(5) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Rise and shine," Linden said, shaking Piers' shoulder. When the vampire hissed and then rolled over, burying his head under the pillow, Linden stripped the covers off him none too gently. "Get your sorry ass out of bed."

Piers lifted the pillow enough to peer at his ghoul. "What's the rush?" Then he remembered. "Okay, got it. Off to the wilds of nowhere." With a groan, he sat up, looking at Linden. "And you need blood."

Linden nodded, sitting down beside him. "Please."

After biting into his wrist, Piers offered it to Linden, allowing him to drink enough to sate his need before pulling it away. "Feel better now?"

"Much," Linden replied with a smile. "Are you going to hunt before we leave?"

"Probably not. I doubt Rod will give me time to, so I'll use one of the servants. Maybe that cute little gardener."

Linden snorted. "If I were you I'd do it with the butler. Less temptation to get distracted. Either way though you'd better get moving. Time and Roderick wait for no man."

An hour later, his hunger if not his lust sated, Piers strolled downstairs to find Roderick standing in the front hall, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to drag you out of bed," Roderick growled.

"Or into yours?" Piers replied wistfully before he could stop himself.

"Don't," Roderick rebuked him, though gently. "Are you ready to go?"

"As much as I can be."

"Good. Now all we need is Linden. What is taking that boy so long?"

"He's probably—"

"Eating," Linden announced, dashing into view, a thick sandwich in one hand, a bottle of juice in the other. "I needed food before facing the plane ride."

"Which you'll sleep through anyway," Piers said, "leaving me having to listen to another of Rod's stories of his misspent youth in Sumer."

"No, tonight I thought I'd regale you with ones about—" Roderick tapped his lip thoughtfully, "The trials and tribulations of an itinerant warrior during the days of the Crusades. Those knights were damned prudish. So let's get moving."