Author: catstark

From Inside the Grey House:

“Revenge is better dealt out when you know your target, Natalia.” He moved her carefully away and walked around to the front of the desk. Taking his key ring out of his pocket, he selected a small brass one and unlocked one of the drawers. He reached inside, searched for a moment and pulled out a manila folder about an inch thick. “Donald Jenkins liked to use women. He finds a woman on his route and uses her for his pleasure, making her suffer every moment she was with him. There’s more, but perhaps you would like to read it yourself.”

Natalia stared at the manila folder he held out to her, walking to the edge of the desk. “When did you find this out?”

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia leaned against the stairwell wall, pausing for a moment to consider the events of the past year. Most of Vincent’s people accepted her. The wolves quicker than the vampires, but that was because of Charlie and Rebecca. She spent many days catching up with Charlie and learning about his lady. Natalia liked Rebecca and was glad Charlie found her. The pair also tried to help her find Donald, her mother’s killer, which was proving to be impossible. There were sightings of him every once and awhile, but nothing concrete. It seemed as if he had disappeared. Natalia believed he might have been killed but didn’t want to accept the possibility. She therefore continued to search, but never seemed to look too hard. The truth of the matter was that she was happy. Trying to find her mother’s killer brought up too many memories she was reluctant to deal with. She would be happier if Vincent let her train with his men, but that was her only real complaint.

From Inside the Grey House:

Charlie shook his head and shrugged, not sure of what to say. Instead of trying, he unbuckled and unzipped his pants, pulled off the ripped pair and started putting on the new pair. Natalia didn’t comment, deciding to pay attention to the road instead. She was able to reach Jeffery’s apartment quickly and without incident. Once there, she pulled out a new chloroform cloth from her backpack and placed it against his nose and mouth. She left it there for a few minutes, then put the cloth away.

From Inside the Grey House:

“What decides the attitude of a person when they are turned?” Her words sounded serious. This was apparently something she thought of often.

Vincent looked down into her eyes, finally understanding part of the hesitation he had always sensed in her. His hand went to her hair, tenderly caressing the nape of her neck. “A human’s darkest desires determine how devilish she is when she is turned. Her strong humanity acts as a counterbalance to even it out.” He paused as the words sank in. “In other words, nothing changes unless the human wants it to change.”

From Inside the Grey House:

“Would it be safer for you to take from me or them, sir?”

The men didn’t appear to notice the question. They were well trained. There were many times Vincent’s humans had been in a room with Vincent and Joseph. Sometimes Vincent fed from them; sometimes he fed from Joseph who then fed from the humans. It was a sign of good faith that Vincent knew when he was too hungry to feed safely from a human.

“You made a wise choice in bringing men. I’ll be fine drinking from them.”

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia caught the handkerchief, bringing it quickly to her now torn left breast. Vincent had bitten her on the side of her breast, leaving an ugly gash. She ripped her button-down shirt open, pressed the handkerchief to her wound, and let her bra hold the fabric in place. She tied the shirt in such a way as to stop her blood from flowing too much. She guessed correctly that Vincent knew exactly were to bite her in order to avoid major blood vessels. The handkerchief was stopping the blood quite well. Bastard.

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia relaxed back against the wall, looking at her lover coldly. She had wanted to be in bed with him by now. “Zechariah was part of a group of Slayers who’d passed information down from one Slayer to the next. Zechariah somehow gathered all the journals that his group found. Upon investigation, and after years of reading the journals, he found you. There are five journals within the sixty or so that he gathered that either have an entry about you or are all about you. You’ve been around a long time, Vincent; the Slayers wanted to take you down. They thought you were responsible for the increased killings and disappearances in the Bay Area. If not directly then indirectly by not stopping it.”

Vincent started to pace. “Slayers expected me to take care of the situation?”

From Inside the Grey House:

“You don’t sound like you’re done thinking about Natalia.”

“I’m not, but I have to report to Vincent about those two.”

“I found Morgan easily enough. He was born in San Jose. I found an article on him around the time he was changed, probably. His family reported him missing, and then there was an article saying he was found. He hasn’t been a vampire for long. I have everything I could find on him in a file, paper and computer.”

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia stood tall, staring down the end of the blade at her opponent, willing her hand to stop shaking. She took three deep slow breaths until the shaking stopped, then bowed. “Ready.”

The room hushed as Joseph advanced slowly. He started circling. She let him. He and Vincent had similar fighting styles. They liked to circle their prey, waiting for the weaker challenger to show fear. Knowing she had to take him down with smart tactics and some trickery, she dipped her sword down. Natalia let the sword shake and changed her blank expression to show her true feelings. Joseph simply laughed. He knew her ploys. As his eyes closed for a second, she lunged forward and slashed at his extended arm. It killed his laughter. He didn’t know all her ploys.

From Inside the Grey House:

“You don’t think it means Christopher is coming back?”

The agitated vampire shook his head. “No.” He paused in thought. “Edwin enjoys pretending to be Captain because it means no one can touch him, but he’s been Acting Captain for almost five years. I have to wonder how long a vampire like him can stand only being the Acting Captain. There are limits to what he can do. There are still too many in the Bay Area who won’t listen to him. It may be that he wants to show his power, show that he has power. We need to be there.”