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“It’s my partner,” he said, smiling. It didn’t look easy for him, that smile, but it transformed him from a thin-faced freckled man with a blade of a nose to a man with sexiness to spare. “My Layla is a dream to dance with.”

“She’s very beautiful.”

“Oh, yes, inside and out.”

“How long have you been partners?”

“In dancing, two years. In life, over a year.”

“From your accent, I guess you came here in a roundabout way.” I glimpsed Eric and the beautiful Layla. Layla had an easy smile on her lips, and she was talking to Eric, who was still looking sort of grim. But not angry.

“You could say so,” he agreed. “Of course, I’m from Ireland, but I’ve been over here for . . .” His brow furrowed in thought, and it was like watching marble ripple. “Been here for a hundred years, anyway. From time to time, we think about moving back to Tennessee, where Layla’s from, but we haven’t made up our minds.”

This was a lot of conversation from a quiet-looking guy. “You’re just getting tired of living in the city?”

“Too much anti-vampire stuff going around lately. The Fellowship of the Sun, the Take the Night from the Dead movement: we seem to breed ’em here.”

“The Fellowship is everywhere,” I said. The very name made me feel gloomy. “And what’ll happen when they get to hear about Weres?”

“Aye. And I think that’ll be soon. I keep hearing from Weres that it’s just around the corner.”

You’d think, that out of all the supes I knew, one of them would let me know what was up. Sooner or later the Weres and the shifters would have to let the world in on their big secret, or they’d get outed by the vampires, either intentionally or unintentionally.

“There might even be a civil war,” Sean said, and I forced my mind back to the topic at hand.

“Between the Fellowship and the supes?”

He nodded. “I’m thinking that could happen.”

“What would you do in that case?”

“I’ve been through a few wars, and I don’t want to go through another one,” he said promptly. “Layla hasn’t seen the Old World, and she would enjoy it, so we’d go to England. We could dance there, or we could just find a place to hide out.”

As interesting as this was, it wasn’t getting me any closer to solving the numerous problems facing me right at the moment, which I could count off on my fingers. Who had paid Julian Trout? Who had planted the Dr Pepper bomb? Who had killed the rest of the Arkansas vampires? Was it the same person who’d had Henrik killed, the employer of the rogue vamp?

“What was the result?” I said out loud, to the red-haired vamp’s confusion.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Just talking to myself. It’s been a pleasure to dance with you. Excuse me; I have to go find a friend.”

Sean danced me to the edge of the crowd, and we parted ways. He was already looking for his mate. Vampire couples didn’t stay together for long, as a rule. Even the hundred-year marriages of kings and queens required only a once-a-year nuptial visit. I hoped Sean and Layla would prove to be the exception.

I decided I should check on Quinn. That might be a lengthy process, since I had no idea where the Weres had taken him. I was so confused by the effect Eric was having on me, all mixed up with the beginnings of affection for Quinn. But I knew whom I was beholden to. Quinn had saved my life tonight. I started my search by calling his room but got no answer.

If I was a Were, where would I take a wounded tiger? Well, nowhere public, because Weres were secretive. They wouldn’t want the hotel staff to catch a word or a phrase that would tip them off to the existence of the other supes. So they’d take Quinn to a private room, right? So, who had a private room and was sympathetic to the Weres?

Jake Purifoy, of course—former Were, current vamp. Quinn could be there—or he could be down in the hotel garage somewhere, or in the security chief ’s room, or in the infirmary, if there was such a thing. I had to start somewhere. I inquired at the front desk, where the clerk didn’t seem to have any problem releasing the room number to me, though it’s true