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"Couesthouse, we’ll have wine and talk," Amara invited Merrill and uesthouse sitting room in a blink Roff ca an arm around my shoulders

"Raona, how much do you think I should pack?" he asked

"Pack for teeks at least; I hope we can do laundry soht kiss Griffin passed out glasses of wine and Roff accepted his with a dip of his head

"This is quite good," he said after tasting it expertly

"How long have you beenwine?" Amara asked him

"More than three hundred years," he said "I a rapes before that, even"

"So wineainst his shoulder; he was very happy withwine for generations My father always insisted that our ancestors wereit for the Queen before Le-Ath Veronis fell"

"You were on the High Demon world?" Amara asked "How did you like that?"

Roff cleared his throat Kifirin showed up as if he’d been called Nexus Echo Again

"He will not say because I brought hi his beautiful, white teeth If he were huuessed him to be from India or ancient Persia--his skin was darker and quite beautiful His shed at eous and when he s

"My life for the past forty years has been good," Roff declared, breaking Kifirin’s spell

"Yes, it has," Kifirin acknowledged "Before that, things were not so good They call the comesuli coh Deh the coh Demons did not starve"

"They became lovers of themselves," Roff huffed

"Roff, don’t ever think you’re a co hiave ain

"Roff and his family are most certainly not common," Kifirin said "They are one of two faed Infilathi They were always selected to becos with the turn The winged ones were honorable and s?" I sat up and stared at Roff in amazement

"If I aed vampires and ed vah Demons called the comesuli common demons," Kifirin said, "it was an atte could be farther fro of the vampire race Unfortunately, it is necessary for a mature vaain their true ht has certainly been educational," I said Roff pulled me back to his shoulder I was comfortable there So was he

Sixty-nine-year-old Everett Hancock hit thethe doorbell of his sstown, Ohio He wondered if it were his neighbor again, dropping by to ask more questions about his son Anthony and about Tony’s death in France He’d already talked to Corinne, Tony’s overnment had declared his son dead Killed in the line of duty, the vice president said when he called

Everett had been in the er days; was retired Army, actually He’d seen Viet Naone with his mother when they’d divorced; Everett couldn’t handle her disappearing one night aoff to run ho knehat Everett had been home on leave when Tony was conceived--Corinne had written to let hione back to Germany where he was stationed Tony was born while he ay, too, and was four months old when Everett caht after he gotten ho her to stay an extra three months in Germany, and he’d shouted about her stupid olf habits Corinne packed her bags after the last blow-up, taking herself and Tony right out the door Ran right off and married one of those damned wolves Everett snorted at the memory as he opened the door

"What the hell do you want?" Everett didn’t recognize the two men who stood there They were dressed in nice suits and ties, though Probably fro

"I am Christopher Townsend," one of the visitors said "You will come with us" Everett opened his stor car The othernext to Christopher Townsend slipped inside the house, grabbed Everett’s keys and locked the door behind him as he left He followed his partner out to the car, where Everett was already sitting in the back seat Special Agent White was dialing his cell phone as Special Agent Townsend put the car in gear and drove away The phone rang on the other end and was answered

"We have hi up

Everett looked around curiously, as he was led into a baseh and stopped at a house there Everett still didn’t understand why he’d willingly come with them and hadn’t attempted to object It just see, Everett thought it was a good idea

"Are you hungry, Mr Hancock?" Mr White asked Everett looked at the other er than his son, who’d been thirty-six when he’d died

"I could eat," Everett nodded

"What would you like?"

"Oh, a piece of chicken, maybe a sandwich" Everett didn’t care The doctor was always on hinored that warning and ate what he wanted Nobody was going to live forever, after all

"A chicken sandwich, maybe?" Mr Townsend asked

"Yeah With fries" Mr White went back upstairs

"You will stay here, Mr Hancock," Mr Townsend showed Everett a bedrooo" Chris Townsend showed Everett where the bath and shoere inside his bedroom "You will not attempt to leave and you will do what Mr White and I tell you" Everett nodded

"Albert, they have hih," Charles spoke quietly into his cell "Wlodek wants you to check to see if he has mindspeech"

"I can be there tomorrow; I’m in New York now," Albert replied

"Let us know as soon as you can so we can make a decision," Charles said

"Of course," Albert agreed and hung up