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Rachel bit her lip, but she remained still as Etienne&039;s e was enthusiastic with his gun, and the knife at her throat was pressed too tight for her to do anything She was relieved when he finally decided he&039;d done enough dae and backed them out of the roo mechanism She had rather hoped he would just close it, but he wasn&039;t that stupid He pulled it closed, then shot up the electrical panel Any hope that Etienne would be able to fix the panel died when Pudge then ripped it and several wires out willy-nilly Etienne truly was locked in there, Rachel thought with dismay, and just hoped that none of the destroyed equip to death wouldn&039;t be a pleasant way to go, and it was the way Etienne&039;s father had died

Yet he had blood in there, she assured herself, grateful that Pudge hadn&039;t examined the desk drawers And no doubt Bastien and Lucern would visit later They would set Etienne free and then probably come after her She just had to stay alive in the e didn&039;t know she was a vaood start She&039;d like to do ain The thin slices he had inflicted so far hadn&039;t even co her life, but they hurt like crazy Apparently being turned didn&039;tsensitivity to pain It even increased her sensitivity, she realized After all, she was more sensitive to pleasure Why not equallyat Pudge&039;s curse They had traversed the stairs and were now standing in the kitchen at the back door

"I forgot I can&039;t take you out in sunlight," Pudge explained

Rachel brightened She could survive a fewto tell him that "Well, you could just leave ed her backward to the kitchen table She wasn&039;t sure what he was up to until he ripped the heavy e to the floor

"You don&039;t think you&039;re going to You are" She blew her breath out with a sigh as he drew the cloth over her head Now she had a knife at her throat and was blind Jeez, it just got better and better This was even ht behead herself Rachel considered telling Pudge that she could survive a little sunlight but feared sheto ed her forward, presu into flames now, so try to keep up"

"Do you think you could ease up with the knife?" she asked, but the question was drowned out by the click and squeak of the door Then Pudge was rushing her forward Aware that anyher feet up butas quickly as she could Despite her best efforts, she stued a deeper cut this tiht have been an apologyin her ears; then he jerked her to a halt

"Get in"

The knife was pulled away, and Rachel felt herself shoved forward and down Sos, and she tu her, Rachel i the cloth off her head She received a se warned Then Rachel felt so when she was restrained, then cursed as a alvanized steel," Pudge announced "Four inches thick You could probably break them, but not without a racket If you try, I&039;ll shoot you froh the heart"

"A stake-shooter?" Rachel muttered She heard a door close, followed by silence She was just wondering if it was safe to try to shrug the cloth off and chance a look around when she heard another door open This one was to her right, toward the front of what must be a van, she decided The floor beneath her rocked a little as Pudge entered the vehicle

Rachel forced herself to relax and cursed herself for not listening more closely to what Etienne had tried to tell her She had no idea what her capabilities as a vaer and faster than a nor Fro her head cut off, nothing could kill her Though being staked would stop her heart and force the nanos into a stasis until the stake was rereat to know, of course, but Rachel had no clue how strong she was exactly, or even how much faster she was She had no idea if she could possibly break her bonds, and if she could, was she now fast enough that she could break out of the van before Pudge could grab his stake-gun--whatever that was--and shoot her down The idea of trying was te shot--despite the fact that he would probablyRachel hated pain She&039;d thought a shot was bad How about a stake? She could be a terrible hen it ca crybaby, really She decided not to risk it

The ride that folloas short Rachel spent the tie had taken her He had needed a shield, or thought he did at first, but once Etienne was locked up, he hadn&039;t anymore She was rather surprised he hadn&039;t taken the opportunity to stake her then

Rachel supposed guilt ht be the reason he hadn&039;t yet, since his attack was the reason she&039;d been turned in the first place But that left her to wonder what he intended to do with her if staking wasn&039;t the plan Nothing good was co to mind Escape seemed her best action She just had to devise how

Presuain with his knife This ti cut

She wasn&039;t looking forward to that, but she ht suffer worse if she didn&039;t

The rumble of the van stopped It was escape tietting out, she realized, then heard the door close Rachel gave her , surprised when the creak of ive a serious tug when she heard the back doors open

Cursing her own timidity, she stilled and waited, startled when the cloth was suddenly tugged froe You&039;re safe froe and the house that was no doubt attached specifically to keep her safe

Rachel was less than iaze was fixed on the weapon in his hands His stake-gun appeared to be a crossboith a wooden stake rather than an arrow Not that it reallyto Etienne an arrow, stake, or whatever, if lodged in the heart and left there long enough, could finish her off So e stepped back, careful to keep the weapon trained on her heart He gestured with his free hand for her to get out of the van

Rachel raised her eyebrows at the order and merely rattled the short chains that bound her to the wall of the van

"Oh" Pudge hesitated a et close enough to risk being overcoed to catch them between her arm and one breast, then picked theood look at theHe hadn&039;t been kidding about the four inches thick, yet they didn&039;t feel as heavy as they should Rachel supposed that was due to her increased strength She really should have gone for it and tugged herself free, she told herself, unlocking first one wrist, then the other

"Okay, co the way he had shot Etienne when he hadn&039;t e of the van and dropped off to stand on the concrete floor of the garage She held out the keys to Pudge, but he shook his head

"You&039;ll need theestured her to the left

Rachel turned to survey the direction he pointed toward, spotting the house door at once It was a one-car garage, and the van, left littlespace Rachelwhen she spotted the wreath of garlic with a cross in the center that hung on the e quickly stepped up to remove the paraphernalia

She didn&039;t inform him it was useless Instead, she pondered how paranoid thethe cross and garlic with hi her, "It&039;s the wide silver key"

Rachel sorted until she found the only wide silver key, then stepped up to the door and inserted it in the lock When the lock clicked open, she turned to arch an eyebrow at her captor

"Go on," Pudge ordered, gesturing with his crossbow Rachel opened the door and stepped into his kitchen, then stopped dead She had never seen such a pigsty The counters and sink were stacked with filthy dishes, and there wasn&039;t an inch of stove, fridge, counter, cupboard, or floor that wasn&039;t covered with food slops or just plain filth On top of that was a coating of grease that bespoke a good deal of fried food being cooked

"Move" A sharp poke in her back h the kitchen avoiding touching anything It was bad enough that she had to step on the floor; her sneakers stuck to the linoleu rooh its arch

"Sit down"

"I&039;d rather not" Rachel gazed over the table with its stacks of dirty dishes Unfortunately, food wasn&039;t the only thing on the plates There werehappily on month-old pizza and such As for the chairs themselves, they were blessedly free of plates, but were instead covered with several months&039; old newspapers, flyers and junk e, a housekeeper wouldn&039;t be a bad thing"

"Sit!" He was apparently feeling rather confident now that they were inside He got close enough to grab her by the shoulder and steer her into the nearest chair Rachel winced as the edge of a crumpled flyer poked her in the butt, but she didn&039;t say anything as hehis crossbow on the table ai at each other, sizing each other up But when the silence continued to draw out and Rachel began to feel uncoe frowned "What?"

"Are you going to kill me nohat?" Rachel asked

"No!" He looked startled at the very possibility "No way It&039;s my fault you&039;re a va and fretting, Rachel tried to figure out exactly where that left her Judging by the awe in his tone, Pudge was mucha va one meant he was someone to be obliterated She wasn&039;t sure why

"So"

Rachel glanced at Pudge&039;s face,prepared her for his question, however "Are you hungry?"

Taken by surprise she ht be, but his question was relevant She didn&039;t think she&039;d lost too ry Her gaze drifted to the refrigerator in the kitchen Did he have any blood in there? It didn&039;t seery? Then again, if he did have blood, she wasn&039;t at all sure it would be safe to drink in this bacteria factory he called a ho in this place be safe to put near herher attention He looked rather excited at the prospect Rachel felt her appetite die a quick death

"Thanks, but--" she began politely

"Oh, co blood You could even turn aze dropped to her chest

Rachel tried not to look repulsed The idea of his existing in the world forever was a horrible one, al him She doubted he was much cleaner than his house However, she didn&039;t want to cheese the guy off She hadn&039;t figured out what he intended to do with her, but until she had the chance to escape, she figured it would be a good thing to humor him

"No, thanks," she said politely in response to his offer Letting her gaze drift toward the bit of living roo the balcony doors and thearound at the other s, she noted they too were covered ood and metal bars Perhaps he hadn&039;t always intended to kill Etienne