OUTSIDE POLOKWANE, SOUTH AFRICA

Akilah Moore's hair whips in the wind as she rides toward the Human Rescuers Compound. Having never been to Africa, but always wanting to, she feels a strange connection to the land. But she can't shake the nagging feeling that there's something else drawing her to Polokwane. Some type of unnatural heartbeat throbbing beneath the dirt and gravel.

"This place is beautiful," Julia Mitchell says, gazing at the rolling hills of grass as they near the small town of Polokwane.

"I've always wanted to go to Africa," Vincent Moore says. He adjusts his sunglasses and leans forward in the jeep, where Julia is seated with Akilah. "I just wish it were under different circumstances."

Alec Bale rolls his eyes. "Do you have to keep being so irritating?"

"Do you have to keep being an asshole?" Vince counters.

"Well, you know what they say," Alec says. "It takes one."

"Here we are!" Julia says loudly, interrupting their bickering.

The jeep pulls up to the compound, where they find Sara Reynolds standing near the entrance, sunglasses on with a light tank top. She doesn't appear as someone who's been enjoying her vacation. The toll that stress has taken on her is even more apparent when she removes her glasses and reveals the dark circles underneath her eyes.

"Thank God you're here," Sara says, greeting everyone. She immediately embraces Vince, then Julia ad Akilah. "Alec...what are you doing here?"

"Good to see you too, cousin," Alec says, frowning.

"No, it's good that you came," Sara says, taking Alec's hand. "We'll need all the help we can get."

"What exactly is going on here?"

"It's Kelli," Sara says. "At first I thought she'd just gotten lost somewhere, but now, she's been missing for far too long, and no one here seems to be willing to do anything about it. I think...I think she's been taken."

"Taken? By whom?" Vince demands.

Sara's throat tightens. She stares at Vince directly in the face. "Evil."

HANLEY ENTERPRISES

Another late night at the office would normally cause Leslie Hanley a lot of undue stress, but lately, spending time at the office was a welcome reprieve from all the drama occurring under her roof. With Sean and Denise now living at the mansion, she vacillates between attempting to wrest memories out of Sean, keeping Denise at bay, and trying carefully not to bruise Michael's already damaged ego.

No, a quiet night with a bottle of wine and the Eclipse Theatre account is just what she needs now.

She takes a sip from the glass on the edge of her desk and opens the folder before her, ready to come up with some new concepts to promote the fledgling theatre company.

But as she tries digging into her work, she finds that everything she wants to bury deep down inside of herself continues to boil out and rise to the top. And within moments, she finds herself crying.

"Oh God, Leslie," she says aloud, wiping away her tears. "Get a hold of yourself. You have work to do."

As she tries returning to her work, she hears someone call out her name. Startled, Leslie accidentally knocks over her glass of wine, spilling it onto her desk.

"Shit!"

Leslie goes to work cleaning up the spilled wine.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Hanley," Jessica Reyes says, standing in her doorway. "I was just passing by your office, and I was wondering if you needed someone to talk to."

"Excuse me?" Leslie says.

"I heard about your husband and his...um...new wife? Moving into your house."

"Water cooler gossip you'd do well to ignore."

"I'm sorry. I'll go."

"No, wait," Leslie says. "I'm the one who's sorry. I didn't mean to...what are you doing here so late?"

"Just some overtime," Jessica says. "I could use all the help, you know. With Phillip at home. You know how that is."

"Are you equating your situation, having the child of someone as well-connected as Alec Bale with me raising two children after I thought my husband died?" Leslie says, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I just...I'm not explaining myself very well."

"Let's not do this overtime thing, anymore, shall we?"

"But, Felicia said I could —"

"Felicia is not your boss, Jessica," Leslie snaps. "Do you understand me? You may have married into this family, but you still need to pay your dues. You can't go running to Felicia whenever there's a problem, take ownership."

"Says the woman who married Michael Hanley," Jessica mutters as she goes toward the door.

"What did you say to me?" Leslie says. She stops cleaning up the spilled wine from her desk.

"I...I'm sorry," Jessica says quickly, her eyes frozen in fear. "It won't —"

"You've got a lot of excuses. Far too many."

"It won't happen again," Jessica insists.

"You're right," Leslie says, coldly. "You're fired. Now get the hell out of my office."



MARQUETTE COVE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

"Thank you for calling me," Felicia Bale says to Simon Holden as they stand outside Joel Kincaid's hospital room. "How's he doing?"

"He's stable," Simon says. "He lost a lot of blood. We were able to do a transfusion, but...he's going to need another one."

"I'll help. Whatever I can do."

"We're fine with blood," Simon says. "I just haven't been able to get in contact with anyone else. Detective Grady was found dead on the scene, and with his brother Duncan out of town..."

"What about Julia?"

"She didn't answer her cell phone," Simon says. "I know you were both in AA together, so...I just thought someone should be with him."

"Thank you, Simon."

Simon nods and rubs Felicia's shoulder gently. "I'll leave you two alone."

As he wanders off, Felicia opens the door to Joel's room and goes to the bed. He lies unconscious, on a breathing apparatus, seemingly at death's door. She sighs heavily and sits down next to him.

"What the hell were you getting into, Joel?" Felicia asks aloud.



If Quentin Blood had a heartbeat, it would have been pounding furiously as he stood outside Joel's room. In fact, if Quentin were anything resembling a human, Felicia would be able to hear his telltale heart beating from miles away.

Joel will need to be silenced.

Quentin has gone for too long in Marquette Cove, avoiding detection. If anyone were to learn his true nature...question why he was only ever seen at night, or why he had to loom in the shadows if daylight was a necessity...it could have dire consequences for his future.

And so, once Felicia is gone...Quentin will kill Joel. But if it gets close to sunrise, and the bitch still hasn't left, then she too will die.