Dria hangs up the phone and focuses her keen gaze on me. "Well, Jon, do you have the courage to eat the heart of your enemy or do you plan on staring at it for a while?"

You've got to be fucking kidding me. She wants me to eat his freakin' heart?

"Yes, Jon. That's exactly what I want you to do. When you kill a vamp you have an opportunity to ingest some of his or her power. Eating his heart will be the best route for a werewolf. As a vampire, I'd drink his blood-drain him dry if I were looking for the power boost." Her nose curls up in disgust. "Which I'm not. This bastard smells ripe with all kinds of crazy and addiction. I'll never be that hungry again, thank you very much."

The fresh blood from the recent kill fills my head, as the disgusting suggestion to devour his heart twists my gut. In wolf form I've eaten an animal's internal organs without a second's pause. Why does the thought of complying with her suggestion leave me disgusted?

Maybe because the bastard was human at one point? After all, you'd never eat a wolf, would you?

"That would depend on how hungry you were." Her cold eyes offer no reassurances. "You may not ever be that hungry, Jon. It's a different time we live in than just one hundred years ago." Her stare hardens and her mouth thins into a firm line. "Do it. Now."

I lower my muzzle to the warm organ. The smell of blood and slaughtered flesh fills my head and constricts my throat.

"Don't let the thoughts linger in your mind and take hold. This is not a life or death decision. This is an alpha protecting those weaker than him-growing stronger to keep doing so."

I close my eyes, clamp my nostrils closed, and gulp down the heart in one bite, not bothering to chew. The slick mass slides to my stomach, sitting like a hard weight in my middle.

I open my eyes to see her watching me, perhaps wondering if I'll puke it up and make an ass out of myself.

"Good. The power surge will hit you as it digests. Gross, I know, but one day you'll thank me for it."

Somehow I seriously doubt that, but I keep my thoughts locked down tight, trying to avoid what she called my projecting.

Her head tilts to the side as her stare intensifies. "Good. You're getting better at calming your thoughts." She walks to my side and kneels. "We're going to have a rough couple of hours ahead of us, are you going to be able to handle it? Before you agree, let me tell you what's going to happen." Her hand reaches out and stokes my fur. "I can't 'cure' a vampire of their addiction." Her gaze drifts to the wall as her rhythmic petting soothes my jittery stomach. "There is a way I could alter their thoughts... but it won't change their long term addiction in the end. This means the worst cases will have to die-here, tonight."

She stands, her comforting touch vanishes, leaving me with a feeling of coldness in its absence.

"It won't be pretty. It may haunt your nightmares for years. But there is no other choice." She pats me once on the head. "I won't think less of you if you need to go to the car."

A low growl rumbles in my throat. I will not be hightailing it out of here because things turn difficult. I knew going in this wasn't going to be easy. If I'm honest with myself, there was really no other way to end the evil that resides in this house. But if I'd known I was going to have to eat a heart I might have balked at joining her.

Dria's lip turns up at the end. "Okay, wolfman, you made your decision. If you change your mind later I won't hold it against you. Cold-blooded killing isn't for everyone, but I promise to make things quick."

Her delicate nose wrinkles as she glances back at the headless corpse. "Dammit. I will have to take a sip from him to ensure the killing is done swiftly." Showing none of the hesitation or inner turmoil I faced a few moments ago, she daintily leans over the body and dips two fingers in the pooling blood. She pops the stained digits into her mouth and licks them clean, her face twisting at the tainted taste.

"Ugh. I've definitely tasted better, that's for sure."

Dria rises and sits again on the vacant chair. She closes her eyes and in a moment her face appears relaxed and serene. After a few heart beats, she opens her eyes, catching me staring at her.

"His blood is in all the wolves here. Their blood is in all of the visiting vampires. It couldn't have been more perfect for what I need to do. I can twist the connection to suit my plans without ever having met the addicts." She glances at her watch. "Come, let's get this over with. Rafe will be here soon and I'd rather have this part behind us when he arrives."

She opens the office door, revealing a shocked Tara huddled in the hallway. "Something is different," she says, the fear leaving her voice as she ventures to stand. "My mind is starting to clear."

Dria nods. "Yes. The nightmare is over for your pack. Go to where Cecil imprisoned your alphas and free them. Give them the drink that restores their blood and strength." Tara nods, her eyes as big as saucers. "How many 'guests' came to the house tonight?"

"Five."

"Good. Gather every wolf you encounter to the large building out back. We'll be there when we can."

"What about the wolves upstairs already with vampires?"

Dria reaches out a hand and places it on Tara's arm. Instantly the woman quiets. "Don't you worry. I'll get them out."

Tara scurries toward the back of the house. Dria watches her leave and strides toward the front entrance. Her high heels ring out across the wood with each step. In a moment we're in the main foyer, facing the first room Tara showed us. The lounge contains one vampire mingling with three wolves. Wolves that look like they are waking from a long sleep.

"Jon, take them outside and return to me."

The Weres look to me, and I swing my head to the front door. Without a word they move as one to the exit. The man sitting in the room is the one Cecil called Nathaniel last week, the one who tasted Raine against her will while the others watched.

Curiously, he doesn't move and doesn't speak as I herd the Weres outside. I pause on the threshold, the retreating Weres safely in front of me, and glance back to see what Dria will do.

"Close your eyes, Jon."

Before I have a chance to process the request, and decide to follow her command or ignore it, Nathaniel's head explodes, showering the room in blood and bits of gore. Horror and shock roll through me as I stare at the redheaded vampire.

Oh my God. What is this woman I've pledged myself to? Is she simply a vampire or something more? What is this unleashed power Dria wields?

"I told you not to look." She turns to face me. A calm detachment on her face. "Four more to go. Why don't you go grab your clothes from the car and assist me as a man? It will be easier for you to help the Weres upstairs."

Without giving her a gesture of understanding, I race out the door, feeling as if the hounds of hell were on my heels. I never imagined a vampire could do such a thing to another of its kind and wonder why no one has mentioned it. Granted, we didn't talk about vampires a lot in Manitoba, but surely if all of them could kill like that there'd be fewer vampires in the world, right?

The heat of the night warps around me as I crouch next to the rented car. The hushed crying and whispers of the wolves standing in the gravel drive reach me, pulling me out of my thoughts to the here and now.

I reach for the physical change, picturing my human form in my mind. Flesh dissolves around me as the bones and muscles re-knit so fast in a wash of energy that I'm returned to man in the blink of an eye.

I rise from the gravel and open the back door, withdrawing the bag and grabbing my clothes with a speed I've never possessed. I slide the T-shirt over my head, then pull on jeans, apprehensive to face not only what waits for me inside the blood brothel, but to come to grips with exactly how I'm managing to move and change form as fast as I am.

It's the vampire heart, you twit. Guess you're digesting it faster than you'd bargained for.

My stomach clenches at the thought, the urge to hurl and dispel the vampire heart raging through my system.

"Who are you and what's going on?"

I turn and see the three wolves from inside, huddled next to each other a dozen feet away.

"I'm friends with Raine and came to help." Firming my resolve as I quiet my gut and return to the house. "Go care for your alphas. It will all be over soon."

I march up the steps, the picture of the exploding vampire head front and center in my thoughts. Will she kill them all the same way? Without even a fight? Is there honor in a battle that isn't fought but obliterated like a nuclear bomb?

Our government didn't stand and debate for years when they dropped the bomb on Japan, now did they? The only choice is usually the hardest to make.

Dria waits for me in the foyer, her head angled toward the stairs and what awaits us above. "Next time I tell you to close your eyes, listen."

I move to stand before her, meeting her green gaze without flinching. "If you can handle it, then so can I."

A sad smile curves her mouth. "You never forget your first massacre." Compassion spikes in her eyes for an instant before vanishing. "It will haunt you forever. I would have liked to spare you the pain."

"Being an alpha means I don't get to wear blinders when times are tough, right?"

"Yes, Jon."

"Well then, it's about time I face the world with my eyes wide open."

She nods and places a foot on the first stair. "There will be days you regret this decision. But, I understand." Dria looks over her shoulder and there's a sadness on her face. "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger."