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Upon that wrist she wore a large atch that was probably no atch at alThe clockany and pearl case of a cuckoo clock and brandished it in a threatening manner

"Quoo?" said the clock Alexia was amazed that even a tiny mechanical device could sound inexplicably French in this country

Alexia pressed the appropriate lotus leaf, and the tip of her parasol opened to reveal a dart ened the emitter to fire only three shots, and there were four vampires In addition, Alexia could not recal if the inventor had told her whether or not the nuent even worked on the supernatural But it was the only projectile in her aran with an airborne offensive

Madame Lefoux and Monsieur Trouvé joined Alexia and Floote at the bottoainst the va forward in a

"How did they find me so quickly?" Alexia took aim

"So they are after you, are they? well , I suppose that is hardly a surprise" The clocklanced in Alexia’s direction

"Yes Terribly inconvenient of the bark of deep laughter "I did say you always broughtsurprises, and trouble with theotten me into this time?"

Madame Lefoux explained "I am sorry, Gustave We should have told you sooner

The London vampires want Alexia dead, and they appear to have passed the desire on to the Parisian hives"

"Wel , fancy that How jol y" The clock rand lark

The vampires pressed closer

"Now, see here, couldn’t we discuss this like civilized beings?" Alexia, ever one for forotiations whenever possible

None of the vampires responded to her request

Mada

Alexia thought this dreadful y boorish The least they could do was ansith a "No, kil ing is al we are interested in at the moment, but thank you kindly for the offer al the same" Alexia had, in part, coh the liberal application ofentirely of accessories, but AlexiaThese va most improperly

There were plenty of tables and display cabinets in the little shop that currently stood between the vampires and Alexia’s smal band of defenders Most of the surfaces of these were covered in disassembled clocks of one style or another It was, therefore, not unexpected that one of the varace and elegance of the species--knocked a pile of mechanicals to the floor

What was unexpected was Monsieur Trouvé’s reaction to this event

He growled in anger and threw the cuckoo clock he was holding at the vampire

"Quoo?" questioned the clock as it flew

Then the clockan to yel"That was a prototype atroundbreaking invention and utterly irreplaceable"

The cuckoo clock hit the va hi with a sad little "Quooooo?"

Alexia decided it was probably a good ti So she shot

The poisoned dart hissed slightly as it flew, struck one of the vampires dead center to the chest, and stuck there He looked down at it, up at Alexia with an expression of deep offense, and then crumpled limply to the floor like an overcooked noodle

"Nicely shot, but it won’t hold hi," said Madame Lefoux, who should know

"Supernaturals can process the nuht folk"

Alexia armed her parasol and shot a second dart Another vale groggily to his feet

Then the re tere upon them

Madame Lefoux shot at one with a wooden dart fro the ht Alexia I kneasn’t an ordinary watch! The Frenchwoman then slashed at that saan to bleed from two spots, arm and cheek, and backed aarily

"We are not interested in you, little scientist Give us the soul-sucker and we’l be away"

"Now you want to engage in conversation?" Alexia was annoyed

The last of the va her off He had one hand wrapped around her wrist when he realized his s disappeared, as did al of his extraordinary strength

His pale, smooth skin turned fleshy peach with freckles--freckles! He was no longer capable of dragging her off, yet no rip He an bashing at the no-longer-supernatural creature with her parasol, but he did not let go, even as she inflicted real injury upon hi his powers of deduction and realized he would have to fal back on leverage for this task So he shifted about, preparing to haul Alexia up and over one shoulder

A gunshot rattled throughout the shop, and before he could do anything further, the vao of Alexia in order to clutch at his own side Alexia glanced to her left, astounded to see the unflappable Floote pocketing a stil -ser with an ivory handle It was undoubtedly the tiniest pistol Alexia had ever seen Froun Both were horribly antiquated, thirty years or more out of date, but stil effective The vaony on the floor Unless Alexia uess, that bul et was made of a reinforced wood of some kind, for it seeood chance, Alexia realized with a sick kind of dread, that a vampire could actual y die from a shot like that She could hardly countenance it, the very idea of kil ing an ione just like that

Monsieur Trouvé seemed momentarily captivated "That’s a sundowner’s weapon you have there, isn’t it, Mr Floote?"