Lyra woke in a haze, trying to remember just what had happened to her. When she opened her eyes, the room was a dark blur and nothing more. Shifting slightly, she could feel a male body laying behind her and turned into his arms. She knew it had to be Sav or Steve holding on to her so tightly. As she ran her hand through the curly mass of hair, she smiled and wondered when Sav was going to wake up.

As if her thoughts had roused him from his sleep, Sav woke slowly and looked down at Lyra. He smiled at her in the darkness of the room and whispered, “Good evening, my love.”

“Evening, baby,” she answered softly.

“How are you feeling,” Sav asked, though she could hear distraction in his voice.

“Better, I guess,” she said quietly. “The room’s dark and blurry instead of just dark, so I’m assuming that my sight is starting to come back now.”

“That’s good,” Sav said quickly, then looked around the room. “Luv, where’s Steve at?”

“I assume...” Lyra started to answer, then she let herself try to feel Steve. His mind was muddled, just like it had been when....

“Oh, God,” Lyra whimpered as she realized what had happened. Making it to her feet, she waited for Sav and said, “Something’s wrong, baby! His mind’s all cluttered and he’s not thinking straight! It’s just like when Lisa had him under that spell, only I can still feel him.”

“I was afraid of that,” Sav murmured as he stood next to Lyra. Letting her take his arm, he led her up and into the living area where the others already sat talking. Lyra shaded her eyes, the bright light changing things from a dark blur to a brilliantly lit one. She could see the motion of figures around them, but still couldn’t make out who was who yet.

Phil came up out of the basement a second later and hissed, “What’s wrong with Steve?”

“I don’t know, but I mean to find out,” Lyra said with determination. “He was like this when Lisa first got a hold on him, so I can only assume that’s what’s causing it now.”

“He’s gone?” Kevan asked worried.

“Yeah,” Sav answered, barely even noticing as Kevan jumped to his feet.

“Okay, I need to ask you a very personal question about him and, sorry, but I don’t have time to care if you get offended,” Kevan said quickly. “Do you know if he had sex with her?”

“No...” Lyra started.

“Yes, I think he did,” Sav interrupted. “When they were out in that alley, well, I’ve heard those sounds enough before to know what causes all that heavy breathing...”

“Damnation!” Kevan exclaimed as Cyra made it to her feet beside him.

“What’s going on, Kev?” Cyra asked in concern.

“She’s gotten her hooks into him far worse than I’d imagined,” Kevan answered as he started to leave the room. Then he turned to Sav and said, “How much do you value your friend’s life?”

“As much as my own,” Sav said quietly.

“Then, since you and Lyra have the strongest ties to him now, you’ll have to help me find him,” Kevan said quickly, starting to pull Sav out of the room.

“I’ll be damned if you’ll find him without me!” Phil murmured, following them quickly. Wordlessly, Lyra followed the blurred figures of Sav and Kevan with Phil. Kevan noticed her and said, “You can’t possibly come with us, Lyra! You can’t see a bleeding thing yet!”

“I can see you standing in front of me, even if I still can’t tell what you look like,” Lyra said confidently. “I’m not leaving Steve to that bitch no matter what the cost!”

“LYRA!” Cyra commanded. “You will NOT be endangering him or yourself by going with them!”

“Forget it, Cyra,” Sav said, a sudden authority coming into his voice. “I won’t let anything happen to her, but she won’t let anything happen to Steve, so she’s going.” Smiling gently at Lyra, he whispered, “Somehow I knew you wouldn’t let me go alone.”

“Of course not,” she grinned, kissing him quickly before turning back to the shape she knew was Kevan. “Now, what do we need to do?”

Kevan let out a sigh. With the new bond of the three of them sharing blood together, he knew he should have expected this complication. And, from what he’d learned, Phil had been Steve’s best friend for over four decades, so that young one would never let Steve go so easily. Shaking his head, he said, “Well, the first line of business will be to FIND him. And quickly, before the witch gets him to join her and completely blocks your bond with him. She can only do that once he’s physically with her. So let’s go and see if we can stop this before he’s too far gone.”

Sav led Lyra out into the garden, with Kevan and Phil right on their heels. With only a second to orientate themselves to Steve’s location, they jumped into the air as one and headed off into the night.

Why couldn’t he keep his thoughts together? Things had been so strange ever since he’d woken up next to Lyra that night. He’d just felt so drawn towards something he couldn’t even name anymore. Leaving Lyra and Sav had been so hard, but he couldn’t stop himself as he’d gotten out of bed and taken off into the night sky. The pull of his heart was with his partners, yet his body had overridden his need to be with them. He flew unsteadily away from them and to whatever was so urgent in his mind.

Lisa walked worriedly around her apartment. Why was it taking such a long time for Steve to come back to her? It had been nearly five months since she’d tried to pull him to her side, but she’d not felt a thing from him until tonight. Somehow, she just knew the female vampire he’d called Lyra was to blame for this delay, even though she should have been dead from the dose of Dragon Dust Lisa had hit her with. This problem of not being able to make Steve come to her had to mean that Lyra still lived and had somehow kept Lisa out of Steve’s thoughts until this evening. Perhaps he’d fought with the bitch and left her, opening himself back to Lisa again. All Lisa could think was how desperately she needed to bring him back to her so she could get the one thing she wanted more than anything else in the world.

The group of vampires landed quietly outside a ruined house in the north of Dublin and looked around cautiously. Glancing at Lyra and Sav, Kevan saw them both stiffen involuntarily and knew without speaking that Steve had reached his destination. He started to walk closer to the house, but Lyra grabbed him roughly and said, “Be careful, Kevan. Steve’s physically stronger than any vampire I’ve ever encountered. Once she’s got control of him, she’ll use him like a weapon to keep all of us at bay until she can find a way to escape.” Turning to where she knew Phil stood, she said, “Phillip, you’ve got to stay out of the way until we get him under control. Unless you want to end up like Lisel, that is?”

“But...”

“Phil, Steve’s not in control of himself right now,” she said in a voice that demanded his attention. “Once we get him back, I’ll not have to lose him to the guilt of your death! Am I understood?”

“Okay,” Phil murmured.

“Once we get him subdued, I may need you to get him out of here,” Lyra said calmly, though her thoughts were anything but. She was so worried about her lover, she just couldn’t even begin to plan a way to save him. Luckily, Kevan was far calmer as he said, “Okay, Steve’s going to be able to feel all of you, so I’ll be the surprise guest. Lyra, Sav, the two of you stay together and try to reach him. The bond you’ve developed since the three of you have been together is much more powerful than the normal bonding of vampires.” Sav looked at him in confusion and he continued, “Three is always more powerful than two, young Savage. It’s called a triad, and once it’s formed, even the Blood Madness can’t break it. There’s no power on Earth that can break that bond. Even Lisa, with all her spells, can only dampen it for a time. To be honest, in the end, she’ll lose out to what she doesn’t understand. We only have to buy enough time for it to break through.”

“How long will that take?” Sav asked in concern.

“There’s no telling,” Kevan said with a shake of his head. “It could take weeks before it happens. Unless the witch is dead...”

“Then that’s the goal,” Lyra said coolly. “Kill the witch and save Steve.”

“It may not be that simple, Lyra,” Kevan interjected. “She’s show a very good ability to defend herself so far. Or have you forgotten your last encounter with her so quickly.”

“Hardly,” Lyra snorted. “But if we sneak up on her, she won’t have time to...”

“She’s been warned you’re here already,” Kevan answered before Lyra could finish her sentence. “Steve will know exactly where you are and tell her you’ve arrived. That’s why I’m the important one here. Clark can’t feel me.”

“Okay, so what’s your idea?” Lyra asked quietly.

“The two of you will distract her,” he said to Sav and Lyra. Looking at Phil, he said, “You’ll be with me, young one. Chances are, with the state of mind Steve is in, he won’t notice you at first. Plus, you’ll be able to get him out of there once we get her away from him.”

Nodding, Lyra said, “Okay, let’s move then. I’m not letting her have much of a chance to hurt him.” Letting Sav lead, Lyra followed him right to the front entrance of the house. They didn’t see where Phil and Kevan went. Rather than knock and leave Lisa the chance to escape another way, Sav simply kicked the door in. Lyra followed Sav, cautious that Lisa may have booby trapped the house before they got there. Slowly, they walked through the living room and stopped dead when they saw Lisa sitting next to Steve in the den of the rotting house.

“Careful,” Lyra whispered as she tried to see what was happening in front of her. “You really don’t want a dose of that crap she threw at me!”

No matter how quietly she’d spoken, Lyra’s voice made Steve’s head shot up. He looked straight at them, then back at Lisa. Sav shivered when he saw how much Steve reminded him of the zombies of legend. Lisa glanced at them, then hissed, “Stop them, Steve. You don’t want to be taken away from me again, do you?”

Without speaking, Steve stood up slowly. The menace in his walk chilled Sav’s blood. This couldn’t be the same man who’d been with them last night, Sav thought quickly. There was nothing of the Steve he knew in the man who slowly crossed the room and stood in front of them. Lyra closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on reaching Steve, only just beginning to feel him when Lisa cried, “Kill HER, baby! She’s the one whose a danger to us!”

Obediently, Steve turned on Lyra and grabbed her roughly. Helpless tears ran down Lyra’s face as she realized she wasn’t going to have time to break through to him before he did exactly as Lisa asked. All she could do as she felt him lift her from the ground was whisper, “Please, Steve, you’ve got to hear me, luv! Don’t do this!”

Steve couldn’t hear her as he pulled her away from Sav and nearer to the desk Lisa sat on. Sav wasn’t sure what do to until he saw the knife Lisa was about to hand to Steve. He crouched, ready to spring at him as Lisa laughed, “She’s not going to resist you, baby, so just go ahead and cut her heart out. We both know she’d rather die than do one thing to hurt you!”

The blank stare in Steve’s eyes gave no hint of any emotion as he took the knife from Lisa and turned back to Lyra. He lifted the knife and started to swing down just as Sav jumped at his back and started to pummel him. As he fell to his knees, Steve’s downward motion drove the blade deep into Lyra’s chest. She let out a cry of agony as the knife cut through her flesh, then fell away from the two men as they started to battle in truth. Steve regained his feet, a backhanded swing knocking Sav across the room. A second later, Steve was standing over a wounded Lyra searching for the knife again. His eyes caught the glint of steel just as Sav shook off his blow and jumped on him again. Robotically, Steve bent to pick up the knife as Sav hit him square in the back. It knocked Steve to his knees, unfortunately bringing him closer to the blade once again. His hand shot out, retrieving the knife as Sav hit him upside the head. His single mission bent on killing Lyra exactly as Lisa had told him to, Steve merely turned and knocked Sav back into the wall with one blow. Then he turned back to Lyra, who was helplessly trying to move her injured body away from him. He took hold of her shoulder, pushing her back to the ground as his blade tore into the wall of her chest.

Lyra let out an inhuman scream as Steve cut his way through her chest muscles. Mindless of the horrifying sounds coming from her throat, Steve set about doing just what Lisa wished. The razor sharp knife had just laid open the flesh covering her ribs when Steve felt his body lift away from her. Lisa let out a scream as soon as she looked up from the morbid scene on the ground and saw Kevan standing in front of her, pulling Steve away from Lyra’s now unconscious form.

“STEVE!” she screamed as Kevan sent him flying through a wall.

“Morgan?” Kevan hissed as he caught sight of the medallion on Lisa’s neck. “What the hell is your game?”

“Who’s Morgan?” Lisa whimpered, playing for time as she tried to get around the desk to where she kept her secret stash of Dragon Dust. Catching her roughly by the wrist, Kevan said, “I know who you are, no matter how you try to hide it!” Grabbing the chain about her neck, he yanked it hard and the clasp broke. To Sav, who was just getting back to his feet, Lisa seemed to ripple and change in front of his eyes. Suddenly, rather than the image of a Lisel look a like, the middle aged woman who’d spoken to him the night they’d first met Lisa stood in front of them.

“What the fuck?” Sav whispered before seeing the mutilated body of Lyra laying on the ground. He rushed to her side, desperate to help her as he asked, “What the fuck is going on, Kevan?”

“Morgan here, she’s been a bit of a naughty girl for years, haven’t you, Morgan?” Kevan asked calmly, not seeing Steve coming back through the hole in the wall.

“Help me, Steve!” Morgan cried as soon as she saw him. Steve obediently left Lyra alone and grabbed Kevan. He punched him in the face, knocking the older vampire to the floor. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Morgan said quickly, “Get me out of here, luv! He’s going to hurt me if you don’t!” Steve picked her up and brushed passed Phil, who was standing in the doorway, heading out into the night. Before he could follow them, he heard Kevan say, “Don’t go after him, Phillip! You’ll only end up dead if you do!”

Sav cradled Lyra’s body against him as Kevan leaned over her. Nodding, he said, “She’ll heal. Let her feed, Savage, and it will help her recover.” Sav bit quickly into his own wrist without questioning Kevan’s instructions. She regained consciousness as soon as his blood hit her throat. Phil watched in fascination as her body quickly started to heal with each drop of precious fluid she took. As she recovered, all three of them turned to Kevan for answers.

“Let’s go back to the coven house, young ones,” Kevan said with a sigh. “We’ve much to discuss and little time to do it.” Sav held Lyra close to him, supporting her unsteady body as they walked out into the night and headed back to the castle they called home.