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Chapter 22

I knocked, then pokedJessica, resigned, alking back and forth with hi up on her shoulder

"And once again, I can&039;t thank you enough"

"And once again, I need to buy a new shirt" She had to raise her voice to be heard over the baby "Have fun at the funeral, anyway Should be a piece of cake, right?"

"It&039;s a joke, that&039;s what it is" I held out ladly surrendered him to me BabyJon hushed at once, except for the occasional hiccup

"I wouldn&039;t say that around here if I were you," she warned, scraping at the fusty left shoulder of her blouse

"It&039;s the truth, though"

"Couys-froht bunch It&039;s probably like losing a niece, or a sister, or-"

"Bullshit The Pack didn&039;t like Antonia, relad when she left"

Jess snapped her fingers "Jeez, you&039;re right! I&039;d forgotten all about that It creeped thee, but could tell the future They needed her, but they were all sorta scared of her, too"

I nodded Antonia had gotten abysmally drunk (do you have any idea how ht a few months back She&039;d told us the whole story

How hardly any of thehtened they were of her: Would she withhold her predictions? If she saw so bad in a Pack member&039;s future, would she spill it? Or keep it to herself?

Worst of all, she&039;d told us how the Pack had been relieved when they&039;d found out she wasn&039;t co back They hadn&039;t missed her at all, or even worried about her

No They&039;d been relieved

And now they expectedpissedher head "Glad I&039;h they are pretty nice," she added, peeking at my pumps

"They can do whatever they ith oing to kill them all in a variety of horrible ways"

"Gosh" I kissed BabyJon on his sweet head "I feel safer already"

Chapter 23

Wyndham Manor, I had been told, was not only olf HQ and the seat of their power, it was also home to dozens of Pack members And it had obviously been built to accommodate crowds, because the service was held in a roouessing, when there wasn&039;t a coffin involved, it was a ballroom

Michael had spoken briefly, and then a minister (a olf Presbyterianpast the coffin, no doubt paying their respects

I had noticed right away that they&039;d switched Antonia to a much nicer coffin It shone like polished jet and was just as black An enormous spray of white calla lilies nearly covered the entire top I wonder what they&039;d done with the old one-the one Derik had destroyed Then I decided a) it was a ht and b) none ofthis This was actually fine by me-if I knehere she was, I wouldn&039;t worry about her

BabyJon was snuggled againstaround with bright-eyed interest I tried to pretend he wasn&039;t drooling on the lapel of my Ann Taylor

Weirdly, it had been Sinclair&039;s idea for ested we bring BabyJon anywhere, so on top of being sad for Antonia, and scared for us, I was suspicious of my husband&039;sup I had already paid my respects I had wept over her, called her Pack, and told them the unthinkable, had flown her home It was more than I&039;d done for ht?"

I looked up and al wo in front of nant belly out to here

"Uh, yeah" I shifted BabyJon and held out a hand, which she shook briskly "Betsy Taylor"

"The infamous queen of the dead" But her blue eyes were kind, and she was s Her hair was a rich auburn cloud around her shoulders "I&039;m Sara, Derik&039;s wife"

"Undead," I corrected, "and yeah, that&039;s me Was Antonia a friend of yours? I s&039;pose she ht, or so I heard I&039;m very sorry about what happened to her"

"Thank you" Sara eased herself into the chair beside ed the small of her back "But she wasn&039;ttime with her"

I stared And stared And stared so equal parts admiration and horror Sara had a pair, that was for sure, to speak ill of the dead in this of all places But she was telling the truth, which I adrump," I admitted "You&039;re, um, not a olf Are you?"

"No, no"

"So Jeannie&039;s not the only huh I&039;m not technically human," she said

"Oh"

"I&039;an Le Fay"

Oh Great A crazy wo less than two feet away My, what an interesting week this was turning out to be!

Sara laughed, accurately reading my expression "Never mind, you don&039;t have to believe it, just like I don&039;t have to convince you Although I should warn you, if you try to hurtaill happen to you"