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"You bade me spy upon her," she said impatiently "The sister She wants to take him away froed to piss off Sinclair’s lovelorn fairy Good enough forat the cord tied around the sack

"Here" Jen held out her hand "Give it to ht"

"Does it matter who opens it?" I asked Jojo

The fairy shook her head "No But I can’t touch it" She shuddered "Iron I loathe iron"

It took a few et the cord untied, and she had to use her teeth Jojo ru it on the sidewalk Jen opened the leather sack and poured the contents out carefully onto the tissue, andah, bliss

Once again the pain vanished; the agonizing spike drilling intoin my tooth The blurriness and double vision went away and the world returned to clarity, bright and crisp and beautiful

This time it stayed that way I held still and took a few cautious breaths before exa the sack’s contents, which appeared to be one discolored human molar, a crude iron nail, and a pile of dirt

Jojo peered over raveyard dirt, like as not"

"What about the tooth?"

She looked at h I were an idiot "’Tis a tooth"

"Gross," Jen commented

I poked at the objects "Shewhen I went to the restroo of mine"

"Maybe she brushed the tooth with the toothbrush you borrowed at Sinclair’s place," Jen said

Gah "Maybe"

Jojo heaved an ih "You had the charm on your person, lackwit, or at least near it under your own roof The sorceress had no need to bind it to you further Your warlock e of the craft He condemned his effort to failure when he allowed the charm within his own altar circle"

"You knohat they say," Jen said "‘Assume’ makes an ass out of ‘u’ and ‘me’"

"That’s a clever turn of phrase," the fairy said approvingly to her To nize the reek of iron and ic"

"I am" I’m not sure how sincere I sounded, but Ione"

Her eyes widened "Truly? Then I beseech--"

"I’s off with Sinclair," I said "That’s not on the table But if there’s anything I can do in my capacity as Hel’s liaison, ask"

"Oh" Jojo looked disappointed; and I have to say that her crush on Sinclair was even lah it In her true forreen-skinned pubescent sexuality that was disconcerting enough, but it was better than the toddlers-and-tiaras vibe "Look, I’ll put it in er, I meant the database I planned to create "You can claim it anytime"

That appeared todefused now?" Jen asked, indicating the leather sack and its forain, is it?"

"The charm is broken," Jojo assured her "The sorceress would have to cast the spell anew"

"Good to know" I began returning itelanced up at the throaty sound of a e of panic I’d experienced when I woke up, the only surprise was that I hadn’t had a concerned ghoul on my doorstep within the hour

Stefan Ludovic pulled into the alley astride a glealeamed, while others were a ht I happened to know that it was a Vincent Black Shadow, one of only seventeen hundred in existence; I knew this not because I knew anything about motorcycles but because Cody told e of a suspect who couldn’t possibly have legitied to Stefan I hadn’t noticed that the other night at Rainbow’s End

He lowered the kickstand and cut the engine He wasn’t wearing a hellasses that should have looked tacky, yet soht, the pallor of his skin was vivid Not undead pallor like a va black hair brushed the collar of the leather vest he wore over a plain, skintight black T-shirt I couldn’t figure out how the hell Stefan ant, but he did

"Holy shit," Jen breathed fervently beside houl you told me about, isn’t it?"

"Outcast," I whispered "That’s what they call the those pale eyes, a shade of blue seldolacier His pupils were contracted and steady as he le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>