"I found some strange things. I think that might have been what I was remembering. If so, it's all just a coincidence."

"You mean we didn't actually know each other in a past life?

What makes you say that?"

"Because the journal I was remembering didn't refer to a past- life regression. It was something else." He waved vaguely. "Some kind of hallucination or dream recall, or something along those lines."

"Are you sure?"

"It has to be. There were vampires in it." He took a bite of his sandwich and shrugged.

She laughed, but the sound seemed false. "Really? You remembered being with me and hunting vampires?"

"There was a woman described in the visions, yes. As to whether it was you, well, I doubt it. But, yes, I was hunting vampires with her.

How did you know?"

She dodged the question. "What kind of vampires?"

"Nasty ones with sharp, pointy teeth. What other kind is there?"

She looked at him levelly, her expression remarkably serious. "Well, I don't know. Because in the dream I had, there was a nice one who rescued us."

He gaped at her. "My God. You're kidding."

"Do I look like I'm kidding?"

"This is bizarre. Extremely bizarre. There was a similar scene in my journals." He shook his head slowly. "There has to be some logical explanation."

"And I'm sure you'll think of it sometime soon. When you do, let me know."

She stood and wheeled, but he caught her by the elbow.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?" she said.

"Storming off. You say cryptic things, and then you storm off. Is there something you're not telling me?"

She just looked at him. Something lurked behind her eyes, some thing that he thought might dissolve into tears. Finally she sat back down. "I'm afraid for Daniel."

Okay, unexpected change of subject, but he could handle it. "What does any of this have to do with Daniel?"

"I know things about Daniel that you don't. I'm counting on you to be able to help him. If you can't handle-" She broke off.

Gray was flummoxed. He didn't understand the intensity in her voice, or the way her eyes seemed about to overflow. "What does this have to do with ridiculous dreams about vampires?"

"That we're both having. The same dreams." She closed her eyes suddenly, squeezing the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "You know what? Never mind. I need to talk to Daniel. If he wants to continue with his therapy, you'll see us tonight."

This time she went, leaving half her sandwich behind. Watching her go, Gray realized he had no idea what they'd just been talking about.

"I want to go."

"Are you sure?" Tara felt she had to ask the question. But, truthfully, Daniel looked about as sober and certain as she'd ever seen him. "I mean, I'm not entirely sure he's going to be able to deal with you once the pieces start coming together."

"He already thinks I'm having past-life regressions. Why would he think any different?"

"Daniel, you said you wanted to remember feeding. You won't be able to pass that off as a past-life thing."

"I don't think there's going to be a problem. Obviously he's hunted vampires in a previous life, so he knows they're real."

"No, he doesn't know. He doesn't believe any of it's real."

Daniel frowned. "How could he not believe it if you're both having the same dreams?"

"Because he's a human being, and human beings can be unbelievably thick-headed and stupid."

Daniel smiled a little. "Except you, right?"

"Are you kidding? I went out with Dom for nearly two years without ever figuring out he was a vampire." She gave a wry grin, remembering what she'd come to think of as the Brain Dead Years. "I thought he was just afraid of commitment."

Daniel laughed, then suddenly sobered. "Dom. Dominic."

"Yes." She swallowed, surprised by the surge of emotion. It had been a long time since she'd cried for Dom. "It was because of him that I started believing in the existence of vampires. Some of his friends ended up introducing me to the Senior. You knew him?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. It was a long time ago."

"Not that long. Three years is . . . is a heartbeat to me."

Tara nodded. She hadn't thought of it that way before. So much had happened to her in the past three years, sometimes it felt like a lifetime.

The silence stretched, but she didn't notice until Daniel spoke again, his voice quiet and strained. "I need this, Tara. I need to know. I need to know what I am before I can decide what I want to be."

"Are you sure?" She wasn't sure she wanted him to know.

"I'm sure. And then . . . I think I'm going to do it. Change back."

He paused. "Promise me you won't leave me. If I do turn mortal, I'm going to need you. I think I'm going to need a mom."

Blinking away sudden tears, Tara smiled and held her arms out to him. He came to her, let her hold him. "I can do that," she said.

He held her tight. "Thank you."

Five.

It had been Daniel's decision, and that was the way it should be, so Tara sat quietly on her usual chair in the corner and waited for the inevitable drama to unfold.

Daniel looked Gray straight in the eye and said, "I need to know the truth about myself, Dr. DeAngelo."

"That's what we're here for," Gray said gently, exactly as if he were talking to a child. "I want to help you get to the root of your problems."

"Yes. And I think you can do that. Promise me you'll do that."

"I'll do what I can, of course." He looked toward Tara, a question in his eyes, but she looked away.

A few minutes later, the session was underway.

"I'm in the darkness again. The smell is thick. Alley smells. Garbage and, um, piss, I guess." Daniel spoke in a low monotone. Gray had been leading him deeper into the meditative state for the last half- hour. In spite of herself, Tara had become absorbed in the interplay. At times it seemed more like Daniel was leading Gray than the other way around. But Daniel knew what he wanted, knew where he had to go, and in spite of his memory lapses, she had the feeling he had a strength of mind unlike anything Gray had ever encountered before.

"What are you doing there?" Gray's voice, too, was soft.

"I'm hunting."

"For what?"

"For food."

"Your mother, your parents, where are they? Do they feed you?"

Daniel's blank eyes stared into space. He barely blinked as the mental image absorbed him. "They're dead. They died a long time ago.

The one who Changed me, he taught me how to hunt, how to feed."

Tara held her breath. Gray said, "What do you hunt? What do you eat?"

There was a long pause. Finally, Daniel broke the silence. "Rats, mostly. Sometimes dogs and cats."

Carefully, slowly, Tara let her breath out. Gray's face had tightened in carefully controlled disgust, but when he spoke, his voice re mained a gentle monotone. "Do you kill them yourself?"

"Yes. He taught me how. He killed people sometimes but he told me not to try. He said I was too small, and that animals were safer. But he said if I could get a human being, it would taste so much better. So maybe he would teach me later how to do it, even though I was small."

"Who was this man? What was his name?"

"His name was Reaper. That was what he called himself. I don't know what his real name was."

"Would you recognize him if you saw him?"

"He's dead. He fell asleep in the sun one time, and he caught on fire. I saw his bones the next morning. I think somebody tied him up so he couldn't get home."

Tara's gaze shot to Gray, and she held her breath. But his face remained impassive.

"All right, Daniel," he said, "I think that's enough."

He brought Daniel back slowly, as usual, but this time didn't ask him to leave the room right away. Instead he knelt in front of Daniel's chair. "Daniel, are you all right?"

Daniel nodded. "I'm fine."

"Do you remember what you saw?"

Daniel slanted a look toward Tara. "Just a little."

Gently, Gray took his hand. "Daniel, what happened to you wasn't your fault. Someone did something terrible to you, taught you terrible things. I think you might need someone besides me to help you with this. If I had known what we were going to find, I might have recommended another doctor."

"It's okay, Dr. DeAngelo. I'm glad I remembered. I'll be okay."

"I'm going to talk to some of my colleagues to see if one of them can take you on for intensive psychotherapy-traditional therapy, that is. I don't think I'm qualified to deal with this on my own."

Tara stood. "I don't think that would be wise right now."

Gray's gaze jerked toward her. "I think it's necessary."

For a moment, she drew a blank. What possible argument could she offer? Then the obvious solution came to her. "I need to talk to my ex-husband. He needs to know. He's paying, after all."

"This is extremely important, Tara. If there's going to be a problem with payment, then I need to talk to him. In fact, it might be a good idea for me to talk to him, anyway."

Daniel jumped a little, then looked at Tara. A faint smile rose on his mouth, a gleam of laughter twinkling in his eyes. "Yeah, Mom. I think it might be a good idea for him to talk to Dad."

Tara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'll talk to him. I'll be sure this all gets taken care of."

Gray stopped her again on the way out. "This is very important.

You need to be sure your ex-husband understands that. I've had some bad things come out of patients under hypnotherapy, but never anything like this. It's absolutely vital that Daniel get treatment-"

Tara grasped his arm. "I understand, Gray. I'll take care of it."

As they walked down the steps together, Tara rolled her eyes at Daniel. "Jeez. Did he overreact, or what?"

"Probably not many ten-year-old kids remember killing rats and dogs in an alley." His face lit up in a slow smile. "Rats. Not people."

The smile faded. "I like dogs, though. That's bad. I don't want to eat dogs. And Reaper said he was going to teach me to eat people. Do you think he ever did?" His big eyes looked worried again.

Tara put her arm around him. "Remember what I told you. No reports of unexpected deaths. I think you're in the clear."

He nodded. "I hope so."

He remained thoughtful the rest of their walk home, and when they reached the door to the apartment building he said, "I'm not hunting tonight."

"Aren't you hungry?"

"I am. I'm going Underground. I want to see Dr. Greene."