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Raphael nodded silently He glanced at Duncan, then spun his chair around and watched the silver waves dance in the darkness He heard Lonnie take a sip of his wine and set the glass back down Duncan didn’thi what he had planned
He stood in a sudden decisive motion, followed a split second later by Lonnie, who jumped from his chair alhton, Lonnie You’ll be paying her a visit tonight" He waved his hand in dis the door after hi back to Raphael
"I would not question your judghtly "Albin did not act alone in this, Duncan I know him very well He thinks only of hined hih as to attempt to seize power from me His dreams are far meaner And Alexandra, no one would take her but to torment meor to lure me into a trap We have a snake in our nest, Duncan, but it is not Albin, or not Albin alone He is merely a tool, andhis purpose So a play to overthrow h to haveup even a whisper such a thing was imminent Albin is not so clever"
"But the hu humans Humans are weak and will readily turn on one another, if properly persuaded It takes only hope, such a fragile thing, hope that their own lives will be spared, toto life; perhaps because they have so few years After all this time, I have lost the ability to understand the in this human woman She understands her own kind and will track down these human pawns for me If Alexandra is my weakness--and I’ve no doubt they think she is--then these humans are theirs Give me just one human and I will learn all I need to know about who is behind this and where to find the that will untangle it"
Chapter Six
The headlights of soh the slitted blinds and almost directly into Cynthia’s eyes She winced, then walked over to snap the wooden slats closed She was about ready to call it a night She’d been here since early afternoon, doing the kind of work she normally would have done froations involved researching old records and such, the kind of stuff the Internet had made easily accessible to those who knehere to look But Holly see too many questions about Cyn’s work She was especially curious about the vampires since so little was known about them Many people considered their existence little un to wonder if there was anything wrong with her sister’s house at all, or ifto know exactly what Cynthia orking on
In any event, Cyn had decamped to her office to work It was quiet here, only the occasional visitor next door and the steady hu as she sat back down
"Leighton"
"Hey, Cyn! You’re there" Speak of the devil and he’ll give you a call Not that Lonnie was a bad guy He wasn’tfor a vampire
"A little early for you, isn’t it, Lonnie?"
"Uh, yeah" He laughed nervously "Listen, Cyn I need to talk to you Can I come by?"
Cynthia frowned "Sure, Lonnie, you know that What’s the problem?"
"Um, it’s complicated and I’d rather not discuss it on a cell phone I’m about fifteen minutes from your office"
She didn’t like the sound of Lonnie’s voice He was nervous, and a little too insistent for the normally laid back vampire But it probably wouldn’t hurt to meet with him Whatever he wanted, she could always tell him no "Okay, coing trouble with you, I’onna be pissed"
"Come on, Cyn Think of all the business I send you I’ll be there in fifteenood-bye, then sa dark it was in her office and went around turning on laht of her monitor, with only a small desk lamp on As she clicked switches, she brooded about the fact that Lonnie hadn’t denied he was in trouble By the tiain, the security buzzer was sounding and there was Lonnie, staring into the ca the words, "Hi Cyn"
She was s when she hit the interco open a file drawer and stashing the folders, thinking how Lonnie frequentlypersonality and a knack for ured hy he’d been put in charge ofthe vamps’ personal feedlot down at the beach house She couldn’t figure out what any of that had to do with her, however
"So, what’s up?" she asked without looking as she pulled a notepad out of her desk drawer
"Cyn--" Lonnie said uneasily
She glanced up, then jumped to her feet, her Glock 17 out of her shoulder holster faster than thought and held before her in a standard two handed grip Pushing her chair aithout looking, sheto put soe vaer dropped to the trigger, depressing it just enough to click off the safety