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"This entire estate, including the residence inside and out, is on video surveillance during the day The man who started the fire is already in custody"

"The police have him?"

"Not the police, Emma As you pointed out to Stavros, this estate is va with our local fire captain, but as far as the vampires are concerned, this is va and no one else"

"What if" She sed, reluctant to say the words "What if Duncancan’t do it?" she finally

"Then God save us all, because Lord Raphael will be out for blood"

"Raphael? You ot the garage open"

Marlon stood at the open side door waiting for thehts, Jackson?" he asked

"No," Emma said quickly She didn’t knoould happen when the sun set, but if it was bad, if the worst happened, she didn’t want her grief spotlighted for everyone to see "I don’t want to call any attention to us or to e’re waiting for"

"Right," Hissong said

They stopped a few feet inside the door, leaving it open E her sinuses and made her eyes water She knew her face ray with ash No wonder Stavros had doubted her credentials She probably would have too

With a ruround shook beneath her feet E house All around her conversation ceased Despite the steady roar of the equipht had been perfectly still And then the house itself shivered

"What is that?" Emma whispered,was at her ear

"You ever see a really powerful vary, Emma?" She shook her head silently "Well, you’re about to," he added

"It’s coain, rushing to pull back personnel and equipment for fear the house was about to collapse

E like a spectator at a play, as if this was all unreal There was apressure on her brain, a presence that she couldn’t quite touch, as if she only needed to open a door and there would beDuncan?

The sun hovered over the horizon, ed, trapped in his et out, building like an explosion that would take down the house and everyone around it The very air tre, the ancient tiht for the control that had always coreater than any he’d ever felt, his power aching to break free and avenge the wrong done to hiht of her banked the hunger of his power It withdrew, curling deep inside, waiting He had to remain calm He needed information Where was E injured, dying, while the hu she was inside? He let hisoutward His vaain awareness, others too young to hile the sun still hung in the sky

He searched farther, beyond the confines of the dreary base, where he and his va into this unsuitable, old house He found nothing but fire Its heat surrounded the beast, drawing ever closer, threatening the priether as a temporary measure There were humans all around Duncan could feel their presence too, far too many for just his daytime security Their e it difficult to weed out any one person, to deterh his awareness and he grabbed onto it This one was energized, rather than excited, and deterh it was ihters or a police from the street Whichever it was, Duncan slipped his own consciousness into the hu the two seamlessly until he could look up and see--

His heart nearly stopped when he saw the da around what must have been the focal point of an explosion--his bedroom, the bedroom where Eoal

"Emma!"

"Duncan?" Emma whispered She whipped her head in the direction of the house

"What is it?" Hissong asked intently

"I don’t know I thought I heard--"