"Here I am!" he shouted and waved, causing all sixteen Elemaiya to turn in his direction.

"On my command," Diamond hissed, "we relocate. To that boat." He jerked his head toward Ashe. "There are enough of us—he's relocated at least twice. That should have exhausted him. He won't be able to do it again. Go."

Randy had finally found his way out of the O'Neill's attic, gone through the house and made his way outside. He arrived on the street just in time to see Ashe standing on a boat tied to a dock in the canal, waving at more than a dozen of the pointed-eared enemy. Randy opened his mouth to warn Ashe, when all of the enemy disappeared from one spot and reappeared upon the boat where Ashe stood. "No!" he shouted instead, as all of them scrambled to get their hands on Ashe. That's when the entire canal burst into fire.

It wasn't an ordinary fire, either; the flames reached twenty feet or higher, burning with an intensity that pushed the Star Cove residents backward. Randy had never thought to see water burn, but he did that morning. Gaping at the worst sort of miracle imaginable, Randy listened to the screams of the enemy. Fortunately, they didn't last long.

Honored One, the email message read, we arrived at the prison to take the one indicated, only to learn he escaped an hour before we arrived. I know you will have retired before receiving this message, but we will remain in the area and search for clues in case you wish us to track him. It is most unfortunate, I feel, that he is now loose. We laid compulsion on two of the guards, and what they tell us is frightening. Let us know how you wish for us to proceed—Gavin.

When Aedan arrived in Star Cove an hour before dawn, it was to find Adele, wrapped in a robe and waiting for him inside her kitchen. Randy and Dawn Smith, Lavonna, Cori, Dori, Wynn, Sharon and Jonas all waited with her. Adele had been crying; Aedan saw that right away. Dori and Cori, too, were sniffling.

"What happened?" Aedan was weary—he and Nathan were exhausted and that was most unusual for vampires. They seldom wearied except under the most extreme and stressful of circumstances. The werewolf nurse was next door, tending to Denise DeLuca; Sali had been waiting for Marcus and the others when they arrived.

"Aedan, I don't know how he did it, but Ashe lured sixteen Elemaiya onto a boat in the canal and then he set the water on fire. Now, everything in the canal is gone, burnt so completely there's nothing left. Including our son." Adele burst in tears again.

Ezekiel Tanner cursed at Jack Howard when Howard failed to lower the boat's ladder fast enough. And then cursed again when he almost didn't have the strength to climb up the narrow aluminum steps. "What happened?" Jack Howard demanded when Zeke climbed over the railing and began to limp toward his quarters.

Zeke Tanner called the Elemaiya many unkind names. Described them in the worst possible terms. They'd failed him miserably. Now, he was the only one left. Several of his wolves had swam away with him, but they'd tired before reaching the freighter. Zeke hadn't stopped to help, watching them sink as he paddled past them. He'd returned to human form upon reaching the boat, so he could call out for the ladder to be lowered. Jack Howard happened to be the one there to perform that task.

"So, we have nothing," Jack Howard muttered. Zeke used up the last of his strength to knock the former congressman unconscious.

The end