Page 12 (1/2)

A fired me back into reality and down a pitch-black hallway just as I felt the air change and the curtain rise

"We can watch froe is not the best way to make an io then, but he didn’t, and I liked that, liked the feeling of being dragged along on an adventure Even with a Bludman’s eyes, it was hard to see back here, and I had to wonder just how intiate the twists and turns of the corridor without running into anything When he finally slid a door open and pulled h behind him, I was nearly overwhelmed by a riot of color and heat overlaid by the delicious scent of bodies crushed together We were in the back of the theater, behind the crowd Hundreds of htly on a well-polished dance floor, while dozens more watched avidly from plush velvet boxes and booths around the periphery It was a sea of black and white and flesh tones and a few bloole human or daimon in soe, dozens of daied according to the rainbow’s spectru their legs overhead to reveal the colorful petticoats under their skirts Still, their performance was masterly Even I could feel the palpable excite from the crowd For the daimons, it had to be like the breakfast buffet at the Ritz

And of course, it was slightly painful to me, as I’d taken no blood since before the slavers’ attack I rubbed er to block my nostrils I hadn’t been ha bludded in Sang It was lucky I had such excellent self-control, as ifto settle for blood I’d never experienced that rabid hunger that Pinkies expected from my kind, but if I wanted to stay focused and at Paradis, I was going to have to remain well fed All the barely contained blood made it hard to concentrate

"I me to suck in another breath of warm, enclosed person-stink

"I’d be rilanced at the bar, where a male daimon with purple skin, slicked-back hair, and a mustache shook and poured drinks faster than seeot about your troublesome appetite They don’t often serve Bludmen here, but I’ll ask at the bar Can you wait?"

I rolledthe to kill everybody Roar Rawr"

His teeth flashed when he laughed "Try not to, for both our sakes I’ll be right back"

I watched him leave, unable to escape the fact that his worn but well-fitted breeches were a thousand times more impressive than all the expensive tuxes in the roo and on Earth, it was that ht butt and sexy swagger weren’t aer, I focused on the daied, and dancers hurried off in a flurry of petticoats The crowd hushed as a large silver ring descended fro slowly on a rope It was eht perhaps they’d already botched the show But no A spotlight clicked on, and golden dust danced in the harsh glare like glittery pollen A lithe body slid down the rope with snakelike grace, the beautiful dai around the hoop with boneless precision In the interest of professional disdain, I studied her for li with a uid as liquid The tinkling ht and dainty things easily broken But the girl’s face told , every line focused and harsh Her painted mouth may have fooled the crowd, but my Bludman’s eyes could see the tiny lines of annoyance that assured me that she didn’t find the joy in her act that her norant and mesmerized crowd

I se half-Abyssinian odor The vial he presented was cool in erated instead of warh my teeth

"It’s cold, I know Sorry about that, ma petite Can you choke it down?"

I popped the cork, held htly clue reason, there were no geret sick fro a liquefied scab

The taste was rancid in lass of red wine intoThe blood was so bad that the asn’t disgusting

"Thanks for that" He took the wineglass froht me by surprise I wasn’t accustoour foul,half-Abyssiniandifference to his worldview

After slipping the wineglass onto a passing daiirl dangling from the hoop "That’s Limone She is bad news"

"Bad ne? Does she feed on pain?"

He chuckled "Thankfully, no But she is the cruelest daimon here I would avoid her if I were you"