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"Technically, no If you’re h, then you’ve nailed it Give me your phone"

Cassie pulled her cell phone from her purse and handed it to hi in and out of traffic

"That’s dangerous"

He took his attention from the road to stare at her "I can’t die"

"I can" Did anyone really have eyes that blue? Pale skin, blue eyes, dark hair She’d guess at an Irish ancestry But then what did she know about vampires? They all had pale skin, didn’t they?

Vaht the word Even after everything she’d seen, she wasn’t doing a great job of wrapping her mind around the realness of him

She waited quietly as he tried to make his call, then another and another No one answered He didn’t leave any " He sped up

"You think?" She was substituting snark for courage

A short time later, he parked on a street lined with row houses Cassie didn’t have a clue what part of the city this was She’d o to search for a job The city was still strange to her, and getting stranger every ot out and he led her down a side street before turning into an alley that ran behind the houses "We’ll be going in the back way"

Cassie didn’t care which entrance they used She was still fixated on the va "If you’re a vampire, couldn’t you just dematerialize and pop up wherever you wanted? Avoid traffic?" Avoid women on’t shut up? She closed her mouth

"Not one of my powers But I can move so fast huht now, though Energy’s loas in that da Len drained whatever I had left I need to feed" He glanced at her "Want to volunteer?"

She widened her eyes He was joking, right? "Umm, no"

He looked away and picked up his pace He alking so fast now that she almost had to run to keep up

"Too bad" He didn’t sound as though he was joking

She could see hi his trash Don’t even think about it She wouldn’t survive watching hiy drink Cassie rushed into speech "Where’re we going?"

"Tothere with me" His eyes narrowed "None of them answered when I tried to call"

Please, no more life-or-death moments today Sudden weariness washed over her Her adrenaline supplylow "Won’t Garrity check there first?"

"He didn’t capture ht not know about it" His s of teeth "And if he does, he’ll think I’ence"

"But what if he has people watching the place?"

"I’ll kill the Now? It made perfect sense

He finally slowed down and moved into the shadows Silently, he pointed at a brick row house with a green rocker on the back porch She covered heron his porch Or e of hysteria

Sliding along fences and gliding around trash cans--he slid and glided, she shuffled and tripped--they drew close to the house Then he raised his hand to stop her He grew still again, and she held her breath She wanted the house to be empty so they could leave for sorim

She didn’t question how he knew "Anyone you know?"

"Yes" With no other explanation, he guided her to the back door He did his ain and slipped into a darkened kitchen He beckoned her inside

Cassie was beyond thought, beyond feeling, beyond everything Right noas the only real thing in her life So she followed hi room She couldn’t hear his footsteps Behind hih a field of bubble wrap, announcing her presence with every step she took

For the first time, she noticed the smell It was coppery and too familiar