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The e wasn&039;t dancing, because he wasn&039;t the show anye students surrounding a ht in the middle of their jeans and letter jackets The tallest of them only came to his shoulder, but there were a lot of the a jacket that indicated they did some kind of sport Some of them looked almost as ood bunch if he wanted to start trouble, and he so wanted to start trouble

The other black-shirted security guards didn&039;t seem to knohat to do Their divided loyalties showed in the fact that they hadn&039;t waded in to help Priuys, keeping the the about Prione on before, I&039;d have learned so the other men refuse to help him

It wasn&039;t Primo&039;s size that was the problem It was the waves of power that radiated off of him Most vamp power, and even lycanthrope power, filled a roo, until you drowned in it Primo&039;s power literally pulsed and flowed Every ti open hand, the power spiked and tightened along my skin His power see hands open, just slapping thee students&039; roup jurabbed hi He tossed him into the coat check booth and earned a screairl that worked there

Prih to walk on, but only for a second, then down it went He couldn&039;t sustain it

"Enough," Buzz said, and he sounded unhappy to have to say it He uards&039; hesitation The other black-shirts uys uys didn&039;t want to leave their buddies ass-deep in giant vaain, this was outside un and stopped it, if I illing to arrest, or kill Primo, but I didn&039;t kno to tone it down As Buzz had said, their job was not to make it worse, but to make it better I didn&039;t kno to do that Not really

Buzz was yelling, "Priet this out of the club"

Prie students by the throat, one in each hand, as if he ether But while his hands were busy, another enterprising young man, with short brown hair and shoulders nearly as wide as Buzz&039;s, hit him in the face He kne to throw a punch It rocked the vampire&039;s head back, and blood blossomed at his mouth, like a crimson flower on all that white skin

The e died abruptly, and into that sudden silence Prie-filled battle cry He dropped the twoand went for the man who&039;d hit him I expected him to throw him around like he had the others, but he didn&039;t He picked hiled off the ground, and he was probably choking on his own collar But instead of those big pale shoulders bunching to throw the man, Primo&039;s hand went back, and this time he closed his fist Fro to snap the , but truthfully without a court order of execution, I was in the same boat as a police officer I couldn&039;t shoot hi to hurt so a vaile the huured once I shot Primo, I had to kill hi me I was harder to kill, not immortal

I aimed down my arm, because court and explanations would come later, and that kid was about to die I was about to take a shoulder shot, because it was ot brave, too

Clay was closest, and he jumped him Primo tossed the shapeshifter into the first row of tables Wo to his feet, but that big fist was pulling back again

Buzz was screaun pointed at the floor, because when you&039;re tense, your fingers are tense, too If I shot someone, I wanted it to be on purpose I started to move closer and to one side for a better shot, when the black-shirts swarmed him, and I had no shot at all

If I&039;d been ready to kill his ass, I&039;d have yelled for the to avoid it I moved closer, and to one side, farther away fro a clear shot I&039;d never tried to shoot anyone in the ht Just the tu to hit a target with civilians flying around it

Primo tossed the the er his power spiked and billowed, as if every blohether his or theirs, powered him up He was lost behind a mound of black-shirts, then I felt his power draw in like an ato, and I had time to yell, "Everybody down!" I wasn&039;t sure as co to be bad

I hit the floor like I&039;d told everybody else to do, though I put lanced aton the floor Jesus, didn&039;t anyone kno to take cover?

Primo didn&039;t use his body to throw theic It blew the bodies If I&039;d been crouched like the people I&039;d coround, I had a split-second to decide whether I was going to cover et to round doesn&039;t help when things as heavy as bodies are falling I got up to scramble away, and a body smashed into me I had a moment to be quietly stunned, and then another one landed on top of me

I&039;d been hit, I&039;d been thrown, I&039;d been a lot of things, but I&039;d never had two adult men land on me from the air All the breath was crushed out of s would have broken I laid there for a second, stunned, and the twoat all

The first thing I moved was my head, back to look over my shoulder to where Pri He&039;d picked up a different college student and was dangling hiain Fuck

I realized two things at once One, I could un wasn&039;t in either of them My body was pinned underneath several hundred pounds I was strong, and I could get out, but it wouldn&039;t be quick, and I had no idea wherePrimo&039;s fist started forward, and there was one of those moments where the world slon I had all the time in the world to watch him land that blow, all the time in the world to watch him snap that man&039;s neck and know I couldn&039;t stop him

35

I reached out toward him and screamed, "No!" I didn&039;t expect it to help, but I had to do so

Blood spurted fro around the room as if he didn&039;t knohere the scream had come from

I wasn&039;t sure either, but I&039;d spenthow to control what power I had, and I&039;d felt so like this, both times when I was desperate The question was, could I do it on purpose?

Prioal and nothing would turn hiht about it I thought about what it had felt like Like lass to hurt hiher and seelance back, there wasn&039;t time

I reached out not just with my hands but with that power I had over the dead, that link I had with two vaain, more red to join the first It wasn&039;t as much blood, and I didn&039;t knohy, because I really didn&039;t understand what I was doing A few bloody cuts were not going to distract hi this," he said His voice was a deep ru body and held an accent that I couldn&039;t place

Jean-Claude&039;s voice floated up fro this"

I wanted to look backward and see him, but I didn&039;t dare take my eyes off the vampire in front of me to look at the vampire behind me But I didn&039;t need eyes to feel his power It flowed through the roo hand It caressed the bodies that pinned ot a whiff of musk and wolf fur and knew that both men were pack That scent of fur and home filled me, too I knew that it was partly his tie to Richard, but it was h them to me He hadn&039;t meant for it to, but I had my own ties to Richard and his wolves It was hard for him to reach out to the shuddering breaths, as if they&039;d coh I knew that wasn&039;t it The blond, Clay, blinked at me from inches away He looked surprised, and I couldn&039;t blah it was straight as straight could be He blinked dark eyes aton top of me

Heslowly, stiffly off the top of the pile

Clay et off him

"How do you think I feel? I&039;m on the bottom," I said

Clay wasted a s stiffly to his knees froave me a look I didn&039;t know him that well, but it seemed to say, well that solves that

Jean-Claude was here, and his power filled the rooood, and so unlike his power in so, it felt too alive But he was the Master of the City, and none of his vampires would defy him to his face I believed that was the only excuse I have for lettingaway from Primo You&039;d think I&039;d learn that crazy is crazy, dead or alive

"All of them could not stop me before, Jean-Claude Three will not do"

The way he said it, iving up That wasn&039;t right Challenging Buzz was one thing Challenging Jean-Claude was another thing entirely

"They are not here to stop you, Primo, for you are stopped I am the Master of this City, and I say you are stopped"

"These hue in his words that they scalded along er, as well as violence I realized in that moment that he was a master vampire of sorts At least some of his poere master-level powers That was bad

Clay was on all fours, which et out froun, but I couldn&039;t see it It had to be here somewhere Fuck, the shit was about to hit the fan, and I didn&039;t have a gun

"How did a vampire of your power allow a mere human to bloody you?" Jean-Claude&039;s voice was easy, conversational, but inelse, "I fear I have underestimated him"

"No, shit," I said

Clay asked, "What did you say?"

I shook un, but I couldn&039;t find it Then I thought, Fuck it, I&039;d cut hiain Part of me didn&039;t believe it I told that part to shut the fuck up, too I had enough proble in

Prioat, but he was holding hi of laundry I realized that theto see if he was breathing I didn&039;t like the way Primo had the man&039;s jacket collar twisted around his neck Had I been so worried about the fist that I&039;d let Primo choke the man to death?

Jean-Claude&039;s voice breathed through , but his heart still beats"

I said out loud, "We&039;re out of time"

"Yes," he said, and I think that was out loud He reached out to me, not with his hand but with his power, and this wasn&039;t the warrave touched me, and it flared that part of me that raised the dead I suddenly kne I&039;d cut him I suddenly kneorked It was like a puzzle box in my head, and suddenly I knew just where to press and just what it ical aura against the into a slender invisible blade that could be turned against them Jean-Claude had knohat it was and hoorked for centuries, but he&039;d never been able to do it himself He knew the how, but could not do it I could do it, but didn&039;t know the how Together we suddenly had it covered

My goal was not to kill Prio of the man I held my hand out toward him, and he still didn&039;t look scared

"Do you think your little cuts will stop me?" he demanded

"No," I said, and I threer at hiainst his aura, his shielding, like a burr on a piece of cloth But the ball didn&039;t stay a ball, and it didn&039;t exactly pierce Pri It was as if the ball , beca into so and slender and sharp I visualized that sharpness cutting across his belly, and his shirt split like a skin to shohite flesh and blood

It was a bigger wound than the other two, and his hand went to it, as if it hurt, or as if he wasn&039;t sure how hurt he was

"How do you like that one?" I asked "Big enough for you?"

He snarled atfor his mouth

It had done exactly what I wanted it to Thanks to Jean-Claude&039;s centuries of frustrated study, I had a neeapon I&039;d been afraid before to hit too close to the victim All it would have taken was the vic to have a little psychic gift, and I could have done e to him than to Primo But now I had it, I knew it, I felt it

I flicked a hand at the arm that held the man, and that arm split open from elborist Blood spilled down his arh, the blood would have jumped out of his open arteries, but he didn&039;t have the blood pressure for it Not anymore

"Do you seek to save this?" he lifted the man by his twisted collar "It is dead and only meat for the animals now"

"His heart still beats," Jean-Claude said

But we had onlyto save hie I threw both hands up, and I cut hi his arm like you&039;d bone a fish, but I could not break the deeper tissue I could cut his skin and aments held, and that was all Primo needed to hold the vic until he died Stubborn bastard

"If you do not drop the e to my authority"

"See it any way you like, but I will not be a whipping boy for this," and he pointed not at me, but at the men that lay unconscious around him, at Buzz who stood near, but not too near We were out of his league, and he knew it

"So be it," Jean-Claude said In my head he said, "Ma petite, it is not a knife, it is not a single blade, it is ainst him, then why not all of it?"

I started to ask, what did he mean, then he showed ed that bit of answer directly into my brain I understood, and I didn&039;t hesitate It wasn&039;t in me to hesitate when lives were at stake

I didn&039;t point or throw up a hand It wasn&039;t a ga covered his entire body I thought at that skin of ic, I threer into all of it, and when I felt all of his shielding, as if I was caressing that invisible skin with ainst hi blades It was as if Pri in the center of a reverse porcupine, a porcupine with spines the size of daggers

Every inch of his skin I could see was just suddenly covered in blood He screamed, screamed with a mouth that poured blood, screamed with a throat that was pierced in a half-dozen places He screao of the rabbed the ed him over the bodies of his friends, and away, just away I wanted to watch, to , but I had other problee us, but he stumbled and fell to his hands and knees I realized in that moment that I&039;d blinded hih For tonight he was blind

He roared at us and yelled in a voice that sounded like he was trying to s broken glass "Dah to do this You were never vah for this"

"Did you come to St Louis to destroy me and take my place?"

Primo raised his bloodied face toward the sound of Jean-Claude&039;s voice "Why not? Why not be Master of the City?"

"You cannot even be master of your own self, Prih to rule this city"

I wanted to look behind me and watch him speak, but I didn&039;t need to In thathis hand I knew then what I&039;d known before, but only in the back of my mind He&039;d used the vampire marks between us more openly, ry, but I wasn&039;t

One of the waiters was bending over the man Primo had tried to kill The waiter had bent back the ave a sudden jolt, and his first gasp of breath was loud

The dark-haired olf that I could give no name to raised a thuht No amount ofelse would have freed hih I wasn&039;t sure that was a good thing I thought we should kill Primo, and do it now, before he recovered

Jean-Claude&039;s voice whispered in my ear, "If so the bad happened here"

I shook h vampire mind tricks in the world to blank thethis traumatic

"Do you doubtjust behind me His slender white hand appeared on my shoulder, a spill of white lace around it, and a flare of black velvet sleeve fra that lace