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A heavy brass key lands in my hand and I iil identifies it as belonging to another residence–the place where Vincent is holding our agápes captive

Chapter Twelve

Curry and I reluctantly accept that on’t be finding Avery and Chansey today so we go back to the coil We’re defeated for now but we have the first clue we need in steering us toward their direction And that’s a hell of a lot ht

The babies are crying e enter the house and Curry immediately runs for the nursery with me behind hiht but I easily see Gia and Lairah sitting on the couch in the nearly black rooods you are here These two have not been happy since they woke and found both of their parents gone"

Gia and Lairah’s faces fall when they see we are alone "You didn’t get them back?" Gia asks as she rises from the couch with James Grady so she may walk the floor and bounce hihter frolider before he h we had just missed them"

Both babies are i what his voice, smell, and touch does to calht come?" Curry asks

"Yeah She had us mix one part infant forave in and took it because they were hungry That was only about an hour ago so they had to have gone at least ten hours without eating" That can’t be good for the because Chansey nurses them every four hours" Curry kisses Anna Grace on the forehead and then James Grady "They may not be very old but they already have an ironclad bond with her I’m sure they’re confused because she isn’t here to feed theet her and Avery back as soon as possible," Gia says "It sounds like they’re still close if they hadn’t been gone long when you got there They couldn’t have gotten far since the sun was co vicinity"

"Those are our thoughts exactly" I take the heavy brass key from my pocket and hold it up for Gia and Lairah to see "And we don’t think Vincent would be hiding this key in a secret compartment if the house it unlocks isn’t nearby"

"Wow That’s a co like it but whatAvery and Chansey?"

"Avery has a fylgia like Chansey and Ella Anteros sent her to me She’s the one that toldis just freaky Wouldn’t it have been easier if she would have told you the address instead of giving you clues?" That would have been too simple Anteros didn’t work that way

Lairah reaches for the key and takes it from me "Wouldn’t Vincent need this if it unlocks the place he’s holding Chansey and Avery?"

"He ed the locks in the last two hundred years" Even va for an old house in the Savannah area–at least two hundred years old That doesn’t help a lot since Savannah is a historical town flooded withthat description" I don’t have time for Gia’s pessiil All we have to do is find a vampire that can identify it" Or maybe luck would be with us and we’d happen upon it

Lairah passes the key to Gia "Maybe Sebastian will recognize it"

"I’ today" Sebastian is standing in the doorway of the nursery "I heard everything Let me have a look at it"

He takes the key and studies it as he turns it one way and then another "I don’t recall seeing this syn is ornate and baroque so it’s old My guess is more than two hundred years since the first square in Savannah was constructed in the seventeen thirties We should begin by looking at vampire archives to see if we can identify any houses built by our kind The older records won’t be listed in the computer database so I’ll have to travel to the New Orleans coht and hopefully we’ll find a lead when I return with them"

"May I ask a favor?" Curry says

"Yes"

"Gia and Lairah would beto ask Chansey’s grandmother to come take care of the babies Can she ride back with you?"