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"Nine-one-one, what is your--"

The rest of her spiel was lost as the roar of an angry vampire filled the house

Chapter Two

Colin backed two quick steps away froun as he went In the blink of an eye, Jere red fire as he confronted the invader

"Jeremy," Colin said evenly "You know me You know I didn’t do this"

The varaceful, gliding forward like a big hunting cat He growled softly, threateningly, but his gaze kept flicking to Mariane, anguish replacing the rage on his face

"I’et some help for her"

The vaaze deadly cold despite the fires burning there "You touch her and I’ll kill you, human I don’t need your help"

Faster than Colin could follow, Jere Mariane in his ar down his face as he sahat they’d done to her A low keening rose fro in volume until it became a furious howl

"There will be justice for this," he snarled, his gaze once again pinning Colin in place "Mark ed"

And then he was gone, nothing more than a blur of movement and a sla room

"Well, shit," Colin whispered He lowered his head and just breathed, letting his body recover fro when he’d first entered the house

"Jesus H Christ" He sucked in a last deep breath and called 911 again, canceling the earlier call Then he walked out to his truck and grabbed his gear Jereet it anyway This was a cri they had to a police department in Cooper’s Rest Not that he was a real police officer Legally, he was no more than private security, which meant this case fell under the jurisdiction of the County Sheriff But the people around here didn’t want the Sheriff or anyone else poking into their affairs, and that went double for the vampires who’d elevated privacy to a fine art That’s why the self-appointed town council had hired him in the first place He hadn’t been to any police acadey classes at the college down in the city But he was qualified to handle just about every weapon that existed and could put a ardless of weight or training He also had the ability to size up a situation and the confidence to deal with it Which hat he intended to do with this one

Cooper’s Rest was his ho the Navy This tiny village in northern Washington state was about as far frorown up as it was possible to be, but it was a quiet, peaceful place, full of ood people anted to be left alone And it suited him just fine

But now someone had invaded this peaceful place, had invaded his home, and Colin wasn’t the kind of man to sit back and wait for so to find whoever had done this And when he did, he wasn’t going worry about reading anyone their Miranda rights

Chapter Three

Vancouver, British Coluouging holes into the fine leather She hated flying She especially hated flying through the daylight hours, hated trusting her life to huht be nearly three hundred years old, but that didn’t mean she lived in the past She watched CNN, went online and read the newspapers She kne often these planes fell out of the sky, right along with their huers

It was possible, she mused, that a vampire could survive such a crash Possible, but not certain It was definitely not a theory she wished to test, nor did she want to learn whether a va it would take to reach land if the plane went down in the middle of the ocean

Not that that particular outcoer beneath her Nor was the sun shining on the other side of the airplane’s thin skin as it had been forof her journey, which had taken her from her home in Rio de Janeiro to a stop in Toronto She thanked whatever gods smiled on vampires that she at least had the resources to travel by private aircraft, one with a suitable sleep coht needs

Of course, it would have been even more convenient if she’d been able to fly to Texas, or even Mexico, froone on fro time to the hours of darkness But the North American vampires, unlike those in most of South America, were obsessively territorial She couldn’t even pass through one of their stupid airports without getting per to do Not for this trip

There were too many unknowns this time She didn’t knohat her Sire, Lucien, wanted Didn’t knohy he’d issued such an urgent suet ahold of him But there’d been an undeniable note of desperation to his mental call, a desperation reinforced by the fact that he’d contacted her at all Lucien was her Sire, and her loyalty was his alone, but she hadn’t even spoken to hiround rushed up toevery bump and skid as it finally cah of relief and whispered a superstitious prayer of thanks to the God of her childhood that she’d survived once again

She only hoped she’d also survive whatever Lucien had waiting for her