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Jameson had to smile at her antics She certainly kept the conservative and staid Roland hopping

Roland How many times had he saved Jaent Curt Rogers had kidnapped Jameson when he hat, twelve? That prick had left hi in the heart of winter All just a ploy to get to Tamara, of course If Roland hadn&039;t found hih

And then, later, after his mother died, that bastard Lucien had taken hiain, his friends had stepped in to save him Rhiannon had nearly died that ti him from the jaws of death in the nick of time So certain that just because he was still mortal, he couldn&039;t take care of himself

Hell, he was half vahts It had co so much time in their company Even when Roland had found Jameson&039;s natural father for him, and sent him to live with the man inCalifornia , he&039;d stuck to his nocturnal ways

Soe hih He still had a few mortal years left, and he&039;d like to see a lot oodbye to thelass of wine, and he wasn&039;t ready to give it all up for a strictly liquid diet

"You guys shouldn&039;t hang out in the city for very long," he warned the others, as he paced the floor that night Their third night here "You know the place is practically lousy with those DPI bastards" Rhiannon smiled "I wish I would run into one of the her a scowl from Roland It didn&039;t faze her She reached down and stroked a path over Pandora&039;s head, and the cat batted playfully at her hand

"You&039;re right, Jamey," Tamara said softly, and she went to the nearestto part the draperies and snap the shade so it rolled up on itself Then she stared out at the glittering skyline "But I don&039;t want to leave until you do I know you&039;re still furious And I know you want revenge" He shrugged "That&039;syou, I don&039;t want you involved in et yourself killed one of these ti your nose in where-&039;"

"I had a drea hie, black eyes

"Jamey, I had a dream about you"

Eric lifted one brow at his wife&039;s state A new one on quantum physics "This is the first I&039;ve heard of it"

"I didn&039;t say anything the first tiaze to Ja her head sadly "It wasn&039;t visual Just a feeling A horrible feeling that soht here, in this city So I&039; Not until you do" Ja with Tam She&039;d been like a sister to him, even when she was mortal Protective even then

"Well now," Rhiannon purred, slinking across the roorace as that cat of hers "I agree We remain If anyone touches Ja him wet dreams since the first day he&039;d laid eyes on her "Take action," she finished

Jarated his teeth It didn&039;t matter that he was taller than Roland, or that his ym than Eric&039;s had ever been It didn&039;t ray hair amid the jet-black ones last week, or that he&039;d celebrated his thirtieth birthday the month before that

They&039;d always see him as a child in need of their protection Always

He turned, stalked to the apart for a walk" Then he looked back at them, his hand still on the doorknob "And if any of you follow me, I swear to Christ, I&039;ll never corabbed his arently "Look at me, Tamara No, I mean really look at me I&039; over his face, tearing up as she nodded He ran his hand through her dark curls, and then lowered his head to kiss I her cheek "Please understand, Ta, she nodded "Be careful," she whispered

"I&039;m always careful"

He turned and left the apartment

He walked, alone and after dark, completely unafraid Aside from his occasional run-ins with DPI, few people ever wanted to mess with Jameson once they&039;d looked hier showed there And now, probably more than ever Now that he&039;d been used, humiliated, as an adult this time, at their bloody hands Oh, he knew about them The way they&039;d had Taet their hands on her Used her, fro she had the antigen, and knowing, too, that sooner or later one of the undead would show up to check in on her

And when the one appointed to be her ed his h with the plot to use the child he&039;d raised as his own, they&039;d had him killed as well

They were ruthless, bloodthirsty aniame, and when they found them, their experimentation techniques were utterly free of any hint of conscience

The bastards

Jameson wanted to knohy they&039;d taken hi

Why they&039;d taken the particular specimens from his body that they had, and what they intended to do next

He wanted to know But how could he find out? That hat he needed to think about, and he needed to think about it alone Outside, with the fresh, snapping winter air keeping him sharp, and without all those concerned, protective eyes watching over hi the exertion and the chill And he planned Well, he supposed he h their files Maybe tap into their computers and see if any inforrab one of them That Nazi-like doctor, Rose Sversky, for exa, Stiles He could torture one of the

Maybe even Fuller hiht about the pain he&039;d like to inflict on that bastard, who&039;d done likewise to so

Whatever he decided, he couldn&039;t do anything until he convinced Eric, Taet the hell out of here and leave hiled up in whatever , just as they always did, and he didn&039;t want that He didn&039;t want his friends-family, really-put at risk because of his need to vent this old, ever-growing anger His passion for -overdue justice He couldn&039;t allow the to be messy

So he supposed he&039;d have to wait, and

Jameson came to a stop in the street, and stood silently, head cocked slightly to one side as the cold wind ruffled his hair and stung his cheeks He&039;d heard so on the street seemed to notice Or if they did, they didn&039;t seeain, with the slow- air brakes Less noisy now than during the day, but not by a hell of a lot

A second ticked by, then two And then he caught it again The sound was that of

And the voice was that of a vampire

A little shiver crept up the back of Jameson&039;s neck as he pinpointed the source of the sound An abandoned building, several yards away frolass

Snow on the old stone dorh little reuardians now You couldn&039;t evens, dusted now in snow

She was in there

How he knew that-how he could even hear the sound of her voice-Jameson didn&039;t know It wasn&039;t audible Not to mortal I ears, anyway But that was just it His wereher there? Why could he feel her pain?

Jameson Bryant was not a fool He&039;d encountered other preternatural beings before, those ere strangers to hiainst their nature to harm one of their own-one of theChosenThose rare h their veins They always knew that antigen Scented it or sensed it or so And most of the undead tended to protect and watch over those els His mouth twisted in a smile at the irony of that

But there were exceptions to every rule And there were monsters in every race and every species He did nota hand

But this time was different He was conized nor understood She ht turn on hi boards nailed in the shape of a cross in the doorway of the ruined building, and h the rubble, to where she was

And when he finally saw her, his heart tripped over itself

She sat, curled in the fetal position in a corner Her black dress-or robe or whatever it as torn and tattered and filthy As was her tangled ebony hair, long and dirty and covering her face She was startlingly white So very white she nearly glowed in the darkness like a wraith And thin Emaciated, even Her handsJesus, he could see the bones in those chalk-white hands

He took another step toward her, and her head came up fast, eyes wide and fear-filled And as she stared at hiht to spill through the broken glass, and bathe her face and her eyes in that ethereal glow She was painfully thin, but even then, she was beautiful The shape of her face, like a sculpture in the h, sharp cheekbones, and a delicate jawline Full lips, parted slightly, and a long slender neck that held him htly, and the light fell on her eyes, and he caught his breath They were violet

Brilliant, vivid violet So bright was their color that he&039;d have suspected it to be false if he didn&039;t know better Huge, luminous eyes that shone with color Her thinness, he suspected, er than they were And no doubt it was that saht hollows it caused in her cheeks, that el

She wasn&039;t an angel, though She was a vaerous one He knew that

And he knew a few other things, as well

He knew this vaht very well be beyond the brink of ood and well, that he wasn&039;t going to