"I don't like this," Alex was snarling irritably. Beside him, Thea grimaced and tightened her hold around his hand.

"You don't have to like it, kid," Elijah told him simply, yawning and stretching out. "It's not your decision to make."

"She's my sister!"

"And he's her soulfinder," he countered easily. "Her soulfinder, her choice. Simple."

"Simple?" Alex snarled.

Again, Elijah just shrugged. "It's the logic I always use with my sisters, and one of them doesn't have half the guts Grace does."

Next to me, Xav snorted. "And the others?"

Elijah grinned. "Put it this way. Don't ever argue with Autumn, and don't be surprised if Winter ends up starting World War Three."

Before I can help it, I let out a short, surprised laugh. "Autumn and Winter?" I questioned.

"And don't ever do that in front of them," Elijah laughed. "Even if they are with Summer, too." My lips twitched in misplaced humour. Summer, Autumn and Winter . . . no wonder the Redfields changed their names so often.

But my face straightened quickly afterward. Right now, a large group of us were sat on a private plane headed for Vegas. Xav and Yves sat on either side of me, trying to keep me calm. To the left, Thea was huddled into Alex's side, shooting nervous looks in my direction and looking distinctly ill. Not surprising really, considering she'd spent a good deal of time trying to get out of Vegas.

Looking a considerable amount calmer, Elijah, Victor and Trace were sat opposite me, the first slouched in a chair, the second scowling at his feet, and the third drumming his fingertips on his knee.

"Go over it all once more," Alex insisted. Even Trace groaned wryly, but Elijah took a deep breath and straightened out.

"The Kellys are going to expect us to try something, so there's no point in trying to be discreet," he started importantly. "What we need is a distraction. Something they'll focus on."

"So you're sending Grace in their casino and booking her a room?"

"I am here, you know," I grumbled at him. "I said from the start I'd do it."

"Of course you did," Alex glowered. "Because it's Zed. But this is bordering on suicide, Gracie!"

I wanted to point out that if I couldn't get Zed back, I didn't much care what happened afterward, but Elijah interrupted. "Grace isn't going to be alone," he reminded my dear brother. "Since the Kellys are expecting the Benedicts, I'll be going in with her. The Kellys have never had any dealings with us before, so they won't know who I am. As soon as we have their attention, they'll try to separate the two of us."

"Which you're planning to let them do," Alex growled.

I was starting to get really annoyed by his negativity, but Elijah barely blinked. "They'll see me as a soft target," he shrugged, with an arrogant smirk.

"Which you're not," I guessed.

"Not remotely," he grinned back. "Trust me, I've been here before. Getting away from them will be a piece of cake. The hard part is up to you, I'm afraid. When they've separated us and they have you, they're going to try and make contact with Matthews. You have to convince them you can get them Alex, and that you're willing to do it, if they tell you were Zed is."

"The moment we know that, we'll move in," Victor told me with a frown. "We already have a team waiting for the word to go."

Alex scoffed, obviously not at all impressed, but Thea elbowed him in the side. "And what happens after all this is over?" she asked carefully.

"The second we know this is all sorted, I'll have Tate on a plane over here," Elijah said. "My brother might be a pompous idiot, but he's very good at making sure the bad guys stay behind bars. If we get it sorted today, the Kellys won't be problem in the future."

"No pressure then," Xav sighed heavily beside me. "Get rid of the Kellys, get rid of Matthews, right?"

Right, I thought. And I get the hard part. No pressure.

By the time we reached Vegas, it was mid-morning. The airport was crowded with tourists and holiday makers, all laughing loudly and chatting excitedly amongst themselves. None of them had any clue about the severity of our task here. If we didn't stop the Kellys, if Matthews got a foothold over the Atlantic, things would go from bad to worse, for everyone, not just Savants. I had no idea what his goal was, or if he even had one, but whatever it was, we had to stop it.

I tried to convince myself that was why I was here. It was easier to think that way, to see it as less personal. A tactical, objective task was something I could control, something I could understand after a solitary life filled with nothing but the thought of getting through the next day. Emotions, relationships and soulfinder were things I'd never thought about, never even entertained the possibility that they meant anything until I met Zed. Thinking about him hurt too much, so I choose not to. I'd get to that part eventually, but to do that, I had to focus clearly enough to get through the first part.

Outside the airport, there were two cars waiting for us. One was a large black SUV with tinted windows, the other a rather unattractive, unremarkable family car in a horrid burgundy colour. "Come on, Grace," Elijah grimaced, hauling my luggage into one hand and steering me toward the burgundy car. "Remember, for the purposes of this trip, my name is Carl Peterson and I'm your older brother. We're here visiting relatives."

"At a casino?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow coolly.

He shrugged easily. "What can I say, I have a gambling problem. This cover isn't supposed to stick, Grace, they're supposed to know exactly who you are, but the last thing we all need is Matthews knowing my family is sticking their nose in over here. Not until it's already too late." Unable to argue, I climbed into the passenger seat of the car, shooting a quick grimace in Alex's direction before disappearing from view. I could see him in the wing mirror, scowling at the car as Thea and Trace forced him into the SUV.

Elijah glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. "You and your brother seem to be used to this sort of thing."

"A side-effect of running away from a psychotic madman," I dismissed quietly. "I thought you of all people would know that."

He laughed as he started the car, pulling away from the airport casually. "You make a good point," he shrugged.

I shifted, frowning at him. "Don't you think it will be obvious that you're a Redfield?"

He lifted an eyebrow. "Why'd you say that?"

"Your accent."

He laughed again, remarkably at ease. "You'd think so, wouldn't you?" he grinned. "The Kellys have most likely been warned about us, but the Benedicts have known about them for a lot longer. They've been under surveillance for a long time now. Apparently, they don't even think of us as a threat, if you can believe that."

Actually, I couldn't. From what I'd heard of the Redfields, I thought every Savant criminal was worried about them. "Why not?"

Elijah pulled a face. "Hard to say, really. Sometimes they get too arrogant, sometimes they think they're too far away, or we're spreading ourselves too thin."

"Are you?"

He glanced at me. "Don't beat around the bush, do you?"

"I prefer getting to the point," I admitted.

"No problem with that," he smiled easily. "Sometimes it seems we are. Like at the moment. Winter and Hayden have fallen off the face of the earth, and the rest of my siblings are scattered all over the world dealing with problems in the Net or trying to chip away at Matthews' ever growing empire. The man has a disturbingly large influence at the moment."

"How many of you are there?"

"Depends on what you mean," he shrugged. "At the moment, I have five siblings, three nephews and a niece."

"At the moment?"

He grimaced sadly, and I began to regret asking. "My parents had seven children," he said softly. "Our family was quite large at one point, when you included Isaac's wife and family." I wanted to say something to chance the subject, but my voice wouldn't work the way I wanted it to.

Fortunately, Elijah sighed heavily. "There's a lot more than just my family, though. There's obviously the Net, made up of people from just about every agency you can think of. The FBI, CIA, MI6, police forces on nearly every continent, lawyers, government officials. You name it, and the Savant Net has people from that department working to bring people like Matthews down. Then there's the task force my family set up, specifically to target Matthews. It's a lot smaller, but the agents are very strictly trained. Most of them work to protect potential targets for Matthews, or in small, undercover ops to limit or damage his control."

I blinked, speechless for a moment. "I never realised . . ."

He lifted an eyebrow at me. "That there was so much going on? So much at stake?"

Slowly, I nodded, dropping my gaze. "Alex and I . . . we've just been so focused on staying out of his way, surviving on our own . . . Before meeting the Benedicts, we'd cut ourselves off from other Savants completely. When we ran away, Matthews had a lot of control in the South of England, but that was pretty much it. I had no idea things had gotten so out of hand."

"Neither did we until it was too late," he agreed wryly. "But there's no point in debating the past. What's done is done, and now, all we can do is pursue a way to bring him down. One way or another, all of this is going to come to a head, sooner rather than later."

My gut twisted in fear. "What makes you say that?"

He hesitated, eyes fixed on the road ahead like he was seeing something I couldn't. "You and your brother," he admitted, and my stomach dropped through the ground. "Now that you've resurfaced, Matthews will want to take the US to get to you. We can't let that happen, which means things will escalate until undercover operations are no longer effective, and when that happens . . ." He glanced at me, as though he was just remembering who he was talking to. He grimaced tightly. "Let's just say we have a contingency plan, and have done for a while."

My throat closed up, but I forced myself to talk. "Why haven't you used it already, if things at that bad?"

He winced. "It's risky. Really risky. For a lot of different families, and we have no right to drag them into this unwillingly."

"But . . . if it comes down to it . . ."

"We might not have a choice," he finished darkly, and looking at his expression, he wasn't looking forward to the day that became necessary. Listening to him, neither was I.

After that intense discussion, I was almost relieved when we pulled up outside The Fortune Teller hotel and casino. The moment the car came to a halt, Elijah climbed out of the car and went to collect our luggage. Reluctantly, I followed him, pursing my lips and wrapping my denim jacket around my body a little tighter.

Zed might be inside, a small voice in the back of my mind said. I scowled, shaking it away and resisting the urge to reaching out with my mind to try and find him.

"Ready, sis?" Elijah grinned, and I nodded with a small frown, taking my luggage from him and following him into the building.

To say the lobby was tacky would be an understatement. I immediately hated everything about this place, from the people dressed up in expensive clothes gambling at poker tables and roulette wheels, to the receptionist smiling a fake, thousand watt smile from her station.

"Good morning," Elijah smiled at her as we approached. Her eyes widened and scanned his face appreciatively, her cheeks flushing slightly. "We'd like to book into one of your suites please."

The receptionist glanced sideways at me and, despite the way my stomach clenched nervously, she disregard me almost immediately. I could have sighed in relief. "Do you have a reservation?" she asked in sickly sweet voice, batting her eyelashes at Elijah.

He grimaced and winced through his teeth. "Actually, we don't."

Her face fell, and she stared at us like we must have been mad. "Erm . . . let me just see if we have anything available." Frowning at us, she turned to her computer and started typing something. We waited for a moment, but as expected, she shook her head and turned her attention back to us. "We don't have anything free for tonight, I'm afraid."

Great, now what? I thought irritably, my arms tightened around my body.

Elijah didn't seem bothered. "There must be something," he insisted softly, and the receptionist flushed again.

"Actually, Mr . . .?"

He grinned. "Peterson." If the grin on his face wasn't evidence enough that he was clearly lying, the not-so-sly wink in my direction had to be a giveaway. I blinked in shock, but pursed my lips and kept my opinions to myself.

"Well, Mr Peterson," the receptionist gulped, still flushed. "I'm afraid there really is nothing at th-" She cut off as the phone at her desk give a shrill ring and, grimacing at him, she held out a finger. "Just a moment please. Hello?"

His grin growing, Elijah winked at me again over his shoulder. By this point, I couldn't do any more than roll my eyes at him wryly. Behind the desk, the receptionist's face was paling dramatically. Here goes nothing, I thought, my shoulders tensing. "But sir," the woman blurted anxiously, wincing when a loud voice yelled something back at her. "Yes sir . . . of course, sir."

Placing the phone back down, she looked up, flush gone, and eyed Elijah and I cautiously. "It appears we have an opening after all," she said quietly.

"Excellent!" Elijah grinned, throwing an arm over my shoulder. "Hear that, sis? Looks like we're staying after all."

"Great," I muttered with no enthusiasm. Objectivity, Liv, I repeated to myself again, but ignoring the thought that Zed might be here was starting to get painful.

"Check if you want," Elijah mumbled, leaning closer for a moment while the receptionist booked us in.

"What?" I blinked.

"Zed," he shrugged. "Check."

I wanted to ask him why, but the look in his eyes kept me silent. The Kellys were supposed to know we were here, after all. Still . . . what if I couldn't find him? What if I could? Worse still, what if he was injured?

You're overthinking, Elijah's voice came as he turned his back to me. Stop it.

He was right, I had to focus. Pursing my lips, I let my thoughts wander back to Zed. Slowly, I mustered the courage to reach out for his mind. Normally, it was never too far away. Even now I could feel where he should have been, the constant connection keeping us together. And now, although I could tell he was still trying to block me out, I knew he was here, in this very building.

A thrill shot through me, and instinctively, I flinched forward. I needed to see him. I had to know he was okay. In the same second, Elijah's hand wrapped around my wrist and he yanked me back to side with a scowl that looked completely alien yet incredibly terrifying. I blinked in astonishment and his expression relaxed.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "Not used to dealing with soulfinders." He sounded torn between guilt and despair. My throat closed up. "It'll be okay, kid. Honest. We're getting him out of here." I nodded, a violent determination swelling in my chest. Damn right I was getting him out. If Matthews thought he could mess with my soulfinder in a sick attempt to see me break, then I'd show him he was wrong. He'd underestimated Zed, the Benedicts, the Redfields, and Alex and me.

The receptionist finally gave us the key to the suite and Elijah smiled at her, his previous intimidation nowhere to be seen. Lingering long enough to listen to the directions, we picked up our luggage and made our way to the elevator. The moment we were inside and alone, Elijah took a deep breath and straightened out, dipping his hand into his bag and pulling out a pistol.

He winked when I gawped at him. "Really thought we were going unarmed?" he mumbled, shoving it into a holster beneath his jacket. "Right, I need you to be ready now, Grace. This is it. We need this over and done, okay?"

"Okay," I managed, my voice strangely weak.

Thankfully, Elijah choose to ignore it. "When we get into the suite, I'm going to leave and head back down to the casino."

A flicker of fear rushed through me. "Okay," I repeated, weaker still.

His expression clouded in doubt momentarily. "You aren't facing your father here, Grace," he mumbled. "You can do this. If anyone can get Zed out of here alive, it's you."

I managed a small smile. "I know."

He grinned. "Good. Because I'd really rather the bad guys didn't win."

"You aren't the only one," I agreed quietly.

The elevator let us out on our floor and Elijah led the way into the suite. It was large, and far too ostentatious for me, but I didn't complain. Instead, I grimaced tightly as Elijah pointed out my room with a large grin. It was obvious he'd done this plenty of times before. He was far too at ease here in my opinion. Still, I left him flicking through the TV channels and slipped into 'my' room.

Placing my luggage on the end of the bed, I looked around the room anxiously. So what now? I thought to myself. Act normal? What's normal in this situation? Figuring I'd have to do something, I got to work unpacking my things and hanging them in the wardrobe.

I'd been working for about five minutes when Elijah popped his head around the door. "Hey, sis," he grinned, his eyes shining. "Settling in?"

"Sure," I shrugged, trying not to think too much.

"Good," he nodded, winking at me reassuringly. "I'm gonna head down and hit the casino for a bit. You'll be alright?"

Stupid question, I thought dryly, but I managed to smile tightly. "What trouble could I possibly get into in a hotel room alone?"

Elijah's grin widened in amusement. "You make an excellent point," he replied. "I'll be back in an hour or so and we can get some food, yeah?"

I nodded again. "Sounds good." Shooting me a pointed, rather excited look, Elijah slipped back out of the room. I hesitated, running one of my shirts through my fingers until I heard the suite's door slam shut.

This is it, I told myself, taking several deep breaths to calm myself down, my hands shaking as I continued to unpack. Time to do what do you best, Grace. Getting into trouble and managing not to get killed.

The first twenty minutes alone passed by so slowly, I was sure the torture had already started. I finished unpacking and curled up in front of the TV, twiddling my thumbs and chewing my bottom lip. I couldn't help thinking of Alex, and Thea, and my mother. I'd questioned for years whether or not she'd be proud of us. Surely now, that was no longer up for debate? She'd been in the Savant Net. In law enforcement. And no matter what the reason, here Alex and I were trying to take down a criminal family, risking everything to protect what we loved most.

I snorted as I remembered the argument Thea had had to have with my brother when we were told we were heading to Vegas. She'd refused point blank to stay behind, no matter how hard things got. I couldn't help agreeing with Alex though. It was bad enough the Kellys had found out about Zed and me, let alone Alex's connection to Thea. She was a good person. A great person, even, and after such a promising start, everything had gone horribly wrong and I'd barely said two words to her. She might as well have been my sister, and I hadn't given her a second thought since she became conscious. I might not have been a people person, but that was bad, even by my standards.

You've got bigger fish to fry, Grace, I thought wryly.

The words had barely crossed my mind when the lock turned in the door ominously.

Here goes nothing.