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Me?
Hugh nodded
"I’m supposed to stop the end of the world? How?"
"First, I ought to tell you that it’s not just me that believes all this about the millennium It’s not even Circle
Daybreak that believes it It’s the Night World Council, Jez"
"The joint Council? Witches and vaup so to happen this tihtly self-conscious "Here’s one It used to rhyinal, I think, but this is the
translation" He took a breath and quoted slowly:
’In blue fire, the final darkness is banished In blood, the final price is paid"
Great, Jez thought Whose blood? But Hugh was going on
"Four to stand between the light and the
shadow,
Four of blue fire, power in their blood Born in the year of the blind Maiden’s vision; Four less one and
darkness triumphs"
Jez blinked slowly "What’s blue fire?"
"Nobody knows"
"’Four to stand between the light and the shadow’ Meaning to hold off the end of the world?"
"That’s what the Council thinks They think it means that four people have been born, four Wild Powers
who’re going to be instru, whatever battle or disaster that’s going to destroy
us Those four can stop the end of the world-but only if all of theether"
"’Four less one and darkness triuht And that’s where you come in"
"Sorry, I don’t think I’h smiled "That’s not what I meant The fact is, so a Wild Power Circle Daybreak intercepted athat hell
hand the Wild Power over to theht until they’re
desperate enough to agree to his ter She said one word "Who?"
Hugh’s expression was knowing and regretful It’s one of your old gang, Jez Morgead Blackthorn"
Jez shut her eyes
Yeah, that sounded like Morgead, trying to shake down the Night World Council Only he was crazy
and nervy enough to do that He was stubborn, too-perfectly capable of letting disaster coet his way But of all the people in the world, why did it have to be him? And how had he found a Wild
Power, anyway?
Hugh was speaking again softly "You can see e need you Soet to him and find
out who the Wild Power is-and you’re the only one who stands a chance of doing that"
Jez pushed hair off her face and breathed slowly, trying to think
"I don’t need to tell you how dangerous it is," Hugh said, looking into the distance again "And I don’t
want to ask you to do it In fact, if you’re sht now"
Jez couldn’t tell hiet lost "What I don’t understand is e can’t just let the Council take care of
it They’ll want the Wild Powers bad, and they have a lot lanced back at her, startled His gray eyes
ith an expression that Jez had never seen before Then he smiled, and it was an incredibly
sad smile
"That’s just e can’t do You’re right, the Council wants the Wild Powers But not so they can fight
the end of the world Jez they only want them so they can kill them"
That hen Jez realized what his expression was It was gentle regret for innocence-her innocence
She couldn’t believe how stupid she had been
"Oh, Goddess," she said slowly
Hugh nodded "They want it to happen At least the vampires do If the human world ends-well, that’s
their chance, isn’t it? For thousands of years the Night People have had to hide, to live in the shadows
while the humans spread all over the world But the Council wants that to change"
The reason Jez had been so sloas that it was hard for her to i on the Apocalypse But of course itdestroyed
theure that whatever happens, it’ll be worse on the humans, since the hu Hell, so Hunter Redfern is saying that
va to wipe out and enslave the hu to
reign"
Jez felt a new chill Hunter Redfern Her ancestor, as over five hundred years old but looked
about thirty He was bad, and he practically ran the Council
"Great," sheto destroy the world"
Hugh gave her a bleak s to er so they
can take over And the scary thing is, he’s right Like I said before, the Night People are getting stronger,
developing more powers Nobody knohy But most of the vampires on the Council seem to believe
Hunter"
"So we don’t have et the Wild Power before Morgead ht World"
"Right Circle Daybreak is fixing up a safe place to keep the Wild Powers until we get all four And the
Council knoe’re doing it-that’s probably why that ghoul was followingus I’m
just sorry I led it here," he added absently, with a worried look around the roo anybody anything"
"No Thanks to you But we’ll er your faht World es to kill even one of the Wild Poell, if you
believe the prophecy, it’s all over"
Jez understood now She still had questions, but they could wait One thing was clear in her mind
"I’ll do it I have to"
Hugh said very quietly, "Are you sure?"
"Well, soht; I’ead"
The truth was that she thought nobody could handle Morgead-but she certainly had a better chance than
any Circle Daybreaker Of course, she wouldn’t survive the assigned to steal the
Wild Power out froead’s nose, he’d hunt her down and kill her for it
That was irrelevant
"He hates me, and I hate him, but at least I know him," she said out loud
There was a silence and she realized that Hugh was looking at her oddly "You think he hates you?"
"Of course All we ever did was fight"
Hugh smiled very faintly-an Old Soul look I see"
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
’Itemotions for you, but from what I’ve
heard I don’t think hate is one of them"
Jez shook her head "You don’t understand He was always gunning for me And if he found out I’m half
human-well, that would be the end He hates hu But I think I can fool hiet the Wild Power"
Hugh nodded, but he didn’t look happy His eyes were bruised and tired If you can pull it off, you’ll
save a lot of lives"
He knows, too, Jez thought That I’ll die doing this
It was some comfort that he cared-and more
co it Sure, she wanted to save lives But there was
so else
The Council had tried to houl after hi different to to kill hi to wipe the floor with thehter He couldn’t
defend hiet
She realized that Hugh was still looking at her, with pain in his eyes She smiled to show hi
"It’s a family affair," she told hireat-great-great-great-great-grandfather It’s only right that I stop hi happens to
to the world"
And that was the last part of the truth She came from a tainted family No matter what she did, who she
saved, or how hard she tried, there would always be va in her veins She was a