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I sketched the line upward, then folded the map at Stanhope Street to make sure I located the end point correctly Fro off to the southeast, and folded the le to verify that it mirrored the bottom branch A corner of Boston Common at Boylston Street The eihwaz rune stood out on thethis rune as a pattern, the nextto the dot at the top of the map It was on Back Street, a sort of alleyway between Beacon Street and Storrow Drive, near where the Back Bay becomes Beacon Hill

Mab stood Axel jumped up to assist her, but she was o there at once It’s our best chance to arinned "And kick the Old Ones’ bony asses straight to hell"

23

JULIET SAID SHE NEEDED TO HUNT AND WOULD MEET US AT Back Street I wasn’t sure joining us was such a great idea Right now, she was the Ao, she’d been dying The surge of vitality she’d gotten from the bloodstone wouldn’t last forever--Mab warned it would wear off And who knehat the longerterht be? Besides, Juliet was unarmed and I couldn’t spare any weapons

Axel thunked two silver stakes with polished ebony handles onto the bar "Crowd control," he said Juliet picked one up, hefted it, andjust above the bar’s surface She al "Now I’one before I could argue with her

I didn’t even atteradually recovering, and I knew she wouldn’t let me face Myrddin alone Whatever was between my aunt and the demi-demon wizard, it was personal She wanted her shot at him

We checked our weapons Ever since Myrddin’s little helpers had snatchedainst deht couns: one loaded with bronze bullets, the other with silver In addition, I had a bronze dagger and a second dagger with a silver-plated blade Mab didn’t like pistols; she preferred old-fashioned weapons She also carried two daggers: one for de to be

WE FILLED OUT A SMALL MOUNTAIN OF PAPERWORK AT THE checkpoint into Boston, but we h Beyond the checkpoint, several taxis waited I snagged the first one Mab got in and sat with her head against the seat, eyes closed, while I gave the driver an address on Beacon Street, about half a block past the intersection with Berkeley He nodded, pulled away from the curb, and turned up the radio

So about the Reaper "Three murders in five days Only a creature with no respect for life--for hu, inhue "Only a monster could commit these murders And every Bostonian knohere the ot precision boe Boston through cleansing fire, and then start over Let the filth of Deadtown perish, and let Boston, like a phoenix, rise from the ashes"

I leaned forward "Can you turn that down?"

The driver scowled into the rearviewunder bushy salt-and-pepper eyebrows He reached forward and reduced the volume by maybe half a decibel The talk-radio ranter speculated on how atons of explosives it would take to wipe out Boston’s zombie population

"No, I meant turn it down I really don’t want to listen to that nutjob right now"

"Nutjob? What nutjob? The lanced at the cabbie’s license for the driver’s name: Ferris Mackey "Listen, Ferris--"

"Mack Everybody calls me Mack"

Okay, fine "Listen, Mack, I live in Deadtown So I’m not all that thrilled to listen to some lunatic ants to blow up ed, but he switched off the radio A couple of seconds later, his eyes returned to the rearview ht

"Watch the light!"

He sla Mab and me forward, the taxi’s nose a third of the way into the intersection He turned around in his seat to gawk at us This time, his scowl seemed puzzled

"So what are you, a olf?"

"No"

"You’re not vaed, and the car lurched forward "Vampires and olves, them I don’t mind Good tippers, usually So are the people who’ve been out to the bars--real people, I mean, you know, huet the hell out of there, they show their appreciation with cash, knohat I mean? That’s why I wait for fares outside the checkpoint But I won’t let a zosthey’re unnatural"