I twirled the ring I still wore on my thumb. "You're just jealous because they don't fawn all over you."

"It is the power of the ring, Hasi, not your personal magnetism."

I pinched his wrist in retribution. "That's as good an opening as any, so I'll take it. With all due apologies to Belinda and Melissande, let's talk about what we're going to do with Saer. I assume that the ring wields enough power to do a number on him? Do we want to just hobble him, or… uh… fix him permanently?"

Christian, who had reseated himself, rubbed his chin as he glanced toward Melissande. She had remained in her chair, her face an expressionless mask, her gaze lowered to her hands. "I suspect that any action less than a full defeat would only delay the inevitable." He looked a question at Adrian.

To everyone's surprise (but mine), Adrian didn't jump in with an agreement. Instead he sat with his arm around me, his hand stroking my hair as he worked out what he wanted to say. I knew how loath he was to destroy his brother. Even though Saer and Melissande clearly felt no bonds of loyalty to him, he regarded his familial ties in a different light. "Saer will use his army to destroy me. He cannot defeat Asmodeus with the ring in my possession, or that of my Beloved. Thus he will strike at me first. If we can weaken him sufficiently, he will be effectively destroyed without it being necessary to take his life and put Belinda at risk."

Could she survive Saer's death? I asked. I know you claim you can't live without me, but is the same true for Beloveds? Will she go mad or fade away if he was to die?

An echo of sadness brushed my mind. A Dark One cannot survive the loss of his Beloved, but she can survive his.

I don't care what you say about other women, but I know for a fact that this Beloved couldn't.

He didn't answer that, although I knew he wanted to deny it.

"I have always felt it necessary to remain separated from Saer because of Damian," Belinda said quietly, her voice clogged with unshed tears. Her eyes met mine, and an unspoken promise was asked and granted. "But now Damian has another mother, so perhaps it would be best—"

"Right," I interrupted rudely, holding up my hand to stop her from finishing her sentence. "New house rule. No one gets to sacrifice themselves, OK? Not Adrian, not Belinda, no one. We can do this without anyone having to become a martyr."

Allie smiled at me. "At last, someone with common sense. I forgive you for trying to burn Christian in the sunlight."

"Thank you," I said. "I nominate myself as leader of this shindig. Any objections?"

"Yes!" Adrian and Christian yelled together.

"No!" Allie and Belinda answered.

Melissande remained mute. She was apparently finally coming to grips with the idea that the brother she had long believed to be a traitor wasn't, while the one she loved was. She deserved some time to get it all straight in her head. I looked at the mummies. "What do you guys say?"

"Aeeeeiiiii," they crooned in unison.

"That's five for me and two against. I win. So, let's talk about the power of this ring." I stared for a few seconds at the band of gold and horn on my thumb before turning to Adrian. "Why is it the ring doesn't feel cold to me? Everything else to do with Asmodeus feels cold, frigid really, but this ring is warm. And the sensation of joy when I charmed the curse on Damian—surely a demon lord's ring shouldn't bring people happiness?"

"The ring was stolen by Asmodeus many centuries ago," Adrian answered, his thumb stroking gently over a pulse point behind my jaw. "It was not fashioned for him, but was created by a powerful mage. The ring is made from a unicorn's horn, chased in gold transmuted by one of the greatest alchemists in history."

"Oh, that's right, it's a unicorn's horn," I said, giving him a look that let him know I didn't appreciate having my leg pulled.

He nodded, his face serious. I glanced over to Christian. He nodded as well. "Allegra herself removed the ring from Asmodeus's hand. She would not have been able to do that if the ring had originated with the demon lord. We lost the ring temporarily, but it was found and returned to us by Sebastian. Naturally, he recognized the ring for what it was. We decided that Allegra and I would keep it safe until such time as it could be wielded. When we found out about Melissande's quest to save Damian, I recommended the ring be used. That is what we were doing in Cologne—returning home to collect the ring."

"That's all understandable, everything but the part about the ring being made from the horn of a unicorn. You can't seriously expect me to believe that unicorns…" I stopped. Everyone was looking at me as if I were the crazy one. I decided that I could just let that go without exploring it further, and moved on. "That explains where the ring came from, but what can it do to stop Saer?"

"I will use it against him, Hasi."

I frowned at Adrian. "Wait a sec, you said before that you couldn't use it to rescue Damian."

"That is because Damian was being bound by Asmodeus's curse. The servant of a demon lord cannot harm another servant, or one who is bound to the lord. Thus you were able to free Damian when I could not."

"Thank you," Belinda said softly.

"Any time," I said, a little uncomfortable with her gratitude.

"I will use the ring and confront Saer," Adrian said firmly. "With the ring in my hands, he will not be able to defeat me."

"Mmm. That takes care of the how, but not the when or where." I looked at Belinda. "Do you know where Saer is staying?"

Christian shook his head, answering before Belinda could respond. "It does not matter. He will come to us."

Adrian's eyes narrowed, his irises turning robin's-egg-blue as he pinned back the other vampire with his frown. "You believe he will attack here?"

"We've already been through the lower part of the house, warding everything wardable," Allie said. "Christian expects Saer and his Aryans will track you here before dawn." She glanced at the clock. "That's a little less than three hours away."

"Aryans?" I asked, thinking I must have heard the word incorrectly.

Christian and Allie nodded.

"Aryans as in white supremacist, those sorts of Aryans?"

"Yes," Christian said.

"Neo-Nazis?" My mind was having a hard time grasping the idea of a power-hungry vampire leading an army of Hitler's Youth. "Skinheads and their ilk?"

"Hasi, what is it you find so unbelievable?" Adrian asked, a smile in his voice.

"Oh, I don't know. I guess I just expected that any army Saer raised would be… you know… the evil undead." Everyone just looked at me. "Oh, yeah, I guess you're right. Neo-Nazis are more or less the evil undead. Right. So we have Saer about to attack at any moment with a bunch of goose-stepping Nazis. Great. Anyone here do a really good Winston Churchill impression?"