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I let the door close withouta scene because none of the huns of physical abuse--if I didn’t count ed beyond the blood bliss they experienced when fed upon by a suitably mature vamp I moved on Fast Back to the reception roolet and salrapes andalone, slohen she scented me She smiled, an attempt at humanness, intended to disar When I didn’t speak, she leaned in, too close, way inside s stayed back, out of sight, and she didn’t try to bite me She only sniffed my neck So I didn’t react Much

She stepped back and tilted her head "I am Bettina, blood-master of Clan Rousseau" I nodded, but couldn’t think of a thing to say Cat got ain Rousseau was a beautiful woe, ue hunter is here tonight, as a guest of Pellissier Are you she?"

When I nodded, she walked around me, a dance step, like a cat walks, one foot carefully placed at a ti ood Will you call me when thisunpleasantnessis over?" She stopped in front ofup intoin her eyes that said the "know you better" part was in the biblical sense Lucky me I sed A smile started in her eyes And they landed on my throat

"Bettina Pellissier wishes to speak with you"

We both turned to the s he had stood there, but the look on his face said it had been long enough "Please visit," she said, extending a card that hadn’t been in her hand a moment past And she followed the man away

"Okaaaay," I murmured to the walls "Next time I’ll wear a whole bottle of perfume"

To the left of the foyer and food was a bar, three waiters serving real liquor, wine, and beer, not blood I took a second glass of chane and continued my tour Behind the bar, a short hallway led to a rand piano Probably priceless I wondered who played, and figured it ht entered my mind, a half dozen vamps walked in the roo the keys in so out into the hallway, deliberately overpowering the strings in the reception roohed at the sophomoric prank and one ran to peek around the corner at the huht it was funny I left

Through a connecting doorway, I found an empty, two- storied library filled with books, leather furniture, and a first-class sound syste a soft salsa, which is not the way a salsa is meant to be listened to I shut the door to thepiano wasin the house: You could kill someone and not have to worry about the screams I hunted around until I found the sound system controls in a recessed console and upped the volulet and salmon while my feet danced and I studied the titles on the walls Solish, some were French, Spanish, and maybe Latin And there were a few that looked Greek Leo can read Greek?

Inside a glass case were twenty-four fired-clay, metal, and carved-wood tablets on display stands, clearly ancient and valuable I couldn’t resist looking over their security and waved at the high-tech ood, if the cameras were monitored When the door opened a scant twelve seconds later, and Bruiser entered, I patted lass Which was nearly eh," he said with an alass and the empty plate "Mr Pellissier wants to see you"

"Yeah?" I took the dishes back and set them on the console "Do you salsa?"

"Not in years," he said

"It’s been a while forBeast’s amusement at the double enten dre I placed one of his hands on my hip and kept the other, tappedhiive him credit, he followed my lead And then he took over Firmly Salsa is a three-step-pause-three-step dance--a reinvention of the inal rumba, and it moves