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I reach the corpse with the monster only a hundred feet behind me In a flash he realizes my plan As I pull the revolver free of its holster, out the corner of my eye I see the powerful vampire wind up with the knife He will use it now, and not care if he spills what is left of my blood He e, especially when fired by another va the gun firh into the air Unfortunately, my maneuver does not catch him by surprise As I open fire, his knife, es into my body, into my abdomen, near my belly button It hurts God, I cannot believe how unlucky I aood fortune is surely over While co hih he jerks to avoid a fatal wound I put a bullet in his stomach, one in his neck, his left shoulder, two in his chest As I hit the ground, I expect hih staggering, he remains on his feet

"Oh, Christ," I whisper as I fall to my knees Will this bastard not die? Across the black shadows of the underbelly of the bleachers, we stare at each other, both bleeding profusely For a moment our eyes lock, and more than ever I sense the disturbance in him, a vision of reality that no human or vampire should want to share I am out of bullets He see Then he turns and shuffles away, and I cannot see hi the knife fro to breathe through a haze of red agony I honestly cannot reht

Still, I am Sita from the dawn of humanity, a vampire of incomparable resiliency-unless, of course, I am to be compared to him, this fiend whose name I still do not know He is not dead, I a on the concrete, I knoill survive Finally in to close and I a the stake through the heart, my wounds would have closed in twoold," I mutter

I cannot hear any va in on the Coliseu , I stumble back up the concrete tunnel and onto the field I find a hose and wash off as much blood as possible My shoulder, my belly-they are not scarred Yet I have lost much blood and am terribly weak, and now I have to worry about the police Their cruisers park outside the arena Sounshots With so ht inside the Coliseu, where my messy clothes would be difficult to explain I wonder if I should hide inside until things cool off, but, no, that ht take hours, if not days, and I aure out what to do next

But before I leave the arena, I check on the three vampires to make sure they are indeed dead It is always possible, despite the severity of their wounds, that they could heal and rise again To be doubly sure, I crack each of their skulls with the heel of rotesque acts causethe officers who ht find them

I hurry in the direction of the least amount of noise and aht searchlight suddenly focuses on side hnuts for the last twenty years sticks his head out the passenger side

"What are you doing here at this ti lady?" he asks

I appear anxious "I&039;o and I went looking for help and these boys started chasing me They threater balloons athis belief buttons "But I et away"

The cop looks me over from head to foot, but I doubt he notices the bloodstains on my clothes In the dark they would be hard to see on black clothes Plus reat beauty,blond hair, which I have let down He throws his partner behind the wheel a look, then turns back to me and smiles

"You&039;re lucky all they threater balloons," he says "This is no area to be walking alone at night Hop in the back and we&039;ll take you back to your car"

It will appear odd to decline the offer "Thank you," I say, reaching for the door I clier lances back at me

"Were you inside the Coliseum just now?" he asks

I catch his eye as well "No," I say clearly "How could I possibly be in the Coliseuh"

He nods like a puppet "We&039;ve just had some trouble in the area is all"

"I understand," I say

A man calls on their radio The fat officer explains how they ran into me The man on the other end is not impressed with my story He orders theth in the man&039;s voice, even over the staticky line I wonder if I will be able to control him as easily as the other two We sit and wait for the boss to arrive; the officers apologize for the delay I consider drinking both officers&039; blood and leaving the for cops The fat one offers er

The man who arrives is not LAPD but FBI He pulls up alone in an unet in up front I do not resist He introduces hient Joel Drake, and he has an aura of authority about hiht as h these are darker than mine He wears a sea blue sport coat, expensive white slacks He is striking?ly handsome I feel, as I client Vampire-there should be such a show His face is tan, his features sharp and intelligent He studieshis door He notices that I aain, the bloodstains on my black outfit are all but invisible The other officers drive off

"What&039;s your name?" he asks

"Alisa Perne"

"Where&039;s your car?"

"I don&039;t know exactly I&039;ve been walking for an hour, lost"

"You say you got hit ater balloons thrown at you by a bunch of guys? You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes," I say, and I catch his eye, such beautiful eyes really I hesitate to blunt his will too forcibly, afraid it ; he will not be reat power Nevertheless, I cannot let hi my voice, I pitchbetween his ears, as if he were in fact thinking what I aently "Every?thing I tell you is true I a you can do is take me to my car"

He considers what I say for several seconds I know my voice runs like an echo inside hi off h I cannot read his thoughts His doubt reine is already running

"Have you been inside the Coliseuht?" he asks

"No What&039;s inside the Coliseum?"

"Neverlot What were you doing here?"

"Fleeing frouys who harassed me"

"How many were there?"

"I&039;m not sure Three or four"

"We have a report fro men in the area They say their buddy was attacked by soo we found their buddy&039;s body, lying in a gutter What do you have to say about that?"

I gri about it How did he die?"

Joel frowns "Violently"

I shake et back tonight for on I don&039;t know LA I took a wrong exit and then ht be able to find it" I reach over and touch his ar his eyes once more, but softly, without fire "Please?" I say

He nods finally and puts the car in gear "Which exit did you get off?"

"I forget the name It&039;s up here I can show you, and maybe we can retracelot and head north in the direction of the freeway "Honestly, I&039;ve never hurt anyone in my life"

He chuckles bitterly "I don&039;t iht"

"I&039;ve heard LA&039;s a violent town"

He nods grimly "Especially lately I suppose you&039;ve read the papers?"

"Yes Are you in charge of the a?tion?"

"Several of us are overseeing it"

"Have you any leads?"

"No But that&039;s off the record"

I sent Drake"

He set within twentyto be in LA?"

"Why?"

"We ht need to ask you more questions later"

"I&039;ll be around I can give you a number once we find et off the Harbor Freeway or the Santa Monica?"

"I was on the Santa Monica Freeway Let&039;s continue north a few blocks I think I&039;ll recognize the right street"

"How old are you Alisa?"

"Twenty-two"

"What&039;s your business in LA?"

"I&039; to school here next year"

"Oh Where?"

"USC"

"The Coliseuht next to USC"

"That&039;s the reason I was driving around here One of ain "But with all this violence I&039; my choice of universities"

"That&039;s understandable" He glances over, check?ing out"So you&039;re a student What are youin?"

"History," I say

We drive without talking for a fewwhere I think we should turn next Actually, I do not want to take hiestions, he still has a will of his own And he is obviously highly trained He would ht hi a red Honda, I signal for hi the car door "Thank you so much"

"Do you think it will start now?" he asks "Why don&039;t you pull in front of et it started" I add, a sexy note in my voice, "Could you do that for me?"

"No problerin foolishly "I knew you were going to ask that I&039;ive you a number where I&039;ll be toenuine LA nuon You can call me there any time for the next three days Do you want me to write the number down for you?"

He hesitates, but I know he is thinking that with my license plate number he can always trace me "That&039;s not necessary, it&039;s an easy nu the damp marks on my shirt There is no way he can tell they&039;re bloodstains just by looking at them, but I have to wonder if he can s Despite o if he definitely saw blood And I aive me an address as well?" he asks

"Joel," I say in my special way "You don&039;t really think I killed anyone, do you?" He backs away slightly "No" "Then why do you want all these things fros "If you have an address, I will take it Otherwise your phone nuh for me for now" He adds, "We&039;ll probably talk to you" I step out of his car "Now I just hope the da starts"

Joel pulls in front of estion I ly, but felt I needed to allay his suspicions The Honda door is locked, but I open it with a hard yank and slip behind the wheel With two fingers I break the ignition switch, noting how Joel studies my license plate number in his rearview ether and the engine turns over I wave as I quickly pull away from the curb I don&039;t want the people in the adjacent house to hear et intoin on Yet I knoill return to Los Angeles soon to finish the ith the powerful vaood or evil