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Chapter 221
Jenna had the cabdriver drop her off at Gillette Castle, a normal enough destination. The strange looking hilltop castle looked like it had been constructed out of papier-mâché, but was actually made out of thousands of stones gathered from the local hills. It had been built for an eccentric actor early in the twentieth century and was now the centerpiece of a state park whose other main attraction was its spectacular views of the Connecticut River. The vampire caverns were hidden in the forest a mile or so north the park. She would walk the rest of the way.
The air was chill, with the sun hidden behind a thick layer of gray clouds that had moved in since the morning, but the cold seldom bothered her. She skirted the edge of the park surrounding the castle and headed north into the trees.
She had learned the location of the vampire lair the same way she learned many things—by carefully watching the world below her in the guise of an owl. Years ago, s
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Leesa pulled into the parking lot of the diner Dominic had told her about. When she turned the engine off and looked up the road, she saw him standing on the opposite side of the highway, a hundred feet or so away. He gave her a curt nod to acknowledge her arrival and then poked his head and arms into his car through the driver’s side window. A moment later, the car began rolling slowly forward, coming to a stop on the shoulder of the road about ten paces from where Dominic stood watching. As soon as the car stopped rolling, Dominic gave Leesa a quick thumbs up—the signal they had agreed on that she should proceed as planned. She grabbed the ivory box from her bag and got out of the car. After waiting for a truck to flash by, she hurried across the road and found the spot Dominic had described to her. The old oak tree—almost twice as thick as any of its neighbors—was just barely visible from the highway. Its gnarled branches spread wide in every direction, and Leesa could im
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Leesa Nyland sat on the fender of her rented Ford, exhausted. Her wizard mentor Dominic leaned against the car alongside her. Just a little more than half an hour before, she thought they both were about to die at the hands of the deadly black waziri—renegade members of Dominic’s own clan who had been tracking him for more than a century. Only the unexpected appearance of four vampires—who had torn out the throats of the weakened wizards—had saved them. With her own nascent magic diminished by the same mysterious spell that had sucked much of the magic out of Dominic and the black waziri, Leesa had played only a very small role in the battle. Still, the fear and anxiety engendered by the near death experience—combined with the ebbing of the adrenaline rush inside her body—had left her drained. She turned toward Dominic. He looked far less tired than she felt, but he had been doing this kind of stuff for hundreds of years and was much more used to it. His black button
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Leesa swung the Ford to the curb about half a block down the street from the entrance to her dorm. She would return the car to the rental company tomorrow; all she wanted to do right now was take a shower and lie down. She was not even certain which of the two she wanted to do more—maybe she would just lie down in the shower! There was something she had to do first, though.Twilight was deepening into dusk as she limped up the sidewalk toward her dorm. The evening was growing cold, so she hugged her arms across her chest as she walked. She was glad she had nabbed a parking space so close to the dorm.Inside, Leesa spotted one of her dormmates, a girl named Missi, waiting for the elevator. Leesa walked over to join her. More often than not Leesa used the stairs, but she was tired and with Missi having already pressed the up button the car should be there quickly. Leesa didn’t know Missi very well—really just to say “hi” to when Missi droppe
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