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Raht He showered, then dressed in a brown pullover sweater and beige slacks He grie his ie and brown for hi his billfold into his back pocket, he left his roo, on a whim, to head for the ht lights and the throng of late shoppers, alht crossed his mind For a moment, he was overcome by a wave of dizziness, intoxicated by the scent of so hts hurt his eyes; the noise pounded at his eardru his will, and found that he could mute the noise, control the dizziness, and concentrate on his purpose here Once again, Chiavari had been right

He went into an exclusivehe would have iined before he had received the Dark Gift He purchased a complete neardrobe Shirts, slacks, sweaters, socks, underwear Nothing brown or tan Nothing beige He was heartily sick of brown, sick of tweeds, sick of dressing like soht several pairs of shoes and, on a whiht next week he would start looking for a new place to live Perhaps he would buy a new car, so sleek and sporty He had never owned a house, never owned a new car He had spent his whole adult life in hotels and e He had a rather tidy su had been a lucrative career Ra vampires for hundreds of years The first Rae the death of his wife His knowledge and wisdoenerations, as had the instinct to hunt, which, over time, had become second nature In the old days, hunters had been paid in corn and wheat old or silver But not anymore The Raeful hter to one of the undead

Brian Francis Throckrateful when Harold Rahter, that he had set up a fund to ensure that the Ramsey family and its heirs would always have the means to hunt and destroy the undead Only there would be no heirs now, Raht bitterly He was the last of his line In fifteen or twenty years, should he survive that long, he would have to pretend to be his own son in order to continue drawing on the trust He grunted softly Perhaps he could donate funds to some obscure university with the stipulation that they use thea way to reverse the effects of the Dark Gift Orschool for vah his purchases, deciding on a pair of black jeans and a bulky white sweater He paused in front of theover his face He had never been a handsome man Had anyone asked, he would have described himself as ordinary Now, transformed by the blood of the three vaer, more virile Not handsome, he mused - even the blood of a vaerous

A vampire

Vampire He shook his head ruefully "I am a vampire"

Even as he said it, he didn&039;t quite believe it, not deep down But his blood sang in his veins at the declaration, stirring him to action

He ran a hand over his hair, worn short ever since he had been a boy learning the lore of his va the seriousness of his fa But that was over now Past history He had becorow long

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he pulled on his neboy boots and left the hotel

Sohborhood bar Country music blared fro

He went to the bar and ordered a drink, which he held but didn&039;t taste He was studying the crohen a slender young woreen eyes sidled up to him

Hands on hips, she looked him up and down "You don&039;t look like a cowboy," she re She wore a tight-fitting cowboy shirt, fringed blue-jean shorts, and a pair of white boots

"Perhaps because I am not," he replied with a faint s you here before"

"I have never been in here before" He swore under his breath She was co no woman had ever done before, and he had no idea how to respond While other boys had been dating, he had been out with his grandfather, learning how to track and slay vaa slow circular motions "Would you like to dance?"

"I fear I ood way for us to get to know each other better"