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Only a few narrow slots served as makeshift s, and someone had blocked them with chunks of the sa door

"I want to look inside," I told Jesse, ent to the door and tugged off one of the boards, as easily as if it were ht about it as he reh burst out ofto do with it and you know it, you chauvinist"

"It was the only answer I could think of You ask hard questions" He set the boards out of our way and tried the door, whichsound and fell inside A s caht," I said as I peered inside Because we both had excellent night vision, we never needed them "Who do you think built this place?"

He breathed in and frowned "Someone who killed animals Perhaps a trapper or a hunter"

Jesse’s sense of smell, which was as keen as a vampire’s, could detect a drop of blood from across a room Too much blood, especially human, made him shift into his predatory state I saw his eyes darken, but they didn’t turn solid black as they would have if the blood were fresh

"You don’t have to go inside," I told hiht work"

"As what?"

"A safe place" I stepped over the threshold and gingerly h the narrow gap at the bottoly clean Split logs of ith their flat sides up formed the floor; time had left a lot of cracks in them, but the wood still felt sturdy under my boots

"Why do you need a safe place?"

"It’s not for ht behind ht, ould I need it?"

"I was thinking we could h Jesse had most of the same powers as a full vaarlic were poisonous to him, and any exposure to the sun’s rays burned hiht, he would die As he nearly had once e’d been together, and Prince had suddenly bolted, leaving otten him to safety in time, but I’d had to take h town to get to Jesse’s boat to take him back to Raven Island, where I wasn’t welcome Trick, who at that tiroundedand took hmy fairly ridiculous idea, he took a more serious look around "The roof would have to be replaced and sealed froaps in the walls filled Such renovations would requirethe anyone’s attention would be difficult"

"I was thinking that we could put so inside the cabin," I said "It would just have to be light-proof, and big enough for you to get inside That e could leave the outside of the cabin like it is, as cae"

He nodded "We could use a coffin"

I felt annoyed "Don’t make bad jokes"

"I am quite serious, Catlyn," he assured me "Vampires prefer caves and vaults, as they can be barricaded and safeguarded more easily However, they have been known to use coffins and crypts as places of concealht away froreat respect for the dead, and never think of looking a"

"You’re not a va hi else"

A block table and chair sat eainst the other wall I saw bunches of long branches that had been lashed together to forular bed fra froular intervals

So wooden mantle set into the stone above it On one corner soe of the mantle On top of that an old, battered tin cup, coated broith rust, sat next to an equally ancient lantern The kerosene it had once held had long ago evaporated, but I could see soed behind it Ianother dust cloud, to expose a flat piece of metal

I took it down and carefully bleay e on the surface, which showed a"Look at this" I handed it over to Jesse "It’s alraph These were called tin types They printed the ies on the metal to better preserve the a uniform He was a soldier Perhaps he and his lady came here to escape the war between the states" He turned it over "There are soraved on the back" He swiped his thumb over the metal to wipe away some dirt "And three words: ‘From Jacob’s heart’"

I touched the carved heart "He was a rouy"