A/N: SVM is owned by Charlaine Harris. Thank you as ever to FiniteAnarchy, the super-speedy, skilled, smart, and savvy beta for this story!

Chapter 25 – To Not Care a Vampire

"He's here," I said, promptly shoving the rest of the jam-covered toast into my mouth, barely chewing it before I swallowed quickly. I'd been watching at the window. While Hadley showered, displaying her usual degree of consideration for others where the hot water was concerned, I had made us a big breakfast. The serving plate was still half full of eggs and bacon. I was counting on Tray to help finish it off before we left for Bon Temps. For lack of a better expression, I was feeling totally amped up.

I made my way to the front door and swung it open, waving him inside. He came up with his usual newspaper folded under his arm.

"Good Morning!" I said cheerfully.

"G'morning," he blinked. "Have you slept?" he asked skeptically.

"A little, in the car, and I slept all day yesterday. Come in, we have food. My cousin's here."

"She's back?"

"Yeah, only now Jason seems to be gone. We're going over to check it out first thing, you game?"

"Sure," he mumbled.

"Hadley Savoy, Tray Dawson," I introduced, quickly appropriating the serving plate for Tray and sitting a cup of coffee in front of him as they greeted one another.

Tray made an appreciative noise as he dug into his food, stopping after a few bites to properly swallow and ask after Eric.

"Fully restored," I said. "That witch we saw was really good."

"That's good," Tray said, a little grimly.

"Why?" I frowned. "What's been happening here?"

Tray spread his newspaper out on the table so I could see the prominent headline.

Two Dead in Suspected Arson

"Arson?" I asked quickly, grabbing up the paper.

"At the Hair of the Dog," Tray said. I gave him a blank look. "Local Were bar," he clarified, with a glance at Hadley. I'd told him that her ex was a Were, and was glad he seemed to remember.

The bodies of two Shreveport residents were identified Thursday among the charred wreckage of former drinking establishment Hair of the Dog. Firefighters had difficulty entering the smoldering building and the exact causes of death have not yet been determined.

Though the investigation is still underway, police have confirmed a suspicion of arson. Reports of area arsons are up this season, causing early speculation that this could be the case of a serial offender.

"It's too early to draw that kind of conclusion," said Detective Dennis Pettibone.

Despite its proximity to Centenary College, locals say the pub was not a popular hangout for students, most of whom have vacated the campus for the winter holidays.

Owner Amanda Whatley, age 36, and Jaime Martinez, 57, were found...

"Whatley?" I asked weakly.

"Parnell's wife," Tray said flatly.

A somber silence fell across the table, but I could sense Hadley's confusion.

"He works with us," I explained to her. "He's one of our new guys."

"Do they know who did it?" Hadley asked.

"No," said Tray. "Fire is tricky. Things burning, obscures any other scents. It's a good way to cover your tracks."

"You think there's something else going on?" I asked sharply.

"I'm not really in the loop. I guess I'll hear about it if anyone knows something, but I doubt I'll be included before then."

"Do you think it's true about the serial arsonist?" I asked.

"Couldn't say. Might be it's just a coincidence. This," Tray said, tapping his finger against the paper. "Is pretty clearly an attack on the Longtooth Pack. I don't think you have any association with the Weres. At least not in this area," he said, shooting another glance at Hadley.

"But if it were an attack on supes in general, or anyone with supe lineage..." I began.

"You've told me you keep yours close to the vest, and I can see why. Personally, I don't see any connection, but who knows."

"It could be the Were-witches," I offered. "They've attacked the vampires... maybe it's like a blanket attack on all the supes?"

"But how would the Were-witches know about you?" Tray asked. "And if they did know about you, how come they didn't show hide nor hair when searching for Eric the other day?"

"Maybe from Splendide?" I offered. "As far as knowing me. And then Parnell's wife...and Gerald!" I suddenly remembered. "He's one of the vampire guards. Um. He was."

"Gerald's dead?" Tray asked.

"Yeah. Again. Finally. In the fight where Eric got cursed. He got cursed too, and they got him while he was incapacitated."

"Hmm," Tray said.

We came to no firm conclusions. If everything was tied back to these Were-witches, that still didn't explain Wallace the murderous fairy. Fairies get along with Weres, but they don't get along with witches. I suppose exceptions can be made, but fairies can be kind of (sorry Niall) proud and snotty about their magical abilities. They don't like people infringing on their turf. Trying to sort this out into a neat theory was like Cinderella's stepsister trying to get her foot in the glass shoe. We could make it fit, but it didn't really.

Hadley hadn't said much, beyond reminding us that we needed to get down to Bon Temps. We drove her over to Jason's truck, and then she followed us to his house. She'd locked the door when she left, but apart from that, once she pulled up behind us, everything was presumably just as it had been left. Tray got out of the car and breathed in, then walked straight off towards the woods.

"Going to check the perimeter?" I called after him.

"Going to change. I'll do a better job of detecting the scent. That alright with you two?" He glanced back and forth between Hadley and I. I nodded. She looked a little uncertain but agreed as well.

When we opened the house, I could see what she meant about the place being trashed. Jason's not a neat freak, but he doesn't conform to the stereotype of a slovenly bachelor either. There were papers askew, cushions off the couch. The big tip was the half-consumed plate of food left on the coffee table in front of the television. That doesn't happen. I wanted to clean it up immediately, but I wasn't sure if I should touch anything. Hadley was thinking the same.

"Should we call the police?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "They'd probably wonder why you took his truck and left instead of calling this in before, and if a fairy got him, there's nothing the police can do. Let's see what Tray has to say."

I'd propped the screen door in the front open for him. Wolves might have better eyesight than humans, better hearing, and a better sense of smell; stronger jaws, sharper claws, and quicker legs, but they do not have opposable thumbs. Doors would be pretty solid defense against wolves. If nothing else, they would slow them down considerably.

Hadley gave a yelp when Tray walked in, on four legs. He lingered by the door. She'd seen Camille in her wolf form once, but for a variety of reasons our guard was a lot more intimidating to her.

"You okay Had?"

"Yeah. Yeah. He's... huge." She gave a nervous, airy chuckle. "That's something I haven't said in a while."

"What?" I asked, turning.

She was giving me an old-fashioned look. Oh.

"Okay," I said. "I get it. Funny."

Jason's phone started to ring. Glancing at the clock, I saw it was still quite early. I had no idea who could be calling at this hour. I dashed to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Uh, hello. I'm looking for Jason?"

"I'm sorry, he's unavailable. May I take a message?" I replied.

"This is his boss. I was calling to see if Jason would be in to work today. I guess he's feeling better?" He didn't sound pleased.

I struggled to recall the man's name. I'd heard it in enough of Jason's stories. "Is this Mr. Hennessey? This is Sookie, Jason's sister."

"Ohhh," he said, his tone warming. "Good morning, Sookie. Er, I guess he's still under the weather if he called you down, huh?"

"I've just arrived," I said, telling the only truth I could. "He did call you?"

"Yesterday," Mr. Hennessey confirmed. "Hated to have him call out on such short notice, but he sounded bad. He's down for the count, huh?"

"I don't know that he's going to make it in today," I said. "I'll have him call you when he's able."

"Alright. Well you take care of him then."

"Sure thing."

Hastily, I hung up the phone.

Tray returned not long after looking no worse for...wear.

"There've been women here," Tray offered, less than tactfully. "Recently."

"That's not really surprising or unusual, for Jason."

Tray raised an eyebrow and Hadley agreed.

"He's always been popular," she added.

"Right," I said.

"Well, there's a couple of males too. I can tell your brother; his scent is all through the house. There's a couple that are in the TV room, the kitchen, and the bathroom. There's one that's only in the front of the house. Could be somebody's boyfriend? Husband?"

"I guess it's possible," I frowned. "I think I should call the police."

"Shouldn't we have done that before you lied to his boss?" Hadley asked.

"I didn't actually lie to him."

"You let him think Jason was here and laid up sick."

"Well I think that was for the best, considering."

"It's possible he just went off with someone in a hurry," Tray offered. "I mean if he took time to call in sick to work..."

"That just doesn't feel right," I argued. "Why wouldn't he have locked the house? Why wouldn't he answer his phone?"

"There's no sign of a fight or anything though," Tray said. "There's no blood, and no... uh... You know when people panic or get their back up, there's that surge of adrenaline or testosterone, whatever you want to call it. A change in the body's chemistry. There's none of that. You say the place is trashed, but maybe he just didn't tidy up before he left."

Tray was wholly unconvinced that there was foul play afoot here. I found that annoying.

"Look, you don't know him. He wouldn't just skip work and run out the door. He's carefree, not careless."

"I don't know, Sook..." Hadley began.

I turned on her, and I could see that she really liked Tray's idea. She liked it so much that she was rapidly convincing herself of the truth of his claims. That Jason had simply gone off was a much more pleasant way of looking at the situation. It was a view that didn't require her to be worried or concerned anymore, or think about any of the other weird stuff that had been happening of late. My fingers twitched and there it was again, the desire to literally shake some sense into her.

This time it was my phone that interrupted us, with Gran saying that she was all clear for a nine a.m. pickup. We had some time before we had to leave, but not a lot.

"I think we should go to the police," I said.

"I think we should see what Gran says," Hadley argued.

Tray looked at his watch then back at me. "Police report will take a while. We won't make it to Granger on time if you go now."

I sighed.

"Alright. So I guess we'll bring you guys to Shreveport and then I'll come back here to file the report."

"We're not staying here?" Hadley cut in.

"Uh, no?" I said. "You'll stay with me, it's safer."

"This is where Gran wants to stay. We already asked her. And Tray said himself that no weird things have been around here, right?"

Tray shied back as I shot him a death glare, but he still agreed with Hadley.

I let it go, feeling confident that when we got the hospital I could convince Gran to stay with me instead. I was wrong. Gran would not be swayed from her original plan to convalesce at Jason's house, so that's where we returned a couple of hours later. To make matters worse, once we'd gotten her settled in a spare bedroom, she decided to send us to Walmart for groceries, leaving her alone in the house. Her doctor had put her on a restricted diet and almost nothing that Jason had in the cupboard was acceptable. I wanted Hadley to stay, but was forced to cave again when Gran expressed the desire for a little quiet after so many days in the busy hospital room with practically no privacy.

Tray was amused by something as we headed out to the car, and I didn't bother to find out what, reasoning that it was probably nothing I wanted to hear.

I was able to drop off Gran's prescriptions at the pharmacy to be filled while we shopped, so that was helpful. We'd been there forty minutes already when Tray pulled me aside.

"I think we're being shadowed," he said quietly, and gestured behind us at a woman who seemed to be comparing two boxes of granola bars. She was carrying a basket, but it was practically empty.

Hadley leaned in, curious to hear what we were saying.

"Tray says that woman's following us around. Let's go to a different department and see if she turns up..."

Before I could finish what I was saying, Hadley was moving towards the woman in question. Just great. She was about to make a scene.

"Liset?" my cousin asked, and the woman looked up immediately at hearing her name.

"Hadley Savoy? I thought that was you!"

Tray and I exchanged a look and moved to join the two of them.

"Liset, wow. I didn't think I'd see you again. What are you doing here?" my cousin asked.

Why was that name familiar?

"Oh, well. Um. It's really great running into you," she said, smiling. "That's, um, why I'm here. I was hoping to run into you. I just got into town and I needed some groceries..."

"Yeah?" Hadley asked.

"Yeah." The stranger was blushing.

"Hey Had, who's your friend?" I asked.

Hadley was blushing too. "Sorry. Liset, this is my cousin Sookie, and um, Tray. And Sookie, this is Liset. I know her from Houston."

I finally made the connection. This was the corseted home-wrecker that Hadley had cheated on her girlfriend with.

"Pleased to meet you," I said, more for the excuse to shake her hand than because it was an actual pleasure.

Who is this guy? Another cousin? He doesn't look like Hadley, but this girl doesn't either. She looks like the brother though.

I stiffened, hearing her thoughts. She was picturing Jason. She'd seen him, and not just in passing. She'd seen him well enough to note the family resemblance between he, Hadley, and I.

I glanced at Tray, leaning in to shake her hand. I held my smile in place, but he didn't have the same skill in schooling his features. His eyes darted to me as he pulled back. I reached for his mind, pushing away the thoughts of the other shoppers around us. He knew her scent. She had been at my brother's house.

"I know it's crazy, but after I last saw you and you said you'd broken up with Camille for good, I thought maybe... I just couldn't stop thinking about you. I had to come here and find you. I can't believe my luck running into you like this."

Liar. Bon Temps might be a small town, but this was beyond coincidence. Had she followed us from Jason's house? I strained to keep my focus on Liset's thoughts, wanting to hear more of Jason, but he wasn't on her mind anymore. She was only focused on what she was saying to Hadley, choosing her words carefully, trying to make them sound pleasing. I wanted to tell Tray to grab her and truss her up in the trunk so I could question her. I was almost startled when another shopper jostled me as he tried to squeeze himself and his cart past me.

Damn women socializing in the middle of the store. People are trying to shop here. And I have to feel like the rude one. Get out of the way, blondie.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Sookie?" Hadley asked.

"What?"

"Liset was saying we should go get a drink, do you mind if I meet you at Jason's later on?"

"No!" I blurted out.

Hadley looked startled, but very quickly looked annoyed. Before she could really get her back up, I continued, "Gran's expecting us. We shouldn't..." I almost said we shouldn't leave her alone, but I didn't want this woman to know that Gran was alone if there was a chance she wasn't aware of it already. Oh god, what if she was here to deliberately hold us up? What if someone was at Jason's house with Gran right now? "We've got to get home Hadley, right now!"

"Sook?"

"We've got to go," I said again. "Let's get to the checkout." I could feel myself panicking. I grabbed my cousin's arm and started to pull her away, awkwardly maneuvering the cart with one hand. Hadley started to pull away from me and I was eternally grateful when Tray intervened. He pulled her snugly against his side, one arm wrapped around her back and clutching her outer arm. To an onlooker it might have passed for an affectionate gesture, but I knew there was absolutely no give in the steel grip he had on her as he began to march Hadley away from her "friend." With their backs to Liset, she shot him a look of defiance and he shook his head infinitesimally and tightened his hold.

We were out to the car in five minutes, and Tray was securing Hadley in the backseat while I threw the bags into the trunk, hand over fist.

"Behind," Tray said audibly and I swung around to see Liset trotting up to us again.

I turned back and met Tray's eyes, flicking my own toward the trunk and back to him. He looked at me like I was a crazy person.

When she got within a few paces of us Liset seemed to move more cautiously. She was holding out a piece of paper.

"Hey, Hadley?"

Now Hadley was getting back out of the car again. Liset held out her phone number and Hadley took it, and once again the two were back to coy smiles. This girl was extremely determined to be in contact with Hadley. She was already debating following us as we left here, running lines about not wanting to miss this chance for them to connect.

"Hadley, we really have to go," I interrupted, earning my cousin's ire. She decided to put a spin on it.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Liset, Sookie's right. I have to get home to my sick grandmother. She really needs taking care of. She lives alone now, it's just me around lately." Very freaking lately.

"Oh wow, you're so sweet to do that." Gag me.

I slammed the trunk with finality and folded my arms, caring not a feather that they were both now mentally screaming "Bitch," in my general direction. Hadley agreed to call Liset later and as soon as she was back in the car, I launched myself in and bolted us out of the parking lot.

"Sookie, what the hell?" came Hadley's petulant voice from the backseat.

"She knows where Jason is. She was trying to lure you away with her!"

"What?"

I glanced over at Tray, who'd certainly earned some stripes handling that entire episode so smoothly.

"She's seen Jason," I said to Hadley, meeting her eyes in the rear view mirror. "Seen him since he's been missing. She knows where he is, where he's being kept."

Hadley looked frantically between me and Tray wanting more explanation.

"She was at the house," Tray offered.

"She could have been looking for me! Jason's in the phone book!"

"She was looking for you. Hadley, who is she?"

"She's just a woman I met at the bar."

"Had you ever talked to her before that first night?"

"Maybe? I don't know, she was a regular, I guess."

I made her recall once again how Liset had approached her and seduced her. It seemed clear to me that for whatever reason, this woman had deliberately targeted Hadley. I just didn't know why.

I practically flew out of the car when we pulled up to Jason's to find Gran peacefully napping in the bedroom that had been mine up until age seven. Coming back to the kitchen I sagged into a chair and let the relief that she was well wash over me. Tray settled down beside me, and we left Hadley to put away the mountain of groceries on the counter.

"I think I'm missing a big part of the picture here," he said. "And I'm not sure how well I can do my job if I don't have all the facts."

"Just ask Sookie, she's got all the facts," Hadley said venomously as she continued to shove things into cabinets. "Never question her, she knows everything. Even if you don't want her to."

"Hadley, give it a rest."

"Why? It's true," she shot back.

"Keep your voice down."

"That's right. I don't have to say anything at all, do I?"

She took that moment to look directly at me and think a string of very unpleasant thoughts.

"Thanks Hadley," I said bitterly. "Tell me how you really feel."

"What's going on?" Tray asked bluntly.

"Sookie is a telepath," Hadley announced. My jaw dropped.

"Hadley!" I hissed.

"Oh for fuck's sake, Sookie. He's a werewolf. He can deal."

"That wasn't your secret to tell!"

"Well you weren't exactly subtle about it back there. What were you going to tell him, you just had a feeling?"

This was a fair point, but it didn't stop me from being royally ticked off with her.

"Hadley, later on, you and I are going to have words," I said through gritted teeth. "But right now that's not what matters."

"Well what does matter then?" Hadley said.

"What matters is that woman knows where Jason is. We have to figure out how to get her to tell us, and why she took him, and who she's working with. If she was in Houston with you, then she wasn't here kidnapping him, so it stands to reason she's got a partner." I felt myself wind down from my anger - though I would definitely be revisiting it later - and slip into a more thoughtful frame of mind.

"Well that's easy, I'll just call her and meet her somewhere," Hadley answered.

"Okay, and then she snatches you up and I'm left looking for both of you."

"If she were going to be doing the snatching herself, she probably would have done it in Houston, right? I mean I was alone there."

"True," I agreed.

"So, why don't I just invite her over."

"Not with Gran here," I said firmly. "No, we'll... invite her to the farmhouse. We'll say it's so you two can be alone."

"But I shouldn't actually be alone with her, right?"

"No, definitely not."

Tray was a little bemused as we sat there, making our plan. Even with his input, it was not a particularly grand plan, but it was what we had. Lure Liset into the seclusion of Gran's house, then coax her into talking and thinking about Jason and get some answers. Once we had them, we could go from there.

Our plotting was interrupted by Gran's wakening and we had lunch - salad with cottage cheese and slices of grilled chicken. Gran grumbled with good nature about her new diet, hatching schemes of her own. She wondered if she could bargain with her doctor to allow a pass for Sunday Suppers, provided she didn't keep any of the leftovers in the house. The conversation was a nice break from the tension of the morning.

Though we had spent no time dwelling on the subject, Gran knew that Jason was missing in action. As she had done with Hadley, she was determined not to fear the worst. She was willing to believe that he'd gone off early for the holiday weekend. Was there any point to disabusing her of that belief? Isn't that how it works in our family, anyway? Say nothing unless you absolutely must? Actually, I knew from my handy-dandy telepathy that it worked that way in a lot of families.

After lunch Gran insisted on helping us clear up, being thoroughly tired of lying around. It was actually a good thing, because after we had done it all, as well as cleared up the mess that Jason had left, she was ready for another rest.

"I suppose calling the police is definitely out the window at this point," I said resignedly.

"I think it went out when you dug up the roll of duct tape," Hadley smirked.

"And the Benelli," agreed Tray.

"It's not smart to do this without a contingency plan," I said.

"No arguments here," agreed Tray. He'd spent a manly few minutes admiring the collection in my brother's gun cabinet, and been able to help me choose which bullets to load. Just in case.

We figured that Liset might be watching us from Jason's house. I hadn't been able to detect anyone mentally, but my range only goes so far. Tray and I left first, in my car, and parked across in the little road leading back to the deer camp that was almost directly across from Gran's driveway. He stripped off his flannel shirt and folded it neatly, leaving it on my trunk so he could find it again later.

"You sure you're up for this?" I asked.

"Sure," he shrugged. "It's close enough to the full moon that it's not too taxing to shift again today. I might be worn out tomorrow, but I'll be fine for now."

Just hearing him talk about feeling tired had me yawning. Now that we were well into the afternoon, I was beat.

"No rest for the wicked," I murmured.

"Speak for yourself," Tray chuckled.

I left him to change behind the car, my footsteps on the worn gravel not quite dampening out the sickening gloppy sound of his shift. I made my way up Gran's drive and into her house. There were no minds around, and no visible sign that anyone had been to the house since I'd last left it a couple of days ago. I put a pot of coffee on and then busied myself waiting for Hadley's arrival by clearing out the refrigerator. This was killing two birds with one stone, as it needed to be done anyway, since Gran was staying at Jason's. I was investigating something foil-wrapped and past its prime when I heard Jason's truck coming up the driveway.

We didn't want Liset to know that I was here until she actually got in the house, just in case that made her hesitant about coming inside, which was where we wanted her. For that reason, I hadn't turned on any lights or lit the fire, so Hadley and I got started on the latter when she arrived.

"She should be here in fifteen minutes," Hadley said. "Tray is in position?"

I nodded that he was.

Liset arrived almost half an hour later, bumping up the driveway in staid, late-model sedan that screamed, "rental car." It had Texas plates. To my surprise, she parked along the side of the house and came to the kitchen door.

I answered when she knocked, and her smile faltered immediately.

"Hi. Is Hadley around?" I didn't even have to listen to hear the shit shit shit running through her mind. It was right there in her eyes. Liset was dressed warmly, even for winter. She had on a heavy jacket and scarf and a bulky sweater matched with snug black jeans.

"Sure," I smiled warmly. "Come on inside?"

Hadley was sipping a mug of coffee. She looked a bit sleepy too. I watched as my cousin stood and shared an awkward, half-hug with Liset, offering to take her coat. I was frankly startled by her courtesy, though I shouldn't have been. We talked this out at length earlier and determined to play it as nice as possible for as long as possible.

Liset opted to keep her coat, remarking on how chilly it was in the house. It was cool inside, though the reason she wanted to keep it had more to do with the possible need to make a hasty exit. She was tense, and trying desperately to keep her calm. Surreptitiously, I crossed behind her and locked the door on my way to pour her a mug. It wouldn't really keep her in if she decided to bolt, but it would delay her.

While she and Hadley made small talk, I settled back to cleaning and tidying, chiming in only occasionally. Liset was flirting again, and I could see it. I'm not a lover of women, but she was very lovely; very alluring. Her laugh, even fake, was tinkling and melodic. She kept the conversation very firmly on her territory, which seemed to be Hadley's life here, her plans for work, her excellent taste in shoes and nail polish. These were not things that would guide this Liset to thinking about Jason.

"Do you have a lot of family in Houston?" I asked.

"No," Liset answered. "We're not from there originally."

"Oh? Where are you from?"

"Whistling Creek. It's a tiny town. Kind of like this one."

"That's in Texas?" I asked.

"Yeah, just west of Somerville Lake." I had no idea where that is, but I nodded in acknowledgment.

"Do you have a big family?" Hadley asked. I wanted to pat her on the head. Good girl!

"No," Liset said, and her voice sounded cold for the first time.

Smaller now. Just Wil and I now. We're all we've got left.

"Ours is pretty small too," I agreed. "It's just our Gran and us, and my brother."

Brother, my brother. To save him. They'd do it to us. They did it to him.

"Actually my cousin hasn't turned up for a couple of days," Hadley said, her voice sad.

"Oh really?" Liset asked.

Won't turn up again. All three of you. Where is he?

Her eyes darted from the clock to the window and she shifted in her seat, visibly uncomfortable. It was at that point that I realized just how far Liset had been willing to go to "lure" Hadley with her. She had a gun in her pocket, among other things. That explained her reluctance to ditch the jacket.

I shifted behind her, pretending to be busy taking something out of a cabinet, but glancing over my shoulder in attempts to catch Hadley's eye. When I finally did, I made the universal sign for gun: pointer finger extended, thumb cocking the hammer, and then pointed at her frantically. Unfortunately, Hadley must have stared for too long and she had no particular talent for schooling her face. Liset turned around in her chair to look at me and I slammed shut the cabinet ad muttered something about what I would cook for dinner.

"Maybe you two should go in and sit by the fire," I suggested. "It's a lot warmer in there."

"Oh good idea," Hadley said, and rose to stand. Liset was getting up too. I heard the scuffle of feet and Hadley gasped. Liset had moved behind her, one arm around Hadley's neck in a choke hold, the other pressing a pistol to her head.

I froze, lifting my hands in front of me like this was a stickup.

"Don't move," Liset told me. I didn't. "Get into the corner." She jutted her chin in the exact opposite direction of the kitchen sink. The cabinet underneath, the only one wide and deep enough, was where I'd hidden the Benelli. Damn it.

As soon as I'd followed her instructions she withdrew her arm around Hadley and shoved her toward me. My cousin fell into my arms with a sharp little whimper. Liset kept the gun trained on both of us as she inched toward the window. She was expecting company.

"Why are you doing this?" Hadley sobbed.

"It's you or us," Liset said softly.

"Where's Jason?" Hadley asked, but Liset didn't answer. Her eyes were too busy flicking back and forth between us and the window. Hadley was trembling now. I tried to soothe her, and the noise drew Liset's attention back to us. I tried not to focus on the gun, looking at her face instead.

He'll be here soon. He'll be here soon. He'll be here soon. Soon. Soon. Soon.

That was no help. Hopefully Tray was ready for some action outside.

"Who are you?" I asked her. "Why do you want us? Why did you want Jason?"

"Three for two," she whispered.

"Three for two what?"

"The three of you, for the two of us."

Finally it was there, the flash of Wallace in her mind, amidst all her impatience and pleading for her partner to arrive.

"Liset, who is Wallace?" I asked.

Her hand started to shake, and that was worrying. More worrying, I realized very quickly, was that it wasn't in fear, it was in rage. I didn't want to incite her, but equally, I didn't want her attention on the window. I was counting on Tray to intervene outside, It was her brother she was waiting for. I didn't want him to arrive and even up their numbers. Beside me, Hadley had gone into a kind of shock, her eyes were trained on the gun and she seemed to be trembling right along with Liset's hand.

"Liset, who is Wallace?" I repeated.

"He was our uncle," she spat. "He was all we had left. He was going to save us, and you... and you," she said more venom, shifting her gun from its wavering position between us to be more firmly focused on me. "You killed him."

"It was self-defense," I whispered, pointlessly, because I could see very well that she knew that. She'd had the vision.

When a fairy dies, his spectre normally appears to his next oldest relative, imparting final words before crossing to the Summerlands. It's a bit like a ghost, a departing soul, or so it's been described. This is nothing I have ever witnessed, nor would I want to. Up until a moment ago, I wasn't even sure I would be eligible. Liset was human, or apparently, mostly human. She was like us.

"He was going to kill us," I found myself saying.

"But now we'll have to do that," she answered bitterly.

"Why?"

"In trade."

"To whom?" I asked helplessly.

Three things happened almost simultaneously. A resounding crash battered against the locked back door, the gun fired, and Hadley screamed.

I lunged forward, crashing into Liset, still off balance from the recoil of the shot. I batted at her hands until eventually I heard the gun – at least I hoped it was the gun – clatter to the ground. I yipped and jumped as it landed, as if it would go off. It didn't. I pounced again on Liset trying to knock her down, at the same time kicking out with my feet, trying to knock the gun away.

She was fighting back then, pushing me and scratching me and trying her damnedest to overpower me but I could tell that I was stronger. Once I heard the gun skitter away I was kicking at her feet, pushing her shoulders and her hips, to make her fall. I tried to catch her arms to stop her flailing and then she bit my arm! It was nothing like a vampire bite. It hurt like nothing I'd ever experienced. I couldn't get a proper swing at her, we were too close, but I didn't want to back off either. I forced the heel of my hand up roughly, hitting her in the nose with an uppercut.

Horrified, I watched her head bob back and then I managed to kick her in the side of the knee and she went over sideways dragging me with her. I scrambled to pull myself on top of her, pushing her chest down flat with my knee and trying once again to get hold of her arms. She was shrieking like a banshee and I could see the blood on the linoleum as she thrashed her head. She spotted the gun and started inching towards it, and because she was nowhere near actually restrained she was wriggling away beneath me.

I balled my fist up and try to beat it against her arms and shoulders but this had little effect. I was yelling for Hadley and the duct tape as finally, finally I managed to grab one of her arms and wrench it behind her back. I had to kneel on it to keep it still and still she flopped about like a fish on a line.

"Stop it god damn it!" I yelled in frustration, suddenly aware that the crashing against the door was still going on.

I turned to look behind me wondering where the hell Hadley was with the freaking restraints. She was still struggling to her feet, sliding her body upright along the cabinet. She was clutching her arm and I could see the dark red stain spreading out beneath her hand. Her face was white as a sheet.