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I brought a cup of Leer to Caldenia She accepted it with a nod

"We could try an ar round," Sean said

"If Iquestions"

"And ould be the right question, Your Grace?" Arland asked

"Have any of you ever hired an assassin?" Caldenia raised her teacup to her lips, holding it with her long fingers Her nails, manicured and carefully shaped, still resembled claws

"No," Arland said

Sean shook his head

"Asensitive, then you have to have hiet someone else to kill the killer It’s like doood assassin always keeps insurance Some sort of token, some evidence that will permit hier of being eliminated, which aforementioned employer, if he is smart, should definitely attempt"

"It’s a Catch-22," Sean said

"A dilemma," Caldenia said "Most employers seek to eliminate the assassin after the job is completed, and most assassins, predictably, wish to remain alive With that in mind, ask yourself why is the dahaka here?"

"I don’t follow" Arland frowned

"Why hasn’t he returned to his planet, filled with other dahakas?"

"We don’t know if it’s a he," I ender to an adversary," Caldenia said "It keeps you fro with a du discovery, when he could be enjoying the fruits of his labor on his own planet where he is untouchable?"

Good question "Perhaps he can’t go home? Maybe he’s banished, but even then, he should be lanced at Arland "Remind me, what happens when a craft enters the atmosphere of your particular planet?"

"The procedure is the same for all six planets in the Holy Anocracy," Arland said "The orbital defenses challenge the craft, which then transmits a passcode by means of a House crest As the craft descends into the territory of a particular House, the air defenses challenge it in turn Again, the crest transmits a passcode For example, we temporarily permitted members of House Gron to enter our at festivities"

Oh no "Can the House crest be duplicated?" I asked

"No It’s genetically coded to each ranking member of the House and it evolves with the deeds of the bearer It’s a coency power supply, and s A vampire would never part with"

Caldenia smiled at her tea

Arland fell silent "I’uessed

"That’s the only way he could have passed through the House air defenses We thought he was sled in, but we couldn’t find any record of a ship returning or taking off in the specificof the murder Of course, if he had a crest, ouldn’t know The transmissions froe, but there is no record of which ones are activated when"

"Seeht," Sean said

"We don’t like to be tracked If the dahaka has a crest, he could’ve dropped into the wilderness, walked out, killedArland’s frame He looked like a cat about to pounce His eyes shone with red "To sink so low as to let an outsider have possession of your crest It is akin to a violation of the House Whoever did it had to be desperate"

"That’s right," Caldenia said "You are finally thinking in the right direction"

"He still has it," Arland snarled "He still has the crest or he couldn’t have left the planet"

"If you get ahold of it, would you knoho it belongs to?" Sean asked

"Yes"

Arland flashed his fangs and I felt an urge to move back Beast snarled under my chair There it was, the real vampire An unstoppable, furious killer That’s what ht between themselves so alaxy a long tio

"On Earth e hire contractors, we pay them half up front," I said "And half later, when the job is done"

"We have the same practice," Arland said

"So if he still has the House crest," I began

"He’s waiting for the owner to come and pick it up," Sean said "The crest is his insurance He trades it for the rest of thearound here He can’t go home because the vampires won’t follow him there and he wants his money"

"And he can’t stay in the Holy Anocracy, because any dahaka sighted would be instantly detained," Arland said "Whose crest does he have, that is the question Is it Gron or is it Krahr?"