The Renegade Hunter

"I guess I should make coffee then," Sam murmured standing up. When Jo glanced at her with surprise, she explained, "Jeanne Louise is young enough I gather she still eats and drinks."

"Oh," Jo murmured.

"There's no need for you to move, Sam," Bricker assured her. "Mortimer was putting the coffee on as I left, and the guys were helping him put together a tray of cookies too. In fact, I have to get back to help. You two just sit down and relax."

Jo and Sam watched him go, and then glanced at each other.

"Mortimer is domestic?" Jo asked with surprise.

"Mortimer does whatever needs doing," Sam said quietly. "He's good that way."

Jo nodded and wondered if Nicholas was like that too. He'd helped heat up pizza at Sam's apartment and had helped clean up her mess in the kitchen just a few moments ago, but she had no idea what he was like day to day. She supposed they still had a lot to learn about each other, and she just hoped she got the chance.

The sound of the front door opening made them both glance toward the entry.

Eager to meet and question Nicholas's sister, Jo hurried across the room, aware that Sam was following. She paused abruptly in the doorway when she saw the woman entering the foyer. Tall, shapely, and gorgeous, the brunette looked amazing in a bright red summer dress. She also had an air of command about her that didn't seem to suit a young immortal, at least not in Jo's mind.

"Jeanne Louise?" she said uncertainly as the woman turned and spotted her.

"No, dear. I'm her aunt Marguerite," the woman answered, eyeing her with lively interest.

"I'm Jeanne Louise," another woman announced as she stepped into the entry.

This woman was more what she'd expected, Jo thought as she took in her lover's sister. She was tall but slender, her hair midnight-black and pulled back into a bun. She was also dressed much more conservatively than her aunt, wearing dark slacks and a white blouse.

"And this is her other aunt and my sister-in-law Leigh," Marguerite announced as a shorter brunette entered on Jeanne Louise's heels. "And this is Jeanne Louise's sister-in-law Inez."

Jo glanced at the woman with curly dark hair, and a darker complexion, and then to the next woman to enter, a blond replica of Marguerite who carried a small child in her arms as Marguerite continued the introductions with "My daughter Lissianna and her darling baby girl Lucy."

Marguerite turned back and smiled as she admitted, "Thomas was very mysterious on the phone and we were all curious so we decided to come with Jeanne Louise."

"Hell," Sam sighed behind her, and Jo could only silently agree. Unless there were two Leighs in the family, then they presently had Lucian's wife in the house. Great. There was no way they were going to be able to keep Nicholas's presence a secret from Lucian now.

"Aunt Marguerite!"

Jo glanced up at that alarmed cry to see Thomas leading the men up the hall, each of them carrying a plate of cookies, cups, or a tray with cream and sugar on it. At least he had been leading them up the hall, but stopped abruptly now and whirled to start pushing them back toward the kitchen.

"Oh, don't bother, Thomas," Marguerite said with amused exasperation. "I've already read these two lovely young women and know who they are and that Nicholas is here."

"Nicholas?" Jeanne Louise gasped. Jo glanced to her to see that she'd gone pale as she stared at the crowd of men, her eyes searching them for the presently hidden Nicholas.

"Come," Marguerite said suddenly. "Let's move into the living room."

She began to herd the women toward Jo and Sam and then said, "Sam, would you be a dear and show Lissianna somewhere she might lay Lucy down for her nap? She fell asleep in the car on the way over and doesn't need to hear this anyway."

"Of course," Sam murmured, and slipped past Jo to lead Lissianna upstairs.

"Come Jo, let's get settled in the living room, shall we," Marguerite urged, turning her into the room with a hand on her arm. Glancing up the hall, she added, "And you boys bring the goodies... as well as Nicholas. There's no sense hiding him now."

Jo moved reluctantly into the living room, only to pause by the nearest chair and glance back toward the door for Nicholas.

"Thomas, you and Inez sit on the couch with Jeanne Louise," Marguerite ordered gently. "She's a little upset. Nicholas..." She turned to the door as he entered behind the other men. "Come give me a kiss."

Nicholas moved to his aunt and she immediately pulled him into an embrace, murmuring, "We've missed you."

"Thank you," he said quietly as she kissed and hugged him.

She smiled and patted his cheek and then ordered, "You take the end chair there with Jo. We'll get this all sorted out."

Nodding, Nicholas released her and moved to sit in the La-Z-Boy Jo stood beside, then caught her hand and tugged, urging her to sit in his lap, but she shook her head.

"I want a coffee. Would you like one?" she asked.

"Yes, please," he said softly.

She moved to the coffee table where the men had set the trays and plates and quickly poured both herself and Nicholas a cup. She then moved back to hand Nicholas his before seating herself carefully in his lap. Jo sipped at the bitter liquid as she watched the others milling around getting themselves coffees and some taking cookies, but then they all began to settle into seats.

"We can make room here on the couch, Aunt Marguerite," Thomas said as the chairs began to fill up.

"Good,, then Lissianna or Leigh can sit there. I think I'll take the rocking chair since I'm now a grandma. Everyone else find a seat where you can."

"I'll bring some chairs from the dining room," Bricker murmured, heading out of the room with Anders on his heels, but Jo hardly noticed. Her surprised gaze was on Marguerite as the woman settled in her rocking chair. She didn't look anywhere near old enough to be a grandmother.

"I'm over seven hundred years old, dear. Old enough to be a great-great-great-great-great grandmother or more if fate had been more accommodating," Marguerite said with a little sigh as Lissianna and Sam returned with Bricker and Anders on their heels. Each of the men carried two chairs.

"Well, there we are then," Marguerite said once everyone was seated. She glanced around the group, her gaze pausing on Jo. "So you think our Nicholas is innocent of murdering that mortal and hope Jeanne Louise knows something that will help prove it."

Jo blinked in confusion, and then grimaced as she realized the woman must have read her. Jeez, she really needed to learn how to guard her thoughts, Jo decided, and leaned forward to set her mug on the coffee table.

"Nicholas isn't innocent," Jeanne Louise said in a low, angry voice. "He killed that woman."

Jo peered at her, anger rolling up inside her until she saw the sad, tormented look on the woman's face. She looked ready to cry and was obviously upset to think that her brother could have done such a thing. Forcing her anger back down, Jo asked quietly, "Do you really believe that?"

Jeanne Louise looked at Nicholas uncertainly, but then said, "Decker saw him do it."

"Decker saw him with a body" Jo corrected gently.

"He said there was blood all over him," she argued in a firm voice, and Jo sat back with exasperation.

"You people and your seeing-is-believing!"

"Jo," Nicholas said in warning tones as she leaned forward to pick up her coffee.

"I'm just going to drink it," she muttered, and proceeded to do so. As Jo lowered the cup, she glanced to his sister and asked, "But if I had thrown this on you, Jeanne Louise, and you were covered with coffee, would it mean you drank it? Or even that you spilled it?"

When Jeanne Louise just stared at her, eyes widening slightly, Jo said firmly, "Nicholas didn't kill that woman. He has no memory between when he first spotted the woman in the parking lot and when he opened his eyes in his basement to find her lying dead in his arms. Someone set him up. And if it wasn't Decker, then they got super lucky that he showed up when he did, or I bet they somehow arranged for him to show up."

"But how could they have managed it?" Jeanne Louise asked quietly. "How did they get Nicholas there with the dead woman in his arms?"

"Drugs would be my guess," Jo said, and when Jeanne Louise merely bit her lip and looked uncertain, she shifted impatiently. "Look, it doesn't matter if you believe in his innocence, I do. So just tell us if you know what Annie might have wanted to tell him."

Jeanne Louise sighed, but shook her head. "I don't know."

Jo sagged with defeat, sure the girl wasn't even trying because she didn't believe.

"Jeanne Louise," Marguerite said softly, suggesting she thought the same thing.

"I don't," Jeanne Louise insisted. "We talked about loads of things. Her work, my work, family, shopping, movies, men..." She shrugged helplessly. "Everything."

"Wasn't there anything she talked about more than others?" Jo asked pleadingly.

"I'm sorry, no. Not that I recall," Jeanne Louise said unhappily.

Jo sighed and glanced around the room. "Well then maybe she mentioned something to one of you?"

When her gaze settled hopefully on Marguerite, the woman's gaze turned apologetic and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, dear. I really want to help, but we only met three times. The first time was when she and Nicholas first got together, and she was quiet and shy then. The second time was at the wedding, and we didn't get a chance to talk much at all, and then the last time was a couple weeks before she died. She and Jeanne Louise came for a visit while Nicholas was away, and as I recall..." She paused and frowned. "I think she mostly asked me about Armand."

"Armand?" Jo asked.

"My father," Nicholas told her.

"She was naturally curious about him," Marguerite murmured.

"Why naturally?" Jo asked with a frown.

"Because she hadn't met him."

Jo glanced to Nicholas and back to Marguerite with confusion. "Surely he attended the wedding?"

"No," Marguerite said quietly. "He couldn't bring himself to attend."

"He hasn't left his farm since his last wife died," Thomas said quietly. "He's become a total recluse."

"His last wife?" Jo asked sharply. "How many has he had?"

"Three. Each has died within a handful of years after their marriage," Thomas said and then added, "My mother lasted four years or so. She was the longest."

"He's had three life mates?" Jo asked with amazement.

"No," Marguerite said at once. "Only one was a life mate. Nicholas's mother. Armand turned her. The second wife, Thomas's mother, was an immortal. She was a bit wild, became his lover and got pregnant. Obviously, she wanted to or she wouldn't have been drinking enough blood to even start the pregnancy, let alone keep it long enough to know she was pregnant," she added dryly, and then shrugged. "She told Armand, and he, of course, married her. It was the eighteenth century," she added. "And at that time, an unmarried girl simply didn't have a child on her own. No one in the immortal community would have been too distressed, but we were all trying to fit in as mortals. They married for propriety's sake, but agreed it would only be until one or the other met their life mate." Marguerite grimaced. "Instead, she died."

"The last wife, Jeanne Louise's mother, was also immortal," Nicholas announced. "Father was lonely, and I think she felt sorry for him. She also wanted a child of her own and so they made an agreement-a temporary marriage for companionship until one or the other met their life mate."

"But she died too," Jo murmured.

"Yes," Marguerite said with a sigh. "Armand has had absolutely no luck with wives."

Jo raised her eyebrows. "You're kidding, right?"

Marguerite raised her own eyebrows. "You think losing three wives is good luck?"

"I think an immortal losing three immortal wives one after the other is completely unlikely," she responded grimly. "Let me guess, they all died in weird accidents?"

"Well, yes," she admitted with surprise. "Nicholas's mother died in a fire, and-"

"You didn't tell me fire can kill you?" Jo said, turning on Nicholas accusingly.

"It usually can't," he said quietly. "We can take a lot of damage and still keep moving and get out of the fire and then repair. But my mother was trapped and..." He grimaced and shrugged.

Jo shook her head and glanced at those surrounding her. "You guys are immortals, hard to kill. What are the chances of one of you losing three wives in a row? Don't you think that's odd?"

"That's what Annie said," Jeanne Louise murmured almost thoughtfully.

"Did she?" Jo turned on her quickly.

Jeanne Louise nodded. "I'd forgotten about that. She was curious as to why Father hadn't attended the wedding, and when I told her about his misfortunes with wives, she thought it was weird too and started asking all these questions..."

"She was very interested in how they died and so on that day you both came for tea," Marguerite murmured.

"She asked me about Uncle Armand and his wives too," Lissianna said. "I didn't think anything of it at the time."

"She did talk about it a lot," Jeanne Louise said, turning wide eyes to Jo. "You don't think that has something to do with what she was going to tell Nicholas?"

"It could," she said thoughtfully. "I certainly would have thought it odd and been curious about it. And if she started looking into it and learned anything that suggested even one of the deaths wasn't accidental..."

"Then it would be a very good reason for someone to want her dead before she could tell Nicholas what she'd learned," Thomas said grimly.

"Yes," Jo murmured, not noticing the sudden silence in the room, until Bricker broke it by standing up.

"I need, to feed," he announced, heading for the door. "Does anyone else want something?"

There were murmurs from several people, but Jo was distracted with considering what it was Annie might have learned... and how she'd learned what she had. The deaths had happened so long ago, it was hard to imagine she'd learned anything.

"I think I heard Lucy chattering as I crossed the hall."

Jo glanced up at Bricker's comment to see that he'd returned and was passing out bagged blood.

"I guess I'd better get her. She'll need feeding," Lissianna said, and stood to slip from the room.

"Oh, she forgot her bag," Leigh said, standing to follow her.

Jo watched them go and then glanced back to the group and said, "It seems to me we need to talk to Armand. He might be able to help clear things up. We should at least get some idea of where to look or what step to take next."

"I'm not sure," Marguerite murmured. "If Armand knew anything I think he would have said so at the time."

"It can't hurt to check. He might know something without realizing it," Nicholas murmured and then glanced to Thomas. "Is he still on the farm?"

Thomas shook his head. "He has a new one now. Well, he's bought several since you left and rotates them; ten years at one, then ten at another while foremen run the others."

"He never leaves though," Jeanne Louise said quietly. "And he doesn't allow visitors at all anymore. Not that he ever allowed me out there," she added bitterly.

Thomas rubbed her back sympathetically as he pulled out his phone. "Bastien will know where he is now and the number. Father still gets blood delivery."

"You know, it occurs to me that we might learn something useful from Armand after all," Marguerite said suddenly, and when everyone turned to her, said, "I've always assumed he locked himself away and cut himself off from family and friends because he was bitter at the loss of his wives, but if Annie's death is connected that puts a different complexion on things."

"I get it," Jo said slowly. "Perhaps he suspected the deaths of his wives weren't all accidents either. Perhaps he was trying to keep everyone out of the line of fire."

"Do you think so?" Jeanne asked, her eyes widening with hope.

When Marguerite nodded, Nicholas grinned and slid his arm around Jo. "She's very clever, isn't she?"

"Very," Marguerite agreed solemnly. "The nanos were right on the money as usual. She's exactly what we needed." She glanced to Thomas. "Call Bastien. The sooner we talk to Armand, the sooner we may be able to clear all this up."

Nodding, he started to punch buttons on his cell, but paused and glanced toward the doorway along with everyone else when they heard the outer door open and the sound of someone entering the house.

Mortimer stood up with a frown and started across the room, but froze when a tall blond man filled the doorway. There was a good-looking, dark-haired man on his heels, peering over his shoulder into the room. Jo had no idea who the dark man was, but recognized Lucian from the night of the party. It was pure instinct that had her standing and shifting to block Nicholas from his view. She knew it had been the right decision when Marguerite, Thomas, and Jeanne Louise suddenly stood and positioned themselves around her, helping to hide Nicholas.

"How lovely to see you, Lucian. What are you doing here?" Marguerite asked, sounding completely calm and even welcoming.

The woman was a master at hiding her emotions, Jo decided. The way she'd moved quickly to step beside her and help hide Nicholas proved she wasn't exactly happy to see him.

"When Greg and I got to the house to pick up our wives, we were told you had all come over here so we followed," the blond man said, his eyes narrowing.

"Pick them up?" Marguerite asked with surprise and glanced at her wristwatch, clucking her tongue as she said, "I hadn't realized it had grown so late."

"The men are supposed to call if anyone arrives," Mortimer said, drawing Lucian's concentrated gaze off Marguerite.

"Yes, so I read from Xavier when he stopped the car," Lucian said dryly.

"You read one of your own men?" Thomas asked with amazement.

"He seemed exceedingly nervous when he realized I was in the car with Greg," Lucian said grimly, and Jo supposed that was his idea of explaining himself. "I convinced him calling ahead was totally unnecessary and would merely piss me off."

Mortimer grimaced and the room fell silent as Lucian glanced from one person to another. Jo frowned as she recognized the concentration on his face. She'd seen it before. It was the penis-eye look. Damn. He was reading people, she realized with dismay and had her suspicions proven when Jeanne Louise whispered in a panic, "He's reading me."

"Think of a nursery rhyme and block him," Thomas hissed.

"I'm trying, but he's-"

"Is no one going to introduce me?" Jo said quickly in the hope of getting Lucian's attention off the panicked Jeanne Louise. It worked... too well, Lucian's sharp eyes slid off Jeanne Louise and onto her instead. Feeling an immediate ruffling in her mind she assumed must be his trying to read her thoughts, she began to babble a little hysterically, "I mean, we have sort of met before, the night of the party, but no one introduced us properly, Sam?"

Responding to her panicked cry, Sam hurried to her side, adding her own body to the human wall blocking Lucian's view of Nicholas. She took her hand and said, "Yes, of course. Jo, honey, this is Lucian Argeneau. He's... well, he's Mortimer's boss."

"And our uncle," Thomas announced. Jo suspected he was trying to draw Lucian's attention from her. She suspected that was also what Marguerite was doing when she added, "And my brother-in-law... Although, legally, perhaps he isn't my brother-in-law anymore now that Jean Claude is dead and I have remarried."

Marguerite's efforts were more successful. Lucian immediately tore his attention from Jo. His flashing eyes shot to Nicholas's aunt and he growled, "I shall always be your brother-in-law, Marguerite. We have been family for seven hundred years and will remain family no matter who you are married to."

Jo was just releasing a sigh of relief that she was free of the man's efforts to read her thoughts when his eyes suddenly shot back to her and the ruffling started up all over again.

"Think of a nursery rhyme," Thomas whispered beside her. "Recite it out loud if you have to, but concentrate on the words as if they were the most important thing in the world."

Jo nodded and began to recite, "There once was a girl from Nantucket-"

"Oh, for God's sake," Nicholas snapped, and was suddenly pushing past her to stand at the front of the group who had been trying to hide him.

"Nicholas," Jo cried with a combination of alarm and fury. She quickly shifted around to stand in front of him, placing herself between him and his uncle.

"Jo, honey, the very fact that you all were trying not to let him read you simply would have made him more determined to find out what you were hiding," he pointed out grimly, and then shook his head and added, "And 'There once was a girl from Nantucket'? That's the only rhyme you could think of?"

"I work in a bar," she pointed out dryly. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to hear the version of Little Bo Peep I learned there."

"Yes, well, we shall have to... er..." Nicholas frowned. "Have you considered a career change? Perhaps a bar isn't the best-"

"Watch it, nephew," Lucian growled.

"Aunt Leigh owns and runs a bar," Thomas explained under his breath, moving a little closer.

Jo couldn't help but notice that he wasn't the only one. Marguerite, Sam, and Jeanne Louise had all squeezed protectively closer, and the others in the room were slowly gravitating toward them. While she hadn't actually seen any of them move, they were closer than they had been. Encouraged by this show of solidarity, she raised her eyebrows at Nicholas in question. "So, what do we do now?"

"There's very little we can do now," Nicholas said quietly.

Jo gawked at him with amazement. "Excuse me? Please tell me you are not thinking you will just hand yourself over to this asshole dictator to be sliced and diced or shaked and baked or whatever it is you guys call it."

"Asshole dictator?" Thomas echoed, amazed amusement on his face.

"Well he is," she muttered, casting a resentful glance to the man who stood across the room, stone-faced as he listened. "And you can't let him shake and bake Nicholas."

Thomas rolled his eyes. "It's staked and baked, Jo. We aren't pork chops."

"Whatever," she said with complete disinterest and then turned to Nicholas. "The point is, you should have stayed right where you were and let us handle this. Now we're going to have to tie up your uncle and put him in one of the cells or something until we sort out everything and can prove your innocence."

The dead silence that followed her words was an exclamation point to the shocked horror suddenly on the faces surrounding her. Even Nicholas was peering at her as if she were quite mad.

Scowling, Jo glanced from face to face and asked, "What? Surely you agree with me? I know none of you are now so sure Nicholas killed that girl. I think most of you even agree with me that he probably didn't. But even if you just have some doubts that Nicholas is guilty, you can't just let Bossy Boy over there execute him."

"Bossy Boy?" Thomas echoed with disbelief.

Nicholas glared at him, then took both of Jo's hands and said, "Honey, I'm afraid they don't have much choice. If Lucian decides-"

"Of course they have a choice," she interrupted with disgust. "He's just one vampire."

"He's one very old and powerful vampire," Nicholas said quietly.

"You're all old," she pointed out dryly. "You're five hundred and something. Marguerite is seven hundred and something. You're all just fricking ancient."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Thomas said with amusement.

"Well, it is a bad thing if you're all so set in your ways and used to Sourpuss Pants over there running things that you'll just let him slaughter an innocent man," she snapped.

"Mr. Sourpuss Pants! God, I love her Nicholas," Thomas crowed. When he noticed that neither Nicholas nor Inez looked impressed by the words, he added quickly, "In a totally sister-in-law type fashion, of course."

Nicholas and Inez hrrumphed together and then Nicholas turned to Jo and said, "Honey, you don't understand. Lucian is very old. He's also on the Council. He has a lot of power. He-"

"I don't care how old and powerful he is," Jo interrupted impatiently. "I love you and I'm not letting him kill you without a fight."

Jo tugged her hands out of Nicholas's, and then turned a determined glare on the head of the Argeneau clan as she started across the room, saying, "Nicholas didn't kill that woman. He has no memory of killing her. We think someone drugged him and set him up to stop him from finding out something Annie had learned about the deaths of Armand's wives. We need to find out what that was."

She paused in front of Lucian Argeneau, swallowed, and added, "I love him. I don't know what I'll do without him. What good is living hundreds of years if you take him from me? Please don't?"

Lucian peered down his nose at her dispassionately. "You were doing very well in your arguments right up until you started into the lovey-dovey crap. And the begging at the end was just over the top. "

Jo stared up into Lucian Argeneau's cold face and felt a fury rise up in her like none she'd ever experienced. The man held the life of the man she loved in his hands. Her whole future rested in his palms and he stood their smugly critiquing her attempt to save both? All her fear and frustration balled into one blast of rage, and before Jo quite knew what she was doing, she was slapping the coldhearted bastard across the face.

"Jo," Nicholas barked with alarm and quickly dragged her behind him, placing himself firmly between her and his uncle as he said, "She's upset."

"So I see," Lucian said grimly.

Jo scowled and poked Nicholas in the side. "Don't apologize for me, especially not to Captain Crabby here who plans on killing you."

"It's all right, dear," Marguerite murmured, moving to Jo's side to run her hand soothingly up and down her arm, "Captain Crabby won't kill Nicholas."

"Marguerite!" Lucian snapped.

"Well, you won't," she said firmly. "Surely you've read everyone in the room by now and know further inquiry is needed before any decisions can be made about Nicholas's future?"

Lucian scowled at the woman for a moment, but then sighed and admitted, "Yes."

Jo moved around in front of Nicholas again to ask uncertainly, "You're not going to execute him?"

"No," Lucian said dryly.

"Really?" she asked, almost afraid to believe him.

"Yes really, I have no intention of killing Nicholas."

"Oh!" With joy exploding through her, Jo impulsively threw herself at the man to hug him in gratitude, saying, "Maybe you aren't such a bad uncle after all, Lucian."

"Yet."

Jo froze as the word reached her ears, and then pulled back to scowl at him. "What do you mean by yet?"

For some reason that made his lips twitch with what she suspected was amusement. He then glanced to Nicholas and said, "She's rather tempestuous, isn't she? Impetuous as well. It is good you decided it wasn't safe to keep her with you on the run. She'd have been dead in a week... or would have got you killed." He paused and then added, "Although she may have done that anyway since you turned yourself in to save her. We shall have to see."

Jo's mouth turned down and her eyes narrowed on him unhappily. "I don't like you."

Lucian arched one eyebrow. "That's a shame. I quite like you."

"You could have fooled me," Jo muttered with disbelief.

"I often do," Lucian agreed. "Fool people, that is."

"He does," Leigh assured her, reentering the room with Lissianna following.

Jo glanced to the woman, wondering what on earth she saw in Lucian Argeneau, but then just shook her head and asked, "What do you mean you aren't going to execute him yet? Are you or aren't you?"

Lucian turned his gaze to Nicholas. "I'm not executing you now because I'm not certain of your guilt. I've read the situation in everyone's mind, including your own. There is no memory of your actually killing the woman. In fact, there's a rather suspicious blank space where that memory should be."

"I told you," Jo said triumphantly.

"So you did," Lucian agreed dryly with a nod in her direction. He then turned back to Nicholas to continue, "I intend to get to the bottom of this and find out what did happen that day. If you killed her and have somehow blocked it from your memory, you'll be executed. If not..." He shrugged and then said, "Jo probably will eventually get you killed with her impetuousness anyway."

Jo felt herself stiffen at the words, but then noticed a suspicious gleam in his eyes that made her think he was goading her and she merely muttered, "Ha ha."

"Ha ha, indeed," Lucian said dryly, and then turned to Mortimer. "Now, let's get Dee and Ernie ready for transport so that you can prepare Nicholas's cell."

"Cell?" Jo asked indignantly. "You're going to lock him up?"

"Yes," he said calmly. "And I'm going to have you locked up as well."

"What?" Now Nicholas looked furious. His eyes were frigid silver as he stepped up to his uncle, fists clenched and growled, "Locking me up is one thing, Uncle, but Jo hasn't done anything to deserve being treated like a criminal."

"She's already plotting ways to help you escape in case I can't get to the bottom of this," he said quietly.

Nicholas turned to Jo with surprise and she felt herself flush guiltily. She actually had started thinking about ways to get him out of there. It seemed she was still incredibly readable.

"Maybe she is," Nicholas acknowledged reluctantly as he turned back to his uncle. "But, still, she hasn't done anything wrong yet. You can't lock her up for something she might try to do. Besides, I'll talk to her. I'll-"

"Locking her up with you will keep her from getting herself or anyone else killed with her amateurish efforts to break you out," Lucian interrupted firmly.

"Amateurish?" Jo squawked. "I got him out, didn't I. I picked the damned lock and set him free."

"Very impressive," Lucian assured her and then turned to Mortimer to say, "Make sure they're only given plastic utensils and don't allow them anything small enough to use to pick the lock this time."

"Crap," Jo muttered irritably, wishing she'd stopped to think before speaking. Her eyes narrowed on Lucian as she thought she saw his mouth twitch, and then he turned to Nicholas and continued.

"I will have Ernie and Dee transported to the Council for judgment. Mortimer will remove the cot from one of the cells and have a double bed moved in to replace it." He turned to Jo and Nicholas and said, "We shall give you candlelight and wine and roses and put a curtain on the cell so that the two of you can entertain each other safely and in privacy while I look into the matter of Annie and the mortal."

"Wouldn't it be easier just to keep them locked in one of the rooms in the house?" Sam asked with a frown. "It would be much more comfortable and-"

"And only mean four men would have to stand guard at the hall and balcony doors," Lucian interrupted dryly, and then shook his head. "We are already shorthanded. They go in the cells."

Sam didn't look pleased, but did nod unhappily. However, she also asked, "Can they have books or a television or something out there so they don't get bored?"

Jo thought her sister's concern was very sweet but totally unnecessary. It was hard for her to imagine growing bored with Nicholas around. Judging by the arched eyebrow Lucian turned on Sam, he thought so too.

"They are new life mates, Samantha," he said dryly. "As you still are yourself. Do you really think a television is necessary or would even be turned on?"

"Oh, right," Sam muttered, flushing as Mortimer grinned and slid his arm around her waist.

"Indeed," Lucian said dryly. He then glanced over the group and raised his other eyebrow. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get to it so these lovebirds can enjoy Nicholas's reprieve."

"Right." Mortimer turned to the group. "Bricker and Anders, you're with Nicholas and Jo until we put them in the cell. I'll get some of the men outside to help me with Ernie and Dee. Sam, honey," he said, his voice softening notably when he glanced to her. "Maybe you could make a list of what you think Jo and Nicholas will need in the cell and start organizing it; clothes, sheets, which bed to take, and so on?"

"Of course," she murmured.

Nodding, Mortimer kissed her quickly and then turned to head out of the house, Lucian on his heels. The moment the door closed behind them, Nicholas's aunt Marguerite stood up. Jo eyed the woman, still amazed that she could be seven hundred years old, but her voice had the ring of authority as she said, "The girls and I can help you with the list and gathering the things on it, Sam. And perhaps Thomas and Greg could help with shifting the cot from the cell and moving a double bed out?"

"Of course," Thomas and Greg murmured together.

Much to Jo's amazement, the room cleared out quickly then, everyone moving off to perform his task. Everyone but she, Nicholas, Bricker, and Anders, that was.

They all stared at one another for a moment and then Nicholas said, "I'd like a moment alone with Jo." When Bricker glanced to Anders in question, he considered the matter and then shrugged and said, "The men will still be on the balcony outside the guest bedroom and we can guard the hall. It should be all right."

Bricker nodded. "Okay."

Nicholas urged Jo to her feet and out of the room. The hum of voices was coming from the kitchen as they made their way to the stairs, and Jo supposed the women were in there making their list. They were stepping off the stairs into the upper hall when Thomas and Greg came out of the room Jo had woken up in, one carrying a mattress all on his own, the other the box spring. Nicholas urged Jo nearer to the wall to let them pass and then urged her to continue on to the room.

Anders stepped inside and crossed the room to check and be sure the men were still out on the balcony. He opened the door and leaned out to have a word with them and then closed the door, nodded to Nicholas and Jo, and then slid back out of the room, pulling that door closed as well.

"Well," Nicholas murmured, glancing to the bare bed frame and headboard still remaining in the room. He then urged her toward the two overstuffed chairs arranged by a small round table at the opposite side of the room. He settled himself in one and drew her into his lap.

"I'm sorry about all of this, Jo," he said finally, running his hands soothingly up and down her back and thigh.

"You need to stop apologizing to me, Nicholas," Jo said quietly, leaning into his shoulder. "None of this is your fault. You're a victim here too."

"Maybe, but you wouldn't be about to be locked up in a cell with me if it weren't for my baggage. Had I stuck around fifty years ago, maybe this all would have been solved ages ago."

"Or maybe you would have been executed, or murdered, or maybe you wouldn't have been skulking around after Ernie that night and he might have taken me and I'd be just another Dee or dead," she pointed out. "Besides, I can think of worse things than being locked up with the man I love for a while... in a cell with a double bed."

"And wine and roses," he reminded her wryly.

"Hmm," Jo murmured, but shook her head. "I suspect Lucian was teasing about that. Your uncle doesn't seem the romantic type."

"You're probably right, that was probably sarcasm," Nicholas agreed with a grin. "But I bet you ten thousand kisses that Aunt Marguerite will insist Sam put them on the list anyway."

"You can have the ten thousand kisses without the bet," Jo assured him with a smile and then placed her hand to his cheek and said solemnly, "I love you Nicholas, and whether it's in a cell or this room or a cheap motel, there isn't anywhere I'd rather be than with you."

"I hope you feel the same way if this drags on for ten or twenty years," he said on a sigh.

"I feel that way now, and will feel that way forever," she assured him solemnly, and then frowned. "Surely they can sort it out faster than ten or twenty years?"

"I hope so, but..."

"But?" she asked.

Nicholas grimaced, and then pointed out, "It's been fifty years and we don't have much to go on. And while I don't think the Council would execute me without being certain that I did it, they might be reluctant to set me free without the same certainty that I didn't."

"So... what?" Jo asked with alarm. "They'd just keep you locked up here forever?"

"No, not forever," he said slowly, considering it, and then said quietly, "But they might keep me locked up for the length of the life I was accused of taking."

"You mean fifty or sixty years?" Jo asked with dismay.

"More like eighty or ninety since there was a baby involved," Nicholas said quietly, and when she stared at him wide-eyed with horror, quickly said, "I could be wrong. I'm just guessing based on various different decisions they've made over the centuries."

"This has happened before?" Jo asked, and thought she might be hyperventilating now. Eighty or ninety years? Dear God, she thought, so much for school... and her job would definitely be toast if she didn't show up for that long. Although, she supposed marine biology wasn't a very practical career for a vampire, and managing the bar had just been a temporary gig anyway while she attended school.

Sighing, Jo forced herself to calm down. Everything would work out. It had to. And if it didn't and they ended up spending eighty or ninety years in a cell together... well, from what she understood they'd have centuries together afterward, and maybe the Council would give Nicholas time off for good behavior as well as already having had to live on the run for fifty years. And maybe they'd cut the time in half or something because she would be sharing it with him.

"Jo."

"Hmm?" she asked absently, her mind on whether she should ask Sam to represent them to approach the Council, or if someone who was actually immortal and knew all their laws and such might be a better bet.

"They might let you leave and not have to be locked up if you promised not to try to break me out and meant it," Nicholas said quietly, and when Jo turned on him sharply, added, "At least that way you'd have a life while you waited for me,"

"Dream on, buddy," she said dryly. "You aren't getting rid of me that easily. I'm staying with you."

"But-"

Jo caught his face and kissed him to silence, and then lifted her head and said, "You turned me, you're stuck with me now."

"I am, huh?" he asked with amusement.

"Yes. You am. Now and forever, stud. So learn to like it."

Chuckling, Nicholas drew her against his chest and hugged her tightly. "God, woman, I love you."

"Good, that's a start," she said promptly.

"A start?" he asked with a laugh.

"Well, this is the forever kind of deal, Nicholas. You have to love and like me to stand me for as long as we're going to be together."

"We're good then, because I liked you from the start," he assured her.

Jo smiled, pleased, and then murmured, "I love and like you too."

"What should we do about that?" Nicholas asked quietly, the hands that had been soothing a moment ago shifting to slide over her body with a decidedly different intent now.

Jo released a little sigh and melted against his chest. "Oh, I don't know. I can think of a thing or two."

"So can I," he growled, claiming her lips.

Jo sighed again as he kissed her, and then moaned as his hand slid around to begin tugging up her top. She moaned again for an entirely different reason, however, when a knock sounded at the door.

"We need to get the bed frame and headboard," Thomas called out as they broke apart to glance toward the door.

"And Mortimer just came in and said we can move you down to the cells," Bricker added through the door as Nicholas opened his mouth, Jo suspected to tell Thomas to get lost.

Sighing, Nicholas leaned his forehead against hers. "It looks like forever starts now."

"Looks like," she agreed, and then forced a smile and slid off his lap. Grabbing his hand, she gave him a tug. "Come on. We can finish off the dream sex we had in the cells, but for real this time."

"You always find the silver lining," he said with a small smile.

"Well, how do you think I found you?" she asked as he stood up.

When he peered at her uncertainly, Jo explained, "Your eyes go silver when you're turned on."

"They must be silver all the time when you're around then," Nicholas said dryly as she led him to the door.

"Good, then I'll always be able to find the silver lining, won't I?" she asked lightly, determined to keep his spirits up until this was all over. Jo just hoped she could keep her own up as well.