As Peter's father moved to sit down, Talus perked up.

"Who's happy to see Daddy?" Van Helsing asked as he scratched behind the beast's batlike ears. "Yes, it's you, Talus! You're happy to see Daddy, aren't you?"

"I just gave him a treat," Peter warned his father. "Don't let him trick you into thinking he's starving."

"I'm a sucker when it comes to this beast, and he knows it," Van Helsing said with an uncharacteristic chuckle. "It's hard not to get attached when you hatch them yourself."

There was a light knock as Remy stuck his head inside the of.ce door. "You wanted to see me, boss?"

Van Helsing nodded and motioned for the other man to enter. His smile was gone, replaced by a scowl. "Indeed I do, Remy. I sent you and the others out on what should have been a relatively simple ambush- of a young girl, no less. I would like you to tell me how it is my best . eld operative is in critical condition after being electrocuted, my strike team leader has a dislocated shoulder, and my son is covered in rat bites and suffering from a busted rib."

Remy swallowed so hard his Adam's apple nearly disappeared. "Boss, I can explain what happened! We had things under control, but before we could move to take down the target, a group of oldies showed up. . . ."

Van Helsing raised an eyebrow. "Adults or . edglings?"

"Fledglings, as far as any of us could tell. They seemed about the same age as the stormgatherer. There were at least three suckers. A male and two females."

"Slummers, no doubt." Van Helsing shook his head in disgust.

"One of the females mixed it up with the target. That's what triggered everything. Next thing we know, we're in the middle of a whirlwind. Big Ike made the call to take out the Old Bloods before they could gang up on the stormgatherer."

"Did he succeed?"

Remy nodded. "He managed to stake one of the females. The trophy's being cleaned and prepared as we speak. After that, things went haywire. The stormgatherer ended up attacking Ike. Then the male stepped in-or .ew in, rather. We wounded him, but not before he tried to yank Drummer's arm off."

"What about the second female?"

"She managed to escape. Like I said, boss, we had everything under control until the Old Bloods showed up."

"I see," Van Helsing said. "What about you, Peter? Was the sucker who attacked you in the subway the same one Drummer reported seeing in the park? Was she the stormgatherer?"

"I'm not sure," Peter said, shifting uneasily. "It all happened so fast. I barely had a chance to look at her before the rat jumped me."

"Did you see which train she was taking? Was she on the uptown or downtown platform?"

"Uptown," Peter said quickly. "She was de. nitely headed uptown."

"Very interesting," Van Helsing said, jotting down a note.

"Are you sure this girl is the one you've been look-ing for?" Peter asked as he watched his father take in the misinformation. Why had he lied? Peter didn't like the feeling, yet he felt compelled to do it for Cally.

"Son, I've never been surer of anything in my life. Remy, do you have any undercover agents working outside of Manhattan?"

"I've got operatives keeping tabs on this club in Williamsburg the stormgatherer was spotted at a few weeks back."

"Good. Have them rea.s.signed to Midtown and the Upper East Side. If the grandmother is no longer in the picture, odds are the girl's become close with the father. Since we know who he is, it'll be easier to keep him under surveillance. He'll eventually lead us to her."

"Yes, boss." Remy turned and hurried out of the of. ce.

Peter glanced over at his father, who was scowling at the fragments of information scattered across his desk. Christopher Van Helsing pushed the various pieces of paper around with his fore.nger, as if trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle. Peter knew all too well that his father could go for hours without speaking when he was in one of his moods.

"I better be going too, Dad."

"No. Stay and talk to me, boy," his father replied without looking up. "We're close. Very close. Your grandfather, rest his soul, taught me that the most valu-able tool in a vampire hunter's a.r.s.enal is his intuition. And mine tells me that we're on the right track, son. I can feel it in my bones. The stormgatherer is the one we've been looking for.

"She's the right age. And I can a.s.sure you, from personal experience, that the old woman could throw bolts with the best of them. It only makes sense that her ability would be pa.s.sed along to her granddaughter, if not ampli. ed.

"If this girl is who I think she is-if she is what I think she is-then she is the greatest weapon the Van Helsing Inst.i.tute has had the opportunity to use against the vampire race since Pieter himself."

"But what if she isn't willing to help us? What happens then?"

"If she or her grandmother, a.s.suming the old woman's still alive, proves hostile to our plans, they will have to be terminated."

Peter blinked in surprise. "But I thought the grand-mother was an old friend of yours."

"That's true," Van Helsing said, a .icker of regret crossing his face. "I've known Sina Monture since I was a boy. She joined the Elites back when your grandfather Leland was running things. She was one of the most powerful white witches ever to work for the Inst.i.tute.

"Sina was married to Cyril Monture, your grand-father's best friend and my G.o.dfather. Neither one of them was what you'd call young, so we were all sur-prised when Sheila was born.

"They spoiled the baby rotten, and of course she grew up to be one of those kids attracted to every-thing their parents are against. She was fascinated with vampires. Spent all her time watching movies about them, reading books about them-eventually, she went out looking for them. She even managed to . nd her-self a vampire lover.

"Poor Cyril had a ma.s.sive heart attack when he saw his daughter being carried away by that .end. He died in my arms.

"Sina was never the same after that. Then, two years later, without any warning, she quit the Insti-tute. We had all a.s.sumed Sheila had been turned into one of the undead, but it seems the sucker kept her as his mistress. When she became pregnant with his half-breed baby, she decided to reconcile with her mother.

"I realized the child's potential as a weapon immedi-ately and contacted Sina. She threatened to use her powers against me if I ever came near her or her grand-child. I knew then that the woman I once knew had been irreversibly corrupted, as are all who traf. c with vampires and their sp.a.w.n."

"But-termination? Is there no other way?" Peter asked, trying not to show his revulsion. "Better that than to have the girl fall into the hands of our enemies." * * *

Peter's head was swimming as he left his father's of.ce. As a young boy he had told the usual . bs kids tell their parents. But what he had just done was far more serious than lying about stealing cookies or playing ball in the house.

Up until this point in his life, all Peter had ever really wanted was to hunt down and destroy vampires, just like his father and his grandfather before him, going back .ve generations. Less than twenty-four hours ago he had been so excited about carrying out his . rst solo mission he'd barely been able to sleep. But now all he could think about was Cally.

He could still feel the weight and warmth of her body pressed against his own. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw her face looking out at him from the window of the Brooklyn-bound train, smiling as she waved good-bye.

Peter was both thrilled and frightened by the strength of the emotions coursing through him. His father claimed that vampires were capable of corrupting even the purest heart, given enough exposure. But that couldn't possibly apply to her, could it? She wasn't like the others. The fact that he was alive proved it.

He needed to see her again the way a tiger needs to quench its thirst. But how? He knew she was living in Brooklyn, but where exactly? Suddenly he remembered Remy mentioning a club in Williamsburg she'd been spotted at that was under surveillance. It shouldn't be dif.cult to .nd out the name of the place-he just had to ask Remy for the information. After all, who would suspect the boss's son, of all people, of being in love with a vampire?

Chapter 8.

B.

ecause the Graveses were out of the country and Lilith had been their daughter's closest friend, tradition dictated that she be the one to host Tanith's totentanz, where everyone gathered to exchange token sympathies and then sing, dance, and drink in memory of their fallen comrade, all the while laughing in the face of death.

Back in the day, the parties would go for weeks. But given the short notice and the fact that everyone was just so busy nowadays, Tanith's totentanz was, by necessity, limited to a single night.

"There you are!" Sebastian said, his face pulled into an approximation of sympathy. "I was absolutely horri. ed when I heard what happened, sweetie!"

"Thank you, Seb," Lilith replied as they exchanged air kisses. "It was sweet of you to agree to hold Tanith's totentanz here."

"It's the least I can do, darling, considering the cir-c.u.mstances." Sebastian sighed. "Besides, Sunday is a slow night."

Thanks to email and IM, news of Tanith's end at the hands of the Van Helsings had spread like wild-.re through the popular kids of both Bathory Academy and Ruthven's as well as among many of the older, recently matured graduates. Lilith looked around the club at all the beautiful young men and women drinking snifters of laced blood.

"It's great to have such a strong turnout on such short notice," she said.

"Ooh! Rene, look! There's Lilith!"

Lilith turned her head in the direction of the squeal and sighed as she saw Rene Grimshaw and Bianca Mortimer bearing down on her.

Pasting an all-purpose smile on her face, she said, "Glad you could make it."

"Oh, we wouldn't have missed this for the world, Lili!" Rene exclaimed. "I mean, everyone who is anyone is here!"

"I'm sure Tanith would appreciate it," Lilith said dryly.

"Ooh! Lilith! Is it true you were there when Tanith was killed?" Bianca asked, her eyes gleaming with ghoulish fascination.

Rene leaned forward expectantly, like a robin wait-ing for a worm. "Ooh! Was it gross? Do you think it hurt?"

"I don't know," Lilith replied, taken aback by the barrage of questions. "It all happened so fast. . . ."

"Weren't you scared?"

Before Lilith had a chance to answer, Bianca nudged Rene, pointing across the room. "Isn't that Dustin Grabstein? The one you have the crush on?"

"Oh. My. G.o.ds." Rene giggled, all but swooning.

"Come on!" Bianca said, tugging on her friend's arm. "Let's go talk to him!"

"Bye, Lilith!" Rene called over her shoulder. "See you at school tomorrow night!"

Sebastian laughed as he watched Bianca and Rene totter off. "Don't let those bubble heads bother you. I'm making sure all Tanith's truly close friends are escorted upstairs, love."

When she got to the Loft, Jules rose to meet her, his eyes luminescent in the dim light.

"Sorry I'm late," she said.

"I would have ordered you a drink, but I didn't want it to coagulate before you got here. I'll go get it for you. . . ."

Lilith was surprised by how considerate Jules was acting; it felt good. Sitting down on the sofa next to Melinda to wait for Jules, it took her a moment or two to realize who was missing.

"Has anyone seen Sergei?" Lilith asked.

"He's around here somewhere," Oliver said vaguely.

Lilith wondered if Sergei was upset. Suddenly images of Tanith's body lying crumpled on the ground began to .ash through her mind's eye. Then Tanith's face became her own.

Horri.ed, Lilith glanced down at her hands and saw that they were trembling. "Please excuse me for a moment," she said, s.n.a.t.c.hing up her purse.

As Lilith hurried to the ladies' room, she felt a sort of panic starting to set in.

Even though she knew it made no sense, she needed to see her own face looking back out at her to rea.s.sure herself that she wasn't the one who was dead. She just needed a little peek, that's all.

As she opened the door to the ladies' room, she automatically scanned the .oor beneath the toilet stalls to see if any of them were occupied. A pair of mascu-line legs was clearly visible in the farthest stall, black leather pants pooled atop his boots.

At .rst Lilith thought one of the male partygoers was too wasted to realize he was in the ladies' room. Then she heard heavy breathing coming from the stall, followed by the sound of a woman's voice moaning in ecstasy. Lilith smiled and nodded, her anxiety momen-tarily forgotten. What better way to spit in the face of death than to screw during a totentanz?