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Hieronyers to his neck and stopped, then dropped the hand As he did, I caught a whiff of the sick scent of the va H had the disease "You have this cure with you?"

"Not on h to be" I searched for a word and settled on "nani the truth with a vamp was scary business, because they could often smell a lie and they could always smell nervousness

"I will validate our proposed contract, including the changes your legal advisor, Alex Younger, has suggested"

I nearly dropped al advisor And he had done ith my contract? "Ummm," I said

"You will destroy the Naturaleza who run rah reed-upon price--"

"Couple questions," I interrupted Big H frowned Master vaet interrupted often "How many are there, what steps have you taken to correct the proble?"

"My Enforcer was killed trying to track them down Witnesses said he was attacked on all sides by the Naturaleza and torn to shreds He is otten My prient hand at a nondescript huuy Brown and brown, --yes--brown

Clark stepped forward, bowed slightly, and handed me a leather folder "Estiht less than twenty, but before he was killed, our Enforcer staked four ere later seen on the streets"

"Naturaleza are hard to kill," I said "Locations?"

"They have been spotted all over the county and in Vidalia as well We do not knohere they lair" Lairs were jealously guarded dayti places for vamps, so I wasn’t surprised, but it did make my job a lot harder "If we knehere they were, they would be dead now," he said, sounding just a bit snippy

Big H was clearly done with question tiesse of my sworn master," he said, "and the cure he can provide otiate a parley that repairs the rift between enerous bonus The business details you may discuss with Clark at a later time You will attend me before daith this cure"

Before I could reply to that order, Big H stood, lifted his aruest Meet and speak with Jane Yellowrock, the Enforcer of Leo Pellissier She brings good tidings froue that infects some few of us Rejoice and enjoy the festivities" Some of his people applauded and a number of others s was ured they were sick va the cure

Hierony them back, and passed me a business card "This is Clark’s contact information Whatever you need, all assistance we can provide, is yours And"--he gave enerous"

"Good to know" I pocketed the card, in case enius didn’t have all the contact info already

He handed me a microdrive shaped like a shark’s tooth, which ay snazzy "The dossiers of the Mithrans you have permission to deliver true death to, and descriptions of the ones ere never ht by Lucas Vazquez de Allyon,H dropped his hand, I pocketed the shark’s tooth microdrive, and was surrounded by va surrounded by vaue-ridden ones anted to shake my hand, kiss me on both cheeks like some Old World mafia family, and tellto thankand, pro the cure to the MOC’s Clan home before dawn, slid out the front door as fast as I could Eli coveredon us this tih I didn’t race back to the SUV, I didn’t saunter either Eli gunned the engine and had us two blocks over beforeand the rhythm evened out "Crap," I said as we curved up the hill and into the old don

Eli gave a twitch of his lips, which could have been indigestion, but I chose to interpret it as mirth I called Alex When he answered, I said, "What did you do with our contract? Without telling reed"

I narrowed , and wondered if I could take over the driving and shove him out into the street And then maybe run over him a few times "Nobody screith my contracts"

"We just added two tiny clauses," Eli said "One that lets us take the head of any vamp who attacks us unprovoked, and one that lets us take the head of any vaone over to the Naturaleza"

I thought about that for a while as the tires sang on the paveood ones, ones I should have included myself, and would have to add to my standard boilerplate "Let’s say I decide not to kill you both for changing ree to discuss stuff like this with me and let me handle it"

Eli scratched his chin and said, "We’re supposed to be partners of a sort How about we buy in to Yellowrock Security Alex and I have a little ure that ure number into my lifestyle You coulda picked me up with a spatula I had no idea what to say, so I said nothing Taking ree, we could actually organize this co by the seat of our pants, Jane style Get tax stuff and insurance stuff handled, Liability insurance"

Which I had never thought to need, but if I was going to have partners and hire huuess I needed it All of it Crap I never intended to be a part of big business