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“So vampires are all evil? They all have to be put out of their iven a one-way ticket to hell?”

“Aren’t they?” He’d hunted, too Just like ers around the stake “I’ve never met one asn’t addicted to the power” That was the problem with vamps As humans, maybe they’d been okay, norot to thewith their food

He grunted “I have”

“What?”

His lips thinned and pulled away fro the stake onto the floor “The vamps ent after my family Hell, yeah, they were freaks Sick, twisted bastards who deserve hell, but I-I’ve met vamps who aren’t pure evil”

She stared at him, waited

Siot a raw deal We both did, but hating every va ’em all won’t either Trust me, I know”

Da, the rage of revenge had been all she’d had

She hadn’t wanted to live When the remains of her parents, and, God, Sara, were hauled out the next day, she hadn’t wanted to take another breath She’d fallen to her knees, wished for death

Even thought about—

Dee shook her head, hard Her mother had died for her, no ould she have taken the easy way out “So” Especially once you found out the world wasn’t the happy, picture perfect postcard all the TV ads promised you

His hands fisted at his sides “There’s more to life than death, Dee”

Her lips trembled at that Not a s it to you”

She sed “Why are you here? Why did you track me to that vampire hell? What do you—”

“Would you rather I’d just left you in the pool of blood? Left you with the body and with the cops on the way?” His shoulders stiffened “Well, fk, next time I’ll know to just leave you the hell alone”

He spun away She reached for hiers brushed over his shoulder

Siood at this eh, aard “I kno to fight I kno to kill I don’t kno to—” Love No, no, they weren’t talking about love

Don’t go there

But he wantedThat need was there in his eyes, in his voice, in the rough de to settle for suy She’d have to open up to him if she wanted to keep him

And she wanted to keep him with her Maybe the best way to do that was to start by being civil She could do that She could drop her guard and try being norirl panties “Thank you for pulling lanced at her “Hard, wasn’t it?”

Uh, yeah

“You’re not used to needing anyone else”

No, even at Night Watch, she usually worked on her own She liked it that way If you had a partner, you’d start to care too much