“We have to find out what this Angel Serum is,” Trev said.

“No shit.”

And, more important, I had to find out who that girl from the flashback was, and whether or not she was Elizabeth.

Anna and Sam had us on speakerphone, and Trev did the same on our end. We’d already filled them in on what we’d found in the lab, and Anna had some new information from my files.

“Target E,” Anna said, “was to be killed by decapitation, the body incinerated thereafter.”

I dropped onto the bed in Trev’s hotel room and lay back. Trev was on the couch near the phone. I still had a raging headache from the flashback. The more vivid they were, the worse the aftereffects.

“Why go to such lengths?” Trev said. “The Branch is brutal, but decapitating someone just seems like one too many extra steps for them.”

“You decapitate vampires,” I said, my eyes covered with a hand. The light was too damn bright.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Trev said.

“Think about it.” I sat up. “Why do you decapitate someone? And then burn them?”

“To make sure they’re dead,” Sam said.

I nodded at Trev. “What was it the doctor kept saying in the logs? ‘Zero activity phase.’”

Trev’s face went as white as the sheets beneath me. “Shit,” he muttered, and started to pace the room.

“Fill us in,” Anna said.

“I think they were killing Patient 2124 repeatedly,” I said. “‘Zero activity phase’ was code for ‘dead’—and then they were bringing her back to life. Over and over again. And keeping her dead longer each time. How long was the last test?” I asked Trev.

“She was dead thirty-two minutes.”

“That’s impossible,” Sam said. “The brain would lose function after that long.”

Trev stopped pacing. “Unless the Angel Serum was essentially putting them on ice, and then healing and reanimating them.”

“This is how the zombie apocalypse starts,” Cas said. “You don’t screw with death.”

“Cas,” Trev said, “I’ve missed you.”

“Yeah, well, you can suck an egg,” Cas said.

Trev smiled anyway. The guy really did want to be part of the group again. I could see it on his pathetic little face.

“So,” I started, “how does Elizabeth fit into all this?”

I’d finally broken down and told Trev about her. I’d wanted to keep her a secret just in case he was still part of the Branch. They’d wanted her dead once; they’d want her dead again. But I was pretty sure he was on our side now. Call it gut instinct.

“She was obviously one of the test subjects,” Anna said. “And when they shut down the program, they called you in to terminate her.”

I winced, hearing terminate associated with Elizabeth. Trev caught it and frowned at me.

I flipped him off and he frowned harder.

“That still doesn’t explain why the Branch let her live. Once I brought her to the ER, her rescue was all over the news. They would have known she was still alive.”

“True,” Anna said. “Unless they didn’t think she posed much of a threat after all.”

“Or the lab was shut down,” Sam said, “and all Branch employees left the area because—”

“They would have been worried about the media attention,” Trev cut in. “And killing Elizabeth at that point, after she’d been rescued, would have drawn too much heat.”

“No,” I said, “there’s got to be more to it than that. I just don’t know what yet.”

And that also didn’t explain who the dark-haired girl was from the flashback I’d had in the lab. Was she Elizabeth? Was she another test subject?

“Any other targets mentioned in the files?” I asked Anna.

“No. Just the one. But we’ll keep digging. If there’s more here, we’ll find it.”

“Thanks, Anna,” Trev said. I noticed he didn’t thank Sam or Cas.

“We’ll check in later,” I said.

“Sounds good.”

“Love you, Nicky,” Cas said. “Hate you, Trev.”

Trev laughed as he called out good-bye.

“Take me home?” I asked Trev, once we’d hung up the phone.

“Only if you ask nicely.”

“Take me home, asshole.”

He sighed. “Good enough.”

26

ELIZABETH

I GOT UP EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, even though Nick had said he’d prefer breakfast later. I hadn’t been sleeping well anyway, so I figured I’d get a jump on the day.

After I showered, I spent a ridiculous amount of time picking out an outfit—a summer dress with tiny birds on it—and doing my hair and makeup. Nick probably wouldn’t notice or care, but for some reason I wanted to put in a little extra effort. Maybe not so much for him, but for me. It’d been a long time since I’d felt good about myself, but when I was with Nick, I felt strong, different, better.

Aggie had left early to run some errands, even after working half the night at the hospital, so I had the kitchen all to myself. I decided I’d make French toast for Nick and me, using Aggie’s special recipe. I never made it as good as she did, but I could get close enough.

I grabbed my iPod, picked a pop music playlist, and stuck in my earbuds. I loved cooking while listening to music. It took less than five minutes to grab all my dishes and ingredients, save for the eggs. Aggie tended to bury the carton in the bottom of the fridge. I rummaged around inside, found the eggs, and grabbed four, coddling them in my arm.