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He began to run

Tara shot back down the stairs, not pausing to find the others in the library, but bursting outside the front door, shrieking her cousin’s name

There was no answer The driveas locked in shadow; clouds covered the n of Rick, Roland, the dog, or anyone

She raced back into the house, bursting into the library Jade stood guard, literally, straight and tall, posed behind her grandfather’s desk chair

She paused for a deep breath, wet her lips, and told Jacques, "They’ve got Ann" She was so sorry His entire face went gray, and seeht have been a skeleton with leftover flesh, watching her

"Lucian will be back; Brent will be back"

She shook her head "We can’t wait I’ to kill her if I don’t go"

"You’re not going alone," Jacques said

"Grandpapa! You can’t come with me Then I’d have to worry about your life as well asyet, Tara You know nothing at all You haven’t the experience--"

"Then you’d better givewith you--"

"You can’t God knohere Rick is, or what happened with Roland, and I’er And nownow that we’ve come to this, I’m not afraid" It was the most preposterous lie she had ever told in her life, but she could see no other way to get her cousin back

"Look, supposedly I’o after these people So if you want to help me, tell me quickly what I need to know Jacques--I drew a picture upstairs It turned out to be a , as well as the man who claimed to be from the Paris police, as well as someone Brent seeht that her grandfather looked half-dead before Now, he was the color of pure ash

"Andre-son!" he breathed

"Andresonwho is Andreson?" she asked

"A true monster He was head of thethe war He ran the place Naturally, of course, I knew later He was constantly glutted, there was a chance for such rich carnage during the war! No crueller co a field of ht about his death Or so I had thought"

"The warJacques, how does Brent know about this randfather looked at her

"Brent Malone was Andreson’s favorite experi to solve the riddle of his survival, and what he had become" She felt ill Brent had lied to her It was i the the war?

"What do you mean? Tell me quickly Brent couldn’t have been in the war He’d be old now, really old now He said that he wasn’t a vampire, he told me twice that he wasn’t a vampire--"

"He’s not," Jacques said

"Then--"

"He’s a olf"

"Oh, God!"

Ann DeVant lay on the sofa, eyes open but unfocused Louisa stared down at the woht then and there Slide her teeth deep into the woainst that spill of dark hair--tear into her, rip her to shreds, draining every last drop of blood froirl

Gerard had said that she et the other, and now, Tara DeVant would have to come, of course She was certain that Gerard would have killed the wolf by now

And Lucian was busy seeking the body of the wolf

It had all been so well planned The only torture was nowwaiting And hating the girl, of course

She stood over her again Jealousy was eating at her, consu her Actually, when the tiirl in front of Gerard Wanted to see that sheto him, that she could be drained, used upand discarded like refuse

She felt his arrival Sweeping black shadows that she knew long before they touched her

"Did you kill him?"

"Yes," he said, but there was a hesitation

Louisa said angrily, "Did you kill him?"