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She frowned and thought long and hard about what she was going to do It was still daylight, so the guards would be human She could handle human They made noise and could be tracked like anyone else, and more is and claws She lifted the binoculars once again There was no break in the stone, not even a back gate of any kind, but the building she’d gliht up to the wall here It would cover her if she wanted to cli her to be at the gate at eight sharp that got her ht he could leave her behind, did he? She slithered down the hill, staying close to the ground andslowly, mindful of every sound They’d cleared fifteen feet or so around the estate itself It wasn’t enough for an effective fire break, but it meant she’d have to cross a wide open space to reach the wall She crouched beneath her last bit of cover and waited After severalwhich she neither heard nor saw any indication of h pockets and strapped the her knees and jue and she pulled, using her feet and knees to gain traction on the rough surface, hitching herself higher until she could throw her upper body over the top It was like clih Once there, she froze in the lee of the outbuilding and listened There had to be a guard presence in there somewhere, but damned if she could hear anyone, not even the shuffle of a boot or a grunt ofwas very close, its peaked and tiled roof hiding her fro Below her was a cramped space filled with leaves, dirt and the usual detritus, reeking of animal feces and rot She looked up The roof was close, but those tiles were far ile than they looked, and they were hell to traverse Was she really going to do this? Her stupid pride answered the question Hell, yes!

Maneuvering the rest of her body onto the top of the thick wall, she used the roof edge for support and duck-walked to the far end where she peered around slowly It looked like a guest house of soht about it for ten seconds, then swung her legs over and dropped quickly to the ground inside the co with the adrenaline rush of danger, that che seem a little more alive, a little more intense It was the rush that every extreme athlete, every fireman, every Navy SEAL understood It was the reason they did what they did For Cyn, it was that little edge that pushed her to take insane risks from time to time She wasn’t a junkie, but she sure did like the taste on occasion It had ht nohen she was hunkered down in the lair of a known thug who happened to be a vampire and had already tried to kill her once And if that wasn’t enough, a quick glance at her watch told her sunset was less than an hour away She’d checked the al to be sure Jesus, Cyn If you needed a break from routine, couldn’t you have taken a nice vacation?

Okay, so now she was inside and short on ti the back of the guest house to peek around the corner There s on this side, all boarded up froain She wished the dauards would show the with It was dead as a ceainst an insane giggle, al when she heard voicesand a door slairl

Any shred of hu herself down close to the ground in the growing shadows She had to get the fuck out of here It was crazy enough to creep around a vaht would be suicide Besides, Raphael would be arriving soon after sundown, and she wanted to be there to greet his s ass Of course, it would be better if she had some sweet piece of intel to pass on, and she was already here

The voices were drawing closer and Cyn realized with a sinking stoed back toward the peri space behind the cottage If absolutely necessary, she could probably squeeze herself in there If absolutely necessary

"Come on, she can’t be that bad" It was a

"Oh hell, she whines constantly Worse than a child My ten-year-old granddaughter has more backbone than this one" A woman this ti"

"She’s a waste of good blood I don’t knohy the "

"Ssshhh! It’s nearly dark; he could be awake already"

The wousted breath, and Cyn could hear keys rattling, then the soft sound of a door opening There was silence for a while, although she thought she heard movement inside the small house, then the door closed and there was the clear snick of a lock

"You co around here So I’m not sure what They don’t tell us nothin’ Orders cauard this place ‘til a vaotta piss and who’s gonna know, huh?"