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I couldn’t

Froe

She was probably still too far away

On spotting a wide staircase leading up to the floor above, I swept toward it and ascended it

I eed in a spacious hallith doors on either side

As I hurried toward the nearest one to me, a wave of nausea threatened to overtakeain

Mona

Just think of Mona

I staggered forward until I reached the door and sniffed

I had no idea how big the room, or perhaps apartment, was behind this door, but I was certain that it wouldn’t be large enough to prevent h vampires’ sense of s as I ithin a reasonable distance, I should have no trouble sensing her

Iand stopped to sniff the air

Still nothing

In this way, I staggered from door to door

By the time I’d reached the last one, I still couldn’t sense her

Ilost track of how many doors I’d stopped outside of by the time I’d reached nine levels up, and I was practically blind with dizziness

It was all I could do to take even onemyself up the tenth staircase, I stopped inabove me

I stumbled back down the stairs and leapt into the shadow of a nearby pillar just in tilasses of wine in their hands, their lips glued to each other

They were so wrapped up in each other, they didn’t seem to even notice my bloodstains on the floor as they reached the bottohed in relief before once again atte to cli Mona after a dozen more doors, but as I reached the end of the corridor, I stopped

I heard a s froh ht hint at first--it could have easily been ination--but once I arrived outside the rosewood door, the scent was undeniable

Mona was somewhere behind this door

I could feel it