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Deirdre. “And that is why I shall remain the eternal bachelor. For what woman could truly appreciate my stunning good looks?”
    “Not again,” Deirdre said.
    Ioan nodded. “And your Hawaiian shirt collection.”
    “My noble devotion to beer and professional wrestling.”
    “And your dogs,” Ioan added. “Don’t forget your dogs.”
    Deirdre sighed. “Why do I ever try to have a serious conversation with the two of you?”
     
     
     
    Dublin, Ireland
    June 2005
     
    Carwyn leaned against the grimy walls of the Ha’Penny Bridge Inn, waiting for Brigid Connor to show. He’d stopped by Parliament House the evening before and left a note with the guards in front telling her to meet him at the old pub near the river. Much of the older part of Dublin had been updated in the previous years, but the Ha’Penny had stayed relatively old-fashioned and didn’t cater to as many tourists as most of the bars in the city center. Though it was only June, the buzz and bustle of the summer crowds were already filling the evening streets, even on a Wednesday night.
    He saw her as soon as she turned the corner, but then, she was hard to miss. Brigid Connor had always been a tiny thing, with a stride that warned people off, despite her small frame. She was pale-skinned, with a scattering of freckles dotting her cheeks, and her garishly dyed hair was chopped short and lay in irregular chunks around a pixie face. Her large eyes were the color of amber ale and her chin came to a sharp point under a bow-shaped mouth.
    Carwyn thought she looked like an extremely pissed off fairy, which amused him greatly. He grinned when he saw her bark at a boy who approached her. Then his eyebrows lifted when she reached out and took his hand. So, little Brigid had a boyfriend? Her expression as she approached was a mask of studied nonchalance.
    He opened his senses to feel for the boy. Though he was in the city, and the earth beneath him was long buried, he could scent the young man, watch the subtle angles of his body language, and listen for his pulse, which was hammering with nerves, instinctively reacting to the presence of the predator he was. Good . Brigid’s heartbeat, however, was steady as a low drum. The smell of the river masked their scents as they approached.
    She came to a stop in front of him and looked up with a haughty expression. “So, you’re here to check up on me?”
    The boy awkwardly looked between Brigid and Carwyn. “Um… Brig—”
    “It’s fine, Mark. He’s an old… family friend,” she said with a sneer. “Go ahead and I’ll meet you at the club later.”
    “Are you sure?”
    Carwyn gave the boy a cheerful smile and held out his hand to shake. The boy grabbed it, and Carwyn let his amnis crawl up to the boy’s mind. As the energy flooded the human’s cerebral cortex, Carwyn spoke to him. “Hello, Mark. Nice to meet you. You’re not going to remember much of me. Now piss off and leave us alone. She’ll meet you later.”
    “Okay.”
    He could see Brigid roll her eyes, but Mark turned and quickly walked back the way they had come.
    “Why did you want to come to this old place? They haven’t hung new curtains since before I was born.” She walked past him and pulled open the door to the pub.
    Carwyn looked after her and called, “Lovely to see you, as well, Brigid. I can see that your sunny demeanor has only blossomed in adulthood.”
    He walked inside and took the seat opposite her in the old booth. “So, is that your natural hair color, or were you attacked by eggplant-wielding terrorists on the way out of your flat?”
    She cocked a haughty eyebrow. “They were protesting at the market, actually. Maybe I should stick to blood like you and Ioan. Might be less dangerous.”
    “I’d consider it, if I were you.”
    “Do you really watch American professional wrestling? Been meaning to ask you. I don’t believe my aunt. No one actually watches that. It’s idiotic.”
    Carwyn grinned. “What do you