"It does." He recited what he'd found in the depths of his inherited memories, and Lucien nodded.

"We have an answer, then." His voice was grim.

"We do," said Aanu. He stood, walked toward the door. "I need to tell William."

Five.

"It's time, Jarod," Julian said gently, conscious that, in using the doctor's name, he was breaking down yet another barrier. And about time, too, under the circumstances. He knew Jarod understood the gravity of the situation, and what would have to happen now, but he didn't know how the other man could face it. He didn't think he could.

"We need to draw him out."

Jarod nodded. "We've been preparing."

"But are you prepared?" Lucien put in.

Jarod looked at the floor, studiously avoiding eye contact with anyone else in the room. "No, I'm not," he said quietly. "But I think she is."

Julian nodded. "Then let's do it."

He had left this part of the larger plan in Jarod's hands, and he wasn't surprised at how efficiently the doctor had dealt with it. Still, the thoroughness of the preparations came as a bit of a shock.

Uncomfortable with the possibility of confronting Ialdaboth in the hospital wing, Jarod had fortified a cave-like room several levels below the currently inhabited areas of the Underground. The magic was thick and dark down here, enough to make Julian's scalp prickle, and the place smelled of damp rock and vampires. Now that he'd broken some of the barriers, the Senior's memories were coming more easily to him, and he knew the place was one of the first the enclave had used-part of the original habitation the Senior had dug out and fortified, with Ruha's help.

Jarod had equipped the cave to contain Lilith when they re-opened her connection to Ialdaboth. A bed furnished with chains and cuffs, a tranquilizer gun leaning against the wall next to it-Julian could hardly bear to look at it, understanding what it must have cost Jarod to make these arrangements, knowing he might have to use them against his lover. But Lilith, following Jarod into the low-ceilinged, somewhat claustrophobic space, smiled at him and kissed his cheek.

"Nice work," she told him. "This should do it."

"How long has she been off the juice?" Lucien asked.

Lilith's consumption of Jarod's blood was, they had realized, the only thing keeping Ialdaboth from using the bond he established with his blood Children, of which Lilith was one.

Jarod looked at his watch. "Not quite an hour. It won't have worked out of her system yet."

Lilith settled onto the bed, examining the manacles attached to the headboard. "Better safe than sorry." She slanted a look at the doctor.

"Tie me up, baby."

"Do you two need to be alone?" asked Lucien with a grin.

Julian laughed a little, glad somebody could handle the situation with some humor. He certainly couldn't, not knowing what he was going to have to do to win this war.

"Not really," Lilith answered. "I'm kind of an exhibitionist at heart."

But then she looked at Jarod, and a little shimmer of fear, meant for her lover's eyes only, appeared in her gaze.

Julian looked away. He heard the manacles click as Jarod fastened them. When he looked back, Lilith was securely restrained, metal around her wrists and ankles, leather straps across her body.

"You okay?" Jarod asked her.

"I'm good."

"Anything else?" Lucien said. "Anything we've forgotten?"

"No, that's it." Julian supplied the answer. "Now we wait."

He arranged for alternating shifts, so that at least one of the three strongest of them-Lucien, Aanu, or himself-would be on hand at all times. He took the first watch, until daylight came and Lilith slipped into the Sleep.

Lucien arrived just as she faded into complete unconsciousness.

"Do you think we need to watch during the day?" Julian asked him.

"I think we need to take every precaution," Lucien answered and took his place in the chair next to the bed. "When did Jarod leave?"

"About an hour ago. He'll be back." Julian bent backwards, feeling his spine crack. "I'm going to see Lorelei. Call me if you need me."

He used the time with Lorelei to resettle himself. He was edgy, agitated, to the point where his skin felt like it no longer belonged to him. A cigarette would have been heaven right then, he thought. Or sex. Too bad he'd had to give up both of them. But stretching out next to Lorelei on the bed, spooning against her, helped.

Lorelei had questions, though, which didn't help at all. "Your power, then, allows you to channel their power? So you can kill Ialdaboth?" "That appears to be the case, yes." She deserved honest answers.

He just didn't want to think about what he knew was coming.

"Will it kill them?"

And that, of course, was the biggest of the questions he didn't want to consider.

"I don't know."

She nestled into him, seeming to understand his reticence, and took his hands, folded them together over her stomach. Over their children.

Several hours later, feeling more at peace, Julian returned to Lilith's cave. Lucien still sat watching.

"Aanu's sitting next watch," Lucien said as Julian took a seat.

"You're not due back for ages."

Julian shrugged. "I know." He looked at Lilith. She lay still and pale, her platinum hair spread over the pillow. The cuffs and straps held her securely to the bed. Julian couldn't help wondering if it was really necessary to confine her so securely, but he supposed they had to take every precaution, even if it seemed like overkill. Though he had a feeling that, when Ialdaboth finally showed himself, the straps and chains would be not an overreaction but, rather, inconsequential.

"Where's Aanu now?" he said after a moment.

"With William, I suppose." Lucien, too, studied Lilith's inert form.

"It's not fair for him to have to face this," Julian said, the words bursting from his mouth; they'd been hammering in his head for the past three hours. "It just isn't fair, dammit. Not so soon after waking up."

"Not fair for me, either," Lucien added flatly. "I just found Vivian."

He had thought of that, too. After centuries of separation had interrupted the beginnings of a love affair between Lucien and Vivian, they'd found each other again only a few months ago.

"I know," said Julian.

"We don't know for sure that's how it'll go, though." Lucien tore his gaze away from Lilith and looked at him. "You might be misreading it. I mean, I think you have the basics right, as far as channeling the power, concentrating it, using it as a weapon. But there's nothing there, not in any of those passages, to state exactly what happens to me or Aanu-or even to you."

"True." And maybe he could hold on to that, Julian supposed, make it into a lifeline. If he could hope that he didn't have to actually . . . Shit, he couldn't even think the words.

He'd better hope he could do the deed, though, or they were all dead.

"It's all right, you know." Lucien's voice was soft, sincere. "Twelve thousand years. It's enough."

"But Vivian-"

"I know. That's the only thing."

They were silent for a time. Outside, darkness had begun to fall.

Julian could still sense it, even though it no longer forced him to sleep.

"But what about-" Julian began, then stopped.

Because Lilith had opened her eyes and her mouth, and into the silence he had left behind, she said in a voice that sounded not at all like her own, "He's coming."

Then she writhed, convulsed on the bed, her body twisting in spasms. Julian shot to his feet, headed for the door. "I'll get Jarod."

By the time Julian returned with Jarod, Lilith had stopped convulsing, but she lay stiff on the bed, open eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

"What happened?" Jarod asked Lucien.

"The seizures stopped. She didn't say anything else." Jarod bent over Lilith's rigid body, examining her. Julian couldn't believe his calm. He was the consummate professional, even though the patient was his lover. But then he straightened, took off his glasses, and wiped them on his sweater with hands that were less than steady.

"She seems to be coming out of it." Jarod's voice was even. "I don't want to touch her, though, until she seems to be more lucid."

Lilith's stiffened posture had softened a little already, and, suddenly, she went limp, falling back onto the bed. Startled, Julian watched her closely. She rolled her head to one side, grinning at the doctor, her fangs protruding sharp and white. Whatever personality lay in those eyes, it wasn't Lilith. Not totally, not yet.

"Maybe a few more minutes," said Jarod, with only the faintest shiver in his voice. He turned to Julian, visibly gathering himself. "You found the answers? You know what to do when he comes?"

"Yes." He looked at Lucien. He felt as if he should say more . . .

but what more was there? Goodbye?

"We can do this," said Lucien. "We can kill Ialdaboth."

Jarod gave a terse nod. "And I'm sure there's a little more to it than that, but I don't think I want to hear it." He looked at Lilith. She had closed her eyes again, and when she spoke, the voice was her own.

"Jarod."

He went to her, sat on the bed. His hands, still trembling, traced over hers, tangling in her fingers. "It's okay. It's okay."

Julian exchanged a glance with Lucien, and, as one, they left the room.

Julian returned to Lorelei, afraid down to his bones that it would be the last time he ever saw her. So, of course, the first thing she did was force him to face that very fear.

"How do you think this will go?" she said. "When he comes . . .

when they call you . . . will you come back to me?"

"I will." He said it firmly.

"If you can." Her voice shook, broke a little.

He looked deep into the wide blue of her eyes, acknowledging the truth with his silence. After a moment he pulled him to her, held her, let his hands memorize all the shapes of her.

"You should go back," she told him after a time.

"Yes." He pulled her closer, nestling her into him. Her lips moved softly against his face as she tasted his skin. Then, gently, she pushed him away.

"Go. I'll be here when it's over."

He looked at her a moment longer, taking her in. Then, with a strangled sound he couldn't contain, he dragged her to him and kissed her-hard, frantic. But when he let her go, he didn't linger for one last kiss or caress. Instead, he left her, and he went to stand guard with Lucien and Aanu.

He was thinking of Lorelei--was there really anything else to think about?-when it finally happened. They were all there by then- Lucien and Jarod sitting near him, and Aanu sitting on the floor against the far wall with William beside him. Julian had told Jarod and William to leave, but they both refused.

One instant, it was silent, even calm, all of them lost and quiet in their own thoughts. Then, on the bed where she had slept for nearly three hours unmoving, curled onto her left side, Lilith suddenly rolled onto her back. Her mouth opened first, then her eyes, blank and staring.

Julian rose slowly from his chair. The air in the room tingled with power, dark and noxious. He knew that power, had felt it in his dreams, sticky and clinging, black and full of vile, unnamable things that crawled and chewed. He felt his own power rise to meet it, but he reined it in.

It wasn't time. Not quite.

And so Ialdaboth came, spilling out of Lilith, out of her mouth and eyes, black and broken, in bits like insects that swarmed through the air together in a mass. The bits built one upon the other, stacking and meshing, until a figure began to form.

Out of the corner of his eye, Julian saw Lucien move toward his right side, until they stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Aanu joined them, clearly reluctant, glancing at William. Finally, he squared his shoulders, then came to stand at his left side.

They were ready. Or so Julian hoped. He flexed his fingers, trying to understand the nuances of the power he felt swarming and eddying around him.

Six feet in front of them, the black power coalesced. Ialdaboth had found his purchase on reality and was bringing all his parts together.

Julian had never imagined such magic, though he'd felt hints of it in his dreams. So this was what one could learn, he thought, if one was willing to feed on death. Not an un-useful skill, but not one he envied. He had his own power, and he felt it shiver along his skin, growing, readying itself, so dense it felt like a second skin. Before this was over, when he'd done what he had to do, it would be even stronger. Strong enough to counter the black, shattered, insectile power uniting before him.

The weaving together of pieces picked up speed, until, at last, Ialdaboth's form appeared whole. They were of a height, the three half-brothers, with similarly craggy features and blue eyes. Julian looked from one to the other, seeing the similarities, the differences. Lucien's and Aanu's calm, placid faces seemed bland and useless next to the ferocity of Ialdaboth. But Julian knew what lay behind their outward tranquility, and he readied himself for it.

Ialdaboth flung out his arms, flexing his newly re-formed body.

"Three against one," he said, his voice airy at first, then gaining strength as his throat knitted fully. "You don't believe in fair odds, do you?"

"Right now we pretty much believe in just kicking your ass," Julian said. He reached toward Lucien, toward Aanu, clasping their hands.