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"Sure," said the woman She held out her hand without hesitation "Valeria Jardin My friends call me Val, and you can definitely be one of my friends" Justin often likened Mae to a lioness when she was ready to fight There was so feline about Val too, but of an entirely different nature She was sleek and sensuous--but most certainly had claws of her own

"Back off," the man warned Val "You heard what she said"

"Mae?" asked Justin "What did she say?"

"She said you were cute," said Val

The prætorian man rolled his eyes "She did not She just told you to stay away"

"That’s practically an admission of lust fro things, Val"

Val looked up at Justin through long lashes, a de," she purred "Not too ;torian said, stepping around her "Hope you’re well stocked"

"Extremely," said Justin He was still a little ," called theon whether that was his first or last na toward the kitchen, with the self-assurance of one who knew he could go anywhere

Justin showed therabbed two bottles each and looked at him expectantly "Out to the patio," he said He took a bottle of bourbon for hi;torians seemed to need any vessels "Everyone else is asleep"

The expansive backyard patio was far away fro else around here, it was opulent and lovely It had a slate floor set with patina-covered furniture and a trellised cover wrapped with vines that offered protection on hot days A fire pit sat off to the side, ready armth on cooler days The whole area was ripe and ready for entertaining, but backyard parties hadn’t exactly been on Justin’s agenda recently He never would have guessed he’d be breaking it in with two prætorians

Both of Dag’s bottles hiskey He set one on the table and then ilass required

"Isn’t that"--Justin groped for the right words--"kind of a waste? With the i the implant," explained Val She opened a bottle of tequila "If he can down that bottle in a couple et a buzz A short one, but hey, you take what you can get" From the way she then dove into her own bottle, she was apparently "sla" her implant as well

This was news to Justin "See paused in his drinking He was about halfway through the bottle "The i a head start"

"I see" Justin watched the and felt a little la to keep up, though He’d probably have been dead already

They both finished and looked supreh five "There it is"

She sighed happily and settled back into her chair "Fun end to a fun night"

"What happened tonight?" Justin asked "Why is Tessa a terrorist?"

That brought the grins back "She scaled the wall into the National Gardens," said Dag "Happens every once in a while I mean, there’s so much surveillance there that they’re always spotted before they even get to the wall, but they should really cut that fucking tree down"

Justin didn’t even hear the part about the tree "Tessa broke into the gardens? Why would she do that?"

"Because kids do that with other kids," said Val "And she was drunk"

Justin nearly dropped his glass "No Not her No way"

Dag actually looked sympathetic "I know it’s hard to accept, but no irls are always going to do things you don’t want to believe"

"Oh, I have no delusions about teen girls, believe me But not her If you knew her, you’d understand Hell, she put on her first pair of jeans teeks ago and still gets freaked out about how cars have no drivers"