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"Better" Jeremy said "Her brother and her two sisters come with her mom, and that see low key" He looked directly at Jessica at last and offered a rueful shed hollowly "She was bitten by a vampire A real one Not some doped-out kid who thinks he&039;s a va Mary&039;s covers, carefully irl&039;s head as she did so

"You don&039;t have to hide what you&039;re doing froh "There are puncture marks on her neck The doctors insist they&039;re stab wounds from the thorn bushes around the castle"

"I see," Jessica murmured

And she did Therewere puncture marks on Mary&039;s neck

"And she doesn&039;t talk?" Jessica asked

"Not yet, not that I know of"

"And what do the doctors say about that?"

"Shock"

Jessica straightened the girl&039;s hair and saw a silver cross around her neck

She took a seat beside Jeremy, reached over and squeezed his hand "I saw you made an appointment with rin twisted his mouth "You may not believe o over the entire story once again, -somewhere, somehoill make sense to me"

"I&039;m very happy to see you, you know that"

"What if she dies?" he demanded suddenly, his voice a whisper

And there was so more than just the dreaded pain for the loss of a friend that lurked behind the anguish in his question

"Let&039;s not think that way," Jessica said

"I can&039;t help it," he murmured

She hesitated "Jere to do with the party at the castle, have you?"

He stared at her, confused "Contacted? Hell, no I wasn&039;t the one who got the invitation in the first place Mary got it froirl on the street Why?"

"No reason I&039; that happened behind you What about Nancy? Have you seen her? How is she?"

"All right She&039;s doing all right," Jereain "She comes in and sits with Mary sometimes" He shook his head "You don&039;t understand Mary could bewell, she could be careless of other people sometimes, but not out ofShe wanted to uess you&039;d say," he finished lamely "But she wasn&039;t mean She wasn&039;twasn&039;t evil"

"No one&039;s suggested that she is," Jessica said firmly

"I&039;ot to believe the best will happen If we spend our lives expecting the worst, we only add to our own anguish As things happen, we deal with theive her a chance to get better"

Was she a liar? She asked herself No There was a chance

Except that

She found herself looking over her own shoulder Far too often now, she had the feeling there was so her name

"Jessica?"

When her namewas actually spoken softly from the doorway, she nearly jumped from her seat

But the speaker was real, and she knew the voice Her eyes flew to the doorway, and she rose, surprised, but pleasantly so Big Jim and Barry Larson were in the doorway

"What are you two doing here?" she whispered

"We play for the kids in the wards soht you knew that"

"You&039;ve probably irl?" Barry asked, concerned

"She see Jim said, and nodded

By then Jereht "Mary shouldn&039;t be disturbed," he said, obviously not about to trust any visitors he didn&039;t know

"These are friends of mine, Jim and Barry Musicians They come to the hospital to play for the kids," she explained

"Good to meet you," Jeremy said "But she shouldn&039;t be disturbed"

"We were just checking in," Big Jim said "You come see us sometime, son"

Jeremy thanked him stiffly and waited pointedly for them to leave As soon as they did, he resumed his seat

Jessica did the same

He reached for her hand, and she squeezed his in return

Mary looked better She shouldherself a pack of lies?

Sean Canady stared at his visitor, his years on the force allowing him to maintain a totally impassive expression, despite his surprise

Adlasses who looked like he never left the university library, and he hadn&039;t relished the job of talking to the ht down fro across fro; and he hadpresence The Indiana Jones type, Sean decided

Had there been any recent rumors about vampire cults or activity? He wanted to know

Hell, this was New Orleans There were always rumors

And that was exactly what he said He stared at his visitor and indicated his computer "If we spent the entire day here, I couldn&039;t show you every report regarding soht he was a vaone haywire, weird rites in a cemetery, or a drunk who bit another drunk on the street"

"I know," Bryan MacAllistair said, offering a rueful grin "I know"

Sean glanced down at the notes on his desk, then looked once again at the man before him "So you were in Romania for that recent trouble?" Sean was careful when he spoke He knew so much about the underworld Information that, for the sake of his job and his family life, he was careful not to share too often

"I was in Ro a series of lectures when the trouble occurred," MacAllistair corrected him "I&039;d heard a few rumors in the street and mentioned the situation to the police If they&039;d taken the ed "Who knows? Apparently whoever was behind the trouble got away"

"But no one was killed?" Sean asked Then he leaned back, shaking his head "I guess the girl in the hospitalwell, I&039;ve heard she ht not make it The doctors can&039;t find a reason, but she see away" He shook his head, tired "I know kids from here were there," he said, "but no crime took place here, and there must have been people from all over the world at that party I&039;ht happen in New Orleans"

The sky, he thought, unbidden Even Maggie hadto happen here," MacAllistair told him "It&039;s just that three kids from here were involved in the mess And there&039;s often trouble in places that celebrate soet people who think they&039;re vah after an illegal party in the vaults beneath the city They do ghost tours there the same way they do here, and the vaults are supposed to be haunted Paris, three al party in the catacombs several people were found dead-beheaded In Italy, a party in an old castle left four dead Froathered, the victi to a wild, sensual, ever so slightly illicit vampire-themed party"

"Has an international task force been set up?" Sean asked

MacAllistair shook his head in disgust "Most of the authorities seen of the times, that there&039;s no connection from one party to another I can&039;t really bla ain "You warned the police in both Edinburgh and Paris?"

MacAllistair nodded

"A suspiciousyou around," Sean said, eyes hard

Bryan reached into the briefcase on the floor beside his "The first is about a s The accepted theory is that they disappeared skiing, but the bodies were never found And there was a party there that weekend"

Sean looked up sharply "I take it you weren&039;t in Switzerland"

"No, I wasn&039;t"

Sean studied thea hunch

For the first tied "Officially a police officer? No I&039;ve just aided a lot of investigations because of my expertise"

"In vaends, ancient societies, that kind of thing"

Sean eased back in his chair "Do you believe in va baited, he took no offense "I believe there&039;s evil out there, that&039;s for certain I believe there are people who believe they&039;re vampires or the Devil&039;s disciples or what have you And here&039;s one of my important beliefs-some of these people have money They can pay for whatever debauchery or fantasy they want They can travel around the globe They can get the word out They can pay for all the right stuff to pull in the unwary That&039;s one of the reasons I stopped by today, hoping I could at least warn you that if you hear about pro that&039;s a little hush-hush, you&039;ll be on the lookout"

Sean nodded "Right Well, if you discover youknow anything about anything going on here, I&039;ht back in"

It wasn&039;t a question; it was a coht back at him, bemused He seemed like a man who held his temper, who kne to show respect-and demand it in return as well "I&039;ll be in now and then And I&039;m sure, if you decide you need rin twisting his lips He liked the guy

"I&039;ve got a cell number here for you, co in New Orleans?"

"At Montresse House"

Sean couldn&039;t help it; his eyebrows shot up "With Jessica?"

"You know my hostess?" MacAllistair was clearly surprised

Sean nodded carefully "Yes, she&039;s a friend"

"Are you from here, Detective?"

"I am"

"But Jessica Fraser isn&039;t"

"No, ere introduced by mutual friends"

Sean didn&039;t knohy he had offered that much information; he didn&039;t owe thischill at the back of his neck, like hackles rising He was as suspicious as all hell, and yet

He still liked the guy He hesitated and let out a sigh "I&039;ll take help in any foret it We were devastated by the storms, you know This place was like a war zone I love this city, and there are areas where it will be years before things get back to anything like nor to set us back further Don&039;t worry If I think you can help, if I think I have information that can help you to help h town to know the sierous So ill you be lecturing, Professor?" Sean asked, consciously changing the subject

MacAllistair looked at his watch "Actually, in about three hours You&039;re more than welcome to attend It&039;s in the main auditorium at seven"

With a wave, he rose and left Sean watched hiht

"Hey, Lieutenant?"

He started Bobby Munro was standing in the doorway

"Yeah, Bobby What is it?"

"I&039;ve got those McCardle case files you asked for"

"Oh, yeah Thanks"

"Why was the professor here? The guy who just left"

"You know hiht What, he thinks he&039;s a cop or so, just because he&039;s smart?"

"He thinks we may have some cult activity around here You knoackos who think they&039;re vahed "Oh, like that would be weird-in New Orleans"

Sean smiled "You have a point Anyway, let ain I think the woman we found dead in a Dumpster last as one of his victio to the DA with this"

"Right, Lieutenant"

Bobby left Sean stared at the files until his eyes swa-time dealer He needed to be in prison Beyond a doubt, the man was evil

Yeah, but he was an evil Sean could do sooodKnew it

But the kind of evil MacAllistair was talking about

He swore, wishing to hell the man had never walked into his office