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kitty?" Now,that was a meaningful question.
Boredom. I need some girl talk. Oh, I love your dress. Green is you. And I'm seriously jealous. You haven't
been here a day, and you already have a hot man in your bed.
Blythe blinked and stared. She had clearly heard the cat answer her question in her mind. Which was
absolutely impossible. "What are you?" Great. Now she was talking to voices in her head. Blythe glanced at
Darach, but his gaze was fixed on the cat. He didn't seem to notice that she was talking to herself.
"You mean 'who,' of course. 'What' is so impersonal. Sparkle Stardust. I'm sort of Mede's assistant. Mede
insisted on the cat form. I think it sucks." The cat's gaze turned sly. "He told me I couldn't open my mouth to
talk to any of the guests. So I'm not opening my mouth. There's more than one way to skin a cat. Oops. That
was insensitive to cats. Mede says I have to be sensitive to the feelings of others. Want to know something? I
don't give a damn about anyone's feelings. That's just me, though."
Darach smiled. Okay, what was so funny? He reached down and stroked the cat's head and back.
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N Bangs: Mackenzie Vampires 1 - Master of Ecstasy
Sparkle pushed into his hand and began a rumbling purr. "If I were in my real form, I wouldn't be just getting
a few strokes. There isn't a more sensual animal anywhere than a very old, very evil vampire."
"Old, evil vampire?" Blythe's voice was an alarmed squeak.
"Mmm. Too bad Mede will have to off him. What a waste."
Darach stilled, a quietness that spoke of danger.
"What are you?" Blythe wasn't sure which weirdness she was addressing.
Sparkle offered an exaggerated sigh. "Back to that again, huh? Mede and I are cosmic troublemakers. We
disrupt the universe, cause chaos wherever we can. It's what we do. It's a great life." She leaped from the bed
and padded to the door. "Except when you're in cat form and can't open a frickin' door."
As if in a dream, Blythe rose to let the cat out. She could feel the darkness of secrets she wanted no part of
waiting silently behind her. Frantically she sought to prolong the moment with Sparkle Stardust. A telepathic
cat was way easier for her to deal with than what watched from her bed.
"So you just came for some small talk? Nothing else?" Blythe did some mental arm pinching. She was talking
to a cat. A small, furry, whitecat .
"I think nothing she will tell ye will besmall ." There was no humor in the voice of the... man behind her.
Sparkle slipped out the open door, then paused. "Uh-oh. I forgot. I'm looking for my ghosts. Mede insisted I
get Bonnie Prince Charlie, but I didn't." Her laughter was light with an underlying sly triumph. "Mede has
turned into such a self-righteous butthead that I love yanking his chain. I'll tell him that good old Charlie was
on another job, so I got Bonny and Charley Prince, a sixties couple from Bottleneck, New Jersey. They're
perfect. They were sightseeing here in 1967 and decided to have exploratory sex on the battlements. Bought it
when they fell off. What a way to go. Anyway, they're here somewhere. If you see them, give a yell."
Ayell would be easy. Blythe watched Sparkle disappear into the darkness. Okay, how long could she stand
here before she'd have to turn around and face whatever was lying on her bed?How long before she'd wake up
from this nightmare of cosmic troublemakers and vampires ?
"Ye fear me now." His voice was calm, emotionless. No anger, no regret. " 'Tis too bad that Ganymede's
minion could not keep her wee thoughts to herself."
"You read our minds?" Blythe turned slowly, all her pent-up fear, disbelief, and horror focused on the
invasion of her thoughts.
He shrugged. " 'Tis rarely worth my effort, but I couldna resist the cat's thoughts. She amused me, ye ken."
His expression said his explanation should calm her. " 'Tis too bad I canna enter the thoughts of Ganymede,
but he is more powerful than the cat." Darach's eyes grew colder, if possible. "I dinna need to read his thoughts
to find a way to destroy him."
Blythe forced herself to meet his gaze and reach once more for his emotions. Nothing.
His smile was a slow slide of mockery. "Ye waste your time. Ye'll discover nothing about me that I dinna
wish ye to know."
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N Bangs: Mackenzie Vampires 1 - Master of Ecstasy
This was not some horrible dream. She never dreamed of demons and darkness, would never come up with
this kind of horror even in her subconscious. Blythe was perfectly centered in her personal universe. Her work
demanded this. Ecstasy Inc. put its employees through psychological testing on a regular basis to ensure
mental and emotional stability.
She was sane, she was awake, and this was real. She would accept the reality and deal with it.Right after she
had a screaming fit of hysterics .
His smile widened and for the first time touched his eyes with real amusement. "I dinna usually drive
beautiful women to hysterics."
"Get out of my mind." Anger. Good. Maybe the anger would hold back the wave of fear threatening to wash
away all reason. "And get off my bed."
"Ye challenge me. I like that." He patted the covers beside him. "Join me so that I may tell ye what I am."
"No." Blythe's world might be spinning out of control, but she still retained enough common sense to know
that climbing onto that bed with Darach-the-demon would be the biggest mistake of her life.
His gaze darkened, and Blythe felt the threat all the way to the core of her terrified soul.
"Come to me, Blythe." The soft, husky murmur of his voice wrapped around her, pulled her to her feet, and
propelled her to the bed.
Shocked, she stared down at him. Close up, his pure physical presence caught at her, made her legs shake, and
forced her to cling to the bed's poster for strength. "How did you do that?"
He reached out and pulled her down beside him. "I can do many things. Let me show ye."
She perched on the edge of the bed, every tensed muscle poised to attempt escape at his first move toward her
neck. Her voice of reason was in I-told-you-so mode.I told you to find a subject at home, but oh no, you had to
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