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"My Jane You miss me, oui?"

"No" Quickly I informed him about the state of Acton House and its curator "Is there anything you haven’t told ht Santana disappeared?"

"This is a story like unto the five blindand says he feels a tree One touches the trunk and says he holds a snake One takes his tail--"

"I know the story What does it have to do with this situation?"

"Eyewitnesses all see so different Ask Bethany what she saw Ask Sabina Ask Adrianna when she regains her ht Perhaps they all saw so useful to your search" Without a word I closed the Kevlar cover of the cell phone and tucked it away

"Everything that has happened to vamps in the last hundred-plus years is related directly to this night And everything that will happen in the nextyear orit ht last--"will be related to hoe handle the Son of Darkness I don’t know that we even need to know the sequence of events froht I don’t think it matters But we do need to knohere all the players are now, and whose side they’re on Bethany claiet her ith hiht flip and side with Doainst Leo Because she is seriously nutso"

Eli ht be screwed" Bruiser slanted a look at me before he turned away and s: that Bethany was crazy, that Bethany ht not know the difference between truth and her own blood-poisoned iht just as soon kill us all as talk to us, that he and Bethany had unfinished business that ht make her decide I was her number one enemy, that she wanted her Bruiser back as love toy and dinner, that she was hungry and we s

We left the house at different ti our departures Bruiser left last, and he was on the phone calling in a cleanup team for the house Pinkie would disappear, her death never reported I knew that And it made me sick

We stopped at three other properties owned by Joseph Santana or similar naeency for a shell-coh we had had naps, ere dead on our feet Three days of stress and bloodshed and death had taken a toll We had to stop or our bodies would stop us

Back at the house, Eli parked and followedjust behind me in the foyer I pulled off the holster and the vest, tossed the vest across the roo over the stair post I leaned into it, dropped my head, and closedit hard enough to hurt, hoping to hide"I won’t leave the house again without telling you, even if I have to wake you up and you need sleep," I said

"Thank you," Eli said his voice quiet "If it "