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LYING IN STATE

Bells tolled and crows circled in the night The funeral party clung to the cliffs of Fregene, negotiating a narrow path that led from the Palazzo Otranto down to the beach The coffin went first, carried by the faithful Klove and the top-hatted, long-nailed Ze do Caix?o, undertaker to the wealthy and notorious

Genevieve fell in with the procession Kate and Penelope were a little in front This would be her last appearance in Italy, she decided The warning issued at the Colosseum had taken and she would quit Rome, never to return She still didn&039;t entirely understand the personage who&039;d nearly killed but finally spared her Her throat wasn&039;t quite healed and she spoke with a froggy rasp

Attendants held flaht the path

If it hadn&039;t been for the Crimson Executioner, all vampire society would have been here As far as the world knew, he was still active, set on exter any elders who trespassed in his city An actor named Travis Anderson, who had o, had been found dead in the Colosseum but no official connection was made with the Executioner

On the beach was a bier of driftwood The coffin was laid on it and Klove lifted off the lid Genevieve looked at the corpse It was indeed Dracula, head resting on a pillow placed above his body He still resisted corruption

Princess Asa wailed her grief Penelope comforted the elder

They would wait till dawn, then fire the bier Cre that Dracula was indeed definitively dead

The vigil shouldn&039;t last more than two hours

Genevieve looked at the faces of the few mourners Most were members of the soon-to-be-dispersed household Kate&039;s Italian reporter was here; she was pointedly not speaking with him

&039;It must have been Commander Bond&039;s hand,&039; Genevieve said &039;Guided by the Mother of Tears He killed Dracula&039;

Kate nodded &039;I don&039;t care, as long as it wasn&039;t aain He was on his way back to the Diogenes Club

The Princess knelt at the foot of the bier and shrieked at the dying night She was quite unhinged

&039;Princess Asa is an elder,&039; Kate said

Genevieve didn&039;t follow

&039;The Mother of Tears said only one elder remained in Rome,&039; Kate continued &039;You, Gene Why didn&039;t the Princess count?&039;