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Hell, he didn’t know anything about vampires But life was apparently precious to vas they both needed, wanted Feared Quite simply, he couldn’t bear for her to be afraid

Whether va now She was rasping He felt the convulsive kneading of her hands against herself, a vibration of her body Heard quiet noises of distress Worse, he smelled that acrid, charcoal s flesh

It was good that she was tied to hi hillocks in leaps and rough, jolting bounces, putting his booted foot down to steady theetation ripping at his trousers The hard landings wrenched pitiful choked cries froht of her blond hair spread over his skin as she suckled and nipped her way down his body, the tickle of it along his abdomen, his arms Once, when she’d leaned over him, a handful of silken strands had fallen into his pal her until she tilted her head, gave hi him out until he released her He’d liked that look, which seemed to collect heartbeats between them, hold them in the intent moment, an unexpected, quiet intimacy

“Getting closer,” he muttered If only he’d heaved his sorry arse out of bed sooner, ood The bike stuttered, and his heart stuttered with it No Don’t you do it We only have a couple o

But it had done its best, and he’d pushed too hard He was daround to a halt, the rattle telling hie and condition of the bike had in with

Another tiured out the probleain He’d have to come back for that

Jerking the ties loose fro her

“Wha—what is it?”

Her ht In terrible pain

“Bike’s bung Going to have to hike it It’s only a coupleon there”

“No” She batted at the canvas, but a child playing inside a thin parachute would have deth “Sharpen a branch and takeI can’tDev, it hurts too much I can’t do any more”

“Too ruddy bad Stop your whinging” He made himself say the cruel words, saw her stiffen briefly Yeah, she had pride It helped “You can, because I say you can It’s just pain, love You can oes away Death doesn’t” There was a choking sound, a strange, alarht have cursed him When he hauled her onto his shoulder, she cried out, an involuntary sound of anguish In this position, the charcoal burning stink orse Strewth, he wondered if vampires could pass out from too much pain So far, it didn’t see contents

Speed was the , fast as he could pace himself toward the shelter of those distant rocks

Please God, let there be a cave Or at the very least, an alcove for that would do a better job than the too-thin fabric of his swag

5

BY the ti and his shouldernuh rock sed the hed in relief, if only he knew the condition of the wo stride had brought a whimper from her, a wounded animal unable to bite down on its pain anyree burns before, so how she wasn’t screa, he didn’t know Until he shifted her at one point and saw blood staining the canvas where he guessed her ue with her fangs God, she was a dinku

Tough as they came Other places in the fabric were dah

As much for the hope of his own comfort as hers, he murmured, “We’re out of the sun, love I’ll find you that shelter Hang in there a bit longer”

The response was inarticulate, but it was there He left it at that andto the next hillock Next to the pillar of rock, the two had looked like the engine of a train While he’d targeted this section because it appeared the one most likely to have a cave or fissure, Rob had liked trains As he studied the rock face, he found what he sought and blessed that brave young spirit for guiding hie, he scra No current anis on the walls that it had been used as an aborigine caested there ater soh that when the sun crested and came down on the other side of the rock this afternoon, the occupant could stay out of its direct light

According to the aboriginal Dreamtime beliefs, the land had been created for them by ancestral heroes and heroines When those creators disappeared, they believed they weren’t gone, but had remained in secret places in the natural features in the land He tended to have an easier tiuides than an os fro quiet thanks for the shelter as he returned to retrieve Danny He h not to piss off the ancient spirits of the land needlessly