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Michael read it three times, but shock made him unable to calculate the time lapse "This ca have I been in thrall?"

"The operation left you weak, and we thought it necessary--"

"How long?" Michael shouted

Phillipe ducked his head "Five days, Master"

Five days Almost the same amount of time in which God made the world

The report crumpled in his fist, and fell in a loose ball to bounce on the floor "She was dead when she left the dreaht this" His seneschal looked sick "I had the o I told theht--for her family’s sake She has a brother, a lover--"

Michael backhanded Phillipe, knocking hih, but he would not allow himself to beat his seneschal unconscious Instead, he walked through the house and out to his trysting garden The sun was setting, and the last of its rays delicately gilded hundreds of blooht iron benches and sat down, staring at nothing as his rasp what had happened

Michael had lived as one of the Darkyn since his human death in the fourteenth century Human blood was their only nourishment, but over time he and his kind had learned that they did not have to kill Taking small amounts of blood allowed them to survive, and held off therapture it induced in their victims It also preserved the lives of the humans upon whom they fed, for one had to drain a body of all its blood to satisfy thrall

"She should have died five days ago," he told Phillipe, who had followed hiave her the rapture and I took her" He could still taste her "Or was it all an illusion?"

"No, Master"

If his attack had not destroyed her body, then the rapture would erase herthe last traces of blood froive " And it was Like him, Phillipe healed instantly

"I don’t understand" He regarded his roses, and realized he would be able to paint again Alexandra had not only restored his vision; she had given him back his hands, his art "How can she still be alive?"

"I do not know, Master"

A terrible fear rose inside him If Alexandra survived exposure to Darkyn blood, then she was the first hu in centuries to do so Whatever had saved her would turn her into a priceless commodity, unless he could lay claim to her first "Who else knows?"

"Your tresora"

"Say nothing of this to anyone" He rose fro Éliane back to the mansion at once, and watch her" As he strode into the house, he came to a er, and his jaw more defined, but his face exactly iven hieo at once"

"Master, you cannot go to Chicago"

"I have no choice It was lare at his seneschal "I have to get to her before she e"

Phillipe frowned "Why?"

His seneschal had never turned a human into a h to kill"

John blinked Either he was having an auditory hallucination, or His Grace the archbishop of Chicago had just told him that his order had been created to protect the Catholic church against the ancient and ongoing threat of vaive me, Your Grace, did you say the htower repeated, his expression patient "Demonic, eternally damned souls who rise fro My order has hunted and destroyed the, for there was nothing to say He had always had great respect for the bishop, who had done so hout the city parishes In a moment of cold panic, he wondered if his htower’s superiors of this

Oh, yes, call Roone crazy After what happened in Rio, they’ll believe you, as htower’s wispy brown eyebrows arched "Feeling a bit skeptical, are we?"

"I don’t wish to contradict you, sir," he said, choosing his words carefully, "but to e, vampires are simply a myth They don’t exist outside folktales, lurid novels, and bad filht the exact sa before I joined the Brethren Happily, there is proof"

He turned to look at the door "Father Cabreri, would you join us?" To John, he said, "Carlo is also a htower’s assistant ca an unmarked videotape cassette and handed it to John before he took a seat to the bishop’s left

"Play that and see for yourself," Hightower told him

He could take the tape and play it, or he could save the bishop any further embarrassment "Your Grace, I am… flattered, but I’ and play the wretched thing, Johnny" Hightower settled back into his chair, while Cabreri selected a sandwich from the cart "Once you’ve watched it, then ill talk about what you can or cannot do"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>