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Another fight, another shower Rotting vampire was not an odor you wanted to wear to bed My hair was still damp when I called Jean-Claude to fill him in on e&039;d done Okay, on what I&039;d done

I told him the shortest version possible His response, "You did what?"

I repeated it

Silence on the other end of the phone I couldn&039;t even hear him breathe

"Jean-Claude, you still there?"

"I aain I did not see this co"

"You don&039;t sound happy," I said "You know the news could be worse We could all be dead"

"I did not think Colin would be so foolish"

"Live and learn," I said

"Colin was right to fear you, ma petite"

"I told Colin ould happen if he messed with us He pushed the button, notto convince, ht about that for ayou rong?" His voice held mild amusement

"No" I tried to think how to say it Finally, I said, "We were losing, Jean-Claude They were going to kill us I had to do so I wasn&039;t even sure it would work" I held the phone, and wished that he were here to hold ht that I wanted hi people They all had a tendency to die on reat deal for a pair of coht at that ?"

I motioned Asher over to the phone "Talk to your second banana Ask Asher if there were other options If there were other options, I couldn&039;t see the in your voice, ile" He whispered the last word

I just nodded, and handed the phone to Asher I walked away froile, he said Scared,in the power I released had extinguished the torches around the lupanar Those of us still standing had ht out of Dante&039;s Inferno, and I had done it The power inside ofYeah, scared about covered it

Da in the shower"

I sighed Great, just what I needed, another crisis But I didn&039;t ask questions I just knocked on the door of the bathrooht?"

He didn&039;t answer ht, Anita" His voice, even over the shower sounded strained I&039;d never really heard him cry before, but that&039;s what it sounded like, a voice thick with tears

I pressed the top of ht But Jason wasto send in to comfort him? Damian had co type, and Cherry, wellif I was going to send another woman into comfort him, it seemed cowardly Asher? Naw

I knocked on the door again "Jason, can I come in for aanywhere near okay, he&039;d havehim in the shower That he didn&039;t tease n

"Jason, can I come inplease?"

"Come in," he said finally

I opened the door and the wared around me I closed the door behind me The room was soft and thick ar on every surface as if he&039;d cranked the shower up to as hot as it would go Hot as it would go was enough to scald the flesh froht left his shadow on the white shower curtain He wasn&039;t standing He was sitting on the floor of the shower, huddled

I moved the towel from the lid of the stool and sat doith it in ?"

He took a deep sobbing breath, and even over the shower I could hear hi

I wanted to see him while I talked to him, and I didn&039;t want to see him naked Choices, choices

"Talk to et it off et clean"

"Youor literally?" I asked

"It&039;s all overa coward and a prude I reached a hand for the curtain and slowly drew it back until I could see hi the entire bathrooht to his chest, arh to make me draw back His skin had turned a nice cherry pink but that was it I&039;d have had blisters or worse by now

There were clinging patches of black goo on his back The back of one arm had a patch on it He&039;d scrubbed and boiled hiet clean

He stared straight ahead at the faucets, rocking ever so slightly "I was okay until I got in the shower and it wouldn&039;t co those two va her rot But it&039;s the two in Branson I can still feel their hands on me, Anita Sometimes I still wake up in the "

In Branson, Missouri we&039;d taken on the local Master of the City She&039;d had two young woave her soested that if Jason made love to two of the feo I think he&039;d enjoyed it, at first, but then they&039;d started to rot

Jason had struggled away froainst the wall His bare chest was covered in bits of their flesh A strand of so thick and heavy slid slowly down his neck onto his chest He batted at it like you would swat at a spider that you found crawling along your skin He was pressed into the black ith his pants nearly to his thighs

The blond rolled off her back and crawled towards hi but bones with bits of dried flesh She seeround The brunette et She lay back on the floor, and some dark fluid rushed out from her to pool beneath her body She&039;d undone her own leather shirt, and her breasts were like heavy bags of fluid

"I&039;m ready for you," the brunette said Her voice was still clear and solid No hu lips

The blond grabbed Jason&039;s ar to clear theit But for Jason it had become his private phobia One of the Council&039;s flunkies had been one of the rotting ones She&039;d tortured him, too, because she liked how very, very afraid he was of her Yvette&039;s little torht&039;s fun and games had been far too close to home

I took off the wrist sheaths and laid the the wrist sheaths when I should have been getting ready for bed said so about my own paranoia The heat fro Years of being told, don&039;t touch, hot I knew that fire killed wereanimals, but apparently heat didn&039;t I turned the knob until the te I could touch

Jason started to shiver alan to cool Frankly, I was amazed that the cabin&039;s hot water heater had kept up this long The floor et and the water soaked into the legs of e into

I found the bar of soap but the washrag was black I threw it into the sink and got the last clean one I&039;d have to remember to ask for extra towels I should have done that anyway

Jason finally looked at lassy, as if he were slipping into his own version of shock "I can&039;t go through it again, Anita I can&039;t"

I soaped the clean washrag until it squished white suds I touched his back and he flinched I would have given alrabbed forto let me knoas okay Instead he sat there naked and wet and ht, but damn it if I cried, I was afraid I wouldn&039;t stop I was in here to comfort Jason not to et it off his back It had been hard enough to get offfor lue I finally resorted to using lad that I&039;d refused Cherry&039;s offer of fingernail polish I would have chipped it all to hell I scraped it off a piece at a tiers while the hot water ran and Jason shivered But it wasn&039;t the cold that made him shiver I was so hot in the moist heat, I didn&039;t feel well

I&039;d cleaned everything but one last patch low on his back, very low It was like the fluid had soaked into the band of his pants, low enough that the curve of buttocks started just below the patch I was squeah Jason seemed unaware that he was nude, I was very aware of it