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Inside, the vah the s weirdly, like one of those vamps in the woods And the vision of what he looked like was suddenly there, blinking on my eyelids He s and bizarre body ression He hissed It was a prih ie to the floor Squatting in front of the vae, I chuffed softly and pulled my vaht the light I smelled the peculiar scent of silver-poisoned vae It was sickly and slightly burned, like the studio scent of asolution and fire and heated silver, topped off by the old blood like a rancid top note on a really bad perfurowled low in my throat, a sound no human can make

I smiled when the vamp’s eyes widened He was Caucasian with the pale, pinkish skin of the Irish, dark hair and green eyes, handsome, as most vamps are He was also vamped out, sclera bloodred, pupils so dilated his eyes were black, and I could s blunt, human teeth and a predator’s confidence

"You should know," I said, conversationally, "that the Master of the City, Hieronymus, has put a bounty on your head I make around forty thousand dollars if I take it to him Separated from your body, of course" The vas and all, but Beast’s fangs were longer I didn’t flinch; I s the va, the flat plated with polished sterling silver, the steel edge so sharp it could cut flesh before the husit hard to understand His ability to speakin the hollow of his chest

"Tough But we can make a deal Dinner for answers I have questions"

He hissed at ed And opened the raw steak His eyes darted to the baggie and stuck there like a fly on flypaper "Give," he de his open hand at me "Feed"I’ry, little nonhuman" It was a Southern accent, a well-bred one, with a hint of old in it

"Don’t care, little fanghead If you want to drink anything, or even suck on the juices of this steak, you have to tell me what I want to know"

"Animal blood and head"

His eyes went back to the steak and his fangs clicked shut on the little hinges in his mouth "And what is it you wish to know?"

"For starters, your name"

"Francis Adrundel, at your service"

Yep Only one of the old ones would say at your service And poor Francis was on the bounty list, good for nothing but a good beheading He’d been eating humans, a Naturaleza, transported in by the now-true-dead vamp who had started this whole mess, Lucas Vazquez de Allyon But at least I had Francis talking, which, as everyone in the interrogation business knows, is a necessary first step to getting your subject to tell you anything "Age?"

"I was born in the seventh month, on the twelfth day, in the year 1820"

He was older than I expected, by nearly a hundred years Interesting "How did you get here to Natchez? Did de Allyon fly you in?"

He closed his eyes and took a slow breath through his nose, scenting, sotten that my scalp had taken a scratch or two And Eli, who had shaved very recently and likely drawn blood to the surface of his skin even if he hadn’t nicked hie "Answer the question," I said

"Yes Flight," he said, with his eyes still closed "And the lovely place in town And all the slaves and servants I could drink I liked being sworn to Lucas I like being Naturaleza here, in this tohere the humans are such easy prey" His eyes popped open and he vamped out, fastfastfast Eyes bled wide, sclera went pale pink, and fangs dropped down on their hinges again, with a snick of sound "The Naturaleza here have , and more Here we are finally free Feedaround me like a silken veil

Beast pressed claws into my brain and flopped down in the forefront of ave me the control I needed to withstand the coercion in his eyes "Nope"

Francis rushed the bars, va, but without the pop of sound that er distance I didn’t drop away, but it was a near thing I felt Eli tense "Feed e of the Naturaleza now that de Allyon is true-dead Tell me where thefroht earn yourself a pint of hu my blunt human teeth