Beast crept, belly to sand, pawpawpaw, to sleeping birds beneath trees. Gathered paws close. And leaped! Grabbed two birds in paws. Feathers flew. Birds squawked death sounds. Other birds flew, screaming warnings, “Danger! Danger! Beast is here!”

Beast bit through necks of birds. Carried dead birds to edge of water to eat. Beast was best ambush hunter.

* * *

• • •

Sun had made sky brighter, and helo had flown away again, when Eli came back with clothes for Jane. Eli placed clothes under bushes, on soft sand. Beast wanted to make Jane wake up under bushes with spiky leaves. But Eli looked at Beast and said, “No playing games with Jane. She was hurting when she shifted.” Beast looked away. Eli was not cat. Eli was not good fish-hunter. Eli made splashes when he swam and scared off fishes. But Beast would do what Eli wanted. Sometimes Eli was kit. Sometimes Eli was littermate. Humans were confusing.

Beast stretched on sand and thought about Jane. Looked into snake at center of all Earth creatures. Jane’s snake was tangled like ball of yarn that housecats played with. Jane was sick from walking through time. Jane would die soon if Jane’s heart-snake did not heal. Beast would think on this. Beast closed eyes and let Jane become Jane.

* * *

• • •

I came to facing the sun, lying on sand, a chilly breeze blowing in off the water. I shivered. Except for the cold, my waking place was, for once, comfy instead of on prickly pine needles or lying in mud or staring into the maw of a hungry alligator. Beast’s sense of humor was peculiar sometimes. I figured I hadn’t been Beast long, since I hadn’t been awake inside her body. Or Beast had been doing something catty and evil that she didn’t want me to know about, and so kept me asleep. It was a peculiar part of our relationship that she could keep me unaware of her activities when we were in cat form, but I had almost no control over her when in human form. I figured it was because of the decades we spent as cat, Beast in total charge of us, when I first accidentally did black magic and stole her body and soul. I shoved my hair out of the way in a sleek shush of sound, rolled to my knees, and brushed sand off me, checking out my arm and hand for bone placement. They looked okay, healed nicely. Pain all gone.

Someone had left a pile of neatly folded clothes on a towel. Thoughtful. Eli for sure. I dressed in sweatpants and shirt and slid my feet into flops, folded the towel, and slung my hair back. Trudged to the house. I passed yawning men and women, some carrying hard hats, some not, all looking tired, all carrying travel mugs and slurping down coffee as if it was the nectar of life. I smelled bacon and eggs and maple syrup and honey and grape jelly and I found myself racing up the stairs and into the house.

Eli held up a platter full of food and indicated a sofa with a low table in front of it. I hated to sit on the moldy sofa, but I wanted the food. I sat and dug in. And it was delicious. A platter of bacon, a dozen eggs, and a stack of pancakes later, I sat back and accepted a mug of tea from Eli. He was watching me with amused affection.

“What?”

“Beast and I went swimming last night.”

“Beast hates the water.”

“She played ‘dunk the human’ with me. She swims pretty good.”

“Hmmm.” A playful Beast was a rarity. Or maybe she was cat-spiteful only with me. “Okeydokey, then. Where is Alex?”

“Busy with his tablets, talking to Bodat on the mainland. They have communications, if only between the two of them.”

I nodded. “Update.”

“Painting will begin around ten on the third floor, soon as they can get the place tented to keep the overspray off the beams and rafters and floor. Second-level bathrooms are being tiled from floor to ceiling and the fixtures will go in this afternoon. Shower on the lower level will be ready by dark and the workers have drawn straws for the order of testing out all three showers.”

I leaned back on the smelly sofa and stretched out my legs, crossed my feet at the ankles. I’d eaten so much my belly looked like I’d hidden a soccer ball under my shirt. I patted it. And burped softly. “Who’s the cook?”

“Leo sent us Deon last night.”

“Deon? As in Katie’s Deon? As in wears spangles and glitter and way better makeup than I do?”

Eli’s lips twitched as he sat on a wooden rocker across from me. “He’s managed to proposition every other man on the job site. Some of them are uncomfortable, but since he’s feeding them they aren’t griping. Much.”

“Okay. But if any of them try to hurt Deon there’ll be hell to pay.”

“Noted and already passed along. The walls on the second level that are ready for paint will be sprayed this afternoon in an eggshell color. The ones that have to be redone later due to insufficient curing time for the joint compound will be sprayed in a medium charcoal shade to minimize obvious wet and to make them easy to find when the fighting is over.”

“Good thinking.”

“We have about half of the cameras in place. Alex and two hardware specialists are creating a satellite and Wi-Fi network across the island that will be linked to George’s boat. Or to a satellite. They’re arguing. Don’t ask me details. I didn’t understand one word in three.”

“Don’t worry. And spare me the technical stuff.”

“A barge with supplies and carrying furniture to replace the old shabby stuff is on the way. George’s boat will arrive this afternoon late and will be anchored offshore, with a johnboat ferry.”

I said nothing and Eli grinned. And waited. I scowled. “Fine. I’ll ask. Is Bruiser coming ashore then?”

“Yes, Bruiser is coming ashore then.”

“What about Marco?”

“One of Leo’s people drank him down. Julietta Tempeste sent him and his Blood Master to the home of the CEO of Madderson Construction. The next day Marco was hired. Old man Madderson, whose construction company has done business with Leo for fifty years or more, is upset that he let Leo down, and also horrified that a vamp had access to his mind and will to that extent.”

“Bambi/Mike?”

Eli’s lips twisted down, just a fraction of a fraction, and I knew it wasn’t good news. “She didn’t make it. They were doing CPR on her when the helo landed. Leo turned her, according to her wishes in her sign-on papers.”

I looked away. If she survived the devoveo, the years of madness that a vamp went through after being turned, Bambi would wake up two or ten or twenty years from now, with a savage desire to drink down every human she saw. “Okay. What do I do?”

“Rest. Sleep as much as you can. Starting tonight we go on fanghead hours. As soon as the upstairs paint is dry enough, we work out. Practice swords,” he added when I looked puzzled. “You’re gonna Zen. I’m gonna beat your ass.”

“You can try.”

* * *

• • •

We fought and practiced and fought again all day, making plans to keep ourselves alive. We ate great food and lounged on the porch, we mounted cameras and tested them, and we even managed to nap. If there hadn’t been the Sangre Duello and our deaths hanging over us, it would have been fantastic.

* * *

• • •

Night breezes were blowing in through the open windows, carrying out the stench of paint and floor cleaners and other toxic stuff. I was stretched out on a leather upholstered bench, faceup, staring at the tongue-and-groove ceiling. My arms were out to allow my chest to move more freely as I was trying to remember how to breathe and I tried to suck in air to keep from asphyxiating. The padded wooden practice swords I had used to defend myself were by my sides on the floor. Sweat had pooled under me and ran off the leather seat to puddle beside them.

There were fifty of the benches, in ten different colors of leather, placed all around the third-floor walls. They had been offloaded from the barge as part of the staging furnishings. They were hard and stiff, but I might have to sleep here because I might never be able to move again. My hands and feet were tingling. I was pretty sure I was dying.

Eli fell to a bench beside me, stinking of sweat, trying to recover. Bruiser and the B-twins had worked us to exhaustion. My honeybunch moved to stand over us, sweating and blowing, trying to get his breath back. “You’ve improved vastly. And fortunately,” Bruiser said, “as challenged, you get to choose weapons.”