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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.

From Inside the Grey House:

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:

Vincent spoke loudly enough for the room to hear him. “You have proven yourself worthy of fighting with my men, Natalia, but I do not take betrayals lightly. When this is done, you will find yourself in a great deal of pain, by my hand and the hands of those who work for me.”

Natalia pulled away from Vincent giving him an angry glare. “Everything I’ve read about your challenges states that you don’t consider the challenges betrayal. You see them as a gentleman’s right.”

He gave her a smirk. “This fight is not the betrayal I’m speaking of, human. Killing Theodore was not a wise move. For killing him against my wishes, you will be punished.”

She gave him a seductive look and stood taller. “I think I have proven that I can handle myself against you.”

From Inside the Grey House:

“I took over for Zechariah.” He cocked his head. “What did you do to him?”

Natalia was facing Dean now, looking him over. He had grown older, lost weight, and his skin had cleared. He didn’t look half bad. “Killed him, I think. I was otherwise engaged when he was taken care of.”

“He tried to save you; you callous bitch.” He was gripping the sword badly; she could take it from him easily.

“He kidnapped me and told me he kidnapped my friend to keep me docile. He nearly starved me and tried to beat me into submission.” She was growing angry.

“He was trying to save you!”

“By harming me and lying to me?”

“Your friend was poisoning your mind! It looks like she succeeded.” He looked indignant.

She gave him a baffled look. “What are you talking about?”

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia watched as Edwin’s men reacted like scared children, running to every door they could find, not sure which direction they should go. She could see Vincent’s men, who calmly stood where they were, looking around for targets. Besides Vincent’s men, there were four people in the crowd who stood stock-still. Those four were her targets. She looked around a little bit more, and found Vincent, Joseph and Edwin with her eyes. All three had retreated to the private corner.

Natalia returned her gaze to the crowd, who were all trying to get out the closed door at the same time. She heard interrupted screams and saw gray clouds around the four Slayers. Their deaths showed Natalia how young Edwin’s lot was. The crowd parted around one Slayer, a young woman, and Natalia saw Mierka was closing in on her. The Slayer held a stake in one hand and a spray bottle in the other. Natalia guessed it was filled with either holy water or garlic oil. Natalia felt the warrior in her take over and she pounced.

From Inside the Grey House:

“I’m a Slayer. I hear the Angels and I kill Hellspawn for God at His request. I wasn’t able to hear you because we’re only alerted to the comings and goings of Hellspawn. I have also sworn to protect humans from the truth in the darkness. Though not all of my brethren care for the human race, I do. I recognize that we all begin as humans and are tainted or blessed as needed. Because of my self-appointed role, I’m able to tell when a human is nearby, to ensure that I don’t expose them to the truth. You, you are neither fully human nor tainted by Hellspawn. I would accuse you of being nothing, but that wouldn’t be the truth. You are the One Walking the Edge, and I’m not able to predict where you will fall.”

“And you’re telling me this, because?”

“You would have figured it out on your own eventually.”

“What does this all mean? Can the other Slayers sense me?”

From Inside the Grey House:

Vincent smirked. He was amused. “Slayers thought well of me?”

“Most vampires kill as they need, feeding when they want on who they want. You seem to stay mostly within the laws of the society you live in, keeping humans to feed off, and try hard to keep from killing anyone. You do realize how rare that is don’t you?”

He shrugged off her question. “Is that how you knew I wouldn’t kill you, or were you taking a chance?” He stopped pacing and turned back to Natalia.

“I wasn’t sure what you would do.” She stepped to him to unbutton his shirt. Her fingers whispered against the soft fabric of the shirt. “But once I saw you, I knew I had to take the chance.”

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia ducked as the staff came toward her head. She used her own staff to sweep Ben off his feet. The vampire fell hard as his weapon clattered to the ground. Natalia wasted no time in swinging hers toward his chest. Ben grabbed the end of the staff before she connected, trying to pull the weapon from her hands. Natalia held on, letting him pull her forward. She rolled over him, letting go of her staff to grab his dropped one. He was on his feet before she was, but she expected it. The vampires would always be faster than she was; as a result she had to be smarter.

Ben was her last conquest with the staff. He had been using the weapon since he was human over one hundred years ago. He practiced with his favorite weapon often. He could easily beat anyone he came against. Most of Vincent’s vampires were reluctant to fight with staves even though they were typically too well fed to be taken down by a simple wooden stake. Natalia thought the fear was psychological. Whatever kept them from using the staff made it easier for her to get better at it. She had already beaten everyone else while using the staff. Ben was her final test, and he was very skilled.

From Inside the Grey House:

Fighting in a gown was hard, but she found that if she wore a dress with slits up the sides, it gave her more room to move. She hadn’t figured out how to keep steady on her heels, though. Natalia liked wearing heels and did so whenever she and Vincent went out. She sometimes wore heels around the house, just to drive him crazy. Moving slowly and seductively on heels and trying to walk as a warrior in them were two entirely different creatures. She felt like a child trying out heels for the first time. The sharp thin heels would be great to use as weapons, though. Now, as she was facing down a practice threat, she wasn’t too sure. She circled slowly using every other part of her body to intimidate, knowing that at some point the terrified vampire would strike.

And then he did.

From Inside the Grey House:

She left then, not letting Natalia say a word. It took a moment for Natalia to comprehend what just happened. Thrown off by the declaration, she ate the rest of the sandwich and drank the orange juice without tasting either. Mierka said ‘us’. Natalia took that to mean she had Joseph and Mierka’s protection, should something happen to Vincent. She didn’t know why Mierka told her this now but understood that despite her actions of last night or perhaps because of them, she held a high place with the three main vampires in the house. She stood with pride, held her head high and readied herself for her conversation with Edwin.

As she stood flexing and stretching, she thought about what to wear and wondered what would be appropriate. Vincent’s words about her to Edwin last night came back to her and she smirked. She knew exactly what to wear. Natalia grabbed the silk robe off the bed, swung it on and walked out of the bedroom while tying the robe. Before leaving the room, Natalia turned to her nightstand and grabbed her cell phone. If she were about to confront Edwin, she wanted to know who would be in the security room. She dialed the number for the room and Joseph picked up.