Neona’s heart stilled. “What kind of gift?”

“He can communicate with the birds of the air.”

She inhaled sharply. He’d inherited Minerva’s gift! He’d be able to communicate with the dragons.

“Even when he was a baby, birds would come to his windowsill and chirp,” the monk continued. “It wasn’t until he was older and could talk to us that we understood what was happening. He was only three years old the first time he tried to run away. He claimed the birds were free to fly away, and he should be like them. We had a terrible time convincing him to stay here. When it was time to do his chores, he’d run off to spend the afternoon talking to a family of eagles. The mother eagle would ask him about his parents, and then he would return to question us. Why was he not living with a mother and father like the baby eagles?”

The door opened, and the second monk announced, “He’s not in his room. We cannot find him in the compound.”

Neona jumped to her feet. “He’s run away?”

“Do not worry.” The first monk stood slowly. “Norjee does this at least once a week. He will come back when he’s hungry.”

“He’s wandering the forest by himself?” Neona asked. “He’s only seven years old!”

Zoltan stood and whispered, “What’s wrong?”

“He’s in the forest somewhere,” she replied in English.

“He is never alone,” the monk assured her. “Not when he can talk to the birds. Come. We will call him.”

They hurried to the gate, and the monk rang the bell.

She looked around. Beyond the rice field, the woods appeared ominously dark. “I don’t like this. There are wolves, bears, and wildcats.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Zoltan told her.

The clanging of the bell brought more monks to the gate. When they learned Norjee was missing, they returned to the temple to pray.

After a few agonizing minutes, Neona spotted movement at the edge of the forest.

“That’s him.” Zoltan pointed.

Soon she could see him in the moonlight. A family of foxes was leading him back, while several small birds circled overhead. Every now and then, a bird would dive down to peck at a fox’s head, and the furry red creature would jump and hiss. The boy laughed as he skipped along beside them.

Neona turned to Zoltan. “Did you contact the foxes?”

He nodded, smiling.

The monk stepped forward. “Norjee, you left again without permission.”

The boy bowed. “I am sorry, Venerable Father. The birds were calling to me.” His gaze landed on Neona and Zoltan, and his eyes widened.

Neona blinked away tears. He looked so much like her sister. And he had her golden eyes.

The monk motioned to her. “She has come for you, Norjee.”

The boy approached her slowly, a hopeful look on his face. “Are you . . . ?”

It made her heart ache to disappoint him. “I’m your aunt. Your mother was my twin sister.”

His chin trembled. “Was?”

“She passed away.” A tear rolled down Neona’s cheek. “But she always loved you.”

“I-I always wondered.” Norjee sniffed. “The eagle mama told me I had to have a mother and father. She says I must have fallen out of the nest.”

Neona smiled through her tears. “I’m afraid you did. But I’d like to take you back.” She hunched down. “If you’ll accept me, I would be honored to be your mother.”

He ran toward her and threw his arms around her neck. She held him tight as more tears flowed. I’ll be a good mother to him, Minerva, I promise.

Norjee glanced up at Zoltan. “Will he be my papa?”

“Yes.” Neona brushed the boy’s long hair back from his brow. “He doesn’t know Tibetan, so it will be a while before you can talk to each other. But he can talk to animals. He’s the one who sent the foxes after you.”

Norjee’s eyes lit up and he grinned. “That’s great!”

Zoltan smiled and said in English, “I guess I’ve been accepted.” He leaned over and tousled the boy’s hair.

“We will have his belongings packed for you,” the monk said.

Neona stood. “I’m afraid it’s not safe for us to take him tonight. Our valley may come under attack soon.”

The monk nodded. “We know the evil ones are coming. We’ve been praying that the boy would be delivered from danger. You must take Norjee tonight.”

“But—”

The monk held up a hand to stop her. “Our brother’s visions are never wrong. The evil is coming here. I will try to convince my brothers to evacuate tomorrow.”

The second monk arrived with a canvas bag. With a bow, he handed it to Neona.

“What’s happening?” Zoltan asked.

“They want us to take Norjee tonight.” She cast a worried look at the boy. “I guess he would be safe with the young ones in the cave.”

“All right. I’ll teleport him to Beyul-La, then come right back for you.” Zoltan reached for Norjee, but the boy slipped past him and ran toward the monks.

With tears in their eyes, they held him tight, then nudged him toward Zoltan. “Peace be with you, Norjee.”

“And you, Venerable Fathers,” he whispered.

Zoltan took hold of the boy’s shoulders and vanished.

The monks gasped.

“What manner of man is he?” The elderly monk shook his head in disbelief. “I could tell he was different, but I never sensed anything unholy about him.”

“He’s a vampire, but a good man,” Neona explained. “He and some other good vampires are helping us. There’s an evil vampire, Lord Liao, who is marching this way with an army of two hundred men.”

The monks exchanged grim, resigned looks.

“Our Venerable Brother warned us there is great evil approaching,” the elderly monk said. “We feared we would not be able to protect Norjee. You have answered our prayers by coming tonight.”

Neona sighed. “I’m afraid I’m still taking him into danger.”

The monk gave her a sad smile. “Your good vampire will protect him much better than we ever could.”

Zoltan reappeared by her side. “Ready?”

“Almost.” She bowed to the monks. “Thank you, Venerable Fathers, for raising Norjee and giving him love and kindness.”

The monks pressed their hands together and bowed. “Peace be with you.”

“When it is safe again, I’ll bring him back every now and then to visit,” she offered. The sadness in the monks’ faces made her wonder just how bad the brother’s vision had been.

Zoltan grabbed hold of her, and everything went black.

In Neona’s house, Zoltan guzzled down a bottle of blood. He’d left Neona and Norjee by the central fire pit, where they were having a bowl of soup with Tashi and Lydia. He hadn’t wanted to drink blood in front of the boy in case it frightened him.

A son. Zoltan finished the bottle and started on a second one. A week ago he’d set off to solve an old murder, and now he had a woman he intended to marry and a son. He’d protected hundreds of mortals over the centuries, so taking on this new responsibility didn’t disturb him. Quite the contrary. Instead of countless faces, he finally had the chance to love and protect two people who would be special to him. He smiled to himself. If he could be half the father Istvan had been to him, then Norjee would do fine.

He eyed the second bottle, now empty. It must be because of the Living Water he’d added, for he’d had four bottles tonight and he still felt hungry. There were only two left in the ice chest. So far he hadn’t noticed any effect other than hunger. It could be that it took time. Or perhaps his body undid any changes during his death-sleep.

He removed the bottles, then teleported to the kitchen in his castle with the ice chest. At vampire speed, he refilled the chest. Then, back in Neona’s house, he poured a small portion of each new bottle into an empty one, then topped them all off with his supply of stolen Living Water.

He drank another bottle, then joined the others at the fire pit. Winifred and Freya had just arrived from target practice in the adjoining valley. The queen was with the dragon children in the cave.

Lydia was cooking flatbread over the fire and laughing at how fast Norjee could eat them. Freddie and Freya both hugged the boy and welcomed him home.

With a blush, he scooted up close to Zoltan and mumbled something.

Neona smiled. “He’s not used to being around so many women.”

Tashi passed Freddie and Freya each a bowl of soup. “You two were at target practice for a long time.”

Freya exchanged a smile with her sister. “We’ve never seen so many fine warrior men before.”

Freddie snorted. “Men? It was the tigers you wanted to meet.”

Freya shrugged. “I thought the youngest were-tiger was very handsome. Rajiv is his name.”

“I see you managed to get onto their team,” Freddie said.

“And what about you?” Freya nudged her sister. “You’re on the team with the man who calls you a goddess.”

“We’re being assigned to teams?” Neona asked.

“Don’t worry,” Zoltan told her. “We’ll be on the same one.”

Lydia passed Freya a hot loaf of bread. “I thought the dart gun was rather easy to use.”

“It is.” Freya tore the loaf in half and passed a piece to her sister. “But I insisted on practicing a lot.”

Freddie snorted. “You didn’t want to leave your pet tiger.”

“Do not dare call him a pet.” Freya grinned. “He claims to be ferocious.”

Lydia shook her head. “We’re preparing for battle, and all you can think about is men?”

Freya sighed. “I know. I’m blaming it on Zoltan.”

“Excuse me?” he asked.

“You gave us those books to read,” Freddie explained. “Now we have romance on our minds.”

“Exactly.” Freya stirred her soup as a dreamy look came over her face. “I’ve been reading The Perils of a Passionate Pirate. He has long, flowing black locks and sun-kissed bronze skin. Just like Rajiv. And the heroine—she stowed away on his ship, disguised as a cabin boy, but he saw right through that. He’s very clever—”

“And passionate,” Tashi muttered.

“I’ve been reading Duke in Boots,” Freddie announced. “It’s about a duke—”

“And his boots?” Neona asked, her mouth twitching.

Freddie nodded. “He doesn’t dare leave his residence unless his fine Hessian boots are polished to a glossy finish. He’s so incredibly handsome that the heroine took one look at him and stumbled, trampling all over his boots with her muddy shoes.”

Freya gasped. “The horror!”

They both laughed.

Emma materialized close by and gave Zoltan an annoyed look. “You have yet to teach Neona how to fire her dart gun. She can’t go on a mission tomorrow night unprepared.”

“We’ll do it soon.” Zoltan motioned to the young boy, who was watching everyone curiously. “We brought Norjee back to live here.”

The boy smiled when he heard his name.

Neona patted his back. “He inherited Minerva’s gift. He can communicate with winged creatures.”

“Like the dragons?” Emma asked. When some of the women gasped, she gave them a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with us.”

Her smile faded as she took a seat by the fire. “Angus and I are worried that it may be the dragons that Lord Liao is after. He may have heard rumors of their existence.”

Lydia nodded. “Our dragons have flown these skies for thousands of years. There will be peasants and farmers who have seen them or heard of them.”

“That’s what we figured.” Emma frowned. “Master Han may want control of them. Imagine how easy it would be for him to take over new territory if his soldiers are flying about on fire-breathing dragons. Villagers will surrender to Master Han to keep from being burned.”

Freddie grimaced. “We can’t let Master Han get them.”

Emma leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. “Tell me more about them. How many are there?”

“Three children,” Neona replied. “Xiao Fang is the oldest. He hatched six years ago.”

“Six?” Zoltan asked. “He looks about twelve.”

“The dragon children age twice as fast,” Lydia said. “Until they reach puberty and the time of their first shifting.”

“Xiao Fang can already breathe fire.” Freddie finished her bowl of soup. “He’ll shift soon. Maybe two or three months from now.”

“He had a sister,” Freya added. “But a few minutes after she hatched, she turned blue and couldn’t breathe.”

Freddie sighed. “It was terrible. Our mother tried to save her, but they both ended up dying.”

“That’s how Calliope died?” Zoltan asked, and the two sisters nodded.

“I’m so sorry,” Emma told them. “There are two more children?”

“A boy and girl.” Neona ladled more soup into Norjee’s bowl. “They hatched three years ago, so they look like six-year-olds.”

“Wait a minute.” Zoltan sat back. “The eggs are hatching every three years?”

“Yes.” Neona gave him a worried look. “The next group could hatch any day now. Two eggs.”