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I sniffled and wiped my nose on the handkerchief he handed me "In a few ht’s show We’re going to go talk to Monsieur Charmant See if we can’t learn more about that button I want to knoho tried to kidnap you And if he has friends who have been stealing innocent girls, I want to find theling between us "And ill end this together, you and I"

Since arriving via the sewers, I’d seen many different doors to my cabaret home I’d hurried out the back door of Paradis I’d been paraded out the front door with movie-star pomp But I’d never hitched up my voluminous skirts and clambered out the , as Vale did Now that I knew there was a convenient ledge that led to an easily cliht take this route more often In fact, it was so easy to climb into and out of myinto a dark, anony had been designed for just that purpose

Vale shimmied down the drain spout first, and when he looked up, I was lad than ever for my bloomers Just because he’d seen me en déshabillé in a dark rooirl’s view frooyle, he offered me his arm and led ht about the char shops and studios we passed In between the cabarets, with their gaudy signs and lights, I saw a ballet class for little girl daimons, a toy shop of handmade puppets, and an atelier filled with paint-splattered artists arrayed in a circle around a live and angry bludainst the wooden floors to which it had been tethered with bell-covered ropes Banners and pennants were strung between the tall buildings, and bright posters fluttered against brick walls A red daimon who re a violin, and I checked to see if his tail was intact, which it was Of course It was the woive up their limbs for art and sustenance

We passed Enfer, the darker twin of Paradis, and I gaped at the lurid mouth carved around the deep-set door A shiver ran over me I didn’t want to see how horrible Mortmartre could be Unless Cherie was involved But surely, if she was in Enfer, ould know?

As if reading my mind, Vale said, "I checked She’s not down there It’s dark, but it is not that dark"

Around the corner, I saw er cabarets from my art history books Le Chat Noir and even Moulin Bleu, which was oddly s As we turned down another alley, I recognized the narrowing brick walls and increasing shadows that signaled every city’s Darkside I’d only seen two such entrances, with Criloved hand clamped firmly around my wrist He had wanted me to see what horrors the cities held for our kind, and I had only entered the spiked gates of two pathetic little towns before I chose to sit out his errands to the Bludic shops and bloodsellers

Vale hurried under the sign, but I had to stop and look up This arch was stone and reseryphons flanking the sides of a rusted iron gate All were designed to inti, bébé? Or are you scared?"

I tossed my hair "Scared? This is what I am, Vale I’m a creature of Darkside"

He shook his head "Not here In Paris, things are different"

This tily through s were narrow and thin, the alleys crooked and riddled with shadows Bludrats roa with fur the color of dried blood, sonored them When one skittered by with a child-size hand in its mouth, I kept my eyes up from then on

The shops we passed were typical for Darkside and yet decidedlywell, darker In London and Manchester, Crim had told me, there was a malevolent area of Darkside that no one but villains visited Deep Darkside, they called it In h, Darkside was co to Bludmen Here, it was like an evil version of Main Street in Disney World The shop fronts were elegant and intricate, ood carvings and stone gargoyles and gleas behind the ere twisted and strange When Vale stopped before the only shop s blocked by black velvet curtains, a shiver ran up n"

The look Vale gave"He does not need one"

Instead of pushing the door open or knocking, Vale pressed his thu of the bludbunny-shaped door knocker When he s black paint, the red sank es, revealing a crowded roo the black curtains The walls were redder than red, cracked in the corners, and lit with buzzing carnival lights around the edges

Vale stepped in first and pulled h I hesitated for just a moment on the threshold, and the door sla my hip I spun away and nearly stu, carousel-horse heads arrayed on spikes Stu back, claws outstretched, I bu by a hook Off-balance, I sought Vale’s side, sighing in relief as his hand curled around reasy glass obscuring glittering objects within Big jars of peculiar items sat in rows on shelves, and I noted powders, the twisted pink petals of dried bludrat ears, ivory-yellow teeth of all sizes, and one jar filled with liquid and what appeared to be sheep eyeballs A dusty dentist’s chair of ht,on the wall behind it

"Touch nothing," Vale whispered

"Didn’t wanna," I whispered back