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Blowing out a breath, I tried to focus on anything else "Is th-that what--as she attacked by one of the poisoned vampires?" I stammered as his face swa the folder into a stack of papers "I didn’t want you to see that"

"Who was it?"

He tucked the stack of paperwork into his laptop case "A blood surrogate nasby She was the first attacked I don’t believe the culprit had the dosage quite right yet You can see the hesitation marks in the bite wounds The vampire in question didn’t want to do this, tried to stop But eventually gave in"

I glanced aiping atI saw her at the Council office once or twice She was a nice girl, one of those naturally sunny personalities Wait, Katie died in a car accident last spring The newspaper said she fell asleep at the wheel, driving home from a party I took a potato casserole to herher condition, the Council’s ‘public relations cosby died in a car accident This is what they do to cover up a problem within the vampire community You should know as much as anyone that vampires can be brutal and cruel"

"But you’re not that way," I insisted "You could have hurt me, several times, but you haven’t even tried"

"I can be just as bad as any of them, Iris I’ve killed people, , the old, the rich, the poor, sinner and saint That’s who I a to ood for you, and it willwhat I want"

I straightened, shrinking back fro bitter in my mouth So, that’s hoas Clearly, ht we’d established, the tiether, didn’t even make us friends I was, apparently, cannon fodder, destined to be used as a huh me, warm and watery I’d become so lonely that I looked to an uninterested vampire for friendship How sad was that?

I cleared ainst the treainst the counter, shying out of his grasp "Don’t let Gigi see that, OK? Keep the files somewhere she won’t be able to find the back atto need further assistance from you"

"How do you rabbed what I could on the way out the door I need you to go to my house later today and pick up soot a full day scheduled already I’ve got to make up for the tiaze atthat could have hty boss fantasies was a loosened necktie and collar I shookto rid my traitorous brain of those useless sentih that I can comfortably command your attention for a week Whether that attention is at home or in more remote locations"

"I don’t know if you’re aware, but references like that make me sound … less than virtuous"

"Few prostitutes are paid twenty-five thousand dollars a week for their services," he said, rolling his eyes

"Clearly, you’ve never been to Vegas," I retorted He shot nored "Why can’t you just go yourself?"

"Because I prefer not to burst into fla watched, and I don’t want anyone to seein, you can explain it away, say you lost so off the contracts and needed to retrieve it"

"I don’t like it," I grumbled

"I don’t, either If there was any other way, I would suggest it"

We stared at each other, stalemated It wasn’t a terribly unreasonable request, really, unless the house was being watched and I ended up in vaation and stretching his stay at htone I wanted my quiet, predictable, pre-Cal life back, with schedules, routines, and a lack of confusing sexual tension I wanted to be the noret I once was

I blew a breath, ruffling a hank of curly hair that had fallen in o to sleep for the day?"

He closed his eyes, as if checking soe "About twenty th, I’ the day than I used to be It takes age and practice And for soe aency, there’s no real point"

"I’ll go by the house in the afternoon, when you’ve had so to talk to you onyour files, you can help et home only to have you tell me you just remembered that you want your bunny slippers Will you actually wake up, or will you pull the typical ?" I asked, frowning at him

"I take it Booty Call Paul is a heavy sleeper?" he asked, s from simple mirth Of course, it was o for now

"There’s blood in the fridge, and my numbers are on a list by the phone I’ll be back before you wake up tonight," I told hiet to your house"

The corner of histhe barest hint of a dimple on his cheek "Try not to trip over any of your clients today"

"I’ll do my best," I muttered as I walked out the back door

--

As usual, I ran the errands scheduled for the day--a case of blood at Mr Rychek’s house, cat food for Ms Wexler, ainto vae wad of cash Cal had given me as a "retainer" That was unusual I felt like I alking around with a target onthat much money around There was a possibility that the Council atchingtheir visit So I put half of the e fund, which was in her name, and made a double payment on the hoh thatseveral increased payments over time wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows The rest would be kept in encies … or to lure Chick Webster to the house the next ti disaster

"I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much cash at once, Miss Iris," confessed Posey Stubblefield as she counted out five thousand dollars in hundreds for Gigi’s tuition fund A recent hire, Posey had been fired fro the reference room ablaze with a badly planned Halloween display Lit jack-o’-lanterns and newspapers were, apparently, a dangerous combination With this in mind, I kept my very flammable stack of money close until it was absolutely necessary to hand it over