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"And do me another favor," the valasses

"What?"

"Whatever you’re going to do to Dawson tonight, don’t get caught," Roslyn said "I don’t want to have to deal with the honky-tonk bastard any ave her a cold sht, Tobias Daill be having tooyou"

Chapter Twenty-Five

At eight o’clock that evening,driveway that led up to Mab Monroe’s mansion

Given her status as the city’s richest and deadliest citizen, Mab Monroe lived in the biggest, ray stone structure soared fifteen stories into the air,it taller than some of the don skyscrapers The s formed a wide, upside-down W-shape Tall, skinny s fronted each floor, along with crenellated balconies A twelve-foot-tall stone fence ringed the mansion itself, which was set back more than a mile from the main road From the research Fletcher Lane had done over the years, I knew the expansive, reenhouses, an aviary, a golf course, copses of woods, and a sical trip wires, and sohted a red banner draped over one of the balconies in the center wing of the mansion The enor gold - a round circle surrounded by several dozen curled, wavy rays A sunburst The symbol for fire Mab Monroe’s personal rune The same one on the invitation inthrough the open wrought-iron gates that designated the entrance to Mab Monroe’s estate The yellow taxi see up the curving driveway like fat, black beetles It took twenty minutes for the driver to maneuver all the way up and stop in front of the entrance

My gray eyes flicked over the security Five giant guards roa people out of their vehicles, directing traffic, andinto too uards stood by the front double doors that led into the e clipboard

"That’ll be twenty bucks," the driver growled

"Twenty bucks? You only drove , I’d taken the precaution of parking a car on the side of the road just beyond Mab Monroe’s estate An old, battered burner vehicle with fake registration and fake plates I’d put a white trash bag in the , left the hood up, and scattered a few tools by the side of the road All designed to make it look like the car had broken down and soht back for it The car was etaway than the one I had in mind Once I’d put the car where I wanted it, I’d hiked over to the closest anony ain

Since I didn’t want hiot out, and walked toward the stairs that led up to the main entrance of the mansion I could hear it, of course With fifteen stories of solid, stacked stone loo above me, I’d have to be deaf not to The stone whispered of power and ht it would But there were other vibrations in it too

Fire, heat, death, destruction But perhapswas a touch of h the solid rock, as though the stone itself had sorew louder, harsher the closer I got to thecries

I grittedpain My only concern was Tobias Dawson, getting close enough to kill hi away afterward

Not the insanity that permeated the foundation of Mab Monroe’s mansion - or why it made me want to seriously hurt the Fire elemental

I walked up the steps and stopped in front of the double doors

"Invitation?" the man with the clipboard asked

I pointed to the black velvet choker around my throat - the one with the heart-and-arrow rune on it "I believe this is all the invitation I need, sugar But here’s the hard copy too" I gave hiraved invitation Roslyn Phillips had slipped me

The man stared at the heart-and-arrow rune a moment; then his eyes swept over the rest of iants also leered at me Looked like Tobias Daasn’t the only one here tonight with a thing for busty blondes

The man with the clipboard pulled his attention away from my boobs and checked the naht, Candy?"

I nodded "Yeah, sugar, I kno to behave htclub, Roslyn had given uys and girls Basically, Roslyn’s hookers were tothe course of the evening and do anything - anything -

Mab’s guests wanted Those guys and girls ent hoenerously co bills, hospital and otherwise, would be paid in full by Mab

The man with the clipboard jerked his thuiants pinchedmore than to pal his hand on er at hiar Not the hired help"

His face flushed at iant stepped forward, but the other one put a restraining hand on his shoulder

"She’s right," the second man rumbled "Mab will be pissed if you touch her Remember what she did to Stevenson last tiiant paled Evidently, whatever Mab Monroe had done to Stevenson had iant shot me a sour look, but he stepped back I winked at him and headed inside the ain, so loud the spider rune scars on ritted my teeth and pushed the noise away, buried it so deep that it was nothing more than a murmur in my head I needed to concentrate on my mission, not wonder what Mab Monroe had done in her own house to make it sound like that

A hallway that was at least a hundred feet wide cut through the center of the massive mansion Despite the relatively early hour, the party was in full swing The trill of laughter and the h the house, low and rass in the su