It hit him, a hard, fast punch to the solar plexus. His thoughts spun, so he asked the first question that popped. “How do you know?”

“I asked Cybil-” She broke off, shifted to face him, started again. “It seemed that there had to be a reason for what happened, Fox, a reason she was infected so quickly, so… fatally. So I asked Cybil to look into it, and she has been.”

“Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

“I wasn’t sure, and if I’d been wrong, I’d have upset you for nothing. And… I should’ve told you,” she amended. “I’m sorry.”

“No.” The spinning stopped; the ache just under his heart eased. She’d wanted to shield him until supposition became fact and he’d have done exactly the same. “No, I get it. Cybil climbed Carly’s family tree?”

“Yes. Tonight she told me she’d found the connection. She has the details of the genealogy if you want to see them.”

When he only shook his head, she went on. “I don’t know if this makes it better for you, or worse, or if it changes nothing. But I thought you should know.”

“She was part of it,” he said quietly. “All along.”

“Twisse used that, and you, and her. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, but nothing you did, nothing you didn’t do would have changed that.”

“I don’t know if that’s true, but there’s nothing I can do now to change it. Maybe we found each other, Carly and me, because of this. But then we made choices, both of us, that led to the end of it. Different choices, maybe a different result. No way to know.”

After a moment, he laid his hand over hers. “There’s always going to be guilt, and grief, when I think of her. But now, I know at least part of the why. I never understood why, Layla, and that twisted me up.”

“Twisse took her to hurt you. And was able to take her, the way he did, because she was of his bloodline. And because…”

“Keep going,” he told her when she trailed off.

“I think because she didn’t believe, not really. She didn’t believe enough to be afraid, or to fight, even to run. That’s just speculation, and I might be overstepping, but-”

“No.” He said it quietly. “No, you’re exactly right. She didn’t believe, even when she saw with her own eyes.” He lifted his free hand, studied the unmarred palm. “She told me what she thought I wanted to hear, promised to stay at the farm that night without ever intending to keep the promise. She was built skeptical, she couldn’t help it.”

He closed his hand into a loose fist, lowered it. And for the first time in nearly seven years, he let it go. “I never thought of a connection. That was smart. And you were right to tell me.” He lifted their hands, slid his fingers between hers. “Being up-front with each other, even when it’s hard, that’s the best choice for us.”

“I want to say this one thing more before we go in. If I promise you something-if you ask me to do something, or not to, and I give you my promise, I’ll keep it.”

Understanding, he brought their joined hands to his lips. “And I’ll believe what you tell me. Let’s go inside.”

He couldn’t change the past, Fox thought. He could only prepare for the future. But he could prize and hold the now. Layla was his now. The people in this house were his as well. They needed him, and he needed them. That was enough for any man.

He settled into his usual spot on the floor with Lump. Whatever was in the air, Fox thought, was something between nerves and fear. That was from the women. From Cal and Gage he sensed both interest and impatience.

“What’s going on? And whatever it is, let’s get on with it.”

Cybil took the stage.

“I’ve talked with a number of people I know and, for the most part, trust, regarding performing a blood ritual, the object being to re-form the three pieces of Dent’s bloodstone into one. We’re assuming that’s something we need to do. There are a lot of assumptions here based on bits and pieces of information, on speculation.”

“The three separate pieces haven’t done us much good up till now,” Gage pointed out.

“Well, you don’t know that, do you?” Cybil tossed back. “It’s very possible that those individual pieces are what’s given you your gifts-your sight, your healing. Once whole, you might lose that. And without those gifts in your arsenal, you’ll be all the more vulnerable to Twisse.”

“If you don’t put them back together,” Cal pointed out, “they’re just three pieces of stone we don’t understand. We agreed to try. We have tried. If you’ve found another way, that’s what we’ll try next.”

“Blood rites are powerful and dangerous magicks. We’re dealing with a powerful and dangerous force already. You need to know all the possible consequences. All of us need to know. And all of us have to agree because all of us need to be part of it for the ritual to have any chance of working. I’m not going to agree until everyone understands.”

“We get it.” Gage shrugged. “Cal may need to dig out his glasses, and the three of us will be susceptible to the common cold.”

“Don’t make light of this.” Cybil turned to him. “You could lose what you have, and more. It could all blow up in our faces. You’ve seen that possibility. The mix of blood and fire, the stone on the stone. Every living thing consumed. It was your blood that let the demon out. We need to consider that performing this rite could loose something worse.”

“You have to play to win.”

“He’s right.” Fox nodded at Gage. “We risk it, or we do nothing. We believe Ann Hawkins or we don’t. This was the time, that’s what she told Cal. This Seven is the all or nothing, and the stone-whole-is a potential weapon. I believe her. She sacrificed her life with Dent, and that sacrifice led to us. One into three, three into one. If there’s a way, we go.”

“There’s another three. Q, Layla, and me. Our blood, tainted if you will, with that of the demon.”

“And carrying that of the innocent.” Layla sat with her hands folded, as if she held something delicate inside them. “Hester Deale wasn’t evil. Innocent blood, you said, Cybil, innocent blood is a powerful element in ritual.”

“So I’m told.” Cybil let out a sigh. “I was also warned that the innocent can be used to give the demon strain more power. That a ritual such as we’re suggesting could be an invitation. Three young boys were changed by a blood rite on that ground. It could happen again, with us.” She looked at Layla, at Quinn. “And what’s diluted, or dormant, or just outweighed in us by who we are, could rise.”

“Not going to happen.” Quinn spoke briskly. “Not only because I don’t consider horns and cloven feet a fashion statement but”-she ignored Cybil’s annoyed oath- “because we won’t let it. Cyb, you’re too goddamn hard-headed to let a little demon DNA run your show. And you’re not responsible. Don’t even,” Quinn ordered when Cybil started to speak. “Nobody knows you like I do. If we vote go, we’re all in it, we’re all making the choice. And whatever happens, thumbs-up or -down, it’s not on you. You’re just the messenger.”

“Understand if it goes wrong, it could go seriously and violently wrong.”

“If it goes right,” Fox reminded Cybil, “it’s a step toward saving lives. Toward ending this.”

“More likely we’ll lose a little blood and not a damn thing will change. Any way you look at it, it’s a long shot,” Gage added. “I like a long shot. I’m in.”

“Anyone not?” Quinn scanned the room. “That’s a big go.”

“Let’s get started.”

“Not so fast, big guy,” Cybil said to Gage. “While the ritual’s pretty straightforward, there are details and procedure. It requires the six of us-boy-girl, boy-girl-like any good dinner party, in the standard ritual circle. On the ritual ground at the Pagan Stone. Cal, I don’t suppose you have the knife you used before?”

“My Boy Scout knife? Sure I do.”

“Sure he does.” Charmed, Quinn leaned over to kiss his cheek.

“We’ll need that. I have a list of what we’ll need. And we’ll work out the wording of the incantation. We have to wait for the night of the full moon, and begin in the half hour before midnight, finish before the half hour after.”