y books. i started when i was a kid. i was trying to diagnose my father."

well, that was a surprise. "what's the verdict?"

"he is a severe megalomaniac. he has intense narcissistic personality disorder, complete with occasional paranoia. he displays every one of hotchkiss's seven deadly sins of narcissism. that's how i learned to manipulate him. unfortunately, knowing that didn't help me with my mental health any, and he also knows which buttons to push."

"why don't you . . ." andrea struggled for words. "act more sane?"

"self-defense," i told her. suddenly many things made sense.

"she's right," desandra said. "how long do you think i would survive if they knew i had a brain? the only reason i'm not locked up is because they think i'm emotional and stupid. i am emotional-pregnancy hormones are no joke. but i'm not dumb. my mother was smart, and if you ask my father, he'll show you many spots where people who thought they were smarter than him are hidden six feet under the ground. if gerardo's mother thought for a moment that i had more brains than a butterfly, she'd have kept me under lock and key the entire time i was married to him. when i told gerardo we couldn't fight my father, i didn't do it because i was weak. i did it because i knew we couldn't win. i thought about it and i weighed the odds, and they were not in our favor. personally i hope jarek pisses curran off. that would be about the only person here who could kill him. anyway, did you see lorelei's book?"

"what book?" i asked.

"some fantasy book she carries around. something about a princess on the throne in some kind of crystal. there is this older knight who has known her since she was a child, so he goes on some sort of journey to get a magical blue rose gem to rescue her. he gets the gem, frees her, and she makes him her king." desandra stared at me. "lorelei wants her throne. she knows in her heart she is entitled to it. in her head curran is the only way she can get it. kate, she will do anything to get it. it's so close, she can taste it. if i were you, i wouldn't stand near cliffs when she's around, because she will push you over."

"at this point she would have to get in line." what lorelei did or didn't want mattered very little. lorelei had promised me nothing. curran, however, had promised me everything. if he was planning on pulling the plug on us, i wanted to know why.

i would sleep on it, and tomorrow morning, i'd get my answers, whatever they would be.

the sound of steps came from behind the door, followed by a knock. if it kept going this way, we'd have to invest in some iron bars and one of those sliding windows, so i could open it and yell at people to go away.

"who is it?"

"it's me," hugh said.

andrea reached for her sig-sauer.

what the hell was he doing here? just what i needed. i walked up to the door. "whatever you're selling, we're not buying."

"open the door, kate. i'm not going to attack you in desandra's room."

fine. i unbarred the door and opened it. hugh stood on the other side in all his glory: black boots, dark pants, dark leather jacket thrown over a blue t-shirt. his dangerously square jaw was freshly shaved. well, well. someone had dressed up for dinner.

he glanced at my shoulder. i looked out of the corner of my eye. black streaks from desandra's eyeliner stained the green fabric of my t-shirt. she must've brushed against me when she was crying. considering that it was also smudged with dried blood from the ochokochi, my shirt was beginning to look tie-dyed.

"can i help you?"

"you weren't at dinner," hugh said, leaning one arm on the wall. "i came to see if all was well."

that was quite a pose. "couldn't you just send another vampire instead? i haven't gotten my evening exercise."

"i'm sorry. next time, i'll be sure to find some lambs for your slaughter."

he showed no signs of leaving.

"did hibla tell you that a djigit was killed on the tower? a woman. her name was tamara."

"she did."

"are you behind these attacks?"

he smiled. "and if i were, wouldn't telling you defeat the purpose?"

"i don't know what your plan is, but if you interfere with my ability to do my job, you will regret it."

"do i look scared to you?" he asked, his voice lazy.

he was trying to goad me into a pissing contest. been there, done that, got the t-shirt. "no, and that worries me. you're supposed to provide a safe environment for this pregnant woman. instead your guards are dying and some creature tried to kill her two hundred yards from your dining hall. why aren't you foaming at the mouth? doesn't it bother you that someone's making a fool of you in your own castle?"

hugh opened his mouth.

curran walked up the stairs carrying a platter heaped with food with one hand. george walked next to him. curran saw hugh and focused on him with a single-minded intensity.

"here comes the cavalry." hugh winked at me.

curran stepped between me and hugh. his voice was cold. "one of us isn't supposed to be here."

"let me guess, would that be me?"

"yes. your guests miss you."

hugh chuckled. "we'll continue our conversation later, kate." he walked away.

"couldn't you have waited thirty seconds?" i growled. "i wanted to hear his answer."

"no. he has no business talking to you and anything he says is a lie."

"is that food?" desandra called out. "i am so hungry."

"we were just leaving," andrea said.

"yes, we were," george confirmed. "i came to walk you to your room."

they took off. i sighed and passed the platter to desandra.

later, after we ate, desandra fell asleep, exhausted, for real this time. derek came back from dinner, saw curran, and excused himself to the bathroom. curran and i barred the door and checked the balcony door and the windows. i put a spare blanket on the floor. he stretched out on it and i lay next to him. around us soothing darkness filled desandra's cavernous bedroom.

derek was still in the bathroom. the boy wonder was giving us an illusion of privacy.

"are we being listened to?" i asked.

"if we are, i can't hear them."

figured. once we nuked the vampire, the hiding place was exposed.

"i saw doolittle at dinner," curran said. "he said he has something important to tell you."

"is it urgent?"

"he said it would wait till the morning. we couldn't really talk. too many people around. what did you want to talk about?"

this would have to be done carefully, with some finesse. i opened my mouth, trying to find the right words. think subtle . . .

he raised his eyebrows. "what's the holdup?"

"trying to find the right words."

"why don't you just say it?"

"what the hell is wrong with you? you're letting lorelei stand next to you naked, kill your crap, and do your hunting? are you out of your mind or do i need to pack up and leave?"

damn it. subtle, really subtle.

he smiled at me. "i love you. you don't need to worry about lorelei. she's happy she's grown up, so she flaunts it. it's harmless."

"what about the hunt?"

"who else would she hunt with?" curran shrugged and pulled me closer. "i have no interest in lorelei. she's a kid."

"so this is not part of some plan you thought up?"

"no."

this should've been the end of it, but the suspicion remained, nagging me. i crushed it. he said he wasn't interested. end of story.

"what did you and hugh talk about while we hunted?"

"he said he killed voron." i tried to keep the hurt out of my voice and couldn't.

curran paused. "is he lying?"

"i don't think so. voron raised him the way he raised me, then abandoned him. i took him away from hugh and then hugh took him away from me. i suppose that makes us even. i still want to murder him."

"maybe we'll get that chance," he said.

"maybe."

"did he say anything else?"

"nothing important. he feels shapeshifters are ruled by their urges."

"if i were ruled by my urges, he'd be dead."

or you. "curran . . ."

"yes?"

"i saw him fight. you remember my aunt? hugh is better."

"it doesn't matter," curran said. "i will end him."

but it did matter to me. if curran killed hugh but died fighting him, it wouldn't be worth it. i just had to kill hugh first. piece of cake.

"it's this place," i told him. "it's driving all of us out of our skin."

"we'll go home soon." he closed his eyes.

a deafening crash shattered the silence. i jumped to my feet. derek burst out of the bathroom.

the familiar grating roar, like gravel being crushed, rolled down the hallway, followed by an enraged deep bellow, pure fury expelled in a single mindless torrent. i'd heard that sound before and it was impossible to forget. it was the war cry of a werebuffalo.