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Beast flicked an ear tab, returning ht o back to hot, flat, wet place, she thought, talking about New Orleans, and take Bruiser as mate Slyly she added, And Leo She sent abed, the sheets ripped, slashed, and bloody Beast’s idea of a good tih Beast was less interested in a long-ter the biggest predators as ht at me

Yeah So you told ht disdainfully

She had me there We weren’t hu Maybe so up their blood-servants and belongings as if to leave My heart shuddered and Grégoire looked up fast He had heard my heart-thump of anxiety Crap! What did I miss? As Leo’s head of security it wassheep, Beast thought, humor in her words She sniffed and added, Vampire, who smells of man-spices and cooked meat, has asked pale vampire, who smells of flowers and fresh streams, to see the den where he keeps his chained scions

Relief washed through me Scion Lair Got it And, Crap! The field trips were planned for next week Grégoire had been invited to pay a surprise visit to a location I had never been given the address or GPS coordinates for, and had not reconnoitered Though Shaddock had been agreeable about a lot of info, he’d been reticent about sharing the coordinates of his Clan Hoht before the visit, which would have o to someplace I hadn’t scouted and set up a perimeter Not that I had a choice

Chen, Shaddock’s security chief, gaveavehim I hadn’t known Chen looked at his boss, puzzled, but this was Lincoln Shaddock’s idea, not Grégoire’s

Shaddock bowed slightly frouely antique military, and said, "My Mithrans are honored that you accept our invitation to visit our chained scions"

I tapped my mike for the command channel that went directly to Derek This was for his ears only "Exit strategy alpha four," I said, choosing one of several prearranged and practiced exit strategies It was all probably overkill, but I was staking (pun intended)to chance "Bring the cars around front Increase personnel on the street and the drive"

"Destination?" Derek asked

"Unknown," I said,Derek uys into position at the entrance "Tuesday has cooing Froe problem "I want both vamps in one car with the blood-servants, just as planned for Tuesday"

Two other li in different directions to confuse any observers Two SUVs would ride shotgun with each limo, one in front, one in back, and rendezvous with us once they shook any tail Security 101 It was standard because it worked

I was riding shotgun in the last car, staring out the back , trying to discern any pattern that ot the directions, address, and GPS coordinates when the drivers did It caed it into the system, and instantly flashed onto a county map The location of Shaddock’s chained scions was halfway up aThe coordinates identified no access roads for miles, which oody It was also Shaddock’s Clan Home, which eird, as most vamps kept their uncured (as in cold meat) children in a separate location

The security evaluation of the clan ho this a twofer Tension crawled up erous proposition The worst case scenario for protection detail was the unexpected

The city fell away as we headed north on I-26 past the Pisgah National Forest and took 70 toward Hot Springs The blackness of mountains rose up before us, secondary roads off to either side, careening up and down steep terrain Mansion homesites and subdivisions dotted distant hillsides with security lights, bright in the dark Mobile home and RV parks, barns, sheds, and abandoned houses replaced suburban life with rural as we traveled No one followed us

My directional sense said ere getting close e slowed, and turned onto an unlit gravel road A quarter mile in, trees had closed in on both sides and the shadoere dense Even with ifts of my Beast, I couldn’t see h to pierce the darkness under the trees We stopped, and I craned for a view "Status?"