Tabitha gasped as Valerius was thrown against a building from the lightning strike. Before she could take a step toward him, it literally started pounding rain on him and no one else. In fact, the only place it was raining was where Valerius lay on the ground.

"What on earth?" she asked.

Valerius took a deep breath as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. His lip was split, and he had a cut on his cheek from where he'd hit the building. Without a word, he wiped the blood off with the back of his hand, then felt the wound on his cheek.

He was soaking wet while the rain continued to fall on him in a pounding staccato beat. "It'll stop in a minute."

And it did.

Valerius wiped the water from his face and then wrung out his ponytail.

Tabitha was aghast. "What just happened?"

"My brother, Zarek," he said wearily as he shook his arms and sent water flying. "He was made a god a couple of years ago and has since turned me into his full-time occupation. It's why I no longer drive anywhere. I grew rather tired of my engine just falling out of my car for no apparent reason whenever I stopped for a light. The only safe mode of transportation I have is my feet and as you have just witnessed, not even it is completely safe." There was no missing the anger in his tone.

"Is my car safe?"

He nodded. "He only comes after me."

She started to approach him.

"Don't," he said, his breath suddenly forming a small cloud as he spoke. "It's freezing here."

Tabitha reached out her hand and felt the arctic air that surrounded Valerius. It was colder than a freezer where he stood. "Why does he do this to you?"

"He hates me."

"Why?" She felt a wave of shame come over him. "What did you do to him?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he breathed into his hands and headed down the street again.

"Valerius," she said, stopping him even though she wasn't sure she didn't get frostbite to her hand for the effort. "Talk to me."

"And say what, Tabitha?" he asked quietly. "I felt sorry for Zarek when we were children and every time I tried to help him, I only ended up hurting him more. He's right to hate me and everyone else in our family. I should have just left him alone and ignored him. It would have been better for all of us if I had."

"It's not wrong to help someone."

He gave her a dry stare. "My father always said, 'Nullus factum bonus incedo sinepoena'-No good deed goes unpunished. In Zarek's case, he made a point of proving it."

She was dismayed at what he was telling her. "I thought my family was odd. You guys sound like you really were the dysfunctional crew."

"You've no idea." He started back down the street.

Tabitha followed, but to be honest, she felt really sorry for him. She couldn't imagine having one of her siblings hate her. It was true they didn't all get along all the time. With eight sisters and a wide assortment of fruits and nuts in the family, there was always someone who wasn't talking to someone over something, but in the end, family was family and anyone who threatened them quickly got a dose of Devereaux solidarity.

Even if they weren't technically speaking to each other, they could always count on the family in a pinch. Even as kids. In high school, Tabitha had sworn she would never talk to her older sister Trina again because Trina had gone out with a guy she knew Tabitha had a crush on.

When the jerk had broken Trina's heart by two-timing her with a cheerleader, Tabitha had let loose Aunt Cora's prized boa constrictor in the guy's car. He'd been so scared, he'd wet his jeans before Tabitha had pulled the snake out.

It'd still taken two more days before she and her sister had reconciled. But they had reconciled. No one carried a grudge in their family for more than a few weeks. And no matter how angry they were, they would never, ever really hurt one another.

Goodness, what kind of family did Valerius have that two thousand years later his brother was still hurling lightning bolts at him?

By the time they reached her sister's shop, Val's eyebrows and lashes were frozen white. His skin had a terrible grayish tint to it.

"Are you okay?"

"It won't kill me," he said quietly. "Don't worry. He'll get bored in a few minutes and leave me alone for awhile."

"How long?"

"Usually a few months, sometimes longer. I never really know when he's going to strike. He likes to surprise me."

Tabitha was aghast at what she was witnessing. "Does Ash know he does this to you?"

"Zarek is a god now. What can Acheron do to stop it? Much like you with your brother-in-law, Zarek thinks it's fun to 'goof on me."

"I'm never deliberately cruel to him. Well, maybe just the one time I sent him a box of Rogaine on his birthday, but that was just a gag gift until he opened the real one." She touched his ice-cold hands and realized he was shivering unmercifully.

Her heart ached for him. She blew into her hands and rubbed them together before she placed them to his face, which was so cold that it instantly took the heat from her skin.

He gave her a grateful look before he pulled back.

Suddenly a cloud of sulphuric something engulfed them.

Tabitha coughed at the rank smell before she held her nose and turned to see her sister Tia mumbling something she couldn't understand.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"He got the evil funk of death on him. You weren't really going to bring him into my store like that, were you?"

"Yeah." She snatched the small wooden bowl out of Tia's hand. "Would you please lay off the nasty voodoo crap? It's stinks."

Tia reached for it. "Give me that."

"Quit grabbing or I'll dump it in the street."

Tia stood back instantly.

Tabitha looked at the reddish-gold powder and curled her lip at the rancid smell of it. "You know I really could have done without the Shower to Shower in poop. And here I was telling Val that my family wasn't so bad." She handed it back to Tia.

"You need protection," Tia said defensively. "There's something here. I can feel it."

"That might be your sanity. You might actually want to invite it in."

Tia gave her a peeved glare.

Tabitha smiled. "I'm just kidding. I know what you mean. I can feel it, too."

Tia looked up at Valerius, who was still shivering. "Why is he frozen and wet?"

"Long story," Tabitha said. She had a feeling Valerius wouldn't appreciate her telling her sister about his psycho brother. "This is my sister Tiyana. Tia for short."

"Hi," Tia said before she grabbed Valerius's arm and pulled him toward the entrance to her store.

He gave Tabitha a panicked look.

"It's okay. She's mostly nuts, but doesn't have a mean bone in her body."

"I don't want to hear about my insanity from the loon who stalks vampires in her spare time. You should see her," Tia said to Valerius as she hauled him through the narrow shop that was lined with shelves of all manner of gris-gris, charms, voodoo dolls, candles, and tourist items. "She thinks any guy in black is a vampire. Have you any idea how many men in New Orleans wear black? She's frightening. Really."

Tia turned toward her clerk. "Chelle, watch the store for a minute," she said to her employee, who was stickering a new batch of alligator-tooth key rings.

Tia led them through the back door to the storeroom. She sat Valerius down on a barstool and then pulled out a large box of Mexican ponchos, before she grabbed several of them and wrapped Valerius in them.

She went to the bathroom and came out with a towel. "Dry his hair while I make him something warm to drink."

"Thanks, sis," Tabitha said as she took the towel from her.

Valerius was taken aback by the untoward kindness. No one had ever treated him this way... like he mattered. Like they cared. "I can dry my own hair."

"Stay under the ponchos and get warmed up," Tabitha said as she pulled the tie from his ponytail. Her tenderness amazed him as she carefully towel-dried his hair, then combed it with her fingers.

Tia came back with a large, steaming skeleton mug that had a warm, odd smell to it. "Don't worry. It's not a potion. Just a homemade cinnamon-chocolate blend that I sell at Christmas that's supposed to ward off melancholy." She handed it to him.

"Does it work?" he asked.

"On most people. The chocolate stimulates endorphins to perk you up and the cinnamon makes most people think of home and mother's love." Tia smiled. "You'd be amazed how much science there is in magic."

Valerius took a hesitant drink. It was surprisingly good and did in fact warm him. "Thank you," he said.

Tia nodded. "You guys here for your car?" she asked Tabitha.

"Yeah. I didn't mean for us to disturb you."

"It's okay. I was waiting for Amanda to show up. I called her earlier and told her I made a talisman for her and Marissa."

Tabitha went cold. It wouldn't do for Amanda to find Valerius here. She was sure her sister wouldn't understand how she could be helping him. Not that Tabitha was ashamed for what she was doing, but it was still a complication she wanted to avoid for all their sakes. "Cool, but we need to get going. We have some things to do. Give Mandy a kiss for me."

"Will do."

Tabitha motioned for Valerius to follow her out the back door that led to the courtyard where Tia's Mitsubishi was parked beside her Mini Cooper.

She unlocked the car for him. "Get in, I'll be right back."

Valerius did as she asked and was surprised that the car had more leg room inside than what it appeared to have from the outside. Even so, he felt a bit cramped in it.

She ran back into the store and came out a few minutes later with a plastic sack. She got into the car and handed it to him.

"Your lamp oil," she said.

He was stunned that she had remembered it, especially since it had slipped his own mind. "Thank you."

She didn't say anything as she started the car and backed them out of the driveway. As soon as they were on the street, she popped the gear into drive and squealed off.

He sat quietly while she weaved them in and out of traffic at a rate that would have left him terrified had he not been immortal.

The interior of the car was so tiny compared to what he was used to that it was hard not to notice her. She drove like she lived: fast and on the edge.

"Why are you so intense?" he asked as she took a corner he swore left the car with only two wheels on the ground.

"My mother says I was born that way. She thinks Amanda must have gotten both shares of restraint while I took all the courage."

She turned serious as she shifted gears and whipped around a slow-moving car. "Actually, that's not true. The fact is that I'm what some call a magnet. My psychic powers don't lie in special abilities like my sister Amanda's do. Mine are more quiet. Intuition, psychometry. Things that are virtually useless to a human, but are highly prized by the Daimons."

She paused at a light on Canal Street and looked at him. "I was only thirteen when the first group of Daimons attacked me. I would be dead now if Talon hadn't saved me."

Valerius frowned at her words. She was right. Magnets gave off a powerful lure to Daimons. With her fierce nature and zest for living, she would be all the more alluring to them.

"Unlike most humans, I wasn't allowed to live in ignorance of your world. It was either learn to defend myself or end up dead. No offense, dead doesn't appeal to me."

"No offense taken. Having been dead for more than two thousand years, I can't exactly recommend it myself."

She laughed at that. "I don't know. Dead and in Armani. I think most people would be hurling themselves off buildings if they could come back loaded like you."

"I had just as much money as a mortal man and a lot more..." He let his voice trail off as he realized he'd almost said friends. That wasn't really true, but at least back then people who openly disdained him, with the exception of his family, generally kept it to themselves.

It wasn't something he liked to think or talk about.

"Lot more what?" she asked when he didn't finish his sentence.

"Nothing."

Valerius directed her to his house on Third Street down in the Garden District.

Tabitha let out a low whistle as they neared it. She pulled into the drive, which was shielded by a variety of greenery and stopped before the large, wrought-iron gate. She lowered her window and pressed the button on the security box.

"Yes?"

He leaned forward and spoke loudly. "It's Valerius, Gilbert. Open the gate."

The gates opened a few seconds later.

"Nice," Tabitha said as she drove down his circular drive and parked before the front door, right behind what appeared to be a run-down primer and red Chevy IROC that must belong to one of Valerius's employees. She couldn't imagine Val being caught dead in it and since he was dead...

"I take it that isn't yours, or did your brother just get really pissed off one day and nail it?"

Valerius didn't comment.

Tabitha paused to stare at the fountain in the bend of the drive that had blue lights at night. It was a tribute to the goddess Minerva and had been one of the reasons Valerius had chosen this as his home.

"Does Artemis know about that statue?"

"Since I'm still breathing, I rather doubt it," he said quietly.

He led her up the old stone steps. As soon as they reached the door, Gilbert opened it.

"Good evening, my lord." His butler didn't comment on the fact that Valerius was coming home wet.

There was something about the rigid, older Englishman that reminded Tabitha of Alfred from Batman.

"Evening, Gilbert." He stood aside to let the older man see Tabitha. "This is Ms. Devereaux."

"Very good, sir." Gilbert inclined his head stiffly to Tabitha. "Charmed, madam." Then he looked back at Valerius. "Would your lordship and madame care for something to drink or eat?"

Valerius looked at her.

"I'm fine."

"No, thank you, Gilbert."

The butler inclined his head to them, then headed toward the back of the house.

Valerius led her toward the left. "If you would, please wait in the library and I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Where are you going?" she asked, wondering at his suddenly somber mood.

"I need to change into something dry."

She nodded. "Okay."

He headed up the stairs.

Tabitha wandered through the arched doorway into a dark room that was covered from floor to ceiling with books. She was in a corner skimming titles when she felt someone come into the room behind her.

She turned to find a handsome man around her own age staring at her.

"Amanda? What the hell brought you here?"

"I'm not Amanda," she said, crossing the room so that he could see her scarred face. "I'm her sister Tabitha. And you are?"

"Otto Carvalletti."

"Ah," she said in understanding. "Val's Squire."

"Yeah, don't remind me."

She didn't need her empathy to feel his rancor. "Why do you serve someone you hate?"

"Like I have a choice. The council sent me here, so here I am, locked in hell."

"Bud, I don't know where you hail from, but I take exception to people who hate my town."

He scoffed at that. "I got no problem with New Orleans. I love this town. It's Count Penicula that I take issue with. Have you met him?"

"Count who?"

"The dick who lives here. Valerius. You know, old 'Don't breathe in my presence, you prole.'"

This had to be the strangest man Tabitha had ever met-and given the odd crew of friends she had, that said a lot. "Prole as in proletariat?"

He looked relieved that she got it. "Oh, thank God you have a brain."

She wasn't sure if she should feel complimented or not. "I'm still confused. Why did the Squire's Council send you here? Don't they know how you feel about him?"

"Since my father happens to be one of the board members, yes, they know. Unfortunately, no one else will take this post. And since Lord Valerius demanded someone who could speak Italian and Latin there weren't that many of us to choose from. Pompous windbag."

"What's so pompous about wanting someone who speaks your native tongue? I noticed Talon has taught Sunshine Gaelic; and every time Julian and Kyrian get around Selena, they immediately break into ancient Greek."

"Yeah, but they don't demand that their Squires know it. Notice Nick ain't real swift in Greek."

Tabitha snorted. "Nick's not real swift in English most of the time."

"Hey now, don't insult my friend."

"Nick happens to be one of my friends too and I love him like a brother, but that doesn't make it open season on Valerius."

"Yeah, right. Hon, you should invest in a textbook and read up on what Valerius Magnus did in his lifetime."

She folded her arms over her chest and cocked her head. "Excuse me, Mr. Carvalletti, I'll have you know I hold a master's in Ancient Civ. Do you?"

"No, I hold a doctorate from Princeton."

She was impressed in spite of herself. Princeton didn't let in stupid people. "In Ancient Civ?"

"No. Film Studies," he said in a low tone.

"Pardon?" she asked, her eyes wide. "Did you say film?" She was aghast at that. "You majored in movies? Oh, and I was almost impressed."

"Hey," he said defensively, "I'll have you know I worked my ass off for that degree, thank you very much."

"Oh, yeah, right. I was a Fulbright Scholar. Did you ever attend a school where Daddy didn't put up a building?"

"My father didn't put up a building there..." He paused before adding, "My great-grandfather did."

Tabitha snorted. "I'm sorry, but I had to learn four languages to get my degree. What about you?"

"None. I grew up speaking twelve."

"Well aren't you Mr. Fancy Pants? Ooo, and you have the nerve to crack on Val? At least he doesn't walk around flaunting his superior intellect."

"No, he just flaunts his superior breeding. Bow down before me, all you plebeian scum."

"Maybe he wouldn't act that way if all of you weren't damned nasty to him all the time."

"I'm nasty to him! Lady, you don't even know me."

Tabitha backed off, especially since she felt his hurt. "You're right, Otto, I don't know you and I'm probably doing the same thing to you that you did to Val when you met him. I took one look at you, listened to three seconds of your conversation, and made some really harsh judgments that could be wrong just as easily as they could be right."

She approached him with her hands clasped behind her back. "Case in point. Your hair, while attractive, is shaggy, but it's that kind of shabby-chic that only comes from a really expensive beautician. You haven't shaved in what? Two days?"

"Three."

She ignored him. "You're wearing a loud, obnoxiously bright red Hawaiian shirt that I know belongs to Nick because he only wears it whenever he wants to jerk Kyrian's chain. He had to special-order it online for the mere tackiness of it alone. You're barefoot and I saw the beater IROC outside, which, I assume now, is yours."

He stiffened noticeably, which confirmed her suspicion.

She continued her summation. "At first glance, you look like one of those out-of-work party guys who come into my shop browsing the video closet that we keep in back because no self-respecting woman will go out with you. The kind of guy who buys all the naked boob and fornicating Mardi Gras beads to hang around his neck and then spends the entire week drunk and puking, screaming at women to show him their cans."

He folded his arms and gave her a sullen glare.

"Now let's contrast that with a few other facts I've noticed. You're a Squire and from your own admission you're a Blue Blood, which means you come from entire generations of Squires. Your family has had more money than God for a long time. You actually went to Princeton, and even with a laughable major, you went through the trouble of getting a doctorate. That tells me that status does mean something to you. Let me guess: That really cool, metallic black Jag that literally glistens in darkness that Nick has parked at his house and yet never drives is actually yours."

She paused beside him and looked him up and down. "Not to mention you carry yourself like a man used to being respected, even while trying to pretend to be a tasteless slob. Anyone with even an ounce of perception isn't fooled by the tough way you stand."

She lifted his hand, where a spiderweb was tattooed. "Nice watch," she said dryly. "Patek Philippe Grand Complications Chronographs. Let me guess: it's the 5004P which sells for one hundred fifty thousand dollars."

"How do you know that?"

"I come from a long line of store owners and my Aunt Zelda has a jewelry store." She held her arm up to him. "Look, see my coffin watch? It retails for thirty-two dollars at Hot Topic and it has the same time yours does. It takes a Daimon licking and keeps on ticking."

He rolled his eyes at her.

Tabitha continued her rant. "And you're not just a regular Squire." She tapped the spiderweb tattoo on the back of his hand that all Squires of his ilk were marked with. "You're a Blood Rite. Why, Dr. Carvalletti, I do believe that in real life, you're not too far away from being just like Val yourself. Tough, arrogant, and willing to do whatever is necessary to get your job done."

She tilted her head. "I think what bothers you most is that if you were a Dark-Hunter, you'd be just like him. I think it kills you to know exactly how similar the two of you are. Where is your black Armani suit hanging? Nick's house?"

"What are you? Friggin' Sherlock Holmes?"

She smiled. "Pretty much, except it usually doesn't take me as long to get to the truth."

He looked at her stonily. "I don't need you to teach me a moral lesson, babe. I know how the world works."

"I've no doubt about that. But you have a lot to learn about people. What they say and what they feel are seldom the same. I know right now that you hate my guts. You would like nothing better than to toss my ass out of here and slam the door shut. But notice you haven't done either one of those to me."

"So what's your point?"

"My point is this. Blood Rite Squires are the ones charged with keeping the dictates of the Council and keeping the lid on the Dark-Hunter world. That means they are willing to take whatever steps are necessary, including murder, to protect their secrets. I am sure somewhere in your past, you have had to do something distasteful to you in order to uphold your Squire's oath and perform your duties. When you were reading that textbook about Valerius did you ever wonder how much of it he enjoyed? Or did he simply do what he did because it was his job?"

Otto cocked his head at her. "Anyone ever tell you you should be an attorney?"

"Only Bill when we argue. Besides, I like killing bloodsuckers too much to ever be one of them." She held her hand out to him. "Tabitha Devereaux. Pleased to meet you."

His confusion engulfed her. He hesitated before he shook her proffered hand.

"Don't worry, Otto," she said with a smile. "I'm an acquired taste. Most of my best friends had to know me for years before they could even stand my presence. I'm like mold, I usually grow on you very slowly."

"You said it, not me."

She patted his arm. "Do me a favor, be nice to Penicula. I think there's a lot more to him than what we see."

"You're the only person I know who feels that way."

"Yeah, well, I guess I feel like all of us misfits need to hang together. At least that way we don't swing alone."

He gave her a confused scowl, but before he could comment, his cell phone rang.

Tabitha stepped away from him to give him privacy with his call. She wandered toward the foyer to ogle the really impressive tile work on the floor.

It wasn't until she stood in the doorway that she saw Valerius standing on the bottom stair. At first glance, he might pass for one of the statues that flanked the stairs, but unlike them he was flesh and blood.

Valerius stared at Tabitha as her words rang in his head. To his knowledge, no one had ever defended him.

Not once in all of his two thousand years of life and death.

Even if they had, he doubted they would have done so so eloquently. She was in the shadow of his doorway, her long auburn hair framing a face that was open and honest.

The face of a woman who wasn't afraid to stand up to anyone or anything. He'd never known anyone more courageous.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"You heard?"

He gave a subtle nod.

"How much did you hear?"

"A lot."

She appeared uncomfortable with that. "You could have let us know you were here. It's not nice to eavesdrop."

"I know."

She moved to stand before him.

Valerius descended his step. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her so badly, but he couldn't.

She was human while he wasn't. The last time he had deigned to feel compassion for a woman who wasn't meant for him, he had caused her the pain no woman should ever have to bear and himself death.

It still didn't stop his body from craving Tabitha. His heart from feeling a strange pang over the fact that she had stood up for him.

Before he could stop himself, he reached out and cupped her scarred cheek with his hand.

He'd been alone for so long. Isolated. Hated.

And this woman...

She filled some inner emptiness that he had forgotten was even there.

Tabitha's heart pounded at the warmth of his hand on her face. The gentleness she saw in his dark eyes and the gratitude she sensed inside him. No, he wasn't what Otto thought.

He wasn't cold and unfeeling. Brutal or vicious. If he were, she'd know it. She'd feel it.

None of that was there. She sensed only loneliness and pain from him.

She covered his hand with hers and offered him a smile.

To her surprise, he returned it with one of his own. It was the first time she'd seen a real smile from him. The gesture softened his features and tugged at her heart.

He dipped his head toward hers.

Tabitha opened her lips, wanting to taste him.

"Hey, Valerius?"

He jerked upright as she fought back a curse at Otto's timing.

Valerius stepped away from her two seconds before Otto came into the foyer. "Yes?"

"I'm heading out for the night. I'm going to meet up with Tad and Kyr from the Dark-Hunter Web site. I'll have my phone on if you need anything." Otto's gaze slid to hers and she felt his disdain.

Tabitha smiled at him. "Night, Otto. Don't let Tad get you into trouble."

"You know Tad, too?"

"Babe, I know almost everyone in this town."

"Great," Otto muttered under his breath as he headed for the door.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Valerius started past Tabitha.

For some reason she couldn't fathom, she reached out and caught his head in her hand.

Startled, he opened his mouth.

Unable to resist the temptation, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.