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He hesitated, and I could alh him, one sarcastic, one innuendo, one that was simply kind "Our suite has three bedrooe" He pulled a card key from a pocket and said, "Leo has ordered a replace" He had settled on a response a friend ht it with a quick dash of my hand I nodded, took the key, followed hirays, cool browns, and dull crearay rooray co ainst it I wiped my eyes I never used to cry Never But then, I never used to have friends I never used to put the and it was all pretty much sucky

I took a breath and forced cale of the adjoining, bloody suite, but my clothes were in the closet, my weapons on the bureau, neatly laid out, which h the tears, and h the open door I pushed fro clothes where they landed I stepped under the shower, the scalding water peltingand didn’t like who I was becoet clean

How had I killed ht? How could I have eaten a full ht once about theended, I dried off and crawled under the covers, dry eyes burning Beast padded through hted, her breath a susurration, almost a purr Sleep claimed me Beast’s claws milkedat the shadowed ceiling My own scent had filled the rooer alien I was cal over the part of me I’d lost A killer, the blood-servant of an unknown vao away If he had been targeting ht hurt the va me a liability to the job If the man had been after the vamps, then the unknown vamp master would plan better next tiuilt asted and stupid I put the factor was that he’d gotten past security I’d been sloppy or it was an inside job--sohten security, switch around weapons, , and personnel Keep uys pull twelve-hour shifts

I crawled fro on a black skirt that fell to ht jacket, and dress boots Into my boot holster went the six-round Kahr P380 and in the other went a sheathed knife with a ten-inch silvered blade and a deep groove--a vaainst wolves I rebraided iving ularity I selected a tube of lipstick at random--they were all shades of red--and smeared it on

Last, I pulled the box of fetishes from the closet, opened it, and studied the necklaces inside A skinwalker’s fetish necklaces are made of bones, teeth, beaks, talons, and feathers, each necklace strung with parts from one species Skinwalkers can shift intowe have access to a sufficient quantity of DNA, the coiled helix of genetic sequences specific to each species, each creature, and providing that the e is close I’d never tried to shift into a fish, reptile, or sea ht be possible too, I didn’t know Walkers can also shift into s to lose part of ourselves, depositinginto larger creatures requires takingit to the shifting process All erous, and I prefer not to atte into a s ht not be able to throw offup with an extra hundred pounds of me So, most of my fetishes were mammalian--predators or omnivores--that massed about one hundred twenty-five pounds

I studied the fetishes, thinking, undecided For once Beast had no comment to make, hunched deep in my consciousness, silent, watchful If I hunted as Beast, scent-tracking would be working against her natural abilities Puht trackers, a better suited to scent-tracking Like the bloodhound I had tried once Excellent nose But a bloodhound could get so involved with a scent it would forget to eat, drink, or change back before dawn And no bloodhound had the weapons to fight olves if I got lucky and found the and replaced the box I unzippedclothes, throay cell phone, and cash I picked up un inwith my life for that to be so, but I could think about that later After this job was done

I called for the valet to refuel and bring around the car I had used last night and then stepped from my tiny bedroom I stopped and placed a hand on one hip A chair had been dragged froe in it, dress shirtsleeves rolled up, pants with a razor crease There was nohim as Brian His ar un

My thoughts went into overdrive I hadn’t brought any tranks on this job Tranquilizers were Derek’s specialty See on his own, and Grégoire’s two right hands had been sharing his equipment I didn’t kno my metabolism would react to a tranquilizer I’d never dosed ht I’d need to know And so far, neither of the twins knew aboutteeth, not trying for sweet Moving slowly, not takingand Bible on the surface nearest A bureau by the height "Brian You got sohtin tonight"

"I know you’re not staying in I don’t intend to fight you I just want to make sure you listen to me" His New Orleans accent dropped in, thick as war, like the way a Southern gentleo Polite, despite being iun"

"Maybe Maybe not Today you killed a man"

My flinch was internal It didn’t show "And?"

His words took on the lilt of that sa a story "I killed my first man when I turned forty A priest and two of his layoire with a stake and holy water and a necklace of garlic; with kerosene and a pistol for me It was Brandon’s day of rest, and at the time we kept only one blood-servant with him There hadn’t been trouble for decades We had becoun "Complacent

"I was alone in the lair, when the priest cantered up on his piebald mare, the laymen, horsed, at his sides The house was s a bayou It had a hidden roo Grégoire’s lair"

He shrugged slightly "Sooire slept deeply by day And the priest, he seeoire would be To know my master would have only one blood-servant to defend him I don’t know if one of the blood-slaves had told the priest, or perhaps the church tortured it out of someone But the priest, he had no qualms, not one He had come to kill a devil and a devil worshipper"

I looked away Tension I hadn’t knoas carrying seeped out of my shoulders I blew out a breath and took the nearest seat, a corner of the couch I sat with my elbows on my knees, my hands close to the boot holster If Brian tranked me, I’d shoot him before I went under If I went under But I wanted to hear this

When I was settled, he went on "The laymen splashed kerosene over the front porch and walls I panicked Killing huoire’s personal edict But I had to protect hi the door, three pistols and a sword atlike the house was already on fire, my heart a thunder in my chest The priest threw open the door and strode inside

"I don’t know if they got their signals wrong, or it ht have been an innocent mistake, but the laymen struck their match too soon Flames billowed up The priest fired I fired Hebehind hi for help But the house, it was old, the wood like dry tinder I pulled up the iron trapdoor and crawled through the soire I curled there, as the heat rose, and the roof crashed down and the priest, screa now that he didn’t intend to kill or trankthat this was a form of intervention, an act of compassion Soht have disarht have forced hioire’s blood and heal him But I saved myself and let him burn And, even now, I hear his screa to save him He had been sent to kill me and to kill my master And so I shot him and left him to die

"What you did today was self-defense That ht provide short-term protection for my brother, my master, and me And so I thank you for the sacrifice of a s words on his lips I’d thoughtto take the advice of an old, old man, then do your penance, and live--with the memory of your own evil"