He sighed. "I guess you're right. I want to see the next part with the Gypsies, though. Then I'll turn in."

"Why do you want to see the Gypsies?"

"I like Gypsies."

"Dude, seriously..." I felt like I was talking to a two-year-old. I'd seen Seth drink some very tough guys under the table.

Werewolves, as a species, could hold their liquor. He must have really tied one on.

"Don't you like Gypsies?" He held one hand out, palm up. "Cross my palm with silver," he said in a bad Eastern European accent. "And I'll tell you everything you want to know. Or whatever the line is."

I went to the bar where the kitchen began and threw the bottle into the trash. "Look. I came to apologize. I didn't mean that stuff I said earlier. I know you were just trying to look out for Connie and me."

He waved his hand in the air in front of him. "Oh, I know that. Fuhgetabout.i.t."

"I'll be there tomorrow night backing you up like we planned."

He belched. "I know that, too."

"Listen, I hope the fight we had wasn't the reason you tried to drink all the beer in Savannah. 'Cause if you go to this fight seeing double, you're not going to know which Samson Thrasher to go after. And if you go after the wrong one, I'm going to feel responsible when you get your a.s.s chewed up and handed to you."

"No, man, that's not it." He picked up the remote control and turned the television off, Gypsies or no Gypsies. "It's...the thing with Connie."

"I thought you just said the thing with Connie wasn't it," I said, confused.

"It's not our fight about Connie that made me want to get pickled. It was the thing that happened in Atlanta. It kind of came back to me all over again."

I went back to the couch and sat down beside him. "What did happen in Atlanta between the two of you?"

"It wasn't between the two of us," he said miserably. "But I still think it was the thing that drove her away from me."

Fifteen.

William When I reached the cavernous room where I'd overheard Diana and Ulrich, I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. I summoned every ounce of power I could muster to get a sense of any nearby vampires. I was aware of the old lords lurking somewhere underneath me. This far underground, I would not be able to sense when the sun rose and the other vampires went to their rest.

I had left Eleanor's bloodless body where it lay. It had already begun to decay, and I now felt a void where she had once existed as my offspring. I felt empty despite having consumed her blood nearly to the point of drunkenness. Sadness-one of the emotions I had long thought myself incapable of-washed over me when her body at last released its grip on undeath. I 'd dispatched my beloved Eleanor to h.e.l.l, and I found that part of me wanted to die with her. My old fascination with my own destruction had returned.

I vowed to myself that there would be no other thoughts of Eleanor this night. Not when Renee was within my grasp. My sense of her was as strong as it had been the night before. In fact, in the stillness and the absence of waking vampire activity, I could swear that I heard her calling me.

Uncle William, she said. Please, take me home. I want my mama.

I'm coming, my heart, my mind projected. Her little voice seemed to fill the void inside me.

I found a pa.s.sage leading downward. Stones that had been worn smooth by centuries of contact with uncounted hands and feet protruded from the earth on one side of the narrow hole. Was this the path that untold supplicants used to reach the dark lords? I couldn't help but wonder how many had descended never to rise again. Using the stones as hand -and footholds I continued downward.

As I continued, the unrelieved blackness began to give way to a tiny glint of light from below. I sensed I was coming to another room of sorts. I found myself in an enclosure with lit torches set into holes dug in the earthen walls. Blades of all kinds hung in rows from spikes set between the torches-from broadswords to rapiers to falchions to dirks. At the end of the little cavern Renee sat in a simple wooden chair.

I practically flew to her. "Renee, are you all right?" She didn't move, and I saw when I approached that she was tied to the chair.

"I am all right now," she said. "I knew you would come. Either you or Uncle Jack or both."

She still wore the school uniform, now dirty and torn, that she 'd been kidnapped in. Her hair had escaped its barrettes and colorful bands. But her brown eyes shone brightly and were unafraid.

I ripped the ropes in two with my bare hands, freeing her arms. "Are you all right?" I asked again.

"Hungry," she said. She winced and struggled to bring her arms forward. I gently ma.s.saged the feeling back into them, and as I did I saw to my horror that they were covered with cuts and fang marks.

"Who did this to you?" I demanded as she encircled my neck with her injured arms.

"Diana and the one she calls Ulrich." I felt her little body shudder as she said his name. I hugged her and cursed silently. Diana had no doubt offered up Renee 's precious blood to ingratiate herself with her benefactor. With Will having redeemed himself and Hugo and Eleanor rotting in h.e.l.l, my rage intensified and focused on Diana.

The awareness of the true depth of Diana's evil settled into my bones like poison. It was as if a veil was lifted from my eyes so that I could see her for what she was. I finally understood that every trait that I prized in her as my human wife -goodness, compa.s.sion, loyalty, and the boundless capacity to love-had died on the night she was made into a blood drinker. What was left was nothing but a beautiful but evil sh.e.l.l. When she 'd come to Savannah, in my happiness at seeing her again after so many centuries, I had tried to fill that sh.e.l.l with my cherished memories of the love of my human life.

I'd been as great a fool as Eleanor. I only hoped that I had wised up, as Jack would say, in time to be spared her fate. And in time to spare Renee any more suffering. I silently vowed that Diana would pay with her undead life if it took me until eternity to exact my revenge.

"Where is Mama?" Renee asked, pulling back from me enough to look into my eyes.

"She wanted to come," I said. "But I asked her to wait in Savannah until I brought you back. Someone has to take care of your uncle Jack, you know."

Renee smiled. "And Deylaud and Reyha."

"That's right." I managed a smile I hoped would not betray my fears. I had no idea if her beloved Deylaud yet lived.

My hearing picked up a noise from the direction I had come. I turned my head toward the sound, almost like rain.

"What is it, Uncle William?"

"We need to fly, little one. Hold tight. " Renee put her skinny brown arms around my neck and pressed her face into my shoulder. I picked her up and hurried to the pa.s.sageway that led upward, but before I could get there, the pitter -patter had become a roar, and earth and rocks showered down from the pa.s.sage, filling that side of the cavern floor. Renee gasped as I scanned the roof of the enclosure for another path. There was none.

But there was one leading downward.

In fact, someone had taken the trouble to construct steps on this section of the downward path. Crude handholds had led me down to this point, but from here the way was more refined. Could it be that only a select few made it to this lower level? What had happened to those where Renee was being kept who were not so privileged? I had no time to ponder the meaning of this. I looked behind me as the earth around the upward pa.s.sage caved in, partially filling the room with rubble. Renee heard the rumble and whimpered.

The crude staircase leading downward was our only way out. I hoped it led to somewhere other than h.e.l.l.

Jack "It was awful, Jack," Seth said mournfully.

"My G.o.d, what happened?" I was starting to get a case of the creeps.

"When I first met Connie, she had just divorced her husband, Alonso."

So there had been a husband. I thought back to the moment in Melaphia 's little garden when I watched the ceremony that Connie was partic.i.p.ating in. The naked ceremony. I'd noticed what I was pretty sure was a cesarean section scar on Connie's abdomen. I always wondered what had happened to that baby, but of course I couldn't ask.

"She had a beautiful four-year-old boy." Seth let his head fall against the back of the couch and took a deep breath. I didn't like the sound of this. Not one little bit. But I had to hear the rest. "Keep going, buddy," I urged Seth on.

"We met at the academy, like we said that night at your garage. After that training cla.s.s I taught, she went back to Atlanta PD, and I went back to my job running the force in my town. But I couldn't get her off my mind, Jack. I looked her up."

"You dated?"

"Yeah. For a few weeks anyway." He rubbed his eyes, not like he was sleepy but like he was seeing something in the past that he wanted to go away. Far, far away.

"What happened then?"

"Alonso, that's what happened. He had threatened Connie when she left him. They were living in D.C. at the time, and he was going to Georgetown. His family was a wealthy one who'd come here from somewhere in Latin America, and they insisted he go to law school. Alonso's parents had even planned a trip to the United States when his mother was pregnant so that Alanso would be born here."

"If they were so wealthy, why did they go to so much trouble to make sure he was born a U.S. citizen?" I asked, confused.

"Connie said they wanted to see their son become the first Latino president of the United States. Connie said Alonso was bright, but the stress of Georgetown Law, not to mention the pressure his parents put on him, got him down, and he started taking something. Connie said she never knew what it was. He was too good at hiding it. When she confronted him, he said he could handle it, that he only took it to help him cope."

I thought about how Connie had reacted when I told her about the Thrashers making methamphetamine. She looked mad enough to spit nails. "Go on," I said.

"See, they had gotten married right after she graduated from high school, and nine months later, when they were undergrads, Connie had his baby. She took a break from her own college career to be a full-time mom. She said everything was good at first between her and Alonso. It's an old story, I guess." He sighed.

"When did the abuse start?" I found myself balling my hands into fists and tried to relax. I couldn't stand the thought of Connie being victimized.

"I think it was after he got his bachelor's degree and moved on to law school and he started with the drugs. Evidently it was a pretty wild scene. Connie didn't put up with it for long, of course. She tried to make it work for the kid's sake. But Alonso ran out of last chances the night he put her in the hospital. She had him arrested and moved back to Atlanta with little Carlos. That 's when I met her. She'd just joined Atlanta PD."

I rubbed my eyes, hoping to get rid of the image in my mind of Connie being brutalized by a man she loved. No wonder she was on the edge of going vigilante on the Thrasher domestic violence case. I think she told me one time that fighting domestic violence was the reason she joined the force. Seth's story explained a lot. I motioned for him to continue.

"He left her alone for a while. I think his parents put the fear of G.o.d in him. They knew that they could get a first offense expunged from his record, but a second one was dicey. The parents agreed to help her get a quickie divorce in exchange for her agreement never to tell anyone about the abuse. They were all about their son's future political career. Connie was glad to agree in order to get Alonso out of her life as fast as possible. So she thought she was in the clear. Then something made Alonso snap.

Maybe it was the drugs. Maybe it was something else. I'm not sure she ever figured it out."

You know how you feel when you're driving along and you come to a car wreck? You don't want to look, but you can't help yourself. Right now I didn't want to hear, really didn't want to hear the rest, but there was no turning back. "Go on," I heard myself say again.

"One night we got back to her apartment after a date. The babysitter left; I hung around for a while and then said good night, both of us thinking everything was normal." Seth covered his face with his hands. "Right after I left, Alonso forced his way into the apartment."

"What happened then? I need to know," I said gently, not knowing if he would continue without prodding.

"Alonso had a gun."

William I ran for the steps with Renee cradled in my arms. Down and down I ran until I came to still another cavernous room. The stench of old death was worse there, but that was of no concern compared to what I was staring in the face. Or should I say who.

"Good evening," Ulrich said. "How nice it is to see you again after so many years. More than a century, isn't it?" He fingered the scar at his throat. As old as it was, it should have been snow white, but the scar was a dark wine color. No doubt because he had recently fed from Renee. Diana stood behind her lover, looking as beautiful as ever.

"h.e.l.lo, William," she said in a sultry voice.

"How dare you speak to me after what you've done to this child," I said, ignoring Ulrich. "After the way you betrayed me."

"Now, now, don't be rude," Ulrich said. "We can all be civil here, can't we?"

I scanned the room for a way out. The earthen ceiling was higher than the previous chamber's, and the walls had a number of lit torches imbedded in them. The light cast eerie shadows on the dirt floor. In the far corner I saw another pa.s.sage leading farther downward. I could no longer hear the landslide up above, but that did not necessarily mean that it had stopped.

"William is a very reasonable man," Diana remarked. The obsequiousness in her voice sickened me. "And ambitious in his own way. Perhaps we can come to an understanding."

Renee had begun to tremble in my arms. "Look at me, little one," I said. She did as I asked, her wide, frightened eyes staring up into mine. "It's time for you to go to sleep now, and sleep until I wake you. All right?"

I focused my mind to deliver the glamour. If she chose to use the force of her voodoo blood, she might be one of the few humans on earth who could thwart me, but of course she did not. She would obey as much because she loved me as in response to the glamour of the vampire.

"All right, Uncle William. I'll go to sleep now and sleep until you wake me."

She was asleep in seconds and I refocused my power on shielding my thoughts from my grandsire, who was regarding me quizzically.

"That was a nice touch," he said. "I remember your...fondness for and sensitivity to humans."

"I'll listen to your proposal," I said as evenly as I could. I would subdue my disgust and get one or both of them talking enough to allow me time to formulate a plan. If I could get Ulrich to open up to me, perhaps I might discover a weakness. "But first I want information," I continued. "For my own edification, you understand."

"Why, of course," Ulrich said genially. "We have nothing but time, we vampires. That is our richest gift. Is it not, my dear?"

Diana nodded and smiled demurely. "Ask us anything, William. By all means."

"Why did Reedrek come to Savannah after leaving me alone for so many years? He said he 'd wanted me to make more vampires to strengthen the bloodline. I believe his arrival had something to do with the plague that Will was sent to spread among the western vampires. Were you behind all that?" "Yes, I was, I am loath to admit," Ulrich said with an expression of disgust.

"Why do you say it like that?"

"Because it failed." For the first time, the old demon showed his temper. "That senile Reedrek and the imbecile Hugo botched the plan when they deliberately allowed Will to become infected."

"Hugo was always jealous of my son," Diana said. "When Reedrek came to him with the plan, Hugo saw an opportunity to get rid of Will." Despite her gentle tone, her eyes flashed with hatred for her mate. Or rather her former mate. I wondered if she sensed that he was dead. He was her sire, after all. The nearness of the old lords might have distorted her perceptions. Even though they were asleep their combined psychic strength created a low buzzing in my own head. They were very near now.

Ulrich waved a dismissive hand as if he cared not at all for Diana 's domestic problems. "What Reedrek told you about strengthening the bloodline was merely a cover story. What you could have accomplished in that regard, even if you enlisted the aid of your offspring, would have been only a-what is the modern phrase?"

"Drop in the bucket," Diana provided helpfully.

"Yes. A drop in the bucket compared to the kind of power that is in play with regards to my becoming one of the old lords."

"So that's what this is all about?" I said, leading him further into conversation.

"Oh yes, my boy. I tapped Reedrek to help me achieve that goal but he proved woefully inept, as you know. How clever you are to have trapped him in the cornerstone of that new building. It's one of the more creative ways I've come across for a vampire to neutralize his sire without suffering harm to himself."

"Thank you," I said dryly. "So Reedrek and Hugo hatched the bioterror plot themselves, did they? I would have thought that was too sophisticated for them."

"You're quite astute, my son," Ulrich said. "However, I cannot take the credit for the idea. The plot was the brainchild of our brilliant Diana here."

Diana took a deep breath and managed a smile. She clearly would have preferred that Ulrich not mention that part. She was clever enough not to deliberately antagonize me. She needn't have worried. There was nothing she could admit to that would make me hate her any more than I already did for kidnapping Renee.

I telegraphed that hatred to her. The force of my rage made her take a step back. I savored the moment when she realized she no longer had any power over me.

"So Diana is the mastermind?" I said.

She gathered her composure with some effort. "While we were in Russia, I sought out a former nuclear scientist who was willing to engineer a virus-for a price, of course."

"I'm curious. What sum did he demand, if you don't mind me asking?"