"You have to stop feeding me, Star. And you're getting close to delivery. Shouldn't you be sitting down?"

"What am I? Human?"

Jacob joined them, with two plates, and set one in front of his mate. "Starla, sit your a.s.s down and finish. We guys have got the boy, so all you have to do is relax."

"I can't. She's restless tonight, and so am I. Will you walk with me to the falls after we eat?"

Ahmose would have protested, but Jacob was her mate, and perhaps the wiser man.

"Yes, my love," Jacob answered.

Eras grabbed a spoon and banged it on the edge of the table. Ahmose took it away and turned to fill another spoon with some softened food for him, when the spoon he'd taken from his son lifted from the tabletop and floated back to him.

Starla and Jacob watched while Ahmose grabbed the spoon.

"These children are going to be unmanageably powerful," he said to Eras's other two parents.

Jacob tore into a thick piece of bread. "Um, humh."

"Helpful." Ahmose turned to the child. "Eras, no magic. No magic, my boy, until you are older."

Starla grinned, her hand on her expanded belly.

"You tell him, Pop!"

Ahmose rolled his head away. Yes, he knew they were in for a crazy ride with all of the unexpected numbers of first blood children arriving, for the first time in history. They all agreed now that something epic was coming.

Across the gardens where the first bloods gathered for first meal buffets, he saw Chione leading Luka to a table near the perimeter.

"Excuse me. I need to check on my new vampire. Jacob, will you tend to our son?"

"On it," Jacob said, and slid the little boy's chair closer.

"Be nice, son, or I'll sic your mother on you. She's bada.s.s tonight."

"Don't be argumentative, dad, or you'll end up without..." She dropped her hand to his lap, and tugged at the strings of his loose fitting pants. "Attention to this, tonight."

Jacob behaved.

Luka watched the ma.s.sive man approach. His sire. The man who made him vampire, saved his life, and wrecked it all at once.

"Good evening, Chione," Ahmose said as he arrived.

"Master," she replied, eyes downcast.

Luka thought it was bulls.h.i.t, that these people treated him like a king. In this day and age, the idea that someone must be revered because of who they were. Ahmose was just a man. Well, an enormous one...who had been born a vampire, and as such extraordinarily powerful. Probably had an enormous c.o.c.k. Shut up, Luka, he told himself.

"I wanted to see how you were doing," Ahmose asked Luka as he took a seat across from Luka and Chione.

Luka could feel Chione's eyes on him. She was waiting for him to f.u.c.k this up, to be rude to this important member of this community. So he wouldn't disappoint her.

"As well as possible when you've lost everything," he answered.

"You haven't lost everything. You loved Mal, am I right?"

Luka shot a hostile look at Ahmose. What the h.e.l.l did he know?

Ahmose raised a hand and waved it. "Never mind, I know you did. Luka, I told you this when you were converting but I see you may not have remembered. Mal asked me to convert you. She asked me to save your life. So you see, you are a living legacy to her love for you. I have not only kept you alive, I have given you centuries to discover how you can rebuild what you had. No, it is not the same. But this life is magic. I won't tolerate surliness in this community. So take your time, adjust, adapt, but know that I expect you to be a committed, productive, loving, member of this village if you are to stay."

Luka glared into Ahmose's dark eyes. "Maybe I won't."

"That is entirely up to you. Well, I have said what I came to say. Chione, you are a G.o.ddess to take care of this one. Don't let him spoil you."

"My mood remains intact, master."

"All right. Enjoy your meal. And Chione, I wish you would call me by my name."

She lowered her head and smiled.

As he walked away, Ahmose drew forth Mal's image. Her face remained etched in his mind, her generous heart close to his. He hadn't forgotten one moment of his time with her, so much so, he had not wanted any other woman since he returned. s.e.x was as vital for a vampire as blood, but he was functionally celibate. He'd be okay, eventually he would take another lover, but right now, when he thought of another woman, he found that he was just uninterested.

IN HAWAII.

Kai Kalani stopped at the bottom of the stairs, his feet frozen in place, hands locked on the handrails.

His daughter waited inside the house he'd left so long ago, and while he wanted to see her badly, he was also afraid of the ghost at the top of the stairs.

It had been over fifteen years since he'd been here, yet it didn't matter. Brigitte was still here. This house, this life, their love, was all still here.

Man up, you old fart, he told the broken down old b.a.s.t.a.r.d who couldn't be brave enough to face his own past.

One foot, then the other. All right, he could pull this off. In fact, he forced himself to go up the stone steps two at a time, and the door that he had closed with such finality all those years ago looked him in the eye.

He stared it down, but it didn't move.

She was already there, he knew that, and they'd never locked the door in the old days, so he knew she wouldn't now.

He watched his hand come up, stop suspended in mid-air for several long moments, then pushed it in.

And there it was. The Hawaiian love nest. The only place he had ever really called home. His eyes lifted towards the balcony and saw two of the lounge chairs they'd had in abundance, set back up. Two?

Kai walked through the room without looking around and onto the deck.

Two heads bobbed up from the chairs. One he did not recognize, but the other was his little girl...who was no longer a girl at all.

She stood, the bikini she wore similar in color to the last one he remembered her in before they left all those years past, the flowered aloha pattern so common here in the islands.

"Pop," Mal said.

"Hi, babygirl," he responded, and met her halfway.

Bev watched as father and daughter hugged tentatively, and then tighter. She knew it had been nearly ten years since they'd seen each other. It surprised her how young he looked, and very handsome, for a man she knew had been a hard drinker, had been shot several times on the job, and had to be in his mid-fifties. The full head of hair only lightly shot through with silver, and a full, but close-trimmed beard made him look closer to his daughter's age.

It was apparent how much he loved his daughter. Bev wiped moisture from her eyes and stood as well.

Mal stepped back and looked at Bev. "Pop, this is Beverly. She's a good friend from the station, and she's a shrink, so be careful what you say around her if you don't want an impromptu session."

"Beverly, hi. I'm Kai," he responded.

Bev stepped up to him, her hand out.

"Pleased. Mal's told me all about you."

His eyebrows lifted as he looked towards his daughter.

Mal smiled and tilted her head.

"Okay, but she knows you exist, anyway. Would you like some dinner?"

"No, but I'll take one of those," he answered, and reached down for one of the beers floating in melting ice.

Mal accepted that. He wouldn't change now, he had no reason to.

"Pull up a chair, Pop. We're watching for shooting stars."

Once he had, all three sat quietly on a stunning night in Hawaii, watching the sky for a bit of magic that none of them would admit they believed in.

Jinx kept pounding on the door. Where was the b.i.t.c.h? He had the stuff, the information, and he had to give it to her!

He f.u.c.king had to!

After taking a moment to lay the folders on the ground, he used both fists to pound on the cop's apartment door. He knew it was her place, he got it from the intel Canzone had put together on her.

"b.i.t.c.h, answer the door!" he yelled while he pounded.

A big-bellied guy opened a door nearby and came out.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing this time of night? People are sleeping! Get out of here before I call the police!"

Jinx turned to the man who was questioning his actions. No one was stopping him from giving her this s.h.i.t so that he could get out of town.

"Look, buddy. I just need to speak to the lady of the house here, then I'm gone."

"You can't keep pounding on her door! I'll bet the cops are already on their way, and they don't take it well when someone is hara.s.sing one of their own."

Jinx stared at the bathrobe-garbed man. "Listen, Mister-I-never-met-a-cheeseburger-I-didn't-like, I have to give her this stuff, all right? Then I can go!"

"She's out of town, and she's not coming back too soon, so you're out of luck."

Jinx couldn't believe this. What the f.u.c.k! "How can I reach her?"

"You can't. So get out of here."

Jinx just stared at Tommy. "But I can't! I have to give this to her!"

Tommy saw that the weird man seemed to be coming apart, and he didn't care much except for the fact that he seemed to need to get the folders to Mal.

"How 'bout I get 'em to her. Will that make you happy?"

"You'll do that? You'll make sure she gets this stuff?"

"Sure. Just, get the h.e.l.l out of here."

"I will. I will." Jinx handed him the folders and ran down the stairs faster than Tommy thought he could have when he was 10 years old, and a lot thinner.

Whatever it was, he tucked it under an arm and went back inside his apartment after double bolting the door.

Barefoot, Mal stepped out onto the deck with a fresh cup of coffee and a chocolate chip cookie. All she heard were some sea birds and waves gently caressing the coast. Leaning against the railing, she drew a deep cleansing breath. She'd been right when she told Bev this place was paradise, she couldn't imagine anywhere on earth more perfect on an early summer morning.

This was where she belonged. On the streets of L.A., working with Luka, fighting for peace and order, she'd thought she was okay, but the truth was, she really wasn't.

Bev came up behind her, and Mal glanced back.

"Morning, doctor."

"Umm, I don't think I need to be a doctor, not here anyway. I don't see how anyone who wakes up with this view could ever need therapy. I'd be out of a job here."

Mal laughed quietly. "I don't know. The grocery store is fifty percent alcohol."

"Hmmm. Well, that's therapy enough for some people. I need some of that coffee, though."

"It's in the kitchen." Mal rubbed a hand over her stomach. "Although, this morning, I feel a little nauseous. Here, take mine. I don't think I'd better drink anymore."

"Oh, Lord, you and coffee are soul sisters. Now I know something's off."

"Yeah, well, I can't imagine it's the cookie. Cookies can go into any stomach anytime. I could be standing here with a gunshot to my forehead and I'd ask for a cookie."

Bev sipped the coffee. "Mmm, vivid."

Mal turned to face her with a questioning look. "I don't know why I just thought of that. But, suddenly, I have a clear image of a man with a bullet wound to the center of his forehead. Bev, it's clear as day. He's gorgeous, lying flat on a beach, naked." She closed her eyes and continued. "Spectacularly built, in fact, and I'm reaching out to touch him. He's beautiful and I'm sorry that such an incredibly gorgeous man is dead. I want to see his eyes."

She opened her own eyes and looked at Bev, a little startled. "Bev, I think it's a memory. I think that happened and whatever my kidnappers drugged me with made me forget him."

"Are you sure? You've been really confused since then, and you've had those dreams. Didn't you dream of a gorgeous man making love to you on a beach?"

Mal closed her eyes and just stood there silently.

When she opened her eyes again, she stared towards the house. "I can see him. He's real, Bev. G.o.d, I know he is." For some reason, Mal's hand dropped back to her belly, cradling her lower abdomen.