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Louis shook his head "Not in the city of DC, my lord He and his four were the only vamps he permitted to live herewell, other than those creatures in the base states Not always houses, of course, sometimes clubs, like what Rajh"
"I want a list of anyplace within" Duncan thought for a moment "Let’s make it within two hours’ drive fro was done somewhere other than this house Not that he would have cared, but his gueststo a party outside the city How long will it take you to come up with that information?"
"No more than a few minutes,o, pretty s ready for you"
"Excellent I’uel," Duncan said, "and you can meet us in the library once you have the list The rest of you keep working on these files, and if you find anything noteworthy, call uel in the basement with yet another of the vaht This one was very specialized and would only remain until their task was coer than anyone anticipated
"This is all shit, Miguel," a wiry, gray-haired va wood and Duncan winced, hoping the entire house wasn’t about to collapse on their heads They’d probably survive, but it rinned at the gray-haired vae, Alaric"
The vae is you trying to last the full fivewith me, my lord This" He waved at the musty, dark basement around the about the vamp dust left over frohter fled, and Duncan nodded soberly "Louis cleaned most of it out," he said
"And he did a fine job of it, too," Alaric agreed "But I’ll tell you, Duncan I served in s And God knows, I’ve seen hts as a vaives me the creeps I wouldn’t want to sleep down here, even if the foundation wasn’t rotting and about to duarded the other vahtfully Alaric was the finest vampire contractor in North America He’d built the daytime sleep vaults in every one of Raphael’s personal residences and scattered headquarters, including the new compound up near Seattle There were a couple of other crews doing similar work in the vampire community They’d all trained with Alaric, and that let thee a very pretty price for their services But there was no substitute for having Alaric hie of your project, and Duncan would have paid any price Alaric asked in order to secure the safest possible resting place for his people A va daytime sleep The recentwith three more in Canada, had proved that beyond a doubt
"So, what do you propose?" he asked now
"It’s going to take tiround vault," Alaric warned hi swaleah it was probably as
"I don’t care what it costs If it can be done, I want it done"
The vaive you this, et the rest of uel a pointed look "I won’t be needing you for that part"
Miguel looked affronted, but Duncan intervened quickly and said, "That’s good I need Miguel withlook, but Duncan just signaled hiood, and as much as he admired Alaric’s skill, he had no desire to share the details of his personal affairs
Miguel i upstairs ahead of Duncan, pausing to scan the hallway before stepping through the doorway As if ene in wait for them somewhere between the kitchen and the stairs But Duncan didn’t say anything The situation was still too unsettled Security was better, but not yet up to Miguel’s--or Duncan’s--standards There were va all over the house, and yet it was still more than half empty Eventually it would feel like ho for them in the library "I e-uel asked, pulling out his suests who’d rather not be seen," Duncan replied "Whicha house that’s at least private, if not isolated He wouldn’t have wanted neighbors seeing people coet nosey and see so some rundown cabin in the woods, either Victor was a snob The house will be elegant, expensive, very possibly in an exclusive area of ho, Virginia, my lord," Louis said confidently "Victor owned two properties there, both of which would suit, and there’s a blood house nearby, too"
"How far?"Duncan asked
"About thirty-five ht, thirtyon traffic"
Duncan nodded ItThey’d have plenty of tio, then Unless you’d rather stay here and knock down solanced down at what he earing Like the others, he was dressed casually, in jeans and a sweater He hadn’t planned on ht, hadn’t planned on even leaving the house,any of the blood houses But it would take tie, and besides these clothes arrabbed a leather jacket fro it on over his sweater There was a leather hair tie in the jacket pocket, so he finger-coh tail It would have to do Raj’s Manhattan club ht be tuxedo territory, but most blood houses were far less formal And if not, well, he was their lord and master, and he’d hatever he damned well pleased And if anyone had a proble either