Chapter One It wasn’t being shot that was the problem. Or the fact that someone had apparently decided to beat the crap out of me beforehand. Or afterward. Or, considering the way I felt, possibly both. I wasn’t sure, as I couldn’t seem to remember the fight that had left me bloody and bruised, with a bullet hole in my right thigh and another in my left shoulder. I couldn’t seem to remember much of anything else, either, including who the hell I was. But that still wasn’t the problem. No, the problem was that I’d woken up next to a vampire. One who was maddeningly hard to kill. “If you would but listen to me for a moment,” he said, as I slammed his pretty red head against the concrete floor for the sixth freaking time. “Okay,” I panted, wondering what the hell his skull was made of. Granite? “Let’s chat.” Of course, that would be difficult since I’d just changed tactics, grabbing his throat and squeezing for all I was worth. I wasn’t trying to choke him to death. That doesn’t work with creatures who don’t breathe, and the bastard’s neck was too muscular for me to close my hands around anyway. But most vamps have instincts left over from their human days, and they don’t like being grabbed there. It distracts