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Chapter 4

I ie and shining, e of trees I was almost to shore The water was so warm, warm as blood In that moment I knehy the waters were black It was blood I i in a lake of fresh, war for breath Eyes searching the darkness for what? So that lived in blood and darkness

The phone shrilled, and I had to s a screahtmare, dammit Just a dreaed, "Yeah"

"Anita?" The voice sounded hesitant, as if its ownerup

"Who is this?"

"It&039;s Willie, Willie McCoy" Even as he said the name, the rhythm of the voice sounded faed with an electric hiss, but I recognized it

"Willie, how are you?" The minute I said it, I wished I hadn&039;t Willie was a vampire no okay could a deadreal well" His voice had a happy lilt to it He was pleased that I asked

I sighed Truth was, I liked Willie I wasn&039;t supposed to like vampires Any vampire, not even if I&039;d known hi yourself?"

"Okay, what&039;s up?"

"Jean-Claude got your e He says ta ht o&039;clock tonight"

"The Circus? What&039;s he doing over there?"

"He owns it now Ya didn&039;t know?"

I shook my head, realized he couldn&039;t see it, and said, "No, I didn&039;t"

"He says to ht"

"Which show?"

"He said you&039;d knohich one"

"Well, isn&039;t that cryptic," I said

"Hey, Anita, I just do what I&039;m told Ya kno it is?"

I did know Jean-Claude owned Willie lock, stock, and soul "It&039;s okay, Willie, it&039;s not your fault"

"Thanks, Anita" His voice sounded cheerful, like a puppy who expected a kick and got patted instead

Why had I cos hurt, or not? Answer: I didn&039;t think of him as a dead man He was still Willie McCoy with his penchant for loud pri ties, and sed him that much I wished it had

"Tell Jean-Claude I&039;ll be there"

"I will" He was quiet for a ht, Anita"

"Do you know so I should know?"

"No, but I don&039;t know"

"What&039;s up, Willie?"

"Nuthin&039;, nuthin&039;" His voice was high and frightened

"A into a trap, Willie?"

"No, no, nuthin&039; like that" I could al in the air "I swear, Anita, nobody&039;s gunnin&039; for you"

I let that go Nobody he kneas all he could swear to "Then what are you afraid of, Willie?"

"It&039;s just that there&039;s more vampires around here than usual Some of em ain&039;t too careful who they hurt That&039;s all"

"Why are there more vampires, Willie? Where did they come from?"

"I don&039;t know and I don&039;t want to know, ya know? I got ta go, Anita" He hung up before I could ask anything else There had been real fear in his voice Fear for lanced at the radio clock onto s All I really wanted to do was cuddle back under the blankets,sounded good

I threw back the covers and walked into the bathrooht filled the sht black curls That&039;d teach h the curls and they loosened slightly, turning into a frothing mass of waves The curls went all over the place and there wasn&039;t a da I could do with it except wash it and start over There wasn&039;t time for that

The black hair made hting My eyes were so dark brown they looked black Two glittering holes in the pastiness of reat

What do you wear to meet the Master of the City? I chose black jeans, a black sweater with bright geons, black Nikes with blue swooshes, and a blue-and-black sport bag clipped around my waist Color coordination at its best

The Browning went into its shoulder holster I put an extra a with credit cards, driver&039;s license, money, and a small hairbrush I slipped on the short leather jacket I&039;d bought last year It was the first one I&039;d ever tried on that didn&039;t -sleeved, I could never wear them The jacket was black, so Bert wouldn&039;t let me wear it to work

I only zipped the jacket halfway up, leaving rooun if I needed to The silver cross swung on its long chain, a warht between ainst vaun, even with silver-coated bullets

I hesitated at the door I hadn&039;t seen Jean-Claude in months I didn&039;t want to see hi that lived in blood and darkness Why the nightain? He had promised to stay out of ? No answer to that

I flicked off the aparthts and closed the door behindleft to do but drive to the Circus of the Daht it hurt So I was afraid; so what? I had to go, and the sooner I left, the sooner I could cos that si was ever si about the ht, I&039;d pay for it, but not in money Jean-Claude seemed to have plenty of that No, his coin was more painful, more intio see him Stupid, Anita, very stupid

Chapter 5

There was a bouquet of spotlights on the top of the Circus of the Daht like swords The hts that spelled the na overhead Den in frozen pantons that covered the walls One picture showed a man that had no skin; See the Skinless Man A movie version of a voodoo cereraves The zoed since last I&039;d visited the Circus I didn&039;t know if that was good or bad; probably neither I didn&039;t give a daht to raise the dead just for entertain zombies for them? I knew it had to be someone new because I had helped kill their last animator He had been a serial killer and had nearly killed houl attack, which was a messy way to die Of course, the way he died had been messy, too, but I wasn&039;t the one who ripped hiht say I eased hiht

It was too cold to be standing outside with my jacket half-unzipped But if I zipped it all the way, I&039;d never get to un in time Freeze my butt off, or be able to defend s I decided it wasn&039;t that cold after all

Heat and noise poured out to ether in an enclosed space The noise of the croas like the ocean,A crowd is an elelance, and a crowd becoroup

There were a lot of families Mom, Dad, the kiddies The children had balloons tied to their wrists and cotton candy s carnival: corn dogs, the cinnawas the dust There was always dust in the air at a su dust kicked into the air by hundreds of feet Cars driving over the grass until it is grey-coated with dust