Laurell K Hamilton - Crimson Death

I D FALLEN ASLEEP cuddled between two of the men I loved most, with one arm flung across their naked bodies so I could touch the third. All three of them were warm when I fell asleep, but when my phone woke me hours later, only two of the bodies in the bed were still warm. The only vampire in the bed had died when the sun came up a mile over our heads in our nice safe cave of a bedroom. It was great for vampires, but if you were afraid of the dark or didnt like the idea of tons of stone pressing down on your head, well, you couldnt sleep with us.

I scrambled over Nathaniels almost fever-hot body for my phone, which was plugged in on the bedside table, but when the screen came on it was his phone, not mine, because his lock screen was a picture of the three of us and mine was a close-up of our hands entwined with the new engagement rings. I finally got my phone and hit the button, but it had already gone to voice mail.

Micah asked in a voice thick with sleep, Who was it?

I squinted at the bright screen in the very dark room and said, I dont recognize the number, or hell, the area code. I think its international. Who the hell would be calling me from out of the country?

Nathaniel snuggled against the front of my body, burying his face between my breasts, as he tucked himself lower under the covers. He mumbled something, but since he was both the heaviest sleeper and the most likely to talk in his sleep, I didnt pay much attention.

What time is it? Micah asked, his voice less sleep-filled and closer to awake.

Five a.m., I said. I clicked my phone to black and tried to put it back on the bedside table, but Nathaniel had pinned me and I couldnt quite reach.

Weve only been asleep for three hours, he said in a voice that was starting to sound aggrieved.

I know, I said. I was still trying to push my phone back on the edge of the table with a now firmly asleep Nathaniel weighing me down.

Micah wrapped his arm around my waist and Nathaniels back and pulled us both closer to him. Sleep, must have more sleep, he said with his face buried between my shoulders. If I didnt slide down into the covers soon, theyd both be asleep and Id be pinned with my arms and shoulders bared. The bedroom at night was about fifty degrees; I wanted my shoulders covered. I gave one last push to my phone, which fell to the floor, but it didnt light back up, which meant it was still plugged in, so I was good with it on the floor. Screw it, I was going back to sleep.

I had to force both men to give me enough room to slide down between them so we were all covered and warm again. I was just starting to drift back to sleep to the sounds of their even breathing when my phone rang again, but this time it played a different song, George Thorogoods Bad to the Bone. It was the personalized ringtone for one of my best friends, Edward, assassin to the undead and fellow U.S. Marshal Ted Forrester. Interestingly, Edward and Ted were the same person; think Clark Kent and Superman.

I flung the covers off all of us and scrambled, falling to the floor and fumbling for the phone that was glowing in the pile of clothes beside the bed. I hit the button and said, Here, Im here!

Anita, are you all right? Edwards voice was too cheerful, which was all the clue I needed that he was with other police officers who would be overhearing everything.

Yeah, Im good. You sound awfully chipper for five a.m., I said, trying not to sound like I was already getting cold outside the body heat of the bed. I started to fumble in the clothes pile for something that was mine but kept coming up with just the guys clothes.

Its eleven a.m. here, he said.

He wasnt home in New Mexico then, so I asked, Where are you?

Dublin.

Dublin what?

Ireland, he said.

I sat naked and shivering on the floor, scooping through the pile of clothes around me like a bird trying to make a nest, and tried to think. I failed, so I asked, Why are you in Dublin, Ireland?