"Yes, absolutely." Kathy smiled proudly. "The original Circe fed Odysseus's men drugs, which made them hallucinate they were pigs, but since then we've learned how to do it better."

Clifford removed the salad plate and told Kathy that her steak would be ready in just a moment. Kathy waved a hand at him rather than looking at Clifford directly.

"Was Odysseus really so good in bed?" Dahlia asked. She'd heard it personally from a vampire who'd lived on a neighboring island, but it was always interesting to hear stories from an inside source. "Circe kept him for a year… the legend says." Actually, "the legend" was Dahlia's buddy Thalia, who was even older than Dahlia. Thalia, during her nighttime hunting, had come across Odysseus a time or two.

"Not only entertaining, but…" Kathy held her hands apart about nine inches, glanced at Dahlia to make sure she'd registered the gesture, then made an incomplete circle with her thumb and pointer finger to indicate girth. Dahlia's eyes widened. She was genuinely impressed. "And he knew how to use it," the witch said. "That's what she said in her spellbook."

Clifford placed the steak and baked potato in front of the Circe as if they had been ambrosia made by the gods. From the price on the menu, they might as well have been. He inquired discreetly if Kathy needed anything else, and upon hearing she was fine, he left.

"You say the original Circe left a record." Dahlia looked approving. "The grimoire you spoke of. Is that the same thing as a spellbook?"

"Yes, it is. And it's also a record of a witch's life and deeds. All hereditary witch lines keep one, though of course, ours is several books now," Kathy said proudly. "If you don't mind me changing the subject, and maybe getting into something painful, how did your husband's death come about?"

Dahlia wanted to end the meeting right there, on the spot, at that moment. But she had to show the woman she trusted her. Dahlia braced herself and said, "Todd was second in command of the Swiftfoot pack. Whoever wanted to become packmaster had to go through Todd first. Of course, you wouldn't know this, but the Swiftfoot pack hangs out at the Full Moon Bar."

Kathy, who was chewing steadily, nodded to show she'd absorbed that information.

"A wolf from the Ripper pack came to the Full Moon one night when Todd and Don were both there. There was no open enmity between the two packs up until then, so this wasn't so very unusual. According to a friend of mine, Todd was surprised when the Were challenged Todd after they'd had a couple of beers together. I believe that the wolf put something in Todd's beer."

Kathy lay down her fork and stared over at Dahlia. She looked horrified.

"Todd fought, but Don said he staggered a couple of times and seemed to have trouble focusing. Eventually, it became clear that Todd couldn't win. But he wouldn't concede. Don told Taffy that Todd didn't even seem to know where he was. And after a time, the Ripper dealt the killing blow."

"Don couldn't stop it?"

Dahlia looked down at her hands to keep her face private. "He kept urging Todd to say the right words of surrender, and Todd wouldn't or couldn't. Since he didn't speak, Bart Ripper was technically within his rights to kill him."

Kathy looked rather ill. "I'm so sorry. I'm gathering that you weren't there?" she said, her voice faltering.

"No. I didn't like to spend evenings at the Full Moon. I'm not very popular with most of the pack." Dahlia shrugged with supreme indifference.

"Was your friend Taffy there?"

"No, though Taffy is far more popular with the Weres than I." Dahlia's lack of worry about this was apparent. "But she's very concerned. Now her husband has a Ripper second, who'll certainly challenge him at the next full moon in two nights, or the one after that. Who knows what tricks Bart has in store?"

Kathy seemed to relax a bit. "Okay, I got the picture now," she said with a reassuring half smile. "Have you figured out a way to do this, and what you want done?"

"Yes, I have," Dahlia said. "Are you willing?"

"I'm enthusiastic about trying," Kathy said, though she didn't sound enthusiastic. "But, of course… I'm doing this as a professional. When we agreed on a price, I didn't realize there would be up to fifty people to take care of; and let me tell you, schoolteachers are always short of money…"

So for the next five minutes, they revisited the topic of price.

Dahlia's friend Taffy was waiting at the vampire nest. In the city of Rhodes, the largest vampire nest was owned by the sheriff, or local vampire leader, a rather lazy and indolent vamp named Cedric, who had excellent connections. Dahlia and Taffy had both lived in the nest before their marriages, and Dahlia had returned to live in her former room after Todd's death.

At this hour of the night, the rest of the resident vampires were out amusing themselves. The big mansion seemed pleasantly empty.

"What was the Circe like?" Taffy asked. Her blond hair was piled up high on her head, and she wore the slut clothes Don favored—leather pants that fit like a glove, and a red halter top studded with silver circles. Her earrings were ancient Sumerian, though, and Dahlia smiled when she noticed them. Taffy hadn't totally gone over to the dark side.

Dahlia described her meeting with Kathy Aenidis… in detail. "We need to find out if she's really as good as she says she is," Dahlia said. "No matter how many stories Cedric has heard about her, there's nothing like firsthand evidence. So we'll need to ask a breather. I think Clifford wouldn't mind doing some more research for us."

Taffy swatted her friend on the shoulder. "Dahlia, you know that's just rude! Can't you say 'human'? Clifford's already brought us the tape from the bar. No one's seen it but us."

"Clifford seems pleased to help. He was very fond of Todd," Dahlia said. "I think he actually enjoyed an evening at his old job. He said he was making sure the Circe didn't poison me at the restaurant. I don't think she ever realized that I knew more than I told her."

"If it hadn't been for the tape, we would never have known what happened."

"My Todd was poisoned. And I believe Kathy Aenidis prepared that poison. My research shows she's probably the only witch in Rhodes with the knowledge to make a potion that would cause Todd to do what Don described."

"The tape clearly shows Bart putting something into Todd's beer," Taffy said.

"I think we know the truth now," Dahlia said. Her pretty face was hard and unyielding as a rock. "But we need to ask Clifford to visit us. I want to be absolutely sure she's the one we need. Cedric did some wonderful research, and to my mind she gave herself away, but I have to be certain she understood what she was doing." The two vampires looked at each other. Though outwardly so different, they'd shared a nest for years, and they understood each other very well.

Clifford was there within the hour. Though visibly uneasy at being in a vampire nest, he did his best to be jaunty and nonchalant. Dahlia thought he might be more relaxed in her own small room on the bedroom floor, and the young Were did seem to find Dahlia's personal domain more homey.

Clifford had been an invaluable accomplice, and Dahlia was already worried about how she could reward him for his service. Though he said he was helping because he'd been devoted to the older Todd, Dahlia knew very well that Clifford also found Todd's widow intriguing and attractive.

He'd come to Dahlia after Todd's death when he'd reviewed the security tapes of the events at Full Moon Bar the night Todd died. Clifford, who was in training to become pack shaman, was in charge of all the security tapes at all the Swiftfoot businesses in Rhodes, and he attended film classes at Rhodes University whenever he could fit them in to his shaman training schedule. Like most of the Swiftfoot males, he was tall and had light brown hair. Though he hadn't grown into his full strength, he was formidable enough to humans.