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"Why are you so sure he is Lucian’s Razan?"

"Because there’s no one else he could belong to"

"Your father--"

"Would not be dealing with a dark sorcerer I ht not be sure of ed "Lucian was his chrání, and you said yourself that they often shared the sa to uncover whether--if Jackson is the Aedh’s chrání--he was a recent creation or one that was created before his poas ripped from him by the Razan"

I frowned "What difference would it make?"

"If before, then not lihly concealed his true self and is farhe could take on his energy form?"

He hesitated "No There is no doubt he has been trapped in flesh form for eons But it is possible he could not only take on partial form, but have all his other powers available as well"

I frowned "What sort of poould we be talking about?"

"The ability to use ic, for a start The Raziq are proficient in its use--they have to be, as ht the priests were the masters?"

"And the Razan were once priests Lucian, as your father’s chrání, is very likely to beYour father would not have taken hi Lucian had never had to enlist Lauren’s help to spell me--he could have done it all hiet Lauren to make that cube? Why wouldn’t he have made it himself?"

"Because he would have wanted to belay any suspicions His ic would feel very different froic"

"And perhaps never would As I said, he would be extre it after all those years on this plane"

I blew out a breath "I really was fooled by hiht have desired"

"Thankfully," IThe tone told roaned "Like I need to speak to her right now"

"Talking on the phone is preferable to talking in person, is it not?"

"There is that" I hit the ANSWER button and said, "I had nothing to report, which is why I didn’t report"

Her voice was cool and disbelieving "So the woman wasn’t there?"

"No, she was there, but she did a runner on us We chased her to her dressing room, but she escaped and left lots of little friends behind to play with us"

And the ain

A?"

"Lots of the so small"

"We all have an Achilles’ heel Spiders just happen to bethat could have been hu far darker "Oh, you havethe phone so tight, I was in danger of cracking the case "What weakens can also give you strength You ht want to remember that soressive this afternoon? I wonder why"

I took a deep breath and released it slowly "Talking to uncooperative vaather you mean those who run Hallowed Ground rather than myself?"

"Of course" I keptelse would have been dangerous "I didn’t learn et a picture of our suspect"

"So she is the one we’re after?"

"Hard to tell, because she was using so what she was But given she had a boatload of spiders sitting in her dressing roo behind other than the spiders?"

"No" I hesitated "But she’s killed two nights in a row, so I’d bet she’ll atteht"

"More than likely" Hunter studiedinto her eyes "I believe you talked to Stanford, despitehow she’d known The bartender, perhaps? Then I re every little move back to her "I had no choice The oasn’t there and the bartender didn’t know anything"

Hunter snorted "Bartenders know everything"

"Well, this one wasn’t talking" At least not to et any infor interesting to say beyond his lack of knowledge about his fill-in entertainer?"

I hesitated Stanfordnothingthe pot Hell, for all I knew, he’d picked up the phone and talked to Hunter the minute I was out the door Whichto iven the Cazador

"Nothing worth listening to," I said eventually