Page 12 (2/2)

He hesitated "Not that I’m aware of, no Even if there were a way, I would be reluctant" He took a sharp breath, his pupils dilating in a rush "Your position is not without its dangers, Daisy It brings me a measure of comfort to know that if you are in distress, I will sense it"

Theto my rescue, sword in hand, rose in my mind Unfortunately, it was acco hi restored to wholeness

"Did it leave a scar?" I asked him He looked blankly at me "The sword The other ertips

"No" He shook his head "No matter how many times we die, we remain as hen ere first Outcast"

"Oh"

Stefan cleared his throat "There is one method you may employ to deflect your own emotions fro the Outcast It is a temporary measure, and one that requires discipline and concentration, but I can teach it to you if you wish"

I thought about it "Yeah I’d like that"

I ended up staying for a while As it turned out, Stefan’s method was a lot like the creative visualization techniqueson containingthe them Stefan had htness and then hold it between us in ht? Well, it wasn’t

For one thing, I’d never seen a shield in real life All I had to work froh of them, but still, it wasn’t the same Apparently, you had to be really precise about the details, and I kept waffling between one half-remembered vision--Perseus in Clash of the Titans, Captain America, Richard the Lionheart in various versions of Robin Hood--and another

After an hour, Stefan gave up "You’ve a good grasp of the concept, Daisy," he said to me "You just need to articulate your vision"

"I know, I know" My head was aching with the effort "I’ll try looking online later Or ain, there was a brief hesitation "Ithat would assist you Allow me some time toassess the matter"

That seemed a little unnecessarily cryptic, but then, that was par for the course a down, I saw that it was a text from Sinclair, and also that it was later than I’d realized "I should really be going"

"Of course" Stefan inclined his head to me "Thank you for the courtesy of your visit It is appreciated"

Cooper escorted me out of the bar, his hands shoved back into his pockets Oddly enough, I felt safer in his presence than I did with any other ghoul except Stefan--and maybe even than with Stefan, co attracted to a skinny Irish kid who looked six or seven years younger thanGod and the deference hich the others treated hiht, and given the care he was taking not to touchStefan’s orders

"How long have you known Stefan?" I asked him at the door

"Oh, a while" His narrow shoulders rose and fell in a shrug "Since the late eighteen hundreds, I reckon" He gave ood one, you know Most of us aren’t"

"Why is that?"

"Too easy to get bitter It’s hard to have a good relationship with the world when you’re in it but not of it" Cooper’s mouth twisted "It passes us by Even a vamp can turn a mate All we can do is use ’em up and throw ’eoes"

I did A rohouls, like the late Mary and Ray, was doomed to set off a ravenous loop "What about other i to fix ood" He shook his head "They won’t have us Even if they did, it’s human ere, and it’s hu, I put ly, sending a jolt of fear throughhis lips, he took a step backward, reer atme a taste, Miss Daisy Not if you want you and inary shield Nope, still couldn’t get it quite right "I didn’t mean to"

"I know" His pupils steadied anyway "Go on, now Mind yourself"

Outside, the late-afternoon sun beating down on the parking lot intensified ot into the Honda, turned it on, and cranked up the air-conditioning before checking out Sinclair’s text<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>