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His soft oof was surprise h to screw up his aim The suppressor on his weaponMine wasCentury, White Boy

I dove hard toward the foot of thetwicethe i back toward the intruder Scra blood on the air Not

The doorjamb shattered, the door blown open by sheer muscle power The tere in the room Their movements blood-servant fast Weapons drawn One twin held his weapon in a palun in each hand They rushed the guy He went down, cursing, writhing on the floor, un and set it on the table Turnedfor blood, evidence of injury When he found none, he tossed me a robe Brian dialed 911 Derek and Wrassler raced in to the room So did hotel security It was chaos And soon after, local cops arrived, to drag me down to the law enforcement center At least they let uy is, why he had no ID, why he was in your rooal, with a uy just slipped into your roo at you"

"Pretty much," I said The Chief of Police, Billy Chandler, liked me even less than Grizzard did, but Billy’s dislike was just on principle, not because I’d gotten one of hisconcealed in his town, and he didn’t like talltroubleheads in his town Of course, he’d liked , and he liked vamps even less than he did me Cops Can’t live with ’eht Rick to mind I shoved the memory of his scent down deep inside

"To carry concealed, blades have to be less than six inches long North Carolina law," Billy said "The shortest one in your possession is twelve inches"

I al onnasrin, however, and Billy’s eyes narrowed as if he’d heard the words anyway "I wasn’t carrying concealed," I said, sounding reasonable and calm "The blades were on the table" Not to say that I didn’t carry them concealed I did Often And if stopped by the cops, I’d use the Vaet me very far, but it was all I had

"And you don’t knoho he is?"

"Nope" He’d asked h I waved at the one-way mirror and pointed at my Coke can "Can I have a refill here? The service in this joint is awful" I looked at the chief "No tip, this tiot all my money Put some into a machine for me, would you?"

Billy shifted on the hard table He was sitting on the edge, trying to tower over h I’d never say so, it orking, sorta I was six feet tall in my bare feet In boots I ay taller thanover , and stuck ain, flicking it with a fingernail,moment, he said, "You’re a pain in the ass, Yellowrock"

"Ditto, Billy Why don’t you sit in a chair The table has to beyour butt numb Is my lawyer here yet?" The B-Twins had proed me off

"He’s here" Billy sounded frustrated Maybe he needed h he wasn’t overweight, just soft around the o"

"No, ‘Don’t leave town,’ advice?"

"Far as I’s are more peaceful without you around"

"Only on the surface, Billy Boy Monsters swim in the deep dark depths"

He cursed under his breath, and stood as a man entered I checked the hairline and said, "Brandon" Then it clicked "You’re the lawyer you promised me"