"Well,feckin ' hell," Ronan grumbled.

"You're staying with us," Erin said as they drove up to Clarissa's bed and breakfast.

Sorley, Micky and Jared had gone back to Erin's home already and planned to wait for them there. "And no more arguments. We've got the extra room tucked away in the attic.

It's a little dusty but I'm sure we can clean it out."

"You won't get any argument from me," Ronan said with a smile as Clarissa sat next to him in the backseat. "But I'm feeling better already."

"No patrolling for you tonight," Lachlan said.

Ronan glanced at Clarissa and winked. He reached for her hand and squeezed it quickly.

"You've got that right."

Clarissa smiled, enjoying the resurgence in her energy. She knew his words meant something deeper. She knew he wanted to spend tonight with her. Alone.

She still rode high on Ronan's incredible resurrection. Whether her kiss had revived him, or he would have repaired his body soon without her help, she couldn't recall feeling this joyful in a long time. Deep inside her soul she'd realized one thing in that tunnel. She cared for Ronan Kieran more profoundly than any man she'd known. And it didn't matter in that moment, as she'd kissed his cold lips and wept for him, that he was a vampire.

No, not at all.

"I'll go with you," Ronan said as Clarissa opened the door.

She looked back at him. "Oh, no you don't. You're not well enough. Just stay there. Erin and Lachlan will help me get my things."

To her surprise he grinned and didn't argue. Amazing. Maybe the powerful vampire didn't mind having someone else take charge, at least for a smidgen.

It didn't take long for Clarissa to gather her things and check out. When they returned to the car Ronan sat with his head tilted back and his eyes closed. For one paralyzing second Clarissa's heart leapt with fear. What if he'd relapsed? His eyes opened immediately as they entered the car, and she sighed in relief.

They remained silent as they took the short drive back toward Erin's home. They hadn't gone too far when they saw a glow above the horizon.

"What's that?" Erin asked.

"Looks like...no it can't be," Lachlan said as he made the turn down her street.

"Fire," Clarissa said softly.

"Damn it." Ronan clenched one fist.

Clarissa reached out and placed her hand over his. Tension exuded from him. "We knew fires would probably happen."

They arrived at Erin's house and saw Jared and Micky standing on the front lawn watching the red glow above the horizon. When they piled out of the car, Jared and Micky walked up quickly.

Jared spoke first. "We just heard on the radio that a house out in the woods close to theGunn Inn has gone up in flames."

"I was worried about it being my place," Micky said, "but then the report gave the address and I was relieved it wasn't."

Clarissa gripped Ronan's arm gently. "Let's hope no one was hurt or killed."

Ronan didn't allow anyone else to support him as he walked toward the house. He glanced at the reddish haze in the night sky above the tree line.

Once inside the house, Ronan swayed a little. Clarissa's worry didn't diminish, and she kept a firm grip on his muscular biceps. "You've got to lie down."

He shook his head. "We don't have time for me to be sick. We thought we had problems with the ancient one, but its worse. A lot worse."

Clarissa described the vision she'd experienced about the women on Main Street fighting after being in the presence of the ancient one. "It had to be his influence." Clarissa relayed once again the information she'd discovered in the two old books in the library.

"It's possible that the ancient one was here a hundred years ago."

"What about the other evil I encountered in the tunnel in our last fight against the ancient one?" Micky asked.

Everyone went silent for a moment before Jared said, "It would make sense. We don't really understand much about the evil other than what Micky learned."

Although Clarissa had heard about the additional malevolence when they'd grouped together the night before for dinner, Micky mentioned again how she'd gone into another type of dimension, remaining in the tunnels but not visible to her friends. "The evil wanted me to join with it, but it specifically said it wasn't a part of the ancient one. It said the ancient one was a part ofit ."

Clarissa eased Ronan down on the couch. "Nice and cryptic."

"Brilliant," Sorley said. "So this evil has an ego even bigger than the ancient one."

"I sent an urgent message to the seer and to Yusuf about this mega-evil," Ronan said.

"I'm surprised I haven't heard back from them yet."

"Urgent message as in called them?" Lachlan asked.

"Right. Yusuf doesn't have a phone, but I contacted his cousin Jasmina and she said she'd relay the message. I tried reaching the seer by telepathy but she hasn't responded.

So I left a message on her home phone."

Clarissa smiled despite the gravity of the situation. "You're going to have to tell me more about this seer."

"Oh, she's quite beautiful," Sorley said, a mischievous grin spreading over his face. "And Irish, too."

"Hmmm." Clarissa made a noncommittal noise because if she didn't something snarky would come out.

She couldn't afford to be jealous of the relationship this seer may or may not have with Ronan. She'd already experienced the sting of jealousy when Ronan had talked about the blonde beauty the ancient one had killed all those years ago.

Moments later Erin offered everyone beverages, but all declined. Erin and Lachlan went up to the attic room to get it ready.

Ronan's gaze appeared bleary, as if he hadn't awakened one hundred percent from the coma. She sat beside him, eager to keep close watch. He closed his eyes and ran his hand over his chin, the movement fatigued and nothing like the powerful man she'd come to know. Then he winced and put his hand to his ribs.

Renewed trepidation spiked into her like a lightning bolt. "Are you okay?"

"I'm getting there. It shouldn't be much longer before I won't even know I had a fight with the ancient one."

"What happened between you and that fucking creep down in those tunnels?" Jared asked.

Ronan cleared his throat and opened his eyes. "He jumped me. Kicked my ass, in fact.

And that hasn't happened in a very long time." He gave Clarissa a weak smile. "Over a hundred years, in fact. And then he cheated. This time he tossed me in the air like a twig.

Bad for my ego, it was. I didn't think I'd meet up with him in the tunnels, but even if I did, I didn't expect him to be that potent. The things he could do were phenomenal. He's finding a source of energy from somewhere beyond the ordinary."

"What about your weapon?" Jared asked. "You couldn't get off a shot?"

"Oh, I got the shot off, all right. The bastard is now immune to silver bullets entirely.