"Grumpy as bears. We've had to tranquilize 'em. We only wake 'em up enough to eat," Gap grinned at me while walking down the steps to check on his granddaughter. She didn't have the stink of decay about her and I imagined he could smell the same thing. He seemed satisfied with her appearance, allowed me to walk around the house a little and then sent me back to the cellar. No sense asking him for a book to read, I hadn't seen a single one in the entire house.

Instead, I moved over to the girl's bedside and told her stories. I told her about Franklin and Greg. About Winkler and Weldon. I even told her about some of the recent books I'd read. I catnapped a little, too, pa.s.sing out when dawn came. The second night, I noticed minute signs of a change. Lily was transforming. Her lips were fuller, her skin held a tiny bit of color and her hair seemed a bit thicker. Was this how it had happened with me? Subtle changes, here and there? I'd been overweight, though, and had wakened to a much smaller size. Was the girl going to have enough ma.s.s to get through the entire thing? She'd been so thin and wasted-looking. Her continued existence was the only thing likely to keep Weldon and Winkler alive, too, so I was grateful for that much. Even if I killed everybody upstairs, the Grand Master and Winkler could still die before I found them.

Another day pa.s.sed and a few more slight changes came by nightfall. I got my blood and drank; they'd pa.s.sed me two unfinished units. I emptied both and went back to watching the girl. Gap came to observe as well. "She's lookin' prettier," he said. I nodded. I figured if she were completely gone, she'd have turned to ash by now, just as any vampire would. "How much longer do you think?" he asked. I turned an angry gaze on him. "This is my first turn. How should I know?" What I did know was that if he and his granddaughter escaped, I'd have to hunt both of them and kill them. Wlodek would never allow the girl to live anyway.

"All right, no need to get testy," Gap grumbled, walking up the stairs.

A fourth day pa.s.sed and I woke, getting my blood and a bath, finally. Some of the werewolves wanted to watch I could tell, but Gap chased them off and I got the bathroom mostly to myself. The door was left open, however, and my guard stood right outside. Someone had also gone to the cabin we'd rented and emptied it, likely so the owners wouldn't think anything suspicious was going on. My bags, along with Winkler's and the others had all been dumped inside the log house.

Having my suitcase meant I had fresh clothes to change into and I was grateful for that. The clothing I'd worn for days smelled from spilled blood, both mine and Lily's. I wondered what the people in South Carolina were thinking, too. Weldon was scheduled to be in Summerville the day before. After I cleaned up and braided my freshly washed hair, I was sent right back down the st.u.r.dy plank steps into the cellar. Lily still seemed to be making progress, although slowly. I was settled in my usual corner, not far from her bed when the racket started. At first, I thought the werewolves upstairs were arguing, but that wasn't the case. And when one shrieked, I knew for sure that wasn't it. The trapdoor was ripped off its hinges and Merrill's voice was shouting my name.

Chapter 9.

I climbed out of the cellar in a blink, finding Merrill, Russell, Radomir and Brock all there, surrounded by werewolf bodies. Every one of the werewolves was dead. Gap's head lay in a corner of the cabin's main room while his body occupied the kitchen. Both s.p.a.ces were splattered in blood. Merrill didn't have a hair out of place as we stood there, surveying the bodies.

"What about Weldon and Winkler?" It took an effort to gather my wits; I was still dazed from the surprise rescue and the smell of death about me.

"We split up. The other vampires are at a cabin twenty miles away. I imagine that's over with as well. Where's the girl?" Merrill asked. I led the way to the cellar.

"She's started the change," Russell sighed, eyeing the girl. "Probably a quarter of the way there, or close enough."

"Lissa, one of us can do this if you don't want to," Merrill placed an arm around my shoulders as we stared at Lily's body. It was. .h.i.tting me, then. The girl could turn completely if we didn't stop her. This would be my child, if she made the turn and was permitted to live. Wlodek would never allow that. Likely, he'd instructed Merrill to dispose of her if she hadn't turned to ash already. Merrill or one of the others was prepared to destroy Lily. If they didn't, she'd be fourteen forever. That just seemed wrong to me. All of it seemed wrong to me. I cursed her grandfather for making me do this. I cursed him again for not letting her go. For failing to understand that death is not always the enemy. I didn't realize I was doing my cursing out loud until Merrill squeezed my arm.

"Lissa, perhaps it's better if we do this."

"No." I wiped tears away. I was angry. As angry as I'd ever been, I think. And sad, too. "I'm so sorry, Lily. So very sorry. You should have gone on already." My claws were swift as they separated her head from her body. Both began to flake away. I turned and ran up the stairs.

"The girl had started the turn, Wlodek." Merrill's words caused Wlodek to cease signing his name between the L and the O.

"You think Lissa might make more females for us? That she has the blood gene to do it?" Wlodek's hand was still, poised over the doc.u.ments that lay on his desk as he gazed at Merrill.

"Possibly. That girl was dying before Lissa got to her, no doubt about that, and wasted away as well. Any male would have lost her quickly, I believe." Merrill wanted to sigh but didn't. "I don't believe the girl would have successfully turned; there wasn't enough body ma.s.s. Likely, she may have remained intact for two more days, but no longer than that. Lissa was quite upset over the whole thing. I am hopeful that Lissa has the gene, however. That would bode well for our future." The Vampire race needed more females. Were desperate for them. But Lissa had been too upset over Lily's death. Merrill hoped Wlodek wouldn't force her to attempt turns after her five-year probation was over. The ten-turn rule would be ignored if the turns were all female.

"We will keep this under advis.e.m.e.nt and make a decision when the time comes," Wlodek guessed at Merrill's thoughts. "In the interim, we will not add this to the records. It is most fortunate that your friend Griffin let the information slip about the genetics. We would likely still be searching for reasons why females couldn't complete the turn."

"He says it's extremely rare, and nearly impossible to find," Merrill muttered, wondering if he shouldn't have kept the information to himself after all. At the moment, only he and Wlodek held the information, and it would remain with them.

"I expected as much," Wlodek nodded sagely and finished signing his name.

Weldon, Winkler and Kelvin were allowed to recuperate in the Packmaster's large home located outside Charleston. Winkler was in the worst shape of all of them; the moment they'd allow him to wake a little from the tranquilizer darts they kept shooting into him, he'd start fighting. That meant he was beaten by six werewolves, every time. While werewolves heal notoriously fast, continued beatings will take their toll. Robert and Albert had been in on that kill, along with Stephan. All of the vampires went home after the remnants of the Sugar Grove Pack had either been exterminated (if they knew about Gap's little indiscretion) or sent to Buckhannon if they didn't. Buckhannon got two females out of it; a father and a mate had known. Weldon had been vicious and thorough in his decisions. You don't kidnap the Grand Master and expect to live over it.

"You bought us time," Merrill had hugged me before he left. "I knew you'd be somewhere in the area since you keep me updated on where you're going. It just took a little time to track you down. Davis from the Dallas Pack helped out; he knew where Winkler rented the cabin. The snow slowed us down a bit but we were able to find you." Wlodek had also insisted that I call and talk to him, so Merrill dialed his number and I talked. Wlodek said he understood the pain of having to kill a child of your own making. He also said that it was likely the girl didn't have enough ma.s.s to complete the turn and her final death was an inevitability. Hoping he was being honest with me instead of lying to spare my feelings, I brushed away tears and struggled to numb myself to all of it.

Weldon sorted things out with the Summerville Packmaster while he, Winkler and Kelvin rested up. It was two weeks away from Christmas and the holiday week would be spent in Dallas unless I had somewhere else to go. The call I was dreading to make after the Sugar Grove ordeal, however, was the one to Gavin. I made that call the day after we arrived in Charleston.

"Honey, it's me," I said, as soon as he answered. Gavin growled. He'd already heard something from somebody. Maybe one of the Enforcers. This was what I was afraid of-his anger. When he was coherent enough to talk, he let me know what he thought.

"You should have just ripped into them!" He shouted, making me hope he was underground somewhere so n.o.body would hear. I had to hold the cell away from my ear; his voice was so loud and painful.

"But honey, they would have killed the Grand Master."

"f.u.c.k the Grand Master!" I'm sure he didn't mean that in the physical sense. "What were you going to do, Lissa? Would you care to tell me that?"

"I was hoping that if the girl turned, the wolves would clear out and I could go hunt them," I said. "I wanted to take them down as quickly as I could and hoped that I could find Weldon and the others in the process."

"They wouldn't have let you live," Gavin snorted.

"Maybe. I did the best I could, Gavin. Wlodek told me to stay with the girl, and I was hoping he and Merrill would send somebody. At least to keep the Grand Master alive."

"f.u.c.k the Grand Master."

"You said that already," I retorted. My temper was rising, now. "This was my a.s.signment, Gavin. The Council sent me to do this."

"The Council has no business sending a youngling female out on an errand such as this with no supervision." He started cursing in French. Or maybe it was Italian. How did I know? And he'd called me a youngling female. That burned my toast. If he'd been there with me, I'd kick him for that. And then he'd more than likely pound me. So far, being engaged to a vampire sucked most of the time.

"Gavin, if you want to punch me, then you'll have to wait until we see each other," I interrupted his cursing. That made him curse even louder. Well, he was p.i.s.sed, no doubt about that. Merrill hadn't said one cross word to me the whole time he'd been here. Why couldn't Gavin do that? I wondered how long it would take him to realize I'd hung up on him in mid-rant.

"This was my fault," I told Weldon later. I'd taken a tray of food into his room so he could eat dinner. He wasn't in bed; he was on the sofa in the sitting area, watching television. "Somehow, that idiot found out about me at the Packmaster's meeting last spring and decided that his granddaughter would make a good vampire, since she was dying and he wasn't willing to let her go."

"Lissa, sit down," Weldon muted the television and patted the sofa next to him. Here came the fatherly lecture. I sat down.

"Yeah. He did it because of that," Weldon acknowledged. My eyebrows shot up. "But Winkler, Kelvin and I were caught off guard and we shouldn't have been. We were all lounging around, not expecting anything of the sort when those a.s.sholes just waltzed right in with a fake story and before you know it, they had all three of us tranquilized up to our eyeb.a.l.l.s. They hauled us out of that cabin trussed up like sheep. You can't take all the blame for this, Lissa."

"Weldon, I don't think I ever want to see you trussed up like a sheep."

"I don't want you to see me trussed up like a sheep." He grinned at me. "Bad enough you've seen us all naked."

"Don't forget covered in blood. I'm not much for hunting but those a.s.sholes had to have t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es the size of a small planet after they saw you take down that bear."

"Saw that, huh?" Weldon put his arm around me and pulled me against his side.

"Yeah. I can mist, you know."

"Yeah. Somebody told me. Somebody also told me you did what those a.s.sholes told you just to keep the rest of us alive."

"I was prepared to do some shredding if somebody died," I said. I didn't tell him either him or Winkler. Kelvin I still didn't know about. "Did you know you were going to be thinning the herd when you started this trip?"

"Lissa, I usually do two or three confirmations a year. The most I ever had to do before was five. This time, there were more than thirty because of the attempted coup. I figured somebody would get out of line somewhere. I hope the rest will be peaceful."

"Me, too," I said.

Three days later, we were on the jet and headed for Dallas. I woke midflight; Winkler had already pulled me from the body bag and settled me into a seat on the jet. He still looked haggard after his ordeal and hadn't spoken much about it. I got the idea that he'd never been in a situation such as that, and he didn't appreciate it one bit. Kelvin had cooperated with the kidnappers completely, didn't mind talking about it and his bruises and swellings were the lightest as a result. And I still hadn't heard back from Gavin after I hung up on him. No telling how p.i.s.sed he was now. I'd either be spending Christmas with Winkler or by myself.

Davis stood alongside a Winkler Security van, waiting to drive us to the house in Denton after we landed at the Dallas airport. At least the van held all the luggage. I asked to borrow a car as soon as we arrived at Winkler's home and went to do a little Christmas shopping, since I'd most likely be in Dallas for the holiday. Winkler loaned me the Cadillac so I got to drive in style. I bought Winkler a gift card for several ma.s.sages. If he got one of the girls at the ma.s.sage chain, he'd probably have them talked into an after-work drink or something. Davis got a gift card to a sporting goods store. His weight lifting outfit was getting a little worn; I'd washed it the last time I was there. Whitney and Sam got something from Williams-Sonoma. I hadn't gotten them a wedding present yet so it did double duty. Then I went shopping for Franklin, Greg, Merrill and Gavin.

I went back to the store where Winkler bought my coats. They had men's styles too, so I bought two. Merrill's was a nice camel color; Gavin's was black. They'd look good in them, I knew. I had the shop wrap them for me. Greg and Franklin got nice gloves and scarves-New York is cold in the winter or so I've heard.

I called Franklin to get a mailing address for Merrill in New York; it was a post office box so I wrote that down. Somebody might have to go to a local post office for me if there wasn't another way to get things mailed. I bought packing boxes at Walmart along with tape, Christmas cards and a felt tip pen. Gavin would have to wait for his gifts since I didn't know where he was and I certainly didn't have his mailing address. Is that weird-that I was engaged to Gavin and I didn't even know where he lived? I bought jewelry for Lena, intending to mail it to the address we used in London. She'd pick that up anyway.

Winkler said he'd get the packages mailed off for me the next day; some of his crew were dropping by anyway. The bunch that Winkler brought in put up a tree for him while they were there. I woke the following night to a fir tree smell and winking lights.

"Here's what we got on Kelvin's contact at the lab," Davis handed a folder over to Winkler. "We've been tailing the woman. The others she's met up with are recorded in that folder too, along with photographs and background checks. We figure Kelvin's counterfeit medical degree came from one of those contacts; we saw her getting doc.u.ments from one of them. I think we've traced most of them back to Albuquerque State University, where Tate Briggs was a student."

"Have you gotten into the school's records, yet?" Winkler flipped the folder open to read. "Looks like they were searching for something in Lissa's DNA. They ran tests on the stuff we subst.i.tuted," Winkler flipped through more records inside the folder.

"We're working on the school records, now. I asked Glen to go in person; he's been in Albuquerque since noon today. Too bad the vampires didn't get information on the ones they killed in Great Britain."

"Maybe they did and didn't share," Winkler said. "In the meantime, this information stays with us. If Wlodek discovers we let them touch Lissa like that, we may not see her again."

Davis nodded. "So, it looks like Kelvin knew Tate pretty well. Possibly from college," Davis said softly as he watched Winkler go through the gathered records. "And since Kelvin is a werewolf, maybe he ran with Lester Briggs' Pack. We just don't have any records of Kelvin with Lester's bunch."

"It's an a.s.sumed name," Winkler said. "His medical degree is certainly a.s.sumed. He may have been in pre-med or the early stages of med school, but he's no doctor."

"He knew how to use that speculum," Davis muttered. "You think he's played around with that stuff before?"

"I want to kill him every time I think about it. Lissa certainly wouldn't waste any time if she knew."

"Well, Gavin would torture and then kill, if he knew," Davis said.

"Yeah. And that's why we're not handing that information over. Not only would Lissa be kept from us, but our a.s.ses could be on the line."

"Yeah. There's always that."

I spent the next couple of days emailing Charles, who agreed to get some Christmas presents parceled out to people that I didn't know how to reach otherwise. He had a generic post box address I could use. Russell's gift was the easiest; I sent him a framed print of dogs playing pool for his billiard room. Will got a print of dogs playing poker; Charles told me both Enforcers lived in the same house (in separate quarters, of course). Radomir was a little harder to buy for, but I found a pair of cufflinks-he always wore dress shirts with cufflinks, I'd noticed. Wlodek already had the painting, so I didn't do anything other than a holiday card for him. Who knew if he celebrated Christmas or not? Charles, on the other hand, was getting a computer game. It was something new that I thought he might smile over, called Evil Alien Bunny Invaders. The bunnies looked innocent until they decided to kill, and then they became huge and attacked. The game had several levels. I'd seen an icon on Charles' laptop for a popular auto theft game, so I hoped he'd like this one.

The last thing I sent, and I had to think about it, was a gift basket of food-to Merrill's friend Griffin. I knew he wasn't vampire. I still didn't know what he was or how I knew his name, but he more than likely ate. I'd mulled him over in my mind, even though I'd only gotten a brief whiff of his clothing the night I was so sick. The term Wizard came to mind but that didn't really seem to fit, either. Merrill most likely thought I'd completely missed him or forgot. I sent the gift basket to the street address in New York that Franklin had given me. A pair of cufflinks for Gavin finished up just about everything; they'd go nicely with most of his dress shirts. Now if he'd just calm down enough so I could give them to him.

I was just getting Christmas dinner on the table for the werewolves when my cell phone rang, so I pulled it from the pocket of my jeans. The caller ID showed it was Gavin. I almost cursed, motioned for everybody to sit down and went into the kitchen to take the call.

"h.e.l.lo?" There was a definite question in my greeting.

"Lissa, pack a bag and meet me at the front gate," Gavin growled. f.u.c.k. f.u.c.k squared. He was here. Why didn't he warn me?

"I'll be there in a few minutes," I said and terminated the call. "Gavin's at the front gate," I told Winkler who was helping himself to mashed potatoes. Daryl and Kathy Jo had come to spend the holiday with Weldon and they looked up at my announcement.

"Is everything all right?" Kathy Jo asked.

"Oh, sure. He'll just yell for a while," I said. "I have to go." I left them there and nearly ran to my bedroom. I tossed jeans, tops and two nice outfits into a bag, along with my toiletries, grabbed both of Gavin's boxed gifts and headed toward the front door. Winkler was right behind me.

"Call if you need somebody to come get you," he said softly.

"Merry Christmas," I said, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. He still had to lean down to receive it.

"Same to you," he said. I'd left the werewolves' gifts under the tree while they weren't looking; they were planning to open them after dinner.

Gavin had a rental car-a Lincoln-parked outside Winkler's gate so I punched in the code and let myself out. He was out of the car, a huge frown on his face and tossing my bag into the trunk in seconds while I placed the other two boxes in the back seat. Gavin came up behind me, almost dumped me into the pa.s.senger seat, buckled my seatbelt in less time than it takes to blink and we were off.

He didn't talk and I was afraid to ask where we were going. I glanced his way a time or two, but his face was set in the usual mask. I decided to stare out the window after pulling my knees to my chest. We ended up at a safe house in Dallas. A nice one, actually, in a better neighborhood. The ground floor was s.p.a.cious and well furnished, as was the bas.e.m.e.nt. Gavin carried my bag down; I brought the boxes and my purse. Once my bag was deposited in the largest bedroom right alongside his, he came and watched me place the wrapped boxes on the table. I imagine he wanted to put his hands on his hips before he started yelling.

"Why did you hang up on me?" he demanded. I sighed and slumped into a chair at the kitchen table.

"Gavin, you were yelling. In languages I don't understand. What was I supposed to do, stand there and hope you'd start speaking English again someday? Yes, the whole thing was stupid but I didn't know what else to do. Do you think I haven't called myself all kinds of an idiot for not doing otherwise? Do you? And to top it all off, that girl was turning. She didn't die right away, Gavin. I had to kill her when Merrill and the others showed up." I was wiping tears by that time. The whole incident still unsettled me and Gavin's temper wasn't helping.

Gavin just stood there for what seemed like forever, staring at me. "Here," I shoved the wrapped boxes toward him. "Your Christmas presents. I can get myself to a hotel or back to Winkler's." I sniffled as I got up to leave.

"Lissa, Cara, why is it like this? I get angry and you cry." Gavin grabbed my arm and pulled me against him. I had the front of his shirt gripped in my hands while I sobbed against his chest. I couldn't help it. Too many things had built up and the dam had finally burst. More than likely, I was staining the snowy whiteness of his expensive Italian shirt with my amber tears but he wasn't stopping me. In fact, he lifted me up, convinced me silently to wrap my legs around his waist and let me cry against his collar, my arms tight around his neck while he spoke softly in Latin. The only thing I got out of all of it, that I understood, anyway, was the "shhhh."

Gavin eventually carried me to the bedroom, settled me on the bed and proceeded to undress me slowly and carefully, kissing, nuzzling and stroking, until I was naked and then he pulled his own clothing off and lowered himself over me. The love was so gentle. So tender. Even the climax with the bite belonged when it came. I knew he wanted it, so I reciprocated. The string of words he uttered when he reached his own o.r.g.a.s.m expressed his pleasure, no matter what the language.

"How did you know the size?" Gavin seemed to like his cashmere coat. He should, I'd spent nearly twenty-five hundred on it. My credit card was groaning from its Christmas burdens. Merrill was going to have to transfer some of my funds to pay for all of it. He couldn't complain that I didn't use the card anymore, though.

"I saw the sizes on some of the stuff you had when we were here before," I told him, sipping my blood. He'd worn me out, almost, in bed. "The suits and shirts you normally wear must be tailored because those things don't carry any sizes in them."

"I have many things made," he agreed, examining his cufflinks. "These are nice-very nice. You have such good taste, Cara. You must look at yours, now."

He brought several velvet boxes from his suitcase and set them in front of me. There was a ruby and diamond necklace with matching earrings, and another set made with sapphires.

"Honey, this is way too much," I said, admiring the sapphires. Blue is my favorite color, after all.

"Tell me you will not have to go back to the werewolves until after the New Year; I wish to take you dancing," he said, drawing me into his arms.

"They're not planning on leaving until the third."

"Good. You will call them later and let them know you will be with me until then." Gavin was back to being bossy. I mentioned it to him. He nuzzled my neck.

"I have not seen you for weeks. How am I supposed to be?" He quirked an eyebrow after pulling away.

"Fine, O autocratic fiance," I grumbled.

"Where you are concerned, I am not only autocratic but possessive and insanely jealous," he pulled me into a tighter embrace and nipped the skin on my neck.

"Yeah. Like I didn't notice," I grumbled. Gavin backed me against the wall in the tiny kitchen, grinding his hips against my belly. Gavin isn't small and his suit pants did nothing to hide his cravings. I knew right away what he really wanted for Christmas. A claw slid out on his right index finger and he slowly and casually ripped through every bit of clothing I wore, until the ragged strips of it dropped to the floor around me. His clothes were removed in a similar fashion shortly after. Then, cupping my b.u.t.tocks in his hands, he lifted me up and held me against the wall before settling my body over his. I was screaming Gavin's name, along with a few other things before it was over. Yep, G.o.d sure knew I was having s.e.x that night.