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We drove through the Warehouse District and I told Eli about the Da out the warehouse where they had lived, a building where they kept the long chained secured torooeny I pointed out the building vamps used for parties, and an old church noned by a vamp and kept as a daytime lair, which eird

At two of the sites I s my way close to the bodies to ascertain that no one was left alive In New Orleans, it’s warm most of the year and homeless people can live outdoors in relative ease all year round, needing only tarps for rain protection, and lots of bug spray At the first site I scented two deadof booze, and the cops were already on-site, carrying the cop version of AK-47s and wearing their kill faces We drove on by

At the second site I held up a hand, indicating that Eli should wait in the vehicle I drew un andcaer, all curled in sleeping bags Drained

I stopped as the scent of this death burned h my bloodstrea on Beast’s senses He looked too young to even shave Worse, he was s

So like horror slithered underThe thing that had hung on Leo’s wall had done this I had let hiet away I had let hi, it needed to die Leo and I shared responsibility for this death For all the deaths caused by the ht

"Yeah," I rip on the M4 to keep froer and breathed shallowly until I found a measure of control

Sniffing the site again, I detected another scent Brute The olf’s growing anger was pungent on the night wind at the caht up with Santana, there would be a et lucky and be there to help I backed away from the camp to the SUV

Eli pulled frouage

I shook my head and dialed Jodi Eli listened as I madeacross the cell to me, like a wave of emotion When news of this hit the airwaves, there would be a reaction in the city, one that would put every supernatural at risk, or pit one species against another until full human-on-supernat civil as possible But at the moment I didn’t care if every vamp in New Orleans died in their lairs

With dawn only hours away, h to allow h to feel like I’d survive I still hadn’t seen to Beast, but I would get to her soon, I promised us both Soon

Alex had sent us a new address, one that had been called in to 911, about a bad shts The address matched the vacant Rousseau Clan Hoh we had two other locations to check, ere close enough to Rousseau to take it first Eli drove around the entire block, getting a feel for the house and grounds, entrance and egress, the layout and footprint of the property It was going to be hard to approach safely and covertly, but we needed to take a good look The burned-flesh stench came from around back "He’s been here," I told Eli "Recently Real recently As in, could still be here"

The Rousseau Clan Horounds in front of the hoht have been a banana tree and night-flowering jasmine The lot was slim but deep, and the two-story house eirdly U shaped, narrow across the front, long and deep, with a very narrow hallway and gallery down the right side of the back of the house to the rear of the lot, where the house spread out again Fro houses, the back section of the house looked like it ht be the same size and footprint as the front half The pool was in the courtyard, surrounded on three sides by the house and by a tall brick fence on the fourth, giving it privacy The chlorine sh to override a lot of smells, but not the stench of barbecued vah to heads or Derek to assist?" Eli asked

"I say no, but it’s your call," I said "I want access to take dohatever needs taking doith finality, and without va in their noses But I’ll also heal better than you will"

"Keep HQ on speed dial and get o in alone Stay close," Eli murmured "It’s too deep to divide up" I nodded and we triple-checked our weapons, pulled on the new headsets, leaving the SUV parked on the street, unlocked, s open, in case we needed to etaway At the left corner of the lot, partially hidden behind the banana leaves, I boosted Eli up and over the ten-foot brick fence It was his turn to take point He tapped his ood, and I pulled on Beast’s strength to ju ood-naturedly into histhe open left side of the house to the courtyard The central garden area had been kept up and was lined in etable variety, and the center was tiled in peachy orangish terra-cotta, the pool perfectly in thethe place over

The courtyard was overlooked by the wraparound second-floor gallery and the patio beneath it on the first floor The house was dark and the gallery was streaked with the long shadows of predawn Up there, anyone could be hidden anywhere In unison, we eased our right earpieces away froainst explosive deafness, but allowing us to hear anything closer

There were low ah illumination to tell us that there was no one in the open, yet the pool tiles were running ater, draining away from the pool And the runoff looked darker than nor a vamp-killer and the M4 loaded with silver, but the stink of blood and vah Maybe if Eli was carrying a ht I stood silent, sniffing, letting the shadows and the scents tell me what I needed to know