: "You want to do this fine. But you better pray this comes out all right. If something happens to Dawn, Buffy will probably kill you herself." He started walking towards the door. As he opened it, he turned to them for a final remark: "And if she doesn't, I will."

The slam of the door served as an exclamation point to Andrew's vow.

9:25:29 - 9:25:30 - 9:25:31 - 9:25:32

Once again Dawn was being held prisoner by a borderline killer. At least that was what she thought that Justine was thinking and she was going to do her damnedest to make sure that sheand the vampires who were on either side of herkept thinking that way.

She knew that she had to play this very carefullyDawn didn't think they'd kill her but she knew there was a real possibility that they'd beat the crap out of herso she had to maintained a façade of calm despair. She had kept it up as they left the building, as they had run down the street, as the Volvo that she was riding in now had pulled up in front of them.

"What the hell are you doing here, Thompson?" Justine did not seem at all happy to see the man in the suit.

"I wanted to make sure that those brave souls who charged our building didn't lose their unlives in vain."

"You're awfully calm considering what a number our boys managed to do on your building," Justine said as she pushed Dawn around the other side of that same Volvo.

"You're forgetting who made sure your side had the blueprints to hit our building," said Thompson as he unlocked the back door, allowing the vamps inside to secure Dawn.

There was a mood of extreme hostility in the front seat.. Dawn decided to try and see if she could use it to get any information that could help."Let's see if I can tell if I'm keeping up with the big boys," she said. "Mr. Thompson here worked with Wolfram & Hart." Nothing from either of them. "And even though Murder Inc. promised they'd leave LA to us, he helped excavate my hometown in order to obtain artifacts, brought together idiots like Harmony and Ethan, hiding prophecies that would help us stop them and now helping vampires break into his employers old headquarters."

"What's your point, kid?" muttered Justine.

"Just wanted to know how this falls under the category of not interfering with us," Dawn said.

"Wolfram & Hart would never renege on any of our agreements," Thompson said calmly. "I believe one of my colleagues, however, made it clear that we would continue to represent clients who might have interest contrary to those of you and your associates."

"What are you stupid, Thompson? The bitch is trying to pump you," Justine said, furious.

"I haven't told her anything that she doesn't already know." Thompson said, talking to Justine as if she was the child. "Besides, it's not like she's going to get a chance to tell anyone."

Thompson said the last sentence so matter-of-factly that it didn't immediately register with Dawn. Then the implications hit her. "Wait a minute. I thought I was important to this eutrasia thing."

"You are, Miss Summers. You are." If she wasn't being held prisoner she would have kicked the seat of this prick. "And don't worry. We have no intention of killing you. Indeed, you might even walk away from today without a scratch on you."

"Then what…"

"I merely meant, young lady, that by the time you get a chance to talk to someone there will be no one on your side left to hear it."

"What do you mean? What do you have planned?"

But Thompson was finished and said no more. He'd said enough. Dawn was worried about how deep she was.

She looked down at the wrist that had the bracelet with the tracking device in it. Keep working, she thought to herself. I don't know what'll happen if you conk out.

9:32:44 - 9:32:45 - 9:32:46

Of all the strange and horrible things she'd seen over the past few hours, what bothered Willow most was that Harmony had learned self-control. Alive or dead, it had been nearly impossible to get Harmony to shut up about anythingwhether about the nerdiness of the student body or how she was going to kill Buffy. Today, however, aside from brief chatter, Harmony had told them almost nothing. Not what they were ultimately planning to raise. Not what role she and Spike were going to play in the process. Not what role Wolfram & Hart was playing in it.

Of course it helped a great deal that Ethan Rayne had reappeared as mysteriously as he had disappeared. He subtly made it very clear to Harmony that she would do well to shut up. The quiet and nervous anticipation had added a layer of tensionuntil Harmony's cell phone rang.

"It's about time you" she snapped out before listening. "What are you doing calling us?" Harmony began walking towards the door. "How the hell did she…" Another pause. "No you're right, I really don't care." She walked the other way. "I knew we'd probably suffer major losses, but that doesn't matter now. Do you have her?"

That caused Spike to look at the female vampire as well.

"And she is secure?" Whatever the next bit of news caused Harmony to smile. "Okay then. How far away are you?" A briefer pause. "All right. Get her soon but safely. The last thing we need is you getting pulled over by the cops." She started walking back towards Ethan. "We're working on it. Of course now that you've got her I'm less concerned about the other thing." Halfway to him she stopped. "We'll be ready to make the move soon. Good work." She hung up the phone. "Justine and Thompson have the Key. They'll be here in half an hour."

'"What was the damage?" asked Ethan.

"I don't know what happened to them. We lost half the guys who went in. The ones who didn't get dusted are on their way back."

"That's what we expected." Ethan thought for a moment. "How the fuck did Justine…"

"I don't know and I don't care. All that matters is that we have almost everything we need." Harmony turned around. "What about the kid?"

"They've got a bead on him. His class ends in less than twenty minutes. They're going to grab him them." Ethan turned around. "You sure that he's important enough for us to spend the time and vamp-power?"

"I know it'll probably mean nothing. " said Harmony."But this kid is very important to her."

"Wait a minute," mumbled Spike, "they're not talking about Dawn. Who the frag is the kid?"

And suddenly it clicked. "Oh goddess."

"I don't like it when you say that, Red."

Willow ignored him. "I know what they're going to raise. What this evil is."

"Care to fill me in?"

Willow exhaled. "Jasmine."

9:38:11 - 9:38:12 - 9:38:13 - 9:38:14

Faith circled the hogtied vampire. She hadn't been in a position like this beforegetting permission to torture someoneand she was soaking it up.

"You know my rep," Faith said as she made her way around again. "You know I'm the dark Slayer. The one who doesn't play nice."

"Yeah." The vampire, Roderick, said nervously

"Funny, I was never really into torture before." She took out a vial of holy water and started fiddling with the cork. "Don't get me wrong, I had no problem making sure vampires met a bad end, a painful one, but torture…I never really had the patience for it."

The vampire tried to move but Cho-San restrained him. "Look I don't know where Rayne and Harmony are, I swear."

Faith walked over to a tray where there were a number of very sharp knives. "Of course I never had such…" she put her hand on a blade "…wonderful toys."

The vampire was becoming really unsettled. "Look I told the other guys that Harmony and Thompson hired me and my crew to be the muscle for this thing. They didn't give any real details. I'm being honest!"

"See the thing is, I was once a greatwell, very goodbullshit artist." Faith approached with a knife in one hand and the vial in the other. "And one of the things about being a master of lying is that you get pretty good at telling when someone's doing it to you." She stopped less than a foot away. "Like you are now."

"I'm not lying about this!" Roderick was becoming more frantic.

"Maybe. But you're hiding something." She walked back to the other table in the room…the one with the cassette player on it. "And I'm betting it's important."

"I'm telling you the truth," said Roderick.

"That's a shame." She pressed play on the recorder. "Stuck In the Middle with You" began playing. Faith walked back to the trussed-up vampire in a fair imitation of Michael Madsen. "Cause now I'm going to do a little acting."

The vampire had clearly seen this movie. He started to struggle but was stopped by Cho-San. "I like this film too," she said quietly.

Faith opened the vial and began to toss the water at the vampire as if she was shaking a gas can, paying particular attention to the face. Roderick started yelling. "What. Do. You. Know. Roderick?" Faith emphasized each word.

A look of genuine fear appeared in the vampires face. "IIcan't—" he sputtered.

Faith sighed. "That's a real shame." She put the bottle down, played with the knife for a few seconds, than began moving towards Roderick.

The exact second the blade touched his ear, he screamed out, "Jasmine wasn't killed!"

That got Faith's attention in a hurry. "That's not possible." she said, pulling the knife back, "Angel saw her face get smashed in."

"You think that you can kill a divine being with a punch to the face?" There was a little cockiness in the vampire's voice. Which disappeared when Faith moved towards him again. "Her spirit and her essence left her physical body."

"Where did it go?" Faith was right in his face

"I don't know. All I know is that's what Rayne and Harmony were planning. To bring back Jasmine!"

Faith threw the knife down. "Keep him tied up, I need to talk to the others." she said and started walking.

Cho-san looked a little confused. "Who's Jasmine?'

"Hopefully, you won't find out.' Faith said without stopping.

9:44:14 9:44:15 9:44:16

Willow knew that some of the things that had happened to her and her friends were bizarre and unbelievable, but she had never realized how truly lunatic they sounded until she tried explaining the story of Jasmine to Spike.

"Let me see if I'm following you," said Spike slowly, "Cordeliathe cheerleader, the girl who redefined the word 'shallow'voluntarily became a demon in order to keep helping Angel. That right?"

"Uh, part demon, but yeah."

"Does every woman who works with him end up losing their bloody mind?" Spike asked, exasperated. "What is it, the hair gel?"

"Um, Spike, I think we should concentrate on the more important points," Willow said, trying to remain logical.

"Right, because talking about Angel's son is a much saner avenue to approach."

"Look I realize it's a lot" started Willow.

"No, finding out that those two," he gestured towards Harmony and Ethan, "were behind bringing me back, that was a lot to take in. Finding out that Angel had a son who was abducted to a hell dimension where he grew seventeen years in three weeks, came back to kill his father and ending up knocking boots with a girl who had become a vessel for a divine creature…" Spike rolled his eyes. "Christ, Passions wouldn't do a story that insane."

Realizing that she couldn't slap the back of Spike's head or grab his shoulders and shake him, Willow settled for taking a reasonable tone: "Spike, I need you to dig in. We are in the middle of a hurricane here and if it keeps blowing like this then you, me and probably everybody we care about will be dead. We need to be prepared to deal with this and that means accepting that a lot of bizarre, unexplainable stuff is involved. Can you deal with it?"

Spike took this in. "Look Samantha, my entire life has been spent dealing with the impossible and the insane. I won't pretend that I understand everything that's going on but I can deal with it. It's just"

"Okay, I'm going to have to cut you off there." Ethan said, walking towards them.

"Why? Is our accuracy bothering you?" Willow asked indignantly.

"No, it's just that I know this story and I'm getting sodding tired of hearing it."

"Well, if we're getting it wrong"

"Nice try, William, but I'm not about to help you put two and two together." Ethan had reached them. "I'm not even going to tell you if you're on the right track," he flashed a very cold smile. "The two of you are going to finish your jobs without even knowing what exactly you've brought about. Can you deal with that, children?"

9:49:22 9:49:23 9:49:24 9:49:25

Connor liked political science. He had found Plato's Republic a fascinating treatise but was having a lot of trouble concentrating on Professor Garner's vigorous discussion of its theme. His mind was still spinning from the discussion he'd had with the two crazies that he'd run into one his way to class.

He knew that what the girl Buffy (and who in the world names their child that?) was absolutely insane. It was something out of a Anne Rice/Dean Koontz collaboration only this was even more implausible. That girl needed seriousserious therapy. It was almost funny.

So why couldn't he laugh it off? Why was it still bothering him half an hour after? And why did he keep having this weird ticklehe couldn't think of any other wordin the back of his mind that some part of what she had said was true? It wasn't because either the girl or the young man seemed familiar.

It was the dreams. Those dreams that felt so real. It seemed impossible but hadn't someone said that a dream was an answer to a question we haven't figured out how to ask?

That's a line from the X-Files, Connor, old bean. said the rational part of his mind. Not exactly the best source to back up the insanity you're thinking about. So I'd

"Do you have a question you want to ask me?"

Connor looked up. Professor Garner was now in front of him.

"Um, no, not really." Connor fumbled.

"Then why are you still here?'

Connor looked around to see that the room was almost empty. "I'm sorry I just got a little lost in my head," he said as he picked up his books.

"I'm glad my class leads you to think that deeply." The professor was a decent guy but one of those people who thought he was being funny when he wasn't. Nevertheless Connor smiled.

"It's okay, it wasn't that funny."

"Right. Um, see you Thursday," Connor said as he left the room. He spent the time it took to get outside trying to shake off the feelings that had come over him the last hour.

"Connor Stevenson?"

He looked up to see two strange men in suits. "That's me."

"You're the son of Angela and Carl Stevenson?"

"Yes."

The man on the left pulled out a badge. "I'm Detective Hodges, this is Detective Magee. We're with the LA traffic division."

Connor was beginning to get concerned. "What's this about, sir?"

The two men looked at each. "Connor, your father was driving to work today and he was blindsided when he stopped at an intersection."

tConnor felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach. "Is…is he…"

"He's in surgery at Sacred Heart in Santa Monica. He's still alive but we need you to come with us to the hospital."

"You guys are really sadistic."

All kinds of emotions were flashing through Connor's head which was why it took him a moment to realize that the three of them weren't alone. The other men reacted faster. "Listen, lady this is personal," said Detective Magee.

"I'll say it is."

Connor now recognized the voice. It was the girl he'd spoken with earlier: "I knew vampires were cruel but I didn't know you could lie this well."

"Lady, I don't know" Before the detective could finish his sentence, the blonde struck him.

Then his face changed.

As did Connor's world.

9:56:18 9:56:19 9:56:20

Dawn hadn't thought that it would have been possible for the mood in the car to get more tense, considering, but the longer they drove the more anxious everybody seemed to get. Finally, after Thompson made his third right turn in five minutes, Justine exploded. "For crying out loud, Thompson, how are we getting to the others? By way of fucking Australia?"

Dawn could only see the back of Thompson's head but she thought she could sense tension in his attitude. "I am going the scenic route to make sure that the traffic cameras in this part of town don't see us and the good guys don't track us down. "

Justine took this in. "And what makes you think that they won't be able to find us anyway?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that we've got someone important to the raising we're doing in two hours who just happens to be, oh yeah, the original Slayer's little sister. You'd think, considering everything they have, they'd have the marines chasing us down. " Justine looked out the window. "Now even a damn cop."

Thompson took this in. "You think that they let us take Dawn so we would lead them right to the others."

"No wonder you rose so high on the corporate ladder," Justine said.

Dawn tried to remain perfectly calm even as the car suddenly pulled over to the side of the road.

Thompson turned to the vampires holding Dawn. "Frisk her."

"What are we looking for?" asked the vampire on the left.

"Anything that looks suspicious." said Justine.

The next minute was almost unbearable as Dawn had to endure two vampires groping and touching herbad enoughbut also not act as if there were anything suspicious on her. She was suddenly aware of every cell of her seventeen-year old female body and prayed they would stop at searching her.

She was so wound up that she didn't even notice when they pulled the bracelet off her wrist. She only realized it when the vampires showed the people in the front seat the things in her pockets, a necklace of hersand the bracelet. She managed to maintain her calm façade.

Thompson looked at it. "There are a few things here, but nothing obvious. We're probably fine."

"Just the same—" In a matter of seconds, Justine had everything in her hands. She got out of the car. Dawn remained absolutely stilleven as she listened to Justine step and grind everything into the dirt.

"How far away are we?" Justine said as she got back in.

Thompson checked the odometer. "About three miles."

"Take as confusing a route as you can. We're not going to make it easy."

"They may catch up with us," Thompson said as he started the engine.

"We just need to hold them off a little while more. By the time they find us it'll be too late."

Dawn felt her stomach clench. Now, her main enemy was time.

And it was running out.

9:59:57 9:59:58 9:59:59 10:00:00