Mona Lisa Awakening

Chapter Twenty Three

The drive to the hospital took an interminable thirty-five minutes during which time Gryphon, Amber, and Chami left me to my brooding silence.

In the grand atrium of the busy medical center, a plump woman in her forties told us with a professional, regretful smile that sorry, only two guests were allowed up at a time to see a patient. Her gaze lingered on Gryphon's striking loveliness for a moment, and the apology became more sincere, but the presence of the other two receptionists beside her prohibited her from bending the rules.

Amber was left behind in the lobby, his formidable face wreathed in a ferocious scowl. Chami simply turned a corner, vanished, and followed us up, a blending blur.

Once we were on the floor, it wasn't even necessary to look at the room numbers. I just listened for the slow heartbeat and followed it down a corridor to the last room. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the open door and entered, Gryphon and Chami behind me.

He looked so young and fragile. The other bed was unoccupied, neatly made up. Scrapes and bruises marked Thaddeus's face and arms. A brand-new, creamy white fiberglass cast encased his right arm.

"Yes?" his flat voice demanded.

How did one introduce oneself? "My name is Mona Lisa. I just found out about your accident and came here to see you."

"I don't know you," Thaddeus said, his face and voice devoid of emotion. "Did you know my parents?" he asked more softly.

"No. I…" Reaching beneath my shirt, I drew out my silver cross. "Does this mean anything to you?"

Recognition sparked in his eyes briefly before he blanked them. "Who are you?"

I turned my cross over. "The back has my name and something else on the bottom."

"Monère," Thaddeus said without expression. So he'd been able to see it, too.

"Does that mean anything to you?" I asked.

Dark intelligent eyes swept over me in careful assessment, then moved on to study the two men behind me. "No."

"This cross was the only thing that identified me when I was left on the steps of Our Lady of Lourdes Orphanage as a baby. Did your parents tell you that you were adopted?" I asked quietly.

"Who are you?" There was a new hard edge to his voice, a wary boy thrown early into manhood, so heartbreakingly different from the carefree kid I'd glimpsed just the day before.

"I'm your sister."

Thaddeus didn't challenge or deny the statement. Just complete and utter silence. There was the faintest trembling in his left hand before he curled it into a tight fist.

"We have the same mother and I believe the same father. Our eyes… they had to have come from him." Because they hadn't come from our mother.

Thaddeus said nothing.

"Did your adopted parents have any brothers, sisters, parents?" I asked.

Thaddeus shook his head. "No, they were only children. No living parents or grandparents. Only distant relations."

"Anyone you can go to? That you want to live with?"

"No," said Thaddeus, slowly. "I was going to ask a neighbor to become my legal guardian tor the two years that I needed one. Live in my own apartment. Continue in school."

It wasn't a bad plan. He was old enough to drive and to get a job if he needed to. It would be safer than living with me. But, oh how I wanted him with me.

The intensity of that desire shook my voice. "I would like, very much, for you to come and live with me. But if you did, it would disrupt your entire life." I immediately castigated myself over my bad choice of words. As if his life wasn't entirely disrupted already. "I'm moving to New Orleans to take up a position there. And there are a lot of other complicated things besides that," I finished lamely.

Something flickered in Thaddeus's dark eyes then was gone. I wondered at such control in one so young. And wondered why he would need it.

"Who are they?" Thaddeus asked, his gaze flicking to Chami and Gryphon.

How to answer? Guard. Lover. "They are special friends who live with me… along with six others." I paused, helpless, unsure of what else to say. "Do you still wish to know more?"

"You were there the other day. Outside my house," Thaddeus said suddenly.

"Why… yes."

At my admission, hot emotion darkened his eyes… triumph or relief, perhaps. I felt a brief flare of power so quickly reined in that I would have thought I'd imagined it but for the fact that Chami and Gryphon instantly moved forward to my side.

"He is like you," Gryphon said in a low voice. "More."

Another brief spurt of energy emanated from Thaddeus.

My brother had an amazing ability to shield or suppress his power, I realized, that cracked only when he felt strong emotions.

"Release your control, Thaddeus," I said quietly. "Let me reel you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I searched those eyes so like mine and wondered if he spoke true. Did Thaddeus really not know what he did? Did his power scare him so much that he was in denial? Or was it an unconscious suppression?

"Are there things different about you from other people?" I asked gently. "Can you hear things, see things others can't? jump farther, run faster? See better at night? Are you stronger than others?"

"How did you know?" Thaddeus whispered shakily.

"Because I'm the same way, as are Gryphon and Chami here."

Thaddeus expelled a trembling breath. "I thought I was going crazy these past several months. That maybe insanity ran in my genes. I'd always had an active imagination."

"No, it's very real," I assured him. "Insanity doesn't run in our blood," — at least I hoped it didn't—"but other things do. From the time I could remember, I was a little quicker, faster, stronger than others. Just slightly enough for it to pass as advanced physical development when I was young. But the abilities grew and blossomed beyond the point where they could be considered normal when I hit puberty at thirteen. I reached puberty later than other girls."

Thaddeus didn't say anything, just listened to me with hard attention.

"I always knew I was different, but never why until I met others like me a couple of weeks ago. Since then, my whole world has changed into one that is much more dangerous and deadly. But I have never been happier." I hesitated. "Do you want to know, really know, what you are?"

"What, not who," Thaddeus observed dispassionately. "Why were you outside my house?"

"I'd just discovered where you lived. I wanted to see if you were well."

"Why did you leave without making yourself known to me?"

"You were well, happy, loved. There was no need to disrupt your life."

"I was loved but not well. Not mentally," Thaddeus said. "And yes, I would like to know."

And so I told him. About the Monère, about Full Bloods and Mixed Bloods.

"You can shift into animal form?" Thaddeus asked, natural skepticism warring with a desire to believe.

I smiled. "Only some of us. I do not possess that ability, though Gryphon does."

Locking his eyes on Gryphon, Thaddeus demanded, "Show me."

"It would be easier to allow Chami to demonstrate his gift," I said, turning to the slender man beside me. "If you don't mind, Chami."

Chami grinned, bringing a wolfish cast to his sharp features. "Not at all, milady," he said and disappeared.

"Holy shit!" Thaddeus exclaimed, his face pale.

Chami reappeared and bowed with a flourish like an actor on stage.

"Thank you, Chameleo," I said, my lips twitching.

Thaddeus came to an abrupt decision. "Get me out of here."

"How long did the doctors want to keep you?" I asked cautiously.

"There's nothing wrong with me but for a broken arm and a mild concussion. They're only keeping me overnight because there was no one to observe me at home for twenty-four hours. They're getting a social worker involved tomorrow," Thaddeus said quietly.

That decided it. It would be much easier keeping him out of the system in the first place rather than trying to extricate him out of it later.

"You may have to sign out against medical advice," I warned.

"No," Thaddeus corrected. "As my sister and closest of kin, you will. You're over twenty-one, right?"

"I am twenty-one."

"Good enough," Thaddeus declared and depressed the call button to summon a nurse.

"Would you like to come live with me in New Orleans?" I asked.

"Come with me to my home," Thaddeus invited. "Let me spent the next few days with you and your other 'special friends' before I decide."

"All of them?" I asked.

Thaddeus nodded. "Yes. I'd like to meet them."

"All right," I agreed, liking his caution, wanting the opportunity to know this intelligent young man better.

"It's the full moon tomorrow," Gryphon reminded me quietly.

"Yes, I know. Even more reason," I said, remembering the thick woods behind Thaddeus's house.

A young nurse entered the room. "Did you need anything?" she inquired.

"Yes," I replied, taking charge. "I'm Thaddeus's sister. I'd like to sign him out of the hospital and take him home now."

"Oh. I didn't know he had a sister." Her forehead furrowed together in a frown. "I'll have to call Dr. Smith and let him know."

After her departure, I told Thaddeus, "I'll be right back. I need to call the others."

"No need," Thaddeus said. Reaching over into his bedside drawer, he handed me a cell phone.

He had to show me how to use it. I'd never had one. Why should I? There'd been no one for me to call before.

Aquila answered on the second ring and I explained the situation to him. "Pack up everything and check out of the hotel. We'll be staying with my brother." I gave him Thaddeus's address and telephone number, and after a brief aside to Thaddeus, his cell phone number as well.

"How old are the others?" Thaddeus asked curiously after I handed the cell phone back to him.

"Aquila and Tomas are much older than you and I. But Jamie is nineteen and his sister, Tersa, is twenty-four. They're Mixed Bloods like us, but more like humans. We're three-quarters Monère, only a quarter human. You'll meet them and their mother, Rosemary, later. "

A gray-haired doctor entered the room, brusque and abrupt. "I've got to get back to an admission in the ER," he said to me. "What's this about you claiming to be my patient's sister? He told me quite plainly this morning that he had no other family."

The doctor eyed Gryphon and Chami with frank suspicion and didn't look too kindly upon me, either, despite my most winsome smile.

"I'm his half sister. We share the same father. Different mothers. That's why he didn't think to call me until later," I told him, concentrating fiercely on appearing trustworthy to the bristling doctor.

"So he hardly knows you," Dr. Smith said, shaking his head.

"Sorry. I'm not going to let a near-stranger waltz out with my patient even if you are who you claim you are. You can deal with the social worker tomorrow."

I was in front of him before he could turn to go, capturing him with my eyes. "You see no reason why Thaddeus cannot leave under my care," I murmured as my power strummed the air.

"I see no reason why Thaddeus cannot leave under your care," Dr. Smith repeated obediently.

"I am an experienced nurse and can monitor him just as well at home." I said.

The doctor parroted, "You're an experienced nurse and can monitor him just as well at home."

My voice was a low, hypnotic whisper. "You feel happy and reassured that your young patient has family who will take care of him, and will go sign the orders immediately for his discharge." I released him.

Dr. Smith blinked and smiled at us. "I'll go and take care of the orders right now. The nurse will give you the rest of the instructions and sign you out. Make sure you follow up in one week with an orthopedist to ensure that the arm is healing well. Good luck, young man." He strode from the room.

I couldn't look at Thaddeus. Could do nothing but let the silence thicken in that sterile room.

"Wow," Thaddeus said. "Will I be able to do that someday?"

I looked up into his excited eyes. There was no fear, no horror. My smile of relief was dazzling. "Maybe."

Twenty minutes later the five of us piled into the limo, Thaddeus sitting in the front passenger seat so his cast-encased arm wouldn't be jostled, Chami and Amber in the second row, and Gryphon and I taking the back seats.

"Cool ride," Thaddeus said.

"We're borrowing it for the moment," I said.

"You grow stronger," Gryphon murmured in an undertone too low for Thaddeus to hear.

"What do you mean?" I breathed back.

"You are not fatigued."

And I realized with sudden shock that he was right. There was none of that drained feeling, none of the tired shakiness that usually plagued me afterward. The expenditure of energy had cost me nothing. And I wondered just what that meant. I was growing stronger. But why? What had caused it. For that matter, I wasn't sure exactly if I liked it. Some people might crave power, but I'd never been one of them.

That dark force inside me stirred and stretched and blinked at me with bright gleaming eyes. Soon, it promised before it went back to its patient slumber.

No, I thought with a dry mouth. I didn't crave power. I feared it.

Thaddeus returned to morose somberness when we entered the house he had grown up in. It was even more beautiful inside than out, with large windows, raised ceilings, and thin oriental rugs thrown over a parquet floor. The burnished mahogany wood of the staircase was echoed by matching mahogany molding trimming the upper walls. There was a cozy lived-in clutter to the house—a bowl of change by the side table alongside unopened mail, a blue quilted jacket hanging over the end of the banister.

"I thought I'd feel better at home," Thaddeus said. "But home is people, not just a place. Christ, I can't believe they're gone." He surreptitiously wiped his face with his fingers.

"Come on," Thaddeus said, his voice rough as he climbed the stairs. "I'll show you the guest rooms."

The sound of a car pulling into the driveway drew us back downstairs.

"Go ahead and help carry our luggage in," I said to Amber and Gryphon, shooing them out the door.

"Aren't you scared of him?" Thaddeus asked me quietly, once we were alone. I knew to whom he referred. Upon first meeting the towering Amber, Thaddeus had flickered briefly with power. He had quickly doused it but the taste of it had been enough to widen Amber's eyes with surprise.

Amber?" I replied. 'He's a gentle teddy bear."

A dark brow arched up in a gesture so like mine that it stole my breath.

"With you, maybe," Thaddeus said dryly. "Not with others, I bet."

Jamie, Tersa, and Rosemary trudged in loaded down with bags, Tomas and Aquila entered behind them, carrying trunks of luggage followed by Amber and Gryphon who hauled in even more stuff so that it filled the entry hall.

I made the introductions and watched Thaddeus juggle the sleeping arrangements around in his head before suggesting, "Tersa and Rosemary can sleep with me in the guest room. The other men can bed down in the library, if that's okay with you, Thaddeus." The library called up images of nineteenth-century elegance, with large, commodious wing chairs and dark-toned wood paneling. Chairs and side tables invited one to linger and read. But more importantly, the library had a closing door and thick curtains. Left unspoken was the tacit agreement to leave his parents' bedroom untouched.

Thaddeus nodded jerkily in assent and moved to help the others settle in.

Stopping me with a light touch, Tomas said in his soft drawl, "Milady, I thought I should tell you, I felt another Monère's presence for a brief moment when we left the hotel. I kept my senses open coming here but didn't feel it again."

A cold prickle of unease raised the tiny hairs of my forearm. I glanced at Gryphon and Aquila and saw that they had heard. They drew near.

"Could it have been one of Mona Sera's men?" I asked Gryphon.

"Perhaps," Gryphon said slowly. "We are in her territory."

I looked at Aquila. "Could it be Sandoor?"

Aquila stroked his neat Van Dyke beard thoughtfully. "He has never moved far from the Minnesota forests of Koochiching territory. But he's never had reason to before."

"It's a long way from Minnesota to New York," I observed.

"True," Aquila said. "But it is an easy enough matter to take money from humans and acquire a car. We took his Queen from him. So now he must find another, preferably a young Queen more easily controlled. You are not only the youngest but also the newest Queen."

"But not so easily controlled," I said darkly. "Would he be foolish enough to try for me?"

"He is desperate," Aquila replied. "But as you say, New York is a far distance from Minnesota. He may have chosen to go north into Canada and Tomas may indeed have just sensed one of Mona Sera's men. Still, I would suggest that everyone, you especially, milady, take adequate precautions and be on close guard."

I nodded in agreement and smiled wryly at Amber and Gryphon's carefully blank looks. "Warn the others. We'll follow whatever security measures you, Lord Amber, and Lord Gryphon deem necessary," I told Aquila. "It would be foolish of me to be careless when I have only just found my brother."

"Thank the dear Mother for that," Amber muttered.

I pretended to not to hear that and left the men to their planning.

Catching a familiar delicious aroma, I let my nose lead the way to the bright kitchen. It was decorated in the casual ambience of country, with pale frame-and-panel cabinetry, wainscoting, and plank flooring. Thaddeus and Jamie were just biting into gooey slices of pizza. I snagged a plate, slipped a hot slice onto it, and took a bite.

"Umm. It's good," I mumbled.

"Not bad for something organic and frozen. Mom made me eat this stuff instead or the fresh kind," Thaddeus said quietly.

"She loved you very much," I said.

"Yeah."

We chewed in quiet reflection for a bit.

"I'm going to have to make arrangements for them tomorrow," Thaddeus said. "The funeral and burial."

"I'll help you," I offered.

His lips spasmed. "Thank you," he said roughly.

Thaddeus turned to Jamie. "Have you lived among the Monère all your life?" He listened with interest as Jamie detailed his life-growing up at High Court.

"You never went to school?" Thaddeus asked with disbelief.

The information shocked me as well.

"No. Tersa and I were tutored by a Learned One in the basics until we were sixteen. Reading, writing, math," Jamie said. "The rest I gleamed from books and television. We were the only ones who had one. A television, that is. Had to get a satellite dish installed to get any reception up there."

"So you've never been to a city before?" I said.

"Never been anywhere," Jamie said with a grimace. "Manhattan was amazing. Those huge buildings that scraped the sky. And all those people, everywhere you turned. I never really knew how many of them there were," he exclaimed with bug-eyed amazement, making Thaddeus and I smile.

"Would you like to go to school, Jamie," I asked.

"I don't know," he said thoughtfully. "Tersa would, I know. But I'm not sure about myself."

"I'll talk to her about it then. What grade are you in, Thaddeus?"

"I'll graduate from high school this year," my brother answered.

"Skipped a couple of grades, did you?" I said, lifting a brow.

Thaddeus's lips twisted sardonically. It cast his features into sharp prominence, giving me a brief glimpse of the handsome man he would become. "My body developed slowly. Not my mind."

"So you'll be starting college soon. Any idea which one you wish to attend?" I asked.

"I've been accepted into both Harvard and Yale," he said quietly. "Mom and Dad were so proud."

"That's an amazing opportunity," I forced myself to say. "If you wish to go, I'll pay for your tuition. You could come to New Orleans on vacations and during the summer."

"That's generous of you, but Mom and Dad already put enough away in my education fund to cover everything. I haven't decided yet where I'll go. We'll see."

That night, if some of us heard a few sniffs, a few half-muffled sobs, we didn't comment on it.

Thaddeus was up at noon the next day, his quiet movements downstairs drawing me from my own bed. I silently dressed in the jeans and T-shirt I had reverted back to, and slipped out the room, leaving Tersa and Rosemary still fast asleep.

Thaddeus's eyes were grim and reddened and the skin around them puffy, but his voice was steady as he called and made arrangements to have his parents' bodies transported to a local funeral home. He arranged to meet with the funeral director in an hour to discuss funeral and burial arrangements, contacted the family attorney and scheduled an appointment with him several hours later. There were numerous other details to take care of and he handled them all with a confidence and maturity far beyond his years. He gathered information on how to obtain copies of the death certificate that he would need from the hospital, typed up a moving account of his parents' lives and accomplishments, and faxed it to the funeral director who in turn would pass it to the local newspaper to use in the obituary notice.

Remembering my promise, I awoke Amber and Gryphon and let them know Thaddeus and I were going out. Amber accompanied us while Gryphon remained behind with the others.

We swung by the medical center to pick up the copies of the death certificates first, then went on to the funeral home. Thaddeus chose the most expensive coffins and plots, and decided upon a closed-coffin arrangement. I he memorial service and burial were to be held the day after tomorrow. When the solemn-faced funeral director discreetly inquired about payment, Thaddeus pulled out a credit card and paid for everything in full.

"You didn't really need me," I murmured back in the car.

"It helped having you there, as well as the big guy. One look at him and nobody's going to try and take advantage of me just because I'm a kid."

Amber stoically ignored Thaddeus's comment.

The visit to the lawyer's office was just as efficiently handled. Mr. Compton, an attorney who specialized in estate planning, was a short, portly older gentleman, his lined, wise face one you instantly trusted. He had a copy of the Schiffer's will. To no one's surprise, it left everything to Thaddeus.

Thaddeus read and signed the various papers the lawyer put before him.

"A wise man, your father," Mr. Compton said, his fingers laced precisely on top of the will he had just read. "He had his affairs nicely in order. The house and car are paid off and your parents both had current life insurance policies and healthy retirement portfolios, all of which name you sole beneficiary. I'll just need ten copies of the death certificate before I can get started on the paperwork allowing you access to these funds and submit the claims to the life and car insurance companies."

Mr. Compton expressed no surprise when Thaddeus quietly handed him the copies of his parents death certificates.

"Efficient like your father," the lawyer said gruffly. "The government will take a sizable chunk out of your inheritance with the death tax, but not nearly the amount it would have taken, which would have been half, had your father not had the foresight to plan things. He came to me, you know, when he first adopted you. You made him—both of them—very happy."

Tears welled up in Thaddeus's eyes and only by sheer dint of will did not overflow. "Thank you, sir."

"You have access to a joint checking account in you and your father's name, do you not?" Mr. Crompton asked.

"Yes."

"Let me know if you need more," Mr. Crompton said. "It'll take several months for probate to clear."

"That's very kind of you, Mr. Crompton, but I have more than enough to meet my needs for now."

"Thaddeus."

"Yes, sir?"

"Your father was a friend as well as a client," the lawyer said with kind sincerity. "If you need anything, call me."

The moon was round and full, hanging like a pale globe in the sky as the ebbing day flowed like silver to the west. The others were already up and about when we returned, the men dressed and fully armed.

"Holy Christ!" Thaddeus exclaimed as Amber returned from the library with his own very long sword dangling at his side. "Is that a sword?"

"It's a Great Sword."

I wasn't sure if Thaddeus was more surprised by the weapon or by the fact that Amber had finally spoken to him.

"Can I get one of those?" Thaddeus asked.

Amber grunted noncommittally, heading for the kitchen.

"Was that a yes?" Thaddeus asked me.

"I think it was a maybe," I said, hiding my grin.

Aquila and Amber slipped quietly outside the back door.

"They're going to patrol the neighborhood and secure a good area for Basking tonight," Gryphon said, answering my silent query.

"Will you and Amber Bask, now that you no longer need to?" I asked.

"We no longer need to, but we would like do," Gryphon replied softly. "It is a joyous feeling when the light enters you, is it not?"

"Yes," I answered. But inwardly, frustration and worry seethed within me at the importune timing. It was as if even the very elements were conspiring to show Thaddeus how different we were, how foreign, how other. Even the moon.

How would Thaddeus react to the Basking? With wonder or fear? Would he feel left out? For that matter, how did Tersa and Jamie feel watching others experience what they would never know? Thaddeus might, one day, if his power grew, if he no longer suppressed it.

There was so much I hadn't told my brother. Our mother, for one thing. Wisely, he hadn't asked, perhaps sensing that if there had been anything good to tell, I would have told him already. I also hadn't mentioned the demon dead to him. There were enough frightening wonders Thaddeus had already witnessed in this short period of time.

"Can we? Can we, Mona Lisa?" Jamie asked, pulling me from my reverie. Thaddeus and Tersa were beside him, their eager, young faces all turned to me.

"What? I wasn't paying attention," I said.

"Chami agreed to instruct Thaddeus and the rest of us in the proper handling of a dagger if we had your consent," Tersa informed me. She spoke so rarely, much less asked anything, that I hated to deny her.

I looked to Thaddeus. "I'd hate to scar up the floor or damage anything in the house."

Thaddeus waved the objection away. "We'll practice in the living room. It's carpeted. And we'll be careful."

He looked so eager. "Very well…"

They whooped.

"… if you all promise to be very careful."

"Don't worry, little mother," Chami said, leaning like a slender shadow against the doorframe. "I'll take good care of them."

"I'll watch to ensure you do," I replied.

"Good. Maybe you'll learn something as well," Chami tossed cheekily over his shoulder.

I snarled and trailed after the excited kids.

"It's not just cut and slash, but an art," Chami lectured, as serious as any professor of academia once we were all assembled before him. Rosemary had been persuaded to join us as well, without too much protest. Tomas and Gryphon sprawled lazily on the sofa beside me, silent observers.

"You will be going up against warriors who have had basic knife training, years of experience behind them, and greater strength. The only way you can hope to defeat them is by being better. You must go beyond basic techniques and become masters of the blade," Chami told his enthralled students. "Fortunately you have a rare master artist up to the task, and at your disposal."

Chami ignored my impolite snort and began with the proper way of holding a dagger. It was review for the others but new and necessary information for Thaddeus. Rosemary, Tersa, and Jamie had their knives in hand. I bent down and took out my dagger, sliding it from its sheath where it had been concealed with handle downward for easy grasping, along the outside of my boot. I caught a look of surprise on Thaddeus's face. I shrugged as I passed him the blade to use. I went nowhere unarmed.

"Holding your dagger properly is one of the most essential fundamentals," Chami admonished. "For an underhand strike you should grasp the hilt with your forefinger just slightly below the guard, squeezing firmly with your fingers, with the thumb across the forefinger overlapping onto the middle finger. Wrist firm, but not tense. If you hold it correctly, it will feel as if the blade is an extension of your hand."

Chami demonstrated then had the others try.

"Don't hold it too tightly," Chami instructed Tersa. "Much better," he said as she corrected her grip. "Too tightly and you lessen your flexibility and actually reduce your strength, but it must be tight enough so that your opponent cannot easily knock it out of your hand."

Chami demonstrated the reverse grip for a downward strike. "Eventually, you'll be able to switch grips quickly," he said, flipping the knife in the air and catching it easily in a different grasp. He grinned and winked at the boys. "But don't try that just yet."

When Chami was finally satisfied that they all knew how to hold their weapons correctly, they were ready to move to the next step. After some creative rummaging, we ended up securing two pillows in front of a wooden sled Thaddeus had dug out of the garage. The sled's metal rungs were padded with towels and propped securely against the massive stone hearth of the fireplace. The stones would be less likely than the walls to show signs of damage.

"Are you certain you are willing to sacrifice these pillows?" Chami asked Thaddeus with mock solemnness, marker in hand.

"It's for a good cause," Thaddeus replied blandly. His added aside, "Besides, I won't be using them," made Jamie snicker and Tersa actually giggle.

At the go-ahead, Chami drew the outline of a man's chest, ribs, stomach, and neck on the pillow.

"Where would you strike, Rosemary?"

"'Over the heart?" she answered uncertainly.

"Here?" Chami asked, pointing to the center of the chest.

Rosemary nodded.

"A good supposition but not correct. Can anyone tell me why not?"

"Too many bones," Thaddeus said. "The sternum's right there and then there are the ribs."

"Ah, very good, young master Thaddeus."

Thaddeus flushed with pleasure at Chami's praise.

Chami drew the outline of the sternum onto the pillow. "The sternum and ribs, the body's bony armor around its most crucial organs, the heart and lungs. But the lungs are not our primary target. Only striking the heart will possibly kill one of us, and only with a silver blade," he explained to Thaddeus. "Those who have the strength to break through the ribs to the heart should strike the left side where the major mass of the heart lies. Where would you suggest striking, Thaddeus, for those of us with lesser strength?"

"Just below the sternum. Upward into the heart," was Thaddeus's thoughtful reply.

"Correct," Chami said, pleased. He drew the outline of the heart over the sternum and marked the spot to enter. "Down here, where it is soft and unprotected, angled up forty-five degrees into the heart, just so." He demonstrated with the marker. "Then a quick sweep inside to the left and then right so that if you miss the heart, at least you'll sever the great vessels connected just below. That will put your opponent out of commission enough for you to either escape or finish the kill."

Chami made them find the spot just below the sternal notch, first on themselves, then on a partner, pairing the two women together and Thaddeus up with Jamie.

Jamie made a horrible gurgling sound and bent over as Thaddeus stabbed him with a finger. Rosemary exchanged a smiling look with her daughter that plainly said, Boys will be boys.

"Having established that proper knife work is an art," Chami continued, "for practical purposes, we shall begin with the basic slash and stab. Slashing with your leading unarmed hand at your opponent's eyes, followed immediately by stabbing with the knife hand into his left side or, if you are able, up beneath the sternum. Angle your body. Feet shoulder-length apart, and knees bent like so, holding your knife close to your chest protectively so that it is hard to kick or grab." He demonstrated the stance.

"Never lead with your knife hand and leave an open target out there for your enemy. That stupidity you will only see on TV where we want the bad guy—who always happens to be threatening the good guy with a knife, of course—to lose. No, the only time we extend the knife is when we are using it, otherwise it is held back protectively against your low chest.

"The target for the open leading hand is your opponent's eyes. But it is not important that you actually strike the eyes—though that would be ideal—so much as you impair your opponent's vision in any way. Such as by throwing dirt into his eyes, a towel, or just thrusting your ringers toward the eyes and causing them to close in reflex. Practice going in hard, with full force. Lead hand strike. Knife hand thrust. Like so."

Chami pounced into the pillow mannequin, fingers stabbing the eyes and thrusting the other hand with savage force into the left chest, again and again.

They watched the impressive, lethal display with wide eyes, all sense of play sobered by the deadly reality of what they were learning.

"Stab, remove. Stab, remove, for as many times as you can. Keep striking until your opponent is down. Then finish the kill by removing the heart or, far more easier, the head."

Not exactly a pretty bedtime story, I thought, deliberately suppressing my guilt, but we lived now in a scary, deadly world.

Amber and Aquila returned from their outside reconnaissance and settled down in the other sofa to watch with the rest of us as Chami took the others through their paces.

"Harder," Chami told Rosemary. "Think of it like a frozen steak you have to stab through," he told the cook, and had her repeat the thrust-strike move until he was satisfied with the force of her lead and follow-up blows.

Stuffing popped out from the stabbed pillows and was quickly repaired with masking tape, over and over again. If it was play, it was deadly, earnest play.

When they were all comfortable with the maneuver, Chami had them sit and rest while he continued lecturing. "That was the face-to-face approach. A more ideal approach is from the back, which would be much better for you ladies. For us all, actually. It is easier to kill someone when you do not have to look into their eyes. Rear take-outs are taught all the time to soldiers.

"The optimal entrance into the spinal cord is through the base of the skull. With a rear attack, you place your free hand down hard over your opponent's mouth or chin and pull down as you thrust the knife through to the front of the neck. Do not worry about him trying to bite him. Believe me, when your blade is slicing through him, biting you will be the last thing he thinks of."

Chami turned to me. "Milady, if you will help me demonstrate." I went reluctantly forward to play his intended victim, not a task I would have volunteered for. Facing away from him, I waited for his move. Chami struck with a quickness and strength that was quite frightening, in truth. His hand was suddenly there over my mouth and yanking me back as he thrust two fingers, simulating a knife, into the base of my skull. Sheesh, I'd have had no chance.

Having demonstrated what he wanted, Chami had them pair up once more and practice the move first on themselves, using their fingers as he had done. Then, turning over the pillows and drawing a new rear target, he had them try it with real knives, taking great pains to ensure that they did not stab their own hands.

More stuffing flew out.

"He's good with them," Gryphon murmured to me.

"That's because he's a child himself," I said, sotto voce.

"I heard that," Chami said. "No appreciation."

"You appreciate yourself enough for all of us," I retorted.

"You wound me, my Queen."

I snorted. "After that demonstration? Not likely."

Chami finally called a halt to the practice. "Enough for today."

"That was cool," Thaddeus said, handing me back my knife in the correct manner, blade pointing away from me.

"Come on, Jamie," Thaddeus said, the two of them totally at ease with each other now. "Let's go surf the Internet. I want to check out how much a dagger like that costs and where I can one."

"You're hooked up to the Internet? Awesome!" Jamie exclaimed, trailing up the stairs after Thaddeus like an eager puppy.

Gryphon and Thomas left to make their rounds outside as Tersa and Rosemary went into the kitchen, chatting about what they had learned. Above it all, I felt the fullness of the moon calling, beckoning us. We could be answering its summons soon.

Chami plopped himself down beside me. "Your turn."

"Mine?"

"Try calling your knives to your hand," Chami said softly.

I stood up reluctantly, knowing he was right. Many of the things I had done had been in the heat of battle. Some, like channeling the energy through my hand and searing Miles's flesh, I doubted I could reproduce. Unless I was fighting, power and the use of power made me uncomfortable. Still, I needed to know if I could call my knife to me reliably, as I had called Mona Louisa's blade when she had tried to stab Gryphon.

I concentrated. The silver dagger came easily to hand. Nothing happened, though, with my non-silver dagger.

"How do you call the silver dagger?" Chami asked.

"I think of silver. How it tastes, smells, feels in my hand."

"Do the same with your other dagger."

I brought the blade close to my nose, inhaled the faint metallic smell, stuck my tongue out and licked the blade, concentrated on the weight of the dagger, how it felt in my grasp. I resheathed it along the outside of my boot, and knelt down with my hand a foot away and concentrated.

It came to my call.

"Nice," Chami said. "Try it standing up."

A more concentrated effort but still it came. I felt the force of it as it left my boot.

Amber, who had remained with us, watching, handed me his forty-inch Great Sword. With my strength, the weight was not a problem so much as getting used to the feel and balance of the larger weapon. The smell was unique and the taste different from other metals—old, with the smell of ancient battle and spilt blood, as if it had absorbed some of its prey's pain and power.

I laid the sword on the glass coffee table, stepped back, and called it. It flew to my hand like a deadly giant winged bird, hilt first.

"Give me your silver dagger," Amber said and walked to stand with the distance of the room between us, about thirty feet. "Gall it to you."

A pulse of power and it flew to my hand, straight and true.

"Wow," Jamie said from the stairs where he and Thaddeus watched with fascination. The small surges of power had probably drawn them down.

"I've never seen anyone do that before," Jamie said.

"That's because no one else can," Chami said dryly. "Try my knife." He tossed his silver stiletto to Amber, who snatched it from the air.

With a burst of concentration, I called it to me. Silver blades seemed to be no problem. I tossed it back to Chami and he snatched it with an easy flick of his wrist, sheathing it.

"Not too bad," Chami said.

"Not bad? That was amazing!" Thaddeus exclaimed.

"You must familiarize yourself with all of our knives, milady," Chami said, "so that you can call any of them to you should the need arise."

"It's a good suggestion, Chami, but some other night," I said quietly and sank down onto the beige sectional sofa.

Chami acquiesced to my wishes with a nod, seeming to sense my discomfort at being the core of attention, and drew the boys' interest from me with an impressive display of twirling stiletto play.

If Jamie and Thaddeus felt the edginess restlessness, the eager anticipation the rest of us felt as the witching hour of the full moon brushed nearer, they showed no signs of it.

When it was almost midnight, Chami asked, "Would you like me to speak to your brother about tonight?"

"Please," I said gratefully.

Chami explained Basking to Thaddeus in his simple didactic manner, much the same way he had discussed dagger-fighting techniques.

"Any questions?" I asked Thaddeus after he had digested the information.

"No. I'd like to see it."

That was good. We needn't spare anyone then to guard Thaddeus, Jamie and Tersa. They could be there with us, close enough to protect during the ceremony.