And Then He Changed His Pants: Jane finds Eli and Wrassler set up in the back entrance, and Esmee (with a shotgun pointed out the window and three pistols nearby) in the mudroom. Eli asks Jane to check on Alex, who is supposed to be in the garage, and when she calls, he tells her he locked himself in the armored vehicle. Jane goes to the front of the house, where she sees Bruiser hiding behind the couch, shortly thereafter displaying some very difficult and definitely not-completely-human moves, taking out the two attackers. Before she can leave to go check on the others, Jane ends up in a very passionate clinch with Bruiser, broken up only by the sounds of continued fighting at the back. When the fighting is over, only one of the attackers is still alive, Wrassler is injured, though not seriously, and Jane realizes that she never even fired a shot. When the police arrive, they question everyone but Alex and Jane, the only ones with no gunshot residue on their hands. When Sylvia Turpin, the Adams County sheriff, arrives, things move more quickly (the woman knows Leo), and Esmee’s guests are left to themselves to make plans. While debating when to attack the building de Allyon is holed up in with several other vamps and their servants (information provided by one of Leo’s blood-servants who is related to one of de Allyon’s), Alex asks if anyone has a helicopter. It seems the building has a great landing spot for one, and the air-conditioning system is a weak point.
I Disliked Her on Sight: While waiting for the helicopter to arrive, Jane gets a phone call from Rick, who is coming in with the team. Bruiser has called in PsyLED, which Jane hadn’t known, but is pleased about. Jane, Eli, and the team all put on gas masks, to keep out the sleeping gas that was about to be dispersed. They were also going to be using the colloidal silver canisters that Jane ordered, hoping that they would cause problems for vamps. From the roof, Eli tells the others to go. Derek and his team, along with Rick, descend from the helicopter, while Jane and Bruiser break in the front window. At one point the two discover a room with a salt circle, typically signifying a witch working, with a dead vamp hanging upside down. After battling several vamps and taking down humans, Jane has an incident with Bruiser where he appears lost in a battle fog and does not recognize her. The various team members report in, and the bad news is that no one has spotted de Allyon. Unfortunately a second wave of vamps attack, and at one point Rick comes to her aid. Once again, Jane and the others realize that de Allyon was not there.
Jane asks Leo via text if they can send the humans they have captured to heal the sick vamps in Asheville, and he agrees. Eli tells Jane that he caught one of Derek’s guys, Cheek Sneak, taking pictures and texting with his phone, which Eli then confiscated. Jane confirms that Eli should give it to Alex, and if he discovers proof of consorting with the enemy, she wants to know first. Rick packs Jane’s wound, which she plans to shift and heal later on. Soon Leo arrives, with Sabina, Grégoire, and Rick’s team—the grindy, the werewolf stuck in wolf form, and Rick’s supervisor, Soul, an exotic woman whom Jane pretty quickly pegs as not human. Leo asks Jane for a report, and he and Grégoire both detect that the binding between Jane and Leo has undergone a change of some sort.
One Punch With a Set of Brass Knuckles: Human law enforcement is now involved in the situation, also Rick’s first big case. The werewolf comes across the room to where Jane is sitting, bristling and growling at her. Jane relates part of the story about how she took the guy down when he was in human form. Rick insists that Jane needs to shift to heal, so he whisks her away in Grégoire’s limo, stopping at the store for ham. The two sit down on a blanket next to the river, and both finally admit they love each other, agreeing that there is more to love than just sex, and that they will eventually figure out a way to be together. Not only does the were-taint stand between them, but also their respective jobs will not always dovetail. And then there is the additional problem that skinwalkers often go insane. Jane strips and shifts, and Beast makes her feelings toward Rick known, even scent-marking him. After Jane reemerges, her phone rings with Bruiser telling her that Katie was attacked while the others were all occupied in Natchez.
Leaving all of their stuff behind at the rental house, they all head to New Orleans, with Jane, Alex, Bruiser, Derek, and Eli all in Grégoire’s limo. While riding, Jane thinks over the events, wondering how de Allyon knew they were in Natchez. She texts Alex to ask about Sneak Cheek, and shortly thereafter he texts back to say the man is at the top of a list of six suspects. Alex also reports that he managed to download some information from the computers at the building before law enforcement arrived. Just as the car gets to the outskirts of New Orleans, Bruiser gets a call, apparently from de Allyon or someone with him, who says he has Katie. After answering that yes, Jane is with them, Bruiser says, “We accept,” something Jane has a really bad feeling about. Bruiser calls Sabina.
Dumber Than Dirt: Jane confirms with Bruiser that she is being accused of the murder of de Allyon’s Enforcer, and because of that, she will be going to trial, where the vamp plans to use the Vampira Carta to his advantage. However, at this parley/trial, Sabina will force the Vampira Carta rules on de Allyon. In the meantime, Leo’s scions will rescue Katie. One very disturbing fact: if Jane is found guilty, de Allyon gets to turn her and she will be subject to him forever. Bruiser tells Jane that if she allows Leo to bind her again and not undo it, he can use her.
Jane goes to do a security check at Grégoire’s clan home, where Leo and the others would be kept safe during the daytime. When she arrives, Brian greets her and gives her a book that is a present from Leo and Sabina: a history of the Mithrans in the Americas. Sabina wants Jane to go to a particular page, and she finds some illustrations—of de Allyon killing and feeding from skinwalkers. This makes the war between them more personal. Jane also notices that the vamp in the picture is fat, not slim like most of the vampires she knows, deciding this has something to do with him being Naturaleza, and the name under one of the pictures translates to “Death’s Rival.” She also realizes that de Allyon will know what she is the moment he smells her.
I’d Save the Last Bullet for Me: Jane tries to think of a way to solve the various problems and situations she is caught up in, but Beast decides she needs sleep. When she gets ready for the parley, she weapons up and wears her leathers, along with some eye makeup (applied by Christie, one of Katie’s Ladies) and contacts, to hide the color of her eyes. Bruiser arrives to escort Jane, and he is as decked out as she is. Bruiser returns Jane’s silver protective necklace, taken from her the night of the forced feeding. Eli, Leo, Bruiser, Jane, and Grégoire all make their way to the Nunnery, a downtown warehouse. Derek, Wrassler, and the other men follow, with Derek waiting for word from Alex on where Katie is being held. Worried that the set parley time of two hours will not be enough to rescue Katie, Jane has come up with her own plan, which she shares with no one.
Leo and his group greet Sabina when she arrives, and she announces that at the gathering she is the emissary of the Outclan Council, not Leo’s Outclan priestess. Then de Allyon makes his entrance, with more vamps than the twelve he is supposed to have with him. Jane scents that some of those in his party are sick, and lets Bruiser and the others know. De Allyon and Leo introduce themselves, and then Sabina tells de Allyon that he must get some of his scions to leave to meet the number restriction. He picks out the ones who are sick. De Allyon questions the involvement of the Outclan Council in the proceedings, and Sabina responds that his attack in Natchez drew undue attention to Mithran matters.