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OH, BITE ME

Wait--did you--You just yawned!" The vampire’s arms, raised over his head in the classic Dracula pose, dropped to his sides He pulled his exaggerated white fangs back behind his lips "What, ih for you?"

"Oh, stop pouting But, really, the ’s peak? The pale skin? The black cape? Where did you even get that thing, a costuht and glared icily down atto suck the life frohed I hate the vah for thehter and eat you like a zombie would No, they want it to be all sexy, too And, trust lamours can be pretty hot, but the dry-​as-​bone corpse bodies shi attractive there Not that anyone else can see theh

He hissed Just as he reached for , not to kill Besides, if I had to carry separate weapons for every paranore set Tasers are a one-​size-​fits-​all paranor option Mine’s pink with rhinestones Tasey and I have had a lot of good tiround, unconscious He looked kind of pathetic now; I aline your grandpa minus fifty pounds plus two hundred years That’s who I’d just electrified

Tasey’s work done, I reholstered her and pulled out the vaer in the lowed green Grabbing the va up to reveal the skin I hated looking at these guys and seeing their pure white, smooth skin at the same time as their shriveled corpse bodies I clamped the tracker on, and it adjusted to the circumference of his ankle Two soft hisses sounded as the sensors activated and shot into his flesh His eyes flew open

"Ouch!" He grabbed at his ankle, and I backed up a few steps "What is this?"

"You’re under arrest under statute three point seven of the International Paranorreement, Vampire Protocol You are required to report to the nearest processing facility in Bucharest If you fail to report within the next twelve hours, you will be--"

He lunged for ravestone "I’ll kill you!" he hissed, trying to pick hiround

"Yeah, you really don’t want to do that That shiny new piece of jewelry I gave you? It’s got two little sensors--think of them as needles--jammed into your ankle And if your body temperature were to suddenly rise, say by the addition of human blood, the sensors would inject you with holy water"

His eyes widened in horror as he tried to pull the bracelet off, scraping against its sides

"Don’t do that, either If the seal is broken, holy water, poof Got it? And I activated the timer and beacon So not only do they know exactly where you are, they also know your tiet to Bucharest Miss it, and--do I really need to tell you?"

His shoulders slumped "I could just snap your neck," he said, but I could tell it was halfhearted

"You could try And I could tase you again so hard you wouldn’t wake up for six hours, giving you even less tihts?" He didn’t say anything, and I picked up where I left off "If you fail to report within the next twelve hours, you will be terminated If you attack any humans, you will be ter device, you will be ter with you"

I always thought that last line was a nice touch

The va the end of his freedom I held out a hand "Need help up?" I asked After a moment he reached out and took it I pulled hi no internal fluids’ll do that to you "I’m Evie"

"Steve" Thank heavens he wasn’t another Vlad He looked uncomfortable "Um, so, Bucharest? You wouldn’t happen to have money for a train ticket?"

Paranor and handed hi from Italy to Romania wouldn’t be easy, and he needed to book it "You’ll want a map and directions," I called as he started to slink off through the graves Poor guy He was really embarrassed I handed hi and Assignet through borders" I sly

He nodded, stillSteve hadn’t taken as long as I had worried it would Excellent It was dark, I was freezing, andoutfit of a wide-​necked white blouse wasn’t exactly helping Plus I stuck out like a sore thumb in Latin countries, withhalfway down my back I wanted out of here I punched in the number of the Center on my communicator (Think cell phone, without a camera And they only come in white La your request," aon the nearest gravestone The co transport now"

The trunk of a large, gnarled tree about fifteen feet in front of me shimmered, and the outline of a door appeared A tall, slender ure was distinctly h it seemed stretched--a little too narrow With delicate features and alht out of an anime cartoon, his face was, simply put, beautiful Itbut stare at him for the rest of your life He s my head Did they have to send Reth? Sure, the Faerie Paths were the fastest way fro from here to there with him And unlike the happy fantasy of faeries as delicate, tiny winged things who love nature--yeah, not so much Faeries are a lotbriskly up, I held out my hand and clenched my jaw

"Evelyn," he purred "It’s been too long"

"I said shut up, didn’t I? Let’s go"

He laughed, a silvery sound like bells, and traced one long, slender finger alongain and we stepped through the oaken doorway

I closed my eyes; this part always freakedAbsolutely nothing Nothing underaround me I put one foot in front of the other and held onto Reth’s hand as if my life depended on it Since it did No hu lost forever

And then it was over We stepped out into one of the cool, fluorescent-​lit hallways of the Center I yanked my hand away from Reth’s; his special brand of war even farther

"Not even a thanks?" he called after me as I stalked down the hall toward ht next to " His ain and I ju out Tasey

"Back off," I hissed "And if you coain, I’ll report you" His gla than his real face, but it was regulation for faeries

"What is the use? I could never hide anything from your eyes" Hethrough ain Luckily ere interrupted by a shrieking alarre fro it on all fours toward us

I watched it as if in slow leam in its eyes It leaped into the air and I kicked out hard, sending it sailing down the hall, right into the ar it "Goal!" I shouted Dang, I was good

"Thanks," the worker said, voice h the mask

"You betcha" Reth’s hand had found the small of my back I wanted to lean into him, let his arms wrap around me, let him take me away Then I remembered the time "Oh, crap!" I ran down the hall past the worker and still-​snarling gremlin After a couple of turns, I putimpatiently until the door slid open Reth hadn’t followed lad Okay,disappointed

I dashed inside, grateful that rees, and flopped onto the purple couch Turning on the flat-​screen TV that took up nearly the entire pink wall, I sighed in relief My favorite high school draht’s episode promised to be spectacular--a masquerade ball in which tiny h for everyone toperson Where did they come up with this stuff?

A POPULATION OF NIGHTMARES

The vid screen next tothat off and on for the last thirty minutes Finally,into a pair of green eyes, right in the e wavered, like always, since Alisha was underwater

"Why haven’t you checked in yet?" a monotone voice asked I alondered what her real voice was like All we got was the co we could hear