Outskirts Press, INC.

All Rob wants to do is take Alyson and Jason home.

Sixty children have been freed from the vampire lair in the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas, and all the vampires in the caves have been killed. The hard part is finally over. All that’s left for Robert Mackie to do is get his niece and nephew home safely to complete the rescue. After receiving assurances of safe passage from Lisa Kaes—the de facto head of the West Texas vampire family who ran the living blood bank in the Guadalupes—former DEA agent Mackie makes a detour to Lajitas, Carlos Santiago’s hometown. He’ll give the old man’s family and the Guardians a full accounting of what happened in the mountains, and with a final farewell, he and the children will be on their way east—putting the vampires behind them for good. But when you’re dealing with vampires, nothing is ever that easy. Unbeknownst to Rob, one of the vampires killed during the rescue was the father of a dysfunctional family from Detroit…and several members have traveled all the way to Texas to exact their revenge. This gripping sequel to Guardians is a genre-bender of exceptional quality—a paranormal thriller that will leave you wanting more.

Lisa’s pupils expanded rapidly until nothing remained of her blue irises. It was a reaction all too familiar to Robert. Unfortunately, without the assistance of holy water in his veins, his initial reaction was too slow and uncoordinated. He flung the hot tea where Lisa’s face used to be. Her fangs were now inches from Kimberly’s neck.

Buttons clattered off the wall as Rob tore open his shirt to get at the heavy iron cross. The leather cord snapped near the knot behind his neck. The right side of the vampire’s face was the closest piece of accessible flesh.

Black smoke roiled from her high cheekbone as Rob pressed the cross firmly against the right side of her face, his left hand on the other side of her head to give him added leverage. The vampire’s high-pitched shriek felt like a dagger in the middle of his head. So strong was his hold that when she flung herself backward off Kimberly that he went with her over the table and to the middle of the room.

Rob landed first, his back burying itself in the plush maroon carpet, but physics and years of practice and practical application of hand-to-hand combat made it possible for him to end up straddled on top of the vampire’s heaving chest, her constantly flexing upper arms under his knees. He held the cross a fist’s distance from her face, one of her eyes blocked from his view. Her ability to affect his judgment was something he did not want to test further at the moment.

“Put the fangs away, lady. We’re just here to talk.”