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Chapter 1

I had to admit, this was pretty cool

Rick had gotten us onto the roof of the Pepsi Center in don Denver We sat near the edge, by a railing on a catwalk near the exclusive upper-story clubhouse From here, we had a view of this whole side of don: Elitch’s amusement park to the west, the interstate beyond that, Coors Field to the north, and, to the south, Mile High Stadium It felt like the center of the universe—at least, this little part of it We could look don and see into the ht, the sky of stars, washed out in an evening haze of lights, seehts of the city, in trails ofcars

When Rick had escorted uards didn’t look twice at us He had a passkey for the elevator I’d asked hiot that kind of access, the key and security codes—who he knehat kind of favors he’d pulled in—but he only smiled It wouldn’t have surprised me to find out he owned a share in the place Vampires were like that; at least the powerful ones were: prone to quiet, conservative investing, working through layers of holding companies They had time

A constant breeze blew up here I tucked the blond strands of ain I should have clipped it up The air had its own scent, particular to this place and nowhere else: oil, gas, concrete, steel, rust, decay—usual city smells But under it was the dry tint of prairie, a taste of air that had blown across tall grasses and cottonwoods And under that was a hint of cold, of ancient stone and caves that sheltered ice year-round The mountains That was Denver, to the nose of a olf Up here, I could smell it all I closedit in

“I thought you’d like it up here,” Rick said I openedme

I sighed Back to reality, back to the world We weren’t here sightseeing City sounds drifted to ines, a distant siren, music from a bar somewhere We had a view, but I was afraid that ere looking for was too good at hiding for us to find from here

“We’re not going to see anything,” I said, crossing my arms

“YouI’ll see patterns,” he said Rick appeared to be in his late twenties, confident yet casual He tended to walk tall, with his hands in his pockets, and look out at the world with a thoughtf

ul, vaguely amused detachment Even nohen Denver was possibly under assault, he see out Don’s a mess, as usual It’s like a tide In an hour, when the theaters and concerts get out, the cars’ll all ainst the tide Pockets of , of unusual quiet”

He pointed to a hidden corner of the parking lot, tucked near Elitch’s security fence Two cars had stopped, facing each other, the drivers’ s pulled alongside each other The headlights were off, but theOne car pulled away, tires crunching quietly A moment later, the other pulled away, as well

I had a few ideas about what that ht have been It still didn’t seem relevant to our problem “And what does that have to do with Tiamat?” I asked

Not really Tiaoddess of chaos According to ainst her in an epic battle and destroyed her and her band of demons—the Band of Tia about the whacked-out cult of her worshippers that I had pissed off on as Last week, I found the word Tiaured the pack of were-felines and the possibly four-thousand-year-old vampire who led them had come to Denver on the warpath

We hadn’t learned who left the e on the door, one of the cult members or someone they’d hired Rick, the Master va watch for another attack, but nothing else had happened yet I was getting more anxious, not less

“That? Nothing I’ you how much can happen under our noses You said a va an attack in my city, I’ll see it”

That hy Rick had gotten involved at all—the cult e, but Rick would take any invasion by another vampire personally I was happy to have another ally

I scanned all the way around, searching buildings, skyscrapers, parking lots, roads filled with cars, people walking to dinner, concerts, shopping So Maybe Rick really could sense theany luck I didn’t havethe catwalk, turn around, step back I couldn’t stand the waiting Theto kill me with anxiety

“You knohat the proble I want to be out there looking for the them down”

“And vampires are like spiders,” Rick said “We draw our quarry in and trap it I like the ie”

I suddenly pictured Rick as a creature at the center of his web, patiently waiting, watching, ready to strike A chill ran down e away

“What do you really expect to see up here?”

Absently, he shook his head It wasn’t really an expression of denial More like thoughtfulness “If anything else out there is hunting, I’ll see it”

I gave a crooked s like this in the bell tower of Notre Daoyle”