I gave him a hug and he returned it lightly. Vampires had quite the squeeze, so they had to be careful. Patrick and his family had become our good friends. We'd spent many a Friday night with him and Jessica and their children.

Anyway, I'd turned into a hugger. My hormones were whacked out and I felt either really affectionate or really weepy. Everyone got hugged, even the scary werewolf guys. They were a sucker for a pregnant woman's embrace.

"What's up?" I asked as Patrick led the way into the living room. It had been rebuilt and refurnished. Patsy had thanked me, saying my accidental demolition had been an unexpected help in the decorating process.

"You'll have to see it to believe it," said Patrick. He stopped and let me and Ralph go ahead of him.

Patsy sat on an oversize black velvet couch. At seven months pregnant, she was the picture of health. Or to hear her tell it, the freaking picture of when-will-these-children-get-out-of-my-aching-womb exhausted.

On the opposite couch, which was also oversized and velvet, but rather an eye-popping red, sat a teenaged boy and two older women. The auras of the females were gold.

"Dragons," I whispered.

In the middle was a tall woman dressed in blue robes. Her silver hair was plaited into a single braid that was so long it was piled on the seat behind her. Her eyes were an odd shade of blue-green. I could sense her fire. My eyes were drawn to her gold-rope necklace, and to the fire red jewel that rested just above her bosom. I heard it singing. I didn't recognize the song, but knew it was ancient, primal.

On the left side of this imposing woman was a teenaged boy. He wore black jeans, a Cure T-shirt, and studded black boots. His eyes were black. Not dark brown. Black. So was his hair, which fanned over his scalp in a Mohawk. His eyebrows, lips, and nose were all pierced. His aura told me he was a human. He sure kept odd company. Or maybe it was the dragons keeping odd company.

My gaze shifted to the woman on the other side of Silver Hair. She was older, too. She looked in her early sixties. She wore a crocheted white sweater with a purple dragon on it, pink knit pants, and thick-soled orthopedic shoes. Her lilac eyes were filled with excitement.

"h.e.l.lo, Libby," said Silver Hair. "I'm Raine. This is Amethyst."

"Oh, my! It's such a pleasure to meet you, m'dear. When we heard about your pregnancy!" She twittered and clapped her hands.

"Oh, my!" I wasn't sure how to respond. "Ash said dragons were rare."

"We are. There are less than a hundred of us left. And no one has mated, much less conceived a child, in the last five hundred years."

"How old are you?" I asked.

Amethyst's eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth. Oops.

"I'm sorry," I said hastily. "I shouldn't have asked."

"I don't mind," said Raine, giving Amethyst a fond smile. "I'm the Eldest. I've walked the Earth for the last three thousand years.

Amethyst is a few hundred years younger, give or take."

"Three thousand years?" I gulped. "Holy s.h.i.t."

Raine nodded. "You have much to learn about your new heritage." She rose and took off the necklace. "I am here to offer you and your mate my blessing. Your child has a great destiny."

"That's all we need," said Patsy, her tone sarcastic. "Destiny sure has been busy knocking up a lot of women lately."

Raine's gaze went to her. "Perhaps you should consider why so many were drawn to Broken Heart. Why the fates of three peoples are so closely connected."

Patsy rolled her eyes.

Raine put the necklace on me. "Within you grows the last dragon of the Oriana line. Sybina and her brother were the youngest of our kind, and they have crossed into Yalinia. Heaven."

"Not Synd," I said. "He didn't have a soul. Is there a dragon h.e.l.l?"

"Yes, though we do not speak its name." Raine frowned. "Ash told us about Synd. It is most troubling." She looked at me, her lips curving into a smile. "No worries. This necklace holds within it ancient dragonfire. Its magical properties will protect you. When the time is right, you will give it to your daughter.

"And we have another gift for you, a talented trainer who will teach you our ways and help when the young one is born."

Dread plunked into my stomach. My gaze turned to the boy who looked like a punk band reject.

"Rand has lived with dragons his whole life. He knows everything, and it is customary for a dragon to have a sijin."

"Right," I said. "I wouldn't want to be without one of those."

Rand got off the couch. His black gaze studied me and then Ralph. He held out a hand and we shook.

"Where do I bunk?" he asked.

"I think we'll need a few new additions to the house," I told Ralph.

Patsy laughed. She took her husband's hand and kissed his knuckles. Her gaze met mine. "Never let it be said that Broken Heart is boring."

With my parents integrating into the community, Brady and Stan building an invisible force field the size of a few football fields, and several hybrid babies on the way, boring would be the last word I'd use to describe Broken Heart.

For all its weirdness, there was only one word to describe this crazy town I'd come to love.

Home.

PRIS Founders Honored at Memorial Service by Susan Rickerson, Tulsa Tribune

Theodora and Elmore Monroe, their daughter, Seraphina, and longtime friend Braddock Hayes, were honored yesterday by friends and family at a memorial ceremony held on a private Florida beach.

The Monroes were founders of Paranormal Research and Investigation Services, or PRIS, and were well-known investigators of the supernatural.

The four PRIS members went missing after their Cessna 350 crashed in the Gulf of Mexico. Despite an exhaustive two-week search, neither the plane nor survivors were recovered.

"We are deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of our friends," said Ingrid Dellingham, a longtime PRIS member and now full owner of the organization. "We will carry on their work."

Dellingham put together several psychic circles and seances, hoping her lost friends would contact her from the Other Side.

"I think their work was done," said Dellingham. "And they had no reason to stick around, especially since Seraphina was with them."

Dellingham says she and her team will go to Oregon, as the Monroes would've wanted them to, to investigate the area where Bigfoot sightings have been rampant.

"Well, they're a migratory population," said Dellingham. "When they move on to their new nesting area, there's always a rash of sightings."

THE SEVEN ANCIENTS (In order of creation) Ruadan: (Ireland) He flies and uses fairy magic.Koschei: (Russia) He is the master of glamour and mind control. He was banned to the world between worlds.

Hu Mua Lan: (China) She is a great warrior who creates and controls fire. She was killed during her attack on Queen Patricia.

Durga: (India) She calls forth, controls, and expels demons. She was banned to the world between worlds.

Velthur: (Italy) He controls all forms of liquid.

Amahte: (Egypt) He talks to spirits, raises the dead, creates zombies, and reinserts souls into dead bodies.

Zela: (Nubia) She manipulates all metallic substances.

GLOSSARY 1 A ghra mo chroi: (Irish Gaelic) love of my heart A stoirin: (Irish Gaelic) my little darling

A Thaisce: (Irish Gaelic) my dear/darling/treasure Cac capaill: (Irish Gaelic) horse s.h.i.t d.a.m.nu air: (Irish Gaelic) d.a.m.n it Deamhan fola: (Irish Gaelic) blood devil Draba: (Romany) spell/charm

Draiocht: (Irish Gaelic) magic Droch fola: (Irish Gaelic) bad or evil blood Gadjikane: (Romany) non-Gypsy Fili: (Old Irish) poet-druid Filiocht: (Old Irish) poetry, i.e., verbal magic Ja: (German) yes

Liebling: (German) darling Loup de Sang: (French) blood wolf Mo chroi: (Irish Gaelic) my heart Mulo: (Romany) living dead O zalzaro khal peski piri: (Romany) Acid corrodes its own container.

Roma: (Romany) member of nomadic people originating in Northern India or Gypsies considered as a group Romany/Romani: (Romany) language of the Roma Solas: (Irish Gaelic) light Sonuachar: (Irish Gaelic) soulmate Strigoi mort: (Romany) vampire Tir na Marbh: (Irish Gaelic) land of the dead GLOSSARY 2 Ancient: Refers to one of the original seven vampires. The very first vampire was Ruadan, who is the biological father of Patrick and Lorcan. Several centuries ago, Ruadan and his sons took on the last name of "O'Halloran," which means "stranger from overseas."

Banning: (see: World Between Worlds) Any vampire can be sent into limbo, but the spell must be cast by an Ancient or, in a few cases, their offspring. A vampire cannot be released from banning until they feel true remorse for their evil acts. This happens rarely, which means banning is not done lightly.

The Binding: When vampires have consummation s.e.x (with any living person or creature), they're bound together for a hundred years. This was the Ancients' solution to keep vamps from s.e.xual intercourse while blood-taking. No one's ever broken a binding.*

*Johnny D'Angelo and Nefert.i.ti's mating was dissolved by a fairy wish. It is the only known instance of a binding being broken.

The Consortium: More than five hundred years ago, Patrick and Lorcan O'Halloran created the Consortium to figure out ways that parakind could make the world a better place for all beings. Many sudden leaps in human medicine and technology are because of the Consortium's work.

The Convocation: Five neutral, immortal beings given the responsibility of keeping the balance between Light and Dark.

Donors: Mortals who serve as sustenance for vampires. The Consortium screens and hires humans to be food sources. Donors are paid well and given living quarters. Not all vampires follow the guidelines created by the Consortium for feeding. A mortal may have been a donor without ever realizing it.

Drone: Mortals who do the bidding of their vampire Masters. The Consortium's Code of Ethics forbids the use of drones, but plenty of vampires still use them.

Family: Every vampire can be traced to one of the seven Ancients. The Ancients are divided into the Seven Sacred Sects also known as the Families.

Gone to Ground: When vampires secure places where they can lie undisturbed for centuries, they "go to ground." Usually they let someone know where they are located, but the resting locations of many vampires are unknown.

Loup de Sang: Commonly refers to Gabriel Marchand, the only known vampire-werewolf born into the world. He is also known as "the outcast." (see: Vedere Prophecy.) Lycanthropes: Also called lycans. They can shift from a human into a wolf at will. Lycans have been around a long time and originate in Germany. Their numbers are small because they don't have many females, and most children born have a fifty percent chance of living to the age of one.

Master: Most Master vampires are hundreds of years old and have had many successful Turnings. Masters show Turn-bloods how to survive as a vampire. A Turn-blood has the protection of the Family (see: Family or Seven Sacred Sects) to which their Master belongs.

PRIS: Paranormal Research and Investigation Services. Cofounded by Stanworth Industries heiress Theodora and her husband, Elmore Monroe. Its primary mission is to doc.u.ment supernatural phenomena and conduct cryptozoological studies.

Roma: The Roma are cousins to full-blooded lycanthropes. They can only change on the night of the full moon. Just as full- blooded lycanthropes are raised to protect vampires, the Roma are raised to hunt vampires.

Seven Sacred Sects: The vampire tree has seven branches. Each branch is called a Family, and each Family is directly traced to one of the seven Ancients. A vampire's powers are related to his Family.

Soul shifter: A supernatural being with the ability to absorb the souls of any mortal or immortal. The shifter has the ability to a.s.sume any of the forms she's absorbed. Only one is known to exist, the woman known as Ash, who works as a "balance keeper"

for the Convocation.

Taint: The Black Plague for vampires, which makes vampires insane as their bodies deteriorate. Consortium scientists have had limited success finding a true cure.

Turn-blood: A human who's been recently Turned into a vampire. If you're less than a century old, you're a Turn-blood.

Turning: Vampires perpetuate the species by Turning humans. Unfortunately, only one in about ten humans actually makes the transition.

The Vedere Prophecy: Astria Vedere predicted that in the twenty-first century a vampire queen would rule both vampires and lycans, and would also end the ruling power of the Seven Ancients.

The prophecy reads: A vampire queen shall come forth from the place of broken hearts. The seven powers of the Ancients will be hers to command. She shall bind with the outcast, and with this union, she will save the dual-natured. With her consort, she will rule vampires and lycanthropes as one.

World Between Worlds: The place is between this plane and the next, where there is a void. Some people can slip back and forth through this "veil."

Wraiths: Rogue vampires who banded together to dominate both vampires and humans. Since the defeat of the Ancient Koschei, they are believed to be defunct.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR I don't drink milk anymore. I don't care what the American Dairy a.s.sociation tells you, milk does not do a body good: www.notmilk.com.

Unlike Libby, I am not a vegan or a vegetarian. I like meat, from steak to salmon. I pay more for organic, free-range, grain-fed, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, and/or wild-caught meat because I abhor the idea of factory farming. Animals are treated cruelly, and the meat taken from these poor creatures is dangerous to the health of humans: www.themeatrix.com.

Do I even need to mention how important it is to eat organic produce, and to be wary of how much processed food you eat? If you can, go to farmers' markets and support stores that offer locally grown produce: www.localharvest.org.

The Inst.i.tute of Transpersonal Psychology is a real college: www.itp.edu. So is the HCH Inst.i.tute: www.hypnotherapytraining.com.

If you don't know who Dr. Michael Shermer is . . . uh, do you live under a rock with the Mongolian death worm? Or in a loch with Nessie? Hah. He's the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine: www.skeptic.com.

Finally, the book Libby chooses from Ralph's collection is a real novel. Jeff Strand is also a real person. No, really. I've met him and everything. Graverobbers Wanted (No Experience Necessary) is one of my all-time favorite reads. Andrew Mayhem rules: www.jeffstrand.com.

Read on for a sneak preview of the next adventure in Broken Heart OVER MY DEAD BODY Available May 2009 wherever books are sold and on penguin.com Sat.u.r.day, June 14th