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"It was just a kiss"

"You said that three tiht?" Sarah plumped up a pillow behind her, and tucked the coverlet fir back

"A perfectly innocent kiss!"

"Honey, there was nothing innocent about that kiss," she said with a knowing look

I sto on the desk and turned it off, feeling aard and unsure of myself I don&039;t knohy I felt compelled to explain that the kiss Theo and I shared was not what it see hts

"I find hiot so with a healthy libido"

"Nothing at all, especially when the recipient of your attentions is a gorgeous angel I looked up nephilim while you were occupied with Theo That&039;s what a nephiliel, the result of a union between - "

"Oh, I know all about that," I said, waving my hands around for aI a sort of person "It&039;s part of this tale he spun me That&039;s neither here nor there - what I want to knohat is going to coht you said it was just your libido?"

"It is!" I shoved the chair aside just because I could "But you know ress beyond kissing, I&039; to end up in a relationship With a mad up the book she&039;d brought to read on the vacation

"Well, maybe not mad by the strictest definition of the word, but you have to admit that he&039;s not normal"

"Of course he isn&039;t He&039;s i to convince yourself that he&039;s not handsome as sin, and twice as delicious?"

"I did not - oh, you&039;re i of that, you sure changed your tune quick enough"

"What do youover Theo"

Sarah looked surprised for a moment "Don&039;t be ridiculous - I&039;m happily ling Theo yesterday" I refused to exaled him It couldn&039;t possibly be i to her book as she waved a dismissive hand toward me

"Before what?"

"Before Theo explained he wasn&039;t forat Sarah, confused by her calm acceptance of the short-lived lust she had felt for Theo "Aren&039;t you the least bit disconcerted about the fact that Theo interested you? Should happily ?"

"They should if the hed at ht you knew about nephilims? Didn&039;t Theo tell you that they have an effect on mortal women?"

"No, he didn&039;t" I frowned

"Ah Well, that&039;s why I initially fell victim to his attractive self He dis affected by it"

I shoved myself out of the chair and stalked to the far side of the room "He didn&039;t dismiss it for me!"

"That&039;s because you weren&039;t affected by hi, actually It could mean he&039;s the real deal, at least so far as you and he are concerned," she said, looking thoughtful

That was a thought I considered that for a moment, then decided it was yet another distraction I didn&039;t need in ht, and left her to her book

I slept poorly, waking up roughly every hour to find ht over h we spent a delightfully norhouls, specters, or phantoms of any sort manifested the we encountered was that wo her parrot on the castle tour," I colanced toward the door of our private dining roo at length about how much force would have to be supplied to rip someone&039;s limb off while on the rack"

"You are the one who insisted on seeing the torture chaave ain over arlic-roasted potato I pushed a clued a bit of hollandaise sauce more attractively around a ain

"For Pete&039;s sake, will you stop that! You&039;reme as nervous as a cat"

"Aha!" Sarah waved her fork, bedecked with a piece of pork loin, at me "I knew it! And you said you weren&039;t nervous earlier when I asked you when today&039;s trial was going to be"

"I wasn&039;t nervous until you started looking over my shoulder every five seconds" I set downto enjoy the et all worked up over nothing Obviously whoever is Theo&039;s cohort of the day has had a change of heart So you can stop looking over my shoulder for him, because he&039;s probably decided we&039;re not worth what must be a sizeable outlay of "

Sarah chewed the bit of pork "How you can sit there and deny that Theo is exactly what he says he is - "

"I deny it because it&039;s perfectly clear he&039;s a con man - "

"A man you think is sexy as hell - "

"Well of course I do! He is! But that doesn&039;t excuse the fact that he&039;s trying to pull some scheme - "

"Admit it, Portia" Sarah speared another bit of potato "Part of the attraction he holds for you is his undeniable air of erous sense of the unknown that sends shivers down your back every time he&039;s near No woman can turn away from that - it&039;s a scientific fact that bad boys are completely irresistible! Give in to your inner woman and just admit he chimes your bells because of what he is"

I pushed back fro down my napkin "You&039;re impossible when you&039;re in that sort of a o with you tonight?"

"No, you take the evening off You wouldn&039;t enjoy sitting in a graveyard with the clairaudients, anyway"

I s her a piece ofthe voices of the dead, and mentioned that I&039;d amuse myself instead with a walk around the countryside

"That&039;s a great idea - your mind will be refreshed by the walk for the next trial"

My sraveyard"

"Maybe we should call Theo," Sarah mused to her dinner as I headed out of the room "Maybe he would knohat&039;s up with the trial"

Once in ht withup just because I expected to see Theo so the day I pulled out a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, garbaround the countryside than the bright dress I&039;d put on thatas I did if Theo liked red

I hesitated as I pulled a pair of tennis shoes fro down at the black silk-and-lace teddy I earing,away fro "Oh, for heaven&039;s sake, it&039;s just underwear, not a world crisis," I told rab land seemed to be particularly prone to non-traditional behavior, for the boards that had served so solidly beneath h which I fell in startled fear "What theooof!"

"Good evening My na as the proctor for your third trial" I had fallen what see on a stone floor with a thu my ankles, and jarred my teeth painfully "Er a teddy?"

Sohts on a shelf in an arched inset in the wall, the light pooling on the floor in front of me The voice ca as I took in the large stone sarcophagus upon which a young, red-haired wo outto myself at just how inane that sounded "I was in thedressed I wasn&039;t expected to be sucked down towhere exactly are we?"

"Crypt," Noelle said, giving us "Sorry about the bad ti, but I&039;ve had a day froet to the trial until now Oh well, it&039;ll soon be over, and you can go back to your dressing Why don&039;t you put on your shoes, and we&039;ll get started"

I walked over to her and pressed ers to her shoulder She certainly felt real Which could only

Her eyebrows rose "You look confused Is there a problein to frame them in my mind, let alone explain to her the trouble I had with accepting the fact that I&039;d just been teleported to some unknown crypt

"No," I answered in what sounded like a choked voice I cleared ht insanity wouldn&039;t explain"

"Oh, good" She sestured toward the center of the crypt On the floor, an elaborate circle with several symbols had been drawn upon it "Shoes?"

"Of course," I said, putting onto be co but lingerie and tennies"

"It&039;s a very pretty teddy," Noelle said, walking around to the back "I like the straps on the side Oh, it&039;s not a thong Good on you I hate thongs - they&039;re always getting places they shouldn&039;t be"

I shookif the rest of one quite, quite insane - would follow this pattern, or if soot the hthorite with my feet because my arms were confined by a straitjacket "Sure, why not? I&039;ve got nothing to lose, right?"

She made a face, and looked down the room to a doorway that lurked in the darkness "Welllet&039;s just say that you really need to get this one right Right Champion, you may enter the room"

It didn&039;t surprise ed) when Theo strolled into the roo his lips as he looked me over from toes to head

"That&039;sa new look for you," he finally said, having taken his ti to wear," I said with a fir for the ride now"

"I like it, regardless" His gaze flickered between hway to dehed and only just kept fro his eyes "You are not insane, Portia"

"No, of course not It&039;s perfectly ordinary to be teleported to a crypt, so I can stand around into" I turned to Noelle "What exactly a backward until she was in the shadow of the crypt rooinnow!"

I don&039;t knohat I expected a demon to look like - probably a short, squat red-skinned beast with horns, cloven feet, and a pointy tail - but the teenage boy who appeared in the circle did not scream demon to me

Until the little shit opened hisout as if he was going to honk the hio in it?" I asked

The de to pick Theo off his back, but Theo was bigger and stronger, and kept the teen&039;s arms pinned behind hirunted, twisting to avoid the demon&039;s attempt at a backward butt

"Defeat it how?" I looked around the crypt I had no idea what it took to beat a demon, not that they really existed except into snap and go to the trouble of i club, or a cool sa like that"