"But I don't want you to die!" I held on to his hands and wanted to pull him closer to me. This wonderful man had tried to protect me without really knowing me. He felt comfortable. Familiar. "I need you."

"Really? Do you really need me, Carly? I'll be your Ghoul if I stay. I will have to drink from you once a month to live. Can you take that responsibility for me?"

"I can change you...I can make you a vampire...or the Baroness can. Or even Father!"

"I have never wanted that, Princess." He reached up and stroked my hair, and then my cheek. His fingertips were warm and soft. "I like being human."

His smile was intoxicating. I leaned in and looked up into his face. "Stay with me. Don't leave me Craft."

"Then I am yours."

I felt our lips meet and lost myself in the kiss. It wasn't Brandon's...but it didn't need to be.

"You b.i.t.c.h! You took him!"

I sensed the danger before I even opened my eyes-because I could still see the room, even as Craft and I held one another. I pulled him back as the dagger flew at us and struck the floor. I saw Jared move in front of us. Me, Craft and a sleeping Brandon.

"She stole it all from me...she took my Ghoul...there is no bond! Why didn't she bond with me?"

"There was never supposed to be one," came a powerful male voice. It shook the house as the cold from outside brushed against my cheek. I opened my eyes to see him standing there in the doorway. Tall. Elegant in his Armani suit. His hair was long and luxuriously pulled back into a ponytail that cascaded down his back. His soft, rubescent cheeks were the only evidence of his anger as he faced Michel.

He was every painting of a dark lord, the template all artists used to create their version of a vampire.

Michel shifted back from the intense blue eyes of the Baron.

My Father.

"You lied to me..." Michel hissed. "All these decades you lied to me. You planned on stealing my power all along."

"That is the true power of Carly's bloodline, Michel," Father said. I saw the Baroness, the twins and uncle Marcus enter the room. Michel was outnumbered. "But you knew that, because it was once yours, before you poisoned it with the Babineaux seed."

I blinked up at my Father, not quite understanding any of this. I had Craft in my arms where we sat on the floor. He'd pa.s.sed out on top of me and I worried for him, and for Brandon. Jared was still in front of us and I could tell he was ready to protect if needed.

"How...how could you know that?"

"Because I was once blood bonded to Carly's ancestor. She was the love of my life. Her sister had a child, and that child had a child, and so when the bloodletting against her family started-by you, Michel-that line was hidden away. And protected. As it always had been." He stepped closer to Michel. "The gifts of a bloodline begin with the human blood, or had you forgotten? The House blood amplifies and strengthens it. You failed in your wanton destruction of your House, Michel. You killed her...but you didn't kill the line. It still lives. Within your brother," he pointed down at Craft. "And in your descendant," and then Father looked back at me.

Descendant? I shook my head, not sure what it was I was hearing. Or understanding. "Father..."

"Carly," he was looking at me. "You, and Craft, are the last of a great House. The most powerful of the bloodlines of the brethren."

"But I..." my head was buzzing and I felt like I was going to pa.s.s out. "I...we did the blood bond... but it didn't work. And now I have a Ghoul..."

"Yes. Blood calls to Blood, Carly. Craft must live, as must you. There can't be a blood bond between the Babineaux line and that of the le Senechal," Father turned back to Michel. "Because the blood always remembers, Michel. And it remembers what it was you did...and who you betrayed."

For the first time in my memory, Michel looked frightened. No, he looked terrified.

He tried to climb over the chair and the couch behind him, but the twins were there. To the right was Marcus. And the Baroness was kneeling next to me.

"Let me take him, Carly. He needs to rest, now. As does Mister Fleetwood. We'll take care of them. But now, it's time to take your place."

My place?

Jared bent and offered me his hand as the Baroness pulled a drowsy Craft from my arms. I stood and moved in front of Jared, beside Father. He placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "This man betrayed your House, Carly. He destroyed it from the inside. He murdered...my wife."

I had seen pictures of a woman in Father's office. I'd known he'd always kept her away from me. And now I could understand why. She was one of my ancestors. And it explained why he'd always been so favorable toward the le Senechal name.

He'd been married to one, blood bonded.

In love.

So deeply in love that he'd never taken another mate. Never another lover.

Instead he'd devoted his life to keeping the le Senechal bloodline alive. Me. My Family.

I guess this explained why Father had chosen me.

And this man, this disgusting monster in front of me, had been responsible. I didn't know the whole story, but I was going to find out.

After I punished Michel.

My palms itched, just as they had in the hallway at the hospital. A pressure had been building as I learned things about myself, and about Father and about Craft and Michel.

Michel.

He'd planned on taking my gift and making me a slave to him. Using the blood bond as a means of control.

There was no use for such a thing in this world.

And so I held up that hand and Michel burned from the inside out.

A lot happened in the next two days. So much of my past, of who I am, was revealed to me. A formal declaration of war was received by my Father, from the House of Babineaux. They refused to believe their son acted in any way other than proper and accused me of murder.

In a way...it was murder. I killed him.

And that fact alone haunted my dreams. I will close my eyes tonight and see him screaming as his skin opened all over his body and the internal fire I created consumed him.

No one would tell me how old he was. Jared said if I did the math I'd be surprised. It would also tell me how old Craft was as well.

The story Craft told me wasn't a happy one. He and my Father, the Baroness, my uncle and the twins, along with Jared, joined me in front of the fireplace Thursday night. Our fireplace, mine and Jared's. Father had given our house back to us, after having it thoroughly fumigated, cleaned and refurnished all day Wednesday.

Jared kept his upstairs bedroom, and Craft took my old one. I moved into the bas.e.m.e.nt. Brandon helped me decorate and arrange my new place-complete with flat-screen television and several terabytes of movie storage. He might not be a whiz at math, but he was great at computers.

Odd, right?

He seemed to be a little tense around Father, and Craft. Particularly Craft. He didn't understand the fact the man was now my Ghoul, and he was bonded to me. And somehow the mingling of my blood and Michel's had not only ceased Brandon's own transformation into a Ghoul, but it also stopped any vampire to human blood bond as well.

"It's not that it couldn't happen," the Baroness said as she lounged on the sofa. She'd changed from her power suit into a pair of my Father's plaid loungers and teeshirt. She'd also appropriated my zebra striped Snuggie, calling it the best invention since bagged blood. "Vampire and human bonds are possible. You had one with Michel in the beginning."

"But," Father said from his chair near the fire. He had his gla.s.s of wine and blood and was feeling a bit nostalgic, or so Jared had warned me. "For now...I think you should get used to the one you have with Craft. Understand that even though you think of him as an equal, the vampire community as a whole will not. He is a Ghoul, which means he is your servant. And he is dedicated to you. He would give his life for you."

"I guess that's okay," I said, hugging my mug of warmed blood mixed with a little mead-one of Jared's inventions. Well, one of his better tasting inventions. "I mean, we are related in a way."

"Yes," Father said. He glanced at Craft who'd found a spot on the floor by the fireplace hearth and stoked the wood now and then.

Craft put another log on the fire before he joined the conversation. "You asked me, Carly, how it happened. The truth is..." he shrugged. "I'm not sure. The Baroness tells it best."

I looked at her. She smiled. "Craft, you have always been a flatterer. The le Senechal House was and always had been the Guardians, Carly. As you can see, your blood has a power to break all bonds, and with it comes the use of fire. The other bloodlines have lost the elemental abilities over time. In fact, we didn't know you possessed such a gift until you attacked Dockal."

I nodded, remembering the flash of light. But then, "Where is Dockal?"

"Ah," Jared spoke up. "She won't be giving us any trouble for a while. But please, Baroness, continue. I'm interested in the ballad of Craft Hood myself."

Craft snorted but otherwise kept to himself.

"Michel and Craft were brothers within the same le Senechal family, but they had different mothers. Their father was the head of the le Senechal human bloodline. Michel was older and a bit nastier. He'd been granted all the privileges due to the heir of the family name.

"But it was Craft their father favored. His first wife died of pneumonia before the reforming could take place, and so he took her sister as his second wife, knowing the bloodlines were good and compatible. When Craft was born, a light seemed to come over everyone. He was a bright child, full of laughter and openness, unlike his brother who'd always sulked and stayed indoors in the shadows. Craft learned weapons and hunted with his father, while Michel stayed inside and read and studied. What we didn't know was that he was studying the bloodlines and how they affected the reformation."

"I was...still human at the time, Carly," Uncle Marcus said. "Our Houses were already joined by the blood bond of my brother to your distant aunt. The reformation had already happened for her. What...we didn't know was that the Babineaux brood had already infiltrated several of the le Senchal strongholds. And one of their places was the library-where Michel spent a great deal of time."

"The Babineaux b.i.t.c.h that took Michel," the Baroness continued. "Was the leader's daughter. She convinced Michel that if he combined their bloodlines, became a vampire with the Babineaux blood, he'd become a great leader, uniting the Houses."

I sipped my mug. "So, that's how he became a Babineaux?"

"Yes," Marcus said. "But he did this without permission, so when it was discovered he'd gone through a secret reformation, he was banished from the le Senechals. Stripped of his t.i.tle and Craft was named the new heir."

I sighed. "I can see where this went badly."

Aunt Andrea cleared her throat. When she spoke, her voice was stronger than I thought it'd be. In fact, it was the first time I'd heard her speak at all that I could remember, and her accent was pure London. "There was a coup-a very violent one-all across the Senechal strongholds. The blood family was practically wiped out in one night. They weren't prepared for the treachery. One child was saved in the human House, and that child was spirited away to safety by her uncle, at the expense of his own capture."

I knew it before she finished and looked at Craft. He was looking at the fire as he spoke. "My father told me to make sure the new baby girl was safe. The blood travels in the girls, he said. She must survive so the Senechal line can rise again." He turned and looked at me. "I got her out-but my brother found me."

"And...he made you a Ghoul."

He nodded. "He hated me in life, and he hated me even more at that moment. I thought he would kill me-but he did something even worse by making me his servant. But I have served him and the Babineaux family loyally since then."

"Until now," Father straightened in his chair and set his gla.s.s on the new oak coffee table. There was no Ikea in the house now. Not after Father got a hold of it. His tastes ran more toward antiques. He might look like a young rock star, but he was old. "You are now back with your family, Craft. Among us, you will be treated as such."

"I'm still a Ghoul, Baron," Craft said. "I know my place. Nothing can change that."

"I could change you, Craft," the Baroness said in a soft voice.

"And when that happens, what of the Senechal blood that still runs in my veins? It changes, Baroness, and I become Wyndham, just as Michel became Babineaux. No...like this, I still carry my father's blood."

"His is the purest," Father said.

"Wait," I held up a hand. "So, what about me? You used Wyndham blood to reform me, didn't you? Doesn't that make me Wyndham, not Senechal?"

They were all looking at each other and I looked at Jared. He shrugged.

"I...did not reform you," Father finally said. "It was a Senechal."

I sat forward. "You mean there are more still alive?"

"A few," Father said. "But they are safe and living their lives in secrecy. This is the secret Michel wanted from you. He'd tasted your blood in the blood bond once and knew it was Senechal. He knew what you were. And what we knew is it would take a mingling of blood-his and yours-to stop him."

"You knew this would happen?" I looked at my Father with renewed awe.

"Well..." he shrugged. "Not really. Your true Sire did. She was sure of it. Their only wish was to bring down the Babineaux House."

"Can I meet her? My Sire?"

"No."

I looked at the Baroness. "Why not?"

"Dangerous for her. Right now, the Babineaux do not realize the Senechals still live on. We're pretty sure Michel told his Sire about you and your blood, but knowing the old boy, I'm confident he's not breathed a word to his House. He wouldn't want you targeted for your blood, not when he would want it for himself. So for now, you are a daughter of the House of Wyndham. And you rescued Michel's Ghoul." He shrugged. "Spoils of war."

War. I thought about the message earlier and scratched at my head. "And for war, you mean to go through with this with the Babineaux?"

"The truth is," Aunt Andreas said. "Is that they can declare all they want. The Council has to decide whether it is approved. Unless they believe there is just cause, the Babineaux can do nothing."

"What's just cause?"

"Who knows?" the Baroness stood up and stretched, my Snuggie clinging to her. "Who cares? Right now, I suggest you get plenty of sleep. So don't stay out too late on your rendezvous."

My jaw hit the floor. My rendezvous? How in the h.e.l.l did she know I was meeting up with Brandon after the meeting?

"I'm a Wyndham, Carly," the Baroness winked. "And you think too loud. Need to work on that. Oh, do you have a dress for Sat.u.r.day night?"

"Uh...Sat.u.r.day..." I blanched. "You know about that too?"

"Well, only because your young man approached your father and I about taking you to the dance Sat.u.r.day night."

Jared laughed and pointed at me. "Oh d.a.m.n...look at her face!"

I felt the heat rising to my cheeks. "He...came and talked to you?"

Father nodded and looked very smug and pleased. "He asked us for permission."

To be honest-I'd sort of blown off going to the dance. I hadn't brought it up since Tuesday seeing as how a lot had happened. And it was a lot for Brandon to adjust to. I mean, the girl he wanted to date was a vampire. An older woman. h.e.l.l, just the fact he wanted to date me after knowing all this was amazing enough to me.

"And you said?"

"We said yes," he held up his hand. "On two conditions."

Uh oh.