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18 Carpe Nocte had done his job He sat and woofed, which translated fro meant, "Biscuit"

Nine vampire hunters paused and looked around Marvin sat in front of a small utility shed in an alley in Wine Country, behind a particularly nasty Indian restaurant

"Biscuit," Marvin woofed He could smell death a?" said Lash Jefferson He, Jeff, and Troy Lee carried Super Soakers loaded with Grandarden sprayers slung on their backs, except for Gustavo, who thought thatGustavo had a flaot it

"Second Areen card had included two ahts and Gustavo had chosen Two and Four, the right to bear arms and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure [His sister Estrella had had seizures as a child No bueno] For five bucks extra he threw in the Third A a three-bedroom house in Richmond with nineteen cousins and they didn’t have any roonal," said Rivera He earing his UV-LED leather jacket and felt like a complete dork "When he sits and does that with his paw he’s found a body"

"Or vampire," added Cavuto

"Biscuit," woofed Marvin

"He’s fucking with you," said Troy Lee "There’s nothing here"

"Maybe in the shed," said Lash "There’s no lock on it"

"Who would leave anything unlocked in this neighborhood?" asked Jeff

"Biscuit please," woofed Marvin They had an agrees, the cadaver dog, heretofore referred to as Marvin, shall receive one biscuit There was some flexibility, however, and Marvin understood that in this case, they weren’t looking for dead humans, but dead cats, and despite their inherent tastiness, Marvin was not to eat the findees "Biscuit," he rewoofed Where was the biscuit? It had been s (Well, it seeood with time)

"Open it," said Troy Lee "We’ll cover you"

Rivera and Cavuto moved to the shed, which was aluminum and had a roof shaped like an old-fashioned barn’s The Animals moved in a semicircle and trained their weapons on the shed (Grand on TV when she realized there weren’t going to be any firecrackers)

"On three then," said Rivera

"Wait," said Cavuto He turned to Gustavo "No fuego Coht up that flamethrower"

"S��," said Gustavo They had tested the flamethrower on the basketball court in Chinatown It had a fairly short, wide spray In other words, if Gustavo used it in the alley he would probably fry them all

Barry turned and sprayed the flaht with a stream of vao"

"On three, then," said Rivera They all raised their weapons

"One," Rivera nodded to Cavuto and grabbed the switch to his jacket LEDs

"Two" Troy Lee crouched and aimed his Super Soaker to the center of the doors, ready to strafe in any direction Cavuto drew his Desert Eagle, cocked the hammer, and thumbed off the safety

"Three!"

The cops threw open the doors and lit up their jackets, the Animals leaned in

Six surprised kittens and a allon detergent buckets

They all looked around, not saying anything The Animals lowered their weapons The cops turned off their jackets

"Well, that’s e," said Troy Lee

"Biscuit," Marvin woofed

They all looked at Marvin "You suck, Marvin," said Cavuto "Those are normal cats"

Marvin didn’t understand He had followed the trail, he had nal when he ca, Marvin," said Lash

Marvin growled at him, then turned to Rivera and woofed, "Biscuit" He was not a bad dog It wasn’t his fault that no one had taught him how to point up It wasn’t his fault they weren’t looking up, past the top of the shed, up the wall, to the roof, four stories up Couldn’t they hear them?

"Biscuit," he woofed

CHET

Chet watched the va and how badly they were doing it The other cats had e of the roof, the s had made them weary A few of them were survivors of the encounter with the little Japanese swordseneral still freaked theh they couldn’t see the life auras that a human vampire could, it was still in their instinct as predators to take the weak and the sick, and the group below appeared to be neither

Chet, on the other hand, was less and less of a cat every night He was bigger than Marvin now, and had lost most of his cat instinct, and whatever he was now, it wasn’t a cat Although he was still a predator, words kept invading his mind, sounds that produced pictures in his mind Abstract concepts whirled around in sound and symbols His kitty brain had been rewired with human DNA, and what had resulted was not only an alpha predator, but a creature with the capacity for revenge, roup below move out of the alley, led by Rivera and trailed by Barry, the bald, portly scuba diver of the Animals The kitty part of Chet’s brain saw Barry’s bald spot like a ball of yarn, teasing hiet it He went toHe liked clirown thumbs, but stealth was the only way to pick off the last one without facing the whole group in combat

He rematerialized in front of Barry, on his hind feet, and before the hapless grocery clerk could call out, Chet thrust his entire paw into his ling sound, and Clint, the born-again, who had been walking ahead of Barry, turned to see only an empty alley behind him

Chet was already three floors above hi, as the huge, shaved vampire cat drank his life away

TOMMY

"Foo," Toht in Foo’s ear "I want you to remember, before you move, at all, that I was the one ore your sun jacket to rescue Jody fro to touch a switch of any kind, I’ to tear that arm off, okay?"

"I didn’t want to put you in the statue," said Foo for the third time

"I know," To for you"

Jared started to back away from the door into the kitchen area

"You too, Jared If I don’t see your hands for one second, I’ them off so I don’t have to worry about it"

Jared waved his hands in front of hi his nails "Whoa, badass et you some blood"

"Sorry, stress," Tohtly

"Give him the one that’s already opened," Foo said

"The one with the drugs in it?" asked Jared

Foo flinched as if waiting for the sound of his neck snapping "Yes, that one, you fuckwit"

"I’ood for now," Tommy said Then to Foo, "Jody here to find ot you out of the shell She took half the money and most of the blood Abby said that she was at the Fairmont, but Rivera and Cavuto found her We don’t knohere she is now"

"Where’s Abby?"

"She’s at her mom’s," said Foo

"No, she’s not" Tommy choked him a little "She’s here I can smell her" He cocked his head "I don’t hear her heartbeat Is she dead?"