know in this country, including the oldest and strongest I’ve ever encountered. You may leave the banking vampires to us.”
“A war? In the middle of Edinburgh?”
“What’s he saying?” Jilly demanded. “What war?”
Blair’s lips tugged upward. “You have an alternative?” he quoted. “But at best, our war only keeps numbers down. Smith can just start again, until between us we’ve killed off most of the banking profession.”
Sera ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. “How the hell do we get to him?”
The shop door tinkled as it opened, and someone barged in with a suitcase and a bag and several books under one arm.
Melanie halted and looked around the gawping faces. “Anyone got a spare hand?”
****
In the flurry of Melanie’s arrival, Jilly watched Sera a little anxiously. She’d caught on to the fact that Mel hadn’t been telling her friend all she knew, and that this was bound to hurt Sera. However, in the current mess of vampires and banking crises, Jilly couldn’t help feeling that Melanie’s arrival was a good thing.
And after the initial shock, Sera did indeed appear to be pleased to see her. While Jack took the books from Mel’s arms and laid them on a desk, and the vampire took her case into the inner office, Sera met the older woman’s gaze through the turmoil and gave a lopsided smile.
Jilly breathed a sigh of relief and went to help Elspeth make coffee, while keeping a watchful eye on everybody else.
“So did you find something?” Sera asked eagerly.
“Not yet,” Mel answered, “but I’ve brought all the likely books and got a few pointers from wiser folk than me. I can research better here and keep an eye on you guys at the same time. You must be Jack,” she added, holding out a friendly hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Likewise.” Jack grinned, shaking her hand. “Very glad to meet you at last.”
Melanie turned to the vampire, who was leaning one shoulder on the wall beside the inner office to watch the humans. She smiled, and to Jilly’s horror, there was a definite flicker of admiration in Melanie’s green eyes.
Well, Blair would be an attractive man to most. Tall, good looking, with a certain mystery about his strange, compelling eyes. And his fit, slender body was so still it made you long to see it move, lithe and graceful. And deadly.
“Hello. I don’t know you either,” Mel said. Being a friendly sort, she began to walk toward him, hand stretched out. Blair straightened and politely took her hand. Mel’s eyebrows twitched at his touch, which was, presumably, inhumanly cold. Jilly waited for Sera to say something, to warn Melanie who and what she was dealing with. But Sera looked deliberately toward the coffee. Perhaps she was paying Mel back for her silence on the subject of parentage. Whatever, it seemed to be up to Jilly.
“He’s Blair,” she said abruptly. “You may have heard of him. The only good thing I’ve discovered about him so far is that he doesn’t talk. He’s a vampire.”
The catch in Mel’s breath was audible. But she didn’t snatch her hand free or even bolt backward when he released her. In fact, she looked, if anything, more interested. She was a witch, after all. Perhaps her interest was professional.
Elspeth took the first cup to Melanie. Sera watched; then her eyes flickered to Blair and away. The vampire began to walk toward Sera, who swung round at once, almost in panic, walking straight to where Jilly still stood pouring coffee into mugs—somewhat erratically, since her attention was divided. Elspeth would tell her off for the mess.
Jilly shoved a cup toward Sera. “Everything okay?”
Sera nodded.
“Has that bastard hurt you?”
“No.” Sera’s smile was twisted and vanished quickly. “The opposite, in fact.” She picked up the cup and took a hasty gulp. “I was upset last night. Adjusting to finding out about my father, you know?”
Jilly nodded. She knew. More carefully, she said, “And Blair was there? When you were upset?”
Sera nodded ruefully.
Just for an instant, relief flooded Jilly with enough force to make her dizzy. Then her heart began to sing. No one knew better than she that Sera couldn’t stand anyone to see her in the grip of such weakness. That was the cause of the tension between Sera and Blair. To Sera, he’d become unbearable.
“Does he drink coffee?” she asked, and when Sera nodded, she picked up a cup and walked toward him. One of his eyebrows lifted in surprise, but he took the