"What?" Elsa shook her head. "Shanna can't be a vampire. They're not real."

Howard shrugged. "Berserkers and guardians are real. Why not vampires?"

"Because they're ... dead."

"Undead," he corrected her.

"Like that makes any sense." Elsa recalled how pointy Shanna's teeth were. "Shanna's really a vampire?"

"Yes. She was mortal when she fell in love with Roman, and they had two children. But then she accidentally touched an angel of death and was about to die, so Roman had to change-"

"An angel of death?" Elsa asked.

"Yes. Marielle. She's married to a vampire named Connor. She's not really an angel anymore."

"Right." Elsa dragged a hand through her wet hair. Vampires? Angels of death? Maybe she shouldn't have asked. "How do they eat? Do they go around biting people?"

"No. They drink synthetic blood from Romatech Industries. That's Roman's company. He invented synthetic blood."

She grimaced. "So they drink blood every night."

Howard nodded. "They get tired of the same meal every day, so Roman invented Vampire Fusion Cuisine. Stuff like Bleer, that's half blood and half beer."

She recalled the empty Bleer bottle in the convertible. Vampire food. "This is too weird."

"Come on." Howard escorted her to the kitchen. "You'll feel better with some food inside you."

She poured two gla.s.ses of orange juice they had made the night before from some frozen concentrate they'd found in the freezer.

Howard rummaged in the pantry. "Here's some granola bars. And some graham crackers."

"Is there any jelly or peanut b.u.t.ter?" She finished her juice and bit into a cracker. It was plain food, but at least it was food. She shuddered at the thought of having to live on bottled blood.

"A-ha!" Howard's eyes lit up as he removed a plastic container from the pantry. It was shaped like a bear and held honey.

She snorted. "You would like honey."

He glanced at the bear, then at her, then back at the bear. "Mmm."

She backed up. "You wouldn't dare."

He stepped toward her, his mouth curling up into a smile.

She made a face. "But it would be so sticky."

"I'll lick you clean. Promise."

With a squeal, she ran into the bedroom.

"Oh, sweetheart," he called as he ran after her.

An hour later, she had to admit he'd kept his promise. She was licked clean.

That night, they were dressed in bathrobes and eating some warmed-up canned soup at the kitchen table when a form wavered near the fireplace, then solidified.

Elsa gasped.

Howard stood. "Is something wrong?"

The stranger set a bakery box on the coffee table. "Shanna sends these with her regards." He nodded at Elsa. "Delighted to meet you, la.s.s. I'm Ian MacPhie."

Elsa sidled close to Howard. "He-he's a ... ?"

"Vampire," Howard finished.

"In a kilt?"

Howard smiled. "There are a few of them like that."

"Aye." Ian walked toward them. "I dinna want to disturb you, but our phone calls werena getting through. Phil told me a Mr. West from Anchorage was e-mailing the school all day, trying to contact you. I thought ye should know."

"Okay." Howard nodded. "We'll drive back in the morning."

"Verra well." Ian shook hands with Howard and inclined his head to Elsa. "If I might say so, la.s.s, ye've found an excellent man here with Howard."

"Thank you." She couldn't believe she was talking to a vampire. In a kilt.

"Good evening." He vanished.

"Wow." Elsa sat down at the table.

Howard brought the pastry box over. "There's a note on top from Shanna. It says Best Wishes."

Elsa nodded. They would need that, for tomorrow they would be returning to the real world. "Who is Mr. West?"

"Harry's boss at the paper where he worked, Northern Lights Sound Bites. Northern Lights Sound Bites. He's helping me wage war on the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who killed Harry." He's helping me wage war on the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who killed Harry."

"You know who killed him?"

Howard nodded. "A nasty werewolf named Rhett Bleddyn. He's hated me for years."

Her skin chilled. "Why?"

Howard shrugged and removed a donut from the box. "It's a long story. Harry believed Rhett's father killed our fathers. He was gathering information when Rhett killed him." He bit into the donut. "But we'll avenge Harry. I'm going to destroy Rhett."

She swallowed hard. This new world of vampires and shifters was a bit violent. She shook herself. The real world was violent, too.

"You want a donut?" Howard pushed the box toward her. "They're fresh."

She gazed at the note from Shanna. Best wishes Best wishes. With a sinking feeling, she suspected none of her wishes could come true.

She wished her aunts didn't want to kill Howard. She wished the nasty werewolf didn't hate Howard. She wished he wouldn't wage war with the werewolf. There had already been too many casualties-the fathers and Harry.

Who would be next?

Chapter Twenty-six

"Do you want me to come in and talk to your aunts?" Howard asked.

"Oh gosh, no." Elsa covered her mouth as she yawned. She was too tired to start her morning with a shootout in the motel parking lot. "Just drop me off."

"I could stop by the gatehouse this afternoon," he offered.

"I don't think I'll go to work today." She gave him a wry smile. "I didn't sleep much the last two nights."

"I know. You're insatiable."

"Me?" She swatted his shoulder.

He grinned. "I'll see you soon." He leaned over to kiss her.

"Bye." She climbed out of his SUV and hurried across the motel parking lot. Aunt Greta's car was parked nearby, so hopefully her aunts were in their room. She didn't have her key, since she'd left her handbag in the gatehouse two days ago.

She knocked on her aunts' door. "Aunt Greta! Ula!"

The door swung open.

"Oh my G.o.d! You're still alive!" Greta pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Thank G.o.d!" Ula exclaimed in Swedish and hugged her, too.

"I'm fine," Elsa a.s.sured them.

Tears streamed down Greta's face. "I thought I'd never see you again. I thought I'd failed you."

"No, no." Elsa forgot all the anger she'd harbored over her aunt's vicious bird attack. Obviously, Greta had thought she was fighting for Elsa's life. "I was perfectly safe. Howard's a wonderful man."

Ula shook her head, tears glimmering in her eyes. "When Greta told me you'd run off with the berserker, I thought we had lost you."

"Howard would never harm me."

Greta wiped her face. "I went to the police, but they said there was nothing they could do because you went willingly with him."

Ula hugged her again. "My poor child. I was so afraid for you."

Elsa patted her on the back. "Everything's fine."

"He didn't hurt you?" Greta looked her over.

"Of course not. He loves me."

Ula frowned. "The berserker who killed the first guardian loved her, too. Then he betrayed her."

Elsa winced. So the ill-fated lovers appeared in her aunts' version, too.

"He's luring you in," Greta told her. "Making you believe in him before he betrays you."

"Howard's not like that."

Greta gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid he is. While you were gone, we met a reporter from Alaska who's staying here in town. He showed us ... well, I'll let you see it for yourself."

Greta grabbed the key to Elsa's room off the dresser. "This way." She headed next door and unlocked Elsa's room.

Elsa was relieved to see her handbag on the bed. "You brought my purse back from the gatehouse. Thank you."

Ula perched on the second bed while Greta sat at the desk and booted up Elsa's laptop.

Elsa flopped onto her bed and closed her eyes. It was a good thing she'd run off with Howard. Her aunts would see that he could be trusted, since she'd returned unharmed.

"Here it is," Greta said. "The newspaper article the reporter told us about. It's the Port Mishenka Post Port Mishenka Post."

Port Mishenka? Wasn't that where Howard had gone to school? Elsa yawned. "What does it say?"

"It's a report on a girl who was murdered twenty years ago," Greta said as she vacated the desk chair. "You should read it."

With a moan, Elsa moved into the chair. A young high school girl, Carly Evans, had been discovered at the base of a mountain cliff overlooking the town of Port Mishenka. The last person to see her alive was her boyfriend, Howard Barr.

Elsa's breath caught. Howard had lost his high school girlfriend? She read more, her skin chilling with goose b.u.mps. Howard had been arrested for suspicion of murder.

The next two paragraphs contained quotes from Carly's parents. They both believed Howard had killed their daughter. "You've seen how violent he is on the football field," Mr. Evans declared. "He's a dangerous psychopath. He went crazy and murdered our daughter!"

Elsa sat back, her heart racing. This couldn't be true. The parents were just desperate for someone to blame. She finished the article. Howard had been released for lack of evidence, but the people of Port Mishenka were convinced of his guilt.

"He's a berserker," Greta said, shaking her head. "It's like a sickness. He'll seem okay, but then he'll go berserk."

"You must never see him again," Ula said.

Elsa exited the newspaper article. "There has to be a mistake."