We were okay until we found Alice's body. Sure, there had been an obvious fight, the fence had been torn open in several places, there were splashes of blood on the ground, but... really, I was okay until we found her head.

While Marc supported Jessica as she threw up in the chokecherry bushes (he was pale, but had seen so much death as a doctor, even this couldn't make him sick) and I swayed dizzily on my feet,

(don't faint don't faint don't faint QUEENS DON'T FAINT!)

Tina and Sinclair prowled the area like vampiric bloodhounds, finding arms, legs, both halves of a torso.

"This is maybe a dumb question," Marc began, smoothing Jessica's tight black cap of curls and letting her lean on his shoulder.

(don't faint don't faint don't faint)

Tina shook her head. "There's no chance of regeneration. Absolutely none. Frankly, I'd be amazed if the queen could handle this kind of punishment. My queen?" Her voice sharpened. "Are you all right?"

"Of course she's all right," Sinclair said, squatting to examine another body part. "Queens don't faint."

"Damn right! Look, Alice is obviously dead. What are you poking around for?"

"Oh, this and that," he said vaguely. "I'm a little puzzled by the condition of the corpse."

"I was thinking that exact thing," Tina added.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, but they were ignoring me and having their own conversation.

"Did you call - "

"Already done, my king."

"Excellent."

"Ah, and a mysterious van of vampires will show up and dispose of all the evidence," Jessica managed, wiping her mouth.

"More or less."

"I think we should go back now, can we please go back home now?"

Sinclair looked at Garrett with obvious distaste. "What makes you think it's safe?"

"I-I don't think they'd stay. Not if they couldn't find... her."

Okay, so Garrett wasn't exactly being the stand-up guy you read about in romance novels. But I felt sorry for him - it couldn't have been much fun getting the crap stomped out of him by half a dozen pissed off vampires, vampires he'd tried to help, and then come home to tell Sinclair what he'd done.

Sinclair didn't understand about fear, how it ate your guts, and how nobody came off like they did in the movies. He'd claimed, on occasion, to have feared for my safety, but frankly, I doubted it.

"Even if they are still there, it's our home, and a bunch of jerkoff vampires aren't keeping me out of it. I mean, you explained that to me once already, Sinclair. How we're not worthy of our crowns if our people can't find us."

"Yay, Queen Betsy," Jessica said.

"But they're sure as shit keeping you two out of it," Marc teased.

"Boo, Queen Betsy."

The argument raged all the way back home.