"No. Not ever."

"That's a bit of a bombsh.e.l.l."

"I know. I'm not sure yet it's going to happen, but if it does, I want you to take over the shop. Take my apartment, too, if you like."

"I don't understand."

"It's just . . . family stuff. I might have to, you know, move."

"I thought you didn't talk to your family."

"I haven't in a while. They're a bunch of freaks." The familiar words fell off her tongue, but they sounded ridiculous now, given the company she'd kept of late. "But they need me." In a way it hurt to realize it wasn't her flesh-and-blood family that needed her. Her mother had abandoned her years ago, her father before that. Aunts and uncles had made a mishmash of her childhood. And look where she was now.

Carrying a vampire's illegitimate child. That was what happened when you got stuck with bad parenting.

"Well . . ." Randy seemed confused. "Let me know what happens, okay?"

"Okay." She took a step back, then stopped. "Look, Randy, I owe you more of an explanation than that. Can we get together tonight for dinner? My place?"

He smiled. "Sure."

"Great." Moving her hands helplessly, not sure what else to say, she backed toward the door. "The place looks great, by the way. Keep up the good work."

A less than graceful retreat, she supposed. The door chimed happily as it closed behind her. She took the outside stairs back to her apartment and stretched out on the couch. A good nap never hurt anybody. 183 ***

Julian was moping, and he wasn't too proud to admit it.

Concentrating on matters at hand was practically impossible, in spite of the seriousness of the situation.

"I've gathered as much information as I could over the past couple of weeks," Lucien was saying. "From what I've heard, it's hard to tell if the danger is immediate, but we definitely need to prepare."

"The e-mail didn't give a time frame," Julian said, forgetting he'd said the same thing not ten minutes earlier.

Lucien tilted a brow at him. "No, it didn't. I've contacted my usual sources, and they gave me very little to work with. I believe their Senior is keeping things under tight wraps."

"I would, too, in his position." Julian rubbed his chin. He'd been clean-shaven when he'd died, and for the eight hundred years since. But with everything that had been happening to him lately, he wouldn't be surprised if one morning soon he woke up with stubble. What would Lorelei think of that? If she ever came back.

"Julian?"

His head jerked up. How long had he drifted that time?

"I'm sorry. Go on."

Lucien shrugged. "Why bother? You're not listening."

"I'm sorry. I've got . . . things."

"Can I help?"

"I don't know." He took a long breath. "Lorelei left this morning."

"She'll be back."

"I don't know. Maybe not."

"I didn't mean that as a comforting plat.i.tude. I meant that as a fact."

"Whatever." Lucien had been getting on his nerves ever since he'd shown up in the Underground, and today was no different. "Let's just get back to this."

"All right." He pointed to the map laid out on the desk in front of them. "This group has been centered in Eastern Europe for centuries, but in the late eighteenth century an offshoot moved to northern Scotland-" 184 "Lorelei's pregnant."

For the first time since Julian had known him, Lucien looked

surprised. His eyes widened a little. "You're serious."

"Yes."

"How did that happen?"

"The usual way, apparently."

"Huh. I wouldn't have expected her to cheat on you."

"She didn't."

Lucien leaned back in his chair. "Wow. You're sure about that?"

"We had a talk with Dr. Greene. My blood cells aren't the only thing that's gotten active over the past few weeks."

"Well, then. Congratulations."

"Yeah. And now she's gone."

"She'll be back."

"I hope so."

"And in the meantime you have to concentrate on this, or she might not have anything to come back to."

Lucien's voice had hardened, and Julian frowned. "I'm the Senior here, not you."

"Then act like it."

Clenching his teeth, Julian returned his attention to the map.

"You say these Dark Children are the ones who originally destroyed the Book of Changing Blood?"

"Yes. And now they've gotten wind of our attempted reconstruction, they're probably gathering forces to stop it. They can be tremendously dangerous."

"Your spies. Are you sure they can be trusted?"

"Yes."

"Then we need to get as much information as we can from

them."

"I'm working on that. I suggest we might want to send someone of our own out. A 'defector.' Do you know of anyone who could handle that?"

"I don't know. I'll have to give it some thought."

"Don't think for too long. This thing is going to blow up in our faces any minute."

"Okay. Point taken." 185 ***

Lorelei woke two hours later, feeling like the world was an entirely different place. Refreshed, she felt ready to deal with the questions looming all around her. Ready, even, to have an almost-honest heart-to-heart with Randy. If she were making a bad decision, he'd tell her.

The apartment seemed more familiar now, as if its ambience had soaked in through her skin while she was sleeping. She walked around the room, studying her possessions, picking things up here and there and setting them on the coffee table. Part of the problem at Julian's, she realized, was that nothing there belonged to her.

Except him. But again, it just wasn't enough.

As she gathered items, she realized she wasn't making a decision about whether or not to go back. She was preparing to move. She stopped then, sat down on the couch, and looked at the a.s.sortment of knickknacks and paperbacks scattered across the table.

Should she go back? If she did, it would be the end of everything she'd made here in the real world. She'd thought she'd been prepared to do that when she'd stayed with Julian in the first place, but now she wasn't so sure. It seemed a bigger step now that she wasn't the only person involved. She had to make the decision for two people now.

Tears rose suddenly, and she laid a hand over her stomach.

How ancient was that reflex? As old as time. Older than Lucien, and Lucien was older than dirt.

She smiled a little. Lucien was good people. Or good vampire, or whatever the h.e.l.l he was. So were Vivian, and William the accountant, and maybe even Nicky if you could overlook his recent murder spree. Dina had. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad for a kid down there, after all.

He-or she-wouldn't be the only child, after all. There were vampire children in the Underground, as well. Since his transformation and his healing of Nicholas, Julian had been working with Dr. Greene to find a way to reverse their vampirism. No one knew if it was possible, but Julian was convinced it was the right thing to do. She loved him for that. 186 She loved him. That was the single incontrovertible fact in this entire argument. Maybe if she thought about it long enough, that would be enough.

Randy came by at six. Lorelei had thrown together a non- gourmet dinner of spaghetti and root beer. Everything else in the house had spoiled or molded during her absence.

"I can't tell you how good it is to see you again," Randy said.

"Thanks." Lorelei turned down the heat on the pot of cooking spaghetti. "It's nice to be back."

"But you can't stay?" He sat down at the kitchen table, where Lorelei had put together two haphazard place settings.

"I'm not sure."

"So what's up, exactly?"

"It's family stuff," she said stiffly, sticking to the previous story. Then she took a long breath. She had to tell someone the truth, or at least a severely edited version. "It's not family. Not really. It's a guy."

A slow smile spread over Randy's face. "That's great, Lor."

"In a way it is and in a way it isn't." She checked the sauce. It was hot, so she took the pot off the stove and set it in the middle of the table, then followed suit with the spaghetti.

"Sorry it's not fancy."

"It doesn't have to be." He transferred spaghetti from the bowl to his plate. "Do you love him?"

"I do." She could say that without hesitation. So why did the rest of the situation seem so difficult?

"Then do what you have to do."

She turned her attention to her meal, not sure what she should, or could, say next. Then, suddenly, she started to talk.

"He's wonderful. He loves me. He would give his life for me, and I mean that literally, because he almost did."

Randy grinned. "Is he good in bed?"

"My G.o.d, you have no idea."

"Honey, if I could find a man who made me half as happy as you look right now, I'd hightail it out of this city in a minute."

She smiled. He was right. She poured Parmesan cheese 187 on what was left of her spaghetti. She'd made her decision.

Except there'd never really been a question in the first place.

Two hours later, her heart considerably lighter, Lorelei bid Randy good-bye. The boutique would be in safe hands, she knew, unless Randy did find that man. Lorelei sincerely hoped he would.

From her closet, she retrieved a pair of suitcases, dragged them into the bedroom, and began to pack all the things she'd missed over the past several weeks. Lacy panties, practical cotton panties, the good bras with the comfortable underwires.

Sachets and her favorite pale purple socks. She should have done this a long time ago. Maybe the doubt never would have surfaced if she'd had more familiar things around her.

Then her stomach roiled, suddenly and violently, and she ran for the bathroom. Maybe spaghetti hadn't been the best idea, after all. She rinsed her mouth out and, woozy, lay down in bed.

And woke to the smell of vampires. 188