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"Raymond Whitelaw"

"Raymond, tell me what the vampire looked like"

Ray touched his throat "Va"

A tall man Swell, that only fit about twenty vaht Pretty hair Like snow"

Noere getting somewhere A white haired vamp I’d known a few and they were certainly easy to spot But I hadn’t met one here in Austin

"You re else about him, Ray his empty bottle

"Think hard"

"He prayed" Ray shook his head "Weird Called God and Jesus Vae boil up in me and it was all I could do not to rip Ray’s throat out and toss him into a dumpster somewhere Vamps do have a primitive side, I admit it And e’re riled… Don’tI paced the store until I’d cooled down enough to speak Satan worshiper Excuse me, but just because I live forever and can drink blood doesn’tdeious household Scary religious And you don’t just get over that When I fell for an actor, my folks considered , I’her power, not a lower one

I took Ray’s water bottle and held his hand He’d unbuttoned his coat and I could see a student ID clipped to his belt What was he studying? Duo ho about this night But you are going to reood and kind Va creatures, not demons from hell Do you hear me, Raymond?"

Ray nodded

"And, Raymond," I couldn’t resist, more my parents’ child than I’d ever admitted to them "You will love God, not Satan Satan is bad God loves you And," okay, I had enda, "He hates black lipstick" Ray nodded "God loves me Hates black lipstick" He rubbed his mouth on his black coat sleeve He looked a fool with black smears on his face and I couldn’t care less

"Yes Good man" I pulled hilass and saw Da there I threw the dead bolts and opened the door

"Who’s this?" My suave sophisticated seducer looked ready to tear the man’s head off So Damian had his own primitive streak Good to know

"Tell you in a minute" I led Raymond to the curb "Where’s your car, Raylanced atthis tiht Will you take hi at the curb, the

"I’ll take him home if you’ll come with us"

I looked up and down the street No potential custoh the coffee bar next door had a few custoht and I had to close Well, maybe I didn’t have to But I was tired, my feet ached and Damian had ridden to my rescue without question If he wanted ue Damian loaded Ray into the backseat I locked up, stuck my keys in my pocket and settled in while Ray told Damian his address

"He’s still in a daze I had to put him under"

"I can see that What happened?"

I told hih the nearly deserted streets Tenrooed Ray out of the car, looked into his eyes, ordered hio

"A white haired vampire I have known a few, but none of them would have pulled a stunt like this And none of them are in Austin that I know of" Daht there for me to see "You handled this very well"

"Thank you" I basked in his approval but didn’t need it I was feeling pretty good about myself Successful shop, calm in a crisis and with a handsome vamp at my beck and call I wouldn’t have had to call hiht about it Damned wimpy female mind-set I’d worked really hard to cure ht I started to apologize for bothering hier over my lips

"Don’t say it I’ether, remember? The man was in no shape to drive even if he’d had a car"

True So maybe I wasn’t such a wiain Not that I planned to touch it

"We’d better spread the word that a white-haired va all of us He has to be stopped" Maybe reat idea Ray had co