Chapter 2:

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Only after the bodies had been reduced to nothing but ash that I scattered with a few kicks, did I back out to bright lights of the main street.
Seven, I thought to myself. What was that about?
Strigio traditionally ripped each other too pieces if they were in groups bigger than three, and even with two there was alot of conflict. Lately however, there had been a rise in group hunts. Packs of thirty were extraordinarily rare now but had been unheard of ten years ago. Street gangs usually numbered four or five, rarely six. This had been the first seven I'd ever met.
A prickle on the back of my neck warned of a stalker when I was only yards from street. This wasn't Strigio or human, Strigio and other savage undead gave me nausea and no human was this quiet, that left one option.
I stopped when my toes were millimeters from the line of light on the pavement.
"I know your there. I can sense you, Elder." The last word came out as a hiss.
"No need to be rude Mary." Amun. Leader of the Egyptian Coven, it really shouldn't have been a surprise. "I just was wondering if you had thought over my job offer."
I turned and saw him, olive skin, black hair, pure red eyes so much more disturbing than a Strigio's. "I have, and I find myself stuck on the same answer and reasons I gave you last week."
"You must be joking. My offer is generous, you would be safe from Aro. A little thing like donuts cannot really be worth a mortal death." He leaded agaisnt the wall. Arms folded securely. "No one could touch you if we're under my wing." Now his eyes were on my neck.
Crap. My turtle neck had been ripped in the fight and I hadn't notice. My scars were now on display.
"No one can keep me safe from some one like Aro. Don't lie to me, Amun."
"I am not lying. If you were to become an immortal, no one could stop you, and if you were to fight along side Benjamin no coven or pack could stand against you."
  "If you really think that a fear of Aro is all it would take to make me run to you, then you are more a fool then I thought possible."
"You don't want me as you enemy, Rose." The last word had barely left his mouth when I had him pined to the wall, my stake poking his chest, right above his heart.
  "If you ever say that name again, I'll kill you." Without waiting for a response, I turned around and walked out of the alley and into the well lit street.
Cairo was no longer safe. I needed to get out of there, but where? I thought. I'd always wanted to see Romania again, but that place was crawling with royal Mori, and where that many royal Mori gathered, there were sure to be a few hundred Dhampir Guardians, so Romania was out. I'd been to Russia one, a side from the cold and cuisine it wasn't half bad. It had about the same number of Mori as Romania, more because male Mori liked to hunt in the Dhampir communes for cheap bloodwhores, but as long as I steered clear of those I would be fine. Then again, I would want to hunt and hunting in the middle of the Siberian Plains was suicidal, even with a group of twenty highly trained Guardians. On my own I'd be dead in hours.
I could go to Prague, according to Sydney it had one of the highest Strigio populations is the world, but the Czech Republic wasn't really my cup of tea. And I had an agreement with local Hounds that involved me keeping my distance seven months of year, long story.
The rest of my walk was spent considering other places I could live in for the next few months with no luck. By the time I was back in my apartment I had already ruled out Australia, South America, most of Africa, Turkey (my father's homeland), Scotland (my mother's homeland) and Canada.
  My final decision was made the next morning when, my greatest friend, Keiran called me. When he heard that I needed a new place he invited me to stay with him in Braintree, England. I was on a plane bound for Dublin where I would connect to London an hour later.
   I never got to London.

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