"Dammit, Carl. You said we were doing the right thing," a voice said.

"What do I know? I barely pa.s.sed Captivity 101." "Just get her down and sit her on the sofa," said the British accent.

Hands pulled and tugged at me. A few seconds later, I was sitting upright on a burgundy sofa. The blood drained from my head and slowly I started to focus on my surroundings. Impossible at first with a floodlight trained on my face.

"What the-"

"Reposition the light," the British accent snapped. "We don't want her going blind right in front of us."

"Vampires can do that?"

"Dammit, Carl, don't you remember anything from the academy?"

The light shifted. The glare refocused in the vicinity of my knees, and I blinked. This time, I didn 't just see white polka dots.

Instead, I picked up on my surroundings. Small sitting area tastefully decorated in burgundy and brown. A down comforter covered a king-sized bed to my right. A mini-bar sat against the far wall next to a flat-screen TV.

"W-where are we?" I croaked, my lips cracked and dry. My mouth tasted like old gym socks and garlic bread.

"The Holiday Inn," replied the smooth British accent.

I instantly perked up. "There's a Holiday Inn in Lonely Fork?"

"It's about forty-five minutes on the opposite side of town, on the way to Fredericksburg," Merlin replied. "We don't have to actually stay in town while we wait Mordred out. We just have to be there at the end."

My gaze found him just in time for the end (after I'd picked my hope off the floor and resigned myself to plastic furniture and polka dot wallpaper). He wore a purple shirt and slacks. Black loafers with ta.s.sels. He still looked like Santa Claus with his rosy cheeks and snow white beard, but a more pimped-out version. "Starting your own rap label?"

Despite his self-professed sense of humor (if he belted out a knock-knock joke I was going to start bleeding from my ears), he didn't look the least bit amused. His eyes glittered like hard chips and my entire body went ice cold.

"What is this?" My gaze zeroed in on the video camera that sat near the blinding light. "The confession booth on Big Brother?"

"Training visual. My men watch the tapes so they can focus in on their weak areas and perfect their apprehension techniques."

His gaze darkened and his pupils flashed like bolts of lightning. "I told you not to interfere."

"I didn't interfere. I was buying a toothbrush."

"You were following Mordred."

I went for my best laugh. "Says you. You've got no proof that I was following anyone."

"We saw her, boss." The comment came from one of the men standing off to the side, near the video cam. He had brown hair and was dressed cla.s.sic cop-white b.u.t.ton-up shirt, dress slacks, powdered sugar on his collar.

"Yeah," the other man-blond hair, same outfit but with sprinkles instead of sugar-added. "She was out for blood."

"That shows how much you guys know. Blood makes me squeamish."

"But you're a vampire," Merlin pointed out, looking surprised for the very first time since I'd met him.

"Yeah, well, we all have our flaws." I tugged and pulled at the ropes binding my hands, but oddly enough they didn't snap. "They're reinforced with silver thread, soaked in garlic and fortified with my own binding spell."

Which totally explained why my fingers and toes felt numb.

A sliver of fear worked its way through me. While I knew it was doubtful that Merlin would off me right here and now (I was a born vamp, after all, and I seriously doubted he wanted to start a civil war between BVs and sorcerers), he did look royally p.i.s.sed.

On top of that, his backup (Cheap and Cheaper) didn't look like the brightest bulbs in the tanning bed. Anger and ignorance didn't make for good judgment, so I wasn't placing any bets on getting out of this situation in one piece.

Still, I wasn't going down without a fight.

I pasted on my most intimidating expression and sent a silent You want to untie me right now to the brunette. My gaze collided with his, but I didn't pick up so much as a name.

I blinked and focused, but ... nothing. "What did you do to me?"

"My men are protected by a privacy spell that keeps them from being susceptible to the vast number of Others who might want to influence their thoughts. You can't crawl into their heads, vampire. They're immune to you."

"My name is Lil, thank you very much, and if you untie me now, I won't call Ash and have him report you." If I couldn't glam my way out, I'd have to try bulls.h.i.tting.

Merlin chuckled. "Is that so?"

"Take it to the bank."

"I should be scared right now, eh?"

"If getting your a.s.s fired scares you, then yeah, I'd be a little squeamish if I were you."

He chuckled again. "I'm not getting fired, my dear. See, I've broken no super-natural law." He spared a glance at the video camera. "I'm on record with a textbook apprehension."

"For a were possum," I reminded him. I pleaded with the video cam. "This is no way to treat a born vampire. I have rights, you know." Okay, so I didn't have rights so much as I had a zillion relatives who would be out for blood if Merlin harmed one hair on my ultra-fab head.

"The only thing you have is a death wish. I've already called Ash and told him what you're up to."

Uh-oh.

"I haven't, however, called our superior and reported the situation." He smiled then. A cold, callous expression that sent a chill straight through me. "If I do, your demon friend is going to be in a lot of trouble."

"But Ash didn't do anything."

"He investigated a crime scene that was clearly in my jurisdiction, without permission. And he fed you information that should have remained confidential. Both charges are enough to kill his career. He'll be back in h.e.l.l faster than you can run that smart mouth of yours."

Wow. We're talking fast with a capital F.

"I don't like anyone b.u.t.ting into my business." He nailed me with a stare. His gaze brightened this time, his pupils shimmering like wisps of smoke. My head felt suddenly very heavy. "If you continue to follow Mordred, I will make sure that the death you face is far worse than that of your made vampire friend."

While my sluggish brain couldn't envision an ending that could be worse than getting Ginsued by an evil sorcerer, my gut told me that all-powerful Merlin could come up with something.

I ignored my trembling knees. What? I was in deep doody. I was ent.i.tled to a little raw terror.

"I wasn't following Mordred," I told him again. "Seriously. I had no idea he was even here." When Merlin nailed me with another stare, I added, "I mean, I knew he was here in this town because you told me after I Googled him, but I wasn't at the store looking for him. I was making an innocent purchase on behalf of my freaked-out friend."

"She was carrying this." Cheap held up the pink Colgate number I'd swiped from the store.

"See? I wasn't lying."

"That proves nothing."

"It proves I wasn't in the store for Mordred."

"Maybe not, but you're in Lonely Fork because of him."

"No." Not entirely. "I have a client here." I thought of Elmer and his eagerness to find a Bingo partner. "In fact, I have several."

"Name one."

"I'm afraid that's confidential information. In other words, none of your beeswax."

It wasn't the smartest thing to say, but I couldn't help myself. I felt physically powerless (and way out of my BV comfort zone) and my mouth was the only thing working at the moment.

He waved a finger at me and I felt a strange tightening around my throat.

"You're not funny," he told me.

"Yeah, well, neither are you," I croaked. "Your knock-knock jokes suck."

He stared at me long and hard for a moment and the tightening continued until I thought my trachea would rupture.

Then as quickly as the sensation started, it ended. His expression eased. The finger fell to his side and relief swamped me.

"If you're merely in town for a client, then I don't have any reason to keep you here, now, do I? That is, unless you're lying.

Are you lying to me, Miss Marchette?"

"Who, me? I never lie." At least not unless I was in an afterlife and death situation with Santa's evil twin. "Just call me Abe."

He didn't look convinced, but he signaled his two henchman anyway. They went to work on the ropes, one at my hands and the other at my feet.

The pressure eased and the silver threaded rope fell away. The feeling quickly returned to my hands. My feet came next and I flexed my ankles. I became quickly aware of the fact that I could actually move the toes on my right foot. A quick glance down, and I knew why.

"Where's my shoe?"

Cheap shrugged. "Must have fallen off when we were getting you into the car." "Did you pick it up?"

"What am I? A bellboy? My hands were full."

"Don't look at me." Cheaper shrugged. "It was all I could do to keep from dropping you. You're heavy. Not that you're fat,"

he blurted when my gaze narrowed to dangerous slits, "but you were dead weight at the time."

"A lot of dead weight," Cheap added.

This was not happening. First I'd lost Mordred. Now my shoe. "That was a three hundred dollar pair."

"You spent three hundred dollars on shoes?"

"They're special edition Cheyennes. Suede with leather soles. Fur-lined."

"So?"

"So they're fur-lined. You just don't leave a shoe like that lying on the sidewalk somewhere."

"I don't know if it fell off on the sidewalk. It could have just as easily fallen off in the alley or the parking lot. We had to drag you a little ways."

My backside throbbed in testimony, and righteous anger bolted through me. "If I weren't so weak, I'd crack your head against that wall."

"I thought you had an aversion to blood."

"I'll make an exception in your case." I flashed him a little fang to prove my point and he stumbled back a few steps.

"Stand down, boys." Merlin held up a hand. "I think you'd better go, Miss Marchette. And I don't just mean back to the motel. Pack your bags and go back to New York."

"I can't do that. I have a client here who's depending on me."

He eyed me a long moment as if searching for something. "Stay, then," he finally said. "But keep your distance from Mordred.

No looking for him. No asking around town about him. Leave him alone. Is that clear?" He held up his finger to further his point and I felt the unmistakable tightening around my throat again.

"Crystal," I rasped.

"Good." His hand dropped to his side and he smiled. "Knock, knock," he said as I pushed to my feet.

"Stuff a sock in it." I stumbled past him and yanked open the door. His chuckle followed me out, along with the whisper soft promise, "We'll be watching you."

I limped around the outside of the Holiday Inn, stifled the urge to check myself in and found a dark spot where I could unleash my inner bat.

A few seconds later, I headed back to The Grande minus my shoe and Nina 's toothbrush. My head and legs hurt like a sonofab.i.t.c.h. I'd made a useless trip to Austin to be verbally abused by the twins from h.e.l.l. I 'd found Mordred, only to lose him.

And I'd had my afterlife threatened. Talk about a s.h.i.tty night.

But at least one good thing had come out of it-I'd had confirmation that Mordred was, indeed, in town.

And if he was here, so was Esther.

T he flight back to the motel felt more like two hours than two minutes. Merlin had zapped my strength and my entire body felt as if I'd trudged up the Himalayas. The only thing I wanted was to crawl into bed.

Unfortunately, Nina had beat me to it. She was sprawled on top of the comforter. Three empty bottles of blood surrounded her and she was chugging a fourth. The television blazed, sending a sprinkle of shadows across the walls. Her tear -streaked face glistened in the dim light.

I immediately forgot my own misery in the face of hers.

Rob had called and it hadn't gone well. That was the only explanation for the waterworks.