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Coave Eligius one final hard stare, clirandfather into the foyer wordlessly, but I didn’tlook, with the threat of retribution in his dark eyes And that just didn’t athering roo time, and was surprised to see everyone pretty much exactly where I’d left therave;re I know this is estured to the chair with his hand--"sit There are things of which you ave a short nod I crossed the rooarded ht out the other two Dupré boys, and their expressions were much the same as their sister’s

"As you can see, we’re not what you’d callordinary," Gilles said, pacing slowly now before s, folded aze trained on the older man: his pricey suit, his manicured nails, his aristocratic profile Inany further escapes from me Myto help find Seth But this was seriously wicked crazy

"Anything?" asked Gilles He stopped and looked rave;re?"

My skin turned to ice; it seemed as if the old man had read my mind, or had I said it out loud? "Yes," I responded in a sure, confident voice, calling off all earlier agreements I’d made with Preacher to keep quiet And I was a little irritated "Anything"

Gilles nodded "Bon Very good to hear" He drew closer, stopped, and inclined his head "But in order for you to help your brother, you must stay, and listen with an openPreacher’s nearly exact sa that happened next happened so freaking fast, I could barely keep up I’d turned lance at Preacher, and when I looked back at Gilles, he wasn’t there Jean-Luc was in his place I searched out Josie, and while she’d just been standing beside her ius had been, and he was now standing near the hearth I stood, spun around, confused, only to notice that Gilles and Elise had traded places No one stood where they once had, and they’d ht beforeto shake nervously "What’sgoing on?" I asked quietly What was this, so Cirque du Soleil fa my mind?

In the aain beforeelse entirely different Then a throat cleared loudly, and I glanced up to see Séraphin perched on the top of a tall bookcase in the corner He jumped doith complete ease and was at my side in less than--swear to God--a second I squelched a screaht," said Gilles quietly He reached down, grasped my hand, and continued to speak as he drew ly went as ure out exactly what a creature of the afterlight was "Nearly two centuries ago I was taken one night by another--an Arcos--and to this very day I know not why" He closed his eyes and shook his head "I left whiletook place, and once I was fully turned, I realized I couldn’t bear to be without my beloved family, so I selfishly took them, one by one, as they slept in their beds I forced them to drink my tainted blood, and they, too, beca that followed"

"Gilles, non," said Elise quietly, and in the blink of an eye she was beside hih his She laid her head on his shoulder "Not selfish, mon bienaimé "

Now I shook my head, in complete and utter confusion "Took the? What does all that ot to do with ht--what the Gullah called dusk--I got that; but the Arcos brothers, vicious killers, creatures of the afterlight? None of it ius was immediately at my side, and his eyes bored hard into oi," he said, his voice seely inside my head once more It eird to finally see a face to aze was fixed to his His lips moved, and I couldn’t quite take ripped my arm, and just that fast, rip was like a steel vise, and I couldn’t budge him He drew closer, and from the corner of my eye I saw the Gullah men take a step forward "A bloodline rarely heard of outside of Romanian tales and folklore We are all considered oi blood, but there are differences We are ier has been satisfied in other ways--humane ways--by the Preacher, and his ancestors before him The Arcoses have been entombed for over a hundred and fifty years, and now they’re out, and they’re not hu" His face was so close to ry eyes "They have no mercy, no remorse; they cannot be satiated And they will not stop"

My thoughts jumped to the dead man in the alley, the distorted way his lifeless body lay, the way his flesh had been ripped open, the blood, and Eligius didn’t let go ofled where he touched At once, the entire rooht answers, so I asked one ht question "What are you?" I said,but shaky I kept my eyes boldly trained on his as I awaited an answer, and I vaguely noticed the flinch in his expression at the hat

"We are vampiric, but not like them," he said heatedly, under his breath, and it was the first tihtest trace of an accent was French The ain my eyes were drawn to his full lips "As my father said, we made a contract with your brethren They have sustained our lives, and we have protected the city against rogue vampires" With his head lowered, his eyes searched mine, and his voice lowered "But the Arcoses have been freed, and noe have a h," said Elise, her voice sweet and strong at the saht shift in the air brushed across ius was across the rooh he’d never moved

I looked directly at Gilles "How does any of this help ht out Preacher, who stood quietly against the door "How?" Suddenly, the weight of what couldn’t possibly be happening hit ed where I stood, unable to breathe "Seth," I chokedin my throat burned

Preacher was i, his reassuring hands on my shoulders put me at as ," said Gilles, and I didn’t miss the sympathetic note in his voice "And it takes a moon’s full cycle for transformation to complete We feel that he and his friends, because of their unintentional aid to the Arcoses, are safe for now Had the brothers wanted to kill them, they indeed would be dead already, I assure you"

It was tooI’d been told, at what I’d seen, and no matter how hard I tried, no matter what I knew of Preacher and his beliefs, I had a hell of a ti in one of Savannah’s pro to be vampires descended froerous, bloodthirsty rogue va with the to beco that had happened that night at Bonaventure washed over otten, the absence of cicadas, and Seth’s slow transformation from sweet, lovable brother to the cold, detached boy I barely recognized Chaz had noticed it, too, and suddenly all of the symptoms made sense Seth slept all the tiht and no appetite At first fevered, he’d growncooler Not cold, but notably cooler in temperature He’d almost attacked htly and tried to breathe "Oh, God," Ideep in the pit of my stomach that it nearly made me double over I wrapped my arms around my middle "How can it be true?" I turned to Preacher "How?"

"There are s in this world of which most mortals haven’t a clue exist," said Gilles, directly by aze on him, unable to do little more than stare I then took in the room, the Dupré family, my Gullah friends My brain was in overload and could take not another second et out of here" He siht it may be too much at once," said Gilles, his hands folded behind his back The weighty expression on his face didn’t sit so ithyou should know"

I looked at him "What’s that?"

"You’ve a rare blood type, Riley Poe Only the second mortal I’ve ever encountered with it in my entire existence"