"Turn nasty?" Olivia laughed bitterly. "It's impossible to describe how savage these blood drinkers are. Our little Violet was bitten so badly that her flesh may never heal no matter how much human blood she consumes. We may still lose her. The fang marks are from those of many different vampires." Olivia's words choked off. When she began again, her voice was raspy. "They took turns with her."

I shuddered. "Put her on the phone. I've gotta ask her some questions. Anything she can tell me about this guy and his people could help us over here."

"I can't, Jack. She lost consciousness shortly after she arrived. It took her last ounce of strength just to make it back to us, and her condition is still grave. We're feeding her blood right now, but she still might not make it." Olivia sobbed again, and I couldn't help feeling sorry for her despite the h.e.l.l she was putting me through. Not to mention what she'd done to William.

"Okay. Before I go, did she tell you anything else before she pa.s.sed out? Like who he travels with? What games they like to play? Any plans she might have overheard?"

"Yes," Olivia said. "Besides her warning that Hugo and his clan were on the way to the New World, she did say one thing."

"Well?" I asked impatiently. "What?"

I heard Olivia draw a deep, shaky breath. "She said, Beware of the female. She's the most dangerous of them all."

William I dreamed of Derbyshire and my wedding day. On the fifth of September, the year of our lord 1517, I was to marry the lovely Diana Bellingham, whom I'd loved since I'd first clapped eyes on her two summers before whilst visiting her father's manse. Lucky thing, that. On awakening that September morning, I was sure I should be accounted the happiest man in England. Even if I 'd had nothing else but love, the signs were propitious for me to have a very warm...winter.

A slip of a girl she was then-she seemed a golden sprite from the lands of faery. And I, an older man of twenty, had great plans for our union, as did our parents. All agreed we were a match made in heaven.

Exactly when had it gone to h.e.l.l?

Not then, not that day, nor the eleven years of days thereafter. The dreaming part of me watched as Diana, her face and gold- spun hair glowing in the sunlight, recited the vows. From the moment she placed her hand in mine and I slipped the heavy gold ring onto her finger, I was her happy prisoner. And for every joy I brought her, she repaid me with two.

The dream then took a torturous path to our wedding night and the aforementioned warm bed. The vision was so real I could feel her heated breath on my neck.

"Teach me how to please you," she'd whispered shyly. "I wish to have many babies and Mary has said we must be much abed to do so."

Much abed. "There's more to it than being on your back," I answered with a laugh. She rolled until her arms were propped on my chest. Refusing to disguise her eagerness, she said, "Then show me all. I'm yours-my heart and the rest of me. I wish to make you proud of your wife."

"Let us be about it, then, wench. Kiss your husband." I covered her mouth with my own and teased her lips apart. Kiss after kiss she opened to me in all ways. When I made the final push to take her maidenhead she gasped and I held myself still. With an expression more serious than any I'd seen, she framed my face with her hands and gazed into my eyes.

"I'll love you till death takes me," she swore.

For one unmanning moment I felt my eyes burn at her declaration. "And I you," I answered.

Then she was mine, inside and out. Doing my best not to hurt her, I plunged into her, reining in my eagerness. Even as I felt my seed rise I fought the natural ending to our bond. But then the pure animal pleasure overtook me and the shudders of completion rocked my body. In the aftermath I lay sprawled over her and could feel the gentle, soothing touch of her fingers on my neck. Truth be told she taught me a few things-not skills, for she'd been innocent, but more the pure intention to satisfy.

I smiled, face pressed into the bedclothes. This, then, is what heaven must be like. Thank you, Lord, for Diana- Just then I felt hands on my shoulders roughly pulling me away. Diana's scream of surprise stiffened my spine. I spun, ready to fight, and found Reedrek's evil face and next to him, a grinning Hugo.

The dream had shifted from heaven to h.e.l.l, from beginning to end, as dreams are wont to do. I awoke with a start. In the current world, time had pa.s.sed, the sun had come and gone. As I glanced around, wildly looking for Diana, I came to myself realizing I 'd returned to my own private h.e.l.l. Back in the dark of the tunnels, alone except for the dead humans scattered around me.

What does not kill you, makes you stronger.

I pushed the closest body away and stood to dust off my clothes. A hopeless cause, the same as all others. The clothes were ruined and smelled of death, new death and old. No matter. My fastidious nature seemed laughable at this point. Whom was I trying to impress? Humans?

Diana-now mated to Hugo?

I suppose she had loved me until she died, that much was true. But I, the perfect fool, had gone on loving her beyond death.

Back at the harbor by early evening, I found the area hushed and cold. The cool winter rain of the evening before had pa.s.sed, but the air smelled wet with the promise of more. Low, scuttling clouds carrying the scent of the marshes hid any trace of the moon.

A perfect night for vampires, for death.

For me.

Leaning on the fender of my Mercedes, wearing fresh clothes, I had come for all or nothing.

In the end I'd gone to Tilly's to clean up, nearly giving her a heart seizure in the process. It was one thing for her to deal with Iban's suffering, but mine was a new and obviously upsetting thing to her. It might have been the look of utter despair and open warfare on my face. Or it could simply have been the quant.i.ty of blood I wore like a butcher's ap.r.o.n.

Despite all our years of a.s.sociation I was sure these last few nights must have been mind-boggling to her. But I had no energy left for explanations, not even to Iban, who lay dying cell by rotting cell.

He'd blinked his one good eye when I entered the room. His strong, aristocratic features were almost unrecognizable thanks to the battle being waged between the virulent rot and Iban's natural vampiric healing process. Hunks of flesh were alternately falling off and growing back.

"Get away...Go home," he'd whispered. He didn't know about the newcomers and had no idea what changes they had wrought on our plans, and I had no heart to enlighten him. Let him rot in peace.

But I could not go home. Not yet, perhaps not ever. Eleanor's distress was palpable now, a constant presence in my mind, and even Melaphia had taken to mentally communicating her worry to me. She pleaded for answers, plans, and offered her help even as she'd gathered clothes from my closet, including the voodoo blue coat she'd blessed with her mortal magic, and had them delivered to Tilly's. As I slipped the jacket over a crisp, unbloodied new shirt I found her note in the pocket. She was never one to be put off long, not when there was any available means to get my attention.

Captain, the note read simply, you are not alone.

Ah Mel, but I am. More alone than ever because now I know what I've been denied for five hundred years-not by G.o.d or even Reedrek, but by the other half of my own heart. By my wife. My love for her, even perverted by our transformation, had survived. But she had chosen to deny me. And my son...

As though I'd called his name, the hatch of the Windward rose and Will stepped up from below.

Immediately, a high-pitched keening filled the air, and Will ducked and swung at an indistinct blur of the coalesced mist that bedeviled him. These low-flying clouds seemed to have spirits in the eddies. It was those spirits howled in the wind, and they circled the Windward like any number of enraged hornets-ready to sting.

Amusing to watch but, in the scheme of things, rather ineffective against immortal beings. Still, it did convey a distinct lack of welcome.

Master Jack, one of them whispered as it wafted by me on the breeze. Ah, so this was Jack's doing. Well, best he be about defending Savannah, since his immortal skin was on the line as well. He might or might not have a sire out for his punishment, but he certainly would fall along with the other New World vampires if the double fronts of plague and invasion succeeded.

I told myself I didn't care. He'd shown his true colors with more lies and dishonesty. This time I would not be understanding or offer a reprieve. He wanted to be the master of his own destiny, so be it. I had my own dilemmas to solve.

"I thought the great rebel leader, William Thorne, would be three meters tall at least," Will taunted.

I pushed away from the car and walked toward him. Ah, anger. A chip off the old block, as they say. "I thought you'd be dust."

He c.o.c.ked his head. "What could you possibly know about me?"

"Oh, I know quite a lot, having been present at your conception and-"

"That's a lie-Hugo made me, and I-"

"Careful." A voice from below stopped him. Diana's voice reminding him I was the enemy. Well, at least she had not killed him and made him a blood drinker herself. And neither had Reedrek. I had Hugo to thank for stealing my son's mortal soul. Another mark I would make him account for.

Hugo appeared at Will's side with Diana following. She kept her attention on Will, refusing even to look in my direction. I could hear an indecipherable flurry of thoughts rushing from one to the other.

"The accommodations on your ship are first cla.s.s, but I'm heartily tired of such close quarters. You must know that certain...

pleasures demand a bit of privacy, eh?" Hugo said. He waited a beat for my reaction, then went on, "What sort of place is this Savannah? Are there houses to let?"

"You make it sound as though you plan to stay." "Only if we are welcome," he replied. He put a hand on Will's shoulder and drew Diana close to his side with his other arm.

They looked quite the family, Hugo with his Norse coloring, Diana in her golden beauty, and Will, his red-gold Saxon hair marking his heritage. I could see nothing of me in him beside the expression in his angry green eyes.

"What is your purpose here?"

"Family business, you might say. I told you I intend to see Reedrek finished. If you've managed to kill him, I would know it." He lowered his chin as his gaze bore into mine. "When I see for myself, I'll leave."

"Your declaration begins to sound like a threat."

Hugo smiled. "Not in the least. We are brothers, after all-" His arm tightened on Diana. "-more alike than different. I have no intention of treading on your goodwill, any more than I already have."

My goodwill.

It isn't very often that an idea materializes in my head and exits my mouth before I think. But it happened then. "I'll accommodate your group but you'll leave the boy with me." Diana made a small sound of shock or dismay; to be honest her reaction tasted sweet to my parched sensibilities.

"Who are you calling a boy?" Will sputtered.

I ignored him and went on, "That way you'll have no distractions from your pleasure, and I'll have a living, breathing guarantee of your peaceful intent."

"Done," Hugo replied, his fingers giving Will's shoulder a warning squeeze. I could pick up nothing of Hugo's emotion over what I might do to his offspring...his adopted son. "Stay out of trouble," he ordered before loosening his fingers and giving Will a slight shove forward.

"Wait." Diana's voice sent a frisson of pleasure through me. I fought the lure as she pressed something into Will 's hand, pushed past him, and made her way toward me. A few seconds later she was within arms' reach, wary but resolute. And so very beautiful.

It took an enormous effort on my part not to touch her. She smelled more of Hugo than of herself. Close quarters, indeed.

"He doesn't know," she whispered, so low I myself could barely hear.

"Know what?" I managed, trying desperately not to make a fool of myself.

"That you are his..." She blinked as though even she couldn't believe we were actually speaking after all this time. "His natural father."

There it was. Not only had I been purged from his life, but my memory had not been celebrated. Anger warmed my belly, chasing all joy of this long-dreamed-of encounter into thin, sodden air.

"I would account that his loss," I answered.

"So would I."

Insincere laughter boiled up inside me, steeped in anger, not joy. With a smile still on my face, I looked past my lying b.i.t.c.h of a wife and motioned to her son. "Come, and make it quick. I have arrangements to settle." To Hugo I said, "Stay here. I'll send someone for you and...yours."

Eleven.

Jack Talk about your strange bedfellows. Sullivan, the hip Hollywood screenwriter, and Huey, the stinky redneck zombie, were like two peas in a supernatural pod. I'm sure there was a period of adjustment when I dropped the Californian off the night before without so much as an introduction to the walking corpse. But I guess if you 're used to rubbing elbows with the living dead like Sullivan was, you were prepared for almost anything.

By the time I got to the garage from the plantation house where I 'd spent the day, the regular card game was in full swing.

Sullivan had tried to advise Huey on the finer points of Texas Hold 'Em, but evidently he gave up when he'd realized the little fellow didn't have the guile to understand bluffing or the unrotted brain capacity to understand, well, much of anything for that matter.

Sullivan walked over to me, leaving the irregulars to their game. "Any word about Iban?"

I shook my head. "Not a thing. Maybe no news is good news."

The human forced a smile. "Let's hope you're right."

Every time I felt like putting the bite on this guy, he did something to redeem himself. Iban and Huey were two of my favorite people, and Sullivan had been kind to Huey and was clearly devoted to Iban. Still, I couldn't get the image from the other night of him and Connie off my mind. What if he'd exposed her to the California virus?

"So why'd you break up with her?" he asked, right out of the blue.

He was direct. I liked that. I think. It was worrisome, though, that right behind Iban's illness, Connie was the first thing on his mind. "It's complicated," I said.

"Seriously. Vampires have affairs with humans all the time. And you clearly care for each other. I can tell from Connie 's hints.

What's the problem?"

So Sullivan was just as curious about Connie's relationship with me as I was about her relationship with him. Maybe he wanted to know if I was really out of the picture or if I could still be an obstacle. "Like I said, it's complicated. So, what about the two of you? How...close are you?"

"You know a gentleman never kisses and tells, Jack. Ask Connie that question. See what she says."

My sudden fury painted everything in my sight with a red tinge that meant my pupils had dilated and the whites had gone bloodshot. The horrific sight of it was reflected in Sullivan 's expression. When a vampire sees red, he literally sees red. Sullivan knew he was looking into the eyes of a predator, and he was ready to run. As if that would do him any good. My hand was on his throat in less than a hair's breadth of a second. If Sullivan had been able to see the move at all, it would've only been a momentary blur before he felt the steellike vise of my fingers on his windpipe.

"Listen to me," I said quietly, so as to not alarm the card players. "If you've exposed Connie to whatever it is that Iban brought here from California, I'll eat you alive and spit out your bones. Is that clear?"

"I wouldn't do anything to hurt her. I swear it," Sullivan choked.

Luckily for him, William stepped into the garage at that instant. Will was slouching along three steps behind him. William came straight for me, and, given that my last contact with him had been when he laid me out on the ground, I nerved myself up for another pummeling.

All movement and chatter at the card table stopped. The boys were terrified of William even when he was in a jolly mood, so it didn't take them long to observe that he was p.i.s.sed and to size up the bada.s.s sauntering along behind him. They cleared out like the devil and all his sp.a.w.n were after them. When Huey didn't react quick enough, Rennie came back, took him by the hand, and led him away. Huey went, still protesting that he had two pair, kings high.

"s.h.i.t, Huey, you never have anything better than two pair," Rennie hissed. "Come with me before somebody puts you back in your Corsica and locks the door."

Sullivan rubbed his throat where I'd released my grip. "William, how is Iban? Is he-" William shook his head quickly and firmly, and Sullivan took the hint. We couldn't let Will find out about the virus and tell Hugo until we knew what they'd really come for.

"Sullivan, this is Will. From Hugo's clan," I said by way of introduction and explanation.

"Oh," Sullivan said, studying the red-haired vampire. "Do you work in the movie business, by chance? You look familiar to me."

Will shrugged and showed fang. "No. I can't feature why you'd know me. I don't hang out with humans...much."

William looked at me with such coldness I almost shivered. He jerked his head toward the kitchen area to indicate he wanted to speak with me alone. Once we were out of earshot of Will's vampiric hearing, I said, "William, I want to explain. I tried to-"

"Save it," he said. "If we survive, there will be time to discuss your betrayal and an eternity for me to deal with you."

William opened his mind, and with a rush of horror I saw the vampires he'd lately told me about that were tortured by Reedrek and his kind. Then the scene changed and I saw what William himself had done last night in the tunnels. He'd killed innocents. The shock I felt went as deep as the borrowed blood that animated me. The knowledge of Diana and Will's existence and my betrayal had changed William in a horrifying and fundamental way. G.o.d help me. G.o.d-somebody-help us all.