“What’s important first is that you’re all right.” There was a catch to his voice, concern as he lifted her hair, ran fingers gently over her collarbone.

“I’m all right, Lucian. I do have experience ... and I was so certain, so sure of myself. I just knew that I could protect Paul, and I couldn’t.”

“Jade, it’s all right. We’re going to make it be all right,” he amended. “What happened? I knew ... I knew you were in trouble. I couldn’t move quickly enough. I can’t get into the minds of these abominations. They know I’m out here, and they’re using tremendous strength to block me.”

“I kept checking on him, I kept checking on Paul every few minutes. He seemed to be doing fine. He was restless, but he seemed to understand that we had to sit tight. It was so sad, in a way, Lucian. He loves that girl so much!”

“Then ... ?”

“He was watching television. I was on the computer, bringing up everything I could find on the area immediately surrounding Le Petit Chateau DeVant. Anything around the church and the village. There was so much destruction there at the beginning of the Occupation. Resistance fighters had been holing up there ... and the enemy went after them. I was trying to find the exact sites of the ruins ... but I kept coming out to check. Paul fell asleep. A few minutes later ... I felt uneasy. I came back and... Lucian, I’ve never seen anything like it There was someone ... something... there. But the face kept changing. I didn’t know the cafe girl, I’m not even certain I saw her the day we met Brent at the cafe. But, of course, it was her, because Paul was going for her, and I screamed at him to stop, and then, it seemed that it wasn’t the girl ... then it was again ... and I don’t know who was out there. I went rushing to the window with the holy water, and tripped in my haste and fear ... but I sprayed the creature, whoever or whatever it was...managed to enrage it, but not stop it! Suddenly there was nothing but black, a huge black shadow, or a shadow wing, and it swept out at me and sent me flying ... I was dazed ... I felt it coming again ... but it paused above me, and couldn’t come closer. I have my cross, of course, and I think that I spilled half the holy water on myself, but... I heard Paul scream. I tried to struggle up, and I was knocked back down by the wing of the shadow ... and I knew that Paul was gone ... and then you were here.” Lucian sat on the floor, pulling her against him. He held her tight, his chin resting lightly on top of her head.

“They’re shape-shifting,” he said softly. “It wasn’t Yvette, the girl from the cafe. It was either Louisa ...

or whoever it is that brought her back, who is guiding her, caring for her. He has to be someone old, someone I have encountered, and someone who knows what forces to use against me, and against others who would stop him.”

“It has to be the lover,” Jade said.

“The creature she was seeing when the king finally realized he was being mesmerized by a monster?” Lucian said.

“Yes.”

Lucian was silent a minute.

“Do you know who it is?”

“Supposedly he was destroyed by the Alliance, with the blessing of the Sun King.”

“But perhaps he wasn’t,” Jade said. “You knew him, and about him, didn’t you?”

“I knew ... and at the time ... the world was different,” he said.

At that time, the ancient rules had been followed, she knew. And seldom, if ever, did they destroy one of their own kind. Often, perhaps, they led mortals to the strongholds of their enemies, but the destruction of one’s own kind was completely taboo.

“He might have survived,” Jade repeated.

“Yes, he might have survived. He was to have been killed, dismembered, decapitated, and thrown into the river. The king’s command. But...”

Lucian stood, drawing her to her feet, meeting her eyes. He lifted her hair again, worried.

“I wasn’t bitten,” she assured him softly.

“But you were before,” he reminded her. “And didn’t tell me.”

“Because, if I had entered your world, it would have been fine with me. I’m afraid of life, of the years that will pass, as it is,” she told him.

Lucian hesitated, then kissed her on the forehead. The world was a strange place. Life and death were stranger still. He had come to a point amid the centuries himself when he knew exactly what his role would be.

And yet...

He didn’t know if the end would bring eternal damnation. And he would not risk such a fate for someone he loved with every fiber of his being. She had become more than his lover and his wife, she was his very soul.

“We need to get to Chateau DeVant,” he said.

“Wait I have all kinds of printouts for Jacques,” Jade said.

Lucian waited while she collected the papers. He got her coat, placed it tenderly around her shoulders, then led her toward the door, but there, when he looked worriedly at her again, she spoke with a determined confidence.

“He has the answers, I know that Jacques has the answers, as soon as he is able to get through the tangle of possibilities,” Jade said.

He nodded, but they both knew what lay unspoken between them.

Fear.

Lucian was afraid for her. He hadn’t doubted that his presence in the area would be known. That didn’t matter. He intended to make himself known.

But now ...

Besides the urgency of keeping the DeVant household safe, there would be another worry.

Jade.

She placed a hand on his arm. “I’ve been through this. I’m not afraid.”

“I know you’re not,” he told her, and admitted, “I am.”

“Don’t be.”

“We have to end this. Quickly,” he told her.

“We will,” she said.

“Strange,” Lucian murmured.

“What?”

“I think that it’s the old man’s granddaughter who actually has the answers,” Lucian said. “And she just hasn’t realized that she has them, that they’re there, in her mind ... or in her dreams.” He locked the door as they left the room. And he wondered why.

It was like locking the stable door after the horse had been stolen.

* * *

Louisa stood by the great hearth, leaned against the stone, watching as the flames rose and danced. As he walked into the room, she turned to him, a smile on her face, arms crossed over her chest. “All is well,” she assured him.

“What have you done, where have you been?”

“Oh ... I picked up this evening’s supper, that’s all,” she assured him.

“From—where?”

“Ah ... well, I picked up a young man. From under the very nose of our enemies.”

“Which enemy? From where?”

“I picked up a young man, from Lucian DeVeau’s wife.”

For a moment, his heart leaped.“And Lucian’s wife?”

Louisa’s lashes flicked over her eyes and a look of irritation crossed her beautiful features. “What about her?”

“You didn’t bring her here?”

She looked at him coolly. “No.”

“If we had her—”

“What about you?” Louisa inquired. “Did you do as you said you would? Where is the DeVant girl?”

“She will be coming,” he said. Then he reminded her, “It’s the old man who must die. And it’s the other granddaughter I want.”

“Well ... as I see it, you haven’t the old man, or either grandchild.”

“Had you managed to be a little subtle upon arising, I would have taken care of everything.” Louisa smiled, and waved a hand to indicate the home he had chosen so carefully. “Look around you.

Since I have come... well... we are well-guarded. We are safe. And each day, our strength grows. You cannot bring them here—while they spend their days and nights searching for us! Don’t worry, my love. I have arranged for such power here, you can’t imagine. I have done so. So... you mustn’t instruct me further. I will instruct you.”

“You little fool! You are remembering nothing!” “I don’t need to remember,” she told him. “You were sealed away,” he reminded her curtly. “While I... the suffering, the healing... were agony.” She lifted her chin.“And what of the years in between, my love? You did take your time coming for me.”

“It was almost impossible, you know.” His irritation died suddenly. “The years in between ... were nothing. Practice for the changing times.” He walked over to her, taking her into his arms. “I learned how and when to use power,” he said softly. “Always ... waiting for you.” She smiled, stretching like a cat within his arms. “I feel so very well... our little army serves me when and where and how I command. And now, night again, hours ahead, more to do ... but more time together.” He bent to kiss her. Her words stopped him. “You were her lover,” she said softly. He was impatient. “I needed to know her.” “You cared about her, you enjoyed yourself.” “I enjoyed myself. I did not care. I was waiting for you.”

“She dies, the second she comes to us.” “She does not die; she is bait, for the other.” “I will manage the second girl,” Louisa said icily. “I—alone. Do you think I have never traveled by daylight? That I am so weak I could not follow in your steps on occasion? Did you think at all that I might not see you, as you pretended to be who you were not, as you spoke, so reasonably ... watched her as well ... hungered?”

“She is the one,” he said simply. “The one who must be stopped.”

“Then I will stop her.”

“I have been the one laying the trap. I will stop her.”

“No, my love.”

“Jealousy has no place here,” he said firmly.

“Neither does your lust,” she replied.

He let out a sigh of impatience. “Louisa! I plotted, I planned, I crept low and carefully in these surroundings, seeking to release you, longing to be with you, to rule and reign with you again, in our secret world. A dangerous world, which must be solved now ... before we move on. Let’s finish them.