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"I know there&039;s nothing she can eat, but I feel terribly rude not even offering her a cup of tea," Joy said a few minutes later, after we had survived the introductions Raphael, on his way out to do some ith the security firm he owned, looked more than a bit startled, but all in all, everyone took Esme&039;s presence pretty well

Roxy was in seventh heaven, sitting next to Es her as to what life after death meant Esme had met her match in Roxy - for every morsel of helpful advice that was offered ("Petite women should never wear horizontal stripes; it makes you look like a munchkin"), Roxy parried with yet another pointed question about the afterlife

"What was the first moment you knew you were dead? How come you look like you did shortly before you died, rather than at the moment of death? I mean, if you burned to death, shouldn&039;t you be all sht at the end of a tunnel? And what&039;s the deal with angels - are they real, or is it all just a bunch of hooey?"

I turned away froetic face at Joy "I&039;ht you were just getting me when you invited me to tea If Esme makes you uncomfortable, I&039;ll just turn another bobble into a keeper and tuck her away"

Joy, sitting with her hands resting on her ahosts in sweater bobbles?"

"Sometiency Not to change the subject, but could you tell me what this step business is that you and Roxy ht? Isnide coed up on ot pushed aside"

Joy&039;sopen for a minute before she snapped it shut "I have no idea what you&039;re talking about, but I&039; tale The steps, oh" She looked over at Roxy, eeping her hands through Esht "Well, the steps are part of the Joining Do you know anything at all about Moravians?"

"Other than that they are not quite vampires, no"

Joy leaned toward me a little "You know, you really should read Christian&039;s books Much of what he writes about is actual Dark One lore, although, of course, he presents it as fiction I will be happy to lend you my copies"

I gnawed on my lower lip "I&039;m not really much of one for ro with inner laughter "Trustyou don&039;t understand, you can ask Christian about Now, the steps ere talking about that Let&039;s see well, each Dark One is born having one true love, his Beloved That&039;s Beloved with a capital B, by the way Anyhoodles, a Dark One&039;s Beloved is his soul mate, the woman as born to redeeht that there was only one Beloved for each Dark One, but"

She looked unco on her bladder, or if it was so she was about to say, but I suspected the latter

"It&039;s really not i that it is, because it isn&039;t, not truly"

I blinked "Okay"

"And I don&039;t want you thinking that there&039;s anything between Christian andon this earth, and I alill Christian was just a little confused about s a bit hard, but in the end it all worked out well, even though Raphael did get fired, and he does have a scar, but at least the tattoo is safe, so that&039;s good"

I opened ht better of it

"But I did promise Christian, you see I swore to him that I&039;d help him find his Beloved, and then Roxy had this crazy idea about writing a book to draw her out, and I knew that wouldn&039;t work, but I thought if Christian did a book tour to a nu, and Roxy ca because she said Miranda - that&039;s a Wiccan friend of ours - Miranda said the goddess told her that Rox was needed in London And it worked, because here you are!"

Finally, so I could understand "Wait aChristian&039;s main squeeze, I have to correct that ht, and he himself told me that I wasn&039;t his Beloved He said he would break the news to you" I took in her crestfallen expression and gentled my words "I see that he didn&039;t bother to do that"

"I haven&039;t seen Christian since he saw us ho worriedly at a ginger cookie She frowned for a , that&039;s all"

"Who&039;s wrong?" Roxy asked as she scooted forward to snag a handful of cookies

"Christian He told Allie she wasn&039;t his Beloved"

"Oh, is that all Sure, he&039;s wrong He rong about you being his Beloved;about her, too Poor nition department," she told Esme in a confidential tone of voice

"Really? And he see like the conversation was getting beyond ht you were his Beloved? Is that what all that &039;I don&039;t want you to think it&039;s i at the sah Christian was a pussycat and she loved him dearly (in a purely platonic way, since she had a husband she adored, he was still a man, and everyone knew irdles worked wonders where nothing else could; and Joy to add that Christian had been just a little confused, but that was all straightened out now

I let the my ears to the noise while I ht Joy was his Beloved She clearly was in love with the big man named Raphael, but just as clearly Christian was a very dear friend of hers I suspected froes of his eyes when he spoke of her that the feeling was returned

The question was, did his feelings for her go beyond those of a close friend? Was he hiding a broken heart behind a fa?ade of friendship? Or worse, was he on the rebound, willing to cling to any warm body to ease the pain of his unrequited love? I didn&039;t know enough about the Dark Ones to know just how this whole Beloved thing worked, but I gathered that it was a pretty seriousJoy was the womanfeelings for her

That said, why did that thought botherto bring some order to the chaos around me "Now maybe one of you can explain these steps What exactly is a Joining? I don&039;t think I&039;ve ever heard of that"

Joy looked worried, and absent A Dark One Joins with his Beloved - that is, they have to complete the seven steps, and then they are Joined"

I had a horrible suspicion I knehat she was driving at "You&039;re talking about sex, right?"

Joy choked on her cookie Roxy reached over and pounded on her back a few ti

"If you wouldn&039;t be such a pig, you wouldn&039;t have this problem Sex is the fifth step, but the others don&039;t have anything to do with it," Roxy said "Well, the third step does, but that&039;s just kissing, so I don&039;t count that"

I rubbed a weary hand over my forehead I felt more than a little like Alice in the company of people who spoke only in riddles "What exactly are the steps? Maybe if I knohat they are, I&039;ll understand this Joining better"

"Oh, that&039;s easy," Roxy answered, counting off her fingers "First step: the Dark One marks his Beloved I assunawed on my lip "Marked how?"

"Have you had any visions recently?" Joy asked "Any tied with Christian&039;s?"

I sets intoI learned"

"Really?" Joy looked at Roxy Roxy looked back at Joy Esums licked his butt "Well, I don&039;t knohat to say in that case WithChristian felt and saw, I felt and saw And er likewise"

I felt a stab of so that bore a re immediately I was not jealous of Joy Christian did notto me "I did have a dreaet to souarded o to sleep, but there&039;s a certain lack of control when you&039;re sleeping" Which was one of the reasons I seldohttiht control over Summoners&039; minds

"A dreahed "Hardly He was covered in blood and had a hundred cuts all over his body I thought he was a tortured spirit when I first saw him"

"You saw him?" I nodded to Joy "Oh, well, then, that definitely is a , wouldn&039;t you say?"

"Definitely," Esorously Her little sausage curls bounced around as she beamed a happy smile at all of us

"The second step is protection froht," Roxy added

I made a noncommittal face Two out of seven was statistically still a coincidence I&039;d seen ood one - exchange of bodily fluids"

"Ew!"

"It sounds gross, but it&039;s not," Roxy reassuredYou know" She tipped her head toward Esood with his tongue," Esme told her "He could tie a cherry stem into a knot"

There just wasn&039;t much any of us could say to that

"The fourth step," Joy said as she rested a teacup on her belly, "is when the Dark One entrusts the heroine with his life by giving her the means to destroy him"

"Hey, wait a minute, I want to find out if Allie and Christian have been doing the tongue waltz"

"Roxy! That&039;s none of your business!"

"Look, sister, I flew all the way over here just to help you help Christian, leaving hts It is too uys locked lips or not?"

"I I"

"She&039;s blushing," Esuess that is a yes And after what I saw of Christian last night - such a nice boy, even if he is a Dark One - I can&039;t bla hihost who exudes coyness

"The fifth step," Joy said fire"

"Bet you can&039;t guess what thatobnoxious You don&039;t have to embarrass Allie The sixth step is where the Dark One seeks his Beloved&039;s assistance to overcome his darker self, and the final step, the one that redeee - a blood exchange - after which the Beloved offers herself as a sacrifice so that he ht live"

"Don&039;t worry; Christian won&039;t actually let you sacrifice yourself You just have to make the effort That&039;s what Joy did, anyway, and it worked"

I stifled the little voice inside h of Joy and Christian&039;s relationship for one day "It all sounds rather oh, I don&039;t know, epic soreed "There is a strong ele that thy medieval romantic poems, but I can assure you that it is a very serious matter to Christian He is, for lack of a better word, wounded, and can&039;t be healed until his Beloved agrees to save hi, but I have to say, all this drives hoht I&039;m not the epic story type I&039;m not Beloved material I&039;s of a warmer nature - which I don&039;t have - are purely coincidental"

"Uh-huh No wars, eh? Is that why you blushed so hard over the kissing question?"

"Roxy, stop teasing her" Joy looked atPerhaps you really aren&039;t Christian&039;s Beloved, although I could have sworn Well, it doesn&039;t s out, and if you aren&039;t, we&039;ll si for the woed deep within nored all of the rest of the strange thingsto tell me "Would youthis Beloved person? I mean, isn&039;t Christian really the best person to do that?"

"Yes," came a familiar, deep, beautifully resonant voice fro around to look at hi to leap up out of the chair and throw itself into his arht She peered over her shoulder at the"Is it dark so soon?"

"Not quite; there are another twelvea black fedora, black silk scarf, and ankle-length black coat on a table before advancing into the roo as ever Roxy, I see the fine hand of your husband in that lovely gown Please tell hiain what exquisite fashion taste he has Esht You are charm personified"

He turned to look at me I crossedhis gaze travel down from my hair - pulled back in a scrunchy - to my rose-trellis sweater with the yarn bobbles, and farther down tooldin front of it before he saw, but I could tell by the sweep of his eyebrow as it swooped up his forehead that he&039;d seen anyway, drat it all

"Allegra, that is a very pretty, very feminine sweater Dare I hope you wore it on my account?"

"No, you dare not I wore it because it had bobbles that it turned out I needed today You had nothing to do with it"

"Put in my place, and very handily, too," he said with a sle one of ans

"Christian, I don&039;t understand How can you be out if the sun hasn&039;t set?" Joy was back to looking worried again

He glanced at me, then seated himself in the chair next to hers "I awoke early After I dined - "