A thousand different thoughts whirled through his mind, but the overriding one was that the pale, sickly woman on the sofa had saved his life forty years ago. Lee leaned over to kiss Meghann's cheek and hug her tightly. "I owe you my life," he said simply. "I wandered into that church, and within an hour I was the Christmas Miracle. The monsignor, he had a sister that couldn't have children. She and her husband were such good people, and they wanted a child so badly. But adoption took forever, and they were beginning to lose hope and there I was, an orphan who didn't even know his last name. Oh, social services went through the motions of finding my family but within two weeks I was on my way to Raleigh with my new family. Thank you so much for leading me to the best parents in the world. I swear I'll do everything I can to help you Meghann," he finished, remembering what Charles had called her when she came in.

"Meghann," he repeated, finally having a name for the pretty lady he'd never forgotten. "Can you tell me who I am? How our paths crossed? I always thought maybe you were my birth mother and you gave me up because you were too young or poor to keep me. But I guess that's not true."

A shadow crossed Meghann's face, and her brow creased. "It's not a very pleasant story, Lee. It sounds like you love your adoptive parents. Isn't that enough? Why do you need to hear about the past?"

"I do want to know," he insisted. "I want to know why I can't remember anything but a woman with red hair leaning over me. I don't even know my birthday or how old I was the night you left me. Please, Meghann. Tell me who I am."

"I can't tell you your birthday because I don't know it but I do know you were five that night. You can't remember anything because I wiped your memory clean.

It was my gift to you."

"What was so terrible you'd take my entire life from me?" Lee asked.

"Charles, give me some brandy, it might help with the chills. And give Lee another drink he's going to need something strong in front of him when I tell this story."

Lee watched anxiously while Charles prepared fresh drinks, the doctor in him taking over when he saw Meghann's blue eyelids and the shivers that racked her body. Privately, he thought Meghann resembled his conception of what a vampire should look like with that chalk-white skin and her bloodless lips.

He wrapped the quilt tightly around her shoulders. "Keep warm."

Meghann gave him a lopsided smile. "It's shock, I know. I'm suffering from I guess starvation because I can't seem to feed without getting sick. But we'll talk about all that a little later. For now, I'll try and tell you what you think you need to know."

Charles came back to the sofa with Lee's scotch, and explained the green liquid he was drinking was absinthe the only alcohol that could intoxicate a vampire. Meghann sipped at her snifter gla.s.s, and clutched the quilt while she talked.

"You have to know a little about us," she began, and pointed to Charles.

"First, to understand what's going on now and the danger you could be in if you decide to help me. Also, if you're going to understand what happened to you when you were a child."

"I'm helping you," Lee said firmly. "No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I owe you my life."

"It could come to that," Meghann told him. "As it nearly did on December 17, 1957. That was the night after I tried to leave the man no, the thing that transformed me into a vampire."

Lee was surprised by the harsh glare and ugly grimace that crossed Meghann's face. "Why did you want to leave the, um, thing?"

"Because he was evil incarnate," Meghann said simply, and Charles nodded at her words. "He loved to cause pain, thrived on the agony of his victims when he bled them. He tried to make me as vile as he was, taught me to kill my hosts. But it made me miserable, and then along came a vampire that told me I didn't have to kill if I didn't want to." She smiled and took Charles's hand. "I wanted to go live with my new friend and learn his way of life. But Simon," she spat the name out as though it had a vile taste "wouldn't let me go. He bled me, made me so weak I couldn't even move a finger, and left me on a rooftop to die when the sun hit my body if I didn't beg his forgiveness.

"Of course I gave in and he saved me before the sunrise could kill me. The next night, he laughed when I told him I wanted to leave him because I couldn't bear to kill. He said mortals were low and petty not worthy of my pity or respect. He wanted to make me feel disgust with humankind, so much disgust I'd forget my guilt and kill with as much pleasure as he did. So he went and brought into our house a cheap, junkie wh.o.r.e who had her small son with her."

Lee made a small whimper of distress and Charles wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

Meghann's eyes, compa.s.sionate and sad, held Lee's. "Shall I continue? I warn you what you've heard is merely the tip of the iceberg."

Lee nodded and gulped down the rest of his drink, not even gasping when the fiery liquid poured down his throat.

"Your mother," Meghann p.r.o.nounced the word with contempt "believed Lord Baldevar was a pervert that wanted to have s.e.x with a small boy. Since he was paying enough to keep her in drugs for months to come, she made no objection."

"No!" Lee howled, looking sick.

"I'm sorry, Lee, but it's the truth. Your mother had never involved you in anything before," she lied. "That night was the first time she was willing to let someone touch you she was very far gone in her heroin addiction." h.e.l.l would freeze over before Meghann told this man his mother had let all manner of sick people violate his child's body. He did not need that knowledge; it could only hurt and humiliate him.

"Did this this vampire touch me?" Lee asked, his face gone almost as pale as hers.

Meghann laughed bitterly. "Simon Baldevar is many things, but he is not a child molester as far as I know. That was merely a ploy to get your mother in the house. He watched the rage build in me knew I wanted to tear her apart limb from limb for being willing to let someone hurt her own child. Rage, as he well knew, leads to blood l.u.s.t an insane need to devour human blood," she explained at Lee's blank look. "When he tore into her, I leaped at them, dying for a bit of blood. But Simon held me back with one hand while, with all dignity gone, I begged for blood much as your mother would have begged for a fix. He drained your mother until she was dead and told me if I needed blood so badly to drink yours."

Lee put his face in his hands while Meghann continued, seeming oblivious to him and Charles, locked in her own memories. "It took me years to figure out what Simon was up to that night. He knew I hated him for making me kill; why present such an awful choice to me? How I underestimated him G.o.d, he's treacherous!"

"What do you mean?" Lee asked.

It was Charles who answered. "He was out to crush Meghann's spirit that night He'd hoped that most of the fight would be out of her as a result of the h.e.l.l he put her through the night before, but he knew fear wouldn't be enough to keep her at his side. He had to break the rebellion inside her. If he could make her kill a child, Simon knew she would remain with him because she'd think she deserved her fate she'd feel she was as evil as he was."

"But his little scheme didn't work," Meghann resumed, her eyes hard and stony. "I refused to hurt you if you could have seen his face when he realized he'd lost!" She shuddered in memory, but Lee thought he saw some cold glee in her eyes at the thought of foiling this madman she spoke of. "In a rage, he tore you from my arms, Lee, and said he'd drink from you himself if I wouldn't.

"I couldn't let him hurt you that was my only thought. You cried and wept; I think he made you more scared he loved the taste of fear in a mortal's blood. I got hold of this fireplace poker and managed to put it through his heart and we escaped his house. I took you to the nearest church, and I wiped your memory clean clean of the miserable tenement you and your mother lived in, your starvation, her drugs, the nights you were left alone while she worked, and finally I took away all your knowledge of me and Simon." Meghann touched his face, unable to find in this clear-eyed, middle-aged doctor the little ragam.u.f.fin she'd helped so long ago. "I can't give you back your memory, Lee it's gone forever.

And why are you called Lee? Your name used to be Mike."

"I was renamed for my maternal grandfather."

"That's sweet." Meghann smiled and Charles nodded. "I'm very happy to hear you had a good life with your adoptive parents. It's what I prayed for."

"Well, what happened to you?" Lee asked. "How did you go from the church steps to this hotel room? Meghann?" He shook her gently, but she didn't respond.

"She fades in and out of consciousness," Charles told him.

"How long has she been like this?" Lee asked, prying open her eyelid to see if the pupil was dilated.

Charles sighed. "She's been lethargic for about a month. I thought she was depressed. You see, she had a mortal lover but he was well, I'll tell you that story another time. But she wasn't depressed Meghann is pregnant."

"Pregnant?" Lee gasped. "You can reproduce?"

"It's quite rare and inevitably ends in death for the mother."

"Then why would Meghann "

"Meghann was raped," Charles explained and his eyes became narrow slits of fury. "You see, after our master was slaughtered "

"Master?"

"An older, more experienced vampire that taught me and Meghann how to survive. His name was Alcuin." Charles's throat tightened when he thought of his mentor thought of that saintly man and all the years they'd spent together.

"Why was he murdered?" Lee asked.

"Because of me," Meghann said tiredly, green eyes filled with tears.

"No!" Charles grabbed her close. "Don't you ever think that. Alcuin loved you, Meghann. He loved us both, and he wanted to save us from Simon Baldevar. And you know their enmity started long before either of us was born. At some point, Simon would have come after him anyway."

"Simon?" Lee was bewildered. "I thought you said he was dead that Meghann put a poker in his heart."

Meghann gave him a twisted grin. "That was my mistake too, Lee. I a.s.sumed Simon would die because of my improvised stake. I didn't know the only way to kill a vampire is by cutting out its heart or decapitating it."

"So Simon didn't die?" Lee felt the back of his neck p.r.i.c.kle in horror. Did that mean this awful thing that had tried to kill him when he was a child was still alive?

"No, he didn't die," Charles answered. "He bided his time and waited until about three months ago to attack. He killed Alcuin when he tried to protect Meghann. With Alcuin dead, it was easy to abduct Meghann and rape her."

"And kidnap Jimmy," Meghann put in, and the sad look in her eyes made Lee sure that must be the mortal lover Charles spoke of. "Charles and I got away but he took Jimmy and left me this awful letter saying he was planning to transform Jimmy make him into some horrible creature I could never love. That was my punishment for taking a lover."

Lee flinched and took Meghann's icy hand. "I'm so sorry. Does Simon know where you are?"

"No thank G.o.d. But he's got to be looking for me. You see, he raped me on Beltane. That probably doesn't mean anything to you but May first, on the ancient pagan calendar, was supposed to be the night for fertility. Simon chose the night he took me very carefully and he also performed a magical ritual to make sure I conceived his precious philosophers' stone."

"The philosophers' stone," Charles explained at Lee's baffled look, "was supposed to be a magic elixir that would provide freedom from disease, brilliance, and eternal life. Alchemists believed in it, and tried to create it, during the Middle Ages. Sounds like vampirism, doesn't it? A great many vampires Lord Baldevar among them believe that the philosophers' stone will be the blood of the offspring of two vampires and that drinking it will give vampires the ability to walk in daylight."

"You mean he's going to drink his own child's blood?" Lee was outraged.

"We don't think he'd kill his child," Meghann responded, voice thick with exhaustion. "He's wanted a child for a very long time since he was mortal. A legacy, I guess. I think he would drink the blood but leave the child alive, but I can't be sure. He never saw fit to discuss any of this with me."

"Besides," Charles went on, "vampire pregnancy is extremely rare. The last doc.u.mented case dates to the twelfth century."

"Do these cases describe the mothers' symptoms?"

"Don't get your hopes up," Charles told him and brought some floppy disks from a suitcase. "Basically, it's a bunch of hocus-pocus nonsense that completely ignores symptoms that would indicate diseases like preeclampsia to us."

"They didn't have floppy disks in the twelfth century," Lee said. "Where are the primary sources?"

"Ballnamore an estate in Ireland. It belonged to Alcuin but in his will he left it to Meghann and me. It's our stronghold, where all the vampires that stand against Lord Baldevar gather together. Some of them have fought against him for four hundred years."

"So why aren't you there?" Lee asked. "Why are you in some hotel in Vegas?

Surely these other vampires might have some ideas "

"No!" Meghann interrupted and Lee thought she looked ready to faint.

"They don't like us," Charles explained, clutching his friend's hand. "Why not?"

Charles gave him a bitter smile. "For me, it's good old -fashioned h.o.m.ophobia can't stand a queer vampire in their midst. Alcuin despised that narrow-mindedness but he's not here to keep them in check and they're all furious because his will makes me his successor me and Meghann together, that is."

"If they hate you for being gay, what's their reason for disliking Meghann?"

"Jealousy," Charles answered. "They couldn't stand the way Alcuin favored her how he taught her everything he knew, even relied on her advice on a few occasions. They thought he was a fool for listening to a novice I suppose I should explain that in our world anyone under one hundred years of age is considered a novice vampire. You can imagine their rage when his will named two vampires created in the twentieth century as his successors."

Lee frowned. "Being young isn't a good enough reason to hate anybody."

Meghann gave a bitter laugh. "Charles left something out. If I were merely young, they'd content themselves with treating me with disdain and contempt.

They despise me because Lord Baldevar transformed me. They think that automatically makes me as twisted and evil as he is it doesn't even matter to them that I tried to kill him. They'll never think of me as anything but Baldevar's s.l.u.t which is what they called me whenever Alcuin wasn't around. And if they knew I was pregnant, they'd never believe I was raped. G.o.d only knows what they'd do. They might try and kill me or they might use me as some kind of bait to lure Lord Baldevar into a trap."

"So I went to Ballnamore by myself and told them of Alcuin's death," Charles said. "I said Meghann hadn't come with me because she was too grief-stricken after Lord Baldevar kill kidnapped Jimmy. And I snuck into the archives and copied down the information. Then, Meghann and I came here. No one is going to have any reason to think we're in Las Vegas. It's a perfect hiding spot from our so-called allies and Lord Baldevar while we try to make Meghann well." Charles paused and met Lee's eyes. "And you're here. We need you."

Lee frowned. "I may be an obstetrician but I don't know anything about vampires "

"Somehow I didn't think you would," Charles said with a trace of a smile. "I can provide you with any information about a vampire's physiology that you need.

We want you to perform an abortion. Not one mother has survived vampiric pregnancy, and the children that survived the birth were hideous monstrosities.

Unfortunately, I can't bring myself to perform a D and C put Meghann through that kind of pain even if I do know abortion is the only option "

"What do you mean, put Meghann through pain?" Lee interrupted. "Wouldn't you anesthetize her first?"

"There isn't an anesthetic in the world to penetrate a vampire's bloodstream it wouldn't take hold. But we sleep during the day. Actually, sleep is a mild word for our condition it's closer to coma. Nothing disturbs us except an attack on our lives. Fledgling vampires might even sleep through that, but the stronger of us will wake up and some even manage to kill then-stalkers. But I digress Lee, we think Meghann will sleep through a D and C. You're not threatening her life "

"I'm threatening the fetus."

"Maybe," Charles responded. "But this is our only chance. Please, you're the only mortal doctor I we can trust. Will you do a D and C on Meghann during the day?"

Lee glanced uneasily at Meghann's paper-white skin and blue-tinged fingernails and saw she'd fainted again. "She's in shock already, Charles. Invasive surgery and keep in mind D and Cs carry a risk of hemorrhage could kill her."

"This pregnancy will kill her anyway. Please, Lee," Charles implored.

"Let's bring her to my house," Lee said. "I can give her a thorough examination there. And you said sunlight will destroy you? Well, I think my house is just the place for you two. You know as an ob-gyn my hours aren't regular. So I fit the house with aluminum shutters to block out the sun so I could catch up on my sleep during the day."

Lee directed Charles to lay Meghann, who hadn't stirred during the brief journey from the hotel to his house, on the examining table and put her legs in the stirrups. A quick exam confirmed that she was eight weeks pregnant.

"How did you know you were pregnant?" Lee asked Meghann, who'd woken in time to yell in protest when Lee inserted the steel speculum for the pelvic exam.

"Missed period?"

Meghann shook her head. "After I transformed, my menstrual cycle became erratic once or twice a year, if that. No, about two weeks ago, I started waking up tired all the time and then my b.r.e.a.s.t.s became very tender. So I bought a home pregnancy test like any mortal woman."

Lee listened to her heartbeat and glanced in consternation at her jutting ribs.

"Are you always this thin or did your weight loss coincide with your other symptoms?"

"I've lost about twenty pounds in the past week."

"Jesus!"

"Don't you see now why she needs an abortion?" Charles said.

"I agree the pregnancy is affecting her health," Lee replied. "But her malaise is precisely what's going to make an abortion so dangerous. I'd be much more comfortable with treating the worst of her symptoms, and letting her recover a little before having the abortion. An abortion can be performed safely up to twenty-four weeks into pregnancy we have plenty of time. Have you any idea what's making her so sick?"

Charles shrugged helplessly. "All we know is she can't drink blood, and no vampire can survive without blood. It would be like starving a human."

Lee frowned. "What happens, Meghann, when you er, drink blood? Has your appet.i.te for it decreased since you got pregnant?"

Meghann gave him an admiring glance she'd never seen a mortal accept vampires with such equanimity. Maybe it was because of what happened to him when he was a child or maybe he was simply in shock and hadn't fully absorbed the enormity of his discovery yet. "No, in fact I crave it constantly. It's all that's on my mind. But when I drink a few minutes after I swallow, I become horribly nauseated. The first time it happened, I was just nauseated and a little dizzy. But now now I throw up. What am I going to do if I can't digest blood?"

"Couldn't we give you transfusions?" Lee asked, and Charles shook his head. "If we could accept transfusions, vampires would no longer be a threat to humans. Unfortunately, we must drink and digest."