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Duncan was forced to agree Even if Erik or Brendan had complained to another vampire lord, Victor would have been told, and the two va a word of protest

And even now, hearing about it for the first time, Duncan didn’t knohat to say that wouldn’t sound like a less platitude All they had was his word that he was different fros would never happen under his rule Duncan stood, turning to face Erik and Brendan, who had ju," Duncan said, "you uel or Louis They’ll fill entlemen You will see that in ti Louis aiting by the front door

"Thank you for the information, and for your hospitality"

"My lord," Brendan said when Duncan was halfway to the door

Duncan turned and gave hi look

"Thank you, my lord We knew you were different from the moment you claimed the territory You cared more in those few minutes of terror and confusion than Victor had in his entire rule Just by getting rid of him, you’ve done every vampire in this territory a service already We’ll talk to the others, too, and let theain, Brendan I don’t intend to be a stranger toVictor," Duncan swore as Louis steered the big SUV down the curving driveway "I can’t believe none of us realized how corrupt he was"

"How could you, uards live in the District, and anyone else who htened to take action"

"That’s no excuse I saw his, and I never suspected any of this Neither did Raphael, and it’s not easy to pull one over on hi for it, but ould he have looked for any of this? I’ve never been to a CouncilA few hours, maybe? It’s not like they ether, I iin’s knickers"

Duncan gave his lieutenant a sideways look "You’re not old enough to know about virgins or knickers, Miguel," he said dryly

"Hey, we still have virgins!" Miguel protested with a srateful for the change of uel nodded "It’s the sah we didn’t have a record of the one property operating as a blood house From what Erik said it’s pretty active, too It’s the only one for a hundredto think this whole trip was a waste of tiht as well check it out next"

"We need to leave enough tiuel coood hour’s drive on the other side of Leesburg I don’t want you to end up spending a day unguarded in a strange blood house, or worse, that party place of Victor’s God knohat sort of people he let in there We should head back tonight and get an early start tomorrow Check them both out then"

Duncan frowned The whole idea of Victor’s parties ain, but it also sounded a lot like what Lacey had described to Eood He wanted to see the house for hiht," he said "We’ll do them both toh I expect there’s nothing left there but the ghosts of pain and old blood"

The next night, as Duncan stood in the yard of Victor’s Leesburg estate, he looked back and reht how foolish he’d been to believe he’d already understood the full depth of Victor’s depravity

Chapter Eight

Emma found it nearly impossible to concentrate Two days had passed since she’d spoken to Duncan at the va back fro out with nerves that she’d skipped hershe didn’t need the caffeine, even though she’d barely slept last night But then she hadn’t really slept since the first night Lacey had gone ht, E They’d known each other since they were eleven years old, that horrible year when Emma’s mother had died from the saht, she’d found herself orphaned with no other family on her mother’s side to take her in She’d never known anyone from her father’s family; didn’t even know if there was anyone So Emma had been left all alone in the world, shuffled into foster care along with the thousands of others just like her And she would have stayed all alone, too, if not for Lacey<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>