Area 51: Nosferatu-8 Read Free Page B

Lin.
    "There is another Undead here at the Haven now," Tian Dao Lin said.
    "Who is this?" Adrik frowned. "Where is he?"

    "She sleeps," Nosferatu said simply.
    "Who is she?" Adrik demanded.
    "That is not your business," Nosferatu replied.
    "Why not make a deal with Vampyr with the blood for the fourth?" Adrik suggested.
    "As I said, the fourth is accounted for," Nosferatu said.
    Adrik folded his arms. "I will tell you what I believe. I think you knew you could only recover enough blood for four and you invited Vampyr here first and when he declined, then you invited me. If Vampyr had accepted, I would have been the unlucky fifth."
    Nosferatu met the other's gaze and the two stared at each other for a long minute.
    "What about the Watchers?" Tian Dao Lin asked, an abrupt change in subject.
    "The Watchers are defunct," Nosferatu said, still staring at Adrik.
    "All of them?" Tian Dao Lin pressed. "Including the Watcher-Hunters?"
    Nosferatu shrugged. "There might be some of them left, but they are only a nuisance. They consider taking a quarter a great success, which is all they have ever

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    achieved these many years. Any that ever came close to any of us perished."
    "And Vampyr?" Adrik asked. "You said he will be pursuing these same things to get the blood?"
    "Yes," Nosferatu said.
    "That is why you really need us," Adrik said. "To fight Vampyr."
    "Yes," Nosferatu admitted. "With my X-craft, I believe I can recover enough blood from the Airlia bodies on the mothership to make two of us immortal. So I could achieve this without the two of you. But I think it would be wise for us to band together.
    "I can assure you that if Vampyr recovers the Airlia blood, he will not share it with you," Nosferatu said. "He cares for nothing other than his vengeance.
    Without the Airlia and their followers to hold him in check, I fear he will go after the blood and, in the process, destroy us." Nosferatu stood. "I believe we are headed for the final confrontation. Please reflect on the situation and let me know your decision when I return."
    Nosferatu went out through the heavy wooden door, swinging it shut behind him. He walked down stone steps, deeper into his lair. Nosferatu came to a steel door. On one side was a retinal scanner and he pressed his eyes to it. When the computer recognized his pattern, the door's bolts withdrew and it slowly swung open.
    The room he walked into was a crypt. In the center was a raised platform upon which rested a black metal tube. Surrounding the tube were dozens of plants and small trees, a veritable oasis of greenery underground.
    Nosferatu went up to the tube, placing his hands gently on the lid. He leaned forward until his head was next to the front. Inside was the fourth Undead at Haven.

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    "Soon, my love," he whispered. "Soon we will finally be together forever."

    Puget Sound, Washington

    The girl had never been in a helicopter before. She was seventeen and had been working the streets for only a month. So far the experience had been quite terrible, but things looked like they were taking a change for the better, much better to judge by the luxurious interior of the aircraft. She had the entire back to herself, the pilots shielded from her by a dark glass partition. The windows were also blacked out and it didn't occur to her to wonder why. She was too interested in the leather captain's chairs, the state-of-the-art stereo system, and other accoutrements that adorned the passenger compartment.
    The man in the limousine, claiming to represent someone very rich, had picked her up off the street over four hours earlier, just after dark. Instead of a hotel, he'd taken her to a clinic, where a silent doctor had examined her. Two thousand in cash up front had been enough for the girl to allow herself to be poked and prodded and two samples of her blood taken and tested. Along with the promise of another eight thousand for the rest of the night if she passed all the tests.
    Apparently she had, as she was