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wasn’t that way at the doctor’s office. “Shit!”

  The young man was very patient and sympathetic.” I can take you over to cosmetics where they have some really good creams that might help that burn.”

  “Thank you! But the sunglasses first!”

  “Definitely.” He said, quickly leading the way.

  She picked out the darkest lenses she could find, paid over a hundred dollars for them, but she didn’t care. They were guaranteed to cut out all the harmful rays of the sun. She eagerly paid for them and then followed the young man, who’d been patiently waiting, over to the cosmetics counter. She thanked him and tried to tip him, but he wouldn’t take it, saying he was just doing his job, and she looked like she needed help.

  He went off then, and the bleached blonde with too much makeup helped her pick out some lotions and creams, of which Amber bought three different brands. After paying for them, she rushed out of the store and to her car as quickly as she could. She just wanted to get home!

  The end of day was drawing near by the time Amber pulled in her drive. Also it had begun to cloud up, she was very grateful for both, but she still didn’t take off the glasses until she was inside.

  Paul looked up when the bell tinkled and saw Grady coming in, looking serious.

  “Got fresh coffee?” Grady asked, removing his hat.

  “Sure…I’ll get it for you…What’s up? You don’t look so good.”

  “Well…good thing Dorian Lodovico isn’t around and can’t be our suspect… Because there were three more murders last night, over in Mason County. Campers. Two men and a woman. Bloody…Real bloody. I didn’t see them…but Brooks showed me the photos.”

  “Damn!” Paul said, handing him his coffee.

  “When is this ever going to end?”

  “Don’t know…but it was definitely the work of …” he looked around to make sure no one else was in the store, “vampires!” He sipped on his coffee. “Have you heard from Amber?”

  “Yeah,” Paul breathed. “She happened in last night just as the store was getting packed…Sally didn’t show again…anyway, she helped me get the customers all rang up. I wasn’t going to let her help me, but the crowd was getting impatient, so I had to let her. Anyway, we had a little talk. She told me that she’d made her decision…chose Lodovico.” His eyes flashed hurt. “But…at least…she told me. Anyway, I thanked her for helping out…” He looked off at a customer coming in the door. “She wants us to be friends.”

  “Is that right?” Grady took another drink and swallowed. “You gonna?”

  “I’m going to try. I really do believe she didn’t want to hurt me, Grady. So, as my friend, please try not to dislike her too much?” He eyed him questioningly.

  Grady nodded and gestured with his cup in hand. “If that’s what you want?”

  “It’s what I want.”

  “You got it!” He downed his coffee. “Still have your dog?”

  “She’s in the back with Judy.”

  “I’m really glad you got her, Paul…Not sure a dog will help with vampires…but one can hope…I’m calling it an evening. You take care, now…”

  “You too, Grady.”

  The ranger left.

  Paul glanced at the store clock. Sally hadn’t called in and it was time for her to come to work. But just as he was wondering if he needed to call Amber, Sally waltzed in. And he just about fell over. “Sally?” She was dressed in her usual T-shirt and jeans, but her hair was done up in a twist and she was wearing makeup and gold, hoop earrings. She looked ten years younger. And she had on high heels, not sneakers!

  “Hi! Paul,” she said, flashing him a bright smile.

  He just stared at her in disbelief. “You were sick, right?”

  “Real sick!”

  “Damn! What’d you do…die and come back to life as an angel?”

  She guffawed at that one.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Can’t a woman put on a little makeup and fix her hair?”

  He bobbed his head. “Yes…But…But…I would have never dreamed you could look so…so…”

  “Good?” she finished for him.

  “I’m sorry…I don’t mean you looked bad before.”

  She laughed again. “I know what you mean…I was a little dowdy looking. Guess dating Klaus has changed me. I want to look nice for my man.”

  “No harm in that…Glad to have you back, Sally,” he said, hugging her gently from the side.

  “Glad to be back!”

  Judy came out then and froze on the spot.

  “Yes! It’s me!” Sally assured her, laughing again.

  “Oh my gosh! You look…No not look…You are beautiful!”

  “Why thank you, hon.” She quickly gave Judy a peck on the cheek.

  “I’m just glad you’re back…We really missed you.”

  “And I missed you!”

  “Well, guess this means I have this evening off,” Paul said. Then he thought of Amber. “But guess I’ll just go walk the dog and come back and watch a little television.” He walked away.

  Not revealing that she knew, Sally said to Judy, “What was that all about?”

  “Amber dumped him!” Her face hardened.

  “Really! I thought they were a team?”

  “So did I… Paul’s really hurting right now…I feel so sorry for him I don’t know what to do. But he doesn’t want anyone to dislike Amber…The dumb-ass is still in love with her.”

  “Well, honey. As much as it hurts, he’s your brother and you need to abide by his wishes. At least try.”

  “I’ll be nice to her. But that’s all!”

  “That’s better than nothing, sweetie.”

  “Well…gotta get back to work on a report for school next week…Again…so glad you’re back.”

  “Thank you, Judy.”

  Amber ran cold water and dabbed her burning eyes with a wet wash cloth. They stung terribly and were blood-red again. This time it wasn’t the middle of the night. The blisters on her skin were subsiding some, now that she was out of the sunlight.

  She grabbed one of the jars of sunburn cream she’d bought and quickly rubbed it all over her face, neck and arms. It helped some, but not nearly as much as she had hoped. “Dammit! Dorian! Why didn’t you warm me? Why?” And she was hungry! She left the bathroom and all but attacked her refrigerator.

  Star padded in from the bedroom where he’d been asleep on the end of her bed and made a sniffing sound. “Hi, Star,” she greeted, but kept looking for something, anything that might curb this terrible hunger that gnawed at her. She found another steak in the freezer but it was frozen solid! “Shit!” She thought of going to the store, but she didn’t want anyone to see her like this, especially Paul. Then she felt suddenly sick and ran out the back door and began throwing up. She really hadn’t had much to eat, but she was heaving up what felt like her insides anyway.

  Finally, at last, it stopped. She stood there as the approaching night air washed around her burning face. Nothing ever felt so good to her skin. “Thank God for night!”

  Star pushed the screen open and stepped out to her, whining.

  “I should be dead, Star,” she told her dog. “I should be dead! But I’m not! But I sure the hell am sick!” Suddenly she heard a crow. Or was it a raven? She looked up. Was Dorian back? “Dorian?”

  A big black bird alighted on the railing in front of her, then hopped down and mushroomed. But it wasn’t Dorian. It was Klaus. “So…you’re not feeling so well?” he said, smiling vaguely.

  “Did Dorian know this was going to happen?”

  “No. He didn’t know for sure.”

  “He did know it was a possibility?” She asked, hands on the railing, fighting off the urge to heave again.

  He shook his head in the affirmative. “That’s why he had me give you the pills, Amber. Remember? The pills?”

  “The pills. Yes! Shit! I forgot about them.”

  “The eyes burning is only a wa
rning…If you’d taken one the minute your eyes began to hurt, you wouldn’t be going through this. You’re sick because you’re going out in the sunlight.”

  “Does this mean I’m changing?”

  “I would venture to say… yes.”

  “But I haven’t died?”

  “No…but you could… If you go about things the wrong way. You see… There’s a thin line…Kind of iffy…If you’d shared only a little, it would eventually clear out of your body, and he was kind of hoping that that would happen. However, according to Dorian, he’s been afraid he may have let you share too much too soon. If I killed you now, you’d change pretty fast. Hopefully, the transition would be much easier…you wouldn’t have to suffer for nearly so long. And, honestly, without more vampire blood in you, the suffering could be really drawn out…and if you sought medical help, they’d just end up killing you, not understanding the process. Because they’d do their best to clean your blood of any impurities, thwart the process, and without Dorian’s vampire blood in you, you’d just die.”

  “That’s nice to know,” she quipped, realizing she’d definitely made the right decision in not letting the doctor admit her to the hospital. She opted not to tell Klaus that she’d come close to making that decision though.

  He continued, speaking softly and compassionately, “Otherwise, in case you’re wondering, there’s only been one person to ever change without dying first. All the rest I’ve ever known about died before they turned. And they all shared with their vampire partners several times… Dorian tells me you two shared only a time or two…but he was a little generous because he thought he was going to be here. Since he left, he’s been worried that this might happen, you become ill. One