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~ Revelations of a Faht Hunt vaed to say, shaking her head "That&039;s ridiculous I&039;m a library assistant I&039; or strong or tall, and I have no idea how todo that This is the silliest thing I&039;ve ever heard"

Yet, even as she said the words, Macey felt a little tingle inside Alhtened and-yes-curious, she lifted her glass to drink and froze with it halfway to her ent "This is-this is whiskey"

The hed softly He&039;d removed his fedora, finally, and now she could see his eyes They were ely handsoy and sharp in appearance as he was in personality, but he looked like an exotic Gypsy, with jet-black hair and swarthy skin "Indeed it is And an excellent vintage if I do say so One thing about Vioget-he always has the best"

For soulp of the saed her for leaving him at the diner She hoped he wasn&039;t too worried about her She hoped he didn&039;t have reason to be "Whiskey&039;s illegal I can&039;t-"

"I beg to differ, et said mildly "The sale, production, and distribution of spirits is explicitly prohibited by Volstead But not the actual i of it"

He smiled war tingle in her belly She tore her eyes away, her cheeks warer Yet, even though a look from him caused warmth to shimmy up her spine, she still felt a chill over the back of her neck As if a constant breeze settled there

She looked down at the whiskey, pretending to consider taking a sip In reality, Macey was trying to organize and control her racing mind A vampire hunter? Me?

Father as well? Her insides turned cold at the hter away after she lost her mother? To place after place, hoain?

Vampire hunter or not, Max Denton was not a person she wanted to emulate Or respect Or even remember

My fathera vampire hunter Impossible

But perhaps not as impossible as she would have believed only yesterday Before she&039;d seen a vampire

Since vampires do exist, there must be those who hunt the so

But lass down Her heart thudded harder as she stood "I&039; to leave now" It occurred to her that perhaps they wouldn&039;t allow her to leave, these two dangerous-silkily dangerous- ould happen

She suspected facing Al Capone or Bugs Moran would be a cakewalk compared to a shoith the two in this roohter of Victoriat - thought she ht choke, but she walked steadily toward the exit

"Macey"

She was at the door Hand on the knob, she turned, not expecting to see that Sebastian and Chas had remained in their seats Neither ht by Sebastian&039;s, she felt a funny tug in the center of her belly And had the ied so?

"No, Viogetlet&039;s play fair" Chasin front of Sebastian&039;s eyes Macey blinked and the tug inside eased

Then all at once, realization jolted her Her knees wobbled She clutched the knob as they buckled a little, then caught herself before her legs gave way "You-you&039;re a vampire"

"And a Venator" He wore an odd expression-a little chagrined, a little wary

"Buthow can you be both?"

"That is a dahtly "How can you be both, the lady asks?"

"Get out," Sebastian growled "Now" His eyes burned-literally-red and glowing, just like those of the ht Her pulse jerked when she noticed fang tips pressing into his lower lip

"Very well If that&039;s what you wish" Chas set his glass down and it clinked gently against the whiskey bottle "Good luck convincing a Venator to help a vampire"

"Wait" Macey held up her hand To her relief, it wasn&039;t even tre Maybe she wasI&039; to think about this And I&039;ll let you knowin a few days"

"Of course, cherie But do you truly wish to place yourself in danger overnight? Now that the undead knoho you are and where you live, you&039;re no longer safe Particularly since you&039;ve already slain one of theun to tick All has been set in aze faded, and he looked at her with mortal eyes "Whether you wish to accept it or not, whether you believe it or not, you are Macey Gardella Daughter of Max Denton, great-great-granddaughter of Victoria You are the heir to Il Gardella-The Gardella-line, and destined to change the world in this era The undead know this They&039;ve been waiting for you And Count Alvisi will do whatever hethe girl, Vioget"

Chas&039;s voice wasn&039;t particularly kind, but Macey couldn&039;t disagree She had no feeling in her legs, and her insides were a jungle of nerves "But I don&039;t have to accept the Calling You said I didn&039;t have to accept it" She looked at him, over the back of her neck slyuncertain whether she&039;d find help with him or not "What if I don&039;t?"

"If you don&039;twell, first, you&039;ll live in utter ignorance of this very conversation, of this very place and even our identities," Chas said, speaking before Sebastian could

His lackadaisical attitude had evaporated Gone was the insolent, testy man who&039;d drunk half a bottle of whiskey in fortyhis expression "And the undead will continue to do what they have always done What they must do to survive: take from mortals, feed on them, rape and maul them For that is what they&039;ve been created to do: to take Without reservation

"If unchecked, they&039;ll grow in large numbers, as the likes of Capone and Torri have done-but these are i sters, Chicago will be controlled by vampires Particularly if they convince Capone and the others to join the-redeemable about one who is undead They cannot be saved, they cannot be corrected A vampire is unadulterated evil They must take in order to live That is the core of their existence Rape and violation"

Macey couldn&039;t breathe Not so much because of Chas&039;s speech, but because of the expression settling on Sebastian&039;s face Tor with fury

"Ah But there is one exception," Chas added casually He hadn&039;t looked at Sebastian, but surely he felt the antipathy rolling off him "And that is our host here-the fine proprietor of The Silver Chalice He has a chance for redemption And he needs you to help hi Macey Denton out of his sight-particularly with the gangster she&039;d somehow attracted He kne to take care of himself, but more importantly, he kne to read a o very sharp

He&039;s a friend It&039;s fine

Like hell

But Gradythey&039;d get into a car and he&039;d follow Besides, his gun was under the seat

Instead of getting in their own vehicle, Macey and her escort turned down a pedestrian alley a block away and across the street By the tiht

Sonofabitch

He looked around for a while, talked to a feitnesses who&039;d seen them, but he&039;d lost their trail Now Grady sat behind the steering wheel and cursed Hope to hell you knohat you&039;re doing, lass