Bitchy shapeshifter? Oh, yeah. She was a bitch, all right. And a murderess.

It made sense that the victims hadn't been sexually molested. The killers weren't sexual predators; they simply loathed vampires, wanted power and were willing to do anything to create chaos and blame it on the race they despised.

"I should have expected you," Fiona said. "Really. I mean, you are a jealous bitch, so this is really no big shock."

Valentina laughed. "I'm a bitch--but so are you. And tonight you'll be a dead bitch."

She wasn't beautiful anymore; she looked furious and mottled. She was going to change into something, Fiona thought, something ferocious, to slap her, claw at her...kill her.

But she was stopped by the person behind her.

The woman behind her.

"Stop it, let's get this done. Don't touch her! If you wanted to hurt her, you should have hit her harder."

Fiona knew the voice. And as the woman stepped out of the shadows, she also knew the face.

It was Jennie. Jennie Mahoney. The brilliant, un-crowned queen of the shapeshifting community.

"I'll get it done," Jennie said, staring at Fiona.

And then she started to change--into a vampire. She took on Jagger DeFarge's face and form, laughing all the while.

Behind her, Valentina began to laugh, and she started to change, too, shifting into Billy Harrington.

There was no time. Fiona fought against the pain in her head as she began to change herself, at the same time reaching for one of the vials of holy water.

Valentina reached for her, and she threw the vial.

Valentina shrieked and fell, twitching, screaming, to the ground.

As she fell, the real Jagger DeFarge burst into the room, brandishing his stake. In a rage, Jennie Mahoney flew at him, already changing form.

But a shapeshifter's weakness was that she could never be as strong as the real thing. Even as Jennie ripped and tore at him, becoming a wolf, a tiger and finally herself, Jagger fought her, slowly but surely bearing her down.

Valentina was on the ground, twisting and turning, becoming an octopus and snaking out a suction-cupped arm to wrest Caitlin from the table. Caitlin was weak, but she became a mouse, escaping the attack.

Someone else was there.

Mateas Grenard.

Fiona didn't know who was who anymore, and she tossed holy water at Mateas, who stared at her blankly.

"Sorry!" she cried swiftly.

She dug in her pockets for another vial. Valentina was a tiger now, and she lunged at Fiona, who ducked behind her parents' tomb.

Jagger flew at the shapeshifter, tearing at her with his fangs.

"I need holy water!" Caitlin, back in her own form, cried.

Fiona freed the vial from her pocket and tossed the water over Jennie Mahoney, who screamed as she writhed. Fiona splashed the rest of the vial's contents over Valentina.

Then the smell of charred flesh filled the air, and thick smoke rose from the shifters' still forms.

Suddenly everything was silent.

Exhausted, the four of them looked at each other, Fiona and Caitlin started hugging, both of them gasping for breath,.

They all jumped as someone lunged through the doorway.

"Thank God," David Du Lac--the real David Du Lac--gasped out. "I've been out there waiting, hoping...Well, we were all fooled, weren't we?"

Epilogue

It wasn't quite Mexico or the Riviera, and Fiona wasn't on a beach yet.

But still...Just being alive was quite enough for the moment.

The condition of the women's bodies meant things had to look as if they had died in a fire, and luckily they had brought a gas lantern into the mausoleum with them, so it had been easy to spill the gas and light it.

Easy to physically carry out the action, anyway, a lot harder mentally. But the stone-and-brick tomb would survive, and the MacDonalds had given up their lives for peace--they would understand a little charring in the family vault.

The five of them had stayed to greet the police and firemen. Fiona had explained how she had been tricked into the mausoleum in search of her sister, and then she and Caitlin recounted how the two dead women had conspired to put the city in a panic and throw suspicion on the vampire cult. The murders themselves had been so bizarre that no one questioned such a bizarre explanation. Then there had been all the annoying paperwork, the even more annoying problem of dealing with the press, and then...

Then it was over.

No one could believe that Jennie had been behind the killings, and everyone wondered what demon had lived inside her. Sometimes hatred and anger could fester unseen, and the general theory was that that was what had happened with Jennie.

As far as Valentina went...

Fiona kept her own counsel on that.

Valentina was simply a bitch, as far as she was concerned, and that was that. She was a woman who'd wanted everything, and killing had seemed like nothing to her.

Some of the men mourned her. Even Fiona had to admit she'd been a beautiful bitch.

But the important thing was that they had brought an end to the situation. Jagger was upset that it had taken him so long to figure out the truth, but then again, no one in the human world or the paranormal community had suspected Jennie. And, of the two, she had been the leader. She had hated the vampires--and the Keepers--since the war. She had bided her time. And now...

Now they were celebrating, and naturally the party was at Underworld. People from all over the city came, and not just the paranormal races but regular people were welcome, too.

The band was fantastic. The food was delicious. Alcohol flowed.

Fiona and Jagger had danced and danced. With each other, with shapeshifters, werewolves, and even a leprechaun or two.

It was a party to end all parties.

Finally she and Jagger slipped out, and stood alone under the stars.

"What do you think made Jennie so hateful?" Fiona asked, as he held her and she leaned back against him, gazing up at the night sky.

"Sue told me that she'd been in love with a vampire once. He rejected her," Jagger said.

"Do you think that's true?"

"I don't know," he said.

"Do you think that a werewolf and a shapeshifter, or, say, a shapeshifter and a leprechaun, could ever find true happiness? Or," she asked, turning into his arms, "a vampire and a Keeper?"

"Ah," he said thoughtfully. "Well, I know that I'm very much in love," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of slipping away and exploring just what love can be. I'd like to forget all about hate and evil and cruelty...and there's no better way than looking deeply into the possibilities that love holds."

She laughed and rose on her toes, and they kissed.

And then she whispered against his lips, "I'm quite ready to explore."

So they held hands and slipped away.

And looked deeply into love and all its endless possibilities.