“I’m guessing they didn’t because they intended to use it as some kind of torture chamber.” Stuart puffed out a long breath. “I thought the basement was bad. Two guys are with the girl and…fuck, we have to get her out of there.”

“Yes, and we have to do it before the clients leave,” agreed Sam. “But if we rush in, we’ll fuck it up and people will get away. Where are the other upstairs clients situated?”

“Two are on the second floor, and three are on the first floor.”

“What about the staff?”

“They’re all on the ground floor, except for the maids – they’re in one of the rooms on the first floor; one is changing the bed-sheet while the other gives the girl a shower in the adjoined bathroom, getting her ready for the next customer. She can barely stand.”

The mercury glint to Sam’s irises were glowing fiercely. “Reuben, do your thing for David and Chico.”

“Sure thing, Coach.” Reuben briefly touched each of their shoulders. Like that, David’s psionic blast and Chico’s poisonous darts were fatal – thanks to his gift of power augmentation.

Salem frowned. “Not me?” Usually, Sam ordered for Reuben to make Salem’s psychic punch fatal.

Sam shook her head. “Not this time. I want the brothel keeper alive so I can question her, but I need you to knock the bitch out first. If Ava’s right and someone has the gift to put someone under sedation, it could be her. I can’t afford for her to be conscious and have the opportunity to send us all to dreamland or, for that matter, use any other gift on us.”

“We’re going to need to separate the moment we get in there.” Jared was clearly raring to go, but his tone was calm and even. “If we deal with the staff first, we might give the clients a chance to slip away, and vice versa. That’s not an option.”

Sweeping her gaze across us, Sam spoke. “Salem, Denny, and Max will take the ground floor with me. The rest of you hit the stairs. David, Stuart, Butch – take the first floor. Chico, Reuben, Harvey – check the second floor. Jared, Ava, Damien – head for the attic. First we eliminate the clients and the majority of the staff, then we free the captives.”

Salem’s hand clenched on my thigh, and I knew what was coming. “Coach, Ava is –”

“Once the brothel keeper is out cold, you’re free to join Ava. In the meantime, Jared and Damien will be with her, so don’t whine.”

It was obvious to me that he wanted to argue, but Salem was nothing if not loyal; he followed orders, even when those orders galled him. “Do we let anyone live?” he asked.

“Only the keeper. I’ve got a lot of questions for her. I particularly want to know how many others are involved and where we’ll find them.”

“Stuart, which side of the manor gives access to the stairs?” asked Jared.

“The back. They’re behind the reception desk.”

“Then we go in through the back.”

“Don’t teleport us inside,” Sam told Jared. “Not yet.”

His brow furrowed. “Why?”

“Denny said there are three chauffeurs in the parking lot. If we can get rid of them first, the bastards will be down by three. Three might not sound like much, but if those three have substantial gifts, it’ll make a big difference.”

“Then I’ll teleport us all behind the manor, a safe distance away so we won’t be seen.” A moment later, we were among the trees at the side of the annex. The chauffeurs were leaning against the limos, laughing.

Max rubbed his hands together, blue eyes glinting with anticipation. “Who’s doing the honours?”

Jared looked at Sam. “There is one problem you haven’t considered while bloodlust is running through your veins, baby. The second we kill those fuckers, the security-guy will see, and he’ll alert the others.”

“We can’t destroy the cameras. It would make the guard suspicious.” Harvey seemed to like to point out the obvious.

Twisting her lips, Sam tapped her chin. “If we lure the bloke out first and deal with him in a spot the others won’t see, we can take him out of the equation quickly.”

Reuben tied his shoulder-length brown hair back with a rubber band. “How do we lure him out?”

“Denny, any chance you could shoot some of your green slime onto the camera at the side of the manor?” asked Sam. “On the black and white monitors, it’ll look more like some kind of bird shit to him. He won’t be worried, but he’ll most likely come out to check and clean it off.”

Denny rolled his shoulders. “I can do that.” Another of his animal mimic abilities was to ooze slime out of his pores like Hagfish. In vampire-speed, he’d rounded the corner of the manor. Still hidden in the trees, he shot a small stream of ooze into the sky. We all watched as it flew down and landed on the camera with a splat.

Once he was back, Sam and Jared nodded their approval at him. Soon enough, a burly Pagori dressed in a black suit stalked out of the patio doors, briefly greeting the chauffeurs and moaning about fucking birds.

“Well, what do you know, it worked.” Harvey sounded astonished and amused.

Offended, Sam glowered at him. “Of course it worked.”

As the guy reached the camera, Jared spoke. “Chico, take care of this one. Your method makes less sound than ours, and we don’t want the chauffeurs to hear anything.”

“No problem.” A millisecond later, Chico stood where Denny had previously been; holding his hand out, palm up. Three darts imbedded themselves in the burly Pagori, making him soundlessly explode into ashes.

“One down,” Harvey quietly sang when Chico returned.

“Now for the chauffeurs.” Jared turned to Max. “You first. Then Sam, Chico, and David can do their thing.”

Once Max had paralysed the chauffeurs’ senses – leaving them unable to cry out for help or see their enemies to defend themselves – Sam, Chico, and David attacked; Sam threw an energy ball, Chico shot more darts, and David splayed his fingers wide and sent out a psionic blast. Like that, all three Pagoris were ashes.

“Four down,” sang Harvey.

Chico sighed at him. “Okay, that could get annoying real fast.”

“Time to go inside,” declared Jared.

Sam danced her gaze along all of us as she spoke. “Do what you always do: attack first, and attack hard, because you never know what gift the vampire facing you will have. And remember: I want the keeper alive.”