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He was bent over, leg-sitting, torso high Shining beaht over place where I ate Rain washed blood away? Should haveHe touched ground Put fingers in light Watery blood on the Rick wiped hand on dirt, stood, looking at garden I dropped low Light and footsteps ate after
Raced to fountain and drank, drank, drank Found her form in memory and shifted
Heat steaht air The hs and calves cramped where I crouched on the boulder Sweat broke out ondownthe strands Nausea and hunger warred in ripped my middle and I retched Startled, I threw up the heated water I had just drank That had never happened before I was too hot I had seldo trouble throwing off the heat I could trot or walk for long distances, but a dead run was for the final killing sprint, when claws and teeth locked down on the hindquarters and leg tendons of escaping big prey, prey h li Not for running city streetsI forced myself to stand, pulled the travel pack fro Unsteady, sweat slick on my skin, I made my way to the house and inside Instantly I s on the air was several hours old Bruiser had paidpopular I stumbled to the shower, tossed the now dry clothes outside the shower door and turned on the cold water, or as cold as water ever got in this heated swa it wash away the stink of sweat and the gasoline I had splashed through, draining away the sick feeling It took a long tier than I expected The shower pounded down and I drank the spray to rehydrate Rubbedcalves, one foot at a time on the corner seat I shuddered with reaction
No wonder the big cats native to this region were so much smaller than their Appalachian cousins had been Heat dissipation was hard with a larger body mass When I was finally cool, I dried off and walked to the kitchen where I ate two Snickers while cooking a big, eight-cup pot of oat up at the stove, naked and tre it in
I shouldn’t have forced Beast, notthe Joe search ate key And take it fro rily My den
"Yeah I agree totally," I said between bites "My territory" No h for me to think, I twisted , wet ponytail, and walked through the house, scenting Bruiser had entered from the side porch Another interloper to deal with Just how arden were there? Had Katie given them out like candy?
Bruiser hadat each of the places where I had discovered ca Even in human form I was pretty sure his scent wasn’t on the wires or the cables He just paused in each spot, as if studying the destruction In the bath, he had touched the clothes hanging in the shower, still daer, as if he had inspected theed inaround, studying, taking it in His scent was on the handles He had opened each drawer, looked in the closet Touched hness that wasn’t carnal--it was a professional search I got a chair and checked the box on the top shelf I placed a finger on it, feeling the faint buzzing that indicated the obfuscation spell was still activated He hadn’t touched it But I couldn’t say the sa about my weapons They had been handled
I carried the Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun to the bed and checked it for tanated by the un Its steel components had a matte black, phosphated, corrosion-resistant finish; the aluminum parts were matte and hard anodized; the finish reduced the weapon’s visibility during night operations The shotgun is considered by many experts to be nearly idiotproof It requires little or no maintenance, operates in all climates and weather conditions, can be du time and not corrode It can fire twenty-five thousand rounds of standard a to have anyand hard before investing in the weapon
The Benelli, a sned around the autoregulating gas-operated--ARGO--firing systeas pistons, and action rods for increased reliability Locking the barrel is achieved by a rotating bolt with two lugs It can fire 275- and 3-inch shells of differing power levels without any operator adjustments and in any combination, and can be adjusted or fieldstripped without tools It’s perfect for close-in fighting in low-light operations It’s a totally cool weapon Mostly, though, I just liked the fact that it was idiotproof
The weapon was loaded for vamp with hand-packed silver-fléchette rounds made by a pal in the mountains Fléchettes were like tiny knives, which, when fired, spread out in a widening, circular pattern, entering the target with lacerating, deadly force The fact that each fléchette was co power but made them poisonous to vamps, even without a direct hitThere was no way a vamp could cut all of them out of his body before he bled out or the silver spread through his system I opened the cock, inspected each round with eye and nose Bruiser hadn’t messed with the weapon except to see what I carried
Other than ca, I hadn’t been to the second story Still naked, I followed Bruiser up there, from room to room, all four of the antique-decorated bedrooms, closets, and both baths He was faster here A lot faster, as if he kneas seldouess I stayed downstairs, but how could he know?
Back downstairs, he spent a lot of tierator Most of the original beef was gone, leaving only a few good quality sirloin steaks
It took h the emotional pheromones in the traces he left, but I finally settled on two Disgust and curiosity were in his scent in equal parts Nohy did the henchman of the head of the vamp council need to know about disabled cameras in erator? Had Leo sent hiht and shocking in its intensity For a ures dancing on the walls I jerked back to the now, putting out a hand for balance
Exhausted, feeling violated at the intrusion intothe locks--what little good that would do raying the sky, I crawled into bed and was asleep instantly
The drea close, a vision of a pregnanton snow, reflecting back fro froht than on sickle hts I was cat, but not Beast Was myself but not quite, in the odd way of drea the forest, alive beneath the snow but heavy inter’s long slu, short, stubby tail tucked close, staring over a pristine expanse of ripping o Noaited, watching for moveed, lifting my fur The frozen scent of meat came on the air Blood A kill, not er clawed at my belly I stood, opened -Cat scent wasCat Panther Tlvdatsi Hope shot through me Tlvdatsi Edoda I huffed hard No Edoda is dead His blood scent was a cruelAn awareness that pushedht Not a drea my nerves In the dream/ memory, I sniffed deeply; flehht, sleepily Jacobsen’s organ, necessary for all creatures who use olfactory and pheromonal coerous to bobcat--to we sa To one It had hidden its kill I crept across the snow, pausing often to crouch and to listen To scent the wind Gone Big Cat had abandoned its prey
The scent of blood grew, frozen beneath the snow Hunger clawed at , eat, eat, eat The kill was shoved beneath the lip of a white and yellow rock, quartz white as snow, veined with the white h the snow I unsheathedin the dark night
A frozen deer carcass was revealed and I tore into it with claws and sharp teeth Eating, desperate Bloodacrossinto ht sla Cat I tried to run My pelt ripped in her claws The sht Tlvdatsi screainto her face The scent of cubs, born out of season, was strong on her Her blood fell ontoMy claws slashed deep into her Our blood ether The snake buried in the blood of tlvdatsi opened to
I sank into the snake of the tlvdatsi Deep Deep I sahere ere si Cat I was too s One last clench of claw Hopeless Frantic