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Chapter Twenty-Three

I cursed and grabbed the stone, shoving it down the front of o in after it, and I slapped his hand "I don’t think so"

The colance inside All they saas Murphy trying to get in ain

"Where did you get that?" I whispered furiously

"Where do you think?"

I tried to recall when he’d been anywhere near the dia he’d ducked into Mezareau’s hut to check on the leopard skin

"Mezareau just leaves it lying around?" I asked "With you on the loose?"

"Not exactly" His expression was sheepish "I have sos" Murphy cracked his knuckles

Of course he did

"What happened to stealing is stealing no matter who you steal from?" I asked

"You said that, not ed, donate blood, and become next on a bokor ’s hit list--to walk away e ive that back"

"No"

"Cassandra"

"Devon"

"You sound like my mother" He made a face "Call me Murphy"

"No proble his lanced at the door "I don’t think you should keep it"

"And you should? He’ll kill you, but he won’t kill ot his ar to notice his diaone"

"I don’t plan to be here when that happens; do you?"

"No Have any ideas on hoe get out of here?"

"Not a one Even if we can sneak past the guards, half a zo to have waterfall issues" He paused, considering "You don’t know any spells that would ht transport us back to Port-au-Prince?" He snapped his fingers

"Poof?"

"Suddenly you believe in spells?"

"After this , it seems foolish not to So, you know any?"

"Voodoo is about religion, notthose zo alive in the first place is so against any religion I’ve ever heard of it has to be so outside of it"

"It is," I ic just wasn’t holding up As Mezareau had said, the longer I was here, the ic happened I wasn’t sure if that was a result ofkind of scared of ht be all that stood between Murphy andslowness We sat and stared at each other, the wall, the floor, out theOur ht to us We were allowed to use the facilities--such that they were-- one at a time When darkness fell, I was no closer to a plan of escape than I’d been when the sun shone

I fell asleep, and when I awoke the soft glow of a candle illuround, shirtless, his skin gleaht I’d have been captivated by the sight, if he hadn’t gone through s in a tidy row

I sat up and he glanced at ot is this I was trying to figure out hoe could use it" He picked up the knife "Never thought I’d see the day when sharp steel orthless"

"Silver," I corrected

Murphy turned the blade, and the flames of the candle sparked off the polished surface "Fancy"

"Practical Until recently, silver killed just about anything"

He lifted his gaze "You’ve used this to kill things?"

"No," I ader-Sucher"

I could tell he wanted to roll his eyes and say so derisive, but he couldn’t anymore "What kind are you?"

"Not much of one, really I know voodoo, and since the latest olf problem involved a voodoo curse, I was asked to help Most of the J&auhters" I took a breath "Honestly, they’re killers They stop at nothing to get the j ob done, because they know if they don’t, people will die"

"Tell ed

I hesitated The J&auer-Suchers were supposed to be a secret, but since I had et out of here alive--and really, what else did we have to do?--I told hi society run by Edward Mandenauer He was a spy in WW

II, sent to discover what Hitler was up to"

"He was up to a lot," Murphy muttered

"More than anyone ever knew Hitler was fascinated olves and olves Maybe because Adolf means ‘Noble Wolf’--who knows? He chose the title f &uu wolves He even sanctioned a secret terrorist organization known as the olves"

"What did they do?"

"Near the end of the hen things began to go badly for Germany, recruits were taken from the Hitler Youth, the SS, the army, civilians In the way of a olf they would appear to be nored to wreak death and destruction on their enemy by any means possible"

"And they were really olves?"

Huh I hadn’t thought of that

"Edward never said I’m not sure if he knows"

"What did your boss discover about Hitler?"

"Have you heard of Josef Mengele?" At Murphy’s blank expression I elaborated "The doctor who performed medical experiments on the Jews, the Gypsies, and--well, pretty much anyone he wanted to"

"Nutcake," Murphy ele to make a olf army, so he did"

"How?"

"A little bit of this, a whole lot of that No one’s really certain, since Herr Doktor destroyed all the records"

"But he didn’t destroy the olves"

"No Those he released They’ve been s he devised in his secret lab in the Black Forest Edas supposed to eliot there too late He’s been trying to make up for that ever since"

"This all sounds crazy Until you see a zorate before your eyes"

"Try watching a ain It isn’t pretty"

"I can ihtened "Or ele release?"