Blood Lines

she?"
    Dave sighed. Henry heard the soft flesh of his lower lip compressed between his teeth. "Metro West Detention Center.
    At least, I think it's her."
    'Didn't you check!"
    'Yeah, I checked." From the sound of his voice, Detective-Sergeant Graham still didn't believe what he'd found. "I better start at the beginning…" He told how he'd run into Hania Wojotowicz and how she'd listed the contents of the purse, how she'd called up the inmate file, how the description had fit Vicki Nelson even though the name had said Terri Hanover. "They picked her up on a skinbeef, Mike, against a twelve-year-old boy. You've never read such a crock of shit. She was on something, they don't know what, so they stuck her in Special Needs."
    'They drugged her! The bastards drugged her!"
    'Yeah. If it's her." But he didn't sound like he had any doubts. "Who are they , Mike? What the fuck is going on?"
    'I can't tell you. Where is she exactly-now?"
    The pause said Dave knew exactly why Celluci asked. "She's still in Special Needs," he said at last. "D Range. Cell three. But I didn't actually see her. They wouldn't let me onto the range. I don't know it's her."
    'I do."
    'This has gone too far." He swallowed, once, hard. "I'm talking to Cantree tomorrow."

    'No! Dave, you talk to Cantree about any of this and you'll be ass deep in it with the rest of us. Just keep your mouth shut for a little while longer. Please."
    'A little while longer," Dave repeated and sighed again. "All right, partner, how long?"
    'I don't know. Maybe you should take that vacation time you've got coming."
    'Yeah. Maybe I should."
    The quiet click as Dave Graham hung up his end of the line sounded through the apartment.
    Henry came out of the bedroom and the two men stared at each other.
    'We have to get her out," Celluci said. He could see only a pale oval of face in the darkness. I'll do anything I must to get her out no matter how little I like it. I'll even work with you because I need your strength and speed .
    'Yes," Henry agreed. The "detention centers" I know are centuries in the past. I need your knowledge. My feelings here are not important; she is .
    The silent subtext echoed so loudly between them it was amazing it didn't alert the police watching the building and bring them racing inside.
    Chapter Fifteen
    'All right, when the lights go out, you go over the wall, across the yard, in the emergency exit and…"
    'Up three flights of stairs and through the first emergency door on my left. I remember your instructions, Detective."
    Henry stepped back from his BMW and looked down at Celluci who still sat in the driver's seat. "Are you certain you can get near enough to the generator?"
    'Don't worry about me, you just be ready to move. You won't have much time. The moment the power goes off, all four guards will move to A Range to start emergency lockup. Vicki's in D; they'll do that last. You'll also have to deal with the other women on the range; it's just turned eight, so they won't be in the cells yet…"
    'Michael."
    Celluci started. Something in the sound of his name stopped the flow of words and brought his head up. Although he knew the other man's eyes were hazel, they seemed much darker than hazel could be as if they'd absorbed some of the night.
    'I want her out of there as much as you do. We will be successful. She will be freed. One way or another."
    The words, the tone, the man himself, left no room for argument, no room for doubt. Celluci nodded, comforted in spite of himself and, as he had once before in a farmhouse kitchen, he thought that he would be willing to follow… a romance writer . Yeah, sure. But the protest had little force behind it. He wet his lips and dropped his gaze, aware as he did that Fitzroy had allowed it and, strangely enough, found himself not resenting the other's strength. "You won't have much time before the emergency system kicks in, so you'll have to be fast."
    'I know."
    He put the car into gear. "So, uh, be careful."
    'I will." Henry watched the car drive away, watched until the taillights disappeared around a corner, then walked slowly across the street toward the detention center. His pants and crepe-soled shoes were black, but his turtleneck sweater was a deep, rich burgundy; no point in looking more like a second story man than necessary. He carried a dark wool cap to pull over his hair the instant he started over the wall as he'd learned early after his change that a pale-haired vampire was at a disadvantage