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"No You only need to show the card when you pass through a checkpoint Or if a cop asks for it Most people never see it"

"Good Because I will not be referred to as ‘Aunt Mabel’ " She harruain as she slid the card into her pocket "Sounds like a Victorian charwohed and patted her shoulder "Don’t worry, Mab Your secret is safe with me"

MAB PASSED THROUGH THE CHECKPOINT OUT OF DEADTOWN like she’d lived in Designated Area 1 all her life As alked the half-block to Creature Co Axel "He’s obviously not human, but nobody knohat he is And nobody likes to ask, either Axel doesn’t say much, and his privacy is important to him Like, really important" We stopped in front of the door "So if he won’t let you downstairs to see Juliet, please don’t take offense"

I reached for the door handle, then paused What would Mab see when I pulled it open and ent inside? A dingy dive bar with a surly bartender, most likely That wasn’t an inaccurate assessment But Creature Comforts was more than its appearance--at least, it was to e it too harshly

I opened the door and gestured Mab inside I followed The place was e Axel leaned on the bar and watched us approach His slinted as he took in Mab

"Axel, this is my aunt, Mab," I said "She’s come with uest roo her up--or thinking about having her as a snack Mab appraised hiht ere headed for some kind of OK Corral shon

Then Mab stepped forward She offered her hand and said soe I didn’t understand It sounded a bit like Gerrin cracked Axel’s face He shook Mab’s hand so vigorously it rattled my teeth where I stood beside theuage Mab had used In two minutes, he said hed, and Axel laughed with her He came out from behind the bar, bowed, and offered Mab his arm The two of them chatted away like old friends as they walked back to the storeroo like a third wheel

In the storeroo Mab how to open the secret door She clapped her hands together, impressed, then tried it herself

Axel walked over to"Lovely lady, your aunt," he said He picked up a couple of cases of pretzels and, still laughing to himself, carried the a private se was that?"

"Trollspråk It turns out Axel and I have so news from the old country"

"Axel is a troll?" I’d wondered for years what species Axel was And Mab had figured it out at a glance

"Yes, of course, a j&ouiants" She shook her head "I nized hiy If it wasn’t a demon, it didn’t interest you"

"Hey, I was focused"

Her face softened It may have looked about as soft as marble to anyone else, but I could tell the difference "That you were, child"

Mab o first, and then she followed me down the stairs As we reached the botto fluently in whatever dialect they spoke in fourteenth-century Verona, but there wouldn’t have been much point Juliet was dead to the world, asleep

A vampire’s sleep resembles death so closely that it was always a little bit of a shock to see my roommate so absolutely still and silent But vampires turn to dust when they die, so I knew death hadn’t claiood that she was fast asleep so many hours after dusk She should be awake and active at this tiht

I’d already described Juliet’s wound to Mab; now I showed her As gently as possible, so as not to disturb the sleeper, I pulled back the covers over her leg The putrid stench still reeked, but it didn’t faze Mab She leaned forward to examine the injurysteady The wound hadn’t really changed since the last time I’d seen it--swollen, purple, and hot Axel’s stitches held, but they were coated with seeping pus

"How long since she was injured?" Mab asked

"Two nights ago It shouldn’t take a vaht, it shouldn’t" Mab laid a hand on Juliet’s calf "And she’s very hot" She nodded at the blue jar on the nightstand "That’s the salve I gave you?"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>