“You’re the scholar.”

“Well, she loves her books, that’s for certain. Now this is fine,” Larkin said after a sip of wine.

“And the one of many shapes,” Hoyt added.

“That’d be me, all right.”

When the door opened again, Moira felt relief rush through her like a tide.

Cian flicked a glance at her, then at Glenna. “She needs tending to.”

“Wouldn’t budge until the gang was all here. Why don’t you finish your wine, Larkin? Moira, come on upstairs with me.”

“I have so many questions.”

“We all do. Let’s talk over dinner.” Glenna took Moira’s hand, drew her out.

Cian poured himself a drink, dropped down at the table. There was blood soaked through his shirt. “Do you usually bring your woman into strange places?”

Larkin took another gulp of wine. “She wouldn’t be my woman, but my cousin, and fact of it is, she brought me. Had a vision or a dream or something mystical or other—which isn’t that unusual for her. Fanciful sort, she is. But she was bound and determined to do this thing, and I couldn’t have stopped her. Those things out there, some came to Geall. They killed her mother.”

He took another deep drink. “We buried her this morning, if time’s the same here. Ripped her to pieces is what they did. Moira saw it.”

“How did she survive to tell it?”

“She doesn’t know. At least—well, she won’t really speak of it. Not as yet.”

Upstairs, Moira washed in the shower as Glenna had showed her. The sheer pleasure of it helped ease her aches and hurts, and she considered the heat of the water nothing short of miraculous.

When the blood and sweat had been washed away, she put on the robe Glenna left her, then came out to find her new friend waiting in the bedchamber.

“No wonder we speak of Ireland like a fairy tale. It seems like one.”

“You look better. Some color in your cheeks. Let’s have a look at that wound on your neck.”

“It burns, considerable.” Moira touched her fingers to it. “It’s hardly more than a scratch.”

“It’s still a vampire bite.” Examining it closely, Glenna pursed her lips. “Not a puncture though, or just barely, so that’s good. I’ve got something that should help.”

“How did you know where to find us?”

“We saw you in the fire.” Glenna poked into her case for the right balm.

“You’re the witch.”

“Mmm-hmm. Here we are.”

“And the one called Hoyt is the sorcerer.”

“Yes. He’s not from this world either—or not from this time. It looks like they’re getting us from all over hell and back. How does that feel?”

“Cool.” Moira let out a sigh as the balm eased the burn. She raised her eyes to Glenna’s. “Lovely, thanks. And Cian, what manner of man is he?”

Glenna hesitated. Full disclosure, she decided. Honesty and trust had to be bywords of their little battalion. “He’s a vampire.”

Going pale again, Moira pushed to her feet. “Why would you say that? He fought them, he saved my life. He’s even now down in the kitchen, inside the house. Why would you call him a monster, a demon?”

“I didn’t, because I don’t consider him either. He’s a vampire, and has been one for over nine hundred years. The one who made him is called Lilith, and she’s the one we need to worry about. He’s Hoyt’s brother, Moira, and he’s pledged to fight just like the rest of us.”

“If what you say... He isn’t human.”

“Your cousin changes into a horse. I’d say that makes him something more than human, too.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Maybe not. I don’t have the answers. I do know Cian didn’t ask for what happened to him all those years ago. I know he’s helped us get here, and he was the first one out of the house to fight for you when we saw you in the fire. I know how you’re feeling.”

In her mind Moira saw what had been done to her mother, heard the screams, smelled the blood. “You couldn’t know.”

“Well, I know I didn’t trust him initially either. But I do now. Completely. And I know we need him to win this. Here. I brought you some clothes. I’m taller than you, but you can just roll up the pants until we get you something that fits better. We’ll go down, have a meal, talk some of this through. And see what goes.”

It seemed they would eat in the kitchen, like family or like servants. Moira wondered if she could eat at all, but found her appetite huge. The chicken was fried juicy and crisp with heaps of potatoes and snap beans.

The vampyre ate little.

“We’re gathered,” Hoyt began, “and must gather more at some point yet to be known. But it was to start with us, and so it has. Tomorrow we’ll begin to train, to learn. Cian, you know best how to fight them. You’ll be in charge. Glenna and I will work on the magicks.”

“I need to train, too.”

“Then you’ll be busy. We’ll need to find our strengths, and our weaknesses. We need to be ready when the final battle takes place.”

“In the world of Geall,” Moira said, “in the Valley of Silence, in the Mountains of Mist. On the sabbot of Samhain.” Avoiding Cian’s eyes she looked at Hoyt. “Morrigan showed me.”

“Aye.” He nodded. “I saw you there.”

“When the time comes, we’ll go through the Dance again, and march to the battleground. It’s five days’ walk, so we’ll need to leave in good time.”

“Are there those in Geall who’ll fight with us?”

“Any and all will fight. Any and all would die to save our home, and the worlds.” The burden of it weighed down on her. “I have only to ask.”

“You have a lot of faith in your fellow man,” Cian commented.

She looked at him now, forced herself to meet his eyes. Blue, she thought, and beautiful. Would they go demon-red when he fed?

“So I do. And in my countrymen, and in humankind. And if I did not, I would order it so. For when I return to Geall, I must go to the Royal Stone, and if I’m worthy, if I’m the one as there is no other, I will pull the sword from that sheath. And I will be queen of Geall. I won’t see my people slaughtered by what made you what you are. Not like lambs. If they die, they’ll die in battle.”