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"Mmmhmm..." she murmured. "If I've come two inches from death, I'm in your bed
with half the freaking household. If all is well and Adrian and I have made
love, it's just me and sometimes you. If the night went somewhere in between,
it's some compromise between those two extremes.
"D'you mind?" He asked, all antennae sharp.
"Not at all." She murmured, sliding back into sleep. He decided to let her.
"It's just not very human of me, that's all.
He looked at her now, human, mortal, vulnerable, and remembered that
conversation. He had a sudden, unreasonable impulse to make Adrian take her
home. She doesn t belong here. He thought miserably. We expect too much from
this fragile mortal. But she turned her face to him though, as if she could
read his thoughts, and smiled.
"I'm fine, brother." She said gently. "I got to sleep in this morning,
remember.
He felt his face go grim and purposeful, and he leaned carefully across Adrian
and touched her hand. "I'm nobody's brother, little one." He said politely,
and saw her uneasy, sexy frown at Adrian, who winked back at her in turn.
"Okay, leader." She murmured, pulling her hand back and looking around. "Why
are they starving the vampires?
"What the hell are you talking about?" said Max from Cory's other side, and
she groaned.
"What are you doing here?" She practically whined, and Green suppressed a grin
of his own. She sounded very human now.
"He asked me here." Max groused, looking sourly at Green. Green leaned across
the bar, in front of Cory and Adrian and extended his hand.
"I don't believe we've been formally introduced." He said pleasantly. "I'm
Green, and you are Officer Max, and we don't like you but have invited you
anyway. Be nice.
Max stared at Green's hand, openly hostile. "Make me.
Green smiled, and it wasn't pleasant. "Cory love, could you move out of the
way, please? I believe Officer Max made a request.
Cory, looking a little panicked, elbowed Max in the ribs and stomped on his
foot at the same time. Max pulled his arms up protectively and pitched forward
slightly, bringing his hand in contact with Green's, and Green took it in his
own, looking ironically at the youngest member of their little party.
"Nicely done, luv." He murmured.
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"I try to only kick the shit out of vampires." She returned. "Bad ones who
hate me." She added hastily when she saw Adrian starting to crack up. "Max,
this is Adrian you've sort of already met.
"She's too goddamned young to be here." Max panted. He took the extended hand
this time Cory was stronger than she looked.
"So are you." Adrian returned pleasantly.
"I'm over twenty-one." Max responded indignantly.
"Really? Any one under seventy-five, I can hardly tell the difference. Now
stop being a buggering git and get your head in the game.
Max blew a breath out. "Fine. So what in the hell were you talking about.
"The vampires." Cory murmured, nodding in the direction of a couple of greasy
haired, gaunt cheeked men and women hovering nervously together. They had an
aged quality, as though they were in their early twenties, but hard living
made them look forty. "They look like hell someone hasn't been letting them
feed.
"They're junkies." Max spat dismissively.
"Was I ever that blind?" Cory turned to Green and Adrian in despair.
Adrian shrugged, all cheekbones and arrogance. "I don't know, luv you kind of
studied my boots for about a year.
She sighed. "Look closer, Officer Max. They're not smiling with their
teeth I've seen junkies, they're all teeth, and they don't smile at all. These
guys are not shaking. They're not shifting stance or staggering. If you
observe closely, shit head, they're not even breathing. And watch every time
the waitress walks by their noses flare and they practically lick their lips.
I bet if you got close their eyes aren't dilated or pin-point. They're just
really, really intense. And glowing red. And it's the middle of fucking June
and these people are pale as snow on crystal.
"They're junkies." Max said flatly. "And these two assholes have slipped
hallucinogens in your Kool-Aid, little girl. You don't belong here.
Cory's eyes narrowed, and her chin lifted. Then she smiled, and Max looked
uneasy. She was short, just under Adrian's chin, but she stood on tip toe and
bumped his chin, gently, with the top of her head. As quick as that, the air
with filled with an unbearable intimacy, and Green's eyes went towards the
group of vampires. Their heads tilted up, and their eyes went to half-mast,
and their noses went in the air, sniffing delicately. Max had noticed it too,
and his eyes grew round and afraid. He couldn't hear the conversation between
Adrian and Cory, but Green could, and so could the vampires.
"What are you doing, luv?" He asked playfully.
"Touching you." She murmured back. Something in her smile, her voice, and
Green knew she knew she was on display.
"Mmmm..." Adrian murmured, kissing her forehead. Then he kissed his way down
her nose, brushing her lips, nipping her chin, in a long sensuous line as she
tilted her head back, exposing her throbbing carotid to his tongue. He traced
the vein there, and she groaned softly, and this time Green knew she had half
forgotten their danger, and all but forgotten their audience. But, more
significantly for Max, anyway, the rest of the "junkies" had turned their
heads towards the pair at the bar, and Max took a step back until he was
practically trapped, when he saw them struggling to control their fangs.
"Hey, there, friends." Green said loudly, forcing joviality into his voice,
"Get a room, eh?
Adrian and Cory both shivered convulsively and took deep, shuddering breaths.
They took a step back, breaking the physical connection, and Max and Green
watched as the room full of vampires struggled to get themselves under
control, some of them actually weeping dry tears from desire.
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