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I could only stare incredulously at her

She returned an indignant glare "Just because I have money doesn’t ain hunting" She motioned at my clothes "At the very least, strip down to your underwear I kno sirl of yours, and how brainwashed you are by human values of love and sex I will respect your corrupted notions"

Since I’d already wrecked a perfectly good pair of jeans and one of lesworth and subsequent spontaneous , I relented, and stripped to my boxer briefs

Vallaena re and folded it neatly into her purse She pulled a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra fro loose fron

She knelt, exas had penetrated the skin The wounds still looked puckered and fresh I noticed a scrape on ht before It wasn’t severe, but I usually healed within minutes of an injury The blood see Blackened veins ran up throughpast the he, or trauma accelerated the curse’s spread

Vallaena traced the dark veins upback "No touching, please"

She shook her head "How could the foreseeance be wrong?"

I realized she was talking about Foreseeance 4311 "Foreseeances can be wrong," I said

Vallaena gave me a sad panda face "Justin, at the rate the curse is spreading, you will not survive the month"

My heart seemed to stop dead My back muscles knotted It took a moment before I could speak, and even then my words sounded hoarse with tension "Guess I’d better learn fast then" She had to be wrong But what if she wasn’t?

My auntup at me, she said, "There may be one cure"

A little flutter of hope started iveearlier?"

She stood, looking me in the eye "Because it is next to impossible to find"

I didn’t like the sound of that "How hard?"

Vallaena took both of my hands, and squeezed theel"

Chapter 25

I nearly choked on el? How am I supposed to do that?"

"As I said, it is nearly i my hands from hers, I backed up a step "Okay, let’s say I kidnap Daelissa, cut out her heart, and eat it What ive estion"

She pressed a hand to her chest "Our hearts are where we store our powers, our emotions, our very core"

"No, all that stuff comes from our brains And I don’t think I could eat any kind of brains, not even froross"

"True," she said with a nod "Our brains process e do, but it all passes through the heart When our kind feeds, we channel essence through our hearts Angels feed in h theythe essence into purer forht"

"How does thisa heart would cure htlings created the va a heart would channel their pure essence into you and cleanse you"

"Are you sure this isn’t a crazy el hearts sound like sorocery store, for crying out loud"

"Let ive you a history lesson, nephew," Vallaena said "Many eons ago, our people joined with the Darklings to coainst us, sos had soainst these attacks, the Daemos had no such immunity One of our infected warriors embarked on a suicidefroel heart as a final insult"

Gross! I shuddered at the thought of eating a raw heart