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.If the Vampire tried to escape, or if anyone but his Doppler PTF agent guards tried to take the suit off, the disk expanded into an eight-inch stake, piercing the Vampire’s heart in a flash.As if that weren’t enough, a slim wire wrapped the neck, made from an alloy mined by the Dark Elves.In an escape attempt, the band would slice through the Vampire’s neck, beheading him.Considering Gary had tried to kill himself when we captured him, I wasn’t so sure the suit was a good thing.The Vampire-Doppler was still alive, so I certainly wasn’t going to say anything that might give him any ideas.As the other Trackers made room to allow the small procession through, I felt almost guilty for how bad he looked.After all, not that long ago he’d been one of us.The good guys.As for the suit, something about holy water and garlic made healing a lot slower for Vampires—and apparently Vampire paranorms.When the sick-looking Vampire-Doppler was brought to me, I looked into his bleary eyes.“Hi, Gary.”He stared at me with a dazed expression and mumbled something I couldn’t hear.“All of this will be over if you just tell me what I need to know,” I said as I looked up at him.“How were you taken?” I asked.“How is Volod doing this?”“A group of Vampire paranorms came at me in my territory.I never saw it coming,” he said.“How many paranorm Vamps are there?” I asked.“And how many Vampires?”Gary looked away from me like he was trying to think of the number before he looked back at me.“Right now, over twenty-five Vampire paranorms, and he’s brought in more Vampires from nearby states.Around another ninety Vampires.”I sucked in my breath.Close to 115? That was odds of nearly five to one against our city’s Trackers.I took a deep breath before I continued.“Where do the Vampires bury the dead before they rise on the tenth day?” I asked.Gary seemed unsteady on his feet.I motioned for the Doppler agents to put him into one of the chairs in front of my desk.I repeated the question.The Vampire-Doppler looked at me, his eyes unfocused.“I never buried anyone.”“I don’t care what you’ve done.” I frowned.“Where does Volod bury them?”“It is different in every city.” Gary sounded like he needed a glass of water.His words had a dry scratchiness to them.“We just came to New York.I don’t know where he buries his dead here.”“We need to check all cemeteries in Manhattan as well as the surrounding areas,” I said to the team I’d assigned to the task.“Won’t matter.” Gary slurred his words.“I heard that Volod does some kind of magic thing.Makes it look like the grave was there forever.You will never be able to find any of them on your own.”“Then you need to help us.” My patience was dissolving along with any sympathy I may have had.“You know what we can do to you.”I think he would have shrugged if he weren’t in the compression suit.“Doesn’t matter, because I don’t know any more than that.”“We’ll come back to that in a moment.” I didn’t want him to think I was giving up that easy.“What is Volod up to?” I got in Gary’s face, close enough that I could smell the lining of his suit.“I don’t know.” The Vampire-Doppler looked away from me, refusing to meet my eyes.“Tell me now or I’ll let Max and Nakano both have at you.” The snarl in my voice was enough to make him flinch.“Or better yet, Desmond.”Fear swept across Gary’s face, but he didn’t say anything.I wondered if he was too scared to talk.Desmond stood in front of him and extended his hand.From it the green fist extended and wrapped around the Vampire-Doppler’s neck, just below his chin.Gary made a gurgling sound, and then resignation was clear in the droop of his shoulders and his expression.He looked like a being who didn’t care anymore.No matter what Volod might do to him.He just didn’t want to experience more pain.He swallowed.The wire pressed against his throat.Desmond kept the magic fist around Gary’s neck.“Volod wants to create far more paranorm Vampires than he has.He wants an entire army.”Chills rolled over me.“An army,” I repeated.He licked his lips.“Volod plans to—”A pinging sound.A red stripe across his throat.A stunned look on Gary’s face.Gary’s head tipped forward.And fell from his shoulders and landed by my feet.Shocked silence followed the head as it rolled across the office floor.I looked at Desmond, who had a surprised expression.“Oops,” he said.Somehow his magic fist had set off the wire.“What the—” Ice started when the Fae bells jingled yet again at the front door.A male being entered through the doorway.He paused as he pabelswept his gaze over us and looked at Gary’s lifeless head on the floor
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