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Bryan found Sean Canady outside the entrance to the cells

"How did you know I&039;d be here?" Sean asked hi s and do a lot of paperwork But todayI don&039;t think so Come on"

Bryan followed close behind Sean as theythe cop in on his theory about the final battle Sean assured the guards they passed that he could handle things hi in alone, uards were spooked They didn&039;t want anything to do with the entire area where Niles Goolighan was being kept

Bryan reht when they first approached the cell Goolighan grinned at Sean The kid was covered in blood, His own? The guard&039;s?

"Hey, piggy, piggy," Goolighan taunted in a singsong voice "Co to die"

"You&039;re a punk, Niles Alere, alill be," Sean said

Goolighan shook his head "No He kept his promise He came to me"

"Who&039;s that?" Sean asked, as if he weren&039;t the least bit interested

"The Prince of Darkness," Goolighan said delightedly

"He&039;s not the Prince of Darkness Just a punk follower-like you, He&039;s had a little more practice, that&039;s all, and he isn&039;t quite as du to be all-powerful I&039;m his ally"

"No, Niles, you may have asked him in, but you&039;re still a punk Cal talked, by the way We know all about the Web site, and we kno he gets to you assholes"

Goolighan didn&039;t seehing, chortling "I&039;ll be there I&039;ll be at the great battle Co to kill you Then I&039;ll die and coes"

"You&039;ll be the best punk there, I bet," Sean told him "Where will this battle take place?"

"What do you care? You&039;ll be dead Co You can&039;t resist Get in here and try to kill ht I can&039;t resist But huhing as if that were the funniest thing he&039;d ever heard "It will be so cool there, in the h tor, huh?"

Niles giggled again "Not bad, piggy, piggy It&039;s the bitch he wants He&039;s wanted her all along Wants to kill her I think once he wanted to fuck her, but she was like all bitches, wanting soave the last the Scottish pronunciation, then went into gales of laughter "Ah, laddie" he said, doing a creditable Scottish accent, "he&039;ll bastion hih ruins, that he will He&039;ll cohlands And then it will end for those who made his life-and death-a hell"

"Great Thanks," Sean said, turning the lock, stepping into the cell

Bryan moved up behind him in the blink of an eye, and Niles saw hie and fury

Sean stepped back There was no fight Not really Niles was a fool He attacked Bryan, going straight for hi himself on the small wooden stake Bryan held He hadn&039;t even needed to thrust it forward

"I guess I&039; to have to answer a lot of questions," Sean said when it was over "But I&039;ve done it before and, God help ain, somewhere down the line"

They both looked at Niles, crumpled on the floor

"Rest in peace, you sorry punk," Seanelse we could do," Bryan told hihed, straightened "Let&039;s go"

This time they were all at the house on Bourbon Street

They filled the kitchen, and at first glance they one to Sean and Maggie&039;s to watch the children, but all the rest were there Sean was explaining what had happened to Niles Goolighan

"How did you explain killing hi coffee for herself

Sean hesitated for a moment "I&039;ve had to explain far worse," he reminded her "There wasn&039;t a soul who didn&039;t believe he&039;d attacked me I said I was damn lucky Bryan had a stake on him"

"Astake? " Jessica said "And how did you explain Bryan carrying a stake?"

"Easy A prop for his lectures," Sean said

"Soie said, "it ork out It always does"

Sean smiled "Hey, this is N&039;awleans We&039;ve always been e are, a little decay, a little voodoo, history, jazz conversation today, too"

"With?" Jessica asked

"Florenscu," he said

"Florenscu?" Jessica repeated "The detective in Transylvania?"

"The saoers about a hunch I had He got back to me immediately, and damned if the information about the party didn&039;t appear on the &039;Master&039; site about twenty-four hours beforehand If we&039;d known to look, I&039; for the party here, even though the Master never meant to attend"

"We&039;ll find it before the party in Scotland, then," Jade said

"I can already tell you when it will be," Bryan told them

They all looked at him

"The Demon Moon, an occurrence that falls n, it&039;s not an eclipse, it&039;s a red ie whispered

"As have I," Jessica said dryly "The Deh castle" She shook her head "It wasn&039;t all that well fortified It wasn&039;t even that big There was a wooden fence around the clan homes, and the castle itself was stone, but"

Jade DeVeau walked over to her with a sheaf of pages "In the 1400s, the clan came into some money They built a stone wall around the keep You can see what res it was abandoned, taken over by the Crown and forgotten It&039;s nothing but ruins now"

Tara walked over and showed Jessica the second page "This is the original chapel There are to family The catacoe me ti "I can&039;t be sure, but there have been a number of unexplained disappearances in the area over the years, and I believe the Master has been using it as a base while he regained his strength I&039; to bet he&039;s created an entire army there, and they won&039;t all be newly made vampires who have no idea how to defend themselves" She looked over at Bryan "You need to be careful," she said softly "I gather you have superhuth and an ability to heal, but everyone has a weakness" She shook her head "Frankly, I don&039;t think you should go"

Bryan walked over and o," he said flatly He looked around at the group "I have to go, and you know that Perhaps it would be best if I go alone"

Tara sighed "I knew he&039;d say that"

"No way in hell are you going alone!" Jessica protested

"You know," Lucien said, "I&039; your power, Bryan, but we&039;re talking about an aro"

"I think this is a battle Bryan and I have to face alone," Jessica said

Bryan inhaled "Frankly, you&039;re exactly the one who shouldn&039;t go I have to destroy him"

"Wehave to destroy him," Jessica corrected him

"Jessica, don&039;t you see? That&039;s what he wants Both of us there to be destroyed"

They were all startled when the doorbell rang "Who is that?" Sean asked, frowning

"Want ht," Jessica said "I&039;ll get it"

Bryan followed her at a discreet distance He was startled to see a very distraught wonized her, then tried to re off the deep end," the wo Jessica had a hand on her shoulder, trying to soothe her "He&039;s been gone since last night, but I know he didn&039;t run away," she said "This is real And it&039;s not a ransom note, it&039;sI don&039;t knohat it means, but the police won&039;t help, and your name is here Oh, God, what should I do?"

Bryan&039;s memory clicked It was Mrs Peterson, ht he was a vaht ceht Jessica a note hand printed on a torn piece of computer paper

"Mrs Peterson, we&039;ll find Jacob," Jessica promised

"You can find him?" the woman asked with desperate hope "You think he&039;s alive?"

Jessica nodded "I&039;h "I&039;ll find your son, Mrs Peterson And I&039;ll bring hilass of wine, call a friend and leave this to me"

"Thank you The police wouldn&039;t even take a ers wander off all the tih yet But this noteit scaresclose behind him Sean

"I&039;ll see her home I can&039;t leave New Orleans now, anyway," Sean said softly He walked past Bryan,the woman at the door "Mrs Peterson, I&039;et you home and take down all your infor so lost and scared, stared numbly at Sean

As soon as Sean left with her, Bryan strode over to Jessica "What does it say?" he demanded

She handed him the paper

He looked down at it In pen, it saidFor Jessica FraserBeneath that three words had been scribbled in what appeared to be blood, one on top of the other, the rainia