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That brought a very save the barest of nods and stepped back, letting her captain take over

"How much do you know about a fire scene, Miss Blake?"

"It&039;s Ms Blake, and not much"

He frowned at the correction I felt Dolph shift beside me, unhappy with me His face wouldn&039;t show it, but I could al me not to be a pain in the butt Who,atnot to laugh

One of the other fire to a stomach that had required far too many sit-ups, but I enjoyed the vieay He was tall, broad-shouldered, blond, and looked like he should have been carrying a surfboard or visiting Barbie in her Malibu drea face, and his eyes were red-ri introduced "I&039;m Wren" No rank, just his naer than necessary It wasn&039;t obnoxious, just interested

I dropped my eyes Not out of shyness, but because some men mistake direct eye contact as a come-on I had about asamorous firemen

Captain Fulton frowned at Wren "Do you have any questions, Ms Blake?" He emphasized the Ms so it sounded like three z&039;s at the end

"You&039;ve got a base theht?"

He stared at ist of it"

"Why can&039;t you just leave them in the basement until full dark?" I asked

"The floor could cave in at any minute," he said

"Which would expose theht and kill them," I said

He nodded

"Dolph said one vamp was covered with blankets, and rushed to the hospital Is that why you think the others may not be in their coffins?"

He blinked "There&039;s also a vaaze fell, then cary "I&039;ve seen burn victi quite like this"

"Are you sure it&039;s a vampire?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because vaht or fire usually burn coments"

"We doused it ater," Wren said "Thought it was a person at first"

"What changed your mind?"

It was his turn to look away "It e and muscle, bone, and it held out its hand to us" His face looked pale, haunted "No person could have done that We kept coating it ater, thinking "

"So you assumed it was dead?" I asked

All three of theht not be dead?"

I shrugged "Never underestimate a vamp&039;s ability to survive, Captain"

"We&039;ve got to go back in there and get it to a hospital," Wren said He turned as if he&039;d walk back into the house Fulton caught his arm

"Can you tell if the vampire is alive or dead?" Fulton asked

"I think so"

"You think?"

"I&039;ve never heard of a va fire So yeah, I thinkI can tell if it&039;s alive If I said otherwise, I&039;d be lying I try not to do that when it&039;s important"

He nodded twice, briskly, as if he&039;d made up his mind about me "The arsonist threw accelerant all over the floor that we&039;re going to be walking on top of, and once we&039;re down in the basement that same floor will be above us"

"So?"

"That floor is not going to hold, Ms Blake I&039; to make this a strictly voluntary job for my people"

I looked up into his serious face "How likely is the floor to fall and how soon?"

"No way of knowing Frankly, I&039;m surprised it hasn&039;t caved in by now"

"It&039;s a halfway house for the Church of Eternal Life If it&039;s like the last base is concrete reinforced with steel beams"

"That would explain why it hasn&039;t fallen in," Fulton said

"So we&039;re safe, right?" I asked

Fulton looked at me and shook his head "The heat could have weakened the concrete, or even weakened the tensile strength of the steel beams"

"So it could still fall down," I said

He nodded "With us in it"

Great "Let&039;s do it"

Fulton grabbed ht I stared at hio "Do you understand that we could be buried alive down there or crushed to death, or even drowned if there&039;s enough water?"

"Let go of ry Point for me

Fulton released me and stepped back His eyes looked a little wild He was spooked "I just want you to understand what could happen"

"She understands," Dolph said

I had an idea "Captain Fulton, how do you feel about sending your people in to a potential deathtrap to save a bunch of vah his dark eyes "The law says they&039;re people You don&039;t leave people hurt or trapped"

"But," I prompted

"But my men are worth o I&039;d have brought the marshmallows and wieners for the roast," I said

"What changed yourtoo s that were as monstrous as the monsters Maybe not as scary, but just as evil"

"Police ill ruin your view of your fellow man," Detective Tammy said She and Larry had joined us at last It had taken Larry a long tioing inside the house Good

"I&039;ll go in because it&039;s my job, but I don&039;t have to like it," Fulton said

"Fine, but if we do have a cave-in, we better get dug out before nightfall, because without the va a basement full of new vaer"

His eyes widened, showing too much white I would have bet ed kind once upon a time There were no scars on his neck, but that didn&039;t prove anything Vao for the neck, no matter what the movies say Blood flows near the surface in lots of places

I touched his ar pulled too tight "Who&039;d you lose?"

"What?" He see on me

"Who did the vampires take away fro onbehind his eyes retreated His face was alhter"

I waited for hiathered round us in a still, deep pool made up of all the horror in those thispered words Wife, daughter Both lost No--taken

"And now you have to go into the dark and save some bloodsuckers and risk yourself and your people That really sucks"

He took a deep breath through his nose and let it out slowly I watched hiain control of himself, watched him build his defenses back piece by piece "I wanted to let it burn when I found out as inside"

"But you didn&039;t," I said "You did your job"

"But the job&039;s not done," he said softly

"Life&039;s a bitch," I said

"And then you die," Larry finished for me

I turned and frowned at hiht