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pull away.
Jonah glanced back at me, and then at the
eastern sky.  Dawn will be here soon, he said.
 We should get home. He gestured down the
street.  I actually parked pretty close. You want
a ride back to your car?
 That would be great, I agreed, the
adrenaline giving way to exhaustion.
We walked in silence a few blocks, then
stopped at a hybrid sedan.
 Thinking about the environment?
He smiled ruefully.  If the climate goes bad,
we re going to be here for it. Might as well plan
ahead.
When he unlocked the doors and we climbed
inside, I gave him directions to my own parking
spot, then closed my eyes and dropped my head
back to the seat.
I was out in seconds.
CHAPTER NINE
BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE . . .
UNLESS YOU RE
IMMORTAL AND
UNDERSTAND COMPOUND
INTEREST
I shuddered awake, blinking in the glow of
unfamiliar lights. I was curled into a ball atop a
giant sleigh bed that smelled like woodsy cologne
and cinnamon. I sat up and took in unfamiliar
surroundings. A massive bed, topped by a pile of
taupe bedclothes. An equally large flat-screen
television at the end on a facing bureau. And
leaning against the bureau, arms crossed over his
chest, was Jonah. He was dressed more casually
today in a V-neck T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.
 Good evening, Sentinel.
 Where are we?
 Grey House. My room.
 Grey , I began to repeat, but the night
began to replay. I fell asleep in his car, and he
must have brought me here. No, not just brought
me carried me into Grey House while I was
out.
 I wasn t comfortable dropping you off at
your car. You were completely out, and your
being here was easier to explain than my showing
up with you at Cadogan House. Dawn was
moving in; I had to make a call.
That made sense, although I wasn t thrilled
that I d been carried around like a hapless girl in
one of my favorite bodice rippers.
 Thanks. Did anyone else see me come in? If
so, since I d spent the night in Jonah s room, I
could imagine well enough myself what they d
been thinking. I felt the rising blush on my
cheeks.
 Nope. Everyone else was bunked in by then.
I swung my feet over the bed and buried my
toes in expensive, thickly piled carpet.  Where
did you sleep?
He hitched a thumb over his shoulder.  Sitting
room. I m a gentleman, and there s nothing about
seducing an unconscious vampire that appeals to
me. He shrugged.  Besides, the sun was nearly
up. We were out. I could have slept right beside
you, and no one would have been the wiser.
We d both have been angels.
I was on enough of a boy hiatus to agree, but
appreciated that he d given me space. It was a
gentlemanly thing to do, and not something I d
take for granted.
 Thank you.
He shrugged.  I borrowed your phone. Sent a
message to Ethan to let him know you were
okay. I thought you d probably have checked in
when you returned, and a call from me would
have been really suspicious.
I nodded my agreement. Of course, just
because he hadn t outed himself to Ethan didn t
mean there weren t going to be questions. Ethan
was still going to wonder where I d spent the
day.
I glanced into the sitting room where he d
slept. A plush couch and love seat were poised
near another enormous flat-screen television
mounted to the wall. The rest of the room was
equally nice. Luxe carpet, rich colors, crown
molding, and wainscoting. An arcade video game
stood against one wall, and a framed Ryne
Sandberg jersey hung on the other.
This place could have been featured on
vampire Cribs.
 This is a pretty sweet place.
 New House, new digs. Well, relatively new
House, anyway. Only eight years old, which isn t
much when immortality is the context. He
walked to a mini-fridge built into a cabinet on the
far wall and opened it, revealing tidy rows of
longneck bottles. He plucked one out and walked
my way.
 I don t think hair of the dog is going to do it
for me today.
 It s not beer. When he held it out, I looked it
over. It was blood. Traditional beer bottle, but
definitely not the traditional brew. It was another
Blood4You product the unfortunately named
LongBeer. They really could use Mallory s
marketing expertise.
 You looked like you could use it.
I nodded my agreement and twisted off the
cap, my fingers shaking with the sudden hunger.
The blood was cold and had a peppery zing to it,
like it had been doctored with a dash or two of
Tabasco.
As blood went, it was delicious. But, more
important, it satiated the need. I finished the
bottle in seconds flat, then lowered it again, chest
heaving.
 Guess you needed that?
I nodded, wiping my mouth with the back of
my hand.  Sorry. Sometimes the hunger takes
me.
Jonah reached out and took the bottle from my
hand.  It can do that. And you had a big night
last night.
 Not as big as it might have been, but big
enough. I got hungry at the party, and I was
lucky not to flip out like everyone else there.
He dropped the bottle into a bin beside the
refrigerator.  Speaking of, you certainly got the
vamps fired up.
 It wasn t me, I assured him.  A female
vamp bumped me, and I ended up with two
vamps in my face trying to take me out.
Jonah frowned.  There did seem to be a lot of
aggression in the air.
 And did you notice their eyes? I asked.
 Totally silver, barely any pupil. They were
seriously vamped out.
 There was also a lot of magic in the room.
You put those two things together and you get
vamps itching for a fight.
I shook my head.  This couldn t just be
volume all the vampires in a room together.
The Houses couldn t exist if just being near other
vampires made them predatory enough to fight
for no reason. Maybe it s a mob-mentality thing?
One vamp sanctions violence and the rest of
them fall into line?
Jonah shook his head.  I ve got another
theory. What if the magic wasn t just leaked by
the vamps what if it was directing them?
 You re suggesting someone was using magic
against us? Fueling the aggression?
He nodded.  Making the vamps super
predatorial.
 Okay, I allowed,  say it is magic. But who
does that implicate? Sorcerers? They usually try
to stay away from vamp drama, and there are
only, like, three in the Chicago area. I know two
of them, and making vamps play gladiator isn t
exactly on their to-do list. Granted, I d never
met Mallory s tutor, but I had a pretty good idea
how he was spending his time training her.
 Okay, so probably not sorcerers. How did
you find Sarah? Jonah asked.
 She was sitting on the floor, looked
completely spaced-out. No visible bite marks, so
something else had to be going on. Is it possible
to glamour someone into illness? I mean, to make
them physically weaker just from the glamour?
He frowned, considering it.  I ve never seen it.
But that s not to say it s not possible. Did you
learn anything from her? How she found out
about the party?
I passed along the information she d given me
about Temple Bar and the man she d seen
outside.  She also gave me this, I said, digging
the envelope from my pocket. I pulled it out,
then opened the flap and emptied the envelope s
contents into my hand.
Two white pills fell into my palm.
 Well, he said,  that might explain why she
was so out of it.
I held one tablet up to the light. The same
curvy V was pressed into its surface.
 She said she didn t take anything.
 She was also embarrassed about what [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]