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Lazarus lowered his ears and growled "Have I offended you, my friend?"

Bu away from the dumpster The E slowly lifted by a pale hand Buure stood up in the dumpster, his hair dark and wild and speckled with trash, skin white as bone He vaulted out of the dus Bu

"That will be quite enough of that," the E his thumbs under the lapels of his worn overcoat

The vampire brushed a bit of rotted lettuce frorinned "I'll let you live," he said, his voice like a file on ancient rusted metal "That's your punishment"

The Eround The vahed, then turned and walked away

The Emperor felt a chill run up his neck as the vaht, Not this My city is dying of poison and plague and now this-this creature-stalks the streets The responsibility is suffocating Emperor or not, I am only a ht noould sell my soul for a bucket of the Colonel's crispy-fried chicken Ah, but Ifor the troops It could be worse, I suppose I could be the Emperor of Oakland

"Chins up, boys," the Emperor said to his hounds "If we are to battle this th There is a bakery in North Beach that will presently be du, Nero fiddled while his empire went to ashes; I shall eat leathery pastries

As the E to balance the ihnut, Jody was leaving the Pyramid She enty-six and pretty in a way that made men want to tuck her into flannel sheets and kiss her on the forehead before leaving the room; cute but not beautiful

As she passed under the Pyra from a panty-hose injury It didn't hurt, exactly, the run that striped the back of her leg from heel to knee, the result of a surly ged her ankle; but she was liht, My closet is starting to look like an ostrich hatchery I've either got to start throwing out L'eggs eggs or get a tan onnylons

She'd never had a tan, couldn't get one, really She was a reen-eyed redhead who burned and freckled with sun

When she was half a block fro won and Jody experienced total hair-spray failure Neat waist-length waves frizzed to a wild red cape of curl and tangle Great, she thought, once again I'll get ho a cracker Kurt will be so pleased

She pulled her jacket closer around her shoulders against the chill, tucked her briefcase under her breasts like a schoolgirl carrying books, and li by the glass door of a brokerage office Green light froht about crossing the street to avoid hiain in a few feet to catch her bus

She thought, I' late It's not worth it No eye contact, that's the plan

As she passed theshoes (her heels were in her briefcase) That's it Just a couple more steps

A hand caught in her hair and jerked her off her feet, her briefcase went skittering across the sidewalk and she started to screaed off the street into an alley She kicked and flailed, but he was too strong, immovable The sed even while trying to scream Her attacker spun her around and yanked on her hair, pulling her head back until she thought her neck would snap Then she felt a sharp pain on the side of her throat and the strength to fight seemed to evaporate

Across the alley she could see a soda can and an old Wall Street Journal, a wad of bubble guely slowed down and significant Her vision began to tunnel dark, like an iris closing, and she thought, These will be the last things I see The voice in her head was calm, resolved

As everything went dark, her attacker slapped her across the face and she opened her eyes and saw the thin white face before her He was speaking to her "Drink," he said

So warm and as shoved into her ain It's his arm He's shoved his ar blood "Drink!"

A hand claled, tried to breathe, tried to pull his aret air, sucked for air and nearly choked on blood Suddenly she found herself sucking, drinking hungrily When he tried to pull his arm away she clutched at it He tore it froain After aat her clothes, but she had nothing left to fight with She felt a roughness against the skin of her breasts and belly, then he was off her

"You'll need that," he said, and his voice echoed in her head as if he had shouted down a canyon "Now you can die"

Jody felt a reave up Her heart slowed, lugged, and stopped