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“I don’t think you can, not a hundred percent.”

“Then what use am I to you?”

“You don’t have to be of use to me,” I said, surprised. He didn’t seem to have the emotional set I had. I didn’t know how to explain it to him. “It’s enough for me—it’s wonderful—just knowing you exist. That you care about me. That I have living family, no matter how distant and different. And you don’t think I’m weird or crazy or embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing?” He looked puzzled. “You’re far more interesting than most humans.”

“Thank you for not thinking I’m defective,” I said.

“Other humans think you’re defective?” Niall sounded genuinely outraged.

“They can’t be comfortable sometimes,” Sam said unexpectedly. “Knowing she can read their minds.”

“But you, shapeshifter?”

“I think she’s great,” Sam said. And I could tell he was absolutely sincere.

My back straightened. I felt a flush of pride. In the emotional warmth of the moment, I almost told my great-grandfather about the big problem I’d uncovered today, to prove I could share. But I had a pretty good feeling that his solution to the Sandra Pelt-Tanya Grissom Axis of Evil would be to cause their deaths in a macabre way. My sort-of cousin Claudine might be trying to become an angel, a being I associated with Christianity, but Niall Brigant was definitely from another ethos entirely. I suspected his outlook was, “I’ll take your eye ahead of time, just in case you want mine.” Well, maybe not that preemptive, but close.

“There is nothing I can do for you?” He sounded almost plaintive.

“I’d really like it if you’d just come spend some time with me at the house, when you have some to spare. I’d like to cook you supper. If you want to do that?” It made me feel shy, offering him something I wasn’t sure he’d value.

He looked at me with glowing eyes. I could not read his face, and though his body was shaped like a human body, he was not. He was a complete puzzle to me. Maybe he was exasperated or bored or repulsed by my suggestion.

Finally Niall said, “Yes. I’ll do that. I’ll tell you ahead of time, of course. In the meantime, if you need anything of me, call the number. Don’t let anyone dissuade you if you think I can be of help. I will have words with Eric. He’s been useful to me in the past, but he can’t second-guess me with you.”

“Has he known I was your kin for very long?” I held my breath, waiting for the answer.

Niall had turned to go. Now he turned back a little, so I saw his face in profile. “No,” he said. “I had to know him better, first. I told him only before he brought you to meet me. He wouldn’t help me until I told him why I wanted you.”

And then he was gone. It was like he’d walked through a door we couldn’t see, and for all I knew, that was exactly what he’d done.

“Okay,” Sam said after a long moment. “Okay, that was really . . . different.”

“Are you all right with all this?” I waved a hand toward the spot where Niall had been standing. Probably. Unless what we’d seen had been some astral projection or something.

“It’s not my place to be okay with it. It’s your thing,” Sam said.

“I want to love him,” I said. “He’s so beautiful and he seems to care so much, but he’s really, really . . .”

“Scary,” Sam finished.

“Yeah.”

“And he approached you through Eric?”

Since apparently my great-grandfather thought it was okay if Sam knew about him, I told Sam about my first meeting with Niall.

“Hmmm. Well, I don’t know what to make of that. Vampires and fairies don’t interact, because of the vampire tendency to eat fairies.”

“Niall can mask his scent,” I explained proudly.

Sam looked overloaded with information. “That’s another thing I’ve never heard of. I hope Jason doesn’t know about this?”

“Oh, God, no.”

“You know he’d be jealous and that would make him mad at you.”

“Since I know Niall and he doesn’t?”

“Yep. Envy would just eat Jason up.”

“I know Jason’s not the world’s most generous person,” I began, to be cut off when Sam snorted. “Okay,” I said, “he’s selfish. But he’s still my brother anyway, and I have to stick