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DURING THE walk to the hotel, I filled Steve in on what I’d been up to It was a greatly condensed version, but I covered most of the bases, and told him about the War of the Scars and how it started
"The Lord of the Vae, how they were organizing"
I asked Steve about my family and friends, but he hadn’t been ho about them
At the hotel he clambered on tostrained with the effort, but held I rapped on theand Harkat quickly appeared and let us in He stared suspiciously at Steve but said nothing until I’d made the introductions
"Steve Leopard," he ood, I bet," Steve laughed, rubbing his hands together - he hadn’t taken off his gloves, although he’d loosened his scarf slightly There was a strongfrom him, which I only noticed now that ere in a war here?" Harkat asked ave hihtly when he heard that Steve had saved uard "You think it ise to bring him here?"
"He’s my friend," I said shortly "He saved my life"
"But he knohere we are now"
"So?" I snapped
"Harkat’s right," Steve said "I’m human If I fell into the hands of the vampaneze, they could torture the name of this place out of , and not tell me about it"
"I don’t think that will be necessary," I said stiffly, angry with Harkat for not trusting Steve
There was an unco it "It’s rude to ask, but I have to What on earth are you, Harkat Mulds?"
The Little Person grinned at the directness of the question and war Steve to sit, he told hiht back to life by Mr Tiny Steve was astounded "I’ve never heard anything like this before!" he exclaimed "I was interested in the small people in the blue robes when I saw the weird about them But with all that’s happened since, they’d slipped my mind entirely"
Harkat’s revelation - that he’d been a ghost - unnerved Steve "So?" I asked
"Kind of," he muttered "I never believed in life after death When I killed, I thought that was the end of thethat people have souls, that they can survive death and even come back It’s not the most welcome news"
"Afraid the vampaneze you killed will co his head, Steve settled down and finished telling the story he’d started earlier that night in his aparto, when I heard reports of what appeared to be a vaht the killer must be a mad vampaneze, since normally only the crazy ones leave bodies where they can be found But what I discovered was far ator He’d ed to examine three of the victims, and found minor differences in the ways they’d been killed "Va patterns No two kill and drain a victim exactly alike, and no vampaneze varies his method There had to be more than one of them at work"
And since mad vampaneze were by their nature loners, Steve concluded that the killers hed "Sane vampaneze shouldn’t leave bodies where they can be found As far as I can figure, they’re setting a trap for soly at Harkat He hesitated, then nodded "Tell him," he said, and I told Steve about the fake forms which had been sent to Mahler’s
"They’re after you?" Steve asked incredulously
"Possibly," I said "Or Mr Crepsley But we’re not entirely sure Soainst the vaht about that in silence
"You still haven’t told us how you were there to save Darren tonight," Harkat said, interrupting Steve’s reverie
Steve shrugged "Luck I’ve been turning this city upside-down, searching for va places - abandoned factories or buildings, crypts, old theatres Eight nights ago, I spotted a large round tunnel"
"That’s the guy who attacked me," I told Harkat "He has three hooks on either arold, the other of silver"
"I’ve been following hiht since," Steve continued "It isn’t easy for a human to trail a vampaneze - their senses are much more acute - but I’ve had plenty of practice So the tunnels at dusk"
"He coht?" I asked
"Of course not," Steve snorted "Even a crazy vampaneze wouldn’t do that"