The tall vampire's jaw was locked so tight Stasi was amazed it didn't snap. She was positive he'd be flashing some fang next. Clearly Jazz was now working on his last nerve, and it was rapidly shredding. "We were already running late, Jazz. Don't worry, we'll stop there on the way back and you can stock up on your precious s...o...b..a.l.l.s so you can go on a coconut marshmallow covered cake binge to the point where you'll be moaning and groaning with the stomachache of all stomachaches. But we'd already made enough stops. There was no reason to keep Stasi and Blair up any later than we had to." He stepped over to hug Stasi and drop a quick kiss on her forehead before he moved to the back of the SUV and opened the rear cargo hatch, hauling out suitcases and tote bags.

"As entertaining as the two of you are, next time let's have a movie playing for the rest of the inmates. There is a DVD player and screens in there, you know?" Krebs, Jazz's mortal roommate, helped Nick sort out the luggage. He groaned as he pulled out one obviously heavy bag. "What is it with you women and tons of luggage? We're only going to be here several days."

"You men are handsome all the time. We women need more work." Leticia touched the back of his neck with her slender porcelain-pale fingers. He instantly smiled back at the lovely vampire who had captured his heart.

"At least, now I can go inside and not be out here freezing to death," Irma grumbled as Sirius hopped out of the vehicle after her. The ghostie mastiff immediately zoomed in on a nearby tree to mark it as his.

"What is it about you always claiming you're going to freeze to death during the winter or roast to death during the summer when, h.e.l.lo? you're dead!" Jazz picked up a tote bag.

"Blair, the kids are here!" Stasi laughingly called upstairs.

"Very funny." Jazz ran over and hugged her tightly. "Just because Nick doesn't need to make stops doesn't mean there aren't others that have to," she whispered in her ear.

"No one can have to make that many bathroom stops unless they have a bladder the size of a pea." Nick's preternatural hearing meant he didn't even have to eavesdrop.

"We had to make a total of three stops and he acts like it was thirty." Jazz directed a stern look at the two bunny slippers, who slid out of the vehicle wearing hungry eager expressions on their furry faces and looked around for their next opportunity for mischief. "You'd better keep your promise to behave or you won't be taking any road trips for centuries."

Fluff chattered away, bending one ear then straightening it in an aye aye sir! gesture while Puff sighed, rolled his dark eyes, and bobbed a reluctant yes.

"Don't give me the Boy Scout routine because neither of you would have been allowed in," Jazz reminded Fluff. "And luckily, you never ate one, either. That I know of."

The slippers chattered away as they raced up the stairs.

"So you're all right with Krebs and Leticia dating?" Stasi whispered. She knew Jazz hadn't been happy when Krebs started seeing a vampire. Leticia was a client of Krebs'; he designed and maintained social websites meant for the supernatural communities and they'd met online.

Jazz grimaced. "Not completely, but we have an understanding. She doesn't lay a fang on Krebs and I don't push her outside on a bright sunny day."

Stasi chuckled. "That will work."

Frenzied barking sounded from the top of the stairs and intensified as Bogie floated downward. The small dog snarled and snapped at the slippers, who had stopped halfway up the stairs but didn't look the least bit intimidated by his canine warnings. He showed more restraint at the sight of Sirius.

"You behave, too," Stasi chided the dog, who quieted down but still displayed a curled lip to show he wasn't taking any guff from reprobate bunny slippers.

"You have no idea what this trip has been like. Not only did Jazz say I couldn't smoke during the trip, the others backed her up. If you want to get technical, the only one who might be bothered by the smoke is Jonathon, and he's such a gentleman, he wouldn't have minded." Irma started to hug Stasi then backed off as she remembered that as a ghost she'd only go through the witch, leaving a nasty cold sensation behind. "And don't you look pretty tonight! What a shame you had to stay up for us. Nicky was late picking us up," she confided.

"And you look ready for the cold weather. It's not all that late now that the days are already growing shorter." Stasi smiled as she admired Irma decked out in gray wool pants, a soft blue, green, and pink print sweater, and a pink fur-lined parka. Once Jazz had found the right spell to allow the ghost to update her wardrobe, Irma had tossed out her 1956 navy floral dress and gone wild for modern clothing. Even her gray perm was gone now, and she sported soft waves in a becoming shade of ash brown. The only habit from the 1950s she hadn't given up was her love for Lucky Strikes, even though Jazz had loudly decreed the car and the carriage house were no smoking zones.

"She wanted to wear ski pants, but I told her no way." Jazz stamped her Ugg-shod feet on the ground and tucked her hands inside her jacket. "I love Samhain, but I do wish it happened during a warmer time of year. Has Thea shown up yet?"

Stasi shook her head. "She retreated to Paris for some haute couture therapy. She's in mourning."

"What happened?"

She leaned over to murmur, "Her latest book didn't make the New York Times bestseller list."

Jazz reared back. "But she at least made the extended list, right?"

Stasi shook her head. "Not even USA Today."

Jazz's coral-glossed lips formed an O. "Whoa. She must be having a major meltdown. Ever since book lists were invented, her books under any of her pseudonyms have always been in the top ten for weeks."

"It didn't happen this time and saying she's not happy is an understatement," Stasi whispered as if afraid of being overheard.

"Then it's a good thing she's not coming. If she's having a witchy hissy fit it's better she destroy her own belongings and not yours."

"Very true," Blair agreed, running down the stairs and hugging each in turn. "We have wine waiting along with a pot of coffee on. We know Nick can partake and I a.s.sume you can, too?" she asked Leticia.

"I can, thank you." She smiled. "I've never been up this way, so I'm looking forward to celebrating Samhain with you."

"We have plenty of guest rooms upstairs, but there's also special rooms fixed up in the bas.e.m.e.nt," Stasi said.

"I want to make snow angels." Jazz hopped onto Nick's back and wrapped her legs around his waist and arms around his neck, dropping a quick kiss on his cheek. "Can't you see this big bad vampire as an angel?" She grinned.

"How many espressos have you had?" Stasi asked, guessing the source of Jazz's energy.

"Five, six triple shots, who's counting?"

"Hence all the bathroom stops," Nick muttered, but there was still a devilish light in his dark brown eyes, as he walked Jazz over to a fresh pile of snow and arched backward, dumping her. She shrieked as the snow slid down her collar. With a speed that almost rivaled his, she grabbed his arm and pulled him down next to her.

Stasi laughed. She knew if Nick hadn't wanted to be pulled down into the snow, he wouldn't have allowed Jazz to get the better of him. She envied their banter and play as lovers who'd known each other for centuries. And she knew the trouble they'd had in the past. She was pleased to see they were beyond that.

"Honestly, get a room, you two!" Blair called out on a note of laughter. "It's going to be a blast having you all here." She ushered them upstairs. "We haven't had anything close to a full house for some time. This feels very right."

"Tell us what's going on with the lake and what happened last night," Jazz said, once they were settled in the family room with gla.s.ses of wine.

Stasi began with the night she and Blair had discovered the barrier and odd lights over the water then told about Trev's spell and how it was destroyed, and ended with the previous night's...o...b.. outside the window.

"When we woke up this morning there was a heavy snowfall and no sign of the orbs," she finished. "But there was the sensation that something had tested the wards on the building. I think if they hadn't been strong enough, whatever those orbs were would have gotten in."

Jazz was curled up in an oversized linen-colored chair with brick red and moss green pillows behind her. Nick sat on the floor beside the chair, leaning against Jazz's leg, and the bunny slippers snoozed on top of her Ugg boots that lay on the floor.

"I wonder why it wouldn't allow you to get too close or even figure out what it is?" Jazz mused out loud. She leaned over and picked up her boots, dislodging Fluff and Puff, who grumbled at being ousted from their soft bed. "I want to see the lake." She pulled on her Uggs and stood up.

Krebs looked over from his p.r.o.ne position on the moss green couch, with his head resting on a linen-colored pillow set on Leticia's lap as she stroked his hair away from his forehead. "Now? It's one o'clock in the morning!"

"You don't have to go, Krebs." Jazz looked down at Nick with an expectant air. He sighed and stood up with fluid grace. "You don't need to go with us," she told Stasi and Blair, who likewise stood up.

"It might be a good idea to keep the power base strong in case there's something else out there," Stasi said.

"Then we may as well make it a group field trip." Krebs glanced at Leticia, who nodded.

Irma continued to rest in an easy chair with Sirius lying at her feet. "I hope you all don't mind that I stay behind."

"Works for me." Jazz grinned, pulling her coat back on.

"More snow," Stasi groaned, when they walked outside and found the heavy white flakes falling in silence. Their boots crunched on the cold ground.

"You usually don't have snow this early." Jazz looked around.

"Considering everything else, it's not surprising." Blair adjusted her rust wool cap down around her ears and pulled on matching mittens. Stasi wore a matching set in teal blue.

"Does the lake ever completely freeze?" Krebs asked, dodging a low-hanging tree branch.

"No, and that has surprised us because we've had cold enough winters for it to happen," Stasi replied. She stopped and looked down the path. "You can see the lights even from back here." She pointed straight ahead.

They all stood quietly and watched the dance of green lights perform a ballet in the air.

"Nothing like this has happened in all the years we've come here. Why now?" Jazz voiced the question Stasi and Blair had been asking themselves.

Jazz slowed down when they moved past the trees. The three witches stood side by side, staring in horror at the lake that had centered them for so many years. Instead of the usual serene silver blue surface, the water was frothing dark blue with black waves, as if a volcano boiled deep within it.

The barrier was still crisscrossed with green and black stripes, and the cobalt ring around the edge that Trev had laid down in a powerful spell lay in pieces.

"Yikes!" Jazz shook her head. She c.o.c.ked her head to one side as she studied it. "This doesn't make any sense. The only way an obstacle like this could happen is with the use of mega-watt magick. Yet, I can't even feel any form of power coming from the barricade. Maybe the wizard's spell did enough harm that now it just needs a little help coming the rest of the way down." She held up her hand revealing a roiling orange-red flame that was triple the size of what she normally conjured up.

"No!" Stasi and Blair shouted at the same time Jazz threw the fireball at the barrier.

"f.u.c.k!" Nick grabbed Krebs by the collar and threw him to the ground then hit the dirt as Leticia also dropped flat.

The moment the fireball hit the barrier, a roaring sound a.s.saulted their ears as a wall of flame swiftly covered the surface and flared back at them. Stasi, Blair, and Jazz were thrown backwards, pushed forcefully among the trees.

"Ow!" Stasi winced as her back connected with a tree trunk. She glared at her friend. "The barrier has its own protection. I told you what happened when Blair first tried to get it to reveal itself when it was totally invisible to us. Did you honestly think a fireball would make a difference?"

Jazz picked pine needles out of her hair. "Anyone can make a mistake," she muttered in self-defense.

"Not when you almost turned us all into torches." Nick glared at her as he stood up.

"d.a.m.n, woman." Krebs got to his feet and helped Leticia up. "I should have known better. You had to go all big bad witch, didn't you? What's your next plan? Blowing up the whole town?"

"Okay, sometimes I get carried away. And this turned out to be a bad idea." Jazz groaned as she slowly rose to her feet and approached the barrier with belated caution. She winced as flames licked along the ground. She looked over her shoulder. "I thought you said the fire held no heat?"

"It doesn't."

"It does now." Jazz backed up until the flames died down. She used the tip of her boot to draw a line in the dirt then stepped over the line, watched the flames flicker upward then disappear when she stepped back. "And no protection spell seems to work?"

"The one Trev cast was destroyed within a few hours," Stasi said, gesturing to the broken ring.

Nick was even more cautious as he moved closer to the line Jazz drew in the dirt.

"This feels very old," he murmured and glanced back at Leticia who nodded her agreement. "A type of magick not used very often."

"It's as if the barrier was formed from the water itself," she said. "Definitely an old magick."

"But if it was formed from water how did the flames survive?" Stasi asked, intrigued by the female vampire's observation.

"With some forms of water magick cold fire can exist even around water." She appeared deep in thought as she moved forward in her graceful glide and stood next to Nick. "I've felt something like this before, but I can't recall where or even who created it. It was many years ago. Possibly the 1600s." She turned to Nick. "You also could sense it was old. Does it seem familiar to you?"

He shook his head. "As an enforcer, I didn't deal much with the magick community. We were more concerned with rogue vampires, not so much with what witches, wizards, and sorcerers did."

Stasi moved forward to stand at the line in the dirt. She licked her lips, afraid to say the word that had finally slipped into her brain and stayed there like a dark stain.

"What if this is the work of a warlock who works water magick?" she whispered.

Sharp indrawn breaths from Blair and Jazz echoed the fear in Stasi's voice.

"Don't say that." Blair stepped forward and gripped her shoulders. "Don't even think it."

"What if it is? It's nothing any of us has ever seen. The lake is virtually a prisoner inside this barrier. It must be either very old or something so dark we weren't taught how to fight it."

"I may not know exactly what it is, but I do know it's not the work of a warlock."

Stasi turned at the sound of a familiar voice. She wasn't surprised to see Trev standing there, nor did she even wonder how he came to be out here in the middle of the night. Magick calls. But she was a bit startled to see Jake standing next to him.

"Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Jazz stared slightly above Trev's head then slightly above Stasi's, who winced.

"Yep, it's exactly what you think you're seeing," Blair said under her breath. "Scary, isn't it?"

"And I thought it was bad when Mother Nature got even with me for accidentally calling down thunder."

"Problem at hand, please!" Stasi snapped before turning to Trev. "You're that sure?"

He nodded, unfazed by her challenge. "A warlock wouldn't have been able to destroy my spell."

"Sure of yourself, much?" Jazz taunted.

Trev walked toward them. "Jasmine Tremaine, curse eliminator and driver for All Creatures Car Service. You own a 1956 T-Bird convertible haunted by one Irma Carmichael formerly of Jasper, Nebraska, who killed herself in the car leaving her cursed to haunt it. You've only recently been able to release her from the vehicle that's been in your possession since 1957. You live in Santa Monica with a mortal, Jonathon Shaw III." He nodded toward Krebs. "You've made a name for yourself by finding a way to destroy a man who had dealt in the black arts to further his life span by draining vampires of their life force. Then, not to be outdone, you went toe-to-toe with an Elven n.o.ble, killed a powerful wizard who had broken his share of wizard laws, and made an enemy of the director of the Vampire Council. All of which has frustrated the Witches' Council and added to your years of banishment. You don't choose to make life easy for yourself, do you?"

"Wow, I had no idea I was so well known. But what can I say? I don't always play well with others," Jazz shot back. "You must be the wizard ambulance chaser who thinks he's going to best Stasi in court. Guess again. We've given the Witches' Council the mother of all migraines. Do you honestly think the Wizards' Court can put the fear into us? Because if you mess with one of us, you get all of us. We're a package deal."

Nick covered his face with his hand. "Subtlety, love," he murmured. "Try it."

Stasi hid her smile. "She doesn't know the meaning of the word. Besides, this could be fun."

"Your client is a nutcase," Jazz spoke as if she was talking about nothing more serious than the weather. "She's a vicious human being who isn't happy unless everyone else around her is unhappy. You might not admit it, but I just bet she's making you miserable, too. Carrie likes to play the victim, but she's not even close to being one."

"For someone who doesn't live here, you seem to know her pretty well," Trev commented.

"I've been up here often enough to meet her, and what I've seen isn't pretty. I'm not a lawyer, thank the Fates, but I'd say Carrie won't give the impression of a pathetic victim when you go to court." Jazz's smile was more feral than pleasant. "By the time she's finished, the judge will be only too happy to throw her in the deepest, darkest dungeon around and throw away the key."

Trev kept his hands in his pockets and studied her face. "I'm glad you're on Stasi's side. Do you think you can persuade her to find herself an attorney to represent her?"

She waved her hand. "Already taken care of."

Stasi straightened up. "What? Jazz, I don't-"

"Later."

Trev looked from Jazz's set features to Blair to Nick, Krebs, and Leticia. "Contrary to what you all believe, I have no intention of hurting Stasi. I want her protected just as much as you do, but I also have my client's interests to protect."