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I was in so eneral direction for Misha and indications that she’s alive," Eli said, bringingno attention to Soul’s intense scrutiny "As the distance from this house increases, the directional arc of error increases, but close in, it isn’t too bad" He laid a paper Natchez city le, the apex at Esle widened to include h, most of the city across the river: Vidalia, Louisiana I looked up at Eli and he inclined his head, agreeing that it was a coincidence worth investigating if my clues in Natchez continued to be staked

"Yeah My bro, the ace Ranger, has a direction based on Soul’s spell and Bobby’s dowsing Bodat has contacts in county records that point us in the direction of properties that were owned by Silandre and her cohorts in the past, under different names, and then were inherited"--he made little bunny-ear quotations in the air around the word--"prior to the sixties, when the vamps came out of the closet We’ll narrow them down to locations within the arc that Bobby and Soul established in their direction hunts"

Eli took over "The properties were passed on through the inheritance laws to Silandre herself, of course, but under different names to protect the vampire identity The different names opened up an entirely new set of research opportunities, and the boys have been co the nalanced up at his brother, revising whatever he’d been about to say "Which revealed past--" He stopped again, and finished with, "Past relationships between Silandre and that Esther va crass about theain

Bodat said, "Yeah, she went both ways, dude--AC/DC Girls and guys" I wanted to slap the back of his head, but Eli beat me to it "Bodat reared back in his chair "Dude, as that for? Whadid I say?"

"Stop with the comments Dude," Eli said "Ladies present"

Bodat looked atthe word lady into the same column as me And then he looked at Esmee and said, "Oh Like, sorry, uh, ma’am Sorry" He looked over his shoulder at Eli and said, "You coulda just said, dude"

I hadn’t really paid attention to Bodat except for registering his pizza scent, and I wasn’t surprised that he was pudgy around the middle, with soft arh lack of exercise and improper diet On the other hand, the Kid was toned and fit, his arh the T-shirtforced into an exercise plan and better diet by his Ranger brother and his depressed housemate (me) for several ing with Zoltar and Narkis, and we got nada No such luck Other stuff is , like a relationship between Silandre and Leo Pellissier"

"Silandre and Leo?" I asked aroundto cover my mouth

"Yeah," the Kid said "Silandre and Leo had aa thing before the Civil War, and she ran aa brothel"--he s a word other than whorehouse--"here in Natchez for his uncle Aave her the house"

"Our city was rife with prostitution back in the day," Es her ankles and lacing her fingers around her belly "By so to the plantation owners, the dockworkers and barge Yankees Quite the randfather owned such an institution in Under the Hill I should look this up in the faht still be standing"

Eli’s broent up at the pride in her voice

Esmee added, "Oh yes Early travelers described our fair town variously as ‘a gambler’s paradise, a sinkhole of iniquity, and a resort of the dah I don’t recall who said it, precisely" She preened "My children are horrified at the histories But the young tend to be such ninnies Don’t you agree?"

Sht, and decided not to reply to the question "Ho back for dozens of huenerations, practically lost in tiet hts and betrayals Okay Soooo Leo may know stuff about Silandre"

"I am quite certain that my master knows much about many of his sworn Mithrans"

The scent hit , and nearly choked I had to put down my sandwich or drop it Bruiser

Speak of betrayal Speak of the devil