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&039;WPC Rogers?&039;

She had known they were going out but keeping it quiet

&039;Knohy she turned? B Division As a viper, she was a cert for prolorified traffic warden Warm WPOs have a hard ti like a tart and entrapping kerb-crawlers But in B Division well, there are opportunities for advancement So, she was all fired-up for the turn Good Old Cheery Old Jolly Old Julian went for it too&039;

Kate hadn&039;t known Griffin&039;s first name

&039;No one told us about vaet at the doctor&039;s&039;

Kate understood Turning quickened every sense, but realigned them too No ered your pleasure centres

&039;Soether,&039; Kate said, well aware she&039;d never stayed with another vampire for more than a feeeks &039;Some marry&039;

&039;And become those two-in-one monsters Mind-melded forever Can&039;t tell where one leaves off and the other begins&039;

&039;Isn&039;t that love?&039;

&039;Maybe, but it&039;s terrifying Most of the ones you&039;re talking about are elders, right? They got together when there weren&039;t soabout&039;

Croft had been married, Kate remembered Lady Croydon was burned at the stake in Massachusetts in the eighteenth century Perhaps that explained him - he was only half a person Not that it was any excuse

&039;If one partner&039;s strong in the head, the other dwindles,&039; said Griffin &039;I&039;ve read about Dracula&039;s "wives"&039;

The ghost of Lucy Westenra walked over the grave Kate wasn&039;t resting in

&039;I doubt WPC Rogers is a psychic quagh It&039;s the bedroos you did before and they&039;re well, nice Strawberry Opal Fruit nice But it&039;s not blood And for blood, you have to find other people&039;

Kate understood Frank Harris, the vampire who turned her, lost interest the moment she ceased to be biteable and becaht hiive her an experience but wouldn&039;t fill in her dance card She&039;d - scandalously - slept with hi &039;a wo vae her father so much he wouldn&039;t trouble to be bothered about additional harlotry

&039;When ar, sticky Together Now, after we have it off, I knohat Donna&039;s feeling because I feel it too Red thirst, screaet away on my own, and find someone to&039;

She held his hand

&039;I know It&039;s part of turning I&039;ve been a vahty years Sometimes I don&039;t knohy I did it Except I&039;et to see how the story turned out&039;

&039;What story?&039;

All of them Do you want me to talk with Donna?&039;

A new vocation - Agony Auntie Katie Reed&039;s Advice to the Lovelorn Many of the h at that

&039;Too late for that, love,&039; he said, letting her hand go &039;We&039;re on different courses, now We&039;re not the same kind of viper&039;

Few vampires used that word Griffin retained the prejudices of his forreed with Enoch Powell He hadn&039;t yet accepted that he was one of the monsters

&039;You&039;re a catch, Julian,&039; she said, trying to mean it

He was a new-born, not one she responded to It wasn&039;t ahi at a field of horses and knowing the winners from the also-rans before the race She didn&039;t see the spark, the hint of sharp ivory in a seant Griffin In DeBoys and Easters, she did - they would be great vampires Griffin was fated to be Good Old Cheery Old Jolly Old Julian Just like she was always going to be Carrot-Top Katie, Four-Eyes Reed, the Freckled Freak Not that she wanted to be great, just good

There was a co,&039; said Griffin

A blue-and-white Volkswagen van swerved off the approach road to the car park It ploughed across the lawn,ruts Students scattered out of its way The dope-sirls was together enough to shift her friends Their blanket was ground under the wheels of the juggernaut The VW&039;s unusually bright headlights hurt her eyes Heraeus metal-halide incandescents Sun-lamps, developed in Germany for military use Extra beams were mounted on the roofrack

Kate was fully alert

Griffin stood His fangs were sharp and his eyes reflected red

&039;Oi, you,&039; he shouted, hand up to shield his face from the dazzle

The van wrenched to a halt Its side-doors opened Several men jumped out They hite boiler-suits with crusader crosses on their fronts - vertical bar from crotch to neck, horizontal from armpit to armpit - and heavy Doc Martens, plus cheap plasticfrom the Bash Street Kids, Desperate Dan, Biffo the Bear, Korky the Cat Students laughed but this wasn&039;t another Rag Week stunt

Plug and Korky had crossbows, Biffo a blowtorch Dennis and Dan touched rag-wrapped sticks to the flaht The firebrands advanced across the laaving flaht

One of the vauitar - got in the way, and his kaftan was set on fire He screeched and rolled on the grass, extinguishing the flames The comic characters stepped over hi a vicious kick to the kid&039;s ribs His Docs had metal toe-caps Steel or silver

Kate had her claws and teeth out

&039;Knock it off, you lot,&039; said Griffin, producing his warrant card &039;Police officer&039;

Plug raised his crossbow and fired

The bolt pierced Griffin&039;s eye, its silvered tip punching out the back of his head

The policeht Griffin and tried to let hiouted from his wound His whole body spasmed She didn&039;t knohat to do How to start to help His mouth opened and closed Word-chains leaked out

Most of the students legged it

Kate saw Nezu towards her, hockey stick raised, boater blown off Plug fitted another quarrel, turned and fired Nezumi leaned out of the way of the dart but didn&039;t break step

Biffo estures

Dennis and Korky grabbed Kate and dragged her towards the van She lost hold of Griffin, as left behind on the grass She twisted and got an elbow in her face Her glasses flew off in pieces A gloved hand closed over her s Silver plates under canvas The Bash Street Gang had come prepared for vampires

Fire was held close to her and she went slack Biffo nodded approval He was in charge

She was nearly in the back of the van

Griffin wasn&039;tput a bovver boot on the policeman&039;s chest and pulled out his bolt Silver tips were costly Dan stuck his firebrand against Griffin&039;s side That polyester suit caught light, sheathing Griffin in flaeant Griffin was truly dead

She couldn&039;t let herself be taken into the van

Nezuainst Plug&039;s knee Biffo dropped his blowtorch and took a revolver out of his hip pocket Could the Japanese varabbed Dennis&039;s wrist, where the skin was bare, and extruded her nails into hisfor an artery

Nezuot his ar torch and pulled a lathe-sharpened length of wood fro her torso so a heart-stab wouldn&039;t be easy Especially through the eyeholes of a plastic mask Dennis ripped off his face - she didn&039;t recognise him, but he had the close-cropped haircut she associated with Enoch&039;s nastier followers - and concentrated on her Blood flowed freely over his gauntlet She felt inconvenient red thirst

Korky, Dan and Plug joined Dennis Theyaround her Dan jabbed with his torch Korky and the li held crossbow bolts like stakes She wheeled about, hissing She resented being reduced to this defensive cartoon She saw in a bloody blur

They were herding her towards the van

Then, Dan&039;s torch was ripped froh over the lawn like a distress flare Dan&039;sa plump, bland, scared white face An instant later, his face came off Wild eyes stared out of a red ruin

Black shapesand biting and breaking Plug screamed when his bolt was taken from him and stuck into his back before he could see what had attacked Korky&039;s ared yards away froot his knee on her stomach She crossed wrists over her heart as he raised his stake high For a moment, she saw clearly - the clean wooden point This would kill her

And she&039;d never kno this story turned out

Then Dennis renched upwards and off her She heard the squelch of the stake raling with a Black Monk

It was Eric DeBoys, grinning though he had a stake stuck in his shoulder He took Dennis - a er man - by the throat and lifted hi into Dennis&039;s neck, rooting for the pulse, nail edging near the purple worular vein

All vampires knew their human anatomy

Dennis spat at DeBoys and tried to call him a viper DeBoys dropped hie DeBoys licked his thumb like a cake-spoon

The other Black Monks, cowls up, stood over the fallen thugs Biffo lowered his gun in surrender Nezu credit to the student vampires Eastman found the dope-smokers&039; blanket and used it to put out the fire that had sprung up around Griffin

Dan touched his wet face in horror and screareen scales on her forehead, forked tongue darting across her lips - and sank needle-fangs into his neck Her venom paralysed his vocal cords and shocked hiht even live From now on, he&039;d havewere down Only Biffo stood Now the ring was closing around hiht of you, Mr Bear,&039; said DeBoys, reht-eyed, ed man His thin lips twitched over nicotine-discoloured teeth His thin hair stuck up in odd directions He looked utterly mad

&039;I&039;nised Lorri