Many of the guests, at least those not practically living in the casinos, preferred the low cost buffets to a sit down dinner. Knowing this, Peggy sug...ested that Samantha follow her bags up to the room and take the time to shower and change into something more comfortable. Which in this case turned out to be an outfit much like Peggy's, only in red and white.The call had been enough, however, to point out Peggy as someone the hotel management wanted to keep happy. With that in mind, they were. "Sit here next to me," she purred, her throaty voice as soft as honey. "Some of the men are about to give us songs. Have you eaten?"Mak mumbled that he had, and was saved from having to say any more by a burst of music from strangelyshaped instruments. The chords fell oddly on his ears, more used to the atonal chants of the village women than to the melodies of the Tall Ones. The words were in a strange language, but the stirring rhythms made his heart pound and his breath quicken.A young woman. The minutes rolled by in long, silent batches punctuated only by the flip of pages and the creak of the hill as the fierce winds outside rocked the ship. The weak light from the distant sun slowly began to fade and took with it even more heat. Dirk shifted in his chair and rubbed his hand together. As he did he glanced up. She was sitting perfectly still but her frame was trembling. Her eyes were shut tight and she was biting her lower lips. Her dark brown hair fell over her bare shoulders. She. My looks, my voice, my smell, even my eyes. What could you do against a vampire, Tricia? You are as helpless as a babe, my natural prey." I was backing up as he stalked towards me, all vicious predator."I have been on this earth for over a century, undetected and unsuspected and now a child holds my existence in the balance." He stopped advancing. "No, not a child, a woman. A woman that I fear more than anything out there." He pulled his shirts over his head, not bothering with the buttons, his.