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I SAT ON the shallow curb in the weak spring sunlight in uys, plus Marshal Arlen Brice, Zerbrowski and Dolph, and a lot uards, huddling around me to keep everyone else back while I did the psychic dreaotiator We didn&039;t need to call the suspect or get eyes into the club; I had eyes in the club already I just had to "open" theh that it was like sitting at the bottom of a well of very tall people, but that was okay I was used to being the smallest kid in school I opened the blocks I had put in the way of Dev first Pride had suggested starting with Dev, because he was trained as a warrior, a spy, a guard, and an assassin, though he didn&039;t say all that out loud to the police; he said guard, just guard I lowered my shields for Mephistopheles, my Devil He hadn&039;t co my psychic and emotional distance from the people connected to et, or Micah, or Jean-Claude, or I&039;d kept him at a distance, because I kne, because I could Now, I tore down all that careful work and reached out to hi love to him The feel of his body in mine, his skin under my hands, his And just like that I was in Most of the ti to, but the ties that bound et closer, much closer I let that happen now, and I could see out of Dev&039;s eyes for a , and I drew back

He blinked up at ave his version of blank cop face and then went back to staring across the rooht, What do you see? And just like that, I could see what Dev was looking at

Sin was standing just a little farther toward the stage, ahead of everyone else, in the midst of all the little tables, most of the for business that night Nicky was the closest to the door, on the other side of Dev Nathaniel stood against the wall on the far side of the stage, away from the doors A man I didn&039;t know had an ar that looked like a cylinder with a button that he&039;d already pressed, and that startled ht at o Pressing down aro blew it

I moved my perception to Sin He did startle

I heard the bo? Where is Anita Blake? Where is she?"

Sin said, "Let o"

"He&039;s not your brother!" He yelled it

"Yes, he is"

"Shut up! You, lion! Call her again!"

Nathaniel said, "Cynric, leave, please"

I felt Sin shake his head, felt the depth of his stubbornness, and kneouldn&039;t leave It wasn&039;t a death wish, it was just a decision He wouldn&039;t leave Nathaniel He just wouldn&039;t

I thought about Nathaniel, and I could feel theat Sin, seeing his blue eyes too wide, his face pale, visibly scared, but not leaving I felt Nathaniel&039;s fear for him, tasted his pulse in my own throat, or was it my throat? I had a moment in which I could taste three pulses in my body, and none of them were mine One of the reasons I had learned to shield like a son of a bitch was that I didn&039;t want to end up like Weiskopf and his master, just one mind in two bodies, or three bodies, or four, or When it had just been Jean-Claude, Richard, and roupbetween three bodies I felt it for the first time with all of them, only Nicky was left out of this level of inti so in your head

I felt their eht bits of thought Dev see about it let ht had trained hiers had been raised to be the perfect instrument of whatever h technically according to vampire law, Jean-Claude

Nicky y, I knew he did "I&039;ll call her, just be cool, okay?" he said

"Call her!" The bomber screamed it this ti clothes in a suitcase You never quite got them all put back as neatly and completely the second time I could feel bits of the connection to all the , and Pride had to helper ones in that other room Crap, I had to do better than this, and then I realized I didn&039;t want to close the door coht be the last touch of theive it up

Dev thought in my head Cut ties, Anita, we can&039;t function like this

I did what he asked, but it was Nathaniel I left last, drawing away like I was caressing hiht the scent of his hair and skin with me, as I spoke into my phone "Nicky"

"He wants you inside"

A spurt of fear froh the newly raised shields He was afraid, and I felt a thought in his head that he would set it off before I got there, because he thought the bomber meant to blow him, me, and Dev up; two animals to call and

"Nathaniel is thinking about blowing the boet there He&039;s convinced the bo to kill me with my two cats, so I&039;ll die for sure"

"Probably true," Nicky said in a very matter-of-fact voice I could almost picture the sht at Nathaniel, thought hard, Don&039;t you dare!

The bomber screamed, "What is that? If you shift, you die!"

"The energy in here just spiked We&039;re all nervous enough that our hu me off

The bomber was more sensitive than I&039;d hoped Damn it!

"Where are you?" Nicky asked

"Just down the road," I said

"Traffic sucks, huh?"

"You don&039;t want me to come inside," I said

"No"

"You think he&039;ll blow it as soon as I step inside?"

"I think so"

"Crap"

"Yes"

"Tell him I&039;ll be there as soon as I can"

"Not sure that&039;s a good idea"

The bo, "Tell her she has ten minutes, that&039;s it, that&039;s it!"

"Hear that?" Nicky asked