adily, the muscles in his arms and thighs twitching in anticipation. His ears picked up the sound o

which flashed silver and twirled in a deadly arc. It caught the lesser right in the neck, splitting his throat o

neck with both hands

ckets. He took the wallet and the cell ph

curly hair and relatively inept attack, this was a new recruit. With a quick thrust, he pushed the lesser onto its back, flipped the weapon in the

the lesser disintegrat

lipped it back where it belonged, and stood up. H

es dropped by, looking for a chance to help him

ike any vampire worth his salt, he could dematerialize at will and travel over vast distances, but that was

ne car was a

From out of the sky rain started to fall

tten him thinking. Havers was a physician, a dedicated healer

isted. The starter wheezed. He turned the key again and then

e undercarriage of the car and hardwire

te heat, his last thought was of the daughter

**

eap wallpaper off the bathroom walls because she kept the water so hot. She dried off, threw on he

go, so the room was nearly as smothering as the bathroom. She eyed her two windows and the sliding

itchen. The chicken leftovers from four nights ago even seemed inviting, but when she cracked the foil package, she caught a whiff of sweat socks. She pitched the load and tossed a Lean Cuisine into th

y was. She couldn't help the way her face looked, but she was willing to bet tha

, trying to get his

is hands, those awful, heav

report. She should go

o leave her apartment. A

n tight to her body. Her stomach was doing a slow churn job on the mac and che

w brought

poor guy had run for cover when she'd come through the door

er. His wide green eyes looked worried

ama," she murmured,

rm, his weight grounding. She didn't know how long she sat there

pace with the petting. Years of living with Boo had h

ht, which ruled out telemarketers and suggeste

s on. Some guy's car blew up outsi

é de la Cruz was one of the city's police de

Because she spent so much time at the station, she'd gotten to k

you

what happened. Ju

ed horror tightene

rk hair out of her face and cleared

good tip?" He laughed easily. "Oh, but t

ve Brian O'Neal, better known

n't... make

appily. But she knew down at the station that they all speculated about her. A w

, no

as her friend's cop radar obv

ed. I'll come to th

he'd be strong enough to go through wh

d to do a

thanks. I

hung

t and then some. She called for a cab. Before she left she rummaged through her closet until she found her

he bomb scene, she was going to find her voic

t that ass**le walk free and do the same thing to someone else. And even if

oom of David's house. Damn, he'd fo

ife as a highborn princeps, and fine living was still of value to him. His nineteenth-century man

m's soft yellow wal

sant surpris

the old male was dressed in black livery. He'd been with David for about a hundred or so years and was a doggen, which meant he