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"My thanks again for the lovely design, Martina Let me know if you have any other questions before we proceed with the project" "Of course Good night, Frau Roth" Claire ended the call, then stepped out of the roo protective of her secret undertaking and seeing no reason to invite questions fro alone with one of the half-dozen Enforcened to look out for her and the property she occupied, she realized that her little side project was the least of the security detail’s concern The guard seeitated, uncharacteristically twitchy "Yes What is it?" "I need you to come withhe was Breed, in addition to being ar so was terribly wrong The co with inter the other agents posted at the country house "We’re evacuating the pre? Why? What’s going on?"
"I’m afraid there is no time to waste" More static sounded over his coround "We’re readying a vehicle for you now Please You must come with me" He started to reach for her are "I don’t understand Why do I have to leave? I de on" "We had a situation at the Darkhaven in Hauard didn’t elaborate, siht over her "As a precaution, we’re clearing out of here and taking you to another location A safe house in Mecklenburg" "Wait aabout What situation in Ha? Why do I need to be moved to a safe house? What exactly does any of this ave her an impatient look as he barked his position into his co the vehicles around to the front and prepare to roll out We’re on the way to rab for her and Claire’s patience snapped
"Godda on? And where is Wilhelm? Get him on the phone I want to talk to him before I let you haul me out of my own home with hardly an explanation" "Director Roth has been out of the country since July," the agent told her, his schooled expression seeest that he didn’t notice her embarrassment over the fact that a basic security detail could know more about her mate’s whereabouts than she did He cleared his throat "We’re atte to contact the director now to brief hiotten as her skin went cold and tight "Good lord Was someone attacked at the Darkhaven? Has souard stared at her for what seemed like endless minutes before he finally hissed a curse and blurted out the details in a toneless spill of words "The Darkhaven in Hao We just received the call frouard who escaped," he amended "It was a coht is dead" "Oh, God," Claire whispered, leaning back against the closed library doors for support "I don’t understandWho could do souard shook his head "We don’t have a clear count of howagent said the assault was like nothing he’d ever seen before--fire everywhere, as though hell itself had blon the gates and swept through the place There’s nothing left but cinders" Claire stood there, stricken and voiceless, trying to process everything she was hearing It was impossibleunbelievable It just didn’tlately ood sense at all So much random violence So much senseless death So uard was saying now "We have to get you evacuated before this location comes under attack, as well" "You really believe that whoever did this will couard didn’t pause to tell her anything ers cla--quickly The h: Claire could hurry to keep up with hi her out of there
Either way, she was leaving the preri for a coat or her purse She fled with the guard, out of the house and into the chill of the late October evening The cold autuh the fibers of her wine cashside the guard to the paved drive, the soles of her suede loafers scuffing in her effort to keep up with the longer-legged gait of the agent dragging her along by the arm Claire was shown to the open back door of a Mercedes that idled in the center of a vanguard of four other vehicles
"Get in," the guard instructed her, and gently but urgently guided her inside ahead of him As he slid in next to her on the leather seat and closed the door, Claire tried to rub away the bone-deep chill that seemed to e was happening so fast She was still trying to corips with the terrible news of the attack on the Darkhaven in Hao her biggest worry was the proper placearden bench or flower bed Now the handful of Wilheluards who’d resided at the Darkhaven were dead and she was being re from an unknown, unfathomable evil Why? The question wailed in herherself soedy--a tragedy that also had left behind only ash and s to the investigating Enforceents A freak explosion so fierce and total that it likely killed all of the Darkhaven’s residents instantly And still the question haunted her, as painfully as it had when she first heard the awful newsWhy?
"We are in and rolling," said the guard seated behind the wheel, radioing to the other vehicles He stepped on the accelerator, and, like a fast-an to speed as one down the lengthy, forest-lined driveway Claire sat back, trying not to feel the anxiety that hung in the stale air of the car The woods around theely quiet Overhead, the thin ht was blotted out by the densely needled tops of the towering pines The vanguard cleared the first bend in the nearly htaway, all of the cars lurching into a higher gear as they gunned it for theof the assault that hit the lead car in that next instant Froe fire
It s the car on i the sonic vibration of the blast all the way into the soles of her feet "What the fuck is that?" shouted the guard next to her in the backseat "Jesus Christ, hit the daht in front of the into the back of the other sedan as it skidded to a stop Like a toy train suddenly gone off its track, the caravan of vehicles bunched up, their line skewed and broken And up ahead, the first car was engulfed in flah into the black sky Just then another fireball launched out of the cover of the forest It flew in a speeding, coht toward the halted cars Yet another orb of flames came quickly in its wake, both of the airborne threats awesouard seated beside Claire leaned forward, his fingers clawing into the headrest of the seat in front of him "Back up--fast, damn it!" he yelled at the shell-shocked driver "Throw this thing into reverse and get us the hell out of here!" Tires squealing, the Mercedes jerked into a violent backward retreat
As the car spun around on the narrow track of pave into the vehicle behind theuards in the two re cars out front throw open their doors and try to make an escape on foot One of them leapt to safety in the woods The other proved only seconds too slow The first fireball crashed down into the hood of his car, obliteratingdebris Claire screae just as the second fireball rained down onto the e explosion shook the earth and chewed a deep, suard next to her n of the cross on his chest, then punched the back of the driver’s seat with a nasty curse "Go, you as! Get us out of here!" Too late From out of nowhere--fro, fiery sphere of heat
The fireball soared down past the windshield of the vehicle, the glow of it so intense it filled the interior of the Mercedes with blinding white-hot light Whatever it was, it felt charged with the power of ten suns, as electric as a bolt of lightning, concentrated into an orb the size of a bowling ball All the hair on Claire’s ar sround mere feet from the hood of the car Another fireball hit behind the Claire and her two companions forward in their seats The driver’s head hit the steering wheel with a sickening crack The airbag detonated with the i off the car’s security syste alar, Claire also smelled the trace scent of blood She wiped her forehead and sed hard when her fingers caood idea to bleed in front of vaency training and dedicated to the service of her very powerful, very unforgiving ht to worry about the potential blood thirsts of her guards It didn’t seem likely that she or any of therowled the one in back with her He had a gun in each hand His pupils were contracted to vertical slits in the center of their alared at the door handle beside her The panel swung open with the force of his Breed mind "Run as far as you can It’s your only hope" Claire scras eak, shaking Her head was ringing, her heart haot out of the vehicle on the other side and stood to face whatever assault was co Claire drifted toward the tall black shadows of the woods as the chaos continued all around her A couple of guards raced past her, weapons drawn, as though any of theht She couldn’t iine what kind of army had opened up such a brutal offensive strike
Claire shot a terrified look over her shoulder as sheforces were, they were colow of the forest behind her was growing brighter, ht reached through the trees like rays of scorching sunshine in the midst of coldest darkness She stared, transfixed, unable to look away fro to be her death A silhouette began to take shape Not an ar was alive with fla, delusional instant--Claire thought she recognized the broad cut of his shoulders, the fluid swagger of his stride Ilimmer of familiarity kindled in the back of her mind Could she know him somehow? But this was no man--certainly none that she kne or ever This creature was soht jolted Claire’s attention to the gathered group of Enforce out, then another and another, until the air was filled with the sound For all the good it did The , unfazed The bullets popped like firecrackers as they neared hi harmlessly the instant they met the wall of heat that surrounded his body When the last shell was finally spent, he paused
He lifted his hands in front of hih not in surrender With little , he turned loose a volley of fire on the defending guards Claire couldn’t bite back her screa them on the spot She knew the instant the man noticed her She felt the heat of his eyes pierce her fro taut with fear "Oh, God," she whispered, stu backward a few paces The man of flames took a step in her direction, all of his terrible fury now rooted entirely on her Claire bolted, not daring to look back again as she plunged into the woods and ran for all she orth
Chapter Three
He walked unfazed through the s ash and ruin on the pavelass and wrenchedremains of the Breed males who’d fired on him with their paltry weapons Their bullets hadn’t stopped hiround sizzled under the heavy soles of his boots--not fro through his limbs, an electrical crackle that traveled every inch of his body in pulsing waves of lethal, pure living energy He’d let his fury get out of control tonight; he knew that He’d understood well enough how important it was to contain the fire inside of him, but his hatred of Wilhelm Roth had made him careless--first in the city, then here His thirst to coe and noas falling, fallingFailing, when justice was so near his grasp Roth hadn’t been at his Ha the dead who’d tried to flee these grounds tonight