That was hardly surprising. All vampires needed a dark place for their daily death-sleep.

"A cellar," Fidelia continued. "Made of stone. No windows." She shook her head. "It's too dark. I can't see anything."

"Can you tell how far away it is?" Jean-Luc asked.

"Not far, but not too close. Not in town, I think." Fidelia inhaled sharply. "He senses me." Her eyes opened wide, and she shoved the cane onto the table. "This was a mistake. I-I think he may be psychic."

Lui would have a vampire's psychic abilities, but that wasn't something Jean-Luc could admit to.

Fidelia gave him a worried look. "He sensed me. I could feel it. He was cold, so cold." She shuddered.

"It's all right." Heather rubbed the older woman's back. "It's over now."

Fidelia shook her head. "I was trying to trace his location. I think he was doing the same to me."

Jean-Luc winced. Zut Zut, he should have taken Fidelia somewhere else to do this.

Heather's face paled. "He's hunting us."

"Heather, I must ask you again to move to my place," Jean-Luc said. "It is only a matter of time before Lui figures out who you are and where you live."

"We'll just have to find him before he finds us. If we knew more about him, it might help." Her eyes narrowed. "Who is he exactly?"

Jean-Luc sat back. "I wish I knew. If I knew his real name, I would have hunted him down and killed him many years ago."

"You would...commit murder?"

"I would do anything to protect those I love."

Fidelia nodded approvingly. "You are good man, Juan."

He glanced at Heather, wondering if she agreed. She looked puzzled.

"You said many many years ago," she murmured. "How old are you?" years ago," she murmured. "How old are you?"

Merde. There was no way to answer this.

"I'm twenty-six," she announced. "And you?"

He shifted in his chair. "I am older than you."

"How much?"

"I was twenty-eight when..." He rubbed his forehead. "I was three when my mother died..."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize..." Her eyes warmed with sympathy. "Emotional wounds take the longest to heal."

"Yes." He heard a car pulling up in the driveway. He stood, grabbing his sword. "We have company."

Heather jumped to her feet. "It couldn't be Louie, could it? Not this fast."

"I'll be ready for him." Fidelia dug in her purse.

"I don't think it's Lui." Jean-Luc doubted his arch nemesis used cars very often. Even so, he strode into the foyer with his sword. He heard a car door slam outside, then heavy footsteps pound up the steps to the front porch.

Heather arrived at the front door just as a fist knocked hard enough to shake the door's panes of leaded glass. Jean-Luc stayed close by her side.

"I can see him!" a male voice shouted. "You've got that boyfriend spending the night again, don't you?"

"Oh no, it's Cody," Heather groaned. "Thelma must have seen you arrive, and she called his mother."

Jean-Luc peered through the door window. The man on the porch was large and flushed with alcohol-rich blood.

"I can see you, you asshole!" Cody yelled. "You want to screw my ex, go ahead, but lay one finger on my daughter and I'll-"

"Stop it!" Heather hissed as she unlocked the door.

"You shouldn't let him in," Jean-Luc whispered.

"Oh please, let him in," Fidelia drawled. She stood by the stairs, waving her Glock in the air. "Make my day."

"Fidelia, put the gun away," Heather ordered. She opened the door. "How dare you-"

Cody barged into the foyer and glowered at Jean-Luc. "Who the hell are you?"

Jean-Luc glared back. "I do not answer to you."

"Jean-" Heather started, but her ex interrupted.

"John? So you're bringing your johns home?" Cody turned to Jean-Luc. "You keep leaving your car parked out front. Now everyone in town knows you're screwing my wife!" So you're bringing your johns home?" Cody turned to Jean-Luc. "You keep leaving your car parked out front. Now everyone in town knows you're screwing my wife!"

"Ex-wife." Jean-Luc narrowed his eyes. "You are the fool who let her go."

"Enough." Heather stepped between them. "Cody, lower your voice before Bethany hears you. You're drunk, and you have no right to spy on me or pass judgment."

He sneered at her. "I do, too. My daughter's living here, and I can sue for full custody now that everyone knows you're a slut."

"I am not. And I will never let you take her from me."

Cody snorted. "Watch me."

Two hundred years ago, Jean-Luc would have simply skewered the bastard and tossed his body into a river, but the modern world tended to frown upon that solution. He assaulted the man with a psychic wave. You are a cockroach You are a cockroach.

In his inebriated state, Cody had no resistance at all to vampire mind control. He fell to the floor and scurried around the foyer on all fours.

With a squeal, Heather jumped back. "Cody, what is your problem?"

"I am a cockroach," he muttered in a squeaky voice.

"Hmm, about time you figured that one out," Fidelia stepped back as he brushed against her long skirt.

Cody attempted to go up the stairs, but tipped over and landed on his back. He squirmed, arms and legs flailing.

"Cut it out, Cody," Heather demanded. "Get out of here before you scare Bethany."

"What's going on?" Emma descended the stairs, looking askance at Cody's wriggling body.

Fidelia chuckled. "Let's get a can of bug spray."

"Raid!" Cody flipped onto all fours and scuttled out the front door.

You will return to normal at sunrise, Jean-Luc ordered.

"Yes, Master." Cody tumbled down the porch stairs.

"Good Lord, the man's gone crazy." Heather shut the door and locked it.

"That was interesting." Emma gave Jean-Luc a pointed look. She'd probably heard his psychic commands.

He wondered briefly if Lui had heard him, but he doubted he'd said enough for Lui to trace.

"Is Bethany all right?" Heather rushed up the stairs.

"Ooh wee, I need a drink." Fidelia waddled toward the kitchen, still holding her Glock. "I need a beer, that's what I need. You want a beer, Juan, Emma?"

"No thank you." He wandered back into the living room and rested his sword against the wingback chair.

Emma leaned against the entrance, smiling. "A cockroach?"

He smiled back. "The man deserved it."

She nodded. "I'll go back upstairs." She paused, then added, "I think you've made quite an impression on Bethany. The toy mum who lives in the dollhouse has a new boyfriend named John. He's a G.I. Joe doll who looks like he could beat the crap out of the Ken living in the closet."

"Really?" Jean-Luc's heart squeezed in his chest. Could he actually be welcomed into this family? He'd always wanted to be part of a family. His father had died when he was six, three years after his mother had passed away in childbirth. Roman and Angus were the closest he'd ever come to having real brothers.

He gazed about the living room and realized how truly lonely he'd been over the centuries. Heather appealed to him in many ways, but her family, Bethany and Fidelia, were touching his heart, too. How different his life could be if he had true companionship and love filling each night. Such a life made all his previous centuries seem empty and meaningless.

But could they accept him as he was? Could Heather love him?

"I'm so sorry you had to witness that scene with my ex," Heather said as she entered the room.

He turned to face her. Zut Zut, he'd been so deep in thought, he hadn't realized that Emma had left and Heather had returned. He needed to stay more vigilant than that. "I didn't mind."

Heather sighed. "I don't know what got into Cody."

"Is Bethany all right?"

"Yes. Thank goodness." Heather flopped down on the couch. "She was watching a DVD with the volume turned up, so she didn't hear anything."

"That's good." Jean-Luc sat beside her. Instantly, he heard her heartbeat speed up. A good sign.

She glanced shyly at him. "Where did Fidelia go?"

"To the kitchen for a beer."

"I wish she wouldn't drink and handle those guns at the same time."

He extended an arm along the back of the couch. "The guns have trigger locks."

"You bet. It was the one requirement I made before she could move in here."

"You've lived in this area all your life, correct?"

She sighed. "Yes. I always wanted to travel, but it never happened."

He made a mental note that he needed to take her to all the places she wanted to see. "Can you think of anyplace that matches Fidelia's description? A place on the outskirts of town. Most probably abandoned." on the outskirts of town. Most probably abandoned."

"With a stone cellar?" She tilted her head, considering. "The state park has an old stone building built during the Depression."

"I'll check it out." He could leave Emma here with the women and take Robby with him.

"I'll come with you."

He blinked. "No. Absolutely not. It's too dangerous."

"I'm already in danger. I fought Louie before and I did well. And I know where the park is."

"I can look up the park's location on the Internet."

Her chin lifted. "I'm going. I'm not cowering here in fear. I'm at war with fear, remember?"

"There's a difference between courage and bad judg-" He paused when his superior hearing detected a sound outside. "Someone is approaching your front porch."

He jumped silently to his feet and grabbed his sword.

Heather stood and whispered, "Should I get my shotgun?"

"No." He hoped Lui was outside. He would destroy the bastard and...But what if he made a fatal error and lost? Lui would simply walk into the house and slaughter Heather. "Yes, get your gun. Tell Emma, and wait inside. If he comes in, aim for his chest."

"If he comes in, then you would be..." She squeezed his arm. "Be careful."

The concern in her eyes was genuine. Mon Dieu Mon Dieu, she did care for him.

He touched her cheek. "Go."

Her eyes glazed over with a dreamy look, then she blinked. "Right." She ran to the stairs. The carpet muffled the sounds of her sandals as she dashed up the steps.

"What's up?" Fidelia sauntered from the kitchen, holding a half-empty beer bottle. She glanced at Heather's disappearing form. "You chased her off again?" holding a half-empty beer bottle. She glanced at Heather's disappearing form. "You chased her off again?"