Her mind felt muddled and her mouth was dry as ash. She looked around the unfamiliar room and tried not to panic. She had to remain calm, had to figure out what the hell was happening. The room was small, clean yet dingy, offering no clue to her location. With white walls, generic pictures and yard-sale furniture, the room could be anywhere in the western world. She was still dressed in a sequined evening gown but her shoes were nowhere in sight. The last thing she remembered clearly was the party. No, it began with the spaceship’s crash. Tara, her mother, presumed the new recon team had arrived early and arranged for the survivors to be brought to the Vancouver compound. Then she learned the survivors were all Strigo hosts and became suspicious. Why would High King Alta send a ship full of Strigo hosts to Earth? Always before the crews had been an equal balance of the four strains. The survivors became prisoners and Eloise was sent to question the only member of the crew healthy enough to survive an interrogation.
