The sky was a brilliant orange canvas of light that would give birth to a clear, starry night. On the way back home, she’d pick up two bottles of tequila; she was going to need both to drown the bad dreams.

As she made her way back home through light traffic, Alex cursed Ramsey for the 911 text to come to this scene. Ever since she had taken over the Tracker team, the brief time between work and sleep was occupied by his attempt to exert control over her like never before.

Access to classified files was the trade-off. Now that she was completely back inside, she could request information previously deemed “need-to-know” before. As a temporary agent with a specific project, Alex didn’t need to know what the Trackers had been up to over last few years. Her assignment was clearly defined and restricted to bringing in the test subjects for evaluation. She’d almost finished that job when all of this came up.

Her phone buzzed in the hands-free holder attached   to a speaker. She tapped the answer button on the steering wheel.

“How’d it go?” Ramsey’s familiar polished tone boomed. “Anything interesting to report?”

“One of the company’s Executive Assistants and her new husband were murdered,” Alex replied as she came to a stop at the traffic light. “Your team is bringing in their two children.”

“Why?” Ramsey harped. “We’re not a daycare center.”

As traffic moved again, she rolled her eyes. “The children killed them.”

“Oh,” he sighed. “I still don’t understand why we can’t let the kids go to the local authorities.”

“They were turned and killed their parents,” Alex huffed. “That’s why.”

She thought she heard a low snicker come from the line, but why would he laugh at that? The whole situation was messed up, and she wished she could get to the truth some other way.

“How old are the kids?” he finally asked. In the back- ground, she heard a rapid typing sound.

“I have no idea,” Alex replied. “Maybe eight and twelve or so, I guess. The oldest one was around sixteen.”

“What? Wait, I thought you said there were two of them,” Ramsey snipped.

“There are now,” Alex stated. “I had to dust the oldest.”

Now she was sure he was laughing. His snicker reached her ears; she wanted to reach through the phone and rip out his throat.

“Of course, you did. What would an investigation be without you killing someone?”

“Look,” Alex hissed as she snatched the phone free. “He turned his brother and sister and watched as they killed their parents. He was not coming with us without a fight.”

“We’ll get a story on the local news by morning,” Ramsey replied. “Nothing too dramatic. House fire should do the trick.” More typing. “Looks like they just moved in, so no nosy neighbors to wonder about the activity around   the house.”

Alex remembered a cable television van and a moving truck out front. All the people around the house were pretty much ignored. She wasn’t too keen on them setting a fire, but anything else would raise too many flags. Couldn’t have the neighbors thinking a serial killer was on the loose or anything.

“What will you do with the kids?” she asked.

“See if they can identify the idiot vampire who turned them,” Ramsey answered. “After that, the Council will send a courier to retrieve them. They’ve been notified.”

She almost dropped Creed’s name, but she decided against it once he mentioned the Council. That information would be useful to her later. If she told Ramsey, he’d have a kill order placed on Creed. She needed him alive, for now. Apparently, no one got Ronnie’s reference or Ramsey would have made some smartass remark about it.