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dull as I'd imagined. Unlike where pristine white snow lay in drifts, slushy gray puddles lined<br />
the streets and dirty patches dotted the lawns. There were also a lot fewer evergreen trees than I<br />
was used to. The scraggly, leafless deciduous trees here seemed skeletal by comparison. They<br />
only added to the mood of impending doom.<br />
After what felt like less than an hour, the van turned down a quiet cul-de-sac, and we drove up<br />
to a very ordinary—yet large—house. Other houses—identical in the way suburban homes<br />
often are—stood nearby, which gave me hope. Maybe we could get some help from the<br />
neighbors.<br />
We pulled inside the garage, and once the door was back down, the men ushered us into the<br />
house. It looked a lot more interesting on the inside. Antique, claw-footed sofas and chairs. A<br />
large, saltwater fish tank. Swords crossed over the fireplace. One of those stupid modern art<br />
paintings that consisted of a few lines splayed across the canvas.<br />
The part of me that enjoyed destroying things would have liked to study the swords in detail,<br />
but the main floor wasn't our destination. Instead, we were led down a narrow flight of stairs,<br />
down to a basement as large as the floor above. Only, unlike the main floor's open space, the<br />
basement was sectioned off into a series of halls and closed doors. It was like a rat's maze. Our<br />
captors led us through it without hesitation, into a small room with a concrete floor and<br />
unpainted drywall.<br />
The furniture inside consisted of several very uncomfortable-looking wooden chairs with<br />
slatted backs—backs that proved to be a convenient place for rebinding our hands. The men<br />
seated us in such a way that Mia and Christian sat on one side of the room, and the rest of us<br />
dhampirs sat on the other. One guy—the leader, apparently—watched carefully as one of his<br />
henchmen bound Eddie's hands with new flex-cuffs.<br />
"These are the ones you especially have to watch," he warned, nodding toward us. "They'll fight<br />
back." His eyes traveled first to Eddie's face, then Mason's, and then mine. The guy and I held
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