He put his arms around me. This was “hug Sookie” season, and no one had told me ahead of time. Fairies were very touchy-feely, and personal space didn’t mean anything to them. I would have liked to tell my great-uncle to back off. But I didn’t dare. I didn’t need to read Dermot’s mind to understand that almost anything could set him off, so delicate was his mental balance. I had to stiffen all my resolution to maintain my even breathing so I wouldn’t shiver and shake. His nearness and the tension of being in his presence, the huge strength that hummed through his arms, took me back to a dark ruined shack and two psycho fairies who really had deserved their deaths. My shoulders jerked, and I saw a flash of panic in Dermot’s eyes. Calm. Be calm.

I smiled at him. I have a pretty smile, people tell me, though I know it’s a little too bright, a little nuts. However, that suited the conversation perfectly. “The last time you saw Jason,” I said, and then couldn’t think how to finish.

“I attacked his companion. The beast who’d hurt Jason’s wife.”

I swallowed hard and smiled some more. “Probably would’ve been better if you’d explained to Jason why you were going after Mel. And it wasn’t Mel who killed her, you know.”

“No, it was my own kind that finished her off. But she would have died anyway. He wasn’t taking her to get help, you know.”

Wasn’t much I could say, because his account of what had happened to Crystal was accurate. I noticed I hadn’t gotten a coherent response from Dermot on why he’d left Jason in ignorance of Mel’s crime. “But you didn’t explain to Jason,” I said, breathing in and out—in a very soothing way. I hoped. It seemed to me that the longer I touched Dermot, the calmer we both got. And Dermot was markedly more coherent.

“I was very conflicted,” he said seriously, unexpectedly borrowing from modern jargon.

Maybe that was as good an answer as I was going to get. I decided to take another tack. “Did you want to see Claude?” I said hopefully. “He’s living with me now, just temporarily. He should be back later tonight.”

“I’m not the only one, you know,” Dermot told me. I looked up and met his mad eyes. I understood that my great-uncle was trying to tell me something. I wished to God I could make him rational. Just for five minutes. I stepped back from him and tried to figure out what he needed.

“You’re not the only fairy left out in the human world. I know Claude’s here. Someone else is, too?” I would’ve enjoyed my telepathy for a couple of minutes.

“Yes. Yes.” His eyes were pleading with me to understand.