Janet stood on his front step, flushed and out of breath. Her little fists were red from the cold and from banging his door. She was wearing a man’s overcoat roughly six sizes too big for her, and three large grocery bags were at her feet. She was scowling. “Well, finally. Don’t sulk on my time, all right, pal?” She stomped past him.

Like a zombie, he picked up the groceries and then slowly turned and followed her. She shrugged out of the coat and headed straight for their—for his room. He watched her naked form sway back and forth as she went up the stairs like she owned them. “Food,” she said over her shoulder on her way up. “I could eat a cow. In fact, I think I did, night before last.”

By the time he brought her tray to the bedroom, she had showered and toweled off. She strolled out of the bathroom and sniffed appreciatively. “Oooh, yeah, that’s the stuff. I could eat two steaks.”

“They’re both for you,” he said automatically. “Why…how…why…?”

“You sounded a lot brighter when you thought I was a liar.” She brushed past him and jumped for the bed, landing in the middle, lolling like a queen, and favoring him with a smirk. “Ah, the mileage I’m gonna get out of this. Let’s start with your whole smug speech about how just because you’re a vampire, there’s no such thing as werewolves. That sound like a good place to you?”

“Janet—”

“Or we could touch on why it’s not a good idea to kidnap people when they’re on their way to an important meeting.”

“Janet—”

“Or we could go into all the times you asked me to tell the truth, and I did, and then you didn’t believe me, and then you—”

He fell to his knees beside the bed. He had to grit his teeth for a few seconds to keep his jaw from trembling. “Janet, why are you here? Why aren’t you with your family?” His voice was rising, but he was helpless to stop it. “Why didn’t you head for the road and keep going? Why are you back?”

She frowned. “You’re taking the fun all out of this. I’ve been looking forward to it for days. I need to see some major ass groveling, pal.”

He didn’t speak.

She sighed. “What, I gotta get out the hand puppets? You haven’t figured it out? Dick, you’re my family now. I never want to go back there. Cape Cod in the summer—yech! Tourists cluttering up the roads, the beaches, and the mall—and you get in trouble if you eat them. Can’t even take a little bite to discourage them from coming back—”

“Janet.”