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Sansouci blinked, interpreting as fast as he could "Thank you, Shez I think you ilded cobra heads daily for bloodwine And your hes’ in this incarnation" He doubted Delilah kne much he knew about all her contacts

"Why do you wish to make this transformation of yourself, Sandsoozi?"

"I was once a Lord of the Slaughter myself"

"Indeed In what tiod, as I am"

"No, but I served one I took the life and blood of his enemies in war, and called it just Like you, I’d once wielded sacred oil and water during peacetime, but it ar that ht, then nodded "I too would rather rapes and seeds than the heads of the damned unjust Their blood as it spatters my lips tastes foul I must brew much wine to banish the inadvertent sins that have tainted even so little of my flesh"

"You cantaste who is damned from their blood?"

"A merewhat you say, side effect, like the inebriation that results froet the tablet I like you I wish to aid you in your quest to be worthy of the Mighty Delilah"

"I didn’t say anything about my reasons"

"You did not have to Who does not aspire to She Who Frees a God? You are uest whenever you choose to drink at Chez Shez"

"Thanks" Sansouci raised his glass of Blood Lite

"It is good when gods and ether and talk" Shez nodded his head until the beaded ends of his heavy braided wig danced on his doughty shoulders

Sansouci was gettingoutclassed

Chapter Twenty-four

NOW THAT MY dreams had ditched the alien abduction and exao

I woke up the nextfroyptian bloodletting stone slab again, only he was showing an unnatural interest in my toesLoretta Cicereau and I were twin sisters in the , lanky Howard Hughes replacing Sansouci and Vida morphed into a busty Jane Russell Only Cesar Cicereau was unaltered except for wolfish fangs

So when e bedroo Godfrey had dialed me from the main house with neas to breakfast in the servants’ quarters, my favorite way to start the day

It was indeed exactly that invitation I sighed as I hung up the receiver and lay back Godfrey and the uests and Molly made popovers to die for

I idly tested inside " procedure had been alarly syed scotch was a thing to respect and fear

My cell phone yodeled froht before I hated to leave ht interfere with a sunny, chatty breakfast withthe bag without getting out of bed In a le was clamped to my ear

"Good you’re awake so early and rested up," Ric’s voice boouess who paid ht"

Uh-oh, Irma warned We know a truckload of folks who could tell tales on you to Ric

"Uh" I said

"You and Quicksilver would kill me if I didn’t share the pleasure ofreally brilliant

"I’ll swing by and we can decide on the place then"

"Ah, Ric--"

But he’d hung up without givingbesides hi and what I should wear

I’d dropped last night’s outfit on the bed’s end Since the wardrobe witch hadn’t had an invisible hand in selecting the clothes, they were still piled there I checked the empty chrome dress-shop rack on the wall outsidea plain white shirt, a black "boyfriend" blazer, and gray boot-cut jeans

Was I supposed to go as a CinSie eaves, but the attached bathrooh tech I was sure it had irl health club, and an infrared drying syste beds at the now-defunct Rave Machine

The fa wet so it morphed into a banana clip to hold up my hair I liked the effect soobedience, as I didn’t with Quicksilver

Surprise It re me to keep the turabbed some fresh underwear, dressed, and jareet whosoever or whatever showed up with Ric in ht, I used the bureauhow accusto what I refused to call hickeys Loathsome word And maybe deed Sansouci’s admitted self-interest didn’t s Ric’s little quirk e lance in the hall h ofdown the stairs, Iat the botto With whomever I could always stop at the mansion’s kitchen door and take a rain check on the (sob) ho in the driveway, as throaty as a movie queen Quick perked his ears and I raised ure unkinking a tall frarass!" I IDed his companion elcome disbelief "What lured you out of Kansas?"

Ric’s former FBI mentor hitched up the belt under his belly toposition as he adjusted his straboy hat into its groove in his thick black hair Otherwise he was lean and well-done, his Native American skin seareet hie of noses, paws momentarily braced on his shoulders like a bear’s Both were pretty pro for this breakfast outing?" I asked Ric when Quick put all fours back on the driveway "In that car?"

"You and the dog can take Dolly"

"I propose we take a stroll across the courtyard instead Godfrey and Molly can lay out a spread for us all Quicksilver’s welcome there, unlike in most restaurants"