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I have not come to harm youHis voice was low, almost hypnotic

That was it He lured his victiolden eyes and honeyed tone Shanna shook her head She could fight this She would not give in

He frowned "You are being difficult"

"You better believe it" She fumbled in her purse and whipped out her 32 caliber Beretta Toistered on his rugged face, only a slight hint of irritation "Madam, the weapon is unnecessary" He took a step toward her "Drop the gun, please"

"No!" She gave hilare "I&039;ll shoot I&039;ll kill you"

"Easier said than done" He took another step toward her "I will not harasped "You¡­ you&039;re bleeding"

"Can you help eous Just her luck that the perfect man would waltz into her life two minutes before her death¡­

AVON BOOKS

An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

This is a work of fiction Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author&039;s iination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real Any reseanizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

AVON BOOKS

An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

10 East 53rd Street

New York, New York 10022-5299

Copyright ? 2005 by Kerrelyn Sparks ISBN: 0-06-075196-7

First Avon Books paperback printing: August 2005

Avon Trade US Pat Off and in Other Countries, Marca

Registrada, Hecho en USA

HarperCollins? is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Inc

Printed in the USA

With love and gratitude topals,

who keep ood¡ª

MJ Selle, Vicky Dreiling, Vicky Yelton, and Sandy Weider

Also, ent,

Michelle Grajkowski,and

I a thanks to everyone at Dr Stephanie Troeger&039;s Dental Clinic in Katy, Texas, for helpingThanks also to Paul Weider, whose ideas on digital technology opened up a world of exciting possibilities, including a vampire television network I&039;d like to thankthe network Another round of thanks o to felloriters at the West Houston and Northwest Houston chapters of Ro support And finally, ratitude to eanesti knew someone had quietly entered his home office Either a foe or close friend A friend, he decided A foe could never uards at each entrance of his Upper East Side Manhattan townhouse Or past the guards stationed on each of the five floors

With his excellent night vision, Rouest His suspicions were confirmed when the dark silhouette stumbled into a Louis XVI boori Holstein A friend, but an annoying one The vice president offor Romatech Industries tackled every probleh to ori?"

His guest whipped around and squinted in Ro here, all alone in the dark?"

"Hh question I suppose I wanted to be alone And in the dark You should try it ht vision is not what it should be"

"Why bother to practice ori groped along the wall till he located the switch The lights calow "There, that&039;s better"

Roback chair and took a sip frolass The liquid burned his throat God-awful stuff "Is there a purpose for your visit?"

"Of course You left work too early, and we had so to love it"

Roany desk in front of him "I have learned that we have plenty of tiori snorted "Try to work up so developlass "I feel like celebrating What are you drinking?"

"You won&039;t like it"

Gregori strode toward the wet bar "Why? Are your tastes too refined for rasped the decanter and sloshed soood"

"Take e"

"Ha! If you can drink it, so can I" Gregori tossed back a good portion before slalass doith a victorious sneer aimed at Roman Then his eyes widened His norled sound vibrated deep in his throat, and then the sputtering began Coughing, followed by choked curses, followed by ainst the bar and leaned forward to gasp for air

God-awful stuff, indeed, Roori took a deep, shuddering breath "What was in there?"

"Ten percent garlic juice"

"What the hell?" Gregori jerked to an upright position "Have you gone ht I&039;d see if the old legends were true" Roht smile "Obviously, some of us are more susceptible than others"

"Obviously, soerously!"

Roman&039;s attempt at a smile faded into oblivion "Your observation would have ori stalked toward hi to start that &039;woe is ain, are you?"

"Face the facts, Gregori We have survived for centuries by taking life We are an abo this" Gregori wrenched the glass from Roman&039;s hand and set it down out of his reach "Listen to me No va and tas within us"

"And noe&039;re the most well-behaved pack of demonic creatures on Earth Bravo Call the pope I&039;ori&039;s impatient look melted into curious speculation "Is it true what they say, then? You were once a monk?"

"I prefer not to live in the past"

"I&039;m not so sure about that"

Roman clenched his hands into fists His past was a subject he would discuss with no one "I believe you mentioned soht Sheesh, I left Laszlo waiting in the hall I wanted to set the scene, so to speak"

Roman took a deep breath and slowly relaxed his hands "Then I suggest you begin There are only so oing out clubbing later Simone just flew in fros tired That was old a century ago" Roori, or I will be forced to send you to your coffin for a tiave him an exasperated look "I only mentioned it in case you wanted to join us It&039;s a hell of a lotpoison" He adjusted his silk black tie "You know, Simone has always been hot for you In fact, any of the ladies downstairs would love to cheer you up"

"I don&039;t find them particularly cheerful The last time I looked, they were all dead"

"Well, if you&039;re going to be picky about it, maybe you should try a live one"

"No" Rolass, and zoomed with vampire speed to the wet bar in one second "Not a ain"

"Whoa That hit a nerve"

"End of discussion" Roarlic concoction down the drain, then emptied the remainder of the poisonous brew froo A relationship with a mortal could only lead to heartbreak Literally And he&039;d rather not experience a stake through the heart What a great choice he had for companionship¡ªa dead female Vamp or a live woe This heartless existence would stretch on and on for centuries No wonder he was depressed

As a scientist, he could usually find so to occupy his h So what if he was close to a breakthrough on a for the day? What would he do with those extra hours? More work? He had centuries ahead of hiht If he stayed awake during the day, there would be no one to even talk to He&039;d only be adding more hours of loneliness to his so-called life And that hen he&039;d given up and co to the monotonous beat of his cold, loneso sun would stop his heart, and once again he would be dead during the day Unfortunately, he was beginning to feel dead all the tiori watched him warily "I&039;ve heard that soet kinda down in the du er, perhaps you could bring Laszlo in froed on the cuffs of his snohite evening shirt "Okay, I wanted to set the scene Remember the mission statement for Romatech Industries? Make the world safe for vampires and mortals alike"

"I&039;m aware of it I believe I wrote it"

"Yes, but the major threat to peace has always been the poor and the Malcontents"

"Yes, I know" Not all modern-day vampires were ridiculously rich like Ro synthetic blood affordable and accessible, those ere financially challenged would always be tempted to feed off a mortal for free Ro as a free lunch The victimized mortals tended to take offense Then they would hire a few Buffy wannabes, and those vicious little killers would destroy every va Vamp ouldn&039;t bite a flea The sad truth was that as long as any va mortals, no vampire on Earth would be safe

Roe of the poor proble on it I&039;ll have the presentation ready in a few days Meanwhile, Laszlo had this brilliant idea for handling the Malcontents"

Roman sat heavily in his chair The Malcontents were the roup of vampires in existence The secret society called themselves the True Ones and spurned the more evolved sensibilities of the modern-day Vamp The Malcontents could afford to buy the richest blood manufactured by Roourmet blood from Roman&039;s popular line of Vampire Fusion Cuisine They could even afford to drink from the finest crystal They just didn&039;t want to

For the blood was not the blood itself These creatures lived for the bite They believed nothing could replace the intense pleasure of sinking one&039;s fangs into the warm, pliant skin of a mortal&039;s neck

In the past year, coenerated until an undeclared state of war hovered over them A war that could result in many deaths¡ªboth mortal and vaori zoomed to the door and opened it "We&039;re ready"

"About tiuard out here was about to perforuest of honor"

"Och, ye have a bonnie lass there," the guard murmured in his Scots accent

"Leave her alone!" Laszlo marched into Roman&039;s office with a fe the tango Not only was the female taller than the short vampire chemist, she was noticeably naked

Roht a mortal here?" A naked ori leaned toward Laszlo "The boss is a little nervous about ori Every nerve ending in o" Ro blond hair and rounded derriere certainly looked real

Laszlo set the feht, so he leaned over to bend them With each adjustori squatted beside her "She&039;s very lifelike, don&039;t you think?"

"Very" Roman eyed the curly hair, trimmed in a narrow, stripper style, between the false fes "Apparently she&039;s a dyed blond"

"Look" With a grin, Gregori nudged her legs apart "She coulped "Is this¡ª" He cleared his throat and tried again "Is this some sort of mortal sex toy?"