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Jez ca in the ferns andwas the sa was different She felt dazed and terrified

What did it mean?

It was just some bizarre hallucination It had to be She kne her parents had died Her ht by the vampire hunters Her father had been ed to carry the four-year-old Jez to his brother’s house before he died Uncle Bracken had raised her, and he’d told her the story over and over

But that screa It couldn’t She was Jez Redfern, ead Of all the lamia, the vampires who could have children, her family was the most important Her uncle Bracken was a vampire, and so was his father, and his father’s father, all the way back to Hunter Redfern

But her mother

What did she know about herUncle Bracken always just said that they’d co She didn’t want to frame the next question, but the words came into her mind anyway, blunt and inescapable

What if her mother had been human?

That would make Jez

No It wasn’t possible It wasn’t just that Night World law forbade vampires to fall in love with hu as a vampire-human hybrid It couldn’t be done; it had never been done in twenty thousand years Anybody like that would be a freak

The tre worse

She stood up slowly and only vaguely noticed when the skinhead made a sound of fear She couldn’t focus on hi between the redwood trees

If it were trueit couldn’t be true, but if it were true she would have to leave everything Uncle Bracken The gang

And Morgead She’d have to leave Morgead For some reason that owhere? What kind of a place was there for a half-huht World That was certain The Night People would have to kill any creature like that

The skinhead made another sound, a little whimper Jez bunked and looked at him

It couldn’t be true, but all of a sudden she didn’t care about killing hi like slow horror creeping over her, as if so up all the hu was taking over her legs,her chest,to be sick

"Get out of here," she whispered to the skinhead

He shut his eyes When he spoke it was in a kind of moan "You’ll just chase me"

"No" But she understood his fear She was a huntress She’d chased so many people So many humans

Jez shuddered violently and shut her eyes It was as if she had suddenly seen herself in a e was unbearable It wasn’t Jez the proud and fierce and beautiful It was Jez the murderer

I have to stop the others

The telepathic call she sent out was alht now! Drop what you’re doing and co, after all But none of theh telepathic power to answer across the distance

What’s wrong? he said

Jez stood very still She couldn’t tell hiead hated humans If he even knehat she suspected the way he would look at her

He would be sickened Not to mention that he’d undoubtedly have to kill her

I’ll explain later, she told hi numb I just found out-that it’s not safe to feed here Then she cut the telepathic link short She was afraid he’d sense tooon inside her

She stood with her ar between the trees Then she glanced at the skinhead, as still huddled in the sword fern

There was one last thing she had to do with hi, she stretched out her hand Touched hientle, precise contact

"Reo"

She felt the power flow out of her, wrapping itself around the skinhead’s brain, changing its che she was very good at

The skinhead’s eyes went blank Jez didn’t watch hian to craay

All she could think of noas getting to Uncle Bracken He would answer her questions; he would explain He would prove to her that none of it was true

He’d ht