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Flaxon bought two more and a small bag of muffins, then headed back to
his car sluggishly. He almost collapsed against the car. He drank more juice
before getting in and tossing the empty container into the backseat. Once he
settled, he glanced over at Adina. She was out cold, but her color had returned.
But she would need more blood soon. He had to make up the time he lost on the
stop.
He turned on the car and backed out, hitting the parking lot at sixty. By the
time he had gone a mile, he was up to eighty. He flipped on his radar to detect
police activity within thirty miles. It was a rare product that he d had the pleasure
of selling for over $50,000. Flaxon used his teeth to rip open the bag of muffins,
then stuffed his mouth. They tasted stale, but he needed all the energy he could
get.
* * *
Lars sat at the dining table in his hotel suite, drinking an excellent glass of
blood. It was relatively fresh human blood. Lars never believed in the synthetic
and animal crap that the others used. There was a secret supply that he and his
kind used when away from other vampires, so no one would suspect that he was
violating law. Away from them, he drank heartily.
Three generations of Lars family sat at the table. There was Deka, his
daughter, who was close to 160 years old. She was as blond as her father with
same eye color and facial structure, and the worst kind of attitude. At the moment,
her thirty-year-old child, Dirk, who still acted like an infant, was magnifying it.
Dirk was dark-blond, four inches taller than his mother, and lanky.
Dirk played with a portable game console constantly, forever distracted
from what he really needed to be doing. Lars attributed Dirk s stupidity to the bad
choice his daughter made in a mate. Lars thought that executing the vampire
would derail any further influence from the male, but stupidity must have been in
his genes. Lars would have taken his grandson s head, but stayed his hand for his
daughter s sake. Thankfully, Lars had two children, and his daughter Muriel s
offspring had sense. Too bad she wasn t there with him. She could also hold a
very intelligent conversation, unlike Deka, who complained endlessly.
Just when Lars was about to tell Dirk to put the game away, there was a
knock at his door.
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Enter.
Tobias walked in like a dark cloud, instantly putting Lars on alert. Deka
smirked as Tobias passed, but he only nodded respectfully, ignoring her lecherous
grin. Lars sighed inwardly about his daughter s ridiculousness. The woman was
always seeking male attention. He never understood her need to have one with her
at all times. Tobias made it to Lars and whispered in his ear. Lars stood.
Meet me in the lounge.
Tobias nodded, walking away. When he was gone, Lars walked over to
the small bar against the right wall, where he removed an elegant saber. The blade
was slightly curved and the handle was gold-encrusted with embedded blue
sapphires.
Excuse me. He started to walk away, but stopped. If I return and have
to take that game, boy, your head will be next.
Dirk paled then looked at his mother.
You heard your lord. Put it away and try reading a book for a change.
Lars entered the room to find Tobias facing the window, blade drawn.
Lars almost smiled at his cousin s boldness. He went to the center of the room.
Explain your failure.
Tobias turned slowly, his face devoid of expression.
We went for a breach and three of the best were killed.
Who?
Mia, Tia and Dorian.
Lars eyes flickered. Even he was surprised by that news. He had expected
Tobias to report that some weak vampires had gone after the human, but he had
sent the best and they still failed.
How did this happen? How could the human escape?
She is being protected.
By whom?! growled Lars impatiently.
By a breed.
A breed! A sorry breed! You re telling me that a breed got the advantage
over your best guards?!
Tobias glared at him. This breed wasn t some weak-blooded human
vampire. The analysis of the blood on Mia s blade indicates that this breed was
more than three-fourths vampire...
Lars froze. What a minute. I thought we destroyed all Breeds like that
over a hundred years ago.
Apparently not.
A thought hit Lars then. Why was this breed around the human? In fact,
how would he even know about her?
Tobias frowned. He hadn t thought about that himself. He watched the
Prince think. A second later, a weird smile turned up on his face.
That s it! That s how that idiot Prince was able to hide all those months
ago. He must have had help from the breed!
How s that?
Think about it. No breed would come out of hiding to help any human.
We assumed they wouldn t even know about Jin s predicament, because they stay
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away from all things vampire. Yet, you have a powerful breed helping this
human a powerful breed we knew nothing of until now, which means it was
hiding all those years, eluding us. And the breed was interacting with vampires. It
had to be for that fool Prince to have known it.
More than three months ago, that bastard Jin evaded our attack. We heard
nothing of him until we found the apartment, then word came out that he was with
a human. He disappeared again, only to be spotted with a human in the subway of
all places. Then he disappeared again.
Later that night, our spies tell us that he went to his father s flat, but
disappeared when his father tried to retrieve him. Likely, it was because he still
had that human with him. There aren t too many places that he could hide with a
human tagging along, so what happened? He got help from the breed, probably
someone he had dealings with in the past.
But how would he know about breeds? Breeds don t exactly advertise.
Idiot. He didn t know it was a breed. A breed that s more vampire than
human is hard to detect. Unless you have been exposed to those types of breeds
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