'Did you sense this other vampire?'

'In the woods, when he possessed the other female vampire, I fully expected there to be a second physical vampire nearby. That's how strong the energy was.'

'It was strong enough that it infected Ares not just with this corruption, but with the other vampire's power.'

'Yeah.'

'Not possible,' Edward said.

'Nope.'

'But it happened,' he said.

'Yep.'

We looked at each other for a minute.

'Hard to hunt and kill something that jumps bodies that easily.'

'Didn't we just finish doing this?' I asked.

'You mean Mommie Darkest.'

'Yeah, she was spirit and jumped from vampire to vampire.'

'She wanted your body for keeps.'

'If she hadn't wanted to take me over, I'm not sure I could have kept her in one body long enough to kill her,' I said.

'But she didn't do the whole rotting-vampire thing,' he said.

'No, she didn't,' I said, 'though theoretically she was the first vampire, so every flavor of vampire descended from her.'

'I never believed that Marmee Noir was the very first vampire.'

'Me either, but if not the first she was damn old. The only thing I've felt that came close was the Father of the Day.'

'You killed him in Vegas.'

'We did,' I said.

He shook his head. 'I wasn't there for the killing blow, so he's yours.'

'You make it sound like we're keeping score.'

'I am; aren't you?'

I thought about it. 'No, I guess I'm not. I mean numbers, yeah, but then now that we're marshals we have paperwork that makes us keep track.'

'But you don't keep track of which of us is killing the biggest and the baddest?' Edward asked.

I shrugged, shook my head. 'No.'

'Well damn, that makes being ahead of you not nearly as fun.'

'You're not ahead of me,' I said.

He grinned, and it was an odd mixture of Ted and Edward. 'See, you do keep track.'

I grinned and had the grace to be embarrassed. 'I don't keep official score, but I keep track of what you're doing.'

'You keep score; you just don't want to admit it.'

I shrugged again. 'I didn't think of it as keeping score, but I know I have a higher official kill count than you do.'

'Add the unsanctioned kills and I am so ahead.'

'You're older,' I said.

He laughed and it was his real one, one that he'd only started using after he found Donna and the kids. It was like she gave him permission to resurrect some of the pieces he'd had to give up to be Edward.

'Can't a man get some sleep around here?' Micah was sitting up, rubbing at his eyes.

'I'm sorry,' I said. 'Go back to sleep. We'll be quieter.'

'No, you're awake. I want to see you awake.' His upper body was bare, showing the muscles that his clothes hid. Micah would never bulk up, it just wasn't in his genetics, but if you knew what you were looking at you saw the lean muscle as he padded barefoot toward the bed wearing his dress slacks for pajama bottoms. I wanted to trace my hands over his bare skin. The desire to touch him was usually there, but it was strangely more focused than normal.

'How long have I been out?'

Micah was beside the bed now. 'Twenty-four hours.' He put his hand in mine, gently, since it still had the IV in it. I offered him my right hand across my body. 'Compromising your gun hand, you usually don't do that.'

'Edward's here. I think he can handle the door.'

Micah smiled. 'Yes.' He leaned in and kissed me. He meant it to be chaste, gentle, polite for Edward's sake. I slid my hand out of his, trailed it up the warmth of his bare arm, until my hand could cup the back of his neck. His hair tickled along my skin where I held him. I drew him down into the kiss, made it more. He melted into the kiss for a moment, and then he drew back. I didn't want to let him go. He had to move my hand from his neck. He looked down at me, his green-gold eyes studying my face.

'You need food,' he said.

'I don't want hospital Jell-O,' I said.

'I'll just bet you don't.'

'She's looking at you like she's going to eat you,' Edward said.

'Sometimes when she hasn't fed enough she looks like that.'

'I can give you some privacy,' he said.

'Let's see if the doctor will release her. I'd really rather not explain having sex in the hospital room, and besides I need to check on my dad and Nathaniel.'