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Rip’s gaze dropped "Blade wants your ‘elp with the tree," he said to Will "Lena wants to put an angel on the top"
Will stood with fluid grace, sighing under his breath "She would"
As he left the roos "I didn’t mean--"
"I ‘eard you," he replied softly "Per’aps… Per’aps it’s for the best"
With a bleak nod in her direction, he turned on his heel and disappeared
CHAPTER FIVE
Rip prowled the night, his body on edge al a hand over the stubble on his scalp, he stared out across the frost-riertips; the reason he razored his hair so short If he grew it, thick silvery half leamed in the coarse blackness of his hair and Rip preferred not to look a fool
His fingertips traced the deeper scar at the base of his scalp in a familiar rhythm that helped him think A half circle Shaped like the bottom of a bottle Or, es bore testimony to that
No matter how much he tried to keep his uard shift – he couldn’t stop thinking of Es to do? She’d kissed hiainst his as if she were alreedy for him At the time he’d been so afraid he’d hurt her that the surprise of it hadn’t begun to set in
But he’d had all day to think, hisitself around in circles
"Because I wanted it to be me…"
Seven little whispered words that tore his chest in two Did she iven hito do with hi was, he didn’t kno to fix it Oh, she sh there were a wall between the him with polite courtesy until he choked on it
Shadows flickered in the distance and Rip’s head jerked up as he peered across the stark snow-blanketed rooftops A rereen-eyed witch who’d knotted his heart in chest Easiest way to get hiht, vanishing Too big to be a cat Whatever it was they were gone now but the uneasy feeling reht? Or had a right to it?
His footprints left their mark behind him as he crossed the rooftops that served as his own private highway here in the rookeries The streets were as crooked as an oldhuly see for el Alley what he was about to find Blood was thick in the air, a led on the roof, leading directly to the edge of the wall that circled Whitechapel to keep the Echelon out South Toward the nearest entrance to Undertown
"Hell," he swore, trying to breathe through his mouth Saliva pooled Go after the Slashers? Or check to see if there was anyone alive down there?
A soft whimper made his decision for him So quiet that no nor over the edge of the roof, he saw thein the attic and dropped to the ledge, theEasy work to break the latch He’d cut his teeth as a cracksman Of course, it had been easier when his shoulders weren’t as broad
Moving quietly, Rip eased through the narro, landing with cat-like silence on his toes and fingertips The sod-dauts with iron claws Another scared, panting gasp came from below and he tracked the sound, the faint whisper of breathing and the barely-stifled sobs
More blood Still war hard, Rip ground his head into the palhts but the demon within Da everyone around him as merely a source of nourishment?
Or would he?
He’d seen the blackness rise in Blade’s eyes many times Was that what he had to look forward to?
"Mama?" A little voice whispered, down in the dark
For an instant all the years rushed away and that was hi to the sounds of fists pounding on flesh His asps as she tried to spare hier was thick and unquenched in his throat but suddenly Rip found he could breathe through it Looking up, he sucked in a lungful of air and scraped his hand over his face Coly brute, he snarled to hiet after the Slashers
And that was enough to choke down the last desperate grip of it Fury rose Nothing he hatedin his chest, he straightened hiht and started down the stairs Halfway down they creaked and the stifled sobs froze Not even a breath now
He could s his vision Rip took each step precisely, looking around at the small kitchen Two rooms branched off it A veritable oin’ to ‘urt you," he called The silence had a listening feel to it "I’ed heartbeat thu wildly in the dark He pinpointed its location – beneath the floorboards – and stepped slowly toward it The rug in the middle of the floor was skewed Aat nothing No doubt he’d bought his child’s life with his death
The reealing on the tin plates The knife and fork at the head of the table were placed beside the plate in an orderly manner, the chair tucked back in The other two seats were scraped back fro forlornly on the floor
Rip exa skewed A fight then He bent low, exa not to breathe too deeply as he pieced together what had happened Soot up to open it, and judging by his bruised knuckles, realized as standing there as soon as he had it open He fought, which gave the other two enough time to shove away from the table Maybe for the
The wout dropped like lead Another oneBut why hadn’t they taken the child?