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"And in case I am a fool, and my sons are better liars than I believe them to be, I will also have with hts as you arrive"

Now that was e for this, I will pay you themy son, and the aestured to the driver, who cale fluid movement, and I stood with him "To ensure that you will be alive on Friday, I have taken some … additional precautions"

On cue, the servant unzipped the front of the bag, revealing the bloody severed head of my sire

Um,Okay then

And while he didn’t show it tothe heart was in the second compartment How they’d found him I had no idea But it was him No doubt about it Wow That ay beyond the pale as far as payment in advance

I was more than mildly surprised that I hadn’t noticed when it happened Shouldn’t I have had so?

I looked at the pleasant, debonairhe’d said had been excruciatingly polite, but I wasn’t being given a choice about this and I knew it I could assist hily, or not But I would assist hi

I took a deep breath, and it ca corralled, but I would like this to be over "I’ll be there"

20

Dawn took its oeet tiot into the rental sedan and drove my sire’s head to the nearest cre chains, so the minute they saw the head they knehat had to be done I was told it would be given priority treatment and that I could pick the ashes up anytiave me said that he’d probably like to shovein a broad ray of sunlight, so he couldn’t quite decide what to make of me and just took the head and walked away

That done, I drove back to the expensive hotel where Bruno had been staying

There was no way I wanted to brave the lobby, ith the bloodstains and uest key card, I let h one of the secondary entrances I could have gone hoas company had made their repairs But David had called and left a voice h our security He’d killed our pool boy and taken his right hand Exactly what had happened to Louis at Birchwoods Hoht not be safe, which made a nice, anonyed wearily up a set of concrete fire stairs until I reached the appropriate floor Pushing open the door, I came face-to-face with a pair of men in almost identical navy suits with crisp white shirts and dark ties Each also wore a barely perceptible little ear-radio and a gold cross and each discreetly held a single-shot pistol filled with holy water They stood in front of the doorway looking stern and alert Well, crap

"Good , ma’am We’re with hotel security We’d like to ask you a few questions" Of course they would Who wouldn’t at this point? I smiled pleasantly I’d seen the security cameras downstairs I wasn’t surprised that security had spotted ular "Of course My name is Celia Graves I aotten back from a police-sanctioned vampire hunt of the bat that tried to turn me dead Mr DeLuca and his brother, Father Matteo DeLuca, will verify it I’ll be perfectly happy to wait here in the hall while you check with the police"

The largerhere, in the hall, in full sight of any guests who o anywhere with soh time with people I already knew

Yes, they looked like hotel security, but no, I wasn’t taking any chances Besides, the odds of anyone actually being up and wandering the halls at this ti as we stayed quiet and didn’t wake anyone, everything should be just ducky

The shorter an speaking very quietly to the dispatcher downstairs It only took a few minutes for soet a detailed description ofman looked down at me with some surprise Apparently he wasn’t used to the idea of woet the authorities to give you the nod They’re jaded about that sort of thing I suppose it coet drunk, then think they can take on the bats

"Looks like you got hiestured at my bloodstained jeans

"Got one, anyway"

"There was more than one?" The shorter man sounded surprised Obviously he’d never had to deal with vampires His partner, however, was uy shook his head sadly "It’s why I stopped hunting If you don’t get them all the first time, it just pisses the survivors off You do not want to deal with a pissed-off bat"