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killed her?
Darryl s voice becomes a whine. It was a mistake. We only wanted to scare her into keeping quiet.
We?
Me and the guys on the video.We picked her up on the way to school and took her out to the desert.
But she wouldn t listen. She kept fighting. One of the guys took off his belt and started hitting her. Then
he put it around her neck. It was over so fast. She just died.
And then the sick fucks had their fun with her, didn t they? It s my own voice but from a place I don t
recognize. The fury is back.
Frey hears it, too, and muscles ripple under the dark fur as a low growl emanates from his chest. He
bares his teeth and growls.
I want to let him finish it. But there is one more thing.
The people who buy your videos.I want to know who they are.
It s all on the computer. I can get it for you.
The answer comes too quickly.
I m not stupid, Darryl. What did you do, fix the computer so you could delete everything if you needed
to?
He lapses into silence.
I think about my conversation with Max. I think I have the solution. I ll take the computers with me and
turn them over to Chief Williams. His experts will get what we need.
Darryl s eyes narrow. But if you do that, they ll get the videos, too. It s all there.Everything that we did
with Trish. Do you want to take the chance that somebody might make a copy?
No. I don t. The idea that the scum who bought those tapes would get away with it and move on to
other victims turns my blood to ice. On the other hand, exposing Trish to more humiliation if she s made
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to go to court to testify against any of them is just as bad.
Darryl smiles at my distress, knowing the reason for it. The smug expression on his face is too much. It
makes me angry enough to forget about the garlic infusing his blood. I don t know what kind of effect
drinking from him will have, but in a flash of anger, I don t care. I bend over him, growling, and actually
have the skin of his neck in my teeth when Frey lashes out with a paw. The blow sends me tumbling off
Darryl. In a flash, I m back.
Like animals fighting over a bone, Frey and I face off. I want to finish Darryl. Drain him. Make him die
screaming. I want it so badly I m willing to fight Frey for him. Every muscle in my body, every cell
prepares to do battle. I m on all fours, like the panther, and the sounds coming from my throat are as
ferocious as the ones coming from his.
A spark of something human flashes in Frey s eyes.He is snarling, lips curled back to expose fangs as
long and sharp as daggers, but he doesn t advance. He watches me, motionless. His breathing becomes
soft susurration, the only sound in the room. Next to us, Darryl lays frozen in terror, his heartbeat so
frenetic it echoes in my ear as if it were my own.
A voice I barely recognize erupts from my own mouth. I want to end it.
Frey moves so fast, I have no time to react. He breaks Darryl s neck with one snap of powerful jaws.
And for Darryl, it s over.
Chapter Forty-Three
I m not sorry he s dead.
Frey crouches over the body. He watches until I back off, and then he turns away, too. He slinks
toward the window and leaps through. When I look outside, I see him lying under the canopy of a shade
tree, head resting on front paws like a pet tired after a long day of play.
I rest my cheek against the glass. The coolness is a balm on my feverish skin. I m waiting for the vampire
to retreat and the human Anna to reappear. It takes longer than it should. Is this an indication that I m
becoming more animal-if that s in fact what being a vampireis all about-and less human ? Not a comfort.
Finally, my pulse slows and my blood cools. I return to Darryl s body and stand over it. He has a look
of surprise on his face. I try to dredge up pity or compassion. I can t. He was a child pornographer, he
killed Trish s mother and admitted being an accomplice to Barbara Franco s murder. He deserved what
he got.
But I have to clear my head and decide what to do next. Bradley is out there as well as the two who
killed Barbara and molested Trish. My original thought to torch the place would be the easiest way to
destroy the computers and the videos, not to mention a way to explain Darryl s death. But there may be
evidence on those computers to tie Bradley in with Darryl-bank records or e-mails, maybe. As it stands
now, my word is all that I have to offer as proof that Bradley is involved.
I have to take the computers. I trudge back to the bedroom. Besides the laptop Darryl took from me
earlier, there are three computer systems and a digital camera. I also find a box of disks and some files in
a cabinet in the closet. I bring everything into the living room and pile it on the coffee table. I ll pull the car
around to load up.
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