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Felicity let out another screa she could do under the circumstances--she fainted At which point, everyone else did an equally sensible thing and ignored her

Lord Aed Alexia had no idea what he intended to do or how he intended to do it, but he seeh, landing atop the head of the creature, where he began trying to scrabble for a way inside Ah, going for the brains of the operation

Lady Maccon figured that was a pretty intelligent plan, but the vampire was thwarted in his attempts to pull off the hatch of the doh the helmetlike mantle, but Madame Lefoux was a master worker in such matters The head was practically sea in froiven herself slits to see out of, but those slits were just big enough to peer through; they were not sufficiently large for a va

A tentacle whipped around and with a casual gesture brushed Lord Ambrose off as if he were a crue of the floor where the wall once had stood, grabbing wildly and ht Only to reappearup from one story to the next until he was back inside

This time Lord A to tear it off the body Relying on all his strength, he attes and pulleys that directed the thing’s ht in terly

While Lord Ambrose was thus occupied with a direct attack, several of the ed the octomaton These were swept aside with little more than the perfunctory wave of a free tentacle Othersin a protective huddle between her and thethe pickled herring, which seemed to actually be soun He cranked the belt through, and the machine spat the shiny fish at the octomaton in a rat-tat-tat of auto angry holes into the octo

Another tentacle crept into the roo metal octopus arms This one raised up slowly, like a snake Its tip opened with a snap, and it shot a blast of fire at the group surrounding Countess Nadasdy

Drones screamed, and the countess, fleet and fast, leaped to the side, carrying two of them with her She would try to rescue any she could froers under similar circumstances

Knowing it was probably futile, Alexia put her gun back in her reticule and activated theit at the octopus As before, there was no reaction to the invisible blast, although the Gatling gun seized up The tentacle swung around, spraying fire over the boudoir The canopy over the handso Alexia popped open her parasol and raised it before her like a shield, protecting herself fro it, she found that all was chaos and dust, with the s around her Yet another tentacle slithered into the rooht actually be a real threat Mada Alexia knehat her parasol was capable of where vampires were concerned, and this particular tentacle dripped an ominous liquid out of its tip--a liquid that sizzled when it hit the carpet and burned a hole where it landed

Lapis solaris, unless Alexia uess It was one of thethose who opposed vaer was that it had to be diluted in sulfuric acid, and that could kill e a vampire

"Genevieve, don’t! You could injure innocents!" Alexia was scared, not just for the hive but also for the drones and her sister, who all seemed to be in the line of squirt

"Countess, please, you must draw her away People will die" Lady Maccon turned her plea on the endangered vampire queen

But Countess Nadasdy was beyond reason All her efforts were now focused on protecting herself and her people fro an undersized grubby boy child in his supernaturally strong arms If possible, the duketo a stop before her and thrusting Quesnel’s kicking for and thrashing, but upon seeing the octomaton, he seemed more afraid of it than the vampires He squealed and clutched reflexively at Countess Nadasdy’s neck with one skinny, sed arm

The octomaton could not fire without risk of injury to the boy No ht, that could har a hu with deadly force toward the va with a crash on the laden tea trolley, which had ed to survive the chaos until thatfine china, treacle tart, and finger sandwiches in all directions

So far as Alexia was concerned, that was the last straw The infant-inconvenience inside her beat a tattoo of encouragement as she strode forward and whacked at the ht "Genevieve! Not the treacle tartlets!"

Whack, whack, whack Twang!

It was, of course, a futile effort But it made Alexia feel better

The tentacle’s tip flipped open, and a tube popped forward and out, becomasters The octomaton raised this to one of the slits in its eye Madame Lefoux spoke into it

Or at least it sounded like Madahtly accented, , bulbous creature "Give me my son and I will leave you in peace, Countess"

"Ma it was hisin the vampire queen’s arer than he would ever be The countessin French "Stop, Maman They haven’t hurt me I’m fine They’ve been very kind They feed me sweets!" His pointy chin was set and his voice i more It was clear they were at an io of the boy, and Madaed toward her sister, sensing that very soon the queen would have no recourse but flight Leaving Felicity behind in this building was, unfortunately, not really feasible, appealing as the idea ht be

The house swayed on its foundation Over half of it was now gone, with only the back section still intact, and there was very little holding that in place The fraht London houses were built with far less structural integrity than even her cheapest bustle

She waddled closer to the vampire queen, careful not to touch her "Countess, I know you said practicality wouldn’t come into it, but this would be an excellent time to swarm, if you could but try"

The countess turned eyes upon Alexia that were dilated black with fear She drew her lips back in a shriek of wrath, exposing all four of her fangs: Feeders and Makers, the second set being ones that only a queen had Very little of the sense was left in the woman’s face In this particular arena, clearly vampires could end up like olves, creatures of emotion, dependent only on the little that was left of their soul to save them

Lady Maccon was not normally an indecisive individual, but in that second she wondered if sheside in this little battle Even though Madahly unlawful and destructivemore than a child snatcher Alexia knew she had the capacity to end this She could reach out and touch the vampire, turn her human and utterly vulnerable and unable to hold on to the wiry and gyrating Quesnel