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"Judd - we need to find out what she knows," Clay said as Larsen ran past the alley where he stood cloaked in shadow

"I’m on it"

Satisfied the two men would control the female, Clay went after the monster who had killed so th and speed, a changeling would alin over a Psy He caught up within seconds, close enough to verify that the Psy fit the description Jon had given the telepathically?" he asked as he tracked the man out of the residential streets and toward a quieter area full of warehouses closed up for the night Fog curled up around his feet, muddied the air, but the leopard had excellent vision and a nose trained to track prey

"If we’re lucky, he itated to send That won’t last"

"Did he see Lucas?"

"No" Judd sounded as if he was running "I’irl, but she’s too exhausted to try to send anyway We’re about to run her to ground"

The link went silent

Clay waited If Larsen hadn’t seen Lucas, thatconnection Even if he did send a telepathicbut an attack His superior - Ming LeBon - would likely assuht of Ming, but he knew the Councilor wouldn’t pursue this particular evil if he destroyed the an to slon As he bent over in a dark alleyway, breathing hard, Clay’s earpiece activated It was Lucas "We’ve got her - blindfolded She can’t ID us and doesn’t want to Says she’s one of Ashaya Aleine’s people, and she fits Jon’s description of the blonde he saith Ashaya She confir is Larsen Brandell, thecould shove enough power through a changeling’s ave Larsen no warning Slicing out with his claws, he cut through the ular in a clean sweep

Blood spurted in a dark splash, coloring the ground and the wall beside the Psy A gurgling sound followed Larsen was dead before he hit the asphalt

It was an execution And that he felt no pity or guilt should have made Clay a monster Perhaps it did But as blood scented the air, sharp and metallic, he wondered if it took a monster to kill a monster

Chapter 43

Dressed only in a pair of loose black pants, his body covered with sweat, Councilor Kaleb Krychek walked to the edge of his balcony and looked down into the gorge that fell away an inch froerous view, his mind on the problem of Shoshanna and Henry Scott While Nikita, Tatiana, and Ming were all dangerous adversaries, the Scotts were particularly problematic because they worked as a unit Neither of the tas cardinal strength, but together, they were a lethal co for control of the Council Kaleb had won the first skirmish, but he was under no illusion the battle would be easy He glanced down at theshape that had shifted the course of his life beyond rede to do

So brushed his mind then, an oily darkness that looked to him for comfort It was the voiceless twin of the NetMind, the neosentient entity that kept order in the PsyNet The DarkMind, by comparison, was pure chaos Very, very few people knew about the DarkMind And only one could assert any control over it

As a cardinal telekinetic, Kaleb had a natural affinity with both the NetMind and the DarkMind Now he reached out a psychic hand and touched the DarkMind

Sleep, he said Sleep

The DarkMind was tired today So it slept Kaleb knew the respite was temporary at best The DarkMind carried within it all the violence and pain, the rage and the insanity that the Psy refused to feel It had no voice but spoke through the acts of violence it perpetrated via the weak minds of compromised Psy It was, in a sense, a lost child It was also pure evil

Kaleb had first spoken to it at seven years of age

Satisfied the DarkMind would cause no more chaos for the next few hours, he returned his attention to the problem at hand If either of the Scotts discovered the truth behind the ive thee his meticulously planned takeover of the Council That could not be allowed to happen

He glanced at his watch While the sun shone in Moscow, it was now three am in San Francisco But this conversation could not be delayed Retrieving a secure phone froh to Anthony Kyriakus PsyClan NightStar"

Chapter 44

"Tell me," Talin said to Clay hours later

He’d come to her an hour before dawn, after he and the others had cleaned up the evidence and buried the body so far in the forest that no one would ever find it Larsen Brandell had, for all intents and purposes, disappeared without a trace

Judd had left the wo anyone could learn froated by two unknownher free