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"Oh, sure, the ly iencies suddenly pile up on me First Sebastian, now a deru the holy water on top, where it was handy

"I&039;ized

"So just what does Esme mean when she says the basement is now part of - "

I slapped a hand over Roxy&039;s mouth "Never, ever say the H-hen there&039;s a dee as she nodded her understanding I released her mouth "I have no idea what&039;s happened down there, but I guess I&039;ll be finding out rather than saving Christian, like I should be doing" I slungover my shoulder and headed out the bedroom door "Blast that Guardian! Just what the dickens" - we also don&039;t say the D-hen ?"

"Hoould I know? I&039; around the neck of any visiting vampire"

I stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at theme "Look, Raphael, I appreciate your offer of help, but about this you really have to trustdemons is no place for a huave hi to Roxy, I&039;er strictly human, no And even if I were, I&039;ic as my business I won&039;t be likely to fall into any of the deht"

Raphael looked disbelieving as I approached the door to the baseht; the lower half of the house was filled with den that the Guardian had either Suone badly awry Given my luck, I was pretty sure it was the latter Perhaps the Turners had already gone to sleep and would relanced at Raphael Even as angry as he ithSebastian to feed froht He really was a nice guy, and I had uys to become demon fodder "If you won&039;t listen to me, maybe you&039;ll listen to Joy"

He frowned I nodded "Think about her - is she going to want you to risk your life and eternal damnation unnecessarily? Or would she tell you to let the experts handle this?"

"Well"

I have never been able to do a strong mind push on anyone, but I tried now I put iving hi with it "I think Joy needs you more, Raphael She loves you; I&039;ht now"

He blinked, a faint frown between his brows "I"

Well, pooh, in for a penny, in for a pound I put ht even need you"

His head snapped up and he turned to bellow up the stairs "Roxy! We&039;re leaving Nooman! I don&039;t have ti Roxy out the front door as I opened up the door to the basement Thick white smoke boiled up the stairs, a noxious barrier I had to push h to reach the baseh to choke a horse, whichlike six-pack-a-day sh the offal-scented smoke and peered around the basement

"I&039;m sorry, but the wine cellar is off-limits," a voice called out fro voice for a Guardian Very young

"There&039;s a eras leak It would probably be best if you were to evacuate the house, Mrs Turner"

"My naas leak before" I headed for the open door to the wine cellar, out of which the sed a couple of tiot there hadupside down by one leg, its ar Beneath it, crawling around an intricately scribed circle, a woold stick

She looked up as I fanned away the s up from the crack in the tile "You&039;re a Summoner Hullo I&039;m Noelle Did you know that you have lared at ?"

She drew another syreen as soon as the stick lifted froed Man always teaches the with the smoke Are those spirits I saw yours, then?"

"Yes, they are There are four others as well I hate to be a bother, but I&039; held by this one&039;s iveon here, I&039;ll be on my way to rescue hiold stick "As fell behind ive a de it&039;s startled you

"It&039;s a nasty bag of tricks, but I heard through the de for a suitable sacrifice to regain its power," she added

"Well, it can&039;t have Christian; he&039;s mine Back to the demon, if you don&039;tthe stick "It&039;s a pretty speciel Nice touch The h, don&039;t you think? Makes it look so s it, so I suppose it really doesn&039;t matter"

I blinked and avoided tine bottles as they flew out of a rack when the de it? I didn&039;t think you could destroy a dehed and stuck her stick behind her ear, brushing off her knees as she stood "Of course you can destroy the? It&039;s fairly easy, just a bit ti all the symbols in proper order, and then, of course, there are the twelve words you have to pry out of them Duck"

Noas really confused "Twelve words? What does a duck - " I jumped aside to avoid the wooden bench that was suddenly hurtled toward us "Oh Thanks"

Noelle turned to face the demon, her hands on her hips "That was not in the least bit nice Do we need to have another talk about what constitutes acceptable behavior?"

She traced a few sy up on itself in agony I looked at the five-foot-long cracks that appeared in the cement wall "Impressive Now, if we could - "

"The twelve words are needed to destroy the deain before her circle, pulling the stick froet them out of the demon before you can destroy it, and naturally they&039;re a bit reticent to give theht," I drawled, hthearted hly respected, more than a little feared people in my circle of witches and wizards, and the friendly, freckle-faced woman in front of me just didn&039;tyou&039;ve been doing this?"

She drew another symbol "Almost six months now"

"Six hed the saliva out of es

"My mum is a Guardian, too," Noelle answered quickly "I have oodles of experience, really I do And it&039;s not usually too exacting a job, you know? An exorcis the odd demon or two - doesn&039;t take uplots of time for my real work"

I couldn&039;t help but ask I just couldn&039;t help it "What would that be?"

"I&039; the definitive work on werefolk"

"Werefolk?"

"Yes, you knoolves, werecats, werebeetles, that sort of thing They&039;re a fascinating people, really"

INoelle anyti, yes, but I reallyThere&039;s only" - I looked at my watch - "two more hours until sunrise, and I have Christian to save I hate to leave you Are you sure you&039;ll be all right here by yourself?"

She blinked at me "Of course Why shouldn&039;t I?"

I waved at Sarra "Well that is a demon after all, and a powerful one at that"

She wrinkled her nose and waved me off "Don&039;t worry about it; I have the situation under control"

I heaved a h of relief that yet another catastrophe had been averted, and gathered upto leave

"Oh, Allie?" I turned at the door to look back at Noelle Sarra twisted until it was snarling intowardfor?"

I nodded

"It won&039;t be that of a Dark One It&039;ll be his Beloved"

That was it; I had reachedelse could surprise me I had seen it all and heard it all I stared at her for a ain and numbly made my way upstairs

Fine Asmodeus wanted me to sacrifice myself for Christian Roxy had told esture; she&039;d just never told in&039; demon lord!

I pushed open the basement door and stepped into the dark hallhich was now no longer filled with demon smoke

Instead it was filled with real s to addressa pair of Wellington boots, a pink velour bathrobe, and an expression that would give the Hound of the Baskervilles pause A long, thick yellow hose snaked in through the front door, curled around Mrs Turner, headed down the hall, and disappeared into a door at the far end "The kitchen is on fire"

"Is it" My left eyelid twitched She flinched in response and quickly averted her eyes froht you would like to know"

"Ah Is it serious?"

"The firemen are here now They say not"

"Okay I&039;ll be back later With Christian Or not It depends on just what the sacrifice consists of His friend is upstairs in his bedrooht for a mo itself on and off in Christian&039;s study"

Mrs Turner&039;s lips tightened into a gri and unearthly noises cohtened the belt to her bathrobe

"I&039;ll be off then If neither Christian or I return by nightfall, would you contact Raphael St John at St John Security Services? It&039;ll be in the phone book I&039; to do with Sebastian and the others Well" I looked out through the open door and noticed it was pouring, absolutely pouring buckets, a veritable deluge of wind and rain and nasty little bits of ice "What a lovelyI believe I&039;ll walk to the taxi stand"

Mrs Turner turned on her heel andthe door behind her I traced the most powerful protection ward I knew into the wetness on the rain-slicked front door, and headed off into the raging monsoon to save the man whose life had become so inexorably bound toof mine," I said to the ARMPIT who opened the door to the Trust&039;s London house "He&039;s about six foot one, has long black hair, and favors O-negative"

The thin blond woman pursed her lips and moved aside so I could enter I stopped at the boundaries of the binding ward and gave it a good look It was different from the ones I&039;d seen before, much more intricate I doubted if I would be able to undraithout tih the ward and entered the house, reen

"Those will not help you," Phillippa said fro, curved staircase

"Probably not, but I feel better with them anyway I don&039;t suppose you&039;d be at all inclined to takeChristian?"

She strolled pastChristian? We are not holding the Dark One prisoner, if that&039;s what you believe I will ask hi," I said, probably abetween terror at being in such close contact with so of terrible power the likes of which I&039;d never felt before, and anger that Christian was being held by such rotten people I edged around her until I could peer in through the doorway to the room beyond She tsked in an annoyed fashion and went off down the dark hallway toward the back of the house

"Ah, the Beloved has arrived," Eduardo said behind ainst the newel post at the botto -to-floor books, with two large desks set up at either end of the roo a cluster of wine-colored leather couches and chairs Above a e broadswords were crossed, surrounded by a nuers