Dearly Beloved by Jackie Ivie Page A

lock-up. And look there. We got dead Hunters all over the place to take the blame this time.”
    “What should…I do?” Courtney was sobbing. She couldn’t hide it. She wasn’t a merciless killer in the VIDWAR game anymore. She was a woman in love and it was a horrible feeling. And if Dominick died, she was going with him.
    “We have to get those stakes out of him. It’ll really hurt. You’re not going to shoot me when I do it, are you?”
    “No.”
    “Good. Hold him then. Tight.”
    Courtney grabbed onto Dom while Len moved behind, put a boot to Dom’s back and yanked. Warm fluid spurted. Life fluid. Courtney couldn’t see it through her tears. It was enough she knew what it was.
    “Good! Now…the other one.”
    The second spear took three solid yanks. Dom’s body jerked each time before it was out. Courtney was beyond seeing, no matter how she blinked, more tears got in the way. Dom coughed. Shuddered.
    “Dominick?”
    Courtney lifted his chin. This time there was a life there. Or whatever vampires had.
    “Hi.” He smiled, but it was a sickly-looking affair. He coughed again, sending more liquid onto his chin.
    “Dom! I love you! What can I do? What does he need?”
    “He needs blood, Sister. I’m guessing yours.” Len answered.
    “Take it.” Courtney brushed aside her hair, offering her throat.
    “I think I’ll just wait outside…if you two don’t mind.”
    She didn’t watch Len go. She watched Dominick. Even pale, with open sores all over him, he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. And he was hers. Everything on her body knew it. All she had to do was prove it.
    “Take it, Dom. Now.”
    “I’m…going to need all of it,” he replied.
    “Fine. Do it.”
    “Once I start…I won’t be able to stop.”
    “
Now
you decide to use contractions. What timing.”
    He smiled but it was a shaky affair.
    “Go on, then. Take it. I mean, that’s what vampires do when they turn someone isn’t it?”
    “You…certain?”
    “You don’t think I’m staying human, do you? Honestly, Dominick Miklos St. Guis. What more do you need? I love you. I want to be with you. Forever. Starting now. Right now.”
    He grinned, exhibiting long, sharp fangs. Then he opened his lips, dropped his fangs to her neck, and took her.
    -o0o-
     
     
    Keep reading for a sneak peek at Jackie’s next story in the Vampire Assassin League series,
     

We Are Gathered
     
    Coming November, 2011
     

CHAPTER ONE
     

     
    A brisk walk usually solved things, especially if fast steps and long strides were involved. That way a mind could wrap itself around a problem, while the body handled excess emotion as it tired itself out. It usually worked. Just not tonight. While her angst revolved around a coven.
    Rori ground her teeth together and watched the street before her for any sign of recognition. Nothing looked familiar. She’d reached an old section of this little town. Nothing about the closed shops and clapboard houses behind their big wood fences looked familiar. She was lost, it was past midnight, and she had little against the night chill except a black shawl. It wasn’t even a warm one, since the requirement was color not warmth. She was so stupid! She’d known it at the time, but wanted to fit in so badly…and for once she’d felt like she had.
    The mist looked odd at the corner she was rapidly approaching; thick…and a little darker, despite being right beneath a street light. Rori slowed her steps and that got her view fogged with exhalations of her own breath. It hadn’t felt this cold earlier. Not even in the little clearing of forest they’d used for their stupid ceremony. The vapor at the corner wasn’t dissipating. It was undulating, and thick enough to hide a body. Hide a
body?
That was the dumbest analogy she’d had.
    “Well…hello there.”
    Rori jumped and whirled to face the speaker, then had to contend with a knot right in her throat. That’s why she opened her mouth and her jaw dropped.