"Daniel," said Tara sharply. "Quit acting like a brat. If you're hungry go talk to Dr. Greene." Daniel looked abashed. "Sorry." Hanging his head, he left the room.

Cavanaugh helped Gray to his feet. "My apologies for trussing you up like a turkey. It seemed necessary at the time."

Gray had no idea what to say to that. So he asked the question foremost in his mind. "You're a vampire, too?"

The other man shook his head. "Technically, no, not anymore. But I was. And I can still do the fang thing." He demonstrated. Up close, the long teeth looked wickedly sharp and brutal.

"God," said Gray. "This is freakish."

Cavanaugh grinned, the fangs retreating. "You're telling me? And call me Julian."

Dazed, Gray nodded and followed him and Tara through a doorway that led to what he assumed must be Julian's office.

Julian took a seat behind the computer desk and dropped his feet onto it, next to the monitor. Tara motioned Gray to the small couch, and he sat. She sat next to him.

"My ex-boyfriend was a vampire," she said. "That's how I found out about this."

"Not big on preamble, are you?" said Gray. "How the hell do you end up dating a damned vampire?"

"First off, he wasn't one of the damned ones, but I guess you wouldn't know the distinction since you refuse to open your eyes and see what's right the hell in front of you."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to cast aspersions on your ex. If he's so great, where is he now?"

"He's dead."

The very real anguish in Tara's eyes left him speechless. She stared at him a moment, letting him see her pain; then anger flashed through it, and she looked away. "His name was Dominic. He was a nighttime deejay at a club where I used to go. We dated nearly two years before he told me what he was."

"Two years? There were no clues? Like the blood-drinking, for instance?"

"He was nearly a hundred years old. He figured out long before I met him how to blend."

"We're really quite good at it, if we try," Julian put in.

"Anyway, I was floored. I couldn't believe it. But I really cared about Dom. He was a good man. So I decided to deal with it. He introduced me to this place, the Underground, and to the Senior, who ran things before Julian. It was a scarier place then, but when I saw the Children I knew I had to do something to help. So the Senior hired me to teach them."

"Teach them?"

She nodded. "A lot of them didn't even speak English. They had no idea how to blend in with people, and they'd been here for decades, some of them, never seeing the outside world. I helped."

"So you were like, uh, the vampire day care lady?" The story was getting crazier by the second, but at least it had its endearing elements.

"I still am. Except now, with Julian's help, these kids can become mortal again. That's what we were doing with Daniel."

Julian dropped his feet to the floor, leaning forward into the conversation.

"I wanted him to be absolutely sure before he accepted the procedure. The Children, as a rule, have very little, if any, memory of what it was like to be mortal. I wanted him to remember, so he could decide if he if he wanted to be mortal again."

"Thus the therapy," said Tara.

Frowning, Gray said slowly, "Okay. I guess that makes sense. But why did you pick me?"

"I told you. Nicholas recommended you."

"And how the hell do you know Nicholas?"

"He's here. I lied to you. He's not dead. When his cancer progressed far enough to leave him with no hope, he chose to be Changed rather than die. One of the elements in his blood helps catalyze the process we're using to cure the Children."

Gray took a breath to speak, let it out, shook his head. "This is crazy."

"But you know it's true." Tara's looked implored him to believe.

"You told me you wrote about it in your past-life regression journal.

And you dreamed about it. You know the vampire part of is as true as . . .

as the rest of it."

As true as Liam and Felicity, she was saying. As true as their love. He studied her face, looked into her eyes, her blue eyes that, in his memory, had once been green. In them he glimpsed possibilities he'd never seen in another woman. He could love her. She could love him. They'd done it once before.

"This is part of my life," Tara went on, her tone desperate. "If you can't accept this . . ."

"You mean, if I can't accept that you're the vampire day care lady?" His voice came out bitter. He'd been going for sarcasm.

Her lips thinned in determination. He was relieved to see anger in her eyes-it was easier to deal with than the big-eyed, near-weepiness she'd given him a moment ago. "And I will be until all of these children are taken care of. They need me."

Gray couldn't hold back a small smile. In an odd, surreal, freakish, deranged fantasy sort of way, it was endearing. "So you have a mission."

"I do."

"And what happened to this guy, this Dominic?"

"He was murdered. Some self-styled vampire hunters figured out what he was, and they chased him down and staked him in the heart."

She blinked hard and no tears came.

Gray didn't know what to say, but he was saved from having to respond when Julian chose that moment to enter the conversation.

"The people who murdered Dom were like you were back then, when you were Liam. Didn't have half a clue what the hell they were doing. They just thought, 'vampire-evil,' and acted."

Looking at Julian, Tara said in a small voice, "Dom died three years ago. You weren't around then."

"I heard the stories," Julian said. "I knew Dom, if only in passing.

He was a decent guy."

"He was a vampire," said Gray, feeling something of Liam creeping into him-the driving hatred, the anger. "Vampires slaughtered my family."

"Liam's family," said Tara softly.

"He wanted justice. Vengeance." Gray's brows compressed. "He never quite got it, though, because . . ." Suddenly, shock flooded him, and his head jerked up, his gaze locking with Julian's. "I just remembered how he died."

Julian said softly, "That's right."

"What?" said Tara.

Eyes still focused on Julian, Gray said, "You killed him."

Seven.

Tara couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Julian? You killed Liam?" But even as she said it, she remembered, because Felicity had been there. She had seen Liam die. "You didn't feed on him."

"No. I broke his neck." "Why?"

"Because I figured it would be quick and relatively painless."

Julian shrugged, still looking at Gray. "Anything I tell you won't mean squat unless you can remember for yourself."

"I don't see how it matters, in any case. I know what you are.

You're a murderer."

"Am I going to have to kill you again?" Julian's question was matter-of-fact.

Tara couldn't believe the turn the conversation had taken. She had a horrible feeling Gray wasn't going to walk out of this room alive, and she knew she wouldn't be able to deal with that. "Julian, please."

"You knew the risk when you brought him down here. He has to decide what he's going to do. If he chooses to be a threat, I'll eliminate that threat."

"Julian-" She stopped, her voice choked by tears. But Julian wasn't even looking at her, wasn't listening. His attention was focused totally on Gray, waiting.

Gray smiled grimly. "Your point's taken."

"Julian, don't do this." Tara couldn't hold back the tears any longer.

Finally, Julian swung toward her, his eyes flashing. "I'll say it again-you knew what you were doing when you brought him down here. If he's a threat, then he's a threat not only to me and you and Daniel, but to Lorelei, and guess what I am perfectly willing and capable of doing if my woman and unborn children are threatened?"

Tara swallowed. She'd made a mistake. She never should have brought Gray here. Perhaps she never should have taken Daniel to him in the first place. "I'm sorry, Gray."

"Don't be. How could you have known?"

"Yeah," said Julian. "Past-life regression can be a tricky, tricky business. I thought it might help us in this case, but maybe I was wrong."

He leaned forward in his chair, looking right at Gray. His expression was placid, almost friendly, but Tara could feel the danger oozing from him. "What are you going to do?"

Tara watched Gray's face, holding her breath. Nothing in his expression told her what he was thinking.

Finally he said, "You knew." He said it bluntly, holding Julian's intense gaze.

"Not really. Not at first," said Julian. "When Nick told me about you, I had a feeling. I can't explain it, but it was there. So I spied on you for a while, and the feeling got stronger. Although I can't say it was anything as definite as my knowing I'd met you in one of your past lives. I wasn't sure of that until Tara told me about the dreams she's been having, and about the journal you kept of your past-life regression sessions, where you and Tara-Liam and Felicity in those days-were vampire hunters."

Gray was silent for a moment, studying Julian skeptically. Then- "You spied on me." His tone was accusatory.

Julian threw up his hands. "Hey, it got you the job. Think of it as an audition, rather than me stalking you. And you passed." Quirking an eyebrow, he added, "I wouldn't trust just anybody with Daniel, you know."

Gray fell silent again, eyes narrowed. Then he said, much to Tara's relief, "I think maybe I should try to remember. Tara seems to trust you-maybe you had a good reason for putting me down like a dog."

Julian's smile was relieved, though his gaze remained intent and cautious. "Fair enough. Let's get to it."

Gray hated the idea of being hypnotized in the middle of Vampire Central, but it seemed prudent to go along with Julian's suggestion. At least Julian hadn't objected when he'd asked to keep Tara with them. Right now, she was the only one he had any trust in at all, and even that was wearing thin.

Julian took them to a small room not far from his office. At least, Gray thought it wasn't far. Once he got there, he wasn't sure how long they'd walked, how far they'd gone, or in what direction. Certainly there was no way he'd ever find his way out of this labyrinth. They had him well and truly under their control.

"What do you want me to do?" Tara asked.

Gray looked around the room. It looked as if it, too, might have been someone's office, but no one had used it in a long time. He drew a line in the dust on the desk top with his finger. "Take notes." He looked at Julian. "You said there was someone here who could hypnotize me?"

"He's on his way."

"Is he a vampire?"

"No."

They fell into silence for a time, waiting. Tara stood near the desk, staring at the line he'd drawn in the dust. She looked tense and worried, rubbing the back of her neck and frowning down at the desk-or at the air molecules between it and her eyes, for all he knew. He had no clue what she was thinking.

Finally the door opened and a man entered. In his mid-thirties, with a slightly receding hairline, he was wearing glasses and carrying a briefcase. He looked human enough, but then, so did Julian when he wasn't flaunting his fangs.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Dr. Greene." He held out his hand.

Gray took it reluctantly, remembering the name "Greene" from Daniel's file. "How did he tell you he needed you?" he asked the doctor "Is he telepathic or something? Because I read somewhere that vampires are."

Dr. Greene looked at Julian, who shrugged. "Actually, I hate to disappoint, but he sent me an email before he led you over here."

Remembering the computer in Julian's office, Gray gave a soft "Hmph."

"Just like Liam," Julian said. "Don't know what the hell you're dealing with."

Dr. Greene smiled. "No offense, Julian, but this might go better without you."

"Okay. Whatever." With no further protest, Julian left.

Gray took a long breath of relief and turned to the doctor. "I saw your name in Daniel's file and did an Internet search for it. You're a hematologist, correct? Do you have any experience in hypnosis?"

"A little," the doctor replied. "When you work with vampires you have to learn to be flexible."