“I don’t know what your plan is, but if you interfere with my ability to do my job, you will regret it.”

“Do I look scared to you?” he asked, his voice lazy.

He was trying to goad me into a pissing contest. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. “No, and that worries me. You’re supposed to provide a safe environment for this pregnant woman. Instead your guards are dying and some creature tried to kill her two hundred yards from your dining hall. Why aren’t you foaming at the mouth? Doesn’t it bother you that someone’s making a fool of you in your own castle?”

Hugh opened his mouth.

Curran walked up the stairs carrying a platter heaped with food with one hand. George walked next to him. Curran saw Hugh and focused on him with a single-minded intensity.

“Here comes the cavalry.” Hugh winked at me.

Curran stepped between me and Hugh. His voice was cold. “One of us isn’t supposed to be here.”

“Let me guess, would that be me?”

“Yes. Your guests miss you.”

Hugh chuckled. “We’ll continue our conversation later, Kate.” He walked away.

“Couldn’t you have waited thirty seconds?” I growled. “I wanted to hear his answer.”

“No. He has no business talking to you and anything he says is a lie.”

“Is that food?” Desandra called out. “I am so hungry.”

“We were just leaving,” Andrea said.

“Yes, we were,” George confirmed. “I came to walk you to your room.”

They took off. I sighed and passed the platter to Desandra.

Later, after we ate, Desandra fell asleep, exhausted, for real this time. Derek came back from dinner, saw Curran, and excused himself to the bathroom. Curran and I barred the door and checked the balcony door and the windows. I put a spare blanket on the floor. He stretched out on it and I lay next to him. Around us soothing darkness filled Desandra’s cavernous bedroom.

Derek was still in the bathroom. The boy wonder was giving us an illusion of privacy.

“Are we being listened to?” I asked.

“If we are, I can’t hear them.”

Figured. Once we nuked the vampire, the hiding place was exposed.

“I saw Doolittle at dinner,” Curran said. “He said he has something important to tell you.”

“Is it urgent?”

“He said it would wait till the morning. We couldn’t really talk. Too many people around. What did you want to talk about?”

This would have to be done carefully, with some finesse. I opened my mouth, trying to find the right words. Think subtle . . .

He raised his eyebrows. “What’s the holdup?”

“Trying to find the right words.”

“Why don’t you just say it?”

“What the hell is wrong with you? You’re letting Lorelei stand next to you naked, kill your crap, and do your hunting? Are you out of your mind or do I need to pack up and leave?”