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From The Grey House:

Charlie spoke into the phone. “Ben has an update. Here he is.”

Ben took the phone and sighed. “She’s lost a lot of blood. They did what they could with a tourniquet, but those aren’t always great to use. Sandra did well. The bullet didn’t hit the bone and missed the major blood vessels as well. She needs a doctor or a healer to look her over and get things taken care of. She may need surgery if we can’t get her a healer.”

He listened for a moment, said thank you and handed the phone back to Charlie. “He has a word or two for you.”

From The Grey House:

“I listen to Vincent. I protect him. If you hurt him in any way, I will not hesitate to end your life. Understand?”

Natalia tried to keep her heart calm and her mind steady, but it was hard. She finally placed the voice. She nodded as best she could, with his hand still wrapped around her neck.

“Good.” He let her go.

“I know who you are.”

He stopped mid stride, turned back and raised an eyebrow.

“I dreamt of you.”

He smiled, turned and simply vanished. Though she recently saw the same thing with Tony Lam, it still unnerved her. Natalia cursed him for simply smiling at what she said. She walked the few blocks to her car and tried not to be upset. What had the smile meant, anyway? He gave her the same smile in her dreams.

From the Grey House (did I mention this was a romance trilogy?):

Natalia was spent. Vincent was a hell of a lover. She shivered as a breeze cooled the sweat beading on her skin. Vincent nipped at the side of her neck. His cool breath did nothing to help her shivers.

Vincent was sitting on one of the chairs with Natalia in his lap, her chest to his chest. His arms were around her, their fingers entwined. His legs were between hers and her legs were hanging over the edge of the armrests. When they had moved there, Natalia didn’t know. Her memory was unreliable. She moved away a little and looked at the ocean and sky, wondering how she was going to have the energy to go home.

From The Grey House:

He looked at Vincent. “I started to wonder why. I threw myself into magic just to be able to maybe repay you for what you did for us, not what you did for an ancestor. Then I started wondering if you were helping us to keep us in debt. So now I need to know. What will it take to get me out of your debt?”

Vincent leaned back, slowly swirling his glass. “You are out of debt. Your life is your own. You may do with it as you please.”

Carlos doubted the sincerity behind the words. “How? How can we possibly be out of your debt? And how do I know you won’t kill me like you killed your three bouncers?”

Vincent kept swirling the glass taking small sips of the fine brandy. “They betrayed me, you did not. I repay betrayal with death and torture. I repay loyalty in a much different way.” He stood, placed his glass on the desk and walked over to Carlos. “Do you really believe I would repay loyalty with disdain?”

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From The Grey House:

“I’m sorry for my attitude and tone of voice, but I care about her, and if I had to do this again, I wouldn’t change anything. If you feel I betrayed you, I’m ready for my punishment.”

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up. It was Vincent’s hand. He was leaning forward, reaching out to him. His eyes were not kind, but neither were they deadly. “Sit, wolf.”

Vincent was degrading him; calling him his dog, reminding him of his place. Charlie sat back down and took it. There was no other choice.

“I will see what Justin has to say, then I will decide what to do about her and you.” Vincent settled back in the seat and regarded Charlie. “What can you tell me about her?”

Charlie took a deep breath. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

Charlie’s mouth dropped open. “Um, everything?”

“Don’t be crude, Charlie.” Vincent looked perturbed.

“We met when she saved my life.”

From The Grey House:

Vincent turned his back on the mage but waited until Carlos and his guard left. The easy ones were done.

Keith was staring at him. “What are you going to do to me, sire?”

Vincent sighed. “I was impressed with you the first time I saw you. It was your first day at The Red Thread, remember? You handled the situation so well. While most of your co-workers ran, you remembered your training and used it. I saw so much potential.” Vincent was now holding Keith’s head in his hands, gently, like a father with his son. “I really believed you were stronger than this. You have been tested time and time again, and with each test you proved your loyalty. Do you know how many vampires I’ve created in my three hundred years on this earth? Eight.”

He let go of Keith and started pacing again. “I remember each time, each person and know what each person is doing now. Two of them fell to Slayers. Three, like me, are living quietly and richly. One is helping my sire rule her city. Then there is you. You are the youngest, so maybe the comparison is unfair, but you showed so much promise. That is why, even though I prefer changing women, I changed you myself. I wanted to guide you and show you how things should be done, yet you decide to do as you please.”

Vincent stopped pacing and stood with arms crossed in front of the boy. “I know where you’ve been sleeping.”

Keith’s expression finally strayed. Through all Vincent’s ranting, he had looked slightly bored; as if he knew everything that was to happen. Now, he showed fear. Joseph came to Vincent’s side; the other two guards flanked them. They no longer had their crossbows, but were slowly changing.

“Please Vincent, don’t feed me to them.”

“They are here for my protection.”

From The Grey House:

Natalia was against any grand scale plan that would eventually involve the local government. When confronted with reality, humans tended to lose their minds, but Zechariah seemed to want that. He thought it might bring about the end of all Hellspawn. Natalia knew all it would do was kill humans. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She was back at the restaurant. She didn’t want Richard seeing her anxious face. Then she realized that the main lights were off. Only the lights on the deck were lit. She had the place to herself. She heaved a sigh of relief as she ran up the steps.

At the top of the steps, Natalia stopped dead. She was not alone, as she had thought. Sitting at her table with all her things laid out was the vampire who flitted through her dreams. He was sitting with one foot resting on the other knee, elbows on the armrests, hands tented in front of his face.

From The Grey House:

“You work for Vincent.” It was not a question.

There was a very familiar look in her oddly yellow eyes. A disquieting feeling stole across Natalia’s mind and she shut it down. There was no room or time for doubt or fear. The woman very slowly nodded her head the best she could, giving Natalia a look that would have chilled most humans. Natalia plodded on, ignoring it.

“Tell Vincent that there are Slayers in his club. They’ve planted bombs. I don’t know where. They’ll go off at midnight. Get the people out, now.” Natalia lowered her hand as she talked. The anger in the woman’s eyes slowly changed to disbelief. By the time Natalia was done, she was being given an assessing look.

From The Grey House:

He saw the confusion and anger in her eyes and knelt down to face her. Vincent placed a hand on her cheek. She leaned into him and looked into his eyes.

“All I want is to spend a few hours in bed with you and forget all that’s happened. I can’t even do that.”

“That will come soon enough.” Vincent nodded as he came to a decision. “I’ll find a healer before I see you again. I may be gone longer than I thought, but I will find you a healer.”

From The Grey House:

For the past ten years Vincent Grey and his people had been traveling to various cities in the United States, trying to discern which city most needed their attention. For the most part, Vincent did not interfere with the vampires roaming a city. Every so often, he would find a city with vampires that desperately needed to be reined in, like San Francisco. The vampires who were in semi-control here were allowing atrocities to be committed and laughing about it, while the Slayers moved in, making it hard for those like him to be able to live. His people started coming here in stages for the past five years, assessing the situation and plotting.