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As a vampire, it is best to know yourself well enough to keep your blood donors safe.

From Inside the Grey House:

Vincent was alone for some time before Joseph knocked on the door. He didn’t wait for an answer but came into the room, leading two human males. The humans sat in the chairs facing Vincent, not saying a word. None were necessary. One, the elder, placed a small dagger and a roll of gauze on Vincent’s desk.

“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.”

I find it fascinating that this was the first word the random generator came up with. This morning, at 5am, my internet was not working. My day job is still (thankfully) work from home and I need my internet to work. They are understanding and allow for internet problems, therefore I wasn’t really worried about it, but it’s still an inconvenience.
Then, I got up early, readied myself for the day and came to my computer… to blog… and was immediately depressed as I thought I might not be able to share anything today! I tried my internet and it worked!!! YAY! (My phone and computer internet are not the same service. I use my computer for the majority of my internet/social media communications. I like real, full sized keyboards.)
At any rate, when I saw the word failure, I thought, “What we have here, is a failure to communicate.” Which is close to a Cool Hand Luke quote.
I almost had a failure to communicate ability with my readers. I’m glad I did not. Have a great one and here’s what you really came for:

From Inside the Grey House:

“To what end?”

“Jesse’s dead.”

Vincent nodded once, slowly. “And that is my cross to bear. I don’t blame you for his death. You stated for me to keep everyone away; I didn’t listen. My fault: not yours. Despite his death, I wouldn’t change this night. We showed Edwin and his men what you are capable of and Edwin did not have a chance to declare himself Captain. We were also able to capture some Slayers and take a powerful weapon away from our enemies. This night was not a failure, Natalia. It was a win. Enjoy it.”

She looked as if she wanted to listen to him, but it was obvious that she wasn’t comfortable with declaring this night a victory. Vincent took her into his arms again, carefully caressing her cheek and jaw line. He gave her a soft kiss on the lips but pulled back before too long.

A scene about Charlie again. Because why not?

From Inside the Grey House:

“This makes me question your loyalties, Charlie. If the situation presented itself, would you protect Natalia or me, first?”

“Natalia.” His answer was too quick, and he knew it. Charlie shook his head and spoke again, hoping Vincent would allow an explanation. “You’re far stronger than Natalia. I doubt you would ever need my protection.”

Vincent said nothing for a moment, drumming his fingers on the desk. He wasn’t surprised by the answer. “If the situation presented itself, who would you protect? Natalia or your Alpha?”

Charlie turned to Rebecca, holding his hand out to her. She took his hand, knowing what he was going to say by the look in his eyes. “I spent too many years looking for my wolf. Why would I ever risk losing her?”

Lorraine is Vincent’s sire – the woman who turned him into a vampire. Vincent is her favorite. Who is Vincent’s favorite? That is revealed in the series.

From Inside the Grey House:

“Lorraine. There are things we must discuss.” This was coming from an older vampire, one Vincent recognized.

Her voice was kinder when talking to this one. “Rowland, please, I know your grievances. I can address them tomorrow. Vincent is here for one night, and as I told you when he called, I will have my fun with him. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him, and I don’t want to argue about it. Go about your duties and I’ll see you again tomorrow night after he leaves.”

Rowland seemed to shrink back into himself, unhappy with the situation. All Lorraine’s children were aware Vincent was her favorite. All who lived near her were happier when he wasn’t around. Rowland gave Vincent a nasty look but bowed to his sire and left. Morton stayed glaring, and the third vampire left without a word. Lorraine gave Morton a tempting look as she took Vincent’s hand and led him away to her dungeon. Morton glared after them until he was led to the door by two of Lorraine’s humans.

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia woke fitful, hot, thirsty, nauseated and confused. Disoriented and groggy, she woke a little more, expecting to be in Zechariah’s cabin. Since the bed was comfortable and nothing smelled like pine, she knew she wasn’t in the cabin. Then she considered it and for some reason believed she was in a moving car until she realized that she wasn’t moving: her vision was swimming. Natalia turned on her side toward the edge of the bed. The small movement caused her to become woozy. She groaned and tried not to throw up. Pain entered her senses and the groan grew louder until she was nearly screaming. It ended in a squeak; she was too weak for more than the small noise. Pain radiated from too many different parts of her body.

A dark shape came into her field of vision and helped her to sit up a bit. A dark hand held a glass of water out to her, as she sipped the cool, refreshing liquid. She protested when the glass was taken away from her before she was ready. She opened her eyes to look at the person teasing her with the beverage, not understanding why she couldn’t see the person kneeling in front of her. She tried again, failing as dizziness took over and she flopped onto the bed.

To me, this scene, the full one anyway, shows that Vincent will follow his own rules, even if it means breaking them.

From Inside the Grey House:

“Vincent. I-”

He pressed his lips to hers, silencing her. He pulled away, caressing her cheek, peering deep into her eyes. “Hush, Natalia. No more words. It’s been a long night and day. I want to be in our bed, sleeping, not arguing.”

“I did something that deserves punishment, Vincent. I know what you-”

He silenced her again, speaking softly. “No more Natalia. No more words.” His hand went into her hair, feeling the velvetiness of her dark tresses. “Too much has happened today, and I want it done with. There is no need to finish this, because it is done.”

Natalia gave him a look as if to argue, and he silenced her by pressing two fingers to her open lips.

“If we must, we’ll speak tonight. No more now, Natalia, I beseech you.”

Natalia looked deep into her lover’s eyes, searching for clues to his mood. All she saw was a deep exhaustion and knew there was no deception. It had been a long day: Edwin knew of her, she had confessed her feelings to Vincent and herself, had been confronted by a ghost, then taken him down to save her people. Not to mention the loss of Jesse, finding out about Donald, and killing her only link to the information. She leaned into Vincent, allowing all her tension to melt away. His arms wrapped around her tighter for a moment, then he let her go to pick her up. He kissed her all the way to the bed, pulling away only to lay her down. He was beside her quickly, untying her robe, pulling the silk from her willing body.

“I thought you wanted to sleep.” There was humor in her voice.

“I changed my mind. Do you object?” His hand moved slowly down her torso, caressing her soft skin.

From Inside the Grey House:

It had been the same with her job at The Ocean’s Edge. No longer needing her waitress job, she called Richard and let him know there was a family emergency. She apologized for not giving two weeks and he wouldn’t let her, stating she could return at any time and have her job back. She thanked him and never called him again. He had been too eager to accept the lies as well. The lies people accepted in order to continue their deceptive existence, made her uneasy.

Natalia stirred as somewhere above her a door slammed. She took a deep breath, pushing her memories away. The necklace in her hand needed to be returned to its rightful family. Natalia took one more look at the blue stone, gathering strength from the knowledge that she had done the right thing. She took one more breath, hoping Vincent would agree, and started back up the steps to her fate.

I’ve shared this before, but it’s one of my favorite scenes.

From Inside the Grey House:

Vincent took a few menacing steps to Charlie, invading his space, causing the werewolf to stumble back to the door. With his back pressed against the door, Charlie gave Vincent a wide-eyed crazed look. “Would you have preferred if we were caught? Or seen and chased in San Francisco? She knew what she was doing, sir. It was a smart idea.”

The vampire crossed his arms and leaned in just a touch more. “Did you enjoy making out with my woman?”

“How the hell do you expect me to answer that?!?” Charlie yelled; he couldn’t help it. He was sure his voice carried outside the office.

Vincent grinned maliciously while Charlie breathed deeply to calm himself. Still smiling, Vincent backed up to lean against the nearby chair. “I expect you to tell me the truth.”

Giving up the fight, Charlie let himself slump to the ground as he continued to breathe deep to stop himself from turning Blitzkrieg. After a couple minutes, Charlie looked up at Vincent. “At first, I was worried about what Rebecca would say, then about what you would do, but in the end, she just feels too good and knows how to distract men way to well. Of course, I enjoyed her. She’s a beautiful woman that I used to screw on a regular basis. How would you feel if an ex-girlfriend came up to you and started making out with you for no reason you could discern?”

“I’m not happy with you, Charlie.”

Charlie stood, angry and annoyed. “You know what, Vincent? Screw you. She’ll be in your bed tonight and what about me? I’m going to spend the night in my bed,” he raised his right hand, “with my right-hand man. My wife, who would be more than happy to remind me that I’m hers after an incident like this, is conveniently in another part of this country. You get to leave this room, find your woman, throw her into your bed and claim her and make her scream your name. I’ve got I don’t know how long before I see my woman again.”

Such a simple word. Shows up 54 times in this novel.

From Inside the Grey House:

“I don’t know anything about him. The police never wanted to tell me anything, and I never thought to investigate. I was never interested in his past.”

“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?”

Though I really enjoy sharing parts of this book with you, I hope to have the full book out before the end of the year. The third and final book will be released quickly after that. I am not making the same mistake twice.

From Inside the Grey House:

“Why does this amuse you, old friend?” Vincent came around the desk, trying to hide his emotions.

“You’re used to getting things your way. You won’t with her. It’ll be interesting to watch.” He paused to take another sip of the fine brandy. “I wonder how much she’ll get away with?”

Vincent stared out the window, considering his friend’s words. He wanted to argue, but knew Joseph was right. He considered how much he had already done for the human, although he only met her four times. There was something about her, as there had been with the five other women he had had long relationships with. Something that caught his attention from the moment they met. He had taken it for granted that Natalia would stay with him after he freed her. Now, Joseph was telling him she wanted to stay, but as a human, not as a vampire. He wondered if it mattered.