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Khira&039;s words echoed in Grigori&039;s erous Be wary of hi in bed, with Marisa&039;s head pillowed on his shoulder, he pondered the vaerousTo whom? To Marisa? He knew Ramsey had been in love with Marisa Who wouldn&039;t be? She was a beautiful woenerous heart and a beautiful soul He knew Ramsey had proposed to her, knew the iven it any ht Marisa was his wife, and that ended it Perhaps Khira&039;s warning had been for himself There was little doubt that Ra him what he had hated and hunted Or had Khira er to their kind? Raerous enough, with his accue of the hunt If Ramsey the vampyre retained that obsession, despite his altered state, that would be another level of danger indeed
Slipping out of bed, Grigori padded noiselessly to the , drew back the heavy drapes that shut out the rest of the world, and gazed into the darkness In the past, he had drunk of Ramsey&039;s blood to survive; Rarave They were bound together now, linked by a bond of blood that could not be broken until one of them was dead
The community of vampyres was small Because of what they were, because of the kind of lives they led, they tended to be solitary creatures, distrustful of others, even their own kind He had knohen he invited Khira to stay, that she would refuse Most va place a secret from others of their kind But there was no way for him to hide from Khira She had made him what he was; she would always be able to find hiht himself and Kristov the only vampyres in the city But, once Kristov had been destroyed, he had learned there were four other vaeneral vicinity One was a rock star who lived in West Hollywood and called himself Prince Dracul The second, Noah Fox, was a reclusive businessh that his odd hours were considered eccentric and not abnormal Kyle LaSalle, author of a dozen successful techno-thrillers, lived in a mansion in Beverly Hills And then there was Madame Rosa She was a mystic of soained her a remarkable reputation, and an equally reht talk shows; one of them had offered ten thousand dollars to anyone who could prove she was a fake
Ramsey upped that nuht, for such a small space
He wondered if the other vampires were aware of Khira&039;s presence, wondered if their lives were in danger If Khira decided to stay in this area for an extended period of tiht insist that Grigori and Ra grounds with any save for hiht have been lovers to this day had he not seen her bending over that child, her fangs extended, the lust for blood hot in her eyes
He shivered with the recollection Until that moment, he had been lost in the intoxication of his new condition, preoccupied by Khira&039;s attention, as dazzled as a schoolboy by her loveht he had seen her for what she was: a ruthless, soulless hunter, a predator without feeling or reer hindered by any empathy for her victims And in that frozen moment of ti, what she wanted hiht had blended with his lost children and reawakened the furious hatred that had spurred him to accept the Dark Gift Mesotten why he wanted the Dark Gift in the first place
He had looked deep into her eyes when he wrested the child froret, no shame - nor any love for him He had, however, seen his own destruction in the depths of her hungry eyes
But, to his surprise, there had also been a trace of fear Fear of his strength, his power
Grabbing the boy froht She had not followed him He had shaken her to her core with his rebellion It was a simple matter to probe the boy&039;s mind and discover where he lived He had returned the boy to his home, confident Khira would not follow, that she would not dare to attack that particular child again He knew other innocents would fall prey to her hunger, but he could not protect them all And there had been a far darker evil in the land, and his name had been Alexi Kristov
As soon as the boy was safely ho and frustrating quest, but Kristov was dead now, destroyed with Ramsey&039;s help Had it not been for his search for Kristov, he would never have aze wander over her face With his preternatural senses, he could see her clearly in the darkness, hear the whisper of her breath A faint s of him They had made love earlier As always, her tenderness, her total acceptance, touched a chord deep within him It still amazed him that he had won her heart, that she looked at him with love and desire instead of fear and revulsion When she was ready, he would bring her across, and she would be his forever It was a possibility he looked forward to with mixed emotions He loved her as she was - vital and alive He had no wish to watch her beauty fade, to see her steps sloatch the sparkle dim in her eyes; and yet, on a level he did not quite understand, he was reluctant to bestow the Dark Gift upon her She would be the same as she was now, and yet not the saer In the distance, the sky was growing lighter as dawn lifted her curtain on a new day Next door, a dog barked at an early-rew heavy, heavier, as the sun cliher Once, the deathlike sleep had claiht, but noyear, he was able to rise a little earlier, seek his rest a little later
With a sigh, he returned to bed Sliding under the covers, he drew Marisa into his arh it was after three, the rooht, due to the heavy curtains that covered the s, shutting out the glare of the sun She had changed her lifestyle to acco up until dawn so that they could be together before he surrendered to the Dark Sleep
Sitting up, she glanced over her shoulder at Grigori She knehere the ter like the dead" ca him when he was trapped in the Dark Sleep She kneould hear her if she spoke to hiy, he could fight off sleep&039;s hold for a short ti, she went into the bathroom to shower and brush her teeth She dressed quickly in a pair of orn jeans and her favorite Beauty and the Beast T-shirt, then went downstairs Grigori often teased her about the T-shirt, clai outside, she strolled down the long driveway and picked up the newspaper Moving back up the walk, she recalled the first time she had seen the house Situated on an acre of land, surrounded by a high brick wall, and shaded by tall trees both front and back, it had reminded her of the spooky old houses Dracula always haunted in theup the inside of the old place, but it had been worth it The rooance, but the outside was still in need of work She stared at the peeling green paint Next week she would see about hiring so she could decide on a color She didn&039;t care for green, wasn&039;t fond of white or yellow Perhaps driftwood or sand It was hard to believe that this house was hers, that Grigori was hers Never in her life had she expected to live in such a fabulous place, or to be loved by such a fabulous man
She stopped to pluck a feeeds froside the driveway Once the house was painted, she would hire someone to landscape the yards Some fruit trees would be nice And roses, lots of roses Maybe a fountain or a s to the house, she fixed herself some toast and a cup of hot chocolate, then sat down to read the paper She stared at the headline
FOUL PLAY IN WESTWOOD ROCK STAR PRINCE DRACULA MISSING, BELIEVED KIDNAPPED
Marisa frowned as she read the story Dracul had been reported er Police reported that bloodstains had been found on the floor ht have been kidnapped; however, there had been no deori had told her that Dracul was a va her wonder if the blood in the man&039;s car had been his own, or that of sootfor her cup when she saw the second headline, smaller than the first
BODY OF UNIDENTIFIED YOUNG WOMAN FOUND IN SANTA MONICA
It ith a sense of deja vu that she read the story The woman&039;s body had been found behind a restaurant near the waterfront Her body had been drained of blood
"No," she ht such horror had ended with Alexi&039;s de if the kill was Dracul&039;s Grigori had told her he was a reasonably young vampire And if it wasn&039;t Dracul&039;s, then whose? Edward&039;s? Khira&039;s? She shook her head, unable to believe that Edouldto believe that the beautiful vaht before could be capable of such a thing Yet she knew Khira killed and enjoyed it Grigori had left her because of it
She glanced at the clock It would be hours before Grigori awoke Needing so to do to occupy herweeds In spite of the warentle hu terrible was lurking just out of sight Tilanced over her shoulder, but there was nothing to be seen but the house and the yard and an occasional bird flitting froination, that one body drained of blood didn&039;ta herself Any vah she didn&039;t like to adori
She shivered, suddenly cold in spite of the heat And what if she beca?