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Evangelina, who had once been so like a friend, a woman I had always respected And who had died because shehad killed the innocent Was trying to kill others Who had broken all the laws of her own kind No one else could have killed her in tiht have died I knew that But uilt, because I wanted there to have been so, different that I could have done

Hot tears coursed down iven ie went on "Our wo and danced and joined in the torture of their ene, reie’s voice softened yetcertain that I heard and understood whatwhen she led me to torture and kill, "and the power to claim prisoners as slaves, or adopt them as family and kin, or conde,’ as the old words go The right" Her fist struck the clay floor "And the responsibility Sometimesofttimesit sat heavy upon them"

"Oh," I said I opened ie patient, drenched in sweat, her hair plastered and salty She needed nourishie One Feather had co anything She had discovered that I was a killer, a rogue-vamp hunter And she had taken me in anyway, because the duties of a War Woman, a woman of the Cherokee culture, were not so dissimilar to my own My eyes burned, but

"Ghigau," Aggie said, and repeated the word again, so I could learn it, "Ghee ga hoo She ise and full of knowledge, a person of great respect and value to a clan and to a tribe War Wos"

"Maybe not wise," I said, a hint of hus are precursors to wisdoestured to the door and I led the way, out into the dawn The air was nippy and the sky overcast with rain clouds I looked up and a splatter of rain spat overBut the rain stopped, as if theOr

Twenty-four hours ago, I had been attacked in the streets of the French Quarter, crashing y thing Running away and leaving Bruiser there, wounded and hurt and bleeding, to fight alone I had run away fro to find myself, and when I did, I was different froht, always feared Not necessarily better, but certainly stronger

I thought about losing Rick to Paka, to the ic of black-wereleopard heat To the bristly and powerful ic of the African continent, and the were-taint, and theneeds that had clai with Beast’s fury

My ht I could tell by the way he fought against Paka Not

But before I could deal with Beast’s claio discover what had happened to Bruiser, find Molly and the irls, Rachael and Bliss And make sure that Beast understood that she and I werethe I/we of Beast

Yeah That

Deep inside, Beast lifted her head and screamed, the shriek that planted terror in the hearts of the Tsalagi long before the white man ca grounds! Ouras we choose hiie stripped off the unbleached linen and balled it up in a plastic container that smelled of other people’s sweat and a little of ot and stood under it I had figured out that, to Aggie, being naked in cerei had no shame of the human body in ritual

I stripped and stood beneath the other spigot And as the water rushed over rief I was a lot easier than I had expected More a thing of letting go, releasing it, rather than cutting soelina No more for the death of i I ashed in the blood of a redeeer needed to take back what had been stolen I dipped my head beneath the rush of water and felt it sluice ie handed me a towel and I dried off with it, then took another of the linen drapes and shook it out before wrapping it around ie looked at me, curiosity on her face "Where are your clothes?"

"Last time I saw them, on Royal Street" IIt was a coil of energy, like a snake, pulsing with power It landed on h if it ca on a rooftop, I don’t know It wrapped aroundsnake, like an anaconda, and constricted aroundlike it before, but I still don’t knohat it is"

Aggie’s eyebrows nearly met her hairline "You didn’t think it important to tell nize the thing I’ed into my Beast, which should have saved e and kept squeezing George Due I ran away Or rather ie blew out a breath, pursing her lips like a bird’s short, thick beak, wrinkles around herher look older "Jane Yellowrock went fro me more than I can understand" She tied the fresh linen around herself with a jerk on the ties, gathered up her clothes, and canted her head, again like a bird, but not the weird bird-neck-twisting thing vamps do She said, "I can find out what the elders know of such a creature But it sounds as if you left a battle You should deal with that first, Jane Yellowrock"

I let a smile pull up my mouth and it felt weird, the way it did when I hadn’t sie I will Uie chortled and jerked her head at the house "I s You coet here, you will be full and ready to fight any battle youin that regard"

Lisi was her ie, ie herself But--for reasons I had never been able to articulate--Uni lisi wasOh, crap, but one did not refuse the gifts of an elder