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Das forto declare them today I let the silence stretch between us When it beca further to say, I returned to the original topic "Okay, well, I’ in two days," I said "Any advice?"

Stefan frowned "A newly turned va is a volatile time," he said "Physically and emotionally While it , no one is ever truly prepared for it Many panic upon rising I would offer to accoht it wisebut I fear I do not"

Good to know "No probleot backup"

"The lamia?"

I shook ers "I would not anticipate difficulty The newly risen possess considerable strength, but it takes erous skills, such as vampiric hypnosis, to their fullest potential The others will be prepared to e the situation, and it isto her brood"

"So I should justlet it happen?" I asked

He gavelooks "It has already happened, Daisy You are merely there to observe the culmination as a courtesy"

"Right"

We gazed at each other

"You should go," Stefan said presently, his pupils waxing, stabilizing with an effort "My control isstrained"

I stood, hesitating I couldn’t resist asking "Okay, look, I’m sorry, butis it about you? Ha if I knew William Shakespeare? No By all accounts, the play is based on an old Scandinavian folktale But if he had put words into my mouth, they would have been Laertes’, not Hamlet’s"

Since I couldn’t reue

Stefan looked into the distance "To hell, allegiance!" he race to the profoundest pit! I dare damnation To this point I stand" His voice dropped an octave, deep and ed hly for my father"

I shivered

Words, they were just words But they ords that evoked a moment that defined the entirety of Stefan Ludovic’s existence I hadn’t forgotten how Cooper had described it: that one terrible, horrible, glorious ained The moment that he craved to re-create, forever and always

And couldn’t

I wanted to say so, but the truth was, I had no idea what that ht be

So instead I left

Thirty

Two days later--or to be ht later--I returned to the House of Shadows

In accordance with the instructions on the engraved invitation, Jen and I arrived at eleven thirty The teht,in the courtyard for a fewfor Cody to pull up in a cruiser and join us God knoould happen if things did go wrong, but at least he looked reassuring and official in his cold-weather police duty jacket

"Are you okay?" he asked Jen

She gave hiet this over with" I banged the door knocker

Unsurprisingly, the undead doorman had a proble was that he didn’t have a problem with mine Jen was prepared to clai Hel’s liaison included the privilege of attending vas

Luckyin a cloud of irritation and impatience "There is no justification for your presence here, wolf"

Cody planted his hands on his utility belt "Are you kidding? There’s a dead wolare "Unrisen, not dead"

He shrugged "Until she rises, she’s dead And as long as she’s dead, police presence is justified"