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As he sat there, shaking, he beca before hiainst the sun, and looked up, far up

Theabove him squatted down to his level and said, "Paul? I’m a friend I mean to help you And I need your help as well We both want to find Yvette, right?" He nodded, staring at the stranger

"Come with me, Paul," the th to do so

He had seen the man before

He was desperate to find Yvette

There was nowhere else to turn, and

There was so about the man

He had a power

And Paul believed

CHAPTER 15

Tara had assumed that Brent would still be there, that he had just stepped outside to have a few minutes alone, that he wouldn’t have left the house

But he had

So When she had first decided that he probably needed thoseand being prepared for the day were is to do, and she had made a truly odd discovery

Her feet were dirty The bottoh dirt There was a blade of grass stuck between her third and fourth toes on the left foot An unease crept over her that felt like the wash of a tidal wave She fought it down, assuring herself that there was a logical explanation somewhere Perhaps there had been dirt on the balcony, blades of grass and dirt tossed high by the night breeze She knew for a fact that she hadn’t actually left the house, so that was the only possible explanation

She was still trying to deal with logic, trying so hard that she refused to accept the fact that the dreaun before she arrived here Just as real But she hadn’t known then what she had been searching for, or what she had feared

She still wasn’t sure what she was looking for in the forest

She knehy she was afraid

She knehose help she had been calling for

And he hadn’t been there, as he wasn’t here now

She bit her lip So er she had , even now, that she had been waiting For this point in her life, and

For Brent

Back downstairs, she went into the kitchen expecting to find him there She drank the coffee Katia had prepared, but Katia hadn’t seen Brent since she had spoken with him on the stairs; she assumed that he had left Tara decided to look for him outside

Eleanora had taken up a stance at the front door to the chateau Tara wasn’t certain that she still trusted the dog, but Eleanora was affectionate and sweet, though vigilant, licking Tara’s hands, whining for attention She didn’t follow Tara to the door, but stayed where she was, sentinel at the door

Tara looked for Brent outside, but couldn’t find him There were no extra cars in the drive The newspaper lay where he had thrown it in the entryway She picked it up and began reading about the police discovery of the headless body Scanning to the bottoe, she was startled to see that the police were "looking for" Brent Malone for questioning in regard to the murder in the ruins, and their latest discovery

"Brent, where the hell are you?" she muttered aloud Deterone there But there was no sign of him

Old Daniel was out in the pasture She called to hiht that the horse seeer for the soft, crooned words of assurance she gave to him

"I feel it, too, old boy," she told the horse

And she was suddenly angry Now that she had given her trust to Brent Malone--careful trust, but trust at that--he had gone She felt a Daniel a last pat, she went back into the house and looked in first on Jacques, and then Ann

Both were sleeping soundly and peacefully

She ca what she should do, deciding that shea firm decision She wasn’t sure at all about "vaical mind to believe that any of it was true If the myths and stories were at all true, vampires either had to sleep by day, or were at the very least much weaker then They couldn’t enter a house unless they were invited in Garlic, holy water, and crosses were deterrents

Katia seeuests as she was to h-tech alarm system worked Tara could safely leave the house It was i that they wanted hi

She didn’t believe it They wanted hio out to find Brent Malone Calling last minute instructions to Katia to make absolutely certain that she didn’t let anyone--anyone in at all--she threw open the front door

To her a at the entrance to the house

"Miss Adair, bonjour," Javet said