Temporarily stunned by the fact he’d referred to Jacob Seymour by his common label and not as his adored father, I took a moment to answer. When the full import of his question sank in, it settled like a lead weight in my gut. “What do you mean, what kind?”

Cyrus sighed, clearly annoyed that I hadn’t done my research. “You know. A demigod? A sacrificial god? A god of seasonal rites or fertility?”

“I have no idea. She just said a god. You’ll pardon me for not inquiring further, but she was trying to twist my head off at the time.” I shifted in my seat. The long nights of driving were taking their toll on my tailbone.

“It doesn’t matter, anyway.” Cyrus waved his hand as though apologizing by way of dismissal. “They all basically involve the same process.”

“I had no idea vampires could just up and become gods.” The things they didn’t bother to print in The Sanguinarius.

“Anyone can become a god. All it takes is a collection of souls.” He paused in contemplation, his fingertips pressed together in a steeple. “They don’t even have to be dead. I don’t know why Father just doesn’t convince some UFO religion in California that he’s a messiah. It would be easier than the way he’s going about it.”

My brain shouted, Could you be more cryptic? When my mouth opened, the statement became a bit more polite. “And how is he going about it?”

With maddening slowness, Cyrus reached to fiddle with the dials on the dashboard console. He flipped the switch for the heater, then leaned his seat back. “Well, I’m here, obviously, and I wouldn’t be unless Father needed me. Since there’s only one ritual I know of that would need me alive, I can only assume he’s out to consume the souls of the vampires he created.”

I swerved the van. “What?”

Cyrus yelped in a very undignified manner as his upper body slid sideways from the seat. “What the hell are you doing?”

“You said he’s trying to eat the vampires he made?” There was a strange, hysterical edge to my voice. Funny, I didn’t feel hysterical, but maybe my emotions hadn’t caught up to my body yet.

“Well, the ones he hasn’t eaten already.” Cyrus shot me an annoyed glare as he returned his seat to an upright position. “Are we going to just sit in the middle of the road all night, then?”

Grinding my teeth, I lifted my foot from the brake and pressed the accelerator.