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Bobby Munro entered Sean&039;s office "We&039;ve tracked down the ownership of the plantation up the river," he told Sean

"Yeah?"

Bobby shook his head "No help It&039;s owned by the parish"

"Then soed "Sean,anyone could have known it would be empty It&039;s public record"

"Start with local bars, see who could have supplied the place"

"This is New Orleans, for God&039;s sake That&039;s like looking for a needle in a haystack" Bobby cleared his throat "And we&039;re under a hell of a lot of pressure Missing corpse Two cops brutally killed The press is breathing down our necks"

"And you knohat to tell the press"

"No coh

"That&039;s it"

"But, Lieutenant, we"

"Yes?"

"Neveron, but e find out who ements to host that party, we&039;ll be ten tie here, huh?"

Bobby sed, looking at hi he wouldn&039;t be in charge et a feers

He knehat he was doing, he ren a couple of tea the streets myself" And he would be But first he had to visit the lockup

When Jessica came downstairs, Bryan was already there, in the kitchen, pouring coffee for himself So were the others, except for Stacey and Mary

"Still sound asleep," Gareth said quietly, speaking to only her as she entered "Stacey&039;s watching her"

"Thanks," she murmured

Jeremy looked at her happily "Bryan says Mary should be safe for a while, anyway"

"Oh?" She looked over at Bryan He was showered, handsome in jeans and a tailored shirt His hair was still damp Such a contemporary cut But other than thatnot so different at all But then, neither was she Yet time had come between them Worse than that, belief had come between them

And still hovered like an ax, ready to drive them apart

"She can&039;t be left alone for a minute," Bryan warned

Jessica frowned What made him think that Mary was "safe"?

"Pancakes?" Nancy said "You need to eat"

No, she didn&039;t actually need to eat She did because it was part of her pathetic attempt to live a normal life

"Pancakes sound wonderful How much time do we have?"

"An hour," Bryan said

"Before?" Jereo and see so with you," Jeremy said staunchly

"No," Jessica said

"But I was there In Transylvania I can help you re," Gareth said "Jereht be helpful You don&039;t know"

"Actually," Bryan said, to Jessica&039;s surprise, "if we&039;re having ato plan, to look for answers, I don&039;t see why they shouldn&039;t be involved"

Jereet me out of here so you can double back and kill Mary, are you?"

Bryan inhaled, exhaled and shook his head "Do I think she should be destroyed?" he asked softly "Yes But I have no intention of doubling back here to do it I have a bigger concern, and the Master is nowhere near this house right now

"How do you know that?" Jessica dehtly as heis possible, but I believe he&039;s accomplished what he wanted here, for the o back to the hospital for David Hayes And no doubt at soht now, he isn&039;t near this house"

"What do you think he&039;s acco with Sean and Maggie, let&039;s save it, all right?" he suggested

Jessica nodded "You trust Stacey and Gareth, then-with Mary"

Bryan looked around the room "Yes, because if they failMary will turn them And I will kill them And they know it"

Whether it was true or not, Gareth turned ashen He certainly believed it

Jessica was proud of him when he stood up to Bryan "With or without you around, professor, I live to protect Jessica"

Bryan acknowledged Gareth with a nod "I believe you Now let&039;s get going, shall we?"

Cal Hodges and Niles Goolighan had been arraigned, and the assistant district attorney had seen to it that they weren&039;t let out on bail

To Sean&039;s surprise, Cal Hodges agreed to see hireen roo at each other across a scarred wooden table

"You agreed to see ave him a laconic s by noanted to watch you I heard about your dead cops, and you haven&039;t got a clue You haven&039;t got dick"

"You should have seen how they died Might be a lesson for you," Sean said evenly, and wondered if just a flicker of unease passed through the young man&039;s eyes

Cal lifted a hand "I won&039;t be here et you out?"

"You bet"

"WhatThat&039;s all I know But-"

Sean leaned forward "He&039;s speaking to you when you&039;re asleep?" he asked politely

The frown Cal displayed for an instant assured Sean of the truth He smiled "When he&039;s done with you, he&039;ll chew you up into little pieces and spit you out" He paused briefly, then asked, "Did you attack Dr Jessica Fraser on purpose?"

The change of tactic seemed to work Cal frowned "No Yes You&039;re just a stupid dumb-fuck cop, you know? We were led to her That bitch tookwas, I couldn&039;t keep her and I couldn&039;t shoot her, you know?"

"But now everything in your life is going to be just fine Becausehe&039;s going to get you out of here, becausehe cares about you" He saw sin to appear on Cal&039;s upper lip

"What the fuck do you want from me? I wasn&039;t in the hospital I didn&039;t kill your pals And I sure as hell wasn&039;t at that party"

"You knew about it"

Cal shrugged

Sean ain "How?" he deant drive, lined by trees dripping with Spanish moss, that led to the Canadys&039; house There were a number of cars there already "Your friends?" he asked Jessica

"Looks like it"

"Great A whole pack of bloodsuckers," the professor said as the car pulled to a stop

Jere that was on her mind because he and Nancy were in the backseat

"You want to defeat the Master," she rereatest evil out there and survived Don&039;t you see?" There was a plea in her tone "We need the help"

Bryan MacAllistair didn&039;t deny that "Co out of the car

Nancy looked alht she had sat with him at the hospital in Transylvania He took her hand and helped her froht He ser lock with her He wasn&039;t afraid himself Not now

A beautiful red-haired woht on tiie, Jereie"

"Hello," Jereh to shake hands

"Hi," Nancy said, staring "Are you?"

"I&039;ie said

"Of course not," Nancy rin "Coe parlor off the entry hall Jerehed in nervous relief when he saw that no one there looked undead or otherworldly In fact, it looked as if they were at a photo shoot for the absolutely beautiful

Bryan MacAllistair strode into the roo at a tall dark-hairedof the va of the vaht He felt Nancy cower behind hiht them here if it weren&039;t safe, he told himself

Jessica slipped past the two of the herself between Bryan and the other men "Lucien, Bryan MacAllistair, Bryan, Lucien DeVeau Oh, and Jerenor and another man as Brent Malone The women present were introduced as Jade, Lucien&039;s wife, Tara, asnotes on a notebook co at MacAllistair with curiosity and respect

"You&039;re not a vampire," Professor MacAllistair said flatly

"Werewolf, I&039;rimace "And fully dedicated to the destruction of evil in whatever forht," MacAllistair said

Jessica touched his are," she said "We&039;re all part of e call the Alliance, and weoh, hell, I don&039;t know any other way of explaining it We&039;re part of a continuing war against evil A lot of us are vampires, and then there&039;s Brent Jade has some of our abilities, but not all She was bitten, but she didn&039;t die Tara and Jordan are completely human"

Jade DeVeau said sie, when is Sean due back?"

"I don&039;t knohat&039;s keeping hiie said

Bryan strode across to the fireplace, facing Lucien DeVeau The men studied each other "I&039;d heard you were off de," Bryan said

"We were We&039;re back," Lucien said flatly

"And the demon?"

"Will wait I&039;ve heard of the Master, of course," Lucien said, griain Now that he has shown his hand, he must be stopped"

"You&039;re not afraid of me, are you?" he asked

"Should we be?" Lucien asked

"You knohat I am," MacAllistair said

"And youdon&039;t really knoe are," Lucien said evenly "If you did, there would be no reason for any of us to fear you-ever We are all detero with that for now?"

MacAllistair kept his eyes on themoment Then he said, "Let&039;s start with the kids, then They can describe that night in Transylvania, start to finish I can throw in my part, Jessica can explain hers God knows, " He took a seat on the couch, crossing his arms over his chest "And I&039;m convinced someone out there is a traitor, someone Jessica knows She won&039;t even think about it Maybe one of you can make her take a real look at the people she knows"

Jessica groaned softly, but Lucien looked at her assessingly "Jessica, we have to take a long look at everything and everyone"

"Coffee&039;s ready, so the kids can start," Maggie said

Jeremy realized all eyes were on him His mouth was dry He licked his lips "It all started when Mary asked han lay in his cell, staring at the ceiling, regretting the fact he&039;d ever started believing in proreater existence, power-and women

Frankly, it had been the promise that women would find him irresistible that had sewed it up for hier, braver andBut noas rotting in a jail cell The attorney they&039;d been assigned had suggested they ive the cops inforhter sentences than they would receive if they were convicted

He toyed with the idea The information they wanted was really so sih him He looked beyond the bars A man stood there He was tall, built like a brick shithouse Strong features-he belonged in a movie about ancient Rome Oddly he was dressed in a suit, the nondescript kind lots of attorneys wore

"Niles"

"Yeah?" he said curiously

"I&039;uards have to let you in They don&039;t exactly give uy wanted He laughed suddenly "What the hell If you can do it, co open and the huge rinned, and Niles felt an icy terror curl around his heart He sprang up, backed against the wall