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He’d been ordered to follow Aden, which was easy for him, as Tucker could somehow sense wherever the boy went, and he had Followed, that is Yet Mary Ann was hted him, even as it frustrated him

When it was just the two of them, Aden and Mary Ann, Tucker would lose his ability to cast illusions, forced to hide by regularthe to their secrets when he should be protecting them Oh, yes, there was a small part of hi his dreaded life And he would hate hi, vow not to do it anymore, and walk away But the farther he walked, theto hi him to spy on Aden, and so, Tucker would return to Aden’s side If Mary Ann was gone, the desire to please his king would spread again He would watch, listen and wait An urge to hurt the boy would blooht

Tonight, Mary Ann ith the other boy, Riley When those tere together, Tucker could cast his illusions For whatever reason So, knowing Aden was inside, Tucker should have gone inside, too And he could have, no one would have known--even when Aden ith Mary Ann, Tucker could use his illusions if Riley was there--but Tucker had stayed out here For Mary Ann, detere of the other boy

As he’d watched thelad she had a new boyfriend She deserved happiness She deserved love She was the light to Tucker’s darkness, pure where he was tainted He’d never been right for her But damn it, why couldn’t they remain friends?

And why couldn’t Penny be more like her?

Penny Solad they’d h he most often denied responsibility Penny would be better off without him Unlike Mary Ann, she didn’t make him feel better about himself, his actions, his future He would make a terrible father

Without Mary Ann, he wanted to hurt those around him Penny, yes, and probably the baby

The boy Follow the boy…

As Vlad’s coether How did the va? How did the vary, dreading as to cohtened, unable to do otherwise, and headed south, toward the D and M Ranch where Aden lived That’s where the vampire princess, Victoria, had taken him when they’d vanished in a blink As always, Tucker sensed it, felt a pull tugging him in that direction

So far, there hadn’t been one to school Aden had returned to the vahold--where he’d been treated like royalty

The last had infuriated Vlad So much so, Tucker had feared for his own life For with the for’s fury, invisible hands had wrapped around Tucker’s neck, choking hih, the vampire had released him and sent him on his way for oal? he wondered Why was he using Tucker like this? Why wasn’t he clai his throne now? And did Tucker care?

The more distance he placed between himself and Mary Ann, the more the answer solidified in his mind No He didn’t care He would do what he was told

THE GOBLIN POISON SAVAGED Aden, turning his blood to lava, his organs to ash and his skin into one giant welt He burned, he itched, he voain Thank God he’d convinced Victoria to leave hi, "I’ed to convince her all ell

Been here, done this, he thought weakly, though he’d never experienced a reaction to this degree Yeah, this orse than any other corpse poisoning he’d endured This one even affected the souls They were , always incoherent

Except for Elijah Death, the psychic shouted Blood So much blood She dies We can’t let her die

"Who?" The as like acid in his throat

He dies, too So much death

"Who dies?" he demanded more insistently

Elijah continued as if he hadn’t heard Aden’s questions Maybe he hadn’t Maybe he simply didn’t know No NO! They all die All of them War Stop the war We have to stop the war

What war? If that was a prediction…

Through it all, Tho, bla for him, and would find out what had happened And when that happened, Aden would finally know true suffering Blah, blah, blah

"A-Aden You okay, uish real fro better at it, and he knew that someone was now in the rooh aat the side of his bed

"Can I g-get you anything?" Shannon reached out and felt Aden’s forehead