"I do, but this one isn't an import. He's a native."

"Like Tobey," Werm said, nodding. "You told me Tobey came from some ancient race of indigenous feral vamps who live in caves out in the Rockies. Is this guy one of those?"

"No. Not exactly. I really don't know what his story is, but I've always wondered. I think he's pretty old. He was at the Alamo, but he'd been around a long time before that."

Rubio slung an old-style rucksack over one shoulder and headed toward the house. He was tall, even taller than me, and broad- shouldered. His shearling coat covered a checkered flannel shirt and blue jeans. He wore snakeskin boots and a weathered, flat - brimmed cowboy hat with a feather in the band. A long, jet black braid hung halfway down his back, and his facial bone structure-broad cheekbones and hawklike nose-shouted Native American. But not necessarily North American. He didn't look like any Plains Indian I had ever seen. His face looked more like those you'd see in a National Geographic special about Central or maybe even South America. He climbed the steps and stopped in front of Werm and me.

"Travis Rubio?" I asked, extending my hand.

"That's right," he said, fixing me with his black eyes, which seemed to take in everything at once without judgment. His handshake was firm and warmer than mine.

"I'm Jack McShane, and this here's Lamar Von Werm, but everybody calls him Werm."

Rubio shook Werm's hand as well and lowered the canvas sack. "William's told me a lot about you, Jack. It's good to finally meet you."

"Same here. I hope we get a chance to get acquainted while you're here. I'm an old soldier myself."

"Ah, a warrior." His dark eyes seemed to go out of focus for a few seconds. "We could have used one like you to protect our cities of gold." He shifted back to the present and smiled sadly. "But they are all gone now. The jungle hides their graves. I have outlived my bloodline."

Cities of gold? I thought about that research Werm did for me on the Maya. Maybe Travis knew something that could shed light on Connie's background. Before I could say anything else, Chandler stood in the doorway and beckoned Travis to come in.

Werm didn't seem as impressed with Travis as he'd been with the New Yorkers. Maybe it was the fashion thing. "Why don't you run along home," I told him. "Nothing much is gonna happen here tonight besides kicking back a few gla.s.ses of blood, going over the agenda, bylaws, stuff like that. You don 't have to come back tomorrow since you're not coming to the meeting.

Everything looks like it's under control." Werm got a sly look on his face. "I think I'll come back and just hang out. You might have some more errands for me."

That was mighty strange. Werm had been complaining about being everybody's errand boy for weeks. And now he wanted more. I'd grown to know him well enough to know he was up to something. "How did your voodoo ceremony go, anyway? You never said."

"Oh, it went all right. Better than yours, I'd say." He smirked.

"Don't be a wise guy. Huey's working out fine at the garage. Picked right up where he left off."

"When he's not picking up body parts after they fall off, you mean."

"I told you. He's fine." And he was. Except for an incident with the minister's wife, and he'd seemed to understand when Rennie told him not to sniff the customers anymore, no matter how tasty they looked. Werm was trying to change the subject and I figured there was a reason for that. And there must have been a reason he wanted to hang around the meeting even when he wasn 't invited. "That reminds me," I said. "There is an errand you can do for me."

Even though he'd just volunteered, Werm looked put out. I ignored him. "I want you to go over to the main house and get this special elixir from Mel. She will, ah, administer it to you. It has some properties what will give you extra protection from these strange vamps, should they turn out to be not as trustworthy as William thinks they are. Oh, and it 's top secret, so don't tell anybody about it."

"Okay," Werm said, perking up a little and hopping down from the porch railing.

As he made his way out to his beat-up Nissan parked in the infield of the circular drive, I took my flip phone off the clip on my belt and dialed the number at the main house. Mel answered as Werm was driving away. "Mel. Listen, Werm's on his way over there. Here's what I want you to do..."

William "I'd like to welcome each of you back to my home and to the largest gathering of North American...sanguinarians in history." I reached for Eleanor's hand and pulled her closer. "And I'd like to introduce you to my-to Eleanor."

As the men nodded their greetings I turned to watch Eleanor 's reaction. She looked particularly fetching tonight in an off-the- shoulder, form-fitting top made from a shimmering black material. The kind of shimmer that would make every man in the room, human or vampire, want to touch it.

"Good evening. Before you begin your business, I want you to know we've set up a suite in the Royal downtown for your use after the meeting. If there is...anything you need," she offered, "I'll be more than happy to make those arrangements."

Blood, s.e.x, pain.

Her thoughts, loud and clear to me, sent a whisper of desire along my skin. She who must be obeyed was back in her element: in charge. I remembered well the nights at her house on River Street and the delights she'd arranged for my pleasure. It was patently obvious I needed to get Eleanor's house rebuilt as soon as possible, for her business and for our pleasure. I enjoyed my body's reaction for a few seconds before leading her to a chair near Iban.

"I've dismissed all the human staff. Shall we begin, gentlemen?"

The pleasantries had been observed, drinks served, old friendships renewed. Now it was time to get down to business.

"We have several things to discuss. We can only a.s.sume that Reedrek's unsuccessful mission to regain control of me, or, failing that, to kill me and raid my kin, has opened the door to others who may want to recover offspring. Each of you has a blood connection left behind that you wish to avoid at all costs. I've come to the conclusion that we can no longer depend on secrecy." I looked at the serious faces around the room. "We must form an alliance, a vigilant and possibly very public defense. After all, the humans are at risk as well. There's no estimating the damage a few of the old sires could do. And we don't know how many of the sires may have joined together."

A distant m.u.f.fled howl echoed in my mind. So Reedrek wanted to add his malicious two cents. Too d.a.m.ned bad. Shut up, old man, I parried, blocking his rage from my mind. It looked as if I'd need to deal with him in a permanent way before any of the old sires set foot in the New World. They would hear him if they were related by blood, and I couldn 't allow him to give anything away. I pushed on with the meeting.

"They cannot think for one second we're afraid. If they believe we are frightened, they will descend on us fang and claw."

There were several slow nods around the room.

"The next thing we must do is to organize our regions using offspring and human companions-any network of spies and helpers to watch the coastline. I know it will be difficult to cover every harbor or airport, but we must do what we can. Forewarned is forearmed. I propose we use the b.l.o.o.d.y Gentry site to post information and warnings. You 're all familiar with hiding real information inside Internet chatter." I turned to Jack. "Jack has good...people skills, you might say. Later in the meeting I'll have him talk about a few of his methods for dealing with human loyalty. Most of you have humans you use for different purposes, but we'll need more than a few swans. The humans we choose must have some backbone and must have a reason to help us."

"Do you think the threat is serious enough that we should shut down our business interests?" Iban asked.

"I'm not shutting down anything," Lucius announced. "I have two major openings next month." His staff nodded in agreement.

They were loyal to a fault, but they couldn't possibly know what kind of horrors the old sires could deliver to their doorstep. Lucius knew exceedingly well, but he took his business interests very seriously.

"After what you-what each of you suffered at the hands of your sires," I went on, "I don't think any can question the logic of keeping a low profile. If I were you, I would make yourselves and those closest to you hard to find. You could remain in your chosen city but perhaps move to a new home location, until we see what kind of threat we're facing. One thing we can be certain of: They'll want more from us than a quick kill."

"What about you? Will you run and hide?" Lucius asked.

He had me there. I wasn't going anywhere. "My sire has already made his bid to own my soul again. And he failed." My gaze drifted to Eleanor before I continued, "Since Savannah has been exposed as my home, I feel a duty to protect it. So I'll stay here.

At least I can give warning to the rest of you."

"And I'll be here for a few weeks yet," Iban added. "We can plan a defense of the city."

"Thank you, old friend." I moved on to the next point. "Now, in general terms what have your clans done so far? Gerard?"

Gerard stood. Paler than the rest of us from years of working underground, he still cut an impressive figure. Tall, with a mane of gray-streaked hair that needed a trim, and wearing his ever -present reading gla.s.ses, he looked like a slightly absentminded academic. But there was nothing absent in his fine scientific mind.

"As some of you know, our group in the Great Lakes region is rather specialized. We 've spent most of our time researching vampiric bloodlines and genetic sequences. We tend to be out of the public scrutiny, hidden in our underground labs. I don't worry about our own safety because of our low profile. We are scientists, not soldiers.

"I have to confess, if any of us are in danger it would be me. Maulore, my sire, would have me chained in the deepest part of his h.e.l.lish chateau in the name of research were he to capture me. I 'm afraid he was the inspiration for the fictional Dr. Moreau and enjoys a certain fascination with shapeshifters. So much so that he began experiments that combined genetic material to form new species-his own horrible versions. To ill.u.s.trate his twisted mind, you only have to imagine the genetically spliced offspring of a man and a pig, or worse, a child and a dog." He shuddered and closed his eyes. He reached into a breast pocket and removed a slim stainless-steel case. He pressed a b.u.t.ton and the case opened to reveal a wickedly sharp surgical knife. "I have the means to end my existence, rather than be taken. My kin have their own escape plans. We are ready in that respect.

"We also have a small group of humans loyal to us, most of them those whose families we 've helped with genetic afflictions. I believe they'll be willing to repay our a.s.sistance by watching our backs. As far as the border and our Canadian counterparts, I have been a.s.sured they'll follow any protocol for defense we formulate in this meeting."

"Thank you, Gerard." I wanted to ask if his group of researchers had uncovered how our voodoo blood had mutated our vampire const.i.tutions. But that was a conversation to be held in private.

"Tobias?"

Tobey stood, took the floor, and spoke about his blood kin. "My ancestors are feral, spread across the open country in the Northwest. We have very little contact with one another. But I have humans I trust in my racing crew and a few kindred who have taken up residence. That makes it a little easier for us to keep a lookout in our part of the country. Except for Calgary, most of the major airports and big cities are near the coast, so we can concentrate our volunteers there." He rested his hands on his hips. "And as far as my racing goes, this is the off season anyway. I 'll stay mobile, keep my truck on the road. I 've got plenty of time to organize, recruit, and generally kick b.u.t.t if necessary."

"Excellent. Does anyone have any questions for Tobias?"

Jack raised his hand. "Tobe, how're you going to keep a low profile with your racing logo plastered all over that rig?"

"You're right, Jacko. Can you get some of your body and paint guys to give it a plain black paint job?"

"You got it."

"Anyone else?" I asked. When no one else spoke I moved on. "Lucius?"

"What about Iban?" Lucius asked. "He should speak before me."

I nearly smiled. I knew Lucius. He would act demure when in reality he wanted to be the last and most important person on any agenda. Lucius had never been an opening act. Vampires and their egos.

"I thought Iban would speak last and lead us into the satellite conference he's set up with our representative in England."

"I see," Lucius snapped.

"No matter," Iban cut in with a wave of his hand. "I would only add that Tobey and I are in good communication. Southern California will be well guarded. Our greatest threat, as always, is the Mexican border. There are smugglers and tunnels, plenty of dark places. And there's a surplus of food, since in any one night there are thousands of people who will do anything to cross the border." He gazed directly into my eyes. "My sire will not come to torture me again; he will come to destroy me. He swore he would have my blood the very night I escaped."

"Wow, what did you do to deserve that?" Jack asked.

Iban glanced in Jack's direction. "Why, I seduced his mate, of course," he said matter-of-factly. "She is the one who freed me."

"Oh-" Jack said, and for some ridiculous reason looked at Eleanor. Catching himself, he raised two hands and nodded to me in a pantomime of hands-off.

"Travis? Thank you for coming."

Travis Rubio stood but remained silent for a long moment, waiting with the patience of a shaman for the attention of his audience.

When all eyes were trained on him, he spoke. "As some of you know-" He looked in my direction. "-I travel alone. I have no clan or human helpers, as you call them. I follow the food and the seasons, trekking from Mexico up through the Big Bend, over into Nebraska, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arizona. It's a lot of empty territory-empty of people or easy places to hide from the sun. I have learned to adapt, but it's taken hundreds of years. Because of the difficulties, I doubt any attack would come from that direction. Also, there is no reason to fear my sire. He perished before this part of the world had a name." He crossed his arms.

"I'll do my part to protect us. There are people familiar with me who would pa.s.s along news if I asked." With a nod, he sat back down.

"Excellent. Now, Lucius, are you ready to grace us with your wisdom?"

Instead of sniping back at me, Lucius smiled and pushed gracefully to his feet. If a white tiger could wear a designer suit, he might be mistaken for Lucius's brother. Dangerous, glorious, and so very pretty. He struck a poet's languorous pose, cleared his throat and seized the room with his words.

"I think we should create offspring and train them as our own personal a.s.sa.s.sins." He inspected the heavy gold ring on his right hand. "Then we should send them back to the Old World to kill all the sires. If the old b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are dead, they can't harm anyone."

"Esclavo..." Iban whispered, then shot to his feet. "I will have nothing to do with the making of slaves." He made a show of spitting his disgust. "When you had your turn at being a slave, did you enjoy serving your master, Lucius?"

Lucius didn't seem perturbed by Iban's challenge. "Well, this would be different, wouldn't it? They'd have free will; they'd simply have a job to do. And of course, they'd be well paid."

"And how do you suppose they would stand the slimmest chance of performing this job? Are they to walk up with a stake and say good afternoon, I'm here to kill you?"

"Of course not," Lucius answered.

I felt the need to interrupt. "Gentlemen, please. Lucius, please stay on point. We're discussing defenses. Iban, take your seat and let him finish."

Lucius frowned. "I was under the impression that the purpose of this meeting was to resolve the problem."

"The immediate problem is defense. Then we can plan for the inevitable."

"The inevitable being...?"

"The killing."

Only momentarily distracted, Lucius went on to describe his connections at New York Harbor. The likeliest entry through the eastern seaboard would be in a container delivered by ship. Having no way to search each one, he had people collecting the way bills for the companies represented. It was a good place to start if one wanted to find a false front for illegal activities. And the sires would definitely be considered illegal by anyone's estimation.

"All right. Thank you, Lucius. Please be seated. Iban? Are you ready for our presentation?"

Iban glanced at his watch. "We have five minutes before the satellite connection will begin. Jack, if you please, would you dim the lights?"

As Jack heeded Iban's request, I noticed him checking behind the sofa and patting the curtains. Odd behavior even for Jack. If Melaphia were present she'd probably ask him if he'd lost his marbles. But she was home with Reyha and Deylaud, leaving the vampires to conspire amongst ourselves.

A short time later, after a few keystrokes on a computer, Olivia's electronic image appeared in the center of the room. Everyone in the room gasped-the perfect reaction from beings who were used to being invisible to cameras and mirrors. This new holographic technology was cutting edge, invented and paid for by vampires, no doubt.

"I'll be d.a.m.ned," Jack muttered, but he didn't sound especially happy about seeing his former lover. Then again, lover might not be the right word. More like sparring partner. I felt a flurry of distress, like a cloud pa.s.sing between Jack and myself, as I greeted Olivia.

"It's good to see you again, Olivia," I said.

"I'm honored to be here." Now that was interesting. She looked down demurely rather than meeting my gaze when she spoke.

Perhaps she was overwhelmed by the responsibility of her position as organizer and spy. I glanced in Jack 's direction to see his reaction. He was studying his boots and all I could glean from his thoughts was a loud hum.

Jack I saw William's eyes narrow as I tried to remember the infield fly rule. He knew I was hiding something. How did you figure slugging percentage? Aw, h.e.l.l. How did people use baseball to get their mind off...things, anyway? It wasn't working. He was going to read me for sure if I couldn't get ahold of myself.

At least I had Werm to think about. He was around here somewhere. I could smell him. I edged toward the windows and slapped at the velvet maroon curtain. A severe-looking dude from Lucius's entourage gave me a dirty look. "House fly," I whispered. "A whopper, too. Got him." Maggot, more like. Lucius's aide blinked once behind narrow, black-rimmed gla.s.ses and returned his attention to the official goings-on.

The potion I had Werm get from Melaphia was really only loud perfume. I told her to douse him with the cheapest stuff she had, do a little "stick.u.m" chant, then tell him she was "anointing" him with a special elixir to give him protection from harm. It was actually to let me know if he'd perfected his disappearing act enough to sneak into the meeting unseen. Vampires each have their own unique smell just like everybody else, but there were so many vamps in the room it would have been impossible for me to identify Werm if he took pains to keep clear of me. But there was no mistaking that perfume. I remembered it well. Jungle Gardenia, the same as Mel's mother used to wear. When I'd first smelled it, I nearly got choked up remembering her. Then I realized what was happening. Werm had managed to turn himself invisible. But I couldn 't flush him out without drawing more attention to myself, so I'd just have to bide my time.

Olivia, about one-third life-size, was right there in front of G.o.d and all us vampires. Only not. How the h.e.l.l was I going to keep William from reading my thoughts? William wasn't Olivia's sire, but he was the most powerful master vamp in her bloodline and he ought to be able to read her like a book if she wasn't blocking him as hard as I was. Also in her favor was that she wasn't really here. I wondered if psychic vampire mind reading worked long-distance. I could pick up on her vibe from the hologram alone. I wondered what William thought of her skittishness. He probably a.s.sumed it was just stage fright.

She was looking a mite nervous, all right. Either that or there was some technical difficulty making the hologram shake. The last time I'd talked to her, she'd been plenty up-tight about lying to a master vampire, as well she should be. It would be interesting to see how she handled her bit of the presentation.

William was introducing Olivia and some of the dignitaries. Someone complimented Iban on the success of the hologram gizmo.

He smiled modestly and said, "I can't take the credit, I'm afraid, even though I would love to. My a.s.sociate, Sullivan, was instrumental in spinning off from my production company a special effects division to rival Lucas 's Industrial Light and Magic. It was one of his engineers who developed the technology to address some of our special needs, vis-a-vis imaging."

That was some fancy talk for the fact that we vampires didn 't cast a reflection and couldn't be seen in a photograph. Last I heard, digital imagery couldn't capture us any more than old-fashioned photography could. Goody for Sullivan.

I felt my jaw tense just with the desire to bite him. I wondered how his lunch with Connie had gone. Lunch. What a concept. I was just getting to my best beauty sleep when humans were going to lunch. I pictured them in the outdoor cafes, strolling along the Riverwalk in the sun, eating taffy from River Street Sweets and lining up for paddleboat rides.

"This thing is two-way, too, right?" Tobey asked.

"Olivia can see our shadowlike forms on a computer monitor via that webcam mounted right over there, " Iban explained, pointing to a small camera he had mounted on the mantel right across from me. "That's no ordinary camera, though. It's the same kind of device we have focused on her in England."

Olivia continued her presentation. "As many of you know, I've long been involved in doc.u.menting certain aspects of our race- primarily the genealogy of female vampires but also to some extent the migration of various clans of blood drinkers across Europe.

Alger before me had built a large and loyal coven in and around London, along with a large group of trusted humans. Using our knowledge of the city's nooks and crannies, as well as an efficient communications network, we were able to live relatively free from the hara.s.sment of the old sires, who seemed to prefer to haunt the countryside.