I turned the other vampire to face me, and my own fangs came out. He blinked and sheathed his daggerlike teeth. Then he brought his hands up to cover his face briefly before glancing back at Connie as if he'd seen a ghost.

A middle-aged woman peered out from her apartment door down the hall. "What's all this commotion?" she asked.

I fixed her with a look full of my magic mojo and said, "You're really sleepy. You have to go to bed now." Just like that, she yawned and closed her door.

I faced Travis again, still gripping him by the shirtfront. "I'm going to kill you." He didn't resist as I started to haul him away toward the stairs.

"Jack, wait!" Connie said. Before Seth could stop her, she slipped out of his grasp and came to stand in front of Travis. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"He's the second vampire who's come to kill you," Seth said. I could only guess that Seth had spent the first part of this evening trying unsuccessfully to convince Connie to leave Savannah with him.

"He's somebody whose throat I'm going to rip out," I added.

"No. Wait. I want to know who he is," Connie insisted.

To my astonishment, she came closer to Travis, looked deeply into his eyes, and reached up to touch his face. "I've never met you, but somehow I know you," she told him. "Tell me who you are."

Travis, who looked just as shocked as she did, shrank back from her before she could touch him. He blinked as if to clear his vision and said, "I'm your father."

Sixteen.

William I roamed the streets on foot, my mind still immersed in the past. This night would haunt me the rest of my existence. Amid my sorrow and reminiscences about my friend, I couldn't help but remember what she had said, not so long ago, when she'd met Eleanor for the first time.

She's trouble. Tilly was never one to mince words and, of course, she'd been right.

I found myself walking toward the structure that would have been Eleanor's new brothel. The establishment that had burned down on the same location had been the site of many an evening's lively entertainment for me. I seemed to be waxing nostalgic on a number of levels tonight.

More work had been accomplished in the few days since I had been here. I entered the building to examine more closely the work for which I was paying. As soon as I'd crossed the threshold, I heard the sounds of s.e.x.

I followed the animalistic cries and grunts downstairs, masking my presence with my glamour. The evil Eleanor had presented poor Ginger's naked body to the vampire called Damien, who was using it cruelly to Eleanor's evident delight.

The congress halted as I stepped into sight. Damien hitched up his trousers, but Eleanor stood defiantly bare, clad only in thigh- high, stiletto-heeled boots of black patent leather so shiny, the reflection of her nakedness would show in them if Ginger's body was still human.

"I see you're back in uniform," I observed, wishing I could get close enough to look for that reflection.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"We've already met," Damien said with a sneer.

The blood drinker had changed his style since I'd seen him. His hair and beard were now well groomed and his clothing was fashionable and new.

"Oh, that's right. You were using a false name at that time. What kind of coward doesn't even give his real name, Damien?"

The sneer left his face and his fangs came out. "I'll show you who's a coward."

As he flew at me, I dodged him. He was agile and landed on his feet for another a.s.sault. In the meantime, Eleanor was edging toward me, angling for a way into the fight.

"I told you I'd kill you the next time I saw you, and I meant it," she said, and hissed like a cat.

She displayed her hands, revealing fingernails newly sharpened to points like claws. They were painted bloodred. "Like 'em?" she asked. "They're all the rage in the underworld where you sent me to suffer."

She swung at me and I dodged, but I was uncharacteristically slow and she managed to rake my cheek with her claws, drawing blood. "You should never have betrayed me," I said.

"I was supposed to be your mate through all eternity. You were to protect me and see to my needs. You should never have betrayed me with that b.i.t.c.h Diana!" She kicked me so swiftly I didn't see the blow, stabbing me in the abdomen with the heel of her boot. I cried out, and she pulled the weapon back from my flesh, leaving me with a gaping wound.

She was fast and powerful. I hadn't remembered her weakening me this much after I made her. There was only one thing that would account for such a dramatic surge in her might and in my weakness: she had been having frequent s.e.x with this Damien, and he must be an ancient and powerful blood drinker indeed. But that didn't address the question of whether Ginger's body had transformed to that of a vampire.

"We've been over that ground ad nauseam," I said.

"I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree who was more at fault-me for letting Diana distract me from your needs, or you for turning over my Renee to be sacrificed to the old lords. In any case, I must congratulate you for your ingenuity on engineering a resurrection for yourself."

"Why, thank you," she said sarcastically. "I'm glad you're finally giving me credit for having some cleverness. The last time I saw you in my original body, you accused me of being an idiot for choosing to trust Hugo instead of you."

"That is another point on which we will always remain at odds. Be that as it may, I am curious about one matter."

"And what is that?"

"Ginger's-that is, your present body-is it the body of a vampire or are you human?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? I am as strong and fast as a vampire, aren't I? Maybe you'd like another kick, a little lower this time."

"No thanks," I said. "But you still didn't answer my question."

"Enough of this foolishness," Damien said. As if to confirm my theory about his age and power, he opened his mouth to reveal a set of fangs scarcely shorter than those of a saber-toothed tiger. Fortunately for me, though, Eleanor would have weakened him as well. I decided to create a diversion to help me escape the double attack.

"So this is the great William Cuyler Thorne," Damien spat. "You're being bested by a woman, and you haven't even landed a blow. You don't look so invincible to me."

"Thanks to yours truly," Eleanor said.

I ignored their taunts, but Damien was right. I was alarmed at my new limitations. I suspect my problem was as much spiritual as physical. Losing Tilly only an hour before had renewed my old death wish. A part of me wanted to go with her spirit, but I knew that was never to be.

They were approaching from my right and left. The stairs were behind me, and I stepped onto the bottom riser, which at least gave me the psychological advantage of towering over them even more than I had before.

"Eleanor tells me you've got quite the inside track with the Council," I said to Damien, holding my wound together as best I could.

His head whipped toward her. "You were to tell him nothing about me!"

"I didn't! Don't listen to him," Eleanor insisted.

I took a step higher, still not ready to turn my back on them and run. "You know how women gossip. She even told me about your plan," I bluffed.

"Why, you b.i.t.c.h!" "He's lying, you fool! He must have been in touch with Olivia."

Damien narrowed his eyes at me. "Of course," he said. "Nice try, but I should have realized you were lying. You know about nothing of our plan."

Eleanor exchanged a knowing glance with the other vampire and smirked. "If you did know our plan, you sure as h.e.l.l wouldn't be here right now."

"Oh? And where would I be?"

"As far away from here as you could get," she said.

Damien looked at the moon and then at Eleanor.

"We've toyed with him enough. It's time to get the party started."

"I think you're right." Eleanor moved away from me and reached for her clothing.

I gathered my strength to launch myself up the stairs and out the front door, but instead of coming for me as soon as Eleanor was dressed, the two of them went to the cellar's entrance to the tunnels.

"We'll let you live so that you can enjoy the fun later," Damien said.

"Yes," Eleanor said. "Besides, our partner in crime would never forgive us if we denied him the pleasure of partic.i.p.ating in your downfall."

"Time to rock 'n' roll," Damien said, and they both laughed maniacally.

"I'm still going to keep my promise," Eleanor told me.

With that, they disappeared into the tunnels, leaving me to wonder what manner of evil was about to befall us. I couldn't read Eleanor's thoughts, as hard as I tried to, but I sensed enough to know she had not been bluffing.

I gave them a few seconds' head start and then, using my hand to stanch my bleeding wound as best I could, followed them into the tunnels.

Jack "What are you talking about?" I demanded as Connie gaped at him.

"I can see it in your face," Travis said.

"See what?" Connie asked.

"You are the very image of your mother."

I didn't want to have to deal with any more curious neighbors, so I inclined my head toward Connie's door and Seth nodded. We each took one of Travis's arms, steered him into Connie's apartment, and sat him down at the kitchen table.

"Start with the beginning," I said. I didn't have to prompt him again.

"Jack, the other night at William's, when you were asked what you knew of the Slayer's background-"

"Connie. Her name is Connie," Seth said, muscling up beside Travis in case he tried to make a move. Connie held up her hand to silence Seth. "Go on," she said to Travis.

"When and where you born?"

Connie rattled off her birth date and everything she knew about her first few days of life. The name of the orphanage, the slip of paper with her crazy-long name, what little the nuns had told her adoptive parents.

"Were you there then?" I asked Travis. "I mean, nine months before then?"

"Yes, I was there," the ancient blood drinker said. He had been avoiding Connie's eyes. I mean, who wouldn't be ashamed to look at somebody you just tried to murder, especially your own child? But now he looked at her very closely, and then squeezed his eyes shut again.

"I was in love with a human woman," he said mournfully.

"Wait," Connie said. I could see skepticism and curiosity at war on her face. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Because you'd be dead right now if he weren't," I said grimly. "He stopped himself from killing you. He's too powerful and too fast. I don't think Seth and I could have stopped him."

Seth started to interrupt, but he paused and I could tell that what I had said rang true with him, as much as he might want to deny it.

Seeing that Seth and I were convinced, Connie looked back at Travis. "Tell me about my mother. What was her name? What was she like? Why did you leave her before I was born?"

"I thought she was pregnant by another man," Travis said, answering her last question first. "After all, no blood drinker I had ever known in my long life had fathered a child. I left my beloved, reasoning that, as a blood drinker, I could not give her the life she deserved, and that with me out of the way, she would be free to go to her mortal lover, whoever he was. She was a rare beauty and any man would have been, should have been, grateful to marry her and raise the child-you-as his own."

"Why didn't you tell her you loved her and let her make up her own mind?" Connie asked.

"I was afraid that she was in thrall to me, although I was not intentionally using glamour on her. No human woman had ever loved me before, and I was mesmerized by her. I thought that the only way to free her was for me to leave."

Connie paused a moment for this to sink in. "What was her name?" she asked again in a small voice.

"Maria. She was as intelligent as she was beautiful. She was a university student, and I ultimately didn't want to stand in the way of what I was convinced would be a brilliant future for her."

"What became of her?" Connie asked, her eyes glistening. "Why did she give me up? Is she still alive?"

"I don't know the answer to any of those questions," Travis said. "That is what saddens me. I am afraid for her now, because I know that she would never have given up a child unless some tragedy befell her. And if she had no other lover, then I left her alone and with child."

"Did you know Connie was your daughter when you came here to kill her?" Seth wanted to know.

"No. I thought what I learned at William's was only a coincidence. It truly did not seem a possibility. But then I saw your face, and I couldn't go through with it. I am sorry, my child."

"You say...you loved her?"

"More than my life," Travis said. Connie swallowed hard and stared at Travis for a moment before she turned away. "My father," she murmured. "I have a natural father."

"There's nothing natural about me, my girl," Travis said.

"Then I suppose there's nothing natural about me either," Connie murmured.

"So what now?" Seth asked. "Are you going to try to kill her as soon as my back is turned?"

"No. I cannot," Travis said, directing his words at Connie. "Although, for you to return to the underworld now, Connie, would be-"

I had stayed pretty much out of the conversation, unneeded but now I managed to catch Travis's eye and shook my head sharply.

He took the hint and hushed up.

Connie didn't seem to notice. She was lost in her own thoughts. "I'm the daughter of a vampire," she said, sounding out the words as if she was trying to learn something out of an unintelligible foreign-language phrase book.

"I must leave," Travis announced.