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his fingers tightening on the gun at his side. Robbie saw it,
too. "Cyn," he said sharply, touching her arm and stepping in
front of her again.
The bodyguard's reaction pleased Hugh and he had a sly
smile on his face when he looked back at Colin. "The ones
doing this aren't from around here," he said abruptly.
"Outsiders barging in and taking over like they belong.
Shoved aside those of us who've lived here all our lives like
we were nothing. Brought lots of money and guns, all kinds of
equipment and shit I've never seen before."
"You didn't recognize anyone? Why would they choose
Cooper's Rest, if they're not from around here?"
"Wouldn't tell you if I did know 'em. But I didn't. As for
why Coop's? Hell, Murphy, it's 'cuz of those damn vampires
moving in with their big, fancy house and their fucking fancy
whores." He looked at Leighton when he said those last
words, giving her a sneering up and down appraisal. "You be
careful there, missy," he said. "A looker like you whoring
yourself out, those righteous men might just do to you what
they did to Mariane. Woman'll take it from a vampire, she'll
take it from just about anyone."
Leighton didn't even flinch. She just met old Hugh's gaze
and bared her teeth, her eyes going cold and flat. Colin had
seen that look on a lot of faces before, but never from a
woman.
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Not trusting what might happen next, he said, "Fine, we're
outta here. You watch who you keep company with, Hugh.
This is gonna go badly for anyone involved with what went
down out there."
Robbie was already hustling Leighton back to the truck,
opening the door to the backseat and urging her inside. He
slammed the door and waited until Colin was behind the
wheel before holstering his weapon and sliding into the truck
himself. "Let's get the fuck out of here," he snarled.
Colin reversed out of the clearing in front of Hugh's house,
not willing to take his eyes off the old man until they had
some distance between them. Once he hit the narrow private
road, he backed off the road enough to get some turn around
room, then headed out toward the highway.
"So how'd white boy back there know about Mariane?"
Leighton said. She had scooted to the edge of the back bench
and was leaning between the two front seats.
"This is a small town," Colin said, turning off Hugh's drive
and onto the highway. "Everyone knew everything there was
to know about the attack on Mariane and Jeremy within
hours. Maybe not every little detail, but a rough idea of what
had happened and who was involved. What's more curious is
that Hugh didn't even flinch when I mentioned Marco and
Preston. He already knew they were dead, but I didn't even
know it until you told me yesterday and I've told no one else.
He might not be directly involved in these crimes, but he
knows what they're doing. Maybe probably he's just sitting
at a table in the shadows and eavesdropping."
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She made an exasperated noise and pushed herself back
against the seat behind her. "So, you've got some white
supremacists operating in your back yard. But how the hell
does that tie in to what happened up in Vancouver?"
"What happened in Vancouver?"
Leighton just looked at him.
"Come on, Leighton," he said, eyeing her in the rear view
mirror. "You want cooperation from me, it's a two-way street.
What happened in Vancouver?"
She met his reflected gaze. "Your girlfriend Sophia didn't
tell you?"
Colin gave her a cold stare. "She's not my girlfriend," he
said evenly. "And you're avoiding the question."
Leighton shrugged, stretching out her legs before
answering. "Three more vampires were killed," she said.
"That's why Sophia's here. She thinks, and I tend to agree,
that whoever killed the vamps up there has decided to spread
the joy southward."
"Shit."
"That doesn't begin to cover it. You've never seen what
happens when a vampire gets really pissed, Colin. I have.
They don't believe in trial by jury and they don't give second
chances. These killers, whoever they are, sealed their fates
the minute they decided to cross into Raphael's territory. This
isn't going to be pretty, no matter how you look at it."
"Yeah? Well, I'll tell you how I look at it, Leighton. I saw
what they did to Mariane. So, as long as the only ones getting
bloodied are the animals who did that, I say let the
bloodletting begin."
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194
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Chapter Twenty-Two
Sophia checked herself in the mirror critically, using both
hands to pull her hair out of the high-necked sweater she'd
chosen for tonight's hunt. It seemed foolish to think of it as a
hunt, especially in this day and age, but she didn't have any
other word for it. Raphael's vampires were going to hunt
down the humans who'd crossed the line of civility and
started the killing. It seemed clear, to Sophia at least, that
the motive for these crimes was simple hatred. The things
they'd done to that child Mariane were proof of that, if any
further proof was necessary. She thought Raphael agreed
with her, although it was difficult to know for sure since she
was still frozen out of any serious discussions.
The western vampire lord didn't trust her, not even after
last night when she'd shown her own trust by admitting him
not just to Lucien's territory, but to the heart of his nest.
Trust came hard to vampires. She had to remind herself of
that now that she was back in Vancouver. She'd spent too
many years down in Brazil, a country ruled by a vampire lord
so laid back he barely qualified for the title.
She should have remembered, though. Should have
remembered that village in Central America and the night
she'd been given a choice leave now or swear loyalty to a
new master. That region's vampire lord hadn't been laid back.
He'd been unwilling to tolerate her presence in his territory as
long as she was sworn to Lucien. And Sophia had had no
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intention of forsaking her Sire, not when there were so many
other places in the world she could live peacefully.
Of course, leaving the hostile vampire lord's territory had
meant leaving Colin, too. She'd rationalized the decision in
her head a million times over the years. That he was human,
that he wouldn't understand, that he wouldn't want her if he
knew what she was. Or that he'd have left her soon, anyway,
called away by his own masters in the United States military.
But every one of those excuses still left a bad taste in her
mouth. She could have handled it differently. Should have
handled it differently. But when the fire had struck, it had
seemed like a gift, a sign from the Fates that this was the
right path for her to take.
But then, she'd never expected to see him again, never
expected to feel that punch in the gut when she'd walked into
the room upstairs and seen those blue eyes accusing her.
She turned away from the mirror, no longer willing to see
the accusation in her own reflection. Maybe she should talk to
him again. Try to make him understand. She snorted
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