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Two land, Napoleon&039;s Paris was surprisingly easy to enter, particularly with the resources of the Earl of Corvindale to grease palms and ensure that certain eyes turned blindly away froentleave hi in was even si out of the city that would be the problem

But for Chas, there was only one element of the plan to be concerned with at a tiain entrance to Cezar Moldavi&039;s house

It was past noon, well into the afternoon, as he walked along a rue in Le Marais Although this was the area where the wealthy lived, the street was busy-filled with servants walking to and fro in their carriages on their way shopping and to other social engagements No one would take note of yet another courier with a small paper-wrapped packet, particularly since he was dressed so as to be unre and sturdy shoes He&039;d settled a sihis face It also er

Nevertheless, Chas kneas highly unlikely he&039;d actually make it out of the city If he succeeded with his plan to assassinate Moldavi, and possibly the sister as well, regardless of what Cale had told hi it back to London In that case, he&039;d only have to contend with getting past the soldiers at every corner of the city

He couldn&039;t help a rueful s Corvindale&039;s reaction if he had to carry through on his proelica and Sonia in the event of Chas&039;s demise Maia, the eldest of the sisters and his junior by nearly ten years, would have plenty to say about it as well Chas could already i in annoyance She was used to being in charge andthe dubious assistance of their chaperone Mrs Fernfeather

But there was no one better equipped, nor more trustworthy, than Corvindale to protect his sisters if so happened to him, and as such, for the first time in all of his travels, Chas had left instructions with Maia to contact the earl if he didn&039;t return or otherwiseChas expected it to take to infiltrate Moldavi&039;s hoh to his target, then get out of the city He&039;d have one chance to drive the stake ho, he&039;d succeed The rues were just as dirty and crowded in Paris as they were in London, Ro He happened to prefer the countryside to the big, loud cities, perhaps because he was fairly forced to frequent them-and their seediest, most dark and unsavory places-in search of Dracule As he avoided a stea shit in the center of the hich was really just the edge of the street, he pictured for a moment the small estate he&039;d just purchased in Wales, with its neat, unassureen hills

It was likely he&039;d never have a chance to enjoy the place He&039;d acquired it secretly, in hopes that it would be a private haven for hier For, just as he attempted to rid the world of va the world of hielica and Sonia to do so

Thank goodness at least Sonia was tucked safely away at St Bridie&039;s The last time he&039;d seen her, when he&039;d couilt warht never see her or any of the I&039;ll make it up to them all

Then he realized he hadn&039;t been paying attention to the numbers on the houses, and had nearly missed Moldavi&039;s

Here it is

He walked past the colu three-story building, his attentionas he observed the area A e parcels that obstructed her view, and nearly collided with two foot in the center of the ay Two carriages passed each other, harnesses rattling, hooves clopping Someone shouted across the way from an unshuttered , and there was a bellicose response fro Moldavi&039;s house, while it looked the sa it, was the only one that seemed devoid of life

From Giordan Cale, Chas knew that the house itself was only the facade of Moldavi&039;s residence, and that round in well-furnished but less chambers The servants-round floors, where heavy curtains were drawn over the s during the day It was also where merchants entered and deliveries were ain access to the house He just had to wait for an opportune timeor to create one himself

The improved smoke packets that his friend Miro had made for him were in his coat pocket, but those were best used inside a confined space And since this was his first visit to the area, he didn&039;t intend to do anything et a sense of the area

He&039;d continued on his way to the end of the block The houses that lined the thoroughfare were all sin, with classical coluether, these structures were part of an architectural revival that had swept Paris during the Revolution Along with the city&039;s rebuttal of all things royal had come the desire to eli class had imposed upon it

Thus, the nouveau style e with syeoisie and their own seal on the city

The scent of spring roses and lilies caught in the breeze as he walked past neatly triardens around to the next block There was a small alley between two of the houses that abutted Moldavi&039;s, and he turned into it, still carrying his package

The alley was deserted and he walked purposely along toward the rear side of Moldavi&039;s house If anyone saw hie to Monsieur Tournedo-and could soed to the gentleman, s&039;il vous plait? If no one did, he&039;d have the chance to explore the rear of the house

During sunlight was the best tiood portion of the household would be asleep He just had to find the right time

And then as luck would have it, an opportunity presented itself Looking back, Chas knew he couldn&039;t have planned anything better

All at once, he heard a loud crash and clatter co from the street in front of Moldavi&039;s house The horrified whinny of a horse, followed by a screaonized shriek froood-likely an aniuaranteed distraction to anyone in the vicinity

Sure enough, as Chas peered around the corner toward theLike executions, accidents drew the morbid as well as the curious Which included, more often than not, everyone in the vicinity

"It was a cat! She ran in front of

"But you should have been looking!" raged another "Now see what you&039;ve done!"

People were streaes barked and whined, and warning bells began to ring Even a gunshot sounded, ate further

But, nohe had s to attend to Bloody da thethat only the thrust of a stake was between him and eternal darin that no one could see, he eased back behind the house If anyone in the Moldavi household ake, it was certain they&039;d be either looking out the front s or standing on the front porch Chas had the perfect opportunity and had to work quickly

As trees gave shade, and thus provided shadow froh a , he avoided the s near the large oak that grew on the north side of the building Best to find entry through a chaher the chamber, the less likely it would be occupied when the round He eyed aon the third floor and noted the sturdy brick edging around its gabled roof

Just then, a streak of blonde shot around the corner of the house It was a light-colored cat, and it appeared to be the one that had caused the ruckus out front Once safely under a yew against the house, the feline stopped and looked up at hiray-blue eyes

"Merci," Chas e, coat and cap behind the bush and pulled a rope froiventhe rope up onto one of thegables and pulled tight when its hook caught around the lip of the peak

The cat meowed, and to his aht The rope safely in place, Chas tested it and then began to climb

He was quick and efficient, his movements smooth and sleek, and e of theto peer in carefully Ele chair He se of disappoint to try to stop hiht

Gathering up the rope, he looped it out of sight onto the top of the little roof so that it would be accessible on his way out

Then, grateful for the continued chaos from the street beyond, he climbed into the cha it, he waited for the fa in his belly that told him a vampir was near The closer one ca he had in his gut

There was a tih the home of a Dracule and staked any va away the daylight Even after he met the earl, and learned that at least one of Lucifer&039;s stewards was not quite the evil being his granny&039;s stories had made the in his work

But in the last few years, since he&039;d come to know Corvindale&039;s friends and realized that despite the fact that they had all tied their souls to the Devil, there were various degrees of iid in his choices In his mind, every vampir could be a threat to mortals, but there was a divide between those who truly were, and those who si alar and went out the door into the corridor on silent feet A little twinge in his belly told him a Dracule was near, but it was so subtle that he kneasn&039;t in close proxih the house, h sketch of a map Cale had made for him, it became obvious that the top floors of the house were empty and unused That made his job even easier, for he&039;d be less likely to encounter anyone as he round

Nevertheless, he utilized the servants&039; stairs down through the back of the house, noting to hi from this kitchen Draculean households didn&039;t really need to cook er, and he slipped a stake from one of his inside pockets But as he passed silently by the main foyer of the home, which was furnished so as to impress any casual visitors, he saw that a cluster of people still gathered in front of the house and glileam of shiny black paint on the side of an upended Landau

It was safe to say that everyone awake in this house was out in the street