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mischievously. “I was waiting for you to bring it up.”

  “Why were you waiting?”

  “Just wanted to make sure you were…ready.”

  Her eyes widened. “I couldn’t be more ready.”

  That wonderful spark that made her heart melt was instantly in his magnificent eyes. He held her gaze for some time. Star woofed and laid down, seemed to sense they weren’t going anywhere for a while. Dorian leaned his face into hers and their lips softly touched, a thrill instantly showered through her. She tingled breathlessly as he then kissed the nape of her neck, anxiously anticipating the bite. This time, there was little pain if any at all, and she gasped euphorically as he fed from her. She cried out his name and then in turn bit into his neck, feeding from him; their exchanging blood ever bit as erotic as sex itself.

  They begin to rise, lifting off the ground, levitating only a few feet from Star, who glanced at them with one eye and decided it was time for a nap.

  As they lifted higher and higher to the treetops, their articles of clothing dropped one by one to the ground. There, under the awakening stars, he claimed her again, but this time as his true mate, for she was his vampire now. In pure ecstasy, they shared and made love, rising higher and higher as their passion took them to their own private paradise. There they lingered, making love, for an undetermined amount of time, for neither tired, neither wanted it to end, and it was only Star’s whimpering that brought them back to the physical world.

  She glanced down at her dog that was looking soulfully up at them. “Okay, Star,” she said. “We’ll come down.”

  Dorian smiled understandingly and kissed her once more and then they began to drift down, slowly descending and, at last, landing in front of their now impatient dog. Dorian ruffled Star’s ears. “Sorry, fella…got kind of carried away.”

  Star let out a little bark, as though all was forgiven.

  The couple quickly retrieved their clothes then and with Star leading the way, they headed back towards Dorian’s cabin.

  It was an unusually warm evening and Clifford Braz had his window down on his way back from Seattle, taking a short cut down a favorite county road when he thought he heard screams. With no one behind him, he found a wide enough area to the side of the road and pulled over. Out of habit, he grabbed his camera with the night lenses. There was a slight break in the line of trees alongside the road, he leapt over a narrow ditch and moved to the opening.

  There were more screams, blood-chilling screams of terror. He made a path through the best he could, branches slapping his face as he neared a small clearing.

  It was there that he saw them – Three individuals, two male and one looked female, with human bodies, but their faces were horrendous scowls, canine-like teeth protruding, viciously attacking a middle-aged man and woman and another, younger man, probably their son.

  Hands shaking, Clifford quickly snapped several pictures, grateful that the attackers were busy and probably wouldn’t hear the clicking of the camera. His heart went out to the poor defenseless souls, but there was nothing he could do up against these monsters, and there certainly wasn’t enough time to phone for help. Now, he knew for sure, what had killed his wife.

  Afraid to take anymore chances and not wanting to see the people die, he quickly slipped back to his truck, hopped in and pulled out as quietly as he possibly could, and when he deemed that he was far enough down the road, he took off like the proverbial bat out of hell. He had Sheriff Brooks on the phone as soon as he could punch in 911.

  Though eating a late dinner, Brooks left his meal and agreed to meet Clifford at his place, where he would load the pictures on his computer and give them to Brooks.

  Brooks held out the first photo Clifford handed over. “Ugh! God! Those poor people!”

  “I wanted to help them…but knew there was no way I could…Those monsters move at the freakin’ speed of light. Any ordinary human is helpless against them. Helpless!” His face turned sad. “I just hope that Caroline died quickly…that she didn’t suffer like those unfortunate victims.”

  Brooks laid a hand on Clifford’s shoulder. “I hope so, too.” His facial expression changed then.

  “What?”

  “Well…I wouldn’t tell this ordinarily…but since you already know about the vampires…I have a bit of really different news concerning these creatures.”

  “You got my attention,” Clifford said, standing up from the computer. “Want some coffee?”

  “Sure. I’ll take a cup.” Brooks followed Clifford on into his kitchen.

  Clifford took out a large cup and poured the coffee. “Cream and sugar?”

  “Nah…I take it black.”

  Clifford handed the coffee over. “Okay…What’s this ‘really different’ news?”

  “Late this afternoon, after four, three people tried to hold Paul up. It was just about the time Judy was dropped off by her school bus. Anyway, the middle-aged man didn’t seem to have a weapon, but the teenagers, a boy and girl, had guns…”

  “You’ve got my attention.”

  “They had poor Paul up against a wall and the younger fella was helping himself to Paul’s cash…” He paused to take a sip of his coffee and then continued, “Just as Judy was stepping in the door, this female zipped in so fast that she was simply a blur. She snatched up the young woman like she was a soft ball and threw her out the door!”

  “Woe!”

  “Then…before anyone could move, she had the two men pinned up against the wall by their throats, begging for mercy. And this is verbatim. When the older fella asked her who in hell was she…she said – ‘just your friendly neighborhood vampire’! She tied them up so fast; no one even saw her move.”

  Clifford’s eyes were like saucers. “You’re shittin’ me!”

  “I kid you not,” Brooks said, taking another drink. “In fact, even the would-be robbers verify the story. Oldest one said he’d rather go to jail than tangle with her again.”

  “I’ll be dammed!”

  “Anyway, this female vampire’s boyfriend brought the young woman back in that had been thrown out the door. Seconds later, he had her tied up, too.”

  “This is just friggin’ unbelievable! I think I need something stronger than coffee.” He went to his refrigerator, took out a pint of whisky and poured it in his coffee. He raised it up, “Want a shot?”

  “I’d love to, Clifford…but better not.”

  He took a long drink and then, studying Brooks face, he said, “You mean to tell me that there are good vampires?”

  “I’m not going to jump to that conclusion…yet. Just one incident doesn’t really prove anything…but for some reason she stopped the robbery. And I know Paul and Judy are very grateful.”

  “Hey…What about the surveillance tape? I know Paul has one going twenty-four-seven.”

  “Gone! When we checked, someone had removed it and put yesterday’s tape in. I’m guessing it was one of the vampires. Maybe the boyfriend…while the female was busy.”

  “Guess they don’t want anyone knowing who they are.”

  “Yeah…Paul and Judy were both kind of vague on the descriptions. Just the woman was really pretty…and her boyfriend had dark hair.”

  “What about the jailbirds?”

  “Same thing. Vague…The only thing for certain coming from them is that they don’t want to cross paths with them again.”

  “Can kind of understand why.” Clifford chugged down his coffee. “Yeah, that story is really different, all right.”

  “I know that we’re basically helpless against these killers. And it would be nice to hope that maybe we have help. But…not gonna count on it, yet. Could be this was a one time thing. For some reason, the female was pissed off at these characters and stopped them out of some kind of twisted revenge.”

  “Sounds more like a more viable possibility to me,” Clifford agreed. “Just can’t see vampires as anything but pure evil.”

  “Kind of my sentiments…Time will tell.?
?? He sat his empty cup on the cabinet and held up the photos. “Thanks, Clifford…These are some pretty good shots…It will help us to identify the victims…and we have some idea as to what these particular vampires look like…Gonna take them by Paul’s tomorrow…see if any of them look like the vampires that rescued him and Judy.”

  “What if they are?”

  “Then it would more than likely be my last scenario…some kind of twisted revenge.”

  “I’m going to be anxious to know. Can you let me know when you find out?”

  “Certainly. Now I’d best be going. Thanks again, buddy!”

  “Hope it will help.”

  “Can’t hurt. I’ll let myself out…Evening!”

  “Evening…”

  Thirteen:

  “Doesn’t look anything like the woman that saved our butts,” Paul said, truly relieved that it wasn’t Amber. He just couldn’t think of her as a killer, especially after she had rescued them.

  “Okay, Paul,” Grady said. “I suppose that’s kind of good news. At least the ones that came to your aid, aren’t any of the ones killing these poor victims.”

  “Yeah…I saw the news flash on it this morning. Brooks was on the scene late last night…from what I understand.”

  “He was. I know he worked though most of the night. Don’t envy him. I have enough to do as it is just being a ranger. He has an even tougher job.”

  “I don’t know about that…” Paul stated. “If you ask me, you ease up his load a great deal.”

  “I try to…I try to…Well, guess I won’t wait around for Judy to look at these…No