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She stood when she saw me. "I came alone," she said. "Alone. Nobody is with me. No one is anywhere near. I didn't even tell them where I was going. I started driving as soon as I heard."

"Well, now, this is interesting," I said. "And you've made a very stupid mistake. Because how can the others possibly mount an assault on me to free Amel, if you are no longer the captain of the team?"

She didn't answer.

"You're in grave danger is what I'm trying to tell you," I said.

"Please don't take this tack," she said calmly.

I honestly didn't know what to say.

Then Amel spoke up.

Let her help you.

She couldn't hear Amel, of course, but Thorne and Cyril had heard him, and they exchanged glances.

"Let her help!" Amel shouted at me. Thorne and Cyril stared at me as if I were a ghost, or he were a ghost inside me.

Still I didn't know what to say. But Fareed had just come in and Seth was with him, and Gregory was right behind them and so was Marius. Gremt was there and Teskhamen and David as well.

In a moment, they had surrounded us.

"I want to help," she said again. "I know you're going to try something, and if it isn't dangerous, it's not likely to work."

Four a.m. The great clocks of the Chateau were chiming, not one in sync with another it seemed. Time for me to leave.

"You make up your minds on it. Her old friend from Atalantaya says to let her help. I'm going down now. Whatever you decide, you'll let me know."

Of course I could still hear them talking when I was safe belowstairs as I lay there in the dark.

I could hear Armand's voice now as well, and Marius's voice and now and then even Kapetria, though it was very difficult to hear her, as I had to hear her through them. Gradually I put together the picture: they were taking her to the inn to spend the night. Fareed was doing the talking. And mortals spied on them from behind closed blinds.

"Do you think it's going to work?" I asked Amel.

"If she helps," he said, "there's a better chance."

"And why is that?"

"Because she can recognize the signs of things that Fareed might not recognize. Don't underestimate her senses. If you begin to die, really die--that is, if the process of irreversible cellular death commences--she'll restart your heart."

"Hmmm. Irreversible cellular death. That's a mouthful."

"Not for me."

I laughed. "You're not the least bit worried about this experiment, are you?"

"No," he said. "I don't see why you should die. Your own etheric vampire brain and body will simply wait for you to be revived--even if I am detached and forced out when your heart stops."

"Mon Dieu!"

"Don't be concerned," he said. "Not likely to happen. I'm more than likely to remain locked into the blood as I've always been! There were moments of horror and despair when I tried with all my will to detach from Mekare. I could never do it. Now think on this.--Imagine if the body of Akasha had been frozen, or the body of Mekare. All the tribe might have been disconnected; but I'd have been locked inside her, unable to rise, until the host was unfrozen, and the heart started to beat again."

"So that's all it would have taken--ever--to disconnect the tribe from the host?"

"Maybe," he said. "But who knew?"

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