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 Do it, he commanded.
 I m afraid. She ground her hips feverishly into his. A tear
escaped her eye. Her lips were swollen from the force of passion
that raced between them as they nibbled and kissed.
 Now, Raven, he pleaded.
She bit down into his neck. His body spasmed and his life force
poured into her.
 You ve always been my love, since the beginning, Bo
crooned.  Marry me.
She swallowed his blood.  I will, she answered.
Raven merged with him so that there could be no doubt. Her
soul entered his heart. At the point of climax, there was only love.
The phone rang, breaking the silence of the early morning.
 I hate to bother you again, Doc. We have another body. Looks
to be the same situation as yesterday. No outward sign of trauma,
but he is dead. Davis picked him up early this morning, Bianca
reported as Raven wiped the sleep from her eyes.
She propped her head in her hand as she lay on her side.  Are
you certain he s dead?
 Well, Davis pronounced him at the site. By the way, it was at
The Bed and Brew this time.
Shock coursed through her. Someone was trying desperately to
send her a message. It had to be first Blood Pool, and then The
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Blood Pool
Bed and Brew. Both were places where Raven and Bo had been
earlier in the evening.
Raven sat up in bed as Bo s arm encircled her waist, pulling
her toward him. She felt his erection hard and ready for her.
 I ll be right there. Raven hung up the phone.
 Where do you think you re going? he murmured, grasping
her bottom.
She grabbed the edge of the bed with one hand and held herself
steady with the other as he entered her from behind. His hair tickled
her back while he nipped at her neck. The urgency of his
lovemaking showed her how he wanted to claim her.
She abandoned all thought, hurtling down the road to ecstasy
once more with him.
Davis put the final few stitches into the John Doe as Raven
typed up the autopsy report. John had lost approximately four liters
of blood. How? Well, that question wouldn t be so easy to answer.
Raven noticed a puncture mark by the femoral artery and noted it in
the autopsy report. Whatever happened, whoever did it went right
for a main artery. It was a single puncture mark, not a bite mark.
Detective Joe Menendez witnessed the autopsy.
 Let s get an I.D., Raven said.  Fingerprints and dental
records, please.
Tracy ordered a full tox screen, and Raven and Davis reviewed
the x-rays numerous times. No trauma caused this death at least,
no visible external or internal trauma. It had taken five hours to
perform the routine autopsy. Raven had supervised Davis.
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B. Ella Donna
 Good night, all, Raven said as she made her way out into the
late afternoon sun. She wanted to stop at the farm stand before
heading home. She craved a caramel apple pie, and Nigella s
Herbary and Farm Stand made the best. Nigella was a dear
childhood friend who knew all of Raven s secrets. Nigella also
happened to be Bianca s sister.
Raven started her car, a cherry-red Nissan Altima, and adjusted
the rearview mirror after quickly applying a coat of mascara.
Something was off. Making her alterations to seat positioning and
mirror placement, Raven suddenly noticed she had company, and he
was hungry.
Blue eyes stared her down.  Drive, okay? I m not going to hurt
you. His voice was scratchy and unsteady.
She chuckled.  Me? You re not going to hurt me? Her
incisors were sharp and long at this point, the adrenaline rush
causing them to extend. Her eyes turned platinum. Raven looked
back at him. She realized the identity of the man hunched over in
her back seat. Adonis.
 Oh, gods! Derrick! What happened to you?
 I was hoping you could explain it to me. He wiped his palms
on his pants, but he kept perspiring.  I don t know. We have to go
somewhere safe so I can talk to you. Not your place your
boyfriend will be there. His eyes darted back and forth, and he kept
looking behind himself, as if expecting to see someone following.
The handsome man from the other night had disappeared, replaced
with this pale and anxious one.
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Blood Pool
She thought of Bo s schedule for the coming week.  Bo s
working tonight, she said, gazing back at him through the mirror.
He looked awful. His skin was pasty and discolored. The whites of
his eyes were yellowed and bloodshot.
 No, he s supposed to be at work, but he s not& That little
psychic talent I had has improved vastly since we last saw each
other, Derrick said, rubbing his red-rimmed eyes.
Raven drove to the water s edge by Three Maidens Marina and
parked at the end of the lot. She shut off the engine and turned. His
aura was blotchy and grey.  Okay, here we are. Talk.
He became suddenly still.  Am I& like you now? I thought I
was dead. I don t remember much of anything.
Her heart went out to him. She d witnessed only a few humans
transform into Lamai. It did not appear to be a pleasant change.
 What does your spidey sense tell you? she asked.
He looked at Raven with an odd expression. She d aimed for
humor and missed by a long shot.
 My psychic sense is telling me I m in deep shit. Evil shit.
You re somehow involved, but I don t know any more than that. I
wanted to talk to you the other night. I had a dream about you, and it
wasn t good. You were in trouble, big trouble, life-and-death
trouble, Derrick rambled on.  Now, I can t remember much of
anything.
 Me? Life-and-death? That s kinda hard. You see I I can t
die. Raven pursed her lips and shook her head, hoping to convince
him she was an immortal.
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B. Ella Donna
Shrugging, he said,  You re only half-vampire. I thought you
were still vulnerable.
 True, but my father is one of the most powerful vampires
around and, although he looks perpetually forty, he s old hundreds
of years old, maybe even older. He won t tell me. You could say I
have all the benefits of being human, without the pesky threat of
death.
Of course, Raven could die, but not many people knew under
which circumstances, and she preferred it that way. Most Lamai
guarded that secret diligently. They held a great deal of contempt for
those night creatures that gave interviews revealing Lamai
vulnerabilities to mortals.
Derrick ran his hand across his sweat-soaked brow.  Where is
your father? he asked, his voice strained.
Raven huffed.  I don t know. It s better that way. Better for
him, and better for me.
 And your mother? Is she any part vampire, too?
 No, she s dead, she said bluntly.
 Oh. Mine is, too. Sorry. He leaned back and closed his eyes,
wincing from the pain She knew the transformation was ravaging
his insides.  How did your mother and father h-how were you& ?
Raven was slightly amused. It was a common question, and
she d had it asked of her more times than she could remember.
 I was conceived like any other human. I carry my father s
DNA. Like all species, ours is designed for survival. Usually, the
mitochondrial DNA comes from the maternal side, but when a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]