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"We can&039;t let him live," Tina said

"Sure we can"

"Majesty, be reasonable I know you are-were-fond of the child, but he is a dangerous child"

"I still consider hi-outs Or would that be fallings-out? Anye don&039;t always get along a hundred percent of the time Look at me and Jessica!"

"Duh not," Little Miss Myeloh the ice pack Marc had slapped over her face, "drag meh entoh this"

We were in the (first) parlor We&039;d picked it because there were two couches, and Jessica and I both needed one Shit, I needed a hospital ward But a couch that sht now

"Surely after what happened today you do not still consider him an ally?"

"Eric, try to see his point of view! If so score, we&039;re ahead of hio after hiuys Don&039;t order another vampire to do it, either Jon&039;s out of bounds as far as the vampires are concerned"

"Foolish sentimentality"

"Hey, I&039;m mad at him, too, okay? He shotto kill him"

Everybody looked at my chest

"No, seriously He didn&039;t mean to do that Or he meant to, but he kneouldn&039;t kill me-he was scared, okay? Scared and humiliated, which is just the worst combo ever At least the worst part&039;s over"

"Worst part?" Jessicahim I did not want to do that, boy oh boy But at least it&039;s out"

"What I&039;d like to know," Marc said froun in the first place"

"Are you kidding? That kid&039;s always got about nine guns and knives on hiht," Marc allowed, "but a foruys don&039;t even frisk hi?"

"We kneas carrying Mostly because he&039;s always carrying But we never frisk anybody"

"What, that&039;s a rule now?"

"Sure," I said, and Sinclair nodded, backing h cookie, too; but she puts people through a metal detector and a security check before they can talk to her"

"If the throne is so easily taken from us," Sinclair explained, almost exactly the way he explained it to me, "ould be poor ets the drop on you in your own house, too bad for Betsy and Sinclair, but they should have been able to take care of themselves?"

We looked at each other "Basically," I answered, "yeah"

"Great," Marc ht in the crossfire appreciate the attention to detail"

"Although," I said, looking at Jessica&039;s face-what I could see around the ice, "e that rule"

"If we cannot protect our allies," Sinclair said, "the saht laugh, and they both laughed

"Getting back to the issue of the child," Tina said, harshing our buzz as visual, "I really think you should reconsider He-"

The phone rang She picked it up, glanced at the caller ID

"We&039;re kind of busy," I said, a little sharply The phone was a whole thing between Tina and me

"But-"

"If it&039;s important, they&039;ll call back"

"But it&039;s yourphone! People used it the way they used to use the cat-o&039;-nine-tails You had to drop everything and answer the fucking thing And God help you if you were home and, for whatever reason, didn&039;t answer "But I called!" Yeah, it was convenient for you so you called But I&039;m in the shit because it wasn&039;t convenient forand talk to you, on the spot, for whatever you needed to talk about

Unfortunately, Tina was the type who lunged for it every time it sophone Always trackedfroe But it&039;s your mother! Yeah, well, she&039;ll call back But she&039;s on the phone now

I practically snatched it frorandfather," Mo funerals, "has escaped"

"Escaped what? Mohty-nine, and he&039;s hooked up to forty differentabout, escaped?"

"So up the driveway," Tina said in a low voice

"Well, go take care of it"

"And if they need to see you, Majesty?"