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Daht nearest her sputtered o her into darkness I vaht beneath the hunter’s hts shifted to her mother and how she’d introduced Alicia to her love of vampires when Alicia had been a teen and they’d watched handsome and sexy Count Dracula sweep the heroine off her feet in a college stage play Alicia had wished she was the heroine the count intended to seduce

Snapping herself out of herlided quickly toward her froh alley between that townhouse and the next A vaistered; only of course it wasn’t He was a enuine threat

Pepper spray already in hand, she whirled to spray him in the face, but footfalls raced directly behind her before she realized two of the at her from different locations Before she could whip around and protect herself, a sharp pain to the back of her head registered

She felt herself falling, the can of spray slipping froers, heard the can clunk as it struck the stone walk, felt her body hit the unforgiving walk, and saw the red, red ht And she should have taken heed The last thought she had was maybe it was time to bury her pain and find a new occupation

Then the red moon faded to black

"Alicia Greiston," a huskythe darkness, but the pain in her head splintered every thought she tried to conjure up

A hand roughly shook her shoulder She wanted to open her eyes and see where she was, instantly re her mission--take Mario Constantino into custody--and her failure to do so She’d been attacked from behind

Was this ood

"I know you’re awake" His voice hinted at dark aarette sne penetrated her airspace

Then he drew closer, and she realized she was lying on a soft ainst her side as he leaned over her His fingers worked clumsily on the buttons on her jacket Oh God, what did he plan to do to her? Rape her? Torture her? Kill her? Maybe all three But her head hurt so badly she couldn’t gather the wits to respond in any way

He jerked the sleeves down her arun still in it Her head was pounding so hard that she only had a tenuous grip on rerayness until his fingers began working on her blouse buttons, which instantly gave herhi with pain, she opened her eyes and saw only blackness How could he tell what he was doing in the dark? She couldn’t even see his face

She grabbed his wrists--big, rawboned, powerful He laughed, the sound husky and eerie

"I knew you were awake" He easily shook free of her hold, seized her wrists, and held them above her head "We can do this easily or we can do this the hard way Either suits me"

All the ht hiroin, find her gun, and--

"I admire you, Alicia Not just anyone could have tracked Mario down like you did with the scant clues I was able to give you He would have killed you if you’d approached hi your life" The , as if she owed hi time

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I like that To the point No pussyfooting around I’ ar you clues as to where Mario is staying They were only roundabout clues since I never could get a real handle on where he was at any one tiative skills to find him Now I’ll show you what I want Just be patient But don’t fight me on this I’d just as soon knock you out and take you that way Your decision A word of warning, though If ets hold of you--or le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>