But one thing he knew for certain: In the same way that Claire had an innate ability to create disguises—something the siphoning of his power had allowed her to do—she was the one who carried the tracking gene.

When she emerged from the bathroom, back in her casual clothes, she hung up the black dress, her chin firm. She appeared ready to go to work. “So tell me what you know about the tracking power.”

Lucian nodded. He approved of her demeanor and of the vibration in his chain that spoke of her resolve. “For the most part, the capacity to track people and things belongs to you.”

“You mean, like the disguising power I have.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay.” She spread her hands wide. “So, how do you think I can access it? What do I do?”

He took her hands once more, connecting his power to her more securely. “Just try focusing your thoughts on the weapon.”

She closed her eyes, and his chains vibrated with her efforts to concentrate. He remained very still to let her do her thing.

After a moment he sensed a shift and watched her brows rise, then fall. When she opened her eyes, she shook her head. “For a second there, I sensed something, a definite shape. I mean, it was real. But then it just sort of disappeared.”

“Good, that’s good. Try again.”

She repeated the process. As before he felt the change in her. He could sense how hard she was working to find the weapon, as though reaching through time and space.

At last, she opened her eyes but once more shook her head. “I feel close to the object, but I really do lack the power to complete the connection.”

“You know what it is?” Rumy drew close and glanced up at Lucian.

“Don’t say it,” Lucian snapped, but he could see that his abrupt response startled Claire. “Sorry.”

He turned back to Rumy. “I’m not going there. I promised myself that I’d never take that step. It’ll bring me too close to being what my father is.”

“What do you mean, what your father is?” Claire shook her head, frowning.

“An Ancestral.”

“Oh, right. We talked about that earlier.”

“If Lucian would take the leap and become an Ancestral vampire, he’d have enough power to take your tracking ability the distance. He could also serve as a judge in one of our courts or rule the Ancestral Council himself.”

Lucian let go of her hands and scrubbed his fingers through his short hair. “It’s one of the things that level of power would achieve.”

She glanced from one to the other. “This is an advanced civilization, then.”

Lucian glanced at her. Once more, Claire seemed surprised, which of course did nothing for his habitually short temper. “Yes. We even walk around on two feet and don’t drag our arms on the ground.”

But she laughed, her light-brown eyes sparkling. “Oh, come on. You must have seen some of our vampire movies, especially the older ones. You have a reputation in the human world. Which means that I just didn’t expect, when Rumy brought me here to what is essentially a sex club, that I’d be hearing about judges, leadership, and Ancestrals. Just please give me some time to catch up.”

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “Sorry, I have a short fuse.”

“You’re allowed.”

He glanced at her. Once more the woman had surprised him. “I’m allowed?”

“Lucian, you’ve been in hell for over a year. If the least negative response you exhibit is a certain level of impatience, I’m impressed beyond words.”

Rumy punched his arm and smiled. “She sees you like I do. You’ve never given yourself enough credit.”

Lucian thought they’d both lost their minds. He knew what he was. He lived with Daniel’s genes always threatening to take him over and to destroy the good he tried to do in his world. In part, he blamed Daniel’s Ancestral genetics for making him the man he was. Daniel had taken all that power and turned it into something evil.

If Lucian ever embraced his Ancestral calling—and he knew he had it within him—what would keep him from becoming just like his father? That much power would tempt anyone.

“All right, fine, think of me as you will, but let’s get back to figuring out this damn tracking thing.”

“Fair enough.”

Once more Lucian took her hands as Claire closed her eyes. She relaxed as much as she could, focusing on the extinction weapon. She had no visual representation for the weapon, so she kept her thoughts trained on what it could do, its potential for annihilation.

As before, an image would arrive at the periphery of her consciousness, trying to break through, then fade away. She centered her mind more carefully on that image. She felt Lucian’s power flowing through her now, a sensation she was gradually getting used to. She tapped into that power.

Finally, the image began to take shape, in bits and pieces, sitting in a rough-looking cavern, smallish in size. In the center was a large gray metallic box with vents on the side. Without opening her eyes, she relayed what she saw.

She felt Lucian’s corresponding excitement through the vibration of her chain. “Hold that location. That’s all you need to do.”

“Got it.” But the edges beyond the weapon were wavy, as though the rest of the space was hidden behind a disguise. “Wait. Something’s not right here. I think there’s a disguising shield in place.” She opened her eyes and met Lucian’s gaze. “Is it possible Daniel is behind this?”

Lucian shrugged, frowning. “I don’t know.” He turned to Rumy. “Daniel could be here, couldn’t he, without your security system knowing it?”

“In some of the more remote regions of the Como system, yes, of course. There are a lot of miles that I haven’t explored. Don’t really need to.”

Lucian frowned. “So this could be some kind of trap.”

Claire nodded. “It doesn’t feel right to me at all.”

“We’ll go with your instincts, and cruise the area first to get a good look at the object and the cave. I think we’ll know more then.”

Claire gulped. “You’re talking altered flight.”

“I know, but I can take it slow. We won’t be exposed like we were earlier in the open air. Mostly we’ll be traveling through solid rock and not in a location where other vampires in flight could see us.”

She supposed his words were reasonable, but her previous headache still lingered, though not nearly as severe as it had been when she’d first arrived. “Okay.”

His lips curved. “You sound doubtful.”

She rubbed her temple. “What else would you expect?”

“Point taken.” He glanced first at his bare feet, then hers.

Claire smiled. “I guess we’d better shoe up.”

Lucian laughed. “Shoe up?”

She shrugged. “It made you laugh, didn’t it?”

His expression held for a moment. “Yeah, it did. I can’t remember doing that in a long time. All right, Claire, let’s shoe up.”

Once she had her socks and jogging shoes on and he’d donned some serious steel-toed boots, he held his arm wide for her. As his arm tightened around her waist, she stepped onto his right foot. To feel secure, she slid her arm around his neck, but the sudden physical proximity brought another wave of desire flowing through her.

She became aware of just how male he was, and how much his scent appealed to her. She swallowed hard and focused once more on the task at hand. Knowing they’d be in flight, she switched to telepathy. So how do we do this? I mean, what do I do?

Just stay centered on the image and I think you’ll be able to direct me. His rich voice pierced her mind, adding another layer of sensation, which she worked to suppress. Rumy had warned her that the chain-bond would enhance all her responses to Lucian, but she hadn’t thought she’d be so drawn to him.

She closed her eyes. This time the image came to her quickly, a metallic-looking box, sitting on the floor of a rough-looking cavern. Got it.