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When I bent toward him, his eyes snapped open Despite myself I stuht

"We’re here," I said stupidly

"Thanks I’ll be all right in a few h, so I just left hih to worry about

Chuch met us at the front door, evidently alerted by Butch’s i perforuess you foundfrom Chance’s hand "Let me put that away for you, primo" His eyebrows al to be souys rinse off so on?"

That sounded like a great idea I took a five-minute shower and Chance took his turn next We all met up in the kitchen, where Eva sireetedsqueeze that hurt my ribs "You okay, cariño?"

Tears filled ed her back I hadn’t realized just how much I cared about her until this ht"

Her love hurt, though Whatever I said, I had about a dozen wounds that needed tending The bite on ht fester if it wasn’t treated

Chuch took a seat at the kitchen table and druers on top "You want to fill ? Why did you need all that hardware? And where did the creepy Chihuahua colasses of iced tea, Chance sat down and let me tell the story Butch whined until I picked hi the proceedings The tale took the better part of an hour, and by the tiarded us with astonishment

"You mean those loco dreams were true?" the mechanic asked finally

With a nod, Chance answered, "More or less When we destroyed the foci that held you, your souls were free to follow the silver cord back to your physical bodies"

Chuch ran a hand through his long, dark hair, looking griuy outside? What’s his deal? Did you hire aKel

"Not exactly He, ah, showed up last night, claireat evil"

Eva gavelook "And you didn’t think he was crazy? Your first impulse was to arm him?"

"Well, it wasn’t my first impulse" I tried a smile God knehat she’d say if she found out who he was

"Wow" She shook her head "So you went off with a nut job and you took out the warlock You didn’t even have Chuch’s good stuff He has a real cache of weapons hidden better than that You know, just in case"

"When you find Montoya, I’ with you to rescue your mama and take him out," Chuch said quietly "You’ll need the extra firepowerand he crossed the line when he let his goon mess with my wife"

I expected Chance to protest but he si he saw that I couldn’t interpret, he sih twenty-four"

To say the least

"Eva, can you put yourabout this Diego Montoya?" I asked

She nodded "I’ll start with the Internet and work from there"

"Let ht be able to tell us solanced at Chance "It h, priot to et er to--"

Chuch laughed "Relax You could get these guys to kill their own grandmothers for a thousand dollars, let alone talk so of a throat drew our eyes toward the kitchen doorway Kel stood there under his oer, blood soaked but alance with Chance Should we tell them the whole story? He slowly shook his head

Eva recovered first "Sure It’s just down the hall Towels are in the closet to the right"

"Let me show you" Bone tired, I pushed away fro him a clean blue towel from the linen closet "Do you need some help? I can bind up your wounds afterward if you want"

In answer he pulled his filthy shirt off and presented me a back crisscrossed with scars Some must be old and puckered the pale skin, but the wounds he’d taken today, just hours ago, showed livid purple Already healed

Seeking proof, I reached out and al who and what he was I pulled back "How is this possible?"

"God takes cares of His own," he told me, and shut the door in my face

As the water hissed on, I returned to the kitchen in time to hear Eva say, "Well, he’s a weird one You know he has angel names tattooed all over his head?"

"Yeah, it’s kind of hard to miss," I said

Eva fussed overat us with various medical supplies and antibiotics My jaw practically cracked on a yawn The bean soup wouldn’t be done for hours, and I wanted sleep

"Get sowork this afternoon I hope we’ll be ready to pay soht"

That reet in touch with Booke It was a testa off the hook