"If you got married, would that make her my stepsister, or my step-guardian?" I wanted to know.

"Stop it." Gray glared at both of us. "This is embarra.s.sing."

I chuckled. "Relax, Grim. All she did was fill out a contest entry form. It was a nice thing to do."

"I'm going to have to thank her, aren't I?" When Trick and I both nodded, he dropped in his chair. "Great."

The dinner was delicious, and we all tried to enjoy it. I teased Trick about the year he had tried (unsuccessfully) to grill our Christmas turkey, which Gray and I renamed the Christmas jerky before we'd microwaved some frozen pizzas. As we laughed and joked about other holiday disasters, the last rays of the sun shimmered away and the window grew dark.

Once we'd finished eating and tidied up, I made popcorn and hot cocoa while my brothers took out their gift basket goodies, and we carried out everything to the living room to watch Gray's Christmas movies.

"I never get tired of watching A Christmas Story," I said as the movie began. "Why is that?"

"It's funny," Trick said, and yawned before he ate some popcorn and took a sip of his cocoa. "n.o.body ever gets tired of laughing." He leaned back against the sofa pillows as his eyelids drooped.

Stretched out on the floor in front of the television, Gray pillowed his head on his arms. "They should make all movies funny. Then girls wouldn't cry through them."

I stole one of his cookies, but I left my mug of hot cocoa on the coffee table. "Movies don't make me cry."

He held up one finger. "t.i.tanic."

"Okay, but all those people drowned, and they didn't have to, and that was very sad." I glanced over at Trick, whose head was nodding. "See, he agrees with me."

Gray held up a second finger. "Steel Magnolias."

I scoffed out some air. "That one made you cry, Grim."

"Julia Roberts should never die." He tried to hold up a third finger, and frowned at his hand. "There was ... another one."

I took the bowl of popcorn out of Trick's lap before it slid over with him. "It was Gladiator."

"Cat." Gray lifted his head and tried to focus on me. "I can't ... stay ... "

"Awake." I waited until he slumped over, and then got up to tuck a pillow under his head. "I know."

I made sure they were both sound asleep before I left the house. As I'd suspected, the keys were still in the convertible, but I didn't get in it right away. I went into the barn and slipped into Sali's stall. Still tired from the long day's ride, she shuffled over to me.

"Not tonight, girl," I said as I rested my cheek against her strong neck. "I've got to take this ride without you." I couldn't say good-bye to her, not without bawling like a baby, so I gave her a kiss on the nose. "Look after them for me."

I had to hurry out of the barn before I changed my mind, and then I got in my new car. The dashboard wasn't the same as Gray's truck, but once I tested a few b.u.t.tons and switches I knew where everything was, and started the engine.

Driving to town I had to resist every second thought. I drove past Kari's apartment building, and the temptation to stop and ask her to come with me. I pa.s.sed one of the sheriff's deputies in his patrol car, and didn't do anything stupid to attract his attention. Once I reached town, I saw people strolling everywhere, admiring the lights, and didn't pull over to join them. I kept going until I reached the little lot next to the park, and eased the convertible into the very last spot left.

The vampire hadn't told me exactly where to wait for him, but the park was small, and I knew he wouldn't want us to be seen. I walked to a bench at the farthest corner, where only a single string of lights curled around the trunk of a coconut palm. There I sat down, and looked at the beauty all around me, and wondered if this would be the first night of my life, or the last.

He came up behind me, as silent as the shadows, and his cool hand touched the top of my head. "You shouldn't be here alone."

"Those were my instructions." I turned around and looked at Jesse. "You shouldn't be here, either."

"I didn't think you would go through with it," he admitted.

Earlier that day, after Trick had offered me his compromise and left me in my room, I'd used my bond with Jesse to wake him from his sleep and tell him what I'd planned to do. Although some of the details troubled him, he'd agreed to help me.

After that I'd gone downstairs, but before I went to the kitchen I'd slipped into Trick's bathroom to take a few of his sleeping pills from his cabinet. I'd kept them in my pocket during Christmas dinner, and then dissolved them into the milk I'd heated to make the hot cocoa.

My brothers never noticed that I didn't drink any of mine.

Deliberately drugging my brothers so I could escape them was probably the most cold-blooded thing I'd ever done. I knew the risk I was taking, and as Trick had said, I didn't have nine lives. But after tonight, nine lives would be changed forever: mine and Jesse's, his parents' and my brothers', and the three missing girls'. I had to believe that what I'd done was worth saving the three of them.

"My brothers are never going to forgive me for this," I told him.

"Perhaps they will." He rested his hand on my shoulder. "They know how much you love them."

"No more than the Johnsons, the Waynes and the Hamiltons love their daughters." I gazed up at him. "But not as much as I love you."

He bent down, and the kiss he gave me took away a little of the pain. "I'll be watching from the rooftops."

Twenty-One.

The temperature dropped steadily, and a chilly breeze chased most of the Christmas-light lovers out of the park, but I barely felt the icy air as I waited on the bench. From the moment I'd decided to use Trick's pills to gain my freedom, something slumbering inside me seemed to awake. It felt hot and wild and almost uncontrollable, but this time I wasn't fighting it, and I wasn't afraid of it. If this was what gave me the ability to kill, then I would use it.

Tonight I had to be a Van Helsing.

The city hall's clock chimed eleven times, and as I got up to stretch my stiff limbs I heard a commotion and turned around. A lady walking her poodle came running toward me, almost tripping as she bent down to pick up the little ball of fur before she darted behind a tree. At that moment she saw me and shrieked, "Watch out."

The horse burst out of the bushes, her legs churning as she came straight at me, and I spun out of the way just in time.

"Rika."

The Arabian reacted to my call by wheeling around and stopping, her sides billowing in and out as she regarded me.

"Ma'am," I said to the lady with the poodle, "could you throw me your dog's leash?"

"For that thing?" I heard the woman say.

"Please. I need to catch this horse." I looked down as the leash landed next to my foot. "Thank you."

I bent down to retrieve the leash, and then whistled. Rika's ears p.r.i.c.ked, and she trotted up to me, shivering and blowing, her hide soaked with cold sweat. Just as I reached for her she stepped back and shook her head.

"Come here, girl." When she backed away, I started toward her. "Rika, it's me. Come on, it's okay."

The mare snorted and turned, trotting down to the corner, where she stopped and looked back at me.

"I can't play tonight. Rika, come on." I walked halfway to the corner, stopped, and whistled for her again. "Rika, here."

Again she trotted a short distance away, halted and waited, watching me. I didn't want to leave the park, but if she ran out in front of a car she might kill herself, the foal and whoever was driving. I hurried after her.

She kept playing her version of keep-away, leading me across town until she stopped just at the entrance of the maze.

I looked at the gates, which were standing open, and then at the mare. "Okay, you didn't do that."

She trotted through the entrance and disappeared into the gardens.

I caught up with her in front of the shrine Stanas had made for his lost love. "Are you tired of chasing wild geese yet?"

The Arabian lowered her head, touching her nose to the top of the tiny bower made of sh.e.l.ls.

"Yeah, I know, it's pretty," I told her as I came forward slowly. "Why don't we go back to the park and call Dr. Marks and see if he can come and take you back to his clinic, before you drop that foal on its head?"

Rika snorted and began pawing the ground.

I could see the shrine starting to tip to one side. "No, no, stop that, Rika. Pay attention to me, I'm your friend, remember?"

The Arabian turned around, kicked, and sh.e.l.ls went everywhere as her hooves destroyed the top of the shrine. I used the moment to grab her halter and clip the poodle's leash to one of the rings. She pulled against it, dragging me off my feet, and I landed on the ground in front of what was left of the shrine.

"Thanks." I lifted my head and held on to the end of the leash as I rubbed my bruised chin with my free hand. Something creaked as I moved, and I looked beneath me. Under the dirt some streaks of wood showed through, and when I brushed it away I uncovered one corner of a panel of oak.

I felt curving ridges under my fingers, and traced them. They formed the shape of a heart.

Stanas told them that whoever solved his maze and found its heart would discover a great treasure he'd hidden there.

I got up to tie Rika, who was now quiet, to the iron bench near the shrine. When I went back I saw that the sh.e.l.ls and flowers all around the base, some of which Rika had pawed away, had been placed on top of the panel. Since the shrine covering the statue of Stanas's girl was already destroyed, I gave the remaining portion a push, and it slid slow back from the rest of the panel.

Not a panel, I thought as I crouched down to examine it. A hatch.

Catlyn, where are you?

I'd completely forgotten about Jesse. I'm in the Jester's Maze, with Rika. I think I've found where he's keeping the girls.

I will get James. Wait for us.

Hurry.

I lifted the hatch and saw the same stone steps that had appeared in my blood vision. The sound of crying drifted up to me, tearing at me as I threw aside the hatch and lowered myself over the edge until my feet touched the top step.

Water trickled down the stairs and formed a wide pool at the base, so I braced one hand against the tunnel wall as I descended. Everything was exactly as I'd seen it in the vision, and I followed the pa.s.sage to the barred wooden door. Inside I could hear the sound of crying and a voice whispering. I lifted the bar and cast it aside before I went in.

Two of the girls sat huddled beside Sunny Johnson, who held the broken handle of a broom as if it were a spear. I could see the clean trails tears had made through the dirt on her thin face, and she held her left arm tucked against her body, but her eyes were dry and wide and angry.

There was no sign of the vampire.

"Don't you come near us," she told me, her voice like a slap. "Or so help me, I'll stake you through the heart."

"I'm not here to hurt you," I told her. "My name is Cat Youngblood. I'm going to get you out of here."

The broom handle lowered. "Did you bring the sheriff? Are my parents here?"

"No, it's just me right now." The sound of metal clinking made me look down at the chains and cuffs the vampire had put on the girls' feet. "Where are the keys?"

"He's got them." The girl reached into her back pocket and took out a bobby pin that had been bent at different angles. "I've been trying with this, but I don't know how to pick a lock."

Neither did I, which left me with only one option. "I've got to go back up and get some help."

"No." She grabbed my sleeve with her fist. "You can't leave us down here. He's coming back."

I glanced down at her arm, which had been badly bruised from her wrist to her elbow, and hung limp, as if she couldn't use it. "Did he do this to you?"

"Yeah. He thinks he's a vampire." She pushed the hair back from her neck to reveal more bruises. "He keeps trying to bite me to drink my blood, but he doesn't have fangs and he's too weak to do it with his own teeth."

"After tonight," a dry, horrible voice said, "I won't need your blood."

I turned around and for an instant saw a dark-haired young man with dark eyes and a beautiful face. As soon as I blinked, he changed into a wrinkled old man with ashen skin and bleary eyes.

He bowed. "Welcome, my queen. I had almost given up hope." He shuffled forward. "But at last you have come to me."

"I'm not here for you, old man," I told him. "I'm taking these girls back to their families."

"I will give them to you." He reached into his pocket and took out a ring of keys. "As my gift." When I held out my hand, he closed his gnarled fist over the keys. "As soon as you give me what I want."

"I'm not giving you anything, Mr. Hargraves."

"You know my name." His lips stretched into a ghastly smile. "I am sorry it took so long for me to find you, my queen." He coughed, and for a moment I thought he was going to topple over. Then his eyes shifted past me. "But now that you are here, everything will be fine."

I heard Sunny whisper "I'm sorry" a second before something hit me in the back of the neck, and all the lights went out.

A pounding headache brought me back to consciousness, where I found myself in a big, brightly lit room furnished with antiques. Sh.e.l.ls had been glued like mosaic tiles to the rough stone walls, and formed a fantasy garden in white. Colorful gems in the center of every flower glittered in the light of the kerosene lamps. As pretty as it was, the air smelled horribly stale, as if the room hadn't been used in years.

I pushed myself up from the sofa on which I lay, and looked around. I saw no doors or windows, and no one else but the man on the other side of the room.

Julian Hargraves stood arranging things on a table set for two. As soon as I moved he glanced back at me. "Ah, you're finally awake. Good. I've been waiting for hours, and we have to complete the ritual before sunrise."

I looked at the old knife, the shallow bowl, and the small Egyptian statue he had on the table. "Mr. Hargraves, I'm not who you think I am."

"I know you're not mortal, Catlyn. You don't have to pretend with me." He walked over to sit in a chair beside the sofa. "I'm sorry that I made the girl hit you, but we needed some privacy for this."

"What did you do with the girls?"

"They're waiting in the chamber for us." He smiled, displaying a metal band fitted over the front of his teeth. Two white snake's fangs had been fitted to the metal. "When the ritual is complete and you have finished my change, we will both feast on them."

I could try and explain to him that draining me of blood would just kill me and make him into a vampire. Or I could play along until I could find a way out of here. "That's good." I stood up. "Have you finished your prayers?"