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Sylmar ay to the east of Dashiell’s Pasadena e facility I was getting pretty sick of crisscrossing the county At least ere traveling in the middle of the day, e could avoid the worst of the traffic

Jesse o-to topic of any Los Angeles sot to Syl into Frederic’s place I rarely worked at all during the day, and if I did, it was usually to check in with Abigail and Hayne, not deal with the riskier parts ofand entering, in broad daylight Much as I complained about him, Dashiell’s influence in LA--both vaotwithout that net If I got caught, I would have to try talkthe rest of the day in jail would h what little time I had left to help Molly

I was also worried about Frederic hith and speed the instant he entered eneral rule, fors such as va who can barely dress herself Waking the, just emphasized how much power I had over them Frederic wouldn’t be the first vampire to react to it violently

All too soon, ere cruising past Frederic’s condo Despite what Jesse had said about this part of town, the condo coe, two-story square building that so out on opposite sides of the square Likespace rather than creating a yard, so the building was as wide as it could be, fra each side The sidewalk led to a sh the residents would probably enter and exit through the garage

Abigail had said that all four units were owned by vampires, so the bedrooms would probably be at the back corner of each unit, where there were no s I saw no visible signs of life as we drove by, which wasn’t surprising, given the daylight

"Soo back around the block

"Really?" I twisted in"It looked okay to me"

"The side door was cracked open on Frederic’s unit," he reported "If you’re a vampire and this is basically your fortress, wouldn’t you close and lock the door during the day?"

"Maybe the air conditioning is broken and he wanted the breeze," I offered "Or ot to close it before he died for the day"

"Maybe," Jesse said, but he was obviously unconvinced "Did you see the shrubs? They’re big enough to hide a person Like ht" Another coner had tried to reen plants in the narrow space between the sidewalk and the fence delineating the property There were birds-of-paradise, a flower that’s always kind of creepedferns I hadn’t even really noticed the plants, which were all over the place in Los Angeles, but once Jesse pointed theh to hide even a large gested He turned back onto Frederic’s street, then parked at the curb, a good ways before the building Before we got out, Jesse reached into a sun, securing it in a holster at his hip

"Guns?" I said, hearing uns Maybe it was silly, after going up against uns still scared the bejesus out of e

"We know that the people running all this aren’t afraid to use theht have one with hiun, or both You better put on your vest"

I nodded It took a few ed to squirm into the Kevlar vests while inside the vehicle We couldn’t really walk around a residential neighborhood in bulletproof vests without drawing attention, so I put the jacket back on over mine, which made it look more or less like a black shirt, at least from a distance Jesse, on the other hand, had to take his shirt off to put the vest on underneath As he lifted his shirt over his head I turned away, suddenly very aware of the close quarters, and Jesse’s wide expanse of smooth brown skin stretched overmy knife sheaths fro our preparations, Shadow stuck her head between the seats and nosedhis T-shirt over the vest Both he and Shadoatched me closely for the answer