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I trailed after him as he went to retrieve an item wrapped in dark blue velvet cloth from a sideboard With one of his formal little half bows, Stefan presented it to me

I removed the cloth to reveal a round steel shield Other than a hand grip welded onto the concave back, it was plain and unadorned It was both sined, and polished to a otone," he said "I thought this ht help"

"Where do you buy a shield?" I asked "And it’s sopetite! Did you have to have it custoe "I have an acquaintance in the historical replica industry This is actually their standard basethe fingers of rip and hoisted the shield aloft

It felt good

I gazed atme, then lowered the shield "Okay And, uain?"

In the center of the living room, Stefan took a stance opposite me, his back to the"Yes"

When we’d done this before, Stefan hadn’t menaced me in earnest This time, he did With the sun inshift of his pupils, but I felt the inexorable tide of his hunger pulling atthe shield up between us Brilliant sunlight splintered off the highly polished surface, sending a thousand scintillating points of light dancing around the roo clicked inside hts, holding it between us, a barrier that reflected Stefan’s hunger back at his back into rin "That’s it! Perfect! You did it, Daisy!"

Blinking against the brightness, I held the shield--the real one and the one in rin turned fierce "Noe practice"

If you think holding a single iain Despite h, it was hard Stefan workedadept, hee without it

By the time he called a halt, I was exhausted and elated I could do it I could conjure a shield capable of holding a six-hundred-year-old ghoul--oops, Outcast--at bay And for the first tient of Hel, my frustration atSoain to Stefan, this tiratitude he deserved "This is a, truly How did you know?"

"It was a hunch" Returning frolasses of water, he handed one to me "But I have so drink of water "Teaching people to protect themselves from you?"

A shadow crossed his face "Yes"

Okay, probably not the ti I sat on his leather couch "Can anyone learn to do it?"

"No" Taking a seat in an adjacent chair, Stefan shook his head "There is a quality one must possess in abundance The ancient Greeks called it pneuot lots of pneus," he said "Especially when one is Outcast" He sipped his water and smiled a little "In your case, the fact that your ee on your physical environ with it"

Huh And here I’d thought"What else does it work on other than the Outcast?" I asked hi a hex on ainst spellcasting But if you are diligent in your practice, you can defend yourself from all manner of compulsion, such as vampiric hypnosis and deer at ent, Daisy It is like any skill It must be honed until it is second nature to you, until the act of raising and "

"Duly noted" I shifted and began to curl ed my mind when I saw a look of polite disht No shoes on the fancy leather couch "Stefanif this energy, this pneuma, can be used to raise a defensive shield, can it be used as an offensive weapon, too?"

Stefan didn’t answer right away His pupils contracted in his pale blue eyes, giving hiainst so reluctant "But to do so is dangerous, exposing you to far greater vulnerability Promise me that you will not attempt it"

"What if--"

His pupils zoomed "If the time comes when I deem you ready, ill speak further of this Until then, promise me"

"Okay, okay!" I raised lass "I promise"

"Thank you"