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She stared out of the windshield, drumming her fingers on the dashboard in front of her. She thought about ignoring the question, then she sighed. “Over twenty years ago, Darius came to us for guidance, to see if we had any visions of the future that could help them in the war.”

“The war?”

“Yes, the Council has been involved in an ongoing war with the fire-demons for…”

“Fire-demons?”

“Jesus,” she muttered. “You know, this is going to take a long, long time if you keep interrupting me.”

“Sorry—go on.”

“Well, he saw Gina, decided he wanted her, and so he took her.”

“Took her?”

“Came back later that same night and abducted her from under our noses.” She scowled; it was over twenty years ago, but the memory still rankled.

“What did you do?”

“Took her back, of course.” Caleb said nothing and she flicked a glance at his face. “I didn’t have a choice,” she snapped.

“Hey, I never said anything, but why no choice?”

“I had a vision. I saw Darius take her life.”

“Well looks like you got that wrong.”

“No, I didn’t. He killed her.” She released her grip on the steering wheel and leaned back in her seat. “He killed her, and he saved her. Six months ago, Gina used the earth magic to save their daughter, a price had to be paid, and Gina’s life was forfeit. She would have died and been lost to us forever. Instead, Darius turned her into a vampire. Darius works for the Council, so now it’s sort of family.” She frowned. “In which case, I wonder where our welcoming committee is.”

“Who are we going to see?” Caleb asked. “Shapeshifters?”

“Not unless Kael is here. There aren’t any other shapeshifters—Kael’s the only one, the last of his people. I asked Catrin to organize something, set up a meeting with anyone who might be able to give me information. At a guess, we’ll probably be seeing vamps. God, I hate vampires.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re blood-sucking leeches.” Without waiting for him, she climbed out of the car and slammed the door. She leaned against the car bonnet; her arms folded across her chest, and hoped he’d get the message. No such luck.

He climbed out and came to stand beside her. “Your sister’s a vampire.”

“Gina’s different.”

“And Darius?”

“The biggest blood-sucking leech of them all.”

Caleb opened his mouth, then shut it again as a door across from them was flung open and three figures emerged—two women flanking Catrin's tall, slender figure. One of the women was Gina, the second Regan had never seen since she was a baby, but she knew immediately who she was, and her whole body stiffened.

Catrin caught sight of them and ran forward. She wrapped her arms around Regan and hugged her. Then she released her, turned to Caleb, and hugged him as well. He looked at Regan over the top of Catrin’s head, one eyebrow raised. Regan shrugged.

“Sorry,” Catrin said, “but it’s good to see you together.”

Gina stepped forward then and embraced Regan. She drew back. “Come and meet your niece.”

Regan hated to admit it, but she was nervous about this meeting. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she stared at the tall, slender woman who stood behind Gina. She had pale skin and long black hair, her eyes were witch’s eyes, but there was a strong look of her father in her face. Regan tried not to hold it against her.

She hadn’t seen Raven since she was a small baby, when Regan had handed her over to her father. She’d been invited to Raven’s wedding but had stayed away, certain she wouldn’t be welcomed by either the bride or the groom and not wanting to spoil the day.

Now she lifted her chin and kept her expression blank as she met the other woman’s gaze, but there was none of the expected hostility in Raven’s eyes. They were clear, curious, then she smiled, and Regan saw the flash of small, white fangs. Further evidence of who her father was.