From my vantage point I could see Undead Alley, a four-lane street that now lay deserted. Past it, a vast paved lot stretched out, large enough to accommodate hundreds of cars. In its center, the Casino rose, glowing like a mirage born from cold air and asphalt desert. The huge dome of the main cupola shone with the pale bluish glow of feylanterns, surrounded by slim minarets and tall textured walls of white stone. On a good day, the sight would take your breath away, and then you noticed vampires crawling on it like fleas on a white cat.

The main entrance to the parking lot that surrounded the Casino lay to the west. We were at the southwest corner.

A pair of vampires trotted along the edge of the parking lot. I held my breath. They passed out of sight. They were the third pair I’d seen in the last five minutes. The People were on high alert. I could feel eight vampires patrolling the parking lot and three more stationed at random points, one to the north and the other two to the west and south of us.

Robert slid down and landed next to me without making a sound.

“Where is the observation post?” I whispered.

“There.” He pointed to the east at the crumbling remains of the Centennial Drive overpass jutting against the night sky. At some point three overpasses had crossed there, one above the other, but now the top two had collapsed onto the lowest one. Frost had slicked the concrete and parts of the overpass, and enameled in silvery moonlight, they almost glowed. The whole thing didn’t look particularly stable.

“There are two entrances,” Robert breathed into my ear. “One in the east and one in the south. The southern entrance is there.” He pointed to a pile of rubble across the street on our left. A vampire sat on top of it.

“How far is the east one?”

“On Marietta.”

A mile away, half of it in plain view of the Casino. If we doubled back to draw a wider circle around it, we’d have to go around the wreckage of Phillips Arena, which would cost us another half an hour or more. Getting this far unnoticed was a miracle. Trying to circle the Casino with that many patrols out would be impossible.