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I didn&039;t have ot a chance to rest and recuperate froht have been able to ry vath in more senses than thea certain a but the naked will to fight Snakeboy&039;s serpent-cloud had been one of the nastier spells I&039;d seen, and it had only slowed Susan down

If she caht, I wouldn&039;t be able to stop her

My motto, after the past couple of years, was to be prepared I had soet past her and to the drahere I kept it

"Susan," I said quietly "Susan, I need you to stay with me Talk to me"

"Don&039;t want to talk," she said Her eyelids lowered and she inhaled slowly "I don&039;t want it to sood Your blood Your fear But it does"

"The Fellowship," I said I struggled to rein in my emotions For her sake, I couldn&039;t afford to feel afraid I edged a little toward her "Let&039;s sit down You can tell ht she wouldn&039;t give way, but she did "Fellowship," she said "The Fellowship of Saint Giles"

"Saint Giles," I said "The patron of lepers"

"And other outcasts Like me They&039;re all like me"

"You mean infected?"

"Infected Half-turned Half-human Half-dead There are a lot of ways to say it"

"Uh- huh," I said "So what&039;s their deal?"

"The Fellowship tries to help people the Red Court has harainst the Red Court Expose them whenever they can"

"Find a cure?"

"There is no cure"

I put uided her toward my couch She moved with a dreamy deliberation "So the tattoos are what? Your ," she said "A spell cut into my skin To help "

"What do you n-covered hand, then showed it to hter, and had turned a shade of medium scarlet "To warn er, danger, danger"

The first night she&039;d arrived, when she&039;d been tussling with so outside, she&039;d stayed in the shadows for the first severalthe tattoos "Here," I said quietly "Sit down"

She sat on the couch and met ht it I&039; I can"

I knelt down to be on eye level with her "Do you trust me?"

"With my heart With my life"

"Close your eyes," I said

She did

I got up and walked slowly to the kitchen drawer I didn&039;tthat is thinking aboutyou food It sets the-I could feel that, see it, hear it in her voice

I was in danger But it didn&039;t un in the kitchen drawer At the tith of silver-and-white rope in there I picked up the rope and walked back over to her

"Susan," I said quietly "Give me your hands"

She opened her eyes and looked at the soft, fine rope "That won&039;t hold re I pissed off ca Give me your hands"

She was silent for a ed out of her jacket, and held her hands out, wrists up

I tossed the rope at her and whispered, "Manacus"

I&039;d enchanted the rope six ht It took barely a whisper of power to set the rope into , and bound itself around her wrists in neat loops

Susan reacted instantly, going coainst the ropes I waited, watching for a full half ato break the breath, her head bowed, hair fallen around her face I started to h to brace herself fir her ar I didn&039;t think she&039;d break the ropes, but I&039;d underestimated people before Her face, her too-black eyes scaredher shirt up, showingswirls and barbs of her tattoo red and stark against her skin There were dark bruises over her ribs, and patches of skin that had been scraped raw She hadn&039;t co hurt, after all

After a minute more, she hissed out a breath and sat down, hair a tumbled mess around her face I could feel her eyes on me more than I could actually see them They didn&039;t feel like Susan&039;s eyes anyainst her skin, red as blood I backed off, again deliberately, calot the first aid kit out of the bathroo herself atspeed and utter silence I&039;d been expecting as much, and snapped, "Forzare!"

The silver rope flashed with a glitter of blue light and darted toward the ceiling Her wrists ith it and she was pulled co up, and she twisted, again in silence, fighting the bonds on her She didn&039;t get free, and I let her swing there until her legs had settled again, her toes barely touching the floor

She let out a quiet sob and whispered, "I&039;m sorry Harry, I can&039;t stop it"

"It&039;s okay I&039;ve got you" I stepped closer to exaot torn up"

"I hate this I&039;m so sorry"

It hurt h pain in it for both of us "Shhhh," I said "Let h I could sense flashes of that feral hunger in her I got a bowl of water, a cloth, and set to cleaning up the scrapes as best I could She quivered once in a while Once she let out a pained groan The bruises went all the way up her back, and she had another patch of abraded skin on her neck I put my hand on her head and pushed forward She bowed her head and let it hang forhile I tended to the wound

While I did, the quality of the tension changed I could smell her hair, her skin, their scent like candle smoke and cinnamon I became suddenly, intensely aware of the curve of her back, her hips She leaned back a little towardher body into contact with edfaster, heavier She turned her head, enough to look at ue flickered over her lips

"Need you," she whispered

I sed "Susan I think maybe that-"

"Don&039;t think," she said Her hips brushed against the front of my sweats, and I was abruptly so hard that it hurt "Don&039;t think Touch me"