"One woman is missing," she said. "Another one is in serious danger, and y'all have just touched off a werewolf war. And now you're bickering about who makes a good-looking wolf and who can't go to the beach? Are you two crazy?"

Seth and I looked at each other. "You're right," I said. "Sorry." I reached out my hand and Seth shook it.

"Yeah. Sorry," he said. "What do you mean a woman is missing?"

Connie sat back down and so did we. She explained the situation with the domestic violence case she was investigating, skipping the part about going it alone. He asked her a couple of questions about the case, but I could tell she was eager to change the subject. Finally, she did. "All right," she said. "Tell me what's going to happen between you and Samson Thrasher on the night of the full moon."

Seth saw Rennie enter the far side of the garage and nod h.e.l.lo to us, and he lowered his voice a little. "We'll meet in the swamp and he and I will have a fight in wolf form. The winner will be the alpha wolf of the pack."

"That's what Samson is now," I said. Then Seth and I went on to give Connie the Werewolves 411. Seth covered pack structure and dynamics while I filled in the gaps about shape-shifters in general. She took it all in, asking a question here and there.

She went wide-eyed once or twice, but didn't really flinch at anything. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The girl was tough.

"Jack, what else is out there besides vampires and shape-shifters?"

"Um, do you really want to know? You've got a lot to get used to already."

She rubbed her temples. "Maybe you're right."

"Are you okay?" Seth asked.

"I don't suppose I have to ask why you didn't tell me you were a-a werewolf when we knew each other in Atlanta."

Seth shrugged. "Most humans can't deal. I didn't want you to be freaked out. You already had enough trouble in your life."

Connie gave him a sharp look followed by a quick glance at me to see if I reacted to what he'd said. Seth's face went blank.

Warning bells went off inside my head. What did he know about Connie that I didn't?

"What trouble were you going through?" I asked.

"Never mind," she said.

Seth quickly changed the subject. "Why did Samson call you a witch?"

"I'm not a witch," Connie said glumly. "I'm-I'm something else that's not human. We don't really know what."

"We?" Seth asked, looking at me. Was that a challenge in his eyes, or was it just my imagination?

"Melaphia's trying to help me figure it out," Connie explained before I could say anything.

"I always knew there was something different about you," Seth said, gazing soulfully at her.

I'd had about enough of the deep, meaningful looks between these two. Before I had a chance to change the subject, Connie went back to the original one.

"So what happens if you lose this fight for dominance?" she asked Seth. He took a long sip of coffee. "I'm not going to lose."

"Cut out the macho bulls.h.i.t," she insisted. "What happens if you lose?"

When Seth was slow to answer, I said, "It's a fight to the death."

Connie looked at Seth incredulously. "You're kidding me, right?" Seth shook his head.

"If Samson doesn't fight fair and the pack gets involved, I'll be there to back him up," I offered.

"Just the two of you? Against a whole pack? I'll ask you again: Have the two of you gone completely crazy?"

When she put it that way, Seth did sound like one loco lobo. h.e.l.l, I wondered if I was playing with a full deck myself. "Werm can fight with us." When I heard myself say that, I decided that Connie was right. I must be crazy.

"Werm?" Connie looked at me like I was a Martian.

"Hey, he saved your life, remember?" You had to give credit where credit was due.

"What's a Werm?" Seth asked.

"The only other vampire in Savannah right now. You'll meet him later," I explained.

"That's it," Connie said. "I can't let you do this. I'm talking to my lieutenant tomorrow."

"No!" Seth and I said in unison. Far across the garage, Rennie looked up briefly from his work, then wisely pretended to fish for a wrench in the toolbox.

"You can't do that," Seth said. "Werewolves can't go to jail, remember? You can set up a sting and bust Samson for the meth, but when the judge denies him bail and the full moon finds him in the city lockup, are you prepared to tell your fellow cops why they should switch to silver bullets or get their throats torn out?"

Connie winced. "I forgot. Again."

"We've thrown a lot at you tonight," Seth said. "I wouldn't blame you if you were getting overwhelmed. I would be, too." He reached out and patted her hand, then squeezed it for a few heartbeats longer than I was comfortable with, but I'd already acted like enough of a jacka.s.s in front of Connie tonight so I held my tongue.

"There's got to be a better way than a fight to the death," Connie insisted.

"Not this time," Seth said.

"All right," Connie said. "I won't bring in the police, on one condition."

"What?" I asked.

"I'm there with you."

Seth sat up straight. "That's not going to happen," he said. If Connie was there, she would see him turn into a werewolf. Seeing a shape-shifter turn is one h.e.l.l of a sight. Seth knew that Connie would never look at him in the same way again. Part of me wouldn't have minded that. But I didn't want Connie there either, for her own safety.

"No way," I agreed.

"It's either that or I bust Samson right now and he goes to jail. You can get him out on bail yourself before the full moon if you want."

"And what if he doesn't make bail?" I asked. The full moon was only a couple of days away.

Connie shrugged.

Seth and I looked at each other. We both knew we couldn't just a.s.sume that she was bluffing.

"All right. But you have to stay out of sight," Seth said.

Connie smiled humorlessly. I could tell she wasn't agreeing to anything.

"At least promise that you won't go back there looking for the missing woman without us now that they suspect you have some connection to Seth and me. As bad as they treat their own females, they treat human women worse. These are really bad dudes, and you don't want them to get ahold of you."

"I get that," she said.

"Yeah," Seth said. "If you wait until I get control of the pack I'll intimidate them until somebody talks. Agreed?"

She looked from one of us to the other. "Agreed," she finally said. "Now I have to go to work."

We stood up when she did and watched her walk out the door into the night.

"That went well," I said.

"You're kidding me, right?"

I shrugged. "Neither of us has any bullet holes, do we?"

"Good point." Seth gave me an appraising look. "By the way, Jack, you don't have to worry."

"Worry about what?"

"About me and Connie. We were over a long time ago." There was raw pain in his eyes, so much so that I forgot my jealousy and felt sorry for my old friend. So they did have a thing going at one time. I wondered again what kind of trouble Connie had known in Atlanta, but I knew not to ask. Because of that one warning glance, Seth would keep her secret, whatever it was. He was a stand-up guy.

"Okay, well, thanks for telling me," I said awkwardly. "Sorry about the werewolf jokes."

Seth clapped me on the shoulder in that way we men have when we have to make some kind of physical gesture to another guy to indicate we've decided not to kick his a.s.s. "I'm going to get some grub," he said. "Want to come along?"

"I'd better stick around and get some work done," I said.

"I'll see you later, then."

After Seth had zipped his jacket and walked out into the cold, I walked over to where Rennie was looking under the hood of a Lexus.

"d.a.m.n. What a night. Are my eyes gla.s.sy?" I asked. Hey, it's not like I can look in a mirror.

Rennie took off his gla.s.ses and wiped them on a shop rag so greasy I couldn't imagine how he was helping matters. He put them back on and blinked a few times. He looked carefully up at me. "Your eyes are like limpid pools of wiper fluid," he said, and turned back to the Lexus.

I just love a grease monkey with a sense of humor.

Seven.

William Will's face went slack with shock, and then his eyes filled with disbelief and suspicion. "What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?

What do you mean you're my father?"

"I am your mortal father," I repeated. "The one who gave you life. Real life. I am Diana's husband. I was there when she bore you."

"You lie! She would have told me!" He pressed the stake more deeply into my chest. "You'd say anything to keep me from draining that precious blood of yours and leaving your carca.s.s for the crows."

"You were born in Derbyshire on the fifth of June, 1518, nine months to the day after your mother and I wed. Father Gifford was the parish priest who christened you," I all but shouted.

Will's eyebrows shot upward. "How-"

"Your mother and I were murdered when you were ten," I continued. "You were given to be raised by a couple named James and Juney Cecil."

"How do you know that?" Will dropped the mace, took a step backward, and blessedly lowered the wooden stake.

"I knew them both," I said. "They were in my employ. Juney was maid to Diana and James was one of my grooms."

"But-" Will started to protest.

"Fool!" Eleanor said. "Has it been so long since you saw your own image that you've forgotten what you look like? You're the very picture of him. I figured it out in Savannah. I thought you knew."

Will looked at me as though seeing me for the first time. "Why didn't you tell me before now? You had plenty of chances."

"Your mother forbade me."

"Liar! Why would she do that?"

"She claimed the price that Hugo demanded for giving you eternal life was that she never tell you of your real father."

Will looked far away, as if he was weighing the veracity of my claim against the events of his life. "Why? Why was he so afraid of you? He's afraid of you even now."

"Because this is the great William Cuyler Thorne," Eleanor said without irony.

"What's so great about him, then?" Will sneered. The young tough was back.

"He has dared to take on the dark lords," Eleanor said.

"How?" I might have told him how I had been smuggling peace-loving vampires out of Europe and into the Americas for nigh on to two hundred years. That by doing so, I had cost the European sires the power that builds from their offspring feeding on humans.

I also could tell him that I was about to abandon this smuggling mission out of disgust that the most beloved of my own kind had betrayed me. But now was not the time, not when I had a chance to gain his help in rescuing Renee.

"Never mind that." I stepped forward and embraced him-I couldn't help myself-then I grasped his shoulders and held him apart from me, my face inches from his. "For now, just know that I am your father."

Will was clearly conflicted. He didn't return my embrace, but he didn't push me away either.

"How is Renee?" I asked him. When I saw his face soften at the mention of her name, I felt a glimmer of hope rise up in my chest. Did this monster who used to be my human child have any measure of compa.s.sion? Did he who had murdered dozens of peaceful vampires in a bioterror attack feel anything other than bloodl.u.s.t? I remembered how he had murdered Sullivan, the trusted human of my closest western ally, by tearing his throat out. Could the same devil who did those things care about the welfare of a single human child?

"Renee is fine. For now."