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thinking it would send me packing. It didn’t- it made me love him more for trusting me enough to show me the secret of what he really was. He finally conceded to marrying me, saying he couldn’t stand the thought of watching my human life pass us both by, but couldn’t stand to miss it either. We married when I was 19 and he was 24. Well, he looked twenty four but he was really over three hundred years old.”
    “What happened to him?” Claire asked softly.
    “ He was killed out in California. He was out there to work with a clan of vampires struggling to stay on the fringes of society. They wanted to, they tried to, but they were getting sloppy and attracting too much human attention. John was not only a great scientist but a charitable man as well. He went out there to try to help this clan, but ended up being killed by the Myrmidons. They were here in the US as well looking for the Fang.” Joyce’s eyes grew far away, the pain of her loss visible in her expression.
    “ No matter,” she continued briskly. “That was years ago. John had worked with Nikoli in Hungary in the middle part of the century so when we married Nikoli and I grew acquainted with each other. John was a bit of a history buff, both human and vampire. He understood the importance of the Keepers and their Guardians and devoted his life to helping them protect the Fang of Stavros. When John passed it felt only natural to have Nikoli move in to keep me company.” She smiled gently at her undead friend.
    “ So you have been nearby all this time?” Claire turned her attention back to Nikoli. “I don’t even know exactly where we are, since I fell asleep in the truck, but we can’t be that far away from home.”
    Nikoli grinned at her. “ Yes, I remember your ill-timed nap, you were tired out from your fight to get away from me.”
    Claire punched him playfully on the arm. She could barely believe the emotional roller coaster she was on- just minutes ago she was fighting against an emotional breakdown, and now she was horsing around with the man she tried to knee in the groin only hours before. Joyce explained it as an instinctual pull to her Guardian, perhaps she was right.
    “ We are about 25 miles from your Grandfather’s home, and I had no idea the Keeper was so close. I wound up here after John was killed, I worried about Joyce being alone.”
    “ I can take care of myself, but it’s been good to have you here anyways,” Joyce replied. “The sun is up, let’s finish this so we can get some rest. Claire, think hard now for me- where is the Fang? Nikoli said he couldn’t persuade you, no human can resist persuasion unless they’ve got the Fang as it’s been enchanted by Circe herself.”
    “I told you I- ” Claire trailed off as her fingers reached for to her neckline. Slowly she pulled out her Grandma’s locket, the one her Grandfather had given her as a graduation gift. She hadn’t removed it since her Grandpa put it on her that day. It had been hidden under her t-shirt all this time. Joyce gasped, and Claire felt Nikoli tense up beside her. She removed the necklace from her neck and laid it out on the table, admiring the simple, elegant design of the mother of pearl accents imbedded in the gold locket.
    “Could this be it?” she asked, gently fingering the accents.
    Nikoli took it from under Cla ire’s fingers and examined it. “Yes” he replied, barely audible. “Tamas may have turned it into a pretty trinket, but that’s it, that’s the Fang of Stavros.”
    “ How can you be sure? I thought it was mother of pearl.”
    “ I am the Guardian of the Keeper,” Nikoli replied. “It is my duty, my instinct, to know it, right through every fiber of my being.”
    “All right now.” Joyce pushed up briskly from the table. “We’ve all been up all night, time to turn in. We all need some sleep. We found the Keeper, we found the Fang of Stavros, and the Keeper isn’t trying to maim the Guardian anymore.” Joyce