"Fight it," he told Rick.

"I'm cool; I swear it," Rick told him, and they walked on by, nodding sympathetically to the girl. "I'm cool, chieftain."

Lucian swung around. "What did you call me?"

"I don't know. Oh, chieftain."

"Why did you call me that?"

"Well, you're Scottish, right? Even with the name DeVeau."

"I was. Once upon a time," Lucian said, studying Rick. "Once upon a time, long ago."

"And now ..."

"Now, it's time to go home."

At first, Jade was convinced that they had all lied to her. They had pretended to save Rick, and they had gone down to the morgue and cut him to ribbons.

She had slept most of the day. They all had.

Amazing how time could turn around.

But once she had awakened, she had read the morning news. Rick Beaudreaux, a popular police officer, had died in the night. A fellow officer reported a couple who had come in to attack the officer, however, they had mysteriously disappeared into thin air. The unnamed officer how had been guarding the sick Beaudreaux had apparently injured himself in a fall-the insinuation was there that the fall had given the cop much more than b.u.mp on the head.

To make matters worse, Beaudreaux's body had disappeared.

Cleanly, completely. He had been in the morgue; now he was gone.

She wondered if her father had had anything to do with the story.

No. Peter MacGregor would never have said or done anything to make matters any harder on Jack Delaney.

Her hands were shaking as she put down the paper and looked at Maggie. Maggie smiled. "They might not have agreed with you, but they wouldn't have lied to you, Jade," Maggie told her.

"So ..."

"We'll have to hope that he comes back ... decently."

They were alone in the breakfast room. Jade had checked on her sister, and Shanna was still sleeping with little Jamie curled into her arms.

Jade stared at her coffee cup. "I still don't believe any of this. But ...

if you were a really decent person, could you come back as a ... as a decent vampire?"

Maggie didn't answer right away.

"Maggie?"

She shrugged and sipped her own coffee. "Rational is probably a better word. The urge is there . .. immediately. The urge to kill, to savage flesh, to feed ... but it can be controlled. I'm sure he's told you.

Lucian wasn't always quite so ... discerning. But even in the days when it appeared he was far harsher, sterner, and mocking of the daylight world, I don't think he ever enjoyed killing. Not even after Igrainia ... I think he wanted vengeance against Sophia. And when she was entombed ... he existed to keep order."

The phone started ringing.

Jade jumped up. "I'll bet it's my dad."

"No, I called him and said that we'd bring you and your sister later this evening. I'll bet it's that pesky neighbor of yours."

"Pesky neighbor?"

"The writer. That Renate DeMarsh."

"She's been calling?" Jade said.

"Again and again."

"She's convinced she has the answer to the locket situation."

"Maybe she does. You should talk to her." Jade answered the phone, and Renate was tired and cranky. "Where is Lucian?" she demanded.

"Look, Renate, it was an eventful night. I don't know where he is right now."

"Well, you've got to get him over here. Quickly. Listen to me, the locket is all about an ancient Egyptian cat G.o.ddess-"

"Bastet?" Jade said, trying to remember all that she might have learned at one time or another about ancient Egyptian deities.

"No. Bastet is one, yes. But this was a cat G.o.ddess, more like a panther. She was called Ura. There's not a lot known about her, because in the days when they went to the new religion, they destroyed everything pertaining to her- every engraving, every statue, everything, because she was a blood drinker. They used to sacrifice to her. When she was at last destroyed, legend goes, she was burned. But her ashes remained. If collected in a locket, they were said to give the possessor the power of pure evil. And unless the owner of the locket was destroyed in fire along with the G.o.ddess, the power would remain.

So taking away the locket does nothing. Sophia has to be burned, and burned to ash."

"I'll call you, Renate. That's great information. You've been wonderful."

Renate sniffed. "Hmff. I wish I felt wonderful. I'm exhausted. I've had no sleep. How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay."

"Did you steal Rick's body?"

"No."

"Well, call me. Have Lucian call me."

"I will. Thanks again," Jade said, and hung up.

"She knows?" Maggie asked.

"She's a researcher," Jade said. "She'd look up all sorts of stuff on vampires, and she and two other good friends decided to save my life by staking Lucian."

"They failed, obviously."

"But he talked to them, and they're trying to solve this whole thing through careful study and research. And Renate does have an interesting legend to relate about a cat G.o.ddess and the locket-it seems Sophia has to be burned."

"That's probably much easier said than done," Maggie told her. "And then there is the whole thing about ... vampires are not to destroy vampires. Hurt them, maim them, put them away for centuries, but...

Well, we'll have to figure it all out. It will be night soon. Why don't you go ahead and shower and change and we'll go in and see your stepmother."

"I should wait for Lucian-and Rick."

"Lucian will find us."

"All right," Jade said. She hesitated, studying Maggie.

"Maggie, you do admire him, don't you? And you think that he can- that he can make this right?"

Maggie paused, answering her slowly. "Make it right? Lucian . . .

yes, Lucian has an incredible inner power. He rose to become a power with which anyone must reckon. And yet ..."

"What?"

"Lucian taught me a great deal. But not everything. Long before Sean, I was in love with a young Frenchman. He made me a vampire, believing that the commitment could set us both free. He was killed. My father killed him, seeking to save me. I don't think that Lucian really believed such a force could work-until Sean and I came together.

Lucian is cynical and hard. Will he beat Sophia in the end? Yes. I think so. Unless he somehow falters."

"Because of me?"

"I didn't say that."

"You were thinking it."

"At the moment he needs to remain very hard and cynical-and maintain the power to best Sophia. Yes, I admire him. He attracted me when I hated him. He became a good friend when I needed his power the most. That's all you need to know."

It wasn't all that she needed to know, but it was all that Maggie intended to say.

An hour later Sean took her into the hospital. Her father was beside himself, terrified that whatever disease had taken Rick was now going to take Liz. Liz, on the other hand, was doing very well. She told Jade how sorry she was about Rick, and how horrified that his body had been stolen. "I know how badly this must hurt you, Jade," Liz told her.

"And I'm not going to try to tell you it will just be okay. You already know what it's like to lose someone you love. It will hurt for a long, long time. But we're here for you. We love you." She flashed a smile to Maggie, who stood behind Jade. "Like you all were here for me and the twins. I'm so grateful."

"They're thinking about discharging her from the hospital!" Peter said, dismayed, runing his fingers through his hair.

"That's great!" Shanna said.

"What if-" He broke off, not wanting to speak in front of his wife.

"Your father is worried. Rick Beaudreaux was doing so much better-then he died. Your father is afraid that will happen with me."

"You shouldn't be alone, of course," Maggie said. "And it's difficult to recover with little ones roaming about the house ... I know.

You should let them discharge you, and you should come out and stay with Sean and me."

"Oh, we couldn't!" Liz protested.

"Seriously, you should. My housekeeper is incredible. She's there with the kids now, and they adore her. And the girls will stay on a while, too."

"Maggie, can I talk to you in the hall for just a minute? " Jade inquired.

"Sure."

They stepped out into the hall.

"Maggie, this is crazy! If you bring my dad and Liz out to your place, they'll eventually realize that... that Lucian is ..."

"Lucian hasn't been coming to the house," Maggie said. "I've made it really uncomfortable there for his kind."

"But-" Jade broke off, spinning around. There was a man she had never seen before standing guard in front of Liz's room. He was even taller than Lucian, maybe six-foot-four. His eyes were powder blue, his shoulders were bigger than those of a linebacker, and he had white- blond hair that streaked down his shoulders. He was wearing a polo shirt and jeans, and still...

She turned back to Maggie. "Who is that?"

"Ragnor. He's an old friend of Lucian's. A very old friend."

Jade turned around and stared at the man. She tried not to gape. He smiled suddenly. He had a slow, easy, confident smile. "It's all right,"

he a.s.sured her. "I will not chew you up into little pieces. Nor take one big hunk out of your throat, for that matter."

She smiled weakly. "Thanks." "No one will get to your mother," he promised.

She smiled again. She didn't correct him and tell him that Liz was her stepmother. "Thank you very much."

He was studying her still.

"You are a lot like her," he said softly.

"Like who?"

"Igrainia."

"But I'm not-"

He lifted a hand, impatient with her denial. "No one will get to your family."

She thanked him again, then looked at Maggie. "Where is Lucian?"

"I don't know. We're to meet in the chapel at midnight."