Real Vampires Live Large Read Online Free

off his helmet and ran his hand through his short brown hair.
    â€œAnybody hurt? You folks okay?”
    We stayed huddled together, looking appropriately shocked and disoriented.
    â€œThe fire. It didn’t spread to the apartments, did it?” If I had lost everything I owned . . . I’ve had to start over before, but it’s hard, really hard.
    â€œNo, ma’am. Sprinkler and alarm systems saved the day.” The fireman sounded pure Texan. “You got good response time too. The fire itself didn’t have a chance to spread upstairs. Just the smoke.”
    â€œThe sprinklers didn’t go off in the apartments, did they?” Flo was suddenly right beside the fireman and grabbed his arm. “I have a most valuable collection that will be ruined if it gets wet.”
    Flo’s collection of Ferragamos, Pradas, Manolos, et al. The fireman looked down at her, obviously liked the way Flo’s sheet was slipping, and patted her hand.
    â€œNo, ma’am. Only the hallways have sprinklers. Fire’s out now. Smoke’s just about cleared. Do any of you folks need the paramedics?” The fireman whipped out his walkie-talkie when Diana coughed.
    â€œNo! Really! I’m fine. Just the night air and wet clothes.” Diana managed a smile. “Can we go in now? I’m freezing.”
    Actually we were lucky for early November in Austin. It was fairly cool, but not even close to freezing. Maybe I was being too literal. I’d almost been fried. Okay? A vamp doesn’t feel heat and cold like a mortal does. So I faked a shiver.
    â€œYeah, let’s move inside if that’s all right.”
    â€œOne minute.” The fireman spoke into a walkie-talkie. “Let me get the all clear.” Another fireman showed up in the doorway with a stack of blankets. We each took one gratefully.
    Whump. Whump. Whump. Whump. Channel whatever was getting this all on tape. Flo decided to take advantage and planted a big wet one of thanks on cute fireman’s lips after he announced we were good to go. Then we all hustled into the stairwell and out of camera view.
    â€œWhat started the fire?” I glanced at Valdez.
    â€œArson.” The fireman had a grim look as he stopped at the top of the stairs. “Someone broke the windows in the stores downstairs and tossed in incendiary devices.” The fireman couldn’t take his eyes off Flo. She was busy rearranging her sheet again, flashing the entire crew. Probably unintentional. She was really anxious to check out that shoe collection.
    The fireman’s walkie-talkie squawked again. “How’d you folks get up here? The smoke alarm wake you?”
    â€œSure. Who could sleep through that?” Professor Vamp patted Valdez. “This fellow barked too, though. Just to be sure we knew to take it seriously.”
    â€œNo kidding.” The fireman, Flo attached to his side, gave Valdez an admiring glance. “But why are the doors knocked down? And who the hell could do that? I mean, three apartments look like a battering ram . . .” Flo looked up into the fireman’s eyes and he was under the whammy.
    As damage control, it was a Band-Aid. We’d have to whammy every fireman who’d seen the doors Valdez had obviously knocked down. I looked at Di and the professor and they went to work on the other firemen coming down the stairs behind us. Before we got to the bottom, the guys had no memory of anything other than knocking the doors down themselves because they were looking for victims.
    We stepped outside and I got my first look at what used to be a pretty cute vintage clothing shop. Thank God for sprinkler systems. The windows were shattered, the area right in front of them totaled. It didn’t look like the fire had penetrated the closed door into the back room, though. I felt wobbly as I picked my way around broken glass. Diana cried out and I saw that Mugs and Muffins had received the same