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How far
    down did her throat go? How much could she take without gagging?
    Closing his eyes to rid himself of the thought, he missed the final
    descent of the liquid churning past her esophagus and heading down
    to the stomach held in by the tightness of her skirt.

    12
    His eyes opened with a snap. How much had his meditation cost
    him? Ah, good. She was putting the cup down, and a little sloshed
    over the side of the rim and beaded down the fluted sides to pool on
    the tray. Her head bobbed, eye lids closing while she slid down into
    the seat, collapsing in a heap, head against her knees.
    Blood had spoken and vindication was his. No one would question
    him ever again after a few weeks. He'd pegged her from the first sniff
    in Rome and all the shadowing and wrangling to get this gig was pay
    dirt. Constantine arched his neck back and howled, sound-proof cars
    rocked as did tinted glass. Humans did have some usefulness with
    their inventions and he'd let some live. But they really had to do
    something about L.A.
    Crunching the gearshift into drive, he careened out of the cul-de-sac
    and let other driver's yield to him as he merged with traffic. A flick of
    his eyes showed a very lovely woman had fallen sideways in the back
    of his car. Saliva ran down the sides of his fangs, and he wiped the
    liquid residue that didn't get swallowed back onto his sleeve.
    Game time.

    13

CHAPTER TWO
    Constantine glided into the garage and killed the engine as the
    automatic door creaked on its descent, shutting out the last putrid rays
    of sun. Dry heaves, building up since waiting for her outside,
    wracked his body. Now in safety, he let his body go into convulsions.
    Acid welled up in his mouth, and he kicked his door open to spit out
    the remnants of burnt stomach contents onto the pavement.
    Steam billowed up from what he had regurgitated, filling the
    blessed darkness with a stench that he loathed. But she was worth it.
    She had to be worth it. His body ached too much when she was near
    for this to be a worthless lark that would erase his name from the list
    of contenders.
    Cold chills swirled into the heat skimming down his spine, ending
    in a riot of pinpricks going into his groin. No, she was the right one
    for him ... if, if she could be turned and if she survived the turning.
    And if no one back stabbed him or tried to annihilate him in the
    process. So many ifs.
    Footsteps approached, cadence alerting him to Jason's presence
    even before the inner door opened bringing in candle light and the
    held back dead air the warehouse had filled with since the last
    carcasses were crated off for human consumption. He didn't bother
    looking up with the drool still dripping from his lips and etching into
    the concrete with a mixture of blood diluted acid.
    A water bottle materialized before his bone dry eyes. "Drink.
    There are electrolytes in it to replenish your blood and get the taste
    out of your mouth." Jason unscrewed the top and held the bottle
    against Constantine's lips until fingers grasped it.
    Constantine took a long swig, pushing whatever still wanted to
    evacuate back down into his stomach to find another way out of his
    body. "Thanks."
    "The guys are inside, handpicked to be the least likely to disobey."
    He held the driver's door open so Constantine could slowly get to his
    feet.

    14
    "Nice choice of words." Constantine gripped the top of the door and
    lumbered to a standing position. Damn cars never had enough
    shielding and fuck L.A. for not allowing the front window to be fully
    tinted. What about driver rights?
    "They're American. What can I say? You deserving their
    allegiance hasn't been proven to them. You wanted this mission secret
    so I had to pull from local muscle. And L.A. doesn't lead to the best
    of the species. Only losers would get this as their range." Jason
    moved away from the door so Constantine could shake himself.
    Constantine twisted his arms side to side by the elbows to get his
    spine to expel pent up