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"Seraphina!" Archie&039;s expression was a cross between happy and horrified I felt the sa and pissed off he hadn&039;t bothered to let me know Or my parents Or any of his coworkers at PRIS

"Wait," said Ralph He looked at Archie "You&039;re not Stan?" His gaze slanted to me "And you&039;re not Libby?"

"My first name is Archibald," said Archie "I switched tofor the Consortiuo by Libby now" I glanced at Ralph His expression was thoughtful I realized I was still wearing his shirt So hi in an all-day truffle But I was not here to lust after Ralph That was just a perk I had bigger worries right now The man who&039;d been like fao, when I was thirteen, we followed an anonymous tip to an isolated farht-walkers" inhabited the dilapidated building and that outsiders who ventured onto the property were attacked by savage wolves Come to think of it, that whole situation reminded me of Broken Heart&039;s setup

My mother and I did a perimeter check at the tree line Perimeter checks were how my parents kept me away from the action Anyway, Archie took his equip house

The barn exploded All we found of Archie were his glasses, one scorched shoe, and a ht you died in the explosion"

"A vaured out he&039;d hooked up with the undead I got it Varasped that Archie had left behind his life on purpose "Moht it was her fault"

"I&039;m sorry about that I really am Your mother iswell, your mother I was tired of PRIS, Sera" He shook his head "Libby Patrick O&039;Halloran pulled aped at him "You mean poof boy?"

Archie blinked

"Yes," said Ralph, chuckling "That&039;s Patrick"

We both turned to Archie, waiting for his explanation

"He offered me unlimited funds to carry out real research" Archie stared at his clipboard, his cheeksa clean break was one of the conditions of ret I was unable to say proper good-byes, but you kno Dora is" He ot that thing she does with her eyes I never could lie to her"

"Yeah Me, neither"

We contemplated each other in silence

"Trust me, Libby I know you&039;re here under duress, but you won&039;t come to harm Now, tell me what happened," he said in his serious-doctor tone

I shrugged "Beats ot really upset, and everything went nuclear Things started exploding" I hesitated "And I think I can hear fire singing"

Ralph nodded "Iuh, think I can hear that, too"

"Really?" I turned to hi so relieved If I was nuts, he was, too Was that a good thing?

"That tops the weird-o- his head Ouch In a town full of weird, being told I was the weirdest wasn&039;t co rabbed me, kissed me, and set me on fire And then I&039;d set Ralph on fire And ta-daI can hear fla," said Archie "Both of you turn around"

Ralph and I shared a look We stood up and turned around I was unco of cloth and then a scritching sound

"What do you hear?" asked Archie

"I&039;ll take &039;what is the sound of silence&039; for three hundred, Alex," I said Ralph laughed

"Seriously," said Archie, sounding annoyed "What do you hear?"

"You Babbling"

He sighed Then I heard another scritching noise A dulcet tone shi at azes drawn to the lighter in Archie&039;s hand The fla, just like the fire

"What are you two doing?"

I barely heard Archie&039;s question I reached for the lighter, but he pulled away The fire went out

"No!" Ralph pushed Archie against the door and I yanked the little plastic Bic out of his fingers I flicked it on and the fla

Ralph dropped Archie, who landed with a thud Then he joinedFor the first time, I heard words

I looked at Ralph "Is thatDef Leppard?"

"Yeah It&039;s &039;Rock of Ages&039;" He dipped his finger into the fla his skin When it hit his shirt, the material burned away The flame danced on his wrist So seductive I leaned down and licked it The fire invaded my mouth Ambrosia I e So was I The flames feasted on his shirt, not on his skin He was a vampire whose fire danced and loved, but didn&039;t char or destroy It loved me, too

His arether I sucked in the fire and it raced down ue

"L-Libby?"

I looked down at Archie, barely registering his look of terror Then I saw the s out of my nostrils

What the hell?

The door burst open and souisher at me White foam exploded from the nozzle and blanketed us

The music was instantly silenced "No!" I cried

Archie and the fireman backed out I didn&039;t understand the look on Archie&039;s face Like he didn&039;t know me