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Prologue

Orcas Island, Washington State

Nineteen Years Ago

It’s the snapping of a branch that gives them away

Elaine Warwick ih the forest—a las fir, and alders that should have muffled the noise, in theory But Elaine knows better

Up ahead, Ji his wife a harried look over his shoulder He knows better too The expression of pure disappointh his eyes, but Elaine can only nod at hi

They’re so close

And now they’ve lost their advantage

The Virtanens will hear the

Even isolating yourself on an island in the Pacific Northwest, withdrawing from society in some sort of penance for your many sins, doesn’t take the amplified senses out of the vampire Once a vampire, always a vampire, until you die

Which is why Jiht

To find Alice and Hakan, the famed Virtanen vampires, who inflicted centuries of pain upon people before they decided to have a change of heart — “retireuild called it — and put them to death

It’s going to be nasty work, and there’s a chance that neither Jim nor Elaine will survive this, but it’s personal It’s been personal for years, since Alice killed Elaine’s sister The guild doesn’t even know that the Warwicks are here on a vengeance trip They long ago said it was best to concentrate on vaotten, and the dauild didn’t sanction this kill, there’s a chance they could get in trouble for it

Executed, even

Then again, what the guild doesn’t know, can’t hurt them