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AFRAID TO OPEN MY EYES TO SEE WHAT I�D FIND AND I
DON�T WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS ANYMORE
The patrol started out easy enough. Simple, really. I�d heard from a stitch who very rarely fails me that there would be a virgin sacrifice happening at the Domus Aurea, or Golden House, at midnight. Some demons wanted to bring forth some great power, yadda, yadda, yadda. Same old spiel.
Before I left, I got Dawn to look up the Domus Aurea, mostly to see if I could get a lay of the land before heading out and to make sure that I knew what I was heading into. If there were any ancient booby traps or anything, I knew I�d have to bring back up. And, with Will in South America, Giles in Cleveland, Faith working in Western Canada somewhere, and Xander working with Andrew on rebuilding a less fascist Watcher�s Council, I didn�t have any options. It was a school night for Dawn and the last time I brought her out with me she ended up sleeping through her term paper recitation.
Anyway, it turns out it was a residence built by or for Nero between the Great Fire and his death. Once completely overdone in it�s opulence, emperors that followed the fiddler stripped the building of everything and filled his golden house with stones and dirt to support the weight of the baths they built on top.
Basically, a tourist stop, but nothing big on the mystical radar as far as Dawnie and I could tell.
So, armed with knives, a few stakes, and a sword for good measure, I headed off.
If I had paid more attention, though, things would be so different right now.