took a deep breath. "Why don't you come into the kitchen and I'll pour you some tea while you ask your questions?"
There were at least ten people besides Stefan living in the house: I could smell them. They kept out of sight while Naomi led me to the kitchen, but I could hear someone whispering nearby. Politely, I didn't stick my head into the room the whispers were coming from.
A butcher-block table that wouldn't have fit in most of the rooms in my trailer held sway in the center of the kitchen. Naomi pulled out a tall stool and sat down, motioning for me to take a seat as well. As she did, her hair fell away from the unblemished skin of her neck.
She saw my glance and pulled her hair back, so I could see that there were no red marks. "Satisfied?" she asked.
I took a deep breath. She wanted me uncomfortable, but the adrenaline rush from Uncle Mike's was gone and I was just tired.
I pushed back my own hair and turned so she could see the bite marks on my neck. They were mostly healed, so I'd quit wearing a bandage, but the skin was still red and shiny. I'd probably have a scar.
She sucked in her breath and leaned forward to touch my neck. "Stefan never did that," she said, but with rather less conviction in her tone of voice than in her words.
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"Someone just gnawed on you," she said. "Stefan has more care."
I nodded. "This was done by the thing that Stefan went hunting."
She relaxed. "That's right. He'd said it attacked you."
Stefan talked to her, a hopeful sign.
"Yes." I pulled out a second stool and climbed aboard. "Do you know where Stefan went last night?"
She shook her head. "I asked. He wouldn't tell me. He said he didn't want us chasing after him if he didn't come home."
"He was worried about you?"
"Yes, but not the way you think," said a new voice behind me.
I looked over and saw a young woman in baggy clothes and long, straight hair. She didn't look at us, just opened the fridge and studied the contents.
"How so?" I asked.
She looked up and grimaced at Naomi. "He was worried that she would get the rest of us killed trying to rescue him. See, if he dies, so does she... not immediately, but soon."
"That's not why I'm worried," Naomi lied. I could hear it in her voice.
"See, the professor here has leukemia." The younger girl took out a quart of milk and drank out of the carton. "As long as she's playing blood bank, Stefan's return donations keep her cancer in check. If he quits"-she made a choking, gasping sound, then gave Naomi a faint pleased look. "In return she acts as Stefan's business manager-paying bills, doing the taxes... shopping. Hey, Naomi, we're out of cheese." She replaced the carton and shut the fridge.
Naomi slid off her chair and faced the younger girl. "If he is dead, that means no more free ride for you. Maybe you should go back to your mother and her new husband. At least until the Mistress finds you and gives you to another vampire. Maybe Andre would want you."
The teenager just stared at her, her gaze coolly mocking. Naomi turned to me and said, "She doesn't know any more than I do."
She glared at the girl one more time, then stalked off. The girl had come out the clear winner in their engagement. I found myself thinking she'd make a good wolf.
"I'm Mercedes Thompson," I said, turning on the stool so I could put my elbows on the butcher-block table and lean back in a nonthreatening manner. "I'm looking for Stefan."
She glanced around as if looking for him, too. "Yeah, well he ain't here."
I nodded my head and pursed my lips. "I know. One of the wolves he was with last night was returned to us in very bad shape."
She raised her chin. "You aren't a werewolf. Stefan said."
"No," I agreed.
"Anything that could take out Stefan could wipe the floor with old Andre out there." She jerked her chin toward the front door. "What makes you think you can help Stefan?"
" Marsilia believes I can." I watched the impact of the name hit her. For a moment, even with the veil of dark hair that covered her face, I caught a glimpse of the fear that rose from the depths of the house. Everyone here was very afraid. The house