would understand."
"Leave Hector out of this. They're nothing alike."
"No? Did they not both seduce you while in human form? Hector killed everyone you ever loved in order to have you. How do you know this animal will not do the same?"
"Because he won't."
The excuse sounded lame, even to my own ears. Edward actually laughed in my face. "If you needed a boyfriend, why not pick one with the same interests as you?"
"I did. He's been killing werewolves for months."
"So he says."
"So I've seen. Tell him, Damien. Tell him what you told me about the magic woman in Arkansas."
Edward stopped laughing. His faded blue eyes sharpened. "What is this?"
Quickly Damien told him his story. I give Edward credit: he listened. He no longer laughed, so I pressed the advantage.
"He was with you last night. Did he kill anyone?"
The two of them exchanged glances.
"What?" I demanded.
Edward cleared his throat. "You've been asleep longer than one night."
"How long?"
"The hunter's moon is tonight," Damien told me.
I let that sink in. Well, at least I wouldn't have to wait around to find out if my life was over or just begun.
I scowled at Edward. "That just makes my point stronger. What true werewolf could hold back from killing this close to a full moon?"
"That is true," Edward murmured. "I'd hoped he would lose his patience so I could - " He broke off.
"No wonder you were so agreeable. You thought he'd be unable to resist all that tender meat. Then you could kill him."
Edward shrugged, unrepentant.
"But he didn't."
"No, he did not." Edward stared at Damien as if he were a bug under a microscope. "Maybe what has happened to him could be of help to Elise."
"Maybe. If you don't shoot him."
"Fine. He lives. For now. But please refrain from sucking face around me. It makes me ill."
"Sucking face?" Damien asked.
"He hears things on television." I shrugged. "He's still lost in the forties."
"Me, too."
It hit me then that Edward and Damien were compatriots. They would be of an age if Damien hadn't become a werewolf. Still, I doubted they'd embrace and become best friends - even if Elise's serum was a success.
"When will Elise test the cure on Damien?" I asked.
"When she returns from the lab with more."
I frowned. "She's gone?"
"As soon as she knew you were all right, she left for Montana to make more serum and..." He hesitated.
"There are some other issues she must deal with at headquarters. She will return after the hunter's moon."
Footsteps pounded outside. Jessie and Will spilled into the room. "We figured out how to get Hector,"
Jessie said.
Will's glasses were crooked, his hair all mussed. It appeared that he and Jessie had been sucking face, too. "He doesn't know about the serum."
The light dawned. "He thinks I'll change. He'll be coming after me."
"No, Leigh," Damien said. "He's dangerous."
My eyes met his. "He'll be coming after you, too. You're the sacrifice."
Our eyes met. We had to do this together if we wanted any kind of future.
Damien took my hand. He'd be right next to me tonight. Suddenly I felt as if I could accomplish anything.
I doubted the feeling would last.
You'd think we'd have all sorts of preparations to make, but since we were basically going to let Hector get away with it, our business was to wait. Not my strong suit.
"You cannot go out and about today, Leigh," Edward warned. "Hector could be anywhere. He could be anyone."
"I thought we wanted him to snatch me."
"We do not want him to know you have been cured. What would you do if you had been bitten, then changed?"
"Kill myself."
"Besides that?" Jessie asked.
"How should I know?"
Everyone glanced toward Damien, who shrugged. "You wouldn't kill yourself, Leigh. Not once you'd changed. Then you'd be different. You'd no longer be like you; you'd be like him."
Swell. "What did you do? That first time?"
"Went mad in the woods. Munched on Nazis. A few Allies, too. It was a werewolf buffet over there."
"The good old days," Jessie muttered.
I shot her a warning glare. Damien was trying to help us. She needed to let him.
"He was in the war?" Edward glanced in my direction. Why he couldn't just ask Damien the question I have no idea. Except he wasn't used to conversing with werewolves - only killing them.
"He was bitten after the invasion," I explained. "He was a soldier."
"Bitten by one of Mengele's wolves."
"Looks that way."
Edward sighed. He still felt guilty that he'd been unable to prevent the release of the monsters in the Black Forest. He'd dedicated his