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"Darling, you look fantastic"
"Are you sure? I don&039;t need just a little more eye shadow? I&039;m never sure if I have too e would have given uess I&039;ll have lots of ti eternity and" Mathilda babbled
"That purple shade is just stunning on you," interrupted Sully as he leaned down to kiss her lightly on the cheek
"You&039;re sweet"
"I&039;et"
"Who, Sully? Tell me"
"First, let&039;s ht and I have a bottle of chane?"
"Yes, precious, we&039;re celebrating tonight, are we not? It&039;s your first full year underon shortly Has Lazarus told you where your next assignasped in response, so unexpected was this news He gave her no tih the apartment toward the balcony as he continued "No, no, not another word Wait for the cha"
The elegant uptown aparted to Sully Unlikeout in manner and dress He was small, tiny really with a shock of thick, wavy blond hair, but no facial hair Rather, he was childlike in appearance, al, pale skin with tender features Unfortunately, his sweet blue eyes were covered by thick, horn-ried, nevertheless, to h the world more confidently than most
The balcony like the rest of the apartrandeur of the adjacent dining roo for this garden, largely to pass ti He had artfully arranged various plants to create a cloistered feeling so that the city down beloas nearly nonexistent while the sky above onderfully overwhel Many of the plants were quite exotic and so potted orchids that Sully replaced weekly with fresh blooreenhouse devoted just to his pleasure On the balcony he had also planted hehtshade, baneberry, death calove, sumac, lupine, and many other deadly varieties The plants had been carefully chosen to reflect the trivial nonsense that Adamites believed about Vampires Sully loved to watch the mortals he lured here react to his plants It was such a delicious way to lay the foundations of suspicion, which later would blossom into terror Of course, by that tiardening interest and periodically had Vanificent seeds froardens of Europe and elsewhere that Sully ly nurtured This tiht was unseasonably warht be the last chance for a while
As Sully uncorked the Doht about how to break the news to Mathilda that she would beon to her next Master Lazarus had contacted hi quickly and there was no room in the scenario for the naivete of a recently turned Vampire He wished there were time for a few more lessons in the sophisticated hunt - it was so crucial to a balanced lifestyle Sometimes he pitied new turns like Mathilda, still at the very earliest stages of understanding the craft of the hunt They were forced to rely solely on their still crude and evolving instincts to ferret out the Adamites who possessed that particular brand of evil that emitted a scent so familiar to the undead Their absence, these mortals, benefited the world and helped ood and evil
"Drink, my dear, to your very successful first year," Sully toasted her
Mathilda, as a recently turned Va required by Lazarus The first year was often difficult, the reason LazarusVampires with Elders, rather like an apprentice to a master or a savior to a disciple Absolute obedience and sub recruit was seen to, fro tears when an Ada their occasional overzealousness Once the initial adjust was to teach a young Vampire their role in the world and to pass on theily in the Original Purpose of Vampires, the purpose laid down in the Garden of Eden
Silly Adainal Sin when an Original Purpose is so
Their purpose was to e its life-blood, watching it writhe in agony, containing it
It was a noble pursuit, protecting the Ada my latest victim for nearly four weeks He&039;s a banker, so he says, but really he&039;s just a tawdry con-artist
Yesterday, he convinced a sweet old woman to invest 6,000 toward an ostensible real estate venture in Phoenix What a fraud
After the check cleared, he immediately wired it to a personal account in Weehawken, New Jersey He&039;s been pulling the same scam for about two years now and has bilked countless seniors out of their hard-saved money He has over 300,000 in that account alone"