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Ivan Petrovsky checked the address Katya had given him "This is it, Vlad Pull over"

Vladi space not far from the safe house in New Rochelle Both sides of the dimly lit street were lined with tall, narroood-framed houses Covered porches looked out onto tiny front yards Most of the houses gleaht from their s, but the safe house was dark

There was no feain, she&039;d proven herself worth her weight in gold A longtime member of his Russian coven, Katya was every bit as vicious as he She&039;d been the one to locate and seduce the US e of Shanna Whelan With the marshal completely under her control, Katya had easily set this trap

Ivan instructed Vlad to stay with the car, then zipped toward the safe house with vampire speed He stopped at the back door and waited for Alek and his hareirl Galina to catch up They slipped inside the house, their superior vision enabling them to see in the dark They moved across the kitchen and down a narrow hallway In the front room, Ivan found Katya and her USthe man&039;s lap, her skirt scrunched up to her hips

"Enjoying yourself?" Ivan asked

Katya shrugged "I was bored It&039;s soet a turn?" Galina sat next to the lazed over Blood trickled from punctures on his neck

Ivan waved a hand in front of the lawman&039;s face No reaction He was tempted to stick a Post-it on the irl?"

Katya scooted off the marshal&039;s lap and onto her feet The heraze the tips of her black sandals "Do you like?" She struck a pose, designed to highlight the slit that went up one side of her skirt to the square knot on her hip With this skirt, it was obvious Katya washer panties Her sleeveless white blouse draped in folds down to her waist, exposing much of her breasts

"I like Very lanced at his watch It was eight-forty They needed to leave in ten minutes It would only take a few minutes to kill Shanna Whelan, but he had his heart set on playing with her first

Katya gave Ivan&039;s lieutenant a sy the boss with his wo a taste for himself" She slipped her hand beneath her skirt and outlined the contour of her naked derriere

Alek turned away, his fists clenched

"Enough, Katya" Why was she trying to cause trouble between hi male vampires ould follow his orders but leave his harem alone Over the years, Ivan had executed toowith his women He couldn&039;t afford to lose any more

He motioned to the zoirl in a similar state? Where is she? Upstairs?"

Katya stepped back, a wary look in her eyes "She has not yet arrived"

"What?" Ivan advanced toward her

Katya flinched, clearly expecting to be slapped

Ivan fisted his hand Tension coiled in his neck, the pressure building till it became unbearable When he snapped the vertebrae, there was a distinct pop Katya blanched Maybe she feared he&039;d do the same with her pretty neck

She bowed her head "I am devastated to have disappointed you, my lord" She reverted to the old forirl would be here by eight-thirty What happened to her?"

"I don&039;t know Bob told her to coritted his teeth "And yet she is not here"

"No, my lord"

"Has she tried to contact him?"

"No"

"I had planned to feed on her before the damned ball" Ivan paced across the room His plan had been brilliant Not only would he make a quarter- Roirl dry, then he&039;d go to Draganesti&039;s ball and toss the dead girl&039;s body at his feet While Draganesti and his feeble friends flew into a panic, Alek and Vladirand finale for the evening It was perfect It should have been perfect Where the hell was the girl? He hated it when his meals were late

"Stupid bitch!" Ivan cricked his neck to the side

Katya winced "Shelate"

"I can&039;t wait all night for her to show up We have to go to that stinking ball It&039;s our only chance to get inside Ro us" Ivan paced to a wall and punched a fist through it "Now I&039;ll have to go to that da fit to eat there"

"I&039;ry, too" Galina stuck out her bottom lip A former prostitute from the Ukraine, the sexy redhead kne to pout and how to please

"There&039;s plenty of blood left in Bob," Katya offered "I only had a snack"

"M her lips

Ivan glanced at his watch "We have five s into the marshal&039;s neck "Leave some for me" The man had outlived his usefulness

Gregori checked his watch "Alet to the ballroom"

Roman rose from the chair behind his desk He dreaded this ball How could he party while Shanna was in danger? Just the thought of drinking Bubbly Blood made his stomach churn And now this latest news¡ªShanna&039;s father was the head of a group anted to kill him

God&039;s blood Was history doomed to repeat itself? This was too much like the debacle he&039;d experienced in London in 1862 He&039;dlady named Eliza When her father uncovered Roman&039;s secret, he dereed, but he hoped Eliza would understand his dilemma and elope with hi, he woke up with his casket open and a wooden stake resting on his chest

He went to confront the father, but discovered it was Eliza who had left the stake Her father had stopped her fro hieance upon his family Sickened by the whole affair, Roman erased their memories of him Too bad he could not erase his own He started a new life in America, but the sad affair haunted him Never, he swore, would he risk another involvement with a mortal female And yet Shanna had entered his life and filled the dark recesses of his heart with hope

Hoould she react if she learned the truth? Would she, too, try to kill hi? Or would she simply wait for her father to do the job?

How had the CIA learned the truth about vampires? Some fool must have perfor their memory of it afterward However it had happened, it constituted a serious probleus, and Jean-Luc would spendhow to handle the matter

Roman walked toward the ballroom, accompanied by the men who had been in his office "Ian, how ents are on the tea Shanna&039;s father"

"Only five?" Angus asked "That&039;s not too bad Do ye have their naet to them first"

Roman winced Kill Shanna&039;s father? Now that would certainly boost his chances for a happy romance

"It doesn&039;tstick on the floor as he walked "No mortal can attack us while we are awake We can instantly take control of their minds"

Roman paused in mid-stride Was that it? Shanna had shown remarkable resistance to mind control And her ability to read his mind while they were linked was uncanny It was very possible she had psychic ability Inherited psychic ability God&039;s blood A teaovern

"They us said "I&039;ll have to trainon a for the day" Laszlo glanced nervously at Roman "Maybe I shouldn&039;t have ripped Roman by the shoulder "Can ye do it, man?"

"I believe so," Roman replied "It hasn&039;t been tested yet"

"I&039;ll be your guinea pig," Gregori offered with a grin

Ro happen to you I needthe business so I can work indouble doors to the ballrooasp, he retreated back into the hallway "Merde It&039;s that horrid woman from DVN I think she saw us"

"A news reporter?" Roman asked

"Not exactly" Jean-Luc shuddered "It&039;s Corky Courrant She hosts the celebrity us huffed iuys are celebrities" Gregori gave them an incredulous look "Didn&039;t you know?"

"Yes" Laszlo ducked his head "You&039;re all faht have changed the va in his lab In fact, he sorely wished he was in his lab right now

"Doona let her sations, she once ran a torture chamber in the Tower of London for Henry VIII She was called Catherine Courrant back then They say she&039;s personally responsible for wrenching the confession of incest froed it off in his usual way "And now she works for the media But of course"

"The lads and I call her Porky I looks "Ye know, Corky Courrant¡ªPorky Iori raised his hands like he was holding two casaba ot to be fake"

"Aye," Ian joined in "They&039;re enorritted his teeth "Thank you all for sharing But the fact reround or her evenin this hallway all evening"

"Aye" Angus squared his shoulders "We on"

Ian took a deep breath "We on"

The double doors burst open

The le puff of son lady announced, her dark eyes glea with victory "You cannot escape me now"

Corky Courrant motioned for her crew to take their positions Two ital camera, while a female crew member performed last-minute touches to Corky&039;s makeup Each of the creore black jeans and T-shirts emblazoned hite letters that read DVN Guests, dressed forathered in a crowd behind the reporter, effectively blocking off that means of escape

We&039;re trapped The only avenue of retreat that Roman could see was back to his office, and no doubt the voracious reporter would simply follow hi away" She narrowed her dark eyes on the men "You will talk"

That had probably been her favorite line as us

"Enough!" The reporter waved the makeup person away She touched a ht ear and tilted her head to listen to someone&039;s voice "We&039;re on in thirty seconds Places everyone" She posed in front of the ca much of her oversized bosoone to Dr Uberlingen in Zurich He was the only vae fee, he could help a va and beautiful The reporter&039;s implants had probably helped her nab one of the coveted jobs at DVN The Digital Vampire Netas still fairly new and flooded each ith hundreds of hopeful va star

Catching vaital cay had opened up a whole neorld of possibilities and problems In fact, Roman wouldn&039;t be surprised if this was how the CIA had learned of their existence They could have discovered the secret frequency DVN used for broadcasting

Gregori&039;s phone rang He flipped it open and stepped away "Hey, Connor," he spoke softly "What&039;s up?"

Roman focused on the one-way conversation

"A house in New Rochelle?" Gregori asked "What happened?"

The cahtened with a high-wattage s for Live with the Undead We have a special treat for you tonight We&039;re live at the biggest vampire bash of the year! I&039;m sure you&039;ll want to "

She ave some facts about him, then did the same for Jean-Luc Echarpe Roori&039;s phone conversation

"Are you sure?" Gregori whispered "Dead? "

Ro about Shanna? His e of her lifeless body No! Not his Shanna

"Roanesti!" The reporter moved in front of him "I have thousands of vieould love to ood ti hi stick "Uh, Porky No, I mean¡ª" Damn, what the hell was her naon fire Her shtened into a snarl

"Mademoiselle Courrant," Jean-Luc cut in "May I have the pleasure of the first dance?"

"Why, yes, of course" Corky airin at the camera as she curled her claws around Jean-Luc&039;s arrand coven master of Western Europe Why, he&039;s practically royalty!" She strolled into the ballrooori "What happened? Tell us joined hiori pocketed the cell phone "Connor followed Ivan Petrovsky to a house in New Rochelle Ivan and his friends went inside Connor thought theyShanna there, so he went around back, levitated to a second floorand teleported inside"

Roman&039;s nerves tensed "Was she there?"

"No," Gregori replied "All the rooh of relief

"But they did have a ori continued "Connor listened in on them Ivan was furious that Shanna hadn&039;t shown up Then they killed the mortal Connor was sore upset &039;cause he could only listen He knew he couldn&039;t defeat four vaus muttered

"Connor heard them receive a call, and then they all rushed out the front door He went downstairs and found their victirimaced "He was probably Shanna&039;s contact"

"Bloody hell," Angus muttered "No wonder the CIA wants us dead &039;Tis vaive us a bad name"

"I don&039;t want to hurt anyone" Laszlo fiddled with a button on his tux jacket "Can&039;t we convince the CIA that some of us are peaceful?"

"We&039;ll have to try" Angus folded his arms across his broad chest "And if they doona believe we&039;re peaceful, then we&039;ll have to kill the bastards"

"Aye" Ian nodded

Roic escaped him "So where is Connor now?"