those creatures in the basement. But there are plenty of blood houses in the surrounding states. Not always houses, of course, sometimes clubs, like what Rajmund has up in Manhattan. About half as ritzy, though.”
“I want a list of anyplace within . . .” Duncan thought for a moment. “Let’s make it within two hours’ drive from here. I suspect Victor’s less savory entertaining was done somewhere other than this house. Not that he would have cared, but his guests might have. And Emma said Lacey talked about going to a party outside the city. How long will it take you to come up with that information?”
“No more than a few minutes, my lord. Victor kept lousy records, but I started building my own database a few weeks ago, pretty much as soon as I arrived here to start getting things ready for you.”
“Excellent. I’m going to track down Miguel,” Duncan said, “and you can meet us in the library once you have the list. The rest of you keep working on these files, and if you find anything noteworthy, call my cell.”
Duncan found Miguel in the basement with yet another of the vampire crews that had come in last night. This one was very specialized and would only remain until their task was complete, which, from the looks of things, would be much longer than anyone anticipated.
“This is all shit, Miguel,” a wiry, gray-haired vampire was saying. He slapped a beam of rotting wood and Duncan winced, hoping the entire house wasn’t about to collapse on their heads. They’d probably survive, but it might take a while to dig themselves out.
Duncan grinned at the gray-haired vamp’s back and said, “Think of it as a challenge, Alaric.”
The vampire spun around with a bark of laughter. “A challenge is you trying to last the full five minutes in the ring with me, my lord. This . . .” He waved at the musty, dark basement around them. “. . . this is plain old shit. And I’m not even talking about the vamp dust left over from Victor’s abomination experiment.”
All laughter fled, and Duncan nodded soberly. “Louis cleaned most of it out,” he said.
“And he did a fine job of it, too,” Alaric agreed. “But I’ll tell you, Duncan. I served in more than one war as a human and saw some pretty awful things. And God knows, I’ve seen my share of horrific sights as a vampire. But this? This place gives me the creeps. I wouldn’t want to sleep down here, even if the foundation wasn’t rotting and about to dump the whole house on my head.”
Duncan regarded the other vampire thoughtfully. Alaric was the finest vampire contractor in North America. He’d built the daytime sleep vaults in every one of Raphael’s personal residences and scattered headquarters, including the new compound up near Seattle. There were a couple of other crews doing similar work in the vampire community. They’d all trained with Alaric, and that let them charge a very pretty price for their services. But there was no substitute for having Alaric himself in charge of your project, and Duncan would have paid any price Alaric asked in order to secure the safest possible resting place for his people. A vampire was completely helpless during daytime sleep. The recent murders of two of Raphael’s vampires, along with three more in Canada, had proved that beyond a doubt.
“So, what do you propose?” he asked now.
“It’s going to take time and a lot of money to put in a decent underground vault,” Alaric warned him immediately. “This whole city’s built on a fucking swamp.”
Duncan didn’t miss the gleam in Alaric’s eye when he said that, although it was probably as much from the challenge as the price tag.
“I don’t care what it costs. If it can be done, I want it done.”
The vamp shook his head, laughing softly. “I’ll give you this, my lord. You do things right. Okay. Let me get the rest of my guys in here, and we’ll do a full inspection.” He gave Miguel a pointed look. “I won’t be needing
“I want a list of anyplace within . . .” Duncan thought for a moment. “Let’s make it within two hours’ drive from here. I suspect Victor’s less savory entertaining was done somewhere other than this house. Not that he would have cared, but his guests might have. And Emma said Lacey talked about going to a party outside the city. How long will it take you to come up with that information?”
“No more than a few minutes, my lord. Victor kept lousy records, but I started building my own database a few weeks ago, pretty much as soon as I arrived here to start getting things ready for you.”
“Excellent. I’m going to track down Miguel,” Duncan said, “and you can meet us in the library once you have the list. The rest of you keep working on these files, and if you find anything noteworthy, call my cell.”
Duncan found Miguel in the basement with yet another of the vampire crews that had come in last night. This one was very specialized and would only remain until their task was complete, which, from the looks of things, would be much longer than anyone anticipated.
“This is all shit, Miguel,” a wiry, gray-haired vampire was saying. He slapped a beam of rotting wood and Duncan winced, hoping the entire house wasn’t about to collapse on their heads. They’d probably survive, but it might take a while to dig themselves out.
Duncan grinned at the gray-haired vamp’s back and said, “Think of it as a challenge, Alaric.”
The vampire spun around with a bark of laughter. “A challenge is you trying to last the full five minutes in the ring with me, my lord. This . . .” He waved at the musty, dark basement around them. “. . . this is plain old shit. And I’m not even talking about the vamp dust left over from Victor’s abomination experiment.”
All laughter fled, and Duncan nodded soberly. “Louis cleaned most of it out,” he said.
“And he did a fine job of it, too,” Alaric agreed. “But I’ll tell you, Duncan. I served in more than one war as a human and saw some pretty awful things. And God knows, I’ve seen my share of horrific sights as a vampire. But this? This place gives me the creeps. I wouldn’t want to sleep down here, even if the foundation wasn’t rotting and about to dump the whole house on my head.”
Duncan regarded the other vampire thoughtfully. Alaric was the finest vampire contractor in North America. He’d built the daytime sleep vaults in every one of Raphael’s personal residences and scattered headquarters, including the new compound up near Seattle. There were a couple of other crews doing similar work in the vampire community. They’d all trained with Alaric, and that let them charge a very pretty price for their services. But there was no substitute for having Alaric himself in charge of your project, and Duncan would have paid any price Alaric asked in order to secure the safest possible resting place for his people. A vampire was completely helpless during daytime sleep. The recent murders of two of Raphael’s vampires, along with three more in Canada, had proved that beyond a doubt.
“So, what do you propose?” he asked now.
“It’s going to take time and a lot of money to put in a decent underground vault,” Alaric warned him immediately. “This whole city’s built on a fucking swamp.”
Duncan didn’t miss the gleam in Alaric’s eye when he said that, although it was probably as much from the challenge as the price tag.
“I don’t care what it costs. If it can be done, I want it done.”
The vamp shook his head, laughing softly. “I’ll give you this, my lord. You do things right. Okay. Let me get the rest of my guys in here, and we’ll do a full inspection.” He gave Miguel a pointed look. “I won’t be needing
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