That sounded a little too rehearsed. He just hoped she meant it deep down. He would make sure shedidsucceed. If anyone could keep her safe, he could.
“That’s my girl.” He leaned in and kissed her.
She hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Where are my manners? Would you like to come in.”
“No, I still have to, um, find myself some dinner. I figure it’ll be a long trip and I ought to fill up before we leave.”
She nodded. “Sure. That makes sense. Well, give me a yell when it’s time to go.”
He hoped they’d be able to slip away quietly. Yelling wasn’t his style.
Chatting casually with his next victim, Sly enjoyed a rare cigarette. It wasn’t like he had to worry about lung cancer. The guy had tried to sell him a bag of heroine or cocaine. It was some kind of white powder that he assumed wasn’t baking soda. He wouldn’t feel too badly about biting this one.
Sly just hoped the dealer was only selling and not using the stuff. Getting a contact high through the dealer’s blood would sure mess up his and Morgaine’s plans for the night—and they were important plans. As soon as he fed, they’d be on a train bound for New York.
“So, you deal drugs in this neighborhood often?”
“Not usually. I was thinking about it, though. Lots of college students live around here, right?”
“Yeah, but you wouldn’t want to get them hooked on this stuff, would you? I mean, their lives are just beginning. Addiction could ruin everything before they even get started.”
The guy shrugged. “That’s not my problem. If they’re stupid enough to use the shit, they probably don’t belong in college anyway.”
Good. This one seems like a non-user and a despicable human being who knows full well what he’s doing to others and doesn’t care.
Sly clamped one hand around the guy’s wrist and the other on his shoulder so he couldn’t escape, then looked into his eyes and put him under his thrall.
“You’ll stand very still, and you won’t make a sound.”
The guy nodded.
Sly’s fangs descended but before he could sink them into the tempting, pulsing carotid artery in front of him, a blur flashed before his eyes. Gelling into focus on the other side of the victim’s neck was Vorigan Malvant.
“Mind if we share?”
Sly let go of the drug dealer and stepped back. “What do you want from me? And I know it’s more than just my dinner.”
His maker’s mouth turned up in an evil looking grin. “What’s wrong with a dinner date?”
When Sly didn’t respond, Vorigan continued. “I’d like to do what I didn’t get a chance to do all those years ago when we first met.”
“Oh? And what was that?”
“Make you mine.”
“What the hell doesthatmean?”
“I think you know, but just in case you’re not as intelligent as I thought…First I made you vampire. The next step was to make you mylover.”
Sly cringed. “I’m taken,” he said, through clenched teeth.
Vorigan cocked his head and smiled in a way that could only be calledevil. “I can fix that.”
Sly’s eyes narrowed, and his lips thinned. “You’ll stay away from her…and everyone I know.”
“Then you’ll come with me, quietly?”
All I need is to get inside the building. He probably thinks he can follow me right in.“Just let me get a few things first.”
