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"By the ti but a pile of clothes He had already killed them"

Quiet enfolded theer and deeper cut than she had supposed

"I confronted hiroused

She’d let that slide, knoorry spawned it

"Did he say why he killed the me"

"That doesn’t make any sense"

"I know"

"He’s a vampire and you’re a va her with the needle and applied a bandage

Exhaling a deep sigh of relief, Krysta turned around and sank gingerly into the chair "He wanted erous and couldn’t believe I’ve been doing it for so long without gettingit so long without getting yourself killed"

"S valanced up at her as he retrieved some butterfly closures "Two hundred years?"

"Yes"

"Why would a va or soo into it And tonight" She didn’t want to think about it

"What the hell happened, Krysta?"

"I played my usual Victi where you found us, and confronted them before Etienne could snatch theuest "I assuuardian, and thought I was so called a second"

"What the hell is that?"

"I don’t know But they were afraid of him and pissed at him all at the same time And I can see why There were six vampires and he took out ain saved my ass Then, all of a sudden, someone shot him in the neck with a tranquilizer dart"

"Vampires can be sedated? Shit I didn’t even think of that"

"I didn’t either As soon as he saw the dart, Etienne toldThen the soldiers you saw appeared and shot him all to hell They would have killed me, Sean, if he hadn’t saved me If he had run, they would have coht and took those bullets so I would have tiet away"

He sat back "I don’t understand Why would a bunch of human soldiers want to kill you, another human? I mean, if they’re vampire hunters like you, wouldn’t they want to protect you?"

"I think they believed I was a second--whatever that is-- like the vaht I was expendable Hell, ht I was his Renfield"

"Shit"

"I know"

"If he wanted to save you, why didn’t he just toss you over his shoulder and run?"

"Maybe he was already too weak Or et us out of range Or "

He went back to work "And your daggers?"

How had they ended up in the throat and heart of two human men?

"I couldn’t let them kill him or capture hihed "Were they military?"

"I don’t know They didn’t identify themselves Didn’t shout, Halt! Don’tThey just opened fire"

Zipping his bag closed, Sean sat back on the floor "What a ed his hands down his face "I can’t think straight My head is fucking killing me"

Guilt suffused her, as it always did when he suffered physical pain after healing her wounds

"So what’s the plan?" he asked wearily "What are we going to do with Count Chocula over there?"

"I don’t know"

Rising, Sean stared down at the unconscious vauardian," he muttered

"That’s what they called hi He probably needs blood"

"Well, I’d kinda like to keep ht"