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Caures," she said, but then bit her lip "I’m sorry It’s a knee-jerk reaction"

"Once you’re in the chat rooh and see if we can find any infor up Shaet the proxy server going with Tilanced at the clock "Oh "

Menolly suddenly jumped out of her chair "I knoherethat table! Motherfucking pus bucket" Her eyes turned bloodred and her fangs descended "If I’ to feast on Wilbur’s blood tonight"

"Wilbur?" I frowned, trying to remember We’d been inside his house a couple of times, Menolly a couple more than the rest of us, since she was usually the one who showed up on his doorstep e needed his help

A blurryrooe, old china hutch that was filled with books instead of dishes, and there had been several dusty plants, and…a dining rooht! Wilbur! That’s his table"

"I knew it!" Menolly started to slalared at him for a moment, then stopped "Sorry"

"You would have put a hole through it" He held on to her wrist for a beat longer than he needed to, then stopped, looked at her, then Cao Menolly pulled her hand back

"We need to pay Wilbur a little visit," she said "We can do that now I don’t ht as well Ca?"

She nodded "Sure But I want Sh If we show up en , we’ll ostracize someone who has been, up till now, a valuable if questionable ally Morio and Roz, you tait near his porch The rest of you stay here and keep an eye on the house"

She stood up "I guess we’d better get dressed I sure hope to hell we’re wrong I’d hate to think he’s been plotting against us" She yawned "What I want to knohy these things can’t happen e’ve hadto cut it for the day"

The thought of being betrayed by Wilbur stung He wasn’t a close friend In fact, he was a lecher who looked straight out of a ZZ Top music video A fairly powerful necrohoul named Martin who had once been an accountant But he had helped uswith our enelanced over at Menolly

"Then we take him out" She shook her head "If he’s on the other side, he’s dead No excuses I’e I’lltoward the bookcase, she straightened her shoulders and headed down to her lair

Cas If we discovered Wilbur had stabbed us in the back, ouldn’t have to worry about hi Menolly would bleed hiave her a faint set dressed"

Wilbur’s house was known in the neighborhood as "the old London house," though we had no idea why it had been nan to ours, it was three stories high, but there the resemblance between it and ours ended Wilbur had no illusions about keeping his property tidy While it wasn’t an issue of junker cars and old refrigerators on the lawn, the driveway up to his house was overgroith brambles and vine maple

Wilbur had an old truck, one of those pickups with a rounded top and a running board He also had a beat-up 1957 Chevy with the tail fins, in a bright cherry red and white He tore out of his drive on a regular basis, and I wondered if the cops had ever flagged hi

We walked down the driveway and across the road to his place, the tension so palpable I could feel it Menolly earing a pair of her stiletto boots--the ones she used to put holes through her eneht And I earing jeans, a turtleneck, and pair of Doc Martens Morio and Roz lagged behind, yawning and quietly whispering together

I glanced at the sky Sunrise wouldn’t come for over another two hours and it was still dark, but a low, overhanging bank of clouds had h the rain had let up in the evening, it now loo the air The scents of cedar and fir drifted past and I closed rance of the trees surroundedembrace, and I wished that this could just be a nice stroll down the road

Camille slipped her hand into ave her a soft look

"I don’t like this, either I don’t like not being able to trust soht have duped us We should be asleep, at hos to break into his house and check out his table" She stopped in her tracks "Great gods, that sounds ridiculous"

"Yeah, I just wish it were ridiculous But it’s not" We trudged our way up his driveway, avoiding the potholes I skirted a patch of stinging nettle that reached out from the side of the road The feel to the land was odd, but rather than feeling evil, it ot to the porch, I ," I said "You’re likely to just rip out his throat"