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As theshut and the curtains closed, I clihted with myself I practically bounced back to the hotel I was al back, I retrieved theot to the hotel, I had regained my composure I opened the door ofTV He was focused on the screen and barely noticedoff my coat He didn’t reply "I’ distractedly at ht you’d be interested in how the night went I’ll know better next time In the future, I’ll just -?

"Have you seen the news?" Evra asked quietly

"ItEvra Von," I said sarcastically, "that they don’t shosreels at the movies anymore Now do you want to hear about my date or not?"

"You should watch this," Evra said

"Watch what?" I asked, irritated I walked around behind hihed "Turn it off, Evra, and I’ll tell you about -?

"Darren!" Evra snapped in a very unusual tone He looked up at me, and his face was a ain, slowly this ti down, I studied the TV screen There was a picture of the outside of a building on it, then the camera dissolved to an interior shot and scanned around the walls A caption told viewers that the photographs Were froe, which meant they’d been fil on about the building

"What’s the big deal?" I asked

"This is where they found the bodies," Evra said softly

"What bodies?"

"Watch," he said

The camera came to rest in a dark room that looked the same as all the others, held on the scene for a few seconds, then dissolved back to a view of the building’s exterior The caption told us that these new picture had been shot earlier that day As I watched, several police stretchers, each of which held a

"Are those what I think they are?" I asked quietly

"Corpses," Evra confir"

"What does it have to do with us?" I asked uneasily

"Listen" He turned up the sound

A reporter was talking into the ca how the police found the bodies - a couple of teenagers had stu the deserted building as a dare - and when, and how the search was progressing The reporter looked pretty stunned

An anchorman in the studio asked the reporter a question about the bodies, to which she shook her head

"No," she said, "the police aren’t giving out names, and won’t until the relatives of the deceased have been notified"

"Have you learned any more about the nature of their deaths?" the anchorman asked

"No," the reporter replied "The police have blocked the flow of inforo on The six people - we don’t know if they’re men or women - appear to be victims of a serial killer or some sort of sacrificial cult We don’t know about the last two bodies brought up, but the first four all shared the same bizarre wounds and conditions"

"Could you explain once again what those conditions were?" the anchorman asked

The reported nodded "The victims - at least the first four - have slit throats, which seem to be the means by which they were killed In addition, the bodies appear - and I must stress that this is an early, unverified report - to have been drained of all their blood"

"Possibly sucked out or pued "As of the moment, nobody can answer that, except the police" She paused "And, of course, the murderer"

Evra switched the sound off but left the picture on

"See?" he said softly

"Oh, no," I gasped I thought of Mr Crepsley, who’d been out alone every night since we arrived, prowling the city for reasons he wouldn’t reveal I thought of the six bodies and the reporter’s and anchorman’s comments: " drained of all their blood"

"Possibly sucked out or puazed in silence at the screen, not able to say anything more