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Da back and forth between the fighting stave and the pil owcase in his hand

Hadn’t he suspected so time?

Subconsciously? After al , there had been that attack on the grandfather, which had failed to either kil hiination could fil in the rest: her parents seeing no reason to blight their tiny daughter’s life with this grueso up the practice in the provincial, protected little town of Fel ’s Church

If they had only known

Oh, doubtless they had made sure that Meredith had had self-defense and variousher to absolute secrecy - even froht The first of Shinichi’s riddles was already solved "One of you has a lifetime secret kept froirland this is it I’d betsilence Now Damon broke it

Your ancestors were hunters too? he asked, as if she were telepathic He waited a ood He nodded at the nificent stave "That was certainly made for a lord or lady"

Meredith wasn’t stupid She spoke without glancing away fro et a job done so innocent humans wil be safer"

"By kil ing the odd va ’Naughty, naughty, Maetarianish "Pity you weren’t born early enough to convert Stefan He could have been your grand triumph"

"You think that’s funny But we do have converts"

"Yes People wil say anything while you’re holding a pointed stick at the to Influence other people into believing they’re getting so"

"That’s it! Meredith! Let hed

"No, I’ain, let me Influence you not to be so much afraid of a bite I swear I won’t take ivehouse of candy that never existed? A relative who died ten years ago and ould have abhorred the thought of you takingworld hunger that doesn’t put food into one erous It’s like a Counter-Influence that they’ve taught to theirher to see that vaood qualities - like courage - he let go of the pil owcase and grasped the end of the fighting stave with both hands

Meredith raised an eyebrow "Did I not just recently tel you that a number of those spikes you’ve just driven into your flesh are poisonous? Or were you not listening?"

She had autoerous zone

"You told me,"he said inscrutably - he hoped

"I particularly said ’poisonous to hus’ - recal it?"

"You told me that, too But I’d rather die than live as a huan to push the two-headed stave toward Meredith’s heart

She i it back toward hies, as they both soon realized He was slightly tal er and ly er reach than hers; and he had taken up a h he could feel poisoned little spikes biting into his pal point was once again near her heart Meredith pushed back with an ath and then suddenly, solanced up to see how that had happened, and saw, to his shock, that she also had grasped the stave in the kil ing zone Now her hands were dripping blood onto the floor just as his were

"Meredith!"

"What? I take er Inch by inch, he forced his torn pal on, his arms to exert pressure And inch by inch she was forced backward, refusing to quit - until there was no th of the stave between theainst Meredith’s back

Al Damon could think of was Elena If he somehow survived this - and Meredith did not - then ould those malachite eyes say to him? Hoould he live hat they said?

And then, with infuriating ti, Meredith let go of the spear, conceding Da to have no fear of turning her back on him, she took a jar ful of salve from a kitchen cupboard, scooped out a dol op of the contents, and motioned for Damon to hold out his hands He frowned He’d never heard of a poison that got into the blood that could be cured by external measures

"I didn’t put real poison in the human needles,"she said calmly "But your palms wil be torn and this is an excel ent reenerations"

"How kind of you to share," - at histo do? Start al over again?"he added as Meredith calan to rub salve into her own hands

"No Hunter-slayers have a code, you know You won the sphere I assue seems to have done Open the Gate to the Dark Dimension"

"Open the Gate to the Dark Dimensions,"he corrected

"Probably I should have mentioned - there’s ain And we can talk as we go, since I see we’re both wearing our cat burglar costumes"

Meredith was dressed ht black sweater With her long shining dark hair she looked unexpectedly beautiful Dah with the stave, just as his obligation to vaave hio, he decided He was feeling nanimous - for the first time he had faced down and conquered the fearsome Meredith, and besides, she had a code as he did He felt a sort of kinship with her

With ironic gal antry, he waved her on before hi stave himself

As Damon quietly shut the front door he saw that daas about to break Perfect tiht "I have a question for you,"he said to Meredith’s long, silky dark hair "You said that you didn’t find this gorgeous stave until after Klaus - that wicked Old One - was dead But if you’re froetting hi that only white ash could kil him"

"It was because my parents didn’t actively pursue the family business - they didn’t know They were both from hunter families, of course - you have to be, to keep it out of the tabloids and - "

" - police files - "

"Do you want me to talk, or can you do your stand-up routine alone?"

"Point taken" - hefting the extreh they chose not to be active, they knew that a vahter if they found out her identity So during school, I took

’harpsichord lessons’and ’riding lessons’one day a week each - have done since I was three I’ht start Dragon Kung Fu - "