Sweet normality reigned at Honolulu Heights.

Tom and Alex went to work at the Barry Grand at least five days a week and sometimes stopped in, just to see how things were going, on their days off. Tom managed his new hires and charmed the hotel's new guests with his honest courtesy and joy at their presence. He set a high standard for customer service that his employees strove to match.

Alex could become fully tangible and remain physically present for several hours at a time when she chose to do so. She quietly managed the housekeeping staff, some of whom had stayed with the hotel through the Hatch debacle and subsequent renovation. They were comfortable with her moments of varying tangibility and easily accepted her supervision because she was one of them. They saw her as a friend and an asset to the hotel, and they knew that she would defend them against any attempted impropriety by a guest.

Alex had a way of knowing when trouble was about to occur and appearing just in time to stop it. Lena had worked with her through the months of their growing friendship and had taught her to sense the environment around her in a way that neither Tom nor Hal could. Alex couldn't see what Lena saw, but she could feel the ripples of disquiet when something wasn't quite right in her surroundings. She knew the hotel so well that it was easy for her to pick up on disharmony in and around the building, and she was quick to rent-a-ghost to the location of disharmony and set things right.

She checked her 'Alex Box' for requests and occasionally indulged guests in displays of her superpowers, as long as there was no harmful intent. She declined requests to 'scare the pants off' any of the hotel guests. Without really trying, Alex was becoming one of the hotel's star attractions.

The Barry Grand's recent history was an open secret, and most people assumed that Alex was the ghost of one of Hatch's victims. People like to think that reason controls the world, even while facing chaos and madness, and Alex's presence needed a reason that people could accept. Her story became that of a hotel housekeeper whom Hatch killed, and whose ghost remained at the hotel to protect its people from future harm. The Honolulu Heights family was happy to let that gentler fiction take the place of the truth, as it protected them from scrutiny.

Hal was living the closest thing to a normal life he'd ever experienced. During his brief years of humanity Hal hadn't known security, comfort, friendship, or family. The simplest things that children need to flourish had been withheld from him, and he'd grown to manhood without experiencing the love and safety he'd craved. He'd found those things, briefly, with Nastusia; he found them again with Lena. In her company he could push aside the dark centuries of vampirism, with its obscene parodies of family, friendship, and security, and just be himself.

The challenge for Hal was learning what kind of man he was, with the pull of blood removed. He'd become ambitious, devious, murderous, and more as a vampire. As he looked within himself Hal came to accept that he'd been ambitious, devious, and not opposed to killing as a human as well. He'd left the brothel and England determined to make something of himself in the world and willing to do almost anything to improve his circumstances. The vampire had simply elevated those aspects of his character; it hadn't placed them in him.

The 'good Hal' that he despised as weak and futile was no more than a mechanism to deal with the baser aspects of his own human nature. Because the vampire had strengthened his evil proclivities, he'd developed a ridiculously rigid countermeasure to keep them in check. With the hunger controlled, the countermeasure was no longer necessary. 'Good Hal' was a thing of the past, and he was glad to be rid of him.

As Hal came to grips with himself he also came to grips with the truth that Lena knew him better than any other creature on earth. She recognized his ambition and gave him work to match it. For months she'd brought him into every aspect of her business, hiding nothing from him. She trusted him and considered him her first advisor, and her board of directors had been required to recognize him as her de facto partner.

Hal's hard-fought business acumen had saved his life and served him well through the centuries. He'd quickly learned that human minds tend to run in a limited number of circuits, and once an understanding of those circuits had been gained, human behavior had become easy for him to predict. A vampire could go far if he applied the lessons he'd learned during his extensive history, especially when he enhanced his insight with a fine appreciation of violence as a negotiating tactic. Hal had risen as high in vampire hierarchy as he wanted.

Lena's business acumen was beyond any he'd ever seen, however. The depth of her experience and understanding of human nature gave her an edge, so when she sought his advice he took her very seriously. She tended toward generosity in her decision-making, where Hal was firmly fixed on self-interest. Their disagreements served to moderate them both.

Lena also recognized his devious tendencies, enjoyed them, and occasionally put them to use. Hal suspected that she could out-maneuver anyone on the planet, including him if required, and considered his ability to plan multiple strategies for a single intended outcome to be a complement to her own.

Hal found his greatest liberation in the fact that she had no qualms about his killer instinct and admitted that she enjoyed killing with him. In his good cycles his violent tendencies had horrified him, but with his lady it was just a matter of murdering the appropriate type of being at the appropriate time. Killing Hetty's vampire horde had been the most exhilarating hand-to-hand combat Hal had ever experienced. Torturing and killing Andrzej, the Seraphin Nepos who'd betrayed them both centuries before, had been very satisfying. He was happy to let Lena choose their next target and he trusted that she would make use of his skills at every opportunity.

Lena watched her family and reveled in their successes and in their growth. She'd withheld herself from relationships for so long, and this cobbled-together family she'd inadvertently helped create was so unique! She couldn't help but enjoy every moment of it. Lena knew the tenuousness of life; she knew that she only had decades at most in which to enjoy Tom, and she expected the same was true of Alex. At least this time she would have a partner to share her grief when her family members went through their doors—Hal would remain with her always.

She accepted the fact that she was in a holding pattern of sorts. She hunted regularly and removed all the curses and demon-driven activity she could from their home area. Barry, Cardiff, in fact most of South Wales enjoyed a season of happiness and safety because of her activities. She searched for signs of vampire activity, but found none.

She told nobody about the subtly growing darkness she felt at the edge of her consciousness.

Something was coming. Something was coming for her.

They were seated around the dining table with tea, spreadsheets, receipt books, purchase orders, and employee records. Tom was deep into one of his regular lessons on business management. Hal was directing with occasional comments from Lena. Alex listened because she wanted to be prepared to help Tom as much as possible in his position as manager of a newly-renovated, popular hotel. That was their hope and belief, anyway. Tom refused to consider the possibility that his Barry Grand could be anything less than wildly popular.

Hal enjoyed working with Tom on his studies for several reasons; he could use his ill-gotten business experience for a good purpose; it kept him involved in the hotel; he got to spend time with his best mate. To Hal's surprise, Tom had become a quick study who could use the context of his own youthful experiences to help him understand most situations. He didn't always grasp the complexities of human nature, but he understood the need to make the best use of what he had available and he had learned to plan for the future. Tom's maturity was evident in his thoughtful approach to his lessons.

He was also an eager student with the tact not to inquire as to how Hal came by his business acumen. Some questions are best left unasked.

They'd yet to come down to brass tacks on financial management because the Grand hadn't been operating autonomously. Tom had simply signed for deliveries or sent the bills to Lena's corporate office. With the renovation complete, Lena saw no reason not to place the business in Tom's hands and let him run it as an independent entity. With that goal in mind, Tom's lessons had become more focused on the details of financial management.

Hal expected Tom to be put off by the sedentary nature of the tasks and confused by the details of recordkeeping, but he was mistaken. He introduced the weekly operating report, with its list of expenses versus revenue and notation of profit or reason for lack of it, and waited for Tom's reaction.

"It's like buildin' a bomb, Hal. You need all the parts, don'tcha? You have to line 'em up and put 'em together in the right order. If you're missing a bit it just won't work, will it? If you put it together wrong, you get nothin' or you blow yourself up before you're done. But if you do it right, with the right ingredients in the right amounts, and parts that do their jobs—well, it works."

Tom pointed to the pile of papers that he had to use to complete the report. "Here's all the pieces. I put all of these in place and at the end of the report I see if I did it right. I see if I put it all together the way I should've this week. If I did right by the hotel. And if I didn't, this report will tell me what I need more or less of. It'll tell me what parts aren't working like they're supposed to."

Hal gaped at Tom for a moment. He couldn't help it. The young man's unique perspective on life still surprised him.

"Yes, Tom, that is an excellent example," he finally said.

"Good. I need to know how the Grand is doing so I can see how to make it better," Tom said. "I've always made me own way. Don't expect someone else to do a job you can do for yourself. McNair said. But I need to know what I'm up against. How much did the reno cost? What do I owe you, Lena?"

"Nothing, Tom. That's not how it works," Lena replied.

"How does it work, then?"

"A major renovation is a short-term project with a long-term reward. We expect it to take years to pay back the initial expense."

"But what is the 'initial expense'?"

Lena shrugged. She didn't know and didn't really care. To her mind the renovation had been necessary to clear Hatch's remnants from the hotel and give it a fresh start. She was a 'big picture' businesswoman who dealt with details when required, and in this case it hadn't been required.

Hal was able to give Tom the figures immediately, both the cost of the renovation and the additional expense of keeping the hotel staffed while there were no paying guests. Tom paled at the figures. It was even more than he'd expected.

"How'm I ever gonna pay that back?"

"By managing the hotel as efficiently as possible while treating your guests as well as possible. A full hotel will repay those expenses in short order, Tom." Hal was prompt in his reply. In his mind, this was all part of the lesson Tom needed to learn.

"Tom, you're the hotel manager. Paying off the renovation isn't your job. As the owner, that's my job," Lena reminded him.

Tom shook his head stubbornly. Her answer wasn't good enough for him. "When you came here, you said you bought the hotel and the house so you could control the environment around Hal, but he hasn't worked at the hotel since you came. Why'd you want to renovate it, anyway? Why didn't you just clean it up or knock it down?"

"I saw the potential," Lena said.

"How could you see the potential when you didn't even see the building? You barely know where it is, even now," Tom argued.

"I meant the potential in you, Tom," she answered quietly. "I invested in you."

He blushed at her compliment but replied stubbornly, "Then I need to pay back your investment."

"You do. Every day, you do. I'm so proud of you, so pleased that I get to be a part of your family. My investment has already paid off tenfold as far as I'm concerned."

Tom blushed again and shifted uncomfortably at her warm praise. "Humph," he said. "I reckon I'll go with Hal's idea and run the hotel as well as I can. That's something I can get my hands on."

When the lesson was finished Alex turned on the television. She wanted to watch a documentary on the massive rebuilding effort that was taking place in areas Lena had devastated during her worldwide tantrum and the subsequent women's revolution that she'd triggered.

The Safe Angel Initiative had sprung to life almost immediately following Lena's rampage, and businesses and non-profit groups around the world jumped on board. New communities with clean housing, medical facilities, schools, shops, and industry were sprouting up everywhere, and not just in the cities that had been the focus of Lena's attacks. The model, based on input from women and children in each community, was flourishing as a new way to respond positively to the problem of refugees in countries across the globe.

The Safe Angel Initiative set up temporary facilities first, then began the process of building permanent communities that suited the cultural needs and geographic nature of the location. When governments refused to allow the SAI access to a devastated area, the organization simply bought property from whomever it could and moved refugees who were willing to travel. Home-based businesses and small-scale agriculture quickly followed the first wave of temporary housing as women were given the training and opportunity to become self-sufficient.

Soon industry representatives were asking for a chance to build in SAI communities as the determined nature of the potential work force came to light. Governments that refused to talk with SAI representatives saw their finances suffer as SAI money poured into areas that welcomed the organization. As SAI community members became financially self-sufficient, SAI-sanctioned businesses reaped the benefits in commerce within the community. The power of a woman had never been as clearly imprinted on the world as it was in the SAI model.

SAI communities had their own laws and law enforcement, so crimes against women and children were not tolerated. Men who entered the communities did so with the understanding that there was true equality under the law, regardless of what may be acceptable in other areas. Religion was accepted, but any ritual that involved subjugation or mutilation was forbidden.

The SAI was well-thought-out and smoothly run. There hadn't been a single scandal or suggestion of misappropriation of funds. It was a remarkable feat, made even more remarkable by the fact that its CEO was a woman with no prior executive experience. Leylak Tarih was the wife of an affluent businessman from Istanbul, an apolitical nonreligious college graduate, and a fair, level-headed, formidable woman.

The news presenter who narrated the documentary said it may be the most impressive example of single-minded altruism in the history of humanity. The fact that it had appeared spontaneously, and somewhat mysteriously, as a finished construct without the typical growing pains that such a venture would usually experience, made it even more impressive.

Tom, Hal, and Lena had joined Alex to watch the documentary. As the closing credits rolled, Hal turned to Lena and murmured, "You'll bankrupt yourself if you keep this up."

"I doubt it. And if I do, what better cause could there be?" she replied softly.

"What's that?" Tom's hearing was sharper than usual, thanks to the impending full moon. "You're part of the Safe Angel Initiative?"

"Who do you think started it?" Hal answered for her. "Half of the companies mentioned in that programme belong to her, at least until she bankrupts them and has to sell off the remnants to pay her bills."

"I'm nowhere near that point," Lena argued. "The SAI is another example of a short-term investment with a long-term payback. SAI communities will become self-sufficient and begin donating back to the SAI trust, which will help the program keep growing. And more people are joining all the time. The load is already shifting, Hal. Just be patient. You'll see."

Hal didn't want to be patient. She'd consistently refused to listen to his concerns, but maybe with Tom and Alex in the conversation she would finally pay attention. "You're pouring every bit of current revenue into the SAI and you've drained your savings. I've seen you close account after account, wealth you've had for centuries gone in a fortnight. If you're not careful you'll have nothing left but the Barry Grand."

Lena shrugged and shook her head. "I've always cleaned up after myself. That's what the savings are for. This is just the biggest cleanup, ever, that's all."

"It sounds like you're doing more than just cleanup," Alex said. "It sounds like you're making a lot of lives better than they were. You're changing the world, Lena. I think that's a great way to spend your money."

"That answers that," Tom added. "I thought you'd be involved in the SAI. It's like you." He smiled at her as he spoke. Tom was relieved to learn that Lena was doing everything she could to improve the places she'd damaged.

"Can any of you see past the sentimental nobility to the cold reality of this situation? Lena is going broke." Hal's exasperation was clear. "Her carefully constructed business is falling apart. Soon she will be selling off assets that she's owned, literally, since their inception." He turned to her. "All the business acumen and strategic planning in the world can't help you if you insist on supporting this SAI venture to the extent that you have done thus far. It will break you."

She studied his face quietly for a moment. "You are genuinely concerned for me, aren't you? You know wealth doesn't matter to me beyond what I can use it for. This is what I want to use it for."

"And what happens to your loyal employees when you sell off your assets piecemeal? Will the next employer be as willing to hire supernaturals? Will the next business owner extend the same generous benefits packages? Will they even be able to keep their jobs? There's more at stake here than your own interests, my lady."

"I know that, Hal. Do you honestly believe I have reached that point with my finances?"

"I think you are dangerously close, yes."

"Then for the sake of your peace of mind, I will change tactics," Lena said firmly. "Time to bring new money into the endeavor."

"How're you going to do that?" Tom asked. "That show made it sound like everyone in the world knows about the SAI. Seems to me that all the rich people who want to donate already are."

"There are plenty of very wealthy people left in the world. It's just a matter of removing their money from them and giving it to the SAI trust," Lena said.

"We could rent-a-ghost into their vaults and take some," Alex offered with more enthusiasm than she probably should have. "We can be like Robin Hood! Steal from the rich to help the poor."

Hal snorted at the notion of Lena as bank robber. Didn't Alex realize that such behaviour was beneath her?

"That won't work, Alex, not in today's world," Lena said. "Wealth these days is seldom in easily-accessible piles, and when it is, it is also closely guarded and counted regularly. We can't just pop in, grab a few bags of gold, and pop out again."

"Too bad." Alex was clearly disappointed.

"I know. I'd totally bring you with me on a heist if I thought we could clear out enough money to make it worth our while," Lena said. "You know, some of those guys do still have storerooms with piles of wealth," she continued. "I wonder…"

"You're not seriously considering such an absurd course of action!" Hal interrupted.

Lena shrugged. "Why not? Why not go for the treasuries of the people who actively promoted and who profited from the enslavement of women and children? It seems fair to me, and lord knows I've done it plenty of times in the past. The financial world is much more complex now, so it's hard to trace the money back to its rotten source. Otherwise I probably would have already made a few strategic withdrawals." She grinned at the last few words. Strategic withdrawals had at one time been her specialty and her way of repaying the victims of evil deeds.

Tom was reminded of his own less than pure history of petty theft as a means of survival. McNair said it wasn't stealing if it was from a big shop. Maybe Lena had the same kind of idea.

"You mean, it isn't stealing if you take back the money from a thief? But they aren't really thieves are they? They take money for doing bad things, but they don't steal the money."

"A pirate's loot is never his own, it belongs to his victims. It may be from outright theft or from ransoming a prisoner, but either way it is ill-gotten gains," Lena said. "Come on, Hal, you refused to claim your interests in the Intercontinental cruise line because you said your money was ill-gotten. Why are you opposed to this idea?"

"I'm opposed to you becoming a petty criminal, however you choose to justify your actions," he snapped.

She gave him a predator's narrow look and purred, "Oh honey, I'm never petty." Hal's breath caught as he recognized the promise of danger in her tone.

"But you're right," she continued. "It's a bad idea, mainly because the amount I'd need to steal would be quickly detected and somebody would be made to pay for the crime. No, we need another way. We need to make these guys desperate to give SAI their money."

"How do you propose to do that?" Hal asked.

Lena smiled her signature lopsided smile that meant she was about to surprise them. "You all know Raiders of the Lost Ark, right?"

"Oh my god!" Alex squealed. "You know where the Ark of the Covenant is!"

"You can't sell the Ark of the Covenant," Hal said at the same time.

"I'm not going to sell the Ark of the Covenant," Lena said.

"Wait—you know where the Ark of the Covenant is?" Tom asked.

"Yes, but that's not the point. I just mean that there are hidden treasures in the world that people will pay a lot of money for. All we need to do is retrieve one, donate it anonymously to the SAI trust, and watch the bidding begin." Lena smiled at her simple plan.

"We?" Hal got to the point.

"Yes, 'we'. You're coming along on this expedition," Lena said.

He arched his eyebrows briefly as a smile crossed his face. "At present I have neither a whip nor a Fedora, although I've been told I look good in both."

"Mmm, that sounds like a whole different kind of adventure," Lena said. "You won't need a whip for this gig."

"How about the Fedora? And a sturdy leather jacket, of course." Hal was joking now. He wasn't sure what kind of adventure Lena had planned, but he liked the idea of doing something new with her.

"You'll want boots as well," Lena said. "We're going to mine a diamond."

"Just one?"

"For now. We'll start in the morning." She got to her feet, stretched, and turned to Tom and Alex. "Goodnight, youngsters."

"Goodnight, oldsters," Alex retorted with a smile. The good-natured taunts had become routine.

Hal rose from the sectional as well. "South Africa?"

"Brazil."

Brazil! The word flared through his imagination. Could she know the location of a red diamond? Red, the rarest diamond on earth. Hal had only seen pictures, but they were enough to ignite his desire to own one of the blood-colored stones. The largest known red diamonds had come from Brazil.

Lena saw the glint in his eyes and smiled. Trust Hal to know about valuable gemstones. They might have to bring back two diamonds, one for the SAI and one for him.

Hal considered his geography as the idea of a trip to South America became more real in his mind. With Lena it would just be a matter of a few seconds to travel halfway around the world and to the Southern Hemisphere.

"Bolivia is just next door to Brazil," he observed as they went upstairs to begin their nighttime routine, "especially if we are going to the Alto Paranaiba region of Brazil."

"We may be," Lena said. "Are you considering a detour?"

"It's worth considering, don't you think?"

"Possibly. Have you been to Snow's stronghold?"

"Just once. He required every Old One to make the pilgrimage. I didn't care for it—very uncomfortable climate, and everyone tasted of yerba mate."

"Do you think you could find it again?"

"I'd like to try," he said. His tone grew grim as he continued. "That's Hetty's home now. I'd like to pay her a visit, uninvited, as she chose to do to our home."

"Turnabout is fair play." Lena's tone was grim as well.

"Precisely."

The conversation continued as they went through their nighttime routine and settled into bed. Lena was determined to focus on retrieval of a red diamond large enough to create an international stir, once it was donated to the SAI. She wanted a bidding war of epic proportion, so she needed a rough stone large enough to have an incalculable value.

Hal wanted to learn the secret behind the red diamond—its location and the story he knew came with it. He also wanted one last visit to the vampire stronghold in Bolivia. He insisted that he could find Mr. Snow's fortress even though he'd only been there once, over a century ago. Lena reminded him that the area may have changed and that they didn't have time to go on a search for the place. Not only that, but she doubted his ability to lead them to it from an aerial perspective.

Hal realized that she may have a point, but he wasn't ready to concede the argument and chose to change the subject instead.

"You do realize that our conversation is distracting us from more interesting activities," he pointed out as he put a hand on her waist and pulled her against him. He stopped her reply with a kiss.

It was only a temporary distraction.

"Are you trying to shut me up?" Lena asked good-naturedly as she pushed them apart. It was hardly the first time he'd employed that tactic.

"I'm saying that there are better uses for your mouth," Hal replied with a quick, lopsided smile. Her heart skipped, as he knew it would. Vampire senses are a handy tool with which to learn a woman's weaknesses, and Hal had memorized hers. That particular smile, endearing with a hint of wicked, was one of them.

His next kiss was lingering, invasive, and accompanied by the brush of his erection against her body. That should do, he thought.

But when his mouth moved from her lips to the delicate skin behind her ear, she continued speaking.

"I just think you need to consider the logistics of the thing." Lena's mind was still on their South American expedition.

Hal pressed his erection more firmly against her. "Clearly you need something beside my lips with which to occupy your mouth," he murmured into her ear.

"That's a bit of a one-sided offer, isn't it?"

"Are you suggesting…"

"69?"

He winced. "What a brutish term. Modern parlance is inelegant at best."

When she didn't reply he reluctantly turned his attention away from what he'd assumed would be successful foreplay. Something was making her thoughtful.

"You haven't suggested that course of activity since we've become intimate," he said quietly. "I thought perhaps you were no longer interested…" He trailed off, giving her an opening in which to respond.

"You mean, since we've become intimate with me as a woman," she said.

There was a quiet moment as she gathered her thoughts. She could spend forever right here, with his hand idly caressing her breast, his leg draped over hers, his eyes watching her, warm with desire. Five centuries without the touch of skin against hers, without the scent of a lover mingling with her own. Five centuries of lonely beds and an ache in her belly that nothing could ever quite erase. Until they'd worked their way back to each other, and now she had a lover unlike any she'd ever known. She was grateful.

She was also determined to be honest with him this time. No secrets in their bed. No secrets beyond those she had to keep, from him and the rest of the world.

"There are moments when I miss being Pet." She saw his surprise at her reference to the male form she'd assumed temporarily early on in their intimate times. Pet had allowed them to avoid Hal's unique weakness for women and had kept the vampire out of their bed until they'd found a way to permanently disable it.

She continued. "I love what you do to me in this form, and nothing is better. But no matter how amazing you are with these—" she kissed him to signify his lips "—I feel unfinished without this—" she stroked his erection "—buried in me."

"Which won't happen if we satisfy each other orally." Hal finished her thought to show his understanding. "Not for a few minutes, at least," he added with another wicked grin.

She returned his grin with her own seductive smile. "Especially if I do my part well."

"And you do, my lady, you most certainly do."

"Pet doesn't have that sense of emptiness. It must be a female thing, at least for me. My first transformation was because I needed you in me and that was the only safe way. But Pet can be satisfied without it as well." Lena sighed. "Men are weird," she summarized.

"Women are an enigma," Hal replied. She'd once again proven how little he understood her.

Hal moved away from her and settled onto his back. He frowned at the ceiling thoughtfully. He could stay here forever, in the safety of their private space. Hal knew himself to be a coward—how else could he explain his continued existence—but he was determined not to be cowardly with Lena. Not any longer. Finally he spoke.

"Tom and Alex are still downstairs."

It was more statement than question, but Lena replied anyway.

"Yes."

"Would Pet care to join me for a cup of tea? I think it's time I introduce him formally to our housemates."

"You don't need to do that, Hal. There are plenty of other ways for us to occupy ourselves. Or Pet can stay here in the bedroom, if you like."

"No. I told you I wouldn't do that to you again. Pet won't be my dirty little secret." Hal sat up and turned to her. "I'm—bisexual," he said with forced nonchalance. "My housemates won't have a problem accepting that, I've just had a problem admitting it to them. Historically I've only chosen to act on those interests while on the blood, but that doesn't make it any less true."

"You prefer women."

"And you prefer men. Fortunately for me, as I can't be anything else. Man or monster are your only options with me as a lover," he admitted. "But if there are things you want to do as Pet, I'm happy to oblige. Pet has a special place in my heart," he concluded with a smile.

"In that case, yes, Pet would like to join you for tea and introductions."

Lena smiled as she got out of bed. Hal was trying very hard to be honest about himself. It was a challenge for him, especially when it came to behaviors that he linked closely to the vampire. He still struggled to find the man who'd been buried under the curse all those centuries, and sometimes the man he found made him uncomfortable.

He'd been badly abused as a child growing up in a brothel. She knew that he wondered, sometimes, whether he'd brought it on himself. Perhaps something in him had told the brothel's owner that he could accept being used by men. Perhaps he'd shown a hint of curiosity or interest. Hal had become popular with a particular clientele, and when he grew old and strong enough to become dominant he'd become even more popular. She knew him well enough to know that he blamed himself for his popularity.

The victim turned survivor often blames himself; it is a heartbreaking element of human nature.

She was painfully familiar with it herself.