“I never go to hunt before midnight, and of course Goblin always attacks right afterwards. I usually don’t come back to the house until his attack is over. I don’t want the family in any way disturbed by what Goblin means to do. But sometimes I miscalculate.

“There have been no moral blunders on my part until tonight when I almost killed Stirling Oliver.

“But Goblin’s attacks have grown ever more virulent, and as for communication with him, it is nil. He will say nothing to me. He seems to feel that in becoming what I am I have in some massive way betrayed him, and he will take from me what he wants—the blood. And no affection or conversation is needed.

“Of course, he may also feel that he was betrayed by my long absence in Europe.

“I’ve tried to talk to him, but to no avail. He seldom appears. He is present only right after I feed.

“And during this last year, as I proved to myself that I could hunt, that I could survive, that I could live with Aunt Queen and Nash and with Jasmine, that I could be with my son, that I could sneak into the human world every night of my life and then pass out of it into my grave, Goblin has grown far stronger and far more vicious, and so at last I’ve come to you to beg your help, and I think I’ve come to you out of loneliness.

“As I believe I’ve indicated, I know how to go back to Petronia but I don’t want to do it. I don’t want her sneering coldness. I don’t want even the softer indifference of Arion. As for the Old Man, though he would open his heart to me, he seems locked in his dotage. What do any of them know of a spirit like Goblin? I’ve come to you to help me. You’ve been with the spirits. I risked my life to do it.

“I believe that Goblin is a menace not only to me but to others, and one characteristic is now certain—that he can travel with me wherever I go, no matter how far it is from Blackwood Farm.

“He is attached to me in some new way, and perhaps it has to do with the Blood. In fact, I’m sure it has to do with the Blood. The Blood has given him a link to me that is stronger than his link to this place.

“There very well may be a limit to the distance he can travel, but I myself can’t give up Blackwood Farm, that’s the rub. I can’t be away from those who need me. I don’t want to be away from them. And as a consequence I must battle Goblin here for my home, and for my life, if I’m to live it.