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For that little whiff bore the scent of sweet turpentine, and it was getting stronger

The sign above the door to the Hypocras Club read PROTEGO RES PUBLICA, engraved into white Italian ed, trussed, bound, and carried by twoher shoulders, the other her feet--read the words upside down She had a screa headache, and it took her aaftereffects of chlorofor: to protect the coht / do not buy it I definitely do not feel protected

There also appeared to be the e either side of the words A symbol or some sort of excitable invertebrate? Was it a brass octopus?

Miss Tarabotti was strangely unsurprised to be brought to the Hypocras Club She re out the Post’s procla the "inception of an innovative social establishentlemen of a scientific inclination" Of course, she realized, now that it made perfect sense After all, it was at the duchess’s ball, right next door to the new club, that she had killed that first mysterious vampire who started it all This made for a rather tidy full circle And, with all that chloroform, there would have to be scientists involved

Had Lord Maccon discovered this as well? she wondered Did he suspect just the club, or was the Royal Society itself implicated? Alexia doubted even the earl’s suspicious nature would stretch as far as that

Her captors carried her into a s for a door She could turn her head just enough to see the violet-clad for over someone’s shoulder like a side of beef and crammed into the tiny room with her

Well, Miss Tarabotti reasoned, at least we are still together

The wax-faced ed directly in Tarabotti/Akeldarated door and then cranked some sort of pulley device inset into one wall of the cha resulted The whole of the tiny roo everyone inside with it It was like falling slowly, and Alexia’s sto this with the added bonus of chloroform exposure, was not particularly thrilled by the experience

She choked down a convulsive gag

"This one does not like our ascension roo her rudely One of the other asted Alexia watched as the first floor of the club vanished, and the ground itself appeared, then the foundations of the building, then a new ceiling, and, finally, the furniture and floor of underground chambers It was really quite a remarkable experience

The tiny room jolted to a stop Miss Tarabotti’s stomach joined up with them shortly thereafter The hu, carried her and Lord Akeldama out, and laid them side by side on a plush Oriental carpet in theroo on Lord Akeldah he was still asleep They did not seem to feel Alexia warranted the sa in a co a large ivory pipe, stood up at their arrival and walked over to look down at the two prisoners

"Excellent work, gentleether enthusiastically "Akelda to the BUR records, is one of the oldest vampires in London Next to one of their queens, his blood should be the most potent we have yet analyzed We are in the uinity procedure at the e for now And what is this?" He turned to look down at Alexia

There was soh at that particular angle it was almost completely in shadow That shadoas also fae! Miss Tarabotti had alotten about him in the horror of her recent encounters with the wax-faced otten about her "Well, what do you know? This one sihtfully on his pipe "First visiting the Westust presence of specimen Akeldama How does she fit into the picture?"

"We do not know yet, sir We will have to consult the records She is no vah she did have two va her "

"Ah, so, and?"

"We elients; difficult to tell these days What do you want done in the e as well If we cannot find anything out about how she fits into our investigations, ill have to force it out of her Terribly gauche thing to do to a lady, of course, but she is clearly fraternizing with the enemy, and sometimes sacrifices must be made"

Miss Tarabotti was confused by the players in this little game These men did not seem to knoho or, more precisely, what she was Yet, clearly they were the ones anted her They had sent the wax-faced ht only recently Unless there existed tax-faced men in London, both of them after her Alexia shuddered at the very idea They otten her home address from her BUR records Yet, now they did not see of her as two separate persons The one who kept interfering with their plans, and the Miss Alexia Tarabotti, preternatural, of BUR’s records

Then Alexia recalled that BUR did not keep sketches on file, for safety reasons Her record contained only words, notes, and brief descriptive details, and most of that in code These men had not made the connection to the fact that she was Alexia Tarabotti, because they did not knohat Alexia Tarabotti looked like Excepting only the wax-faced man, ould have seen her face in her bedroomShe wondered why he had not revealed her secret