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Spade shot a look at her that had Denise cla her mouth shut Greedy SCHMUCK, she silently screamed at Ian

"Only if I have your silence and cooperation by letting Denise pick through your property for a bloke that I’ll leave with, no questions asked, if she finds who she’s looking for"

Ian’s broent up "Do I get to knohat this person did?"

Spade’s s of teeth "No You don’t"

He’ll never go for it, Denise thought, seeing the crafti ness flit across Ian’s features But then the other vampire smiled back

"I do love that house, Charles Done"

Denise let out her breath, relieved and guilt-ridden at the same time Now she could add a house and a boat to what it cost Spade to help her, all because she manipulated him She had to find a way to pay hi installments for the next thirty years

Ian stretched "You’re welcoot in the house and work your way fro some of my people are, but I’ll put the word out that they’re to give you their full cooperation"

"And you won’twith," Spade added, his voice steely

Ian’s gaze slid over Denise in a way that made her feel like she’d so to see how long you can keep this a secret Need a place to stay while you’re in town?"

"Thank you, I’ve ements elsewhere," Spade replied, to Denise’s relief The sooner they were away fro openly cold and ruthless about hi closer to Spade Let’s look at his people and get the hell out of here

As if Spade had heard her mental directive, he took her hand "Ian, if you’ll direct us?"

Fifteento herself in frustration Out of the dozen men, human and otherwise, who lived at Ian’s house, none was Nathanial How long before Rauain? Or how long before the deht now, the only changes she’d noticed were an increasingly short teinning How long did she have before the marks turned her into the saot in the area to ht," Spade said to Ian as they ive us a chance to look atsuspicion"

Ian cast another speculative look at Denise before nodding "I had other plans, but this situation piques my interest I’ll see you there, mate"

Denise waited until they were miles away from Ian’s before she spoke "I’m so sorry about your house Please, let me reimburse you I have a 401(k) I can tap into - "

"No" The single as crisp Spade didn’t even look away from the road when he said it

"But this isn’t what I intended!" she exclai her voice

Spade looked at her, briefly but thoroughly "You had no idea what this would entail when you involved uilt piled onto her This rong So wrong "What if it takes ht, but the initial, na?ve assumption she’d had that she could quickly find Nathanial if she just had an in with the vampire world had been shattered Spade had thousands of people in his line How many other Master vampires had thousands of people spread out all over the world?

"Then it takes months to find him," Spade replied, no emotion in his tone "I’ht not haveof helplessness turned to anger When she did find Nathanial, she’d make hih

Then the hatred faded, leaving a hollow fear instead It’s happening even now Every day, a littleelse The realization terrified her

"Maybe tonight will be our lucky night," she said, forcing an optireed

He didn’t sound like he believed it, either

Denise’s knuckles hite as she clenched her fists The scent of her anxiety filled the cab, covering the stale sweat, perfu odor of vothe car that had been vying for the same lane Denise paled until her skin alentler on the gas?" Spade said to the driver Poor girl, this was her first experience with a New York cabbie From Denise’s expression, she’d like it to be her last

"What you say?" the driver replied in thickly accented English Little wonder thehim, with how loud his radio was

Spade placed the driver’s accent "Possa-o ir devagar guiar, por favor?" he said, speaking louder

The driver gave him a wide smile that revealed a lack of recent dental attention "Oh, fala portuguesa? Nenhu off the accelerator

"What language is that?" Denise asked, distracted enough to unclench her fists

"Portuguese"

She looked ies, but all I know is soh school When did you learn Portuguese?"

"When I was in Portugal," he replied, amused to see the surprise on her face

"Oh," she said softly "I’ve never been overseas I haven’t even been out of America, except for"

Her voice trailed off and shadows settled over her expression For Canada, Spade mentally finished Where your husband was ht," Spade said, more to take her attention off that than out of concern over her forgetting "I may have to leave you for a short time, but if I do, stick by Ian"

"I don’t trust him," she said at once

Spade let out a snort "Nor should you, but he won’t atte to a place filled with different types of vampires, that makes him safer than anyone except er to Denise, but he wanted her on her guard nevertheless Neither one of theht up the other possibility - that with these circuht have another panic attack Their best hope of finding Nathanial was to expose Denise to the largest number of undead persons and their property at a time, but while that was efficient, it was also hazardous to her ele" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>