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From Inside The Grey House:

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 opponent 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:

Natalia rearranged the books according to fiction and non-fiction, to make it easier to find the ones she considered useful. She integrated the Slayer journals as well, placing them in order by year started, showing Vincent the ones written about him. He enjoyed her company and found himself wanting to integrate her into his business life. First, he had to stop her from fighting. He was also annoyed that Natalia never apologized for her actions and her words. She simply went about doing her best to aggravate him.

Vincent was brought back to the present when he heard the door to the garage open and close, then heard as Mierka approached his woman. He crossed his arms and waited. Joseph signaled to Anthony and Kimberly to stop the sparring match they barely started.

From Inside the Grey House:

For the next half hour, she lay in the tub, eating and relaxing. In the end, she was wrinkled and full. She ate the soup and half of the bread, cheese and fruit. Lilly was pleasantly surprised. The human was doing better than she thought possible. Humans usually didn’t do well, even with the help of a healer. After rinsing the conditioner out of Natalia’s hair, Lilly and the girls helped her into a terry cloth robe. Natalia wanted to shower, but Lilly suggested a nap instead. They dried her hair and body first, then led her to Vincent’s bed. The covers were already turned down.

From Inside the Grey House:

Charlie considered the situation. “She had a really bad infection a long time ago. Could it be affecting her now?”

Ben gave him a look. “No.”

Charlie felt rather irritated by Ben’s tone of voice but slammed a mental door on the thought. It was only a few days until the full moon. He was cranky but didn’t want to be sedated again. “So what is it?”

“I’m guessing poison.”

“Orlando was shot too. He’s doing fine.”

“Charlie, Orland and Natalia were shot by two different people at two different times.” Ben realized it might be best to get Charlie out of here, but understood the man’s worry for Natalia. “We have the woman who shot her. We’re trying to get some information from her, but I’m not sure she’ll be useful. We’ll figure it out.”

From Inside the Grey House:

Ben let her roll out of the way, watching her every action. He told her numerous times over the past two years, how much he loved to watch her fight, kissing her hand each time. In his many years of experience, he found that when fighting a woman, he could catch a glimpse of how she would perform in bed. Natalia’s movements on the training floor were nimble, graceful, fluid. She was very skilled.

He wondered, as she positioned herself, why she was not yet vampire. Were she a vampire, the fight would have ended already, and she would have been victorious. He was more skilled than she, but her determination was stronger. She stood before him in all her beauty, wearing far less than everyone else. The vampires were dressed in black long-sleeved tight-fitting exercise outfits; the werewolves were in sweats. She was dressed in nylon biker shorts and matching top. The top looked more like a sports bra than a shirt. The outfit exposed her flat stomach and toned limbs, clinging to the rest of her body, not leaving much to the imagination. He imagined anyway, considering how it would be to strip her of her skimpy clothing. He knew most of the men in the room had had similar thoughts. He gave her a sly smile as she nodded her readiness.

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia was taken aback. She read of the ritual tongue removal but thought it had faded with time. It was popular with a group of Slayers during colonial times; used to ensure no one could tell their secrets when accused of being witches. Stunned, Natalia opened her mouth to speak, but Vincent beat her to it.

“Enough. Go upstairs Natalia. I’ll join you shortly.” There was no emotion to his voice.

Natalia looked at Vincent’s inscrutable back, reading nothing from his posture. She nodded once to Mierka and left the dungeon, using Vincent’s pass code to exit. She walked proudly upstairs, wondering at her punishment.

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.”

From Inside the Grey House:

“Since they didn’t think for themselves, they get harsher treatment. Leave.”

Anthony stood, wanting to fight for the others, knowing he could not. His boss was right. Vincent had sent six people to watch Natalia and Charlie. Any one of the five survivors could have told Vincent of Justin’s death. He bowed to the vampire he considered his leader and took his leave.

Vincent fumed as the intercom buzzed from the security room. Mierka had gone there after greeting her man.

“Stairs. Now.”  It was an order.

From Inside the Grey House:

She reached up to Tina’s necklace. She had worn it since the day Natalia brought it back to her. “It’s hard for me not to.”

“Did you ever consider that she took the necklace and killed Theodore in order to gain your trust and nothing more?”

“To what end? We barely see each other, and I love you. I’ll do as you ask, and I’ll follow you. Not her.”

He gazed into her eyes, a smile trying to form on his lips. There was too much to think of though. Anthony turned away from Julia to look out the window.

From Inside the Grey House:

“What happened?” Natalia’s voice was shaking with wonder and worry.

Mierka answered as Joseph and Vincent both drank from their blood donors. “Edwin knew we were coming and knew we would try and save some of the girls. It’s a game we play. He takes as many girls as he can, knowing we have a chance to free most of them. This time was no different. Except that once the girls were safe we ran into some demons. They attacked us and nearly killed us, leaving us for the Morning Star to finish. Anthony was able to contact one of his men to come get us. We were badly drained.”