I have to survive. And if he's the means, then I'll think about the other stuff later. Like I always have. "I need to see Mama Renee. She has lots of experience with potions. She'll have answers."

Damian exchanged glances with someone standing silently in the doorway. A strip of pure white hair streaked through the man's shoulder-length dark hair. About four inches taller than Damian, he had the face of an angel and dressed like a biker. Jamie blinked in vague recognition. She'd seen him somewhere before. "Who are you?"

Introducing her, Damian explained Raphael was his brother. Oh G.o.d. Memories ate her guts like a horde of angry ants. Jamie swallowed hard. One of the Draicon who'd joined Damian in killing Mark. Tearing her brother to pieces, as he screamed...

"Another Draicon? How many stray dogs are there in this city?" Jamie shot out.

Raphael's mouth thinned to a tight slash. He didn't appear to like her any more than she liked him.

"Dai, I'm headed out. Call me if you need me." Raphael gave her a hard look and left.

The Draicon slammed the door behind him. Jamie set down the gla.s.s and pushed off the couch, relieved to find her limbs functioning normally.

"Where are you going?" Damian demanded.

"Mama Renee's, just a few doors down. Maybe she can...What?"

Damian stood and went to her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Stay here, Jamie. There's something you should know...."

Through her thin T-shirt, she felt his hands' warmth. Jamie resisted the urge to collapse and absorb his strength. It had been so long since she'd leaned on anyone. The only person she could trust was herself.

But d.a.m.n, just for once, it would be nice to have someone truly on her side.

"If you don't know enough, then I have to find someone who does," she muttered.

A loud buzz warned someone was at the front gate. Shrugging off his hands, Jamie trounced downstairs, Damian following close behind. A man in a rumpled black suit with a tired face stood outside. "I'm Detective Robert Ryan. Do you know the woman who lives two doors down, a Mrs. Renee St. Clair?"

"Renee's a good friend."

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but...we believe Mrs. St. Clair has been killed."

Her heart raced as she shrank back. "There's some mistake."

"Perhaps," the detective said evenly. "Does she have any relatives living in the city?"

"She has a daughter in North Carolina, and her son was killed in a car wreck a while back."

"Could you come with us and identify the body, Miss Walsh?"

I can't, she thought with sickening dread. But she had to see for herself. Had to know...that the one woman she felt friendship with was gone. It simply couldn't be real.

Jamie nodded. Damian took her elbow and gave the detective a hard look. "Just a minute. I'm going with her and we need to lock up."

He pulled her inside the gate, out of earshot. "Renee was not here with you. Understand? Otherwise you're a suspect."

Her stomach twisted in knots. They left the house, following the detective. Police cars crammed the narrow street, blue and red lights bouncing off the buildings, yellow tape being unfurled and plastered across a perimeter of the sidewalk. All stuff she'd seen countless times on television crime shows.

Only this time it was real. Too real.

The familiar interior of the voodoo shop looked normal, though a horrid, coppery stench filled the air. Her instincts knew the smell. Blood and violence. Cops milled about, dusting the shelves with black fingerprint powder, taking photos.

"She's back here." The detective walked toward the back room.

She pulled free of Damian and went to a yellow plastic sheet covering something on the floor. Detective Ryan's face remained expressionless. "Ready?"

Jamie drew in a deep breath and nodded, barely feeling Damian's strong hands on her shoulders. The cop pulled back the sheet to show a face.

A face she knew and didn't. Lips pulled back into a silent scream, warm brown eyes dulled and glazed with horror.

A strangled moan arose in her throat. Jamie jerked her head forward. "It's her, but how..." She had to know, even though she knew what she would find would be horrible.

Trembling fingers clutched the sheet's edge, ripped it from the startled detective's grip. Jamie pulled the sheet back with a vicious yank, exposing the body. Dark bruises ringed Renee's neck. Blood splattered the pretty flowered dress and a ragged hole showed where...Her heart. Her big, generous heart. Gone.

Jamie gagged, clapped a hand over her mouth. Oh G.o.d, her friend...died in pain, horribly. A boulder the size of Louisiana compressed her chest. Her bottom lip wobbled precariously as the burning rose in her throat.

Her parents. Mark. Would the streak of deaths ever end? Maybe the Grim Reaper was only a happy camper when he kept slaughtering everyone in her life.

She ignored the tightness in her throat. No grief. She tried to speak past the cotton dryness in her mouth. Damian put a hand on her shoulder, squeezed gently. His fingers trailed over her nape, stroking in soothing motions as if he tried calming her.

"Wh-who could have done this?"

"Someone with a great deal of strength." The cop swept her with an even gaze. She guessed his thoughts. Small, slender hands, barely enough strength to rip open a cereal-box top.

But who did possess such strength? Draicon did.

"When did you last see her, Miss Walsh?"

Menace and anger rolled from Damian in thick, violent waves. He gave the cop a look cool enough to freeze burning coal. "She's not up to answering questions now."

"It's okay," she told Damian, then looked at the detective. "This morning, we had tea, and then she got customers."

Each question tossed at her she answered steadily, her mind sharpening, her emotions dulled. Her mind raced. Who could want Renee dead? The woman had no enemies, nothing much of value to steal...The laptop. Jamie's gaze darted over to the side table where Renee had last placed it. Gone.

"May I go into the back rooms, Detective? She was a good friend and I can tell you if anything is missing."

"I'll go with you," Ryan said.

In the kitchen, the shiny new blue notebook sat on the table with a wireless Internet card tucked into the slot. Black fingerprint powder covered the surface.

"Nice notebook." Ryan gestured to it. "Odd the killer took only the cash from the register and not this. She used it to send an e-mail to her granddaughter today."

A chill fell over Jamie. She glanced up at Damian's stoic expression.

"Maybe the killer didn't want it tracked back to him," Jamie said softly. She glanced around. "Where is Renee's cat?"

Ryan frowned. "We found no cat."

Archimedes must have escaped. He was a survivor, and probably out roaming the streets. The least of her worries now.

"Detective, is her diamond pendant missing? She loved it and it should be in her jewelry box upstairs. I'll stay here. I'm feeling faint."

Jamie slipped into the chair before the laptop, burying her face in her hands. No lie, for she was feeling sick. She waited until he left the kitchen, then lifted her head.

Damian leaned over the table. "I need to get you out of here."

"No, wait, I have to check this out." She glanced around. "Make sure no one comes in here, 'kay?"

She powered up the laptop, scanned the files. An e-mail to Renee's grandchild, just as the detective had said. Jamie pulled up the browsing history. Erased, of course. No matter.

She went into DOS and typed a program she'd written. A long list of Internet addresses scrolled down. Shocked dismay filled her as Jamie stared at the screen.

"What?"

"The computer," she said dully. "Renee never touched it. Her fingerprints are all over it, but she didn't use it. She didn't know how to use the Internet. And these sites, they list antique shops in the French Quarter."

"Antique shops?"

Jamie caught the note of alarm. Warm breath feathered against her cheek as Damian leaned over her and studied the screen. He muttered something in French. Jamie shut off the machine.

Damian waved his hand. "I just erased your fingerprints. Let's go. I'll tell the police you're ill."

Outside she gulped down lungfuls of fresh air, but Damian didn't let her stop until they reached her house and were safely inside the gate. As Jamie sat in the courtyard, a small black cat darted out of the bushes.

"Archimedes!" Joy filled her as she went to pick him up.

The cat turned his back on her and sat by a dying potted palm. Jamie frowned. Not like him to be so unfriendly.

"I brought him back here for you." Damian sighed.

"What is it? Tell me," she demanded.

He ran a palm over the brick wall as if to a.s.sure himself the safeguards were still in place. "That's why they killed her. She knew about the antique shop."

"What shop?"

"The first clue to where the Book of Magick is hidden. It would be in my grandfather's old house, which is now an antique shop." He paced, his hands squeezed into fists.

"Renee knew my grandfather's house held the first clue. My father adored games. He told me that when he hid the book, he planted clues all over the Vieux Carre and the first one was in my grandfather's house. The Morphs must have gotten it out of her. Not the location. Just that it's an antique shop now."

"Renee couldn't know where the book was hidden. She didn't even know who you are. And even if she did, why would the Morphs murder her?"

Damian's fingers relaxed as he stopped to regard her. "She did, Jamie. Renee knew my family well. She was a Draicon. That's why they killed her-to ingest her energy and give them power. The dying fear of a Draicon is much more powerful than a human's death fears."

She sagged into the chair. Impossible. Draicon were evil. Uncaring, brutish werewolves, not sweet, motherly psychics.

"Years ago, Draicon here were outnumbered by Morphs and went into hiding. Renee was among them. I couldn't tell because I didn't recognize her scent. Renee used a chemical compound to disguise her scent from the Morphs. Very clever. Whoever did this must have realized her ident.i.ty and her a.s.sociation with my family."

Or tortured it out of her. It was too fantastic. Her emotions raced between heartbreaking grief and utter betrayal. "But her grandchild is human. She showed me pictures!"

"Draicon. The parents are from a pack in North Carolina."

Even her friend had been the enemy. Jamie tried sorting it out. As she had with first her parents' deaths and then Mark's, she shoved grief into a dark corner. First came survival.

"I have to find the book. It contains a spell to remove the dark magick, and counteract the spell infecting you. The Morphs know where to start looking now and they won't stop until they find it."

Damian leaned against the wall, crossing his powerful arms across his chest. "I hate leaving you here to search for the book, but I have little choice. I'll send Raphael's guys to guard you."

The h.e.l.l with that. Damian would find the book and her solution to lifting the binding spell crippling her powers. He would wield it over her, always dominating her with his magick, and she'd be trapped. His, forever.

She gripped the chair's armrests. Damian was the key to finding what she desperately needed. Trusting him was impossible, but for now, she had to join forces with him.

"I'm not staying here. I'm coming with you."

"The h.e.l.l you are."

"The h.e.l.l I am. My life is tied up in the book. Do you think I'll sit here and wait? I'm not the waiting sort."

"Listen to me," he said quietly. "You made choices before, wrong choices, and lived as you pleased. Not anymore. You will do as I say, Jamie. Period."

She glared at him. "You're such an ber Alpha."

He knit his eyebrows together. "ber Alpha?"

"An antiquated one who doesn't even know what ber is."

"I know what's best for you and how to keep you safe. That's all I need to know."

Her pique faded as she remembered the sluggish gray matter seeping out of her wound. "I wonder if anything can keep me safe. This thing inside me feels like it won't die. Just been pushed back, and it's waiting in the wings," she whispered.

Something flashed into his expression. It might have been the late afternoon sun slanting across his face, but she could have sworn it looked like worry. Ridiculous. Damian would never be afraid for her, the woman who tried to kill him.

The woman he claimed was his mate. He had an ulterior purpose.

He wanted her alive, to make her into something like he was. A wolf, absorbed into his pack like sugar dissolving into hot liquid. Force her to a.s.similate and change. Her entire life people wanted to shape her to fit their world. Her d.a.m.n uncle, even Mark couldn't accept her for who she was.

Even Renee...Grief arrowed through her. Renee scolded her for using magick and had only watched over her as befit a Draicon's duty. All this time, she'd been on Damian's side.

I'm better off alone, Jamie thought sadly.

Time to shift tactics. She lifted her shoulders in a casual shrug. "Fine, I'll stay here with those guys you mentioned. Might even be fun. I bet they know how to play World of Warcraft. If they're young enough, maybe I could play other computer games with them."

Fascinated, she watched his nails elongate. Gouges scored in the ancient redbrick as he raked his fingers across the wall.

"No. You're coming with me. But you will do exactly as I say."

She could handle that, Jamie reasoned. Optimism buoyed her. "We could start now."