Crossroads

happen if you choose to accept it.

I can’t believe Chael doesn’t see the irony in that statement. If I accepted this “gift,” and a new Chosen One is swayed by Chael’s vision, or even worse, Chael assumes the title himself, life as we know it for mortals is over. They become as cattle, relegated to gulags, existing only to serve their vampire masters.

Except for one smal detail. I know the plan. Even as a human, I might be able to fight it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. What he proposes is not possible; planning countermeasures, ridiculous.

Chael cannot read these thoughts. He watches my face, suspicious of a mind suddenly as impenetrable as the steel in my gaze.

I turn away from him, moving to the other side of the room, putting distance between us as if that wil help me sort conflicted emotions. To be human again. To be with my family. To love anyone I wish. To stop hiding what I am. To be free of the hunger.

It isn’t possible? Is it?

Feelings I’ve relegated to the past wel up, swamping my senses, radiating though the barrier between us and giving Chael the opening he seeks.

You are tempted. I feel it. You can’t hide the passion.

You want what once was. I will tell you what I know. Then it is up to you.

I face him. Shutting down the fierce longing that betrayed me takes such effort, my body shakes. But my thoughts are cold, clinical when I open my mind.

Tell me.

Chael now finds it difficult to control his own eagerness—

excitement that I am asking, anticipation of al that he hopes to come burns from his eyes. He can’t suppress his passion any more than I could.

He lives among the Navajo. A shaman.

And how do I find him?

Ah. That is easy. You ask your shape-shifter friend, Daniel Frey.

How would he know of this miracle worker?

He does not know him. But he knows where to find him.

With his son.

I remember wel the first time I learned that Daniel Frey had a son. Frey was preparing me for what I would face at the assembly of the Thirteen Tribes. He dropped the nugget that he had a son as casual y as one would shake a pebble from a shoe. After recovering from the shock of such a startling revelation, it took some wheedling to get any information at al about this unexpected and stunning news.

The little I got was sketchy at best.

The kid was four.

He lived with his Navajo mother in Monument Val ey.

Frey didn’t see him very often — to protect his identity as the one to inherit Frey’s mantle as Keeper of Secrets when the time comes.

That Chael knows of him is not reassuring.

How do you know about Frey’s son?

I try to keep the alarm from my tone, but Chael picks up on it. I mean the child no harm. The Keeper of Secrets is an important and revered position that benefits all supernaturals.

Even if I were to believe Chael’s words, a question stil remains. What happens to those supernaturals, vampire or not, who do not share Chael’s vision for his new world order?

I have no doubt he would exterminate them as ruthlessly as he vowed to exterminate any creature who wil not bend to his wil.

Once again, Chael watches me, his piercing eyes and laser-like mind trying to rend the barrier I’ve erected between us. I know whatever I decide, the first thing I have to do is get Frey’s child to safety.

Chael stirs, irritated that I have shut myself off from him. I open my mind.

You have delivered your message. Now get out.

Suspicion darkens his thoughts. What are you going to do?

You will know when I’m ready. How do I get in touch with you?

He brightens. I am staying with an old friend of yours, Judith Williams. You can reach me at her home.

Judith Wiliams? It figures. And it explains a lot. I’m sure she took great pleasure in reading Chael the newspaper article that detailed what happened in the supermarket. I’m also sure she provided her own editorial comments along the way. Did she mention the game she played with David on Sunday?

Another whore. I wonder what her husband, whom you claimed to be a friend, would think of your alliance.

Chael inspects his fingernails. He would not approve. To either my plan or my fucking his wife. She has been set free under my tutelage. A willing and talented student.

I’ll bet. Do you plan to dispose of her when you are through with her education?

Now he meets my eyes. No. When the time comes, I expect you will do that for me.

Chael’s last sardonic remark touches a nerve. He doesn’t expect a reply. I don’t give him one. He knows the truth. If she gave me cause, I would kil Judith Wiliams without a second thought. But I wil not do it at Chael’s bidding.

I cross to the front door, unlock it, hold it open. Give Judith a message for me. Tell her to leave David alone. If she speaks to him again, her days as your playmate may be over sooner than you expect.

Chael departs without response, his bearing regal, a Middle Eastern prince whose fiefdom is comprised not of land but of control over thousands of the most powerful creatures on earth.

I watch him walk down the sidewalk to Mission Boulevard.

A discreet black Mercedes pul s up at his approach, a rear door opens from the inside. As he climbs in, Judith Wiliams’

pale face stares back at me.

I wonder if she knows she’s consorting with death.

CHAPTER 12

I’VE JUST STEPPED OUT OF THE SHOWER WHEN I hear the tril of my cel phone from downstairs.

I choose not to answer it. The way the last couple of days have gone, it can’t be anything good. If it’s Stephen, he’l leave a message.

Besides, the person I need to talk to right now is Daniel Frey. To tel him of my conversation with Chael and to warn him that the existence of his son is not the wel — kept secret he thought it was.

And to broach the subject of the shaman.

To become human again.

The idea fil s me with excitement. At the same time, the logical part of my brain screams to put on the brakes.

Nothing Chael says can be trusted.

I towel dry my hair, slip into clean clothes and start downstairs.

Then I remember — and retrace my steps to shut and bolt the slider. Of course, any vampire worth his fangs could break that door without breaking a sweat, but may as wel not make it too easy.