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Chapter 41

I was sitting on the edge of e beach towel I had showered and shampooed and washed the mud and blood down the drain Except for the blood that was still seeping out of the deep scrape onpressure on it

"When the bleeding stops, I&039;ll bandage it up for you," he said

"Thanks"

"I seelanced over my shoulder at him and winced "I&039;ve returned the favor"

He smiled "True"

The cuts on ed I looked like a tan version of theently "This worries me"

"Me, too"

"There&039;s no discoloration" He looked up at me "No pain?"

"None It wasn&039;t a full lamia, maybe it wasn&039;t that poisonous Besides, you think anywhere in St Louis is going to have lamia antivenom? They&039;ve been listed extinct for over two hundred years"

Edward palpated the wound "I can&039;t feel any swelling"

"It&039;s been over an hour, Edward If poison was going to kick in, it would have by now"

"Yeah" He stared at the bite "Just keep an eye on it"

"I didn&039;t know you cared," I said

His face was blank, e world without you in it" The voice was flat, unemotional It was like he wasn&039;t there at all Yet it was a coe compliment

"Gee whiz, Edward, contain your exciteave a small smile that left his eyes blue and distant as winter skies

We were friends of a sort, good friends, but I would never really understand him There was too much of Edward that you couldn&039;t touch, or even see

I used to believe that if it came to it, he&039;d kill me, if it were necessary Noasn&039;t sure How could you be friends with soht kill you? Another &039;s stopped," he said He ses in place The doorbell rang

"What time is it?" I asked

"Three o&039;clock"

"Shit"

"What is it?"

"I have a date co over"

"You? Have a date?"

I frowned at hirinning like the proverbial cat He stood up "You&039;re all fixed up I&039;ll go let him in"

"Edward, be nice"

"Me, nice?"

"All right, just don&039;t shoot hie that" Edalked out of the bathroom to let Richard in

What would Richard think being oing to help matters He&039;d probably offer hi who he was I wasn&039;t even sure I could explain that

"This is my friend the assassin" Nope A fellow vampire slayer, et dressed in privacy I tried to put on a bra and found that my back hurt a lot No bra That liive Richard more of a look-see than I had planned on I also wanted to keep an eye on the bite wound So pants were out

Most of the ti on a pair of jeans was my idea of a robe But I did own one real robe It was comfortable, a nice solid black, silky to the touch and absolutely not see-through

A black silk teddy ith it, but I decided that was a little friendlier than I wanted to be; besides, the teddy wasn&039;t coerie seldom is

I pulled the robe out of the back of my closet and slipped it on It was smooth and wonderful next to h up on ht in place Didn&039;t want any slippage

I listened at the door for a second and heard nothing No talking, noI opened the door and walked out

Richard was sitting on the couch with an ar coffee in the kitchen like he owned the place

Richard turned at my entrance His eyes widened just a little The hair still da?

"Nice robe," Edward said

"It was a present from an overly optimistic date"

"I like it," Richard said

"No smart remarks or you can just leave"

His eyes flicked to Edward "Did I interrupt soHe smiled and poured coffee for all three of us

"Let&039;s sit at the table," I said "I don&039;t drink coffee on a white couch"

Edward sat the ainst the cabinets, leaving the two chairs for us

Richard left his coat on the couch and sat down across froreen sweater with darker blue designs worked across the chest The color brought out the perfect brown of his eyes His cheekbones seeht cheek His hair had gentle auburn highlights Wondrous what the right color can do for a person

The fact that I looked great in black had not escaped my notice Fro, but his eyes kept slipping back to Edward