Patrick's eyes widened. He tried to bend his fork, but couldn't. "Wow, you're really strong."
"I have superior strength, vision, and hearing. I can levitate, teleport, and control people's minds if I have to. You would be safe with me, Patrick."
He glanced at Uncle Bob. "Can you control an animal?"
"I suppose. Will you help me, Patrick?"
He gulped. "I'll try. But we can't do any work on the night of a full moon."
"Why not?" Pierce asked.
"Because whenever there's a full moon, we lose another cow," Uncle Bob said sadly.
"You can't help it," Betty whispered. "If you didn't take one of ours, you'd go to the neighbors, and they'd shoot you for sure."
Uncle Bob was killing the cows? Pierce tilted his head, confused, then suddenly remembered the wolflike creature. Maggie gasped and looked at him. She was thinking the same thing. They turned to stare at Uncle Bob.
He sighed. "That was me you almost hit on the road. I change every time there's a full moon."
"I didn't think werewolves existed," Maggie whispered.
"I didn't think vampires existed" Bob replied. "But I'm not really a werewolf. There ain't no wolves in this part of Texas. It was a coyote that bit me."
Pierce blinked. "You're a were-coyote?"
"Yep." Uncle Bob nodded.
"It's the curse," Patrick moaned. "We'll all get bitten. Rosalinda was bit, too."
Maggie gasped. "You're a coyote, too?"
She put down the carrot stick she'd been munching on. "Actually, it was a jack-rabbit that bit me."
Maggie gasped again. "You're the rabbit from last night?"
Rosalinda nodded with a smile. "I was curious about you."
"Now, all our secrets are out." Dorotea gave Pierce a worried look. "Are you still happy you found your family?"
"Yes. I'm happy you can accept me the way I am."
His mother smiled sadly. "We love you, no matter what. That's how it is in a family."
Pierce stood and pushed back his chair. "Then I hope there's room for one more in this family." He knelt beside Maggie's chair and took her hand in his. "I love you, Maggie. Can you give up the glamorous life of a television star to be the wife of a poor guano farmer?"
"Yes!" She slipped out of the chair and into his arms. "Yes, I can."
Epilogue
One month later
"It's over, Don Orlando." Maggie stood over the fake hospital bed on the set at DVN. Pierce lay there silently, pretending to be in a coma.
"I can never see you again." She turned away from the bed and faced camera two. "I've decided to leave the country. There are so many sick people in South America. They need me."
Maggie spun around to face Don Orlando. "But before I leave, there's one thing I must do." She took his hand and leaned over the bed. "I have to tell you how I truly feel. It was always impossible for us. You're the greatest vampire lover in the world, while I'm a famous, mortal brain surgeon. Our love could never be."
She sat beside him, clutching his hand to her breast. "But I will always love you, Don Orlando."
He moaned and turned his head.
Maggie leaped to her feet, releasing his hand. "Oh my God. It's a miracle! He's coming out of the coma!"
"Dr. Jessica," he whispered, opening his eyes. "You've come back to me." He grabbed her hand.
She swayed away from him, directing a forlorn look at camera one. "I must go. I'm leaving for South America tonight."
"Then I will come with you." He sat up in bed.
"And leave your mariachi band?"
"They can come with me. I hear there is a shortage of mariachi bands in South America."
She sat next to him on the bed. "But you're famous here. You would give that up for me?"
"I love you, Dr. Jessica. Wherever you go, I shall go with you." He pulled her into his arms.
"I love you, too, Don Orlando."
"Then my life is complete." His mouth covered hers.
Maggie wrapped her arms around him and savored this last kiss with Don Orlando.
"That's great!" the director yelled. "Cut!"
Pierce deepened the kiss, invading her mouth with his tongue. Maggie moaned and snuggled closer.
"I said cut!"
Pierce planted kisses down her neck and nuzzled her ear. "I love you, Mrs. Maggie O'Callahan."
She sighed with contentment.
He pulled back and gave her a rakish Don Orlando look, one dark brow raised. "Shall we adjourn to my dressing room?"
With a laugh, Maggie walked off the set with her husband, the greatest lover in the vampire world.