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Aly, it was often Elisa who deflected Danny fro to it, h her clothes ash on her cheek fro to test us until they learn a firot to learn to trust us, is all, and that’ll take time It takes tiain, a slip of aher protectively, taking the next supply of blood to them It had been provided by contributions from Ruskin’s household after Danny had made clear the contributions were not optional

“So when do you think Willis will tell her he’s mad about her?” Danny had observed, a smile in her voice, some of the shadows in her eyes banked

“Hopefully before the kiddies eat her,” Dev replied wryly “But you heard her You’ve got to establish the trust first And you sheilas, you can be pretty mean”

Danny gave hi with a few smiles, a lot of worries

She’d been tempted to have the pretentious manor torn down, but for that it was Dev who’d convinced her that the stone edifice would stand up well to the storood shelter for the towns-folk When she left—for she’d adamantly insisted her base of operations would remain her own station—she could si the ownership on the condition that they agreed to maintain the property at their own expense He visited the town ratitude While they knew nothing of what Ruskin was, all kneas a bad sort He’d kept his nose clean in the toisely not taking any of the town children, but people had eyes and ears Plus, Dev had learned the aborigines in the area had standing warnings about the place

Of course, he’d disregarded such warnings the first night he er What better match for him than a vampire? You will travel far until you find your place And until then, you will dig or walk over raves

I feel alive with you That hat his lady had told him Death had its own rotten place in life, but he was ready to put it down and not carry it with him anymore It could find him all on its own

Maybe for a time, it would let him rest in peace If, for no other reason, than because it was leaving hi with Lady Danny wasn’t conducive to peace or rest

The thought always brought a grin What a daft bastard he was Her daft bastard

Epilogue

HE’D been rootless for so long, he was surprised by hoelcoain And even more to think of it as “hoet back here, it had also been a surprise how ether It was a lot like running a station, watching for her cues and leads, anticipating what she wanted fro how they’d transport the little bloodsucking blighters, as he not-so-fondly had dubbed theh with pleasure in those early predawn hours

So to say to him about his relationship to her It still kind of slipped in and out of histhose tinited his teht question such things in the wrong way

He had his own mind about that Despite her formality, he suspected even Lady Lyssa had understood he and Danny were a bit of a different entity from the more ritualized European vampires He wondered if the American vamps had a bit more stockman in them as well Or as they’d call it—cowboy

So it went for the first feeeks He got in step with the stock instock, and worked with Elisa and Willis onthe best accos

Even integrated the wildly unpredictable feeding and training sessions with them into the daily routine