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Chapter 1

Mencheres shouls clustered on the ground floor of the decrepit warehouse They showed no concern when he walked inside Another inhalation revealed it was vampire blood two of them stank of The other four didn't have that coppery aroazes they leveled on Mencheres, they intended to rectify that

"A young va fronoring the way the ghouls began to circle around hiy in their auras, they were teens in undead years as well "Short blond hair, tribal tattoos on his upper ar in his eyebrow

Goes by the name Trick," he went on "Have you seen hihoul with the heaviest scent of blood draithout answering Mencheres's question Then the ghoul s he'd filed all his teeth to points

Instead of inspiring fear, the sight annoyed Mencheres These ghouls thought they had the advantage because of the ith of a new vampire Even with his power level cloaked to where it would feel like he was only a young vahouls ise, they'd wonder at Mencheres's lack of hesitation in confronting theain, if they ise, they wouldn't have killed Trick in the same area they used as a home It had only taken Mencheres an hour to track theard for vaered the secrecy of both their races In another houl without further conversation, then rounded up the re five for public punishment later After all, Mencheres didn't require their confession to know they'd killed Trick Not with the scent of vahouls were lucky, because today, he wasn't looking for retribution over Trick'she'd lost his visions of the future, Mencheres reflected Otherwise, if he'd foreseen that this was how he'd end his eons-old feud with the corrupt Law Guardian, Radjedef, he'd question his own sanity

But if he hadn't lost his visions, none of this would be necessary Anger flashed in him

After four thousand years of seeing glione was as crippling as it was unexpected He'd long la visions that soone, for all his other powers, he couldn't protect those he cared for A friend's recent, accusing words rang in Mencheres's mind Why nohen I need you the ht have hated Mencheres for mill ennia, but he was too clever to come after a foe who could counter most hostile moves before they were even one, this was Radjedef's best chance As both men knew, Radjedef wouldn't hesitate to use his considerable power as a Law Guardian to ainst Mencheres for crier to bending the law to suit his own purposes It was so he'd done even before he had beco council

His old ene confrontation and all the bloody coll ateral daed a victor, but Mencheres would end this before it started It rather pleased hi denied the opportunity to ieance

So when the six ghouls pulled out their silver knives, s in that cruel, anticipatory way, Mencheres sier to blood Or to pain Both had been his coine

He cast one look at the predawn sky, wondering briefly if the sun shone in the afterlife

Before the sun was high, either he or the ghouls would find out

Kira walked down Ashland Avenue, the second-to-last street before hers A sudden breeze blew her hair into her eyes They didn't call Chicago the Windy City for nothing

She pushed stray pieces back behind her ears and shifted her heavy backpack onto her other shoulder After all the times she'd toted her backpack to and froht it wouldn't feel as heavy as it did Still, she was lucky her boss allowed her to use the company car on stakeouts, and besides, many people who lived and worked in the West Loop didn't own cars They just didn't have to carry around the various cameras, camcorders, binoculars, and other necessary stakeout iteht Her surveillance of her client's cheating wife finally paid off in the version of several incri photos that Kira dropped off at her office before she'd taken the Green Line back to her neighborhood She could sleep in as late as she wanted to today, and even her exacting boss wouldn't have a thing to say about it

Being a private investigator s, which came naturally to Kira, but her focus sharpened eventhis particular stretch of road during the daylight was fine, but now, it lad the sun had started to peek out The line of dilapidated warehouses were supposed to be gone by now, but the lingering recession had slowed their razing and rebuilding The stretch of unsightly buildingsfarther up the block was much lower than it would be once shiny new apartraffiti-laced, abandoned units, but it also s weren't uncommon in this area

She was alhter jerked her head around It had coly than a the pocket of her backpack where she kept a gun You're alain, this tiht on the heels of what sounded like a pained shout Kira paused, listening hard If it had been later in the day, the noise fro fro, she next caught what sounded like a loud moan Whoever had made that sound was hurt, and when it was followed by hter, Kira knew the tere related

She slipped her backpack off, pulling out her cell phone while walking faster toward the safety of her apartency?" a voice intoned after Kira punched in the numbers

"I want to report a Code 37," Kira said