Michael knew what he was implying. If he ever released Alexandra from his protection, Val would follow through on his threat. For a moment, he was tempted. He would be free of Alexandra without having to kill her himself. It would make his life much less complicated. He had even told her that he would be the death of her.

I am killing you, Alexandra.

Could you love me a little first?

"No good can come of this." Val studied his expression closely. "You already know she is trouble, my friend."

"Yes, but whether or not she escapes our curse, she is mine." He stopped at the waist-high wall of stone and sandbags that kept back the lake water.

"As I will be, when Richard makes you seigneur."

Michael gave him an amused glance. "You are a lord paramount. When I am empowered, you will owe me your loyalty, nothing more."

"Ah, but I am a simple man at heart, you know this. With me, it is all or nothing." Val made it sound inconsequential. "Dundellan is very far away, and Richard has given America little attention. My first loyalty is to you, and I will take oath on it."

That meant that in all matters Val would defer to Michael over Richard Tremayne. It was not a pledge a man like Jaus made lightly. "I am honored."

"I speak for most of the suzerains, who feel as I do. You have earned your place over les jardins, Michael, and we are anxious for you to take it." His clipped voice took on a harder edge. "We will see that you hold and keep it."

Michael wondered what would compel Val to make such fervent pledges, and then he simply knew. "Lucan."

"Yes. He slaughtered a Brethren cell in Ireland and was banished by the high lord. He arrived the next day in New York, and promptly vanished." Val nudged a stone on the ground with the toe of his boot. "A search is under way. I have photos, but I think that they will be of little value now. The man is a chameleon."

Lucan was also Richard's chief a.s.sa.s.sin. "Unless he chooses to reveal his whereabouts, they won't find him."

Michael braced a hand against the lake wall and looked up at the full moon. "You believe that Lucan will come to New Orleans."

"I think-ja, he will. He has hated you longer than I have walked as Kyn."

Lucan presented yet another obstacle. Michael turned to face Val. "I must impose on you to watch over the doctor for me for a little longer. Report any changes in her behavior to me at once."

"It is done. Do you think she will walk with us?" Despite his belief in the curse, there was a yearning note in Val's voice, one that found an echo in Michael's soul.

When the Darkyn first rose from the grave, they were able to proliferate through blood exposure during thrall and rapture. It was a dire but necessary thing, done to replace those the church slaughtered, for the Darkyn soon learned that the curse upon them prevented them from having children. Only after a century had pa.s.sed did the humans they attempted to turn begin dying. Soon no human survived the experience, and for the first time, the Darkyn faced the loneliness of the curse, and their own eventual extinction.

The fact that they could not create more of their own kind had contributed to the formation of the first jardins and the practice of suppressing thrall and rapture, and had ultimately shaped how the Darkyn lived. In many ways, the loosely knit, regional communities who looked out for each other and the humans upon whom they fed had been a success. Despite all their care, however, the Brethren continued to hunt them, and over the centuries the number of Darkyn slowly dwindled. Michael doubted there were more than ten thousand of their kind left in the world.

Given that they were virtually immortal, perhaps that was the way it was supposed to be. "If she does make the change, it would be better if Richard not know."

"You may have better luck joining the priesthood than keeping such a miracle from our seigneur. Which reminds me." Val grimaced. "Your doctor has a brother, Michael."

"I know. A priest." Yet another bizarre twist to the entire situation. "My people have checked into his records.

Aside from a moral indiscretion in South America, he presents no threat."

"Perhaps not, but I have had him watched, as well." He looked out over the lake. "John Keller has made arrangements to leave the country in three days."

"His destination?" But before Val could reply, Michael already knew the answer. "Rome."

"The Brethren have gotten to him." Val extracted a cell phone from his jacket breast pocket. "I will have the doctor picked up and brought here." He paused, looked over Cyprien's shoulder, and nodded. One of his guards strode up and issued a curt report in their native language. Slowly Val pocketed the phone. "It is Tremayne. He has sent a summons to come at once to Dundellan."

Richard's summons were not polite invitations but orders; there was never any avenue for discussion. "Why would he want you over there now?"

"He does not." Val gave him what might have been a sympathetic look. "The summons is for you."

Alex had been a missing person, so the police were happy to come out and take her statement. They didn't laugh, because like her, they were convinced she had been the victim of a serial killer, one who possibly believed he was a vampire. The FBI was contacted, as were a number of other agencies.

That opinion changed forty-eight hours later, when the detective in charge of the investigation came to see Alex at her home, where she was being guarded around the, clock.

"Dr. Keller, we're running into a few problems tracking down this man you say came to see you." He flipped open a notebook, and the dark-stoned signet ring he wore flashed. "You said his name was Michael Cyprien, and that he resides at some place called La Fontaine in the city of New Orleans. Is all that correct?"

"Yes."

He closed the notebook. "Here's our problem, ma'am. There is no Michael Cyprien residing in the city of New Orleans, and no house by that name at any address within the city limits. We tried all the airlines, but no one with Cyprien's name or description has flown from New Orleans to Chicago in the last six months."

"He has to be there. It was a huge house, a gorgeous old house." She tried describing what she had seen, and then added, "Did you find his a.s.sistant? I gave you her full name, too."

"There's no one by that name residing in New Orleans, either." He gave her a strange look. "As far as this vampire serial killer thing, well, maybe there are some details you forgot to put in your statement?"

"I told you everything." Except that she had operated on Cyprien. She wasn't losing her medical license because some sick b.a.s.t.a.r.d wanted to play at being Dracula.

"You know, when I'm under a lot of pressure, I like to get away. Just for a couple days, you know?" He sounded friendly, almost sympathetic now. "You got a boyfriend, don't you?"

She peered at him. "What has Charlie got to do with this?"

"Let's say you met a new guy and decided to shack up with him a few days without telling Charlie."

"I wouldn't do something like that."

"Let's say for the sake of argument that you did. This new guy is hot, but he doesn't work out, or you change your mind. Everybody gets second thoughts, Doc. You come home, but what are you going to tell Charlie?" He spread out his hands.

Heat rose into her face. "First, I wouldn't lie to Charlie. Second, I don't like what you're implying."

"Making up a good story would bail you out, though. Especially if it scares your boyfriend instead of making him p.i.s.sed at you." The friendly tone grew chilly. "You could even do some stuff to make it look real."

"I was found knocked out, with half of my blood missing, in an airport bathroom." She stared hard at his hand for a moment-the ring he wore looked so familiar-and then looked into his eyes. "Would you do that to cover a lie you told your girlfriend?"

He shook his head. "But I'm not a doctor."

Alex thought of something else. "I promised Cyprien that I wouldn't tell anyone about this." Now that she had, would he come back and finish the job? She hadn't thought of that before.

"Sometimes, Doc, it's just better to tell the truth." He stood up and pocketed his notebook. "Until you can do that, there's nothing we can do for you. I'd look into getting some professional help."

"Wait." Her mind raced as she followed him to the door. "What about the briefcase?"

He stopped. "What briefcase?"

Alex hadn't told the police about the money, either. The briefcase and the money Cyprien had left were sitting in the back of her bedroom closet. Four million dollars would prove she was telling the truth.

Her gaze was drawn to the dark ring he wore. It wasn't a signet ring, but a square-cut black cameo with a white profile carving, but it was of a man, not the usual woman. The man faced to the left instead of the right, too. She wouldn't have noticed it if Audra Keller hadn't collected cameos.

Alex realized why the cameo looked so familiar. She had seen a nurse in the hospital wearing earrings just like it.

It's just a stupid coincidence. Common sense grabbed her by the throat before she said another word. Show him the money, and he'll want to know why Cyprien left it. Then you'll have to explain operating against your will on a man who heals spontaneously, which you're not even sure was real. The cop has a nice, fast car. Won't take him that long to run your crazy a.s.s over to the nearest psych ward.

"Ah, didn't I see you carry a briefcase in here?" Alex asked, making a stupid show of looking around the floor. "No, ma'am." He frowned. "Check into talking to someone, please. It will help."

When he left, Alex went back to the bedroom and pulled out the suitcase. The money, all neatly stacked and bound, was real. Which meant that Michael Cyprien was real. She had four million dollars for fixing the face of a killer-or for believing she had.

But no one would cover an illicit affair with four million dollars, so why would Cyprien use it to reinforce a drugged fantasy? She must have done it, and the only way that could have happened was that he did heal instantly.

Her stomach clenched. What if he is everything he said he is?

She looked up at the window. Vampire or crazy man, he might be watching her house. She wasn't safe here, and if she didn't move fast, she might find out exactly what Cyprien was. Her hands started shaking again as she slammed the briefcase shut and lugged it out of the bedroom, stopping only for her car keys.

Chapter Nine.

Alexandra's office was deserted but for Grace Cho, who was working behind the desk copying medical charts. She greeted John but didn't stop working.

"Sorry, but I promised the boss I'd get these done today," the office manager explained. "She's referring all her patients out to other surgeons until further notice."

"Is something wrong?"

"Beats me, Father. She called here yesterday, snapped out orders, and hung up on me." Grace sniffed, and then her expression softened. "She's having a tough time of it. I guess I'd be paranoid, too, if I'd been kidnapped." The desk phone rang. "Excuse me, that's probably Dr. Haggerty."

Grace picked up the phone and answered. "Hey, Doc, where are you?" She listened. "Okay, but-" She halted and listened again, then scribbled down a note. "Got it. All right, no problem. Do you want to talk to your brother? But he's standing right-" She sighed and replaced the receiver. "She was in a hurry again, sorry."

John looked over at the phone, but there was no caller ID display. "Did she tell you where she was?"

"No, Father. Although I'm pretty sure she called on her car phone. I could hear horns beeping."

After John returned to Brazil, Alexandra had run away from boarding school twice. Once she had gotten all the way to their foster parents' home before the police caught up with her. In her tearful, angry letters, she had blamed him for her behavior, stating that she wouldn't have done it if he had stayed with her. But a lot had happened since Alexandra was fifteen, and she had made her feelings about him very clear that day at the hospital.

Why is she running away this time? "What did she say to you, exactly?" he asked Grace.

"Not much. She asked about the patient charts and whether we had some sample kits. Oh, and she told me to leave the alarm off in the office tonight." Her narrow dark eyes rolled. "She never remembers the disarm code."

He thanked the office manager, and left the building. Instead of going to the car he had borrowed from Mrs. Murphy, he went across the street to a small diner, where he asked to be seated where he could watch the building, and then ordered coffee.

"There ya go, Father." The waitress, a hefty older woman with silver, cotton-candy-fine hair lacquered into a helmet, brought the pot to the table to fill a dishwasher-rack-scarred mug. The movement made the loose roll of fat hanging from her upper arm waggle.

"Cream, sugar?" When he shook his head, she peered at him as if he had grown another head. "Something to eat?

Get something in your belly, make you feel better." She bent over to add in a whisper, "Just not the beef stew, okay?"

He looked into her eyes, saw kindness ringed by flakes of shed mascara and crookedly applied eyeliner. "That bad?"

"I think it's killed a couple people." She winked and went to refill the cups for a couple of truckers sitting hunched over the remains of the breakfast they'd had for dinner.

The sky had turned black and John was on his fifth refill and second slice of banana cream pie when Alexandra's Jeep turned in the medical complex parking lot. He waited until he saw her get out and enter the building before he paid his tab and crossed the street.

To his annoyance, he found the entrance doors locked, and pressed the call b.u.t.ton.

"Yes?" a tinny, strained version of his sister's voice asked through the small metal speaker.

"Alexandra, it's John. Let me in."

Silence.

"I'm not leaving until I see you."

An electronic buzz unlocked the door.

John took the elevator up to the fourth floor, where Alexandra's office was located. She opened the door before he could reach for the k.n.o.b.

He had never seen her look so untidy before-deeply wrinkled clothes, hair falling in a confused tangle around her face-and her eyes looked almost wild.

"What?" she demanded.

"I've left messages for you for two days," he reminded her. "May I come in?"

"Sure." She stepped back, but she also looked around his shoulder, checking out the hallway behind him.

"Are you expecting someone?"

"No." She locked the door after him and led him back to her office. "Do you want something to drink? I think I've got some juice or something in the fridge."

"I just had five cups of coffee at the diner across the street."

"You're brave." She went around her desk, sat, and began shuffling charts.

He waited until she glanced up at him before he asked, "How have you been?"

"Not counting the terrors of abduction, amnesia, and near exsanguination? Wonderful, thanks. You?"

When did she become so hostile toward me? Unable to remember exactly when it had started shamed him. He groped for a neutral topic. "You've lost some weight."

"Six pounds, according to the scale I climbed on at the grocery store. Extreme blood loss combined with a mild case of stomach flu." She began delicately biting along the edge of her thumbnail. "Anything else?"

Tension caused pain to bloom behind his eyes, and John clenched his hand to keep from rubbing his fingers across his forehead. "Alexandra, if you're in some sort of trouble, I'd like to help."