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"I’ll be out soon Don’t worry"

He heard uel order one of the vamps to stay with her at the car And then his lieutenant was back

"Do you feel it, Miguel?" Duncan whispered, and sent a fraction of what he was sensing down the link he shared with his vauel sucked in a breath "Sick fuck," he hissed

"Not sick," Duncan corrected softly "Evil" His gaze traveled up the wide staircase It would be worse up there So uel sent one of his vauards up ahead of hi to see any longer, only to feel He tightened his shields down hard, needing to knohat had happened, but unwilling to let the full measure of Victor’s corruption swah He didn’t need to drown in it

He climbed the stairs slowly, reluctantly, for all that he was deterly to the right, the waves of pain and terror like the fingers of a ghost, tugging at his clothing, drawing him closer

They passed the first roo ahead Every one of the rooer that would never be satisfied But the worst of it, the true depths of depravity that had been perpetrated herethat had happened in the room at the end of the hall The door was closed Duncan wished it could stay that way

His fangs e over his lower lip unbidden, as he stared at that closed door--as he stalked down the hall to that nightlance, his own fangs appearing in response to Duncan’s obvious anger Duncan al his vision He opened the door and halted there, unwilling to cross the threshold He heard the voices ofin release And he heard the terrified cries of woony

He sed a furious howl, biting down so hard that his fangs sliced his lip Blood dripped down to his chin, war, lost in the one to satisfy their perverted need to inflict pain on the helpless

Duncan spun on his heel, unable to bear another ony-soaked roo the boards, the carpets; everything it touched was fouled by what had happened there

He strode back toward the staircase He needed to get outside before the leftover emotions destroyed as left of his shields He shuddered at the thought of facing the searing pain of that house without even a shred of protection

Miguel hurried next to hi every roo for, but feeling the tiniest part of what Duncan was drowning in Duncan started down the stairs, forcing himself to take them one at a time, when all he wanted was to jump the banister and race outside

"My lord, what did you find? What should I tell the others to look for?"

They reached the first floor The nightain "Tell the a fresh sense of alaruel quickly

"Yes, h an arched doorway on their left They raced through a huge dining room to a wide open kitchen with two sets of French doors that opened onto a covered patio Miguel snapped the handles down hard, not bothering with locks, and Duncan strode outside, quickly finding Ari where he stood head down, staring at the ground, tension radiating fro here, except--

It hit hier the closer he got to Ari When Duncan finally reached his side, the dark-haired va ild power that yearned for an enemy to strike down But there was no enemy here There was only the dead their enemy had left behind

Duncan reached out to his vampire--and Ari was his, not a child of his own, but sworn to hie with the touch of his power

Together they studied the minuscule disturbances that spoke loudly to those who knehat to look for, even without the suide the to see but dirt and a little bit of grass that was dry and brown froreen turf, as they obviously had in the front yard before Victor’s last party Had that been the one Lacey attended? If Duncan had still believed in a merciful God, he would have offered a prayer that it not be so He didn’t want Emma to lose her friend that way, didn’t want her search to end here in this house of horrors But the world had proven to hihed "I have to talk to Emma first Then I’llin her car, the engine running to keep the heater blowing, because despite Duncan’s jacket, she was freezing It washer cold She was scared More scared than she could ever re More than when she’d been forced to kiss her dead grandmother as she lay in the casket Even more than when herthen to appreciate all the things that could go wrong, and young enough to believe she’d be fine on her own