"If she isn't an apparition, she'd resemble an old woman now, since all the Elite vampires went back to their real human ages when their maker died. Even if Gigi found another vampire to turn her recently, she wouldn't look brand spankin' young again." Kiko seemed troubled. "I guess maybe I'm just lookin' for reasons for her to be a ghost, because what if it ends up that Gigi did survive? And what if she's not the only ex-Underground vamp running around?"

"We never did hear of her or some of the other Elite vampires after they turned human again and fled the L. A. Underground." They'd thought those humanized vamps had committed suicide, just like all the others who'd found themselves un-beautiful and aged. "Maybe her soul stain never got to her, like it did with the others, and she made her way to Vegas."

The soul stain - the curse of a humanized vampire in the dragon's line. Dawn only knew this because she'd survived it, in spite of the marks her rage had brought out on her skin - badges that no other survivor had. Maybe that made her real special. Yay.

Her ex-vamp father and mother had gotten through their soul stains by dealing with the despair in their own ways, but...

Kiko said, "So what're we going to do?"

His meaning was clear: if they found suicidal ex-vamps - remnants of the hunts - didn't the team have a moral obligation to help them? Shouldn't they deal with the damage they'd caused?

Dawn faced away from the mirror, where she could see the vague reflection of her "tattoos," even when she wasn't really looking.

Despite her obvious discomfort, Kiko persisted. "Like you said, Gigi could've been different from the other ex-vamps. Maybe she fought the soul stain because she had more to live for. Just like you did."

"Or maybe she's only a ghost." It was as if the more often she said it, the better chances were that it'd be true. "We could just be seeing the first case of a soul stain causing a manifestation of grief."

Kiko looked doubtful.

"Is it out of the question?" she asked. "Can't extreme loss or tragedy bind a spirit to a place they loved or to an area where they need to right a wrong? I wonder if a soul stain did make Gigi commit suicide, then left behind something we can all see now."

"And that's why she's here - because the Bahia represents her at her best, and that makes this a heaven for her."

Dawn could picture how many other ex-vamp ghosts might have already appeared elsewhere, too, plunged into the deepest sadness from their stains as they haunted the earth.

Maybe ghosts weren't a better option than humanized vamps, after all.

"Costin never mentioned it," Kiko said. "He destroyed so many Undergrounds over the centuries, and he never saw something like this before."

"He never stayed around to tend to the mental health of a master's surviving progeny, Kik. He had to move on from one Underground to another as fast as he could." G.o.d dammit. "This could be the first time those consequences have come back to bite one of his hunting teams in the a.s.s."

"f.u.c.k a duck," Kiko said.

Dawn closed her eyes. "f.u.c.k a million ducks."

A security guard allowed Dawn and Kiko into the showroom again, thanks to instructions left by Tigerman, who wasn't very interested in watching the "ghosthunters"; he'd just told them to be done by the time the staff came in for a rehearsal of the showroom's feature, Heat!, which was dark today. He'd also arranged for some employees who'd witnessed Gigi to be interviewed for the "article," and they'd be here in about an hour.

Meanwhile, Dawn and Kiko wandered around backstage with an electromagnetic field detector and an ambient temperature gauge, but they found nothing ghostly. Then Kiko set about trying to capture some Electronic Voice Phenomena with his recording equipment.

As he worked, Dawn could hear her heartbeat, which felt like it was coming from the center of the earth, shaking the floor, pounding at her neck, temples. She waited for the skin on her right side, where the dragon blood marked her, to throb also, but it didn't.

Don't answer our summons, Gigi, she thought. Be dead. Stay dead.

Kiko guided Dawn away from the recorder because he wanted to allow Gigi some time alone with it, just in case she was a ghost who'd be reluctant to talk to them. Then they went out to the main showroom to sit in a booth, not talking much, until it was time for the interviews.

The subjects waited in the backstage area: "Roberto," the emcee of the show, with his b.u.t.terfly-collar shirt and smile-crinkled gaze; a fifty-something magician whose tamed country accent belied the name "Trevor Barkley"; his b.u.t.ton-nosed, Bambi-eyed blond a.s.sistant Naomi; and an unsmiling, reedy theater usher who seemed coolly intrigued not only to be asked about a ghost, but to be interviewed about it by a soul patch-wearing little person, too.

"I saw Gigi first," Roberto said, as he sat on one of the vanity tables in the large common dressing area. Behind him, bulbs lined a mirror, and Dawn could see hair plugs dotting the back of the emcee's scalp. "Gigi was on those steps leading to the stage, just as bold as life."

He pointed at the stairs to their right, and everyone looked, as if expecting to find her there.

Much to Dawn's grat.i.tude, they didn't.

Kiko asked, "How do you know it was her?"

"No mistaking Gigi Calhoun," Roberto said. "I'm her numero uno fan."

The magician's a.s.sistant, Naomi, cleared her throat, and Roberto chuckled.

"Okay. Maybe I share that honor."

Naomi smiled at him and picked up a brunette wig behind her, starting to comb it out. In spite of her attempt at humor, frown lines decorated her forehead.

Kiko asked, "Could you see Gigi's face? Tigerman said she appears with her hair half-hiding her features. Her dress and gloves cover the rest of her."

Roberto had that dreamy fan expression - he was in Gigi-land, and Dawn wondered if his love for the star had been strong enough to conjure up a ghost.

"I've been a fan since I was old enough to watch old movies on TV," he said. "I know my Gigi."

Dawn asked, "How long did she stay?"

"Not long. She walked to the top of the stairs, then turned right once she got to the stage. It was during a show, and I was-"

The magician broke in "-flirting with the showgirls while you waited for your next cue?"

Everyone else but Naomi laughed, and Trevor slid her a grin, as if he liked teasing her about Roberto having a wandering eye. She didn't seem as amused, and Dawn guessed that there was probably something hearts-and-flowery between the numero uno fans.

"As I was saying," Roberto said, "I was able to run up those stairs pretty fast, but Gigi was gone." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that."

"I saw her in the back of the showroom about a month ago," Naomi said, "while Travis and I were rehearsing a new trick on stage. When I said something, Travis thought he saw her, too."

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." The magician settled back in his chair, all fading boyish good looks. "The lights were in my eyes. You should ask Victor about it, though." He nodded to the usher. "He's seen Gigi more than anyone."

In response, Victor just shrugged. Dawn narrowed her eyes at him.

"How many times?" she asked.

"Three." He had a voice as dry as a half-drunk martini. "She comes and goes."

So nonchalant. "You see a lot of ghosts?"

Victor's attention seemed focused on the pseudo-tattoos that Dawn's makeup barely covered. She didn't flinch. Let him stare.

"If Gigi has decided to hang out with us," the usher said, "I say let her be."

"I agree," Trevor the magician said. "I was even hoping to put her in my act."

Victor rolled his eyes. "Cla.s.sy."

Travis grinned at the rest of them. "Gigi was never shy about publicity, from what I hear. She'd be a boost for all of us. A draw. G.o.d knows we need the PR."

Ah, the sweet stench of show biz, Dawn thought. She'd grown up in Hollywood, so she knew it well. It smelled just like piles of bloodstained money.

As Kiko went on to question them about details - how solid did Gigi's form seem? What were the exact times and dates? -Dawn realized that there wasn't much of a pattern to her appearances.

When showgirls and other staff began to arrive, Dawn and Kiko's time was up. Tigerman had invited them to watch the rehearsal - a few tweaks to a rain forest number featuring the statuesque young ladies in towering diamond-shower headdresses, and not much else. Dawn and Kiko had asked to watch from backstage, since Gigi had been seen here the most.

They stood out of the way while the topless showgirls quickly moved past them on their way to the stage. Since Dawn wasn't much for b.o.o.bs, she lost interest early, wandering down to the common dressing room and finding a quiet corner in front of a darkened dressing station. She should call Costin and update him, but she was dreading it. He'd hoped to live the rest of his life with her in peace, not picking up the pieces from former Undergrounds.

She looked up, into the mirror. Her eyes, which had gained clarity during this past year of rehab, were shaded again. It was almost like she could see straight to her dormant soul stain.

Just as she was about to look away, she caught a flutter of movement in back of her- Red.

A dress?

She whipped around, her pulse pounding and, at first, her mind refused to believe what it was registering.

A person ... a ... thing. One eye barely visible under a curtain of red hair. Shoulders hunched, gloved arms curved by its sides.

All of Dawn's hunting instincts came screaming back, and she flipped open her jacket, going for the silver-bullet loaded revolver she'd strapped on, just for this case.

No time to get Kiko, so she grabbed a tube of lipstick from a nearby table and scribbled on the mirror: Gigi!

Then she drew an arrow toward the spot where she'd seen the vision. On her way, she caught the eye of Roberto, who was laughing with a showgirl.

Dawn yelled over the music. "Tell my friend where I am!"

She saw him spy the note about Gigi on the mirror. Then she thought she saw ... anger?

She didn't have time to think about his expression as she darted toward the dark nook where she'd last seen the vision - the superstar who'd already disappeared into the dimness.

Her revolver drawn - dammit, would bullets do anything to ghosts? -Dawn entered what seemed to be a maze of wooden pillars, but they faded as it got darker ... and darker.

Please be a ghost...

Still, even if that's what Gigi was, Dawn knew this wouldn't be the end of it. They'd have to see if they needed to help put Gigi at peace.

To put all of them at peace...

A sound in front of her ... a door opening, the hinges yelping ... weak lighting...

Dawn sucked in a breath because, right there, solid as could be in the soft illumination, was a woman, half her face revealed under all that falling hair. But this close up, there were wrinkles on her skin. And her expression...

Twisted. Her mouth, pulled down, like gravity had tugged on it and wouldn't let go. She seemed to be forming a word.

Or maybe she was just smiling- Something crashed into Dawn and, as she hit the floor, her forehead banged against wood, leaving her gasping under the weight of a body, her world going black over the hazy image of a nightmare in red.

As Dawn came to, she barely heard the voice through the fog in her mind.

"Are you here to kill me?"

Husky. But the tone seemed whittled down from its former glory: thinner, an imitation of seduction. The words were slurred, too, like they were coming at Dawn through a filter.

Fighting the needled pain in her temples, Dawn forced her eyes open. It took an instant for the room to come together, so the smell got to her before anything visual did.

Blood: coppery, strong.

She jerked, and that's when she realized that she was sitting slumped, her back to a wall. As her vision slowly cleared, her stomach roiled.

There were three of them confronting her - people wearing surgical masks, just like cops at a crime scene would, the material coated by Vapo-Rub or something to block the smell. They hovered, stared. Dawn already knew who two of them were because she and Kiko had interviewed them.

Roberto, with his slicked emcee hair and b.u.t.terfly-collar shirt. Naomi and her Bambi eyes. Also, a dark-eyed man Dawn had never seen before.

Her pulse was racing, but she told herself to calm down because she could already feel the dragon's blood marks on her right side shifting, like they were connected to her shuddery wariness.

Breathe, she thought, going to that place she'd found in rehab. Right away a sense of control eased through her. It smoothed out her heartbeat first, then everything else.

She'd be fine. Kiko would be down here soon.

But then she remembered she'd hadn't told anyone but Roberto where she'd been going.

The female voice came again from behind the wall of humans.

"Are you here to kill me?"

Still dizzy - there was a pounding b.u.mp on her head from her fall - Dawn tried to answer, but the stench in the room made her gag instead.

Naomi's voice was m.u.f.fled behind her mask. "We know who you are now. She just told us."

She. Gigi.

Roberto added, "You're one of the hunters who took it all away from her."

He backed away from Dawn, revealing the movie star right behind him: the vision in the red dress, red gloves, red hair. She was dressed like a younger version of herself, but Dawn could see how her skin was withered, her one visible eye droopy. An appalling mockery of the young movie star.

But she looked human enough...

Lipstick blurred Gigi's mouth, one side of it limp, like she'd suffered a stroke.

"I saw you Underground," she slurred. "Eva's daughter. You killed my master."

No sense in denying that. "Me and my friend are here to help, Gigi. That's all." Dawn's words ... they were just as slurred as the star's. "All the rest of the vampire Elites in the Underground ... we weren't sure what happened to some of you after you turned human and ran away."

"The others killed themselves, right in front of me." Gigi's voice was ragged. "They couldn't live after you made us ugly. Mortal."

The soul stain - it'd made the Elites' loss of youth worse, hadn't it?

"You're the only one left?" Dawn asked.