Vicki woke to the persistent jangle of her house line. She glanced at the over sized numbers on her alarm clock and grabbed for the phone grousing, "It's after 3! This damn well better be important."

She heard a voice from her past say, "I need you."

"Where the hell are you and why do you need me?"

He gave her the address and repeated, "I need you."

She pulled on jeans and a hoody, then called a cab and made it to the sleazy motel within 30 minutes.

He was standing outside, in the dark, waiting as the cab pulled up. He handed the driver twice the fare and held the door open. Always the perfect gentleman.

She pulled back her fist and hit his chin fast and hard saying, "After a year, you call and I come. God! How stupid can I get?" She turned away shaking her hand trying not to cry. "Don't answer that!"

He rubbed his chin, amazed at her strength and accuracy, "I hope your hand doesn't hurt as much as my chin."

Opening and closing her bruised fist, she admitted, "Yeah it hurts. Your chin's as hard as your heart. What's the problem?"

"You're the one with a cold heart. You could've come with me."

"Did you get me out here for a 3 AM fight? If so, you win, I'm the bad guy. Tell me what you want or get me a cab."

Henry shook his head as though trying to clear it. He asked himself, 'why do I love this woman so much?' He opened the door to a ground floor room and pointed to the bed saying, "She's the problem."

Vicki smelled death as she walked into the room and commanded, "Turn on the bathroom light." She saw the blonde lying with her eyes open and her dusky color. "I'd say she's dead, but you're the expert in the dead department."

"I didn't mean for her to die. The marks on her neck aren't going to fade. Celluci and Mohadevan are going to recognize them. I need help."

Vicki turned on him exclaiming, "Ohmygod! You want me to cover up a crime scene?"

Henry sighed, "There's no crime. She died of natural causes. It's my bite that's the problem. I'm not supposed to be here. It'll get out that there's another vampire in town and the current owner of this territory isn't a friend of mine."

"What'd ya do? Sneak into town to cop a free meal?"

"Yeah I sneaked into town but I paid for dinner. She's a pro with a heart condition."

"Heart?"

"I should've used a wrist. The neck bite triggered a bunch of nerves causing her heart to slow and stop. Happens sometimes."

"Damn! Let me think." She started pacing, turned and fired off questions that Henry answered as honestly as he could.

"Okay. Dress her. Wipe down everything you touched. I mean everything! Did you shower, use towels, spit in the sink, pee? Sheets, towels, her, everything you touched that can't be wiped down, put in your car."

She backed out not touching anything, "Door knobs, locks, shoes, carpet. Use your eyes. Look for trace. Think, Fitzroy! Get it all and don't make any mistakes."

Henry placed the woman along with the sheets and towels into the back seat of his car. Vicki got in the passenger side. "You remember the city. You know where you hunted. Put her in an alley near there. If what you say about her heart condition is true, the police may think a john got overly energetic and bit a little harder than he should. Did she lose much blood?"

Henry snarled, "I didn't have a chance to feed before she died."

"Why the hell call me? You could have thought of all this yourself."

"I could have, but I needed to see you anyway. We'll talk after I get this done."

He tried to be gentle as he placed the body in the greasy back alley. He came back to his car and said to Vicki as she sat staring straight ahead, "I'll need a place to stay."

"I suppose you want to stay at my place."

"It would help."

"Use my damn closet, but I don't want to hear a word about my junk."

He followed her into the apartment. She opened the closet and kicked the dirty clothes and shoes aside. "Make youself at home. I'm going to try for a couple hours of sleep before going to work."

Henry looked at the small closet and resigned himself to the idea of sitting up all day. "Can I have a pillow for my butt and one for my head?"

She threw the ones off her bed in the general direction of the closet.

He plucked them from the floor, "I guess there's no chance of a 'welcome home' kiss?"

She wadded up the comforter and stuffed it under her head, "Shut the fuck up. I'm sleeping here."