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When I woke up next to Sinclair, I was the most shocked person on earth Plus, to increase the creep factor, he was lying on his side, head propped up, watching me His chest was covered with a ht and grabbed ods that ever were, fully clothed "Don&039;t do that! What a antic bed and, I was happy to see, the sheets had been changed They were the color of the sky on a cloudless day

"And good evening to you, too" He watched as I cla hippo, and never moved "How is it that you weren&039;t burned to a crisp last night?"

"What, you&039;re asking ht, after our shoe&039;d gotten Nick dressed, taken him to his place Sinclair had pulled his va, and we left Nick dozing True to my word, we then ventured to Sinclair&039;s lair Marc and Jessica protested, but not too ht around the corner Sinclair had promised them I wouldn&039;t coh for my love-struck pals I could have left the African lions and they would have been fine with it, as long as Sinclair told theht up with us as we raced to Sinclair&039;s I didn&039;t thinkin my bed this whole week, and didn&039;t my room face east? But the others flipped out when I opened round route to your place?" I gruers through ro? Would I ever need to worry about booking Chantelle at Le Kindest Kut? "I figured sunlight didn&039;t bother you any more than it did et out, not time to wait for the entrance to open for the bat-cave"

Sinclair held up his arry red, almost the color of a cooked lobster When he&039;d reached out, grabbed iven himself a hell of a burn "Obviously, you were mistaken"

I squir There I&039;d stood, blinking in the sunlight, and turned slowly at Tina&039;s shriek of dis out of the dark car like a hairy life preserver "Oh, right," I&039;d said slowly, stupidlyhad I ever been so tired? "The sun, it burns, oh, the agonyoh, cruel rays of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

So e at Sinclair&039;s burn "I&039;et hurt I would have jumped back in the car myself, but it was hard to think I was so tired"

"And you so alot me fried alive How could you not have known this would happen to you?" His tone was equal parts impatience and admiration

"I didn&039;t know I&039;d pretty much pass out as soon as dawn hit I&039; I know, poof-I&039;ht"

"This is an excellent tiin"

"Why?"

"Because you promised"

"No, why do you care? Why do you want to teachin one fluid movement (I was relieved to see the navy boxer shorts), "if you are to be an effective queen, you must know the terms of the society you will rule"

"Oh, come on You don&039;t really believe all that Book of the Dead stuff, do you?"

"If I hadn&039;t before last night, I would have when I saw you standing in sunlight and yawning, instead of doing what an ordinary vampire would have done, which is burst into flarin that was almost catlike in its insolence "There&039;s the little o"

I had a nasty suspicion, but was ready for hiuy&039;s tricks I wandered toward the chest of drawers by the"What are you talking about?"

He stalked after me "I told you there would coive it, provided you put so of ently turned me to face him "Lady&039;s choice, of course, but I do hope you&039;ll-what&039;s that?"

"One of your handkerchiefs," I said I stuffed it into my mouth, chewed, and sed "Where&039;s the bathroo to be sick"

He stared atso hard he could barely point to the bathroom, and I almost didn&039;t make it in time

"I won&039;t"

"But you ain everto do with me?"

"You knohy"

"That&039;s bullshit and you know it!"

"If I knew it," Tina said softly, "would we even now be trying to get you to help us? We&039;ve risked ourselves for you, Majesty, h with that!" I was close to panic I had thought this would be Vamp 101, but instead it was &039;Why Betsy Has To Help Us Overthrow The Most Obnoxious Vampire In Five Centuries&039; That&039;s why they were so interested in me Not just because I was the Queen, but because I was the Queen who brought all the tribes together, who ruled them as one More book of the dead crap, which Tina had been reading toto Bible school in hell

I knew not feeding with them had been a mistake It was all very casualseveral "friends" lived with Sinclair, women for him and Tina, men for Donald Any one of them (or any three of them) would have juroup- blood still weirded hty fine, but when I wasn&039;t, the ick factor tended to bug hty impressed when I passed up the chance to feed Too i, everyone in the house was convinced I was the queen Except the queen, of course

"Not only am I not El Vampiro Chosen One, or whatever, but I&039;ot us there," Donald said apologetically "She really is a terrible vaht, and not nearly ruthless enough"

"See? See?"

We were in one of Sinclair&039;s living rooht Tina, Donald, and Sinclair had been taking turns explaining how the four of us were going to knock Nostro&039;s block off I wasn&039;t buying it

"Look You guys I&039;ht? If you need nation, I&039; you need taken care of before we can kick ass, bring it on But I&039;ao I was still installing Netscape Navigator!"

"This painsup his wine glass and taking a distracted sip "A woman of your erratic te, you are young-young when you died, and as a vampire you&039;re a positive infant But how much more do you need to see to believe?"

I sniffed No as it going to be that easy, pal "Quite a bit more, actually"

He pointed to the book of the dead, which had its own nifty little stand next to the fireplace I&039;d been te "Our book-our Bible, if you will--tells of a female vampire ill not be burned by the sun, who can control her thirst, who has dominion over beasts, who is still beloved by God-which is why you can wear a cross around your neck"

"Still not buyin&039; it," I said stubbornly

"You can do all these things, Elizabeth And what&039;s more, you are yourself-I don&039;t doubt that the woo You&039;re vain, you think constantly of your own pleasure, you like your pretty things, you&039;re fond of your creature comforts"

"Oh, you&039;re one to throw that in h Donald had to force his laugh into a cough "You have remained you This is the most definitive proof that you can think of others-friends and strangers alike-before your own needs Most vah Plus, people react to your charisma Do you really think if Dr Marc had met just any vampire, he would have allowed her to feed from him, taken ato help her? He instantly wanted to be with you Your friend Jessica never once was frightened of you-correct? Not only did the book foretell your unique abilities, not only do we vampires knoho you truly are, but ordinary people can feel it, too"

"Marc&039;s a nice guy anted to hang out with me, is all," I said defensively "And Jessica&039;s like a sister to me-of course she wouldn&039;t be scared" But even as I said it, it didn&039;t ring true My own father was afraid of me-but not Jessica Marc was ready to throw hi with Jessica on ways to make me help the world In the space of a week Less than a week

"Elizabeth, you werepeace That will benefit all of us, vampires and humans alike Your friends and your parents If you are the queen," he added slyly, "you can be sure no one will turn your ht snack"

I jumped up "That&039;s not funny, Sinclair!"

"Even now, Nostro could be sending the Fiends to your ry with you Of course," he added, no doubt guessing I was ready to bolt froements for her to leave the state earlier"