“Why?”
“Serena’s daughter—”
“She’s there?” Serena lurched closer to the phone, as if she could grab hold of it, and her child through it.
“She was,” Callista said. “A prisoner—one of many. But she escaped. I’m fairly certain she…she changed over first.”
Serena felt her body turn to stone. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t feel. She was devoid of warmth. “She’s…she’s a…” God, she couldn’t even say it.
“I think so, Serena. She goes by the name of Lilith. But after an earlier escape, the keepers instituted a new tagging program. The residents have all been implanted with a tracking device that can be remotely activated if they get away. All without their knowledge. They’ll find her in short order, and when they do, she’ll be executed. That’s why I had to risk everything to call you. You have to get to her before they do.”
Serena nodded dumbly. Terry’s arm came around her shoulders, as if to comfort her or soothe her tears. But there were none. She couldn’t cry. She’d lost her daughter. She’d lost her. Lilith wasn’t even human anymore.
“Callista, can you get out of there?” Ginger asked.
“I couldn’t before, and now that Lilith has gotten away, security has gone through the roof. I’ll look for an opportunity, but I have a feeling I’m going to have to stay another eight months, until my contract is up.”
“They let people leave after that?” Ginger asked. “They trust them to keep quiet?”
“Anyone who talks is tracked down and executed. They make very sure we all know that.”
Ginger nodded. “So tell me all you can now, then, if it’s safe.”
“It’s not. But I might never get another chance. I can’t tell you where The Farm is. They blindfold us when they bring us in, and we never leave until our time is up. I have no idea where I am. But I do know it’s about two hours from Athena House, maybe less. They could have driven me around in circles for a while to throw me off, for all I know.”
“Okay. What else do you know, Callista? What do they do there?”
“Program children. Brainwash them. Train them to…to kill on command. To obey without question. They’re taking any kids with the antigen that they can get their hands on and raising them here. When they’re grown, they transform them and take them elsewhere. They are…they’re creating a vampire army, Ginger. Loyal to the point of death to the United States’ government’s most ultrasecret agency.”
Ginger’s eyes went wide with horror, and she gazed at the other two. Serena felt her heart breaking.
“They couldn’t break your daughter’s spirit, Serena,” Callista went on. “You should know that. She never lost her will. She was a rebel to the core.”
A little frown bent Serena’s brows.
“She’s an incredible woman,” Callista continued. “Vampire or not. I…I loved her. You will, too. If you can get to her in time.” She paused, then added, “I’m sending you an e-mail from this phone with her picture. It should help.”
Ginger nodded slowly, then began to pace. “I don’t suppose you have any idea where she would have gone, do you?”
“Only one clue,” Callista said. “A month after I arrived here, there was another escape. A young man called Ethan. No last name, as far as I know. I sort of…helped him. But I had no choice.”
“We know about a vampire called Ethan!” Terry said. “He has a place in Mesina. We’ve had him on the radar for a year now.”
“He’s a legend here. So will Lilith be, before week’s end. But…she used to talk about him. And there was something in her eyes and her voice when she did…I don’t think I’m imagining it. And I know he had feelings for her. So maybe…”
“Good work, Callista.”
“Thank you. Thank you so, so much,” Serena said. “Please be safe.”
“I’ll do my best. I want to get out of here as badly as—I’ve gotta go.”
And that was it. The connection was broken.
Ginger hung up the phone and turned to look at Terry and Serena. “It’s time we notified the powers that be of what we’ve been up to. It’s going to take more than just the three of us to protect Lilith and rescue Callista.”
“It’s going to take more than the powers that be,” Terry said. “More than the entire sisterhood.”
Serena nodded. “If they have a vampire army, the only way we’re going to fight them is if we get one of our own.”
“Absolutely not.” Ginger shook her head firmly. “We do not interact with them. We try not to so much as reveal our existence to the Undead. That’s policy, and it’s one I agree with—one that’s essential to our continued ability to operate. Do not even think about breaking it. Is that understood?”
Serena nodded and lowered her head.
“Good. Now, let’s get out to that vampire’s ranch shortly after nightfall and see if we can find your daughter. If nothing more, maybe we can at least warn her.”
Lifting her head, Serena felt lighter. “My God,” she whispered. “I might actually see her…tonight.”
“You can see her now,” Ginger said, and, smiling, she led the way through the kitchen and the huge formal dining room, then into the library. She closed the door and quickly moved behind the desk, where, without even sitting down, she began tapping on the keyboard. After a moment, she straightened and smiled slowly. “She looks like you.”
Her heart in her throat, Serena moved around the desk and blinked away the tears that blurred her vision. There on the monitor screen was a photo of a beautiful young woman with spiraling auburn curls and vivid green eyes.
At her shoulder, Terry whispered, “She’s beautiful.”
Serena nodded but found herself too overcome with emotion to speak. All she could manage was to raise one trembling hand and press her fingertips to her daughter’s cheek as tears finally spilled down her own.
Ethan woke at sundown with Lilith curled in his arms—just the way he’d gone to sleep. Maybe he shouldn’t have done it, but he’d carried her into his room that morning. He’d changed his own clothes and left hers in place—though that still consisted of only his button-down shirt, which was far too big. Then he’d crawled into the bed and curved his body to fit hers, wrapping her in his arms, and he relished both his relief that she was okay and his admiration for her strength.
As he’d drifted into sleep, he’d traveled backward in his mind to his final night in captivity.
He’d kissed her that night, which had done nothing but leave him wanting more and aching at the impossibility of what he had to do: to leave there—to leave her…
“You have to. Now, Ethan.”
He nodded, hearing the soft whisper from beyond the window. Callista, one of the keepers—but one who was so different from the others that he wondered who she really was.
He stood by the barracks window, but for the life of him, he couldn’t move any farther. He stood as if rooted to the spot, relishing what he was certain would be his last sight of Lilith.
“Ethan, it’s for her sake, as well.”
He shook his head, but he somehow tore his eyes from her and moved away, careful not to make a sound as he slipped outside, watching and listening with everything in him.
Callista