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He also felt agony through the link and realized he was being pulled upward
"No!" he yelled, fighting the upward pull "NO!"
The link snapped
No longer tied to the power Saetan was channeling, he became an empty vessel that the power in the abyss rushed to fill Too
He screamed as hisand shattering, he fell, screa-streaked blacktouches on the spell she eaving across a corridor that led to the inner roo Cassandra into it just to see ould happen She didn’t have anything against the wolances Cassandra kept throwing back toward the Altar roo nerves already stretched a little too thin
She stepped back and rubbed her hands against her trouser seat Calling in a black cigarette, she lit it with a little tongue of witchfire, took a puff, and then offered it to Cassandra, who just shook her head and glared
"What are they trying to do that it has to be private?" Cassandra said for the tenth tiar," Surreal snapped "That sh reason for him to toss you out the door"
"It’s true," Cassandra said angrily "A Sister--"
"Sister, shit And I don’t hear you bitching about the other one I caught a whiff of"
"I trust the Priest"
Surreal puffed on the cigarette So that was the Priest Not a ain, Sadi wasn’t a le with either
She snubbed out the cigarette and vanished it "Coar Let’s create a fewuncles"
Cassandra eyed the corridor "What is it?"
"A death spell" A vicious gleah that--it’ll burst his heart, burst his balls, and finish the kill with a blast of the Gray The spell gets sucked into the body so there’s nothing anyone can trace I usually add a ti spell to it, but ant to hit them fast and dirty"
Cassandra looked shocked "Where did you learn to build so like that?"
Surreal shook her head and headed for another corridor to set another trap This wasn’t the tiht her that particular little spell Especially when she kept wishing he’d taught it to Jaenelle
Dae on his back He knew he couldn’t move He also kneas naked Why was he naked?
Mist swirled around hi hi familiar, but even the mind had landmarks Except this was Jaenelle’s mind, not his, in a place too deep for the rest of the Blood to reach
He re a hint of her as he probed the abyss, re lass tapping glass
He turned his head toward the sound, feeling as if it took all of his strength to do so little
"Don’t , lyrical voice that also contained caverns and h for hi next to slabs of stone piled up to forh him The crystal shards on the altar rattled in response
"Don’ttesty as she carefully fitted another shard of the shattered chalice into place
It was Jaenelle’s voice, but
She was old mane--not quite hair and not quite fur--was brushed up and back from her exotic face and didn’t hide the delicately pointed ears In the center of her forehead was a tiny, spiral horn A narrow strip of gold fur traced her spine, ending in a sold and white fawn tail that flicked over her bare buttocks The legs were hued below the calf Instead of feet, she had dainty horse’s hooves Her human hands had sheathed claws like a cat’s As she shifted position to slip another shard into place, he saw the small, round breasts, the fele of hair between her legs
Who?
But he knew Even before she walked over and looked at hience in those ancient, haunted sapphire eyes, he knew
Terrifying and beautiful Human and Other Gentle and violent Innocent and wise
"I am Witch," she said, a small, defiant quiver in her voice
"I know" His voice had a seductive throb in it, a hunger he couldn’t control or ed and returned to the altar "You shattered the chalice That’s why you can’t move yet"
He tried to raise his head and blacked out By the tih of the chalice pieced together for him to realize it wasn’t the same one Tersa had shown him
"That’s not your chalice," he shouted happily, too relieved to care that he’d startled her until she bared her teeth and snarled at him
"No, you silly stubborn male, it’s yours"
That sobered him a little, but her response sounded so much like Jaenelle the child, he didn’t care about that either
Taking it slow, he propped himself up on one elbow "Then your chalice didn’t shatter"