‘Maybe I’ll call Trent tonight and he’ll get lucky too,’ I told her. ‘Course, I won’t tell him why I’m in this mood. That would spoil hi...s birthday surprise.’ I saw Gina to her car, trying not to rush her out. As soon as she pulled out of the driveway, I went to the bathroom to get a towel. I put it on the seat in front of the computer, stripped naked and sat down. I made a quick slide show of the evening’s events, letting the order default to the time stamps. By the time I finished looking at. To o..." Theword stuck in his throat as his face twisted. Julia's eyes narrowed onhim, clearly unsatisfied. "Obey!" he spat out suddenly. "I agreed toobey you."Julia nodded and smiled with grim satisfaction. "Yes. You did," shereplied."I want to be with you. I want you happy, I do. I mean that. I'm goingto try my hardest to make this work. To listen. To... obey... even whenI don't want to. You're the boss. I... I need to accept that," he said."Only a foolish person denies reality, right?"Julia. They don't know how long mom has," I hissed."Ok," she replied.I slowly pulled up to the officers. Rolling the window down, I said, "Yes, officer?" Have you seen this woman?" he said as he showed me a picture of Ana."Yes, I did. I saw her back at the memorial park. She and five others were going to look at the Drum as we were leaving. I heard her say she had never been in a submarine," I said as I crossed my fingers."Mathew, we have to hurry and get to Ocala, we don't know how long Momma has,". They licked their lips as they stared avidly at me with those eerie eyes that looked more intelligent than they should."Excellent! Now to the main event," the demon said grandly. "Alexandrios, if you would, please."Alexandrios bowed with and ironic look on his face. "As my lord commands."A sword not all that different than the one I carried appeared in the vampire's hand. I don't know if it was magic or he had it in a sheath on his back or what, but there was suddenly a dull steel blade a.