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So did he, most of the time
"I want to come with you"
He froze, hand poised above the door knob Hell Hadn’t she seen enough at Delaney’s? Much more and--
She wouldn’t want hi her Taking her
Wouldn’t want him in the same room, much less the same bed
Not when she saw just what he could becoo
No, no, I won’t lose control again
There was more to this world than blood and screams and claws and death
There was--
"Jude?"
Her
"You don’t need to see"-- what I do--"the bastards out there Where I’ would be hell to et to hell
Like to like
"I’lanced back at her She’d risen froain Her lips were pale and pluations" Her smile isted "I’ve seen my share, you know"
No, she hadn’t Not his way
But he didn’t want to leave her in the hotel Didn’t want her to be alone, not with that freak out there
Freak--and what a, just stand back, got me? Don’t interfere and don’t try to stop me"
Her eyes widened "What are you--"
"I’ll do what has to be done" Always did "No innocents will be hurt" His one rule "Just…stand back, okay?" Don’t try to stop me
And, hell…don’t fear me
He wouldn’t cross the line Hadn’t, in years
Because the one tiuy was looking for a hooker
Erin sat beside Jude, her lips pressed together, as he cruised down the strip she’d never visited
Oh, she knew this particular strip was there It just hadn’t been on her list of places to visit in Lillian
"Uh…can we go over this plan again?" Because the fist in her sto for a hooker with her lover U
But Jude didn’t even seeaze was on a blonde A wo hair, the shortest skirt Erin had ever seen, and legs clad in fishnet stockings
Fishnets? Seriously? She’d thought that was just some kind of really la in her fishnets
The blonde led the guy with the thinning hair--the guy who’d just hurried out of his car and run to her--into the mouth of the nearby alley
Jude shoved open his door
"What are you doing? Jude--"
"She’s feeding Coht word for it? Erin unhooked her seatbelt and bolted after him Her stupid shoes didn’t make for the easiest of runs, but she kept up with hi across the street and into the alley that reeked with the stench of garbage and sewage and hell knehat else and--
And the john was on the ground, head twisted to the side The blonde was over hiers shoved into the front of his jeans
Erin’s head jerked to the right She really didn’t need to see this scene Watching others screasn’t her idea of a good tih? You’re robbing hi back toward the couple on the ground
The blonde’s head snapped up and she glared at theuy on the ground gave a weak moan and whispered "Don’t…stop…don’t--"
"Get out of here!" the wo Erin noticed that the hooker had the guy’s wallet in her right hand Ah So that hat she’d been looking for in his pants
Jude took a step forward and a rat raced across the alley
Not s apart and tried to look like she wasn’t in the middle of hell
The wo a red swatch on her chin "Unless you’re a cop, you ain’t got no business--"
Jude growled A low,rumble that wasn’t hu "Wh-wh--"
"Don’t stop!" A fierce cry from theat anything Erin wasn’t even sure he’d noticed theht of her teeth
Fangs
Varound as she sized them up and put her prey between them
Her eyes--why hadn’t Erin noticed the wo mode
Erin’s breath jerked out She’d only ever seen two vampires-- okay, three now--in her life The assholes she’d seen before had done nothing to ue seuy had jumped her in a park when she’d been in New Orleans Her first week in the city She’d broken his nose, possibly given hiht into another va in their prey
They’d picked the wrong prey
That guy had gotten tossed ten feet By the tiotten their eyes or the stench of death that clung to them like a second skin
"Co her claws over the man’s throat
Erin believed her One sould be all that was needed to cut open his jugular and--
Jude lunged forward He grabbed thefast move The va blood and eliciting screams from hiuy away fro vampire
Thehand to his throat and touched the trickling blood His saucer-sized eyes stared first at Jude, then the vamp After a few stunned seconds, he turned and ran
"Nohat are you gonna do?" Jude put his hands on his hips and sized up the vaonna be able to take me" Erin saw that his claere out "But, just for fun, why don’t you co the victim
The vamp’s chin lifted and her eyes narrowed "You kno hard it is to find a donor in this city? One who likes the bite?"
A donor Nice way of putting it