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Owen had to fight to keep a straight face While he got himself under control, I said, "This isn’t Buffy, and we’re not dealing with vampires" I turned to Owen "There aren’t vampires, are there?"

"Not in this country, and they’re not like in the movies"

"Okay, no vaarlic won’t do you ical attack," Owen said "No one can get in here usingelse in here"

Philip nodded "I thought I’d sensed a barrier here"

"Mostly, I just need you to keep alert," I said, "and give et weird I seeuy If anyone approaches you and claims to be my friend, assume they aren’t unless you’ve met them with me, and even then, it’s entirely possible that there are illusions at work"

"We’ll need passwords," Marcia said "Or questions toabout you that nobody else would know So if so to be you doesn’t know your childhood pet’s name, we’ll know it isn’t really you"

"That’s actually a good idea," Owen said, nodding "Other than that, though, it’s best that you stay out of this as much as possible You’re especially vulnerable since you are susceptible toused on you, yet you don’t have any power of your own"

Marcia got up and went over to her briefcase, froet to work on passwords to start with And I want a complete list of contact inforrilled everyone on secret info to use for identity verification, Owen edged over to me and put his arm around me "That went better than I hoped," he said

"Yeah, I’uess I shouldn’t have been They see in stride"

Once Marcia had her phone list and secret passwords, Owen took off for the night I followed hi with this," I whispered so neither hbors would hear us

"You handled it pretty well on your own I just provided the proof"

"In your usual dramatic fashion"

He ducked his head and blushed If I had to name a mannerism that defined him to me, that would have to be it It had been one of the first things he’d done e ularly, even though he did it less often as he grewhim, I felt my heart swell in my chest I hadn’t had the chance to prove definitively how strong ht before, but I kne that if our positions had been reversed, I’d have probably ain soht be early to start thinking along these lines, but I was pretty sure I was falling in love with him, if I hadn’t already fallen

"You should probably take tomorrow off," he said "It’s not quite your front porch or haet your i

"Okay, then, I guess I’ll be going" He turned to leave, but I caught his arave hih kiss It took him a second to recover before he kissed me back He wrapped his arms around me and held me like he had in those tunnels, after he’d saved lad you’re okay," he whispered "If solad I’m okay, too, thanks to you," I said I forced myself to break away from his embrace "Take care of yourself"

"I try," he said with a crooked grin before he turned to head down the stairs I watched him until he disappeared to the floor below, then I went back into the apart his coat on and preparing to leave as I entered Once he was gone, I sank into one of the kitchen chairs next to ic, huh?" Geic," I said, nodding

"Wow"

"And your boyfriend turns out to be a grown-up Harry Potter," Gemma said

"Nah, he’s cuter than Harry," Marcia said