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Eli and I exchanged glances that were full of et on the road and after Santana, but I had a feeling that if we tried to leave, the angry, silent cop would happily shoot us in the backs

Sloan returned in ri CPR A fang-- A vampire is here," he corrected hiood people He has a gift for healing ’Bout this tall"--I held out a hand--"slender, nondescript,Like a librarian" I leaned around Sloan and spotted Edmund in the courtyard "Yeah Him"

Sloan frowned "Okay I’ll let hiured Edainst the weapons He was too low in the vamp hierarchy to do that I pointed to the end of the hallway "Mind if we check out the back of the house? That’s where we think Santana and the other vaunfire and took off In which case we’ll need our weapons"

"Knock yourselves out," Sloan said "I’ the ME’s office and Homicide"

I took the stateetting caught up in the investigation, we needed to slide aithout asking permission We reweaponed and hoofed it to the back half of the house It was actually set up as a totally independent second ho to the front half, and more expensive Lots more expensive There was leather everywhere--the soft stuff that would , and the crystal chandeliers were even bigger than in the front of the house, the rugs even fancier, and the drapes even swaggier If that was a word

My guess about the drained hu, and there were fresh and old bloodstains here and there It was getting uglier by the h the house, froh the pale yellow and cream kitchen, the breakfast nook, the coffee bar, and the wine bar, taking in the dae In the wine bar, so, and there were empty and partially empty bottles, broken bottles, and spilled wine everywhere Along with signs thatMy chest went tight as I studied the place with eyes and nose

There was blood--fresh, not old and brown--here and there, in sprays along the walls, in small puddles--and other bodily fluids Some of it was human Some was from the vamps we had killed Santana had partied there and drank his fill My ribs hurt as I put it all together Santana had raped his way through the hostages

If we had started the night’s search there, we could have taken hinized what the evidence suggested

"Yeah," I said, the fury so heated beneath my breastbone that it felt like a hot, liquid pool, like molten stone "I know" I rubbedto ease the pain Wethe royal-style bathroo to put out the fla inside hi traces of blood I bent and sniffed one, catching the reek of scorched va that Santana had tried to cut the fire out and that Do, and had licked the blade clean This dude needs to die

I didn’t realize I had spoken it aloud until Eli said, "Let’s get to it"

Under cover of night, we slipped out of the house and into our SUV

CHAPTER 19