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E to cry Tears wouldn’t bring Lacey back Nothing would Emma’s job noas to see Lacey properly buried Then she’d find whoever had done thisand kill hirohere she had and not learn how to shoot She even had aa gun if you couldn’t hit anything with it She didn’t get out to the range as often as she would have liked, but her aih And up close and personal, it wouldn’tto wait for the police Police were too easily bought off in this town Besides, if they’d taken her , ht now Who kne long she’d been buried in that--

But, she wasn’t going to think about that She was going to hold it together long enough to convince Duncan she was okay, and then the killer had better start looking over his shoulder, because she was going to make someone pay

"Emma?" Duncan said softly

Emma raised her eyes to his He looked worried, but there was no need She was fine Finer than fine She was cold purpose

"Duncan," she said, proud of how even her voice was, how calm Duncan appreciated calm "You don’t need to worry about aze seeht she saw a deep bronze glow replace the warm brown of his eyes In that , what she planned to do tomorrow and the next day But then he blinked, and she persuaded herself it was iination

"I’ on Grand to cover up what you’re really feeling, so no one ever has to suffer the eenuine emotion

Duncan’s eyes narrowed into a scowl "Stop that"

She glared at hi me out with your proper Southernabout"

"I’m a vampire lord, Emma You can’t fool me"

"Good for you," she shot back "I’ the best I can" Who the hell did he think he was anyway? If she wanted to pretend her heart wasn’t breaking, if she needed to believe it, as he to tell her she couldn’t?

"Fine" He stood, shoving the heavy table out of his way as if it weighed nothing at all He turned his back, ignoring her for ato control it Some men would have sla Duncan was too controlled for that, but there were still signs He wasn’t the only one who could read body language She and Lacey had survived seven years in foster care She was a das you need to know," he said finally, but without turning

"Where’s Lacey’s body?" she asked instead

That brought hiht he wouldn’t answer her question, but then he said, "At a funeral home in Falls Church"

She frowned "Why there? Won’t the police--"

"There won’t be any police"

Eo Forget that she’d been planning to shut out the police and pursue her own revenge She wasn’t going to let hi had happened

"What do you mean no police?" she demanded "You and your vampires murdered Lacey The police will make Victor come back and--"

"Victor’s dead"

Emma froze, suddenly confused "But, how? Iback "But that ht I ca embassy," he snarled, "and yes, he was already dead That’s hoorks with vampires"

"Hoorks?" she insisted, not at all put off by his ht himself and said, "It doesn’t matter What matters is that vampires were involved in this crime, and vampires will take care of it"

"What does thatherself "So Victor’s dead Great, fantastic That’s one down--"

"Five down," he interjected "He had bodyguards"