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313
Sophia
by D. B. Reynolds
"We found each other, Soph. Now, sleep. I'll be here when
you wake up."
The ringing phone dragged Colin from sleep. A quick
glance at the clock told him, it was just past two. He checked
it again. Two in the afternoon, he clarified. Sophie lay next to
him, curled up beneath the covers. If he didn't know better,
he'd think she was asleep, but a closer look told him it was
more than that. It wasn't like the vampires in the movies who
were pale and gray, their hands bony with long, curving nails.
His Sophie wasn't dead. But this was something more than
sleep, too.
He thought about the others, the vampires who'd been
murdered, and he understood for the first time how
completely vulnerable they'd been when their attackers fell on
them. There would have been no resistance. Their deaths had
been brutal butchery, nothing less.
The phone rang again, and he jolted, thinking it might be
Robbie with news about Leighton. But right on top of that
thought was the realization that it was his house phone
ringing. Not his cell, but the land line. Cell reception had been
spotty up here for years, until the vamps moved in and paid
to have a new tower installed. His broadband came in over
the land line, so he kept the service, but hardly anyone called
him on that number anymore.
He let it ring. It would go to the answering machine before
long, and he could listen to see if it was someone he wanted
to talk to.
He pulled the covers up over Sophie and climbed out of
bed, careful to close the bedroom door behind him. As he'd
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Sophia
by D. B. Reynolds
told her, the curtains in his bedroom were heavy, with blinds
underneath. After years of sleeping in all sorts of places and
conditions, he liked a dark room and a comfortable bed when
he slept.
The incoming call rolled over to the machine as he walked
into the living room, his skin prickling with cold. He almost
turned around to go back to the bedroom and pull on a pair of
sweats when Garry McWaters's familiar voice rolled out of the
machine.
"Yo, Murphy. You around?"
Colin's stared at the machine in disbelief. Jaw clenched, he
strode over the phone and yanked it off the charger.
"You son of a bitch," he said growled.
"You didn't tell me the woman had a bodyguard, Murph,"
Garry chided. "Not nice of you."
It had been Garry's voice he heard at Babe's after the
shootout yesterday. He hadn't wanted to believe it, but now
"And you didn't tell me you'd taken to ambushing friends,
you bastard."
"Hey, we weren't aiming at you, buddy. You wouldn't have
been hurt at all if that bitch hadn't seen a couple of the guys
moving around outside. I hate working with amateurs, you
know what I'm saying? Anyway, she was the target. You were
just supposed to open the door like you always do for the
ladies. You're such a gentleman, Murph. I always admired
that about you."
"Yeah, fuck you, Garry."
McWaters just laughed. "Yeah, well you fucked up the
plan. And the boys aren't happy. Their trucks got all shot up
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Sophia
by D. B. Reynolds
and you know how they feel about their trucks around here.
Besides, you looked fine to me when you drove away. The
bodyguard, too, for that matter. What is he, Delta? Rangers?
That boy definitely had some training somewhere. Hey," he
said suddenly, as if it had just occurred to him. "How's the
woman doing?"
"Go to hell."
"Come on, she was hardly helpless out there. Fine lookin'
woman, and she knows her stuff. Too bad she's on the wrong
side."
"The wrong side? Which one's that?"
All laughter fled and Garry's voice turned grim. "The
fucking human side, Murphy. You're from the South. I
thought you'd recognize a righteous cause when you saw
one."
"Happy to disappoint, asshole."
"Oh, I'm not disappointed. We were hoping to take her
out, but we hurt her bad enough. I hear those vamps are
pretty attached to their women, kinda fall apart when
something bad happens to them, like with Mariane. But this
one, the big man nearly losing his girlfriend like that? That'll
put a crimp in their hunt, won't it?"
Colin frowned. Where was Garry getting his information?
How did he know how badly Leighton was hurt, or even that
she was still alive? For that matter, how'd he know what
Raphael's reaction would be to Leighton getting shot up like
that? Even he wouldn't have known before he'd seen Jeremy's
reaction to Mariane's injuries. Sure, everyone in town
probably knew about the assault on Mariane by now, but no
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Sophia
by D. B. Reynolds
one outside the vamp compound should have known how
badly it had affected Jeremy.
All this time, they'd been looking for a mole among the
humans in town, but maybe the mole was inside the
compound.
Garry had remained silent, waiting for Colin to react. Was
he looking for confirmation of Leighton's death, or at least an
update on her condition? Colin's lip curled. The son-of-a-bitch
would wait a long damn time before he got any information
out of Colin. He'd also made a huge miscalculation if he
thought Raphael's reaction was going to be anything like
Jeremy's. Jeremy was a fucking accountant. Raphael was
Shit. Raphael was going to tear this town apart.
"Do you have any idea what you've done, Garry?" he
asked instead. "Raphael's going to paint the town with your
blood for this."
"Gosh, I hope so," Garry said with false enthusiasm. "Well,
not my blood. But anyone else's will do." His voice hardened.
"Why the hell do you think we targeted her instead of
someone else? If those vamps start killing people, maybe the
rest of you will open your eyes and realize we've got a bunch
of monsters living among us and our fucking government isn't
doing shit about it."
"So, you're making some sort of political statement with
this?" Colin asked in disbelief. "There's not going to be any
last stand here, Mac. No Waco, no Ruby Ridge, no media
standing by to cover your glorious sacrifice. You're dead, pure
and simple. You and all your crazy ass buddies. Those vamps
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are going hunt you down and tear you into pieces so small,
there won't be enough of you left to bury."
Colin didn't wait for a response. He hung up, shaking with
anger. That stupid SOB. He couldn't believe Garry would go
along with that kind of ignorant bullshit. Hell, he couldn't
believe Garry would turn on him like this, after everything
they'd been through together, after they'd saved each other's
lives more than once. But Colin couldn't save him this time.
He'd be lucky to save himself. Once the vampire lord found
out Leighton had been specifically targeted . . . Colin shook
his head. He might not know much about vampires, but he'd
been there when Raphael woke up at sunset last night. He'd
seen that huge, damn building rattle like it was made of
cardboard.
Hell. Forget Garry McWaters and his idiot friends. Colin
would have his hands full trying to convince the vamps not to
take out every human being between here and Seattle.
He ran a hand through his hair, rubbing it back and forth.
He wouldn't get any more sleep today, not with this buzzing
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