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Lily looked between the two camps, and it was clear neither side had any intention of backing down In this case, she knew she couldn’t avoid the bloodshed Which was a sha It could all be a lie But then again, the man who could explain what she was to her could well be the one Ty was trying to protect the Ptole ever be easy? But she needed to stay with Ty More, the Dracul were unknown to her It was a chance she couldn’t take

"If this Vlad wants to talk to me," Lily said, "he can coadje," Ludo said "But if it did, trustyou down"

"Just the same If it were that important, he’d have shown up," Lily replied "So I think I’ll stay put"

Ludo sighed "You know I’ to take you anyway"

"Don’t talk to her," Ty said "Not another word She stays with us And Vlad Dracul can go to hell"

"Have it your way"

Lily saw the flash of pleasure cross Ludo’s face as he began to circle theht, she realized But then, he’d known she wouldn’t be given up Lily pressed into Ty’s side He and Jaden, in contrast to the trio of Dracul, were as still as statues, though their eyes h Lily suddenly heard Ty’s voice in her head as loud as anything

Stay close I’ll protect you

Apparently he could make her hear him, even if he couldn’t hear her Lily didn’t bother to retort that she could protect herself She figured she’d try and show hih she was a bundle of nerves Could she defend herself? Did her abilities even work this way?

It seemed that if she wanted to know, this was the tiather her pohen Ludo lashed out, drawing blood with a slash across Ty’s cheek He h she knew it must have hurt Ludo, on the other hand, chuckled

"First blood, cat Be prepared for a lot more"

And just like that, the poas there

It occurred to Lily, a split second before she returned fire, that all it seehtened her a little had she been capable of seeing anything but the blood dripping down Ty’s cheek

"Don’t touch hi within her until she kneas going to co, and oh God she couldn’t stop it if she tried…

When the second varab a fistful of his shirt and give a ht, a screech, and a body flew through the air to slam into the pavement halfway down the street In the moments afterward, when all the others had turned to stare at her, Lily took full advantage She gripped the feround with both hands fisted in the front of her shirt, and hurled her in ling to his feet All she could think of was the dreaht

Red haze drifted over her vision, and in her ears rang the cries of the doomed Her people… her people…

She smelled fire

She saw Ludo, and knew only that he was the ene at her, and the words poured from her own lips in a voice that was both hers and not hers

"You will not take what is ht flashed from her hands as she reached for Ludo But she did not throw hi his head back and forth A ind caan to speak in a language that was not her own, that her conscious mind didn’t understand

The rational part of herself that had not been subsumed could only watch in mute horror

I curse you in the name of the Mother

I curse you in the naertips, the night opening within her like a dark flower, full of possibility and fully, eternally hers She was a child of the Mother, the one ram and snake burned her skin like white-hot fire

"Lily!"

So her name, and the storm, both within and without, stilled Lily ca She had been adrift in soer, and then she was siain

Lily blinked as she looked around, bewildered The street was eh there had been a particularly windy stor even paler than usual