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He loved it here … or he had, before this violence beneath the surface had finally boiled over Now Balthazar saw the ugliness beneath the chaos that had hidden hi closer"

"Only a few" Balthazar’s sharp va closer to the door were no more than six or seven in nu as they were not Black Cross And ould Black Cross be doing here now?

And yet when he lifted his face to sniff the air, he could scent nothing The people approaching were oddly without smell, as if they were scrubbed without soap, or as if they were…

His eyes opened wide

"Balthazar?" Richard whispered "What’s going on?"

"The people co here--" They’re not people Balthazar wanted to say this but couldn’t "They’re dangerous"

"Like I couldn’t have guessed that for myself," Richard said His dry humor normally amused Balthazar, but not today

In the far distance careat firework had been set off, or so had exploded God only knehat the rioters were doing to this city But the rioters had already become second on Balthazar’s list of concerns

First were the people approaching this place, closer and closer So to him: Other vampires were near

Balthazar rolled up the sleeves of his loose caas lamp in his hand Resolutely he climbed the steps to the door, set his hand upon the iron lock, took a deep breath, and opened the door

Outside was chaos The street was all but deserted, but along the ground lay evidence of the day’s mayhem: scattered debris, crumpled leaflets, an abandoned shoe, various bottles and trinkets and trash tossed aside by the fleeing The twilight dark had begun to cast shadows, but not so deep as to obscure the group of people standing at the far end of the square Balthazar had known, even before leaving the warehouse, that he would find vampires here