SINGLE WHITE VAMPIRE Page 0,69

pick the locks, you could break a window."

Lucern arched an eyebrow, then pulled out a coil of "Rope? Rope, Kate? What the heck did you bring rope for?"

"In case you had to climb into or out of a second-story window," she explained defensively.

"It's a one-story building," he pointed out.

"Oh, yes." She peered at the building with displeasure, as if suspecting it may have shrunk a floor while she wasn't looking.

"I thought you cased the place."

"I did. I just" She waved her hands wildly. "Okay, so you won't need to climb out a window. You might have to tie someone up, though."

"Hmm." Lucern reached for the next item. "Duct tape?" He drew out a roll of the silver tape. Even through the darkness, he could see her blush.

"Dad always said there wasn't a job where duct tape didn't come in handy," she said lamely. Then she straightened her shoulders and added, "You can tape the glass before you break it, if you have to break it. That would reduce the noise and mess. Or if we have to tie someone up, duct tape is impossible to tear."

"I thought the rope was for tying them up."

"Fine," she said irritably. "Use the rope to tie them up. You can duct tape their mouths shut to gag them."

Lucern nearly laughed aloud but managed to hold it back. She had obviously considered every eventuality. Except one. He didn't need any of this nonsense. Packing all the tools back into her bag, Lucern closed it, and stood up.

"Wait here," he ordered. Then he walked up the alley to the side door.

As usual, the woman didn't listen, but chased after him. Her voice was panicky as she asked, "What are you going to do?"

"What we came here to do," he answered. "Rob the blood bank."

He knocked at the door. Kate could hardly believe it. She didn't believe it. Lucern's idea of breaking into the blood bank was knocking at the bloody door? He really needed to get a TV so that he could get a grip on reality. One didn't pull a break and enter by knocking.

Maybe he'd lost his mind, she thought unhappily. That thought took hold, and Kate considered it seriously. It was definitely possible. The hunger and pain caused by his lack of blood could have pushed him over the edge. He might now be a raving lunatic, she thought. So she told him so.

"You're insane," she muttered in the silence that followed his knock. "The bloodlust has driven you over the edge. You"

She snapped her mouth closed as the side door opened. Kate was so surprised she merely stood and gaped as a man appeared. Sandy-haired and about her age, he wore a lab coat and a questioning expression as if it were only slightly out of the ordinary for people to be knocking at the side door after hours.

Kate hadn't really expected anyone to answer but, if she had, the last person she would've expected was one of the blood-bank workers. They should all be at home, shouldn't they? She'd expected a security guard, or maybe a member of a cleaning crew.

Her thoughts were distracted when the fellow seemed to notice their ski masks. She was pretty sure that was the cause of the sudden panic on the man's face. When he started to close the door, Kate glanced at Lucern and gave him a nudge. Apparently, she needn't have bothered. In the next moment, the man halted. Lucern was already working to control his mind.

There was silence as Lucern merely stared at the man, whose face slowly became blank. Lucern asked pleasantly, "Are you alone?"

"Yes." The blood-bank worker's voice was dull, almost sounded drugged.

"Are their security cameras here?" Lucern asked.

Kate felt justified in having insisted on the ski masks when the man said yes. Lucern, though, looked less than pleased. She supposed he'd hoped to take his mask off.

"Would you be so good as to show us to your supply of blood?" Lucern asked next. Kate rolled her eyes at his Old-World courtesy. It seemed the man did everything that way. Even break-and-enter.

When the blood-bank worker turned and started up the hall, Lucern glanced at Kate. "Wait here. I'll return directly."

"Yeah, right," was her answer. She hefted her bag over her shoulder and followed him inside. This had been her idea; she'd be damned if she was going to wait out in an alley, wringing her hands like some wimpy heroine in a novel.

Lucern glared at her. She glared back. Moving