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"Yeah, Cyn," he interrupted "I knohat an artery is The answer’s no"

"No? Like in never?"

"No, like in never"

"Why? I mean, why veins, not arteries?"

"Huo to the heart, arteries co, hence the human pulse, thump thump thump When a hospital draws blood, they stick a needle in your vein Sa deal You pierce an artery and you’ve got a realet my drift"

"But wouldn’t that make it easier? You know, faster?"

"So ants fast? Think about a can of soda You pop the top and drink it and it comes out at a nice easy pace But if you stick a tiny hole in the side instead, there’s too much pressure and it squirts all over the place You can’t control it and you can’t drink it fast enough Sa with blood"

"Okay, so in the neck, you’d use the jugular vein, right?" she asked, reainst her neck "Not the carotid artery?"

"You got it Why you wanna know this stuff, Cyn?"

"Souely, her attention focused on shuffling through the ies she’d printed off upstairs She found the two she was looking for, pictures that showed quite clearly the location of the major veins and arteries in the human neck Pictures that told her no va woue

"Cyn?"

Lonnie’s voice called her back to the task at hand "Yeah, I’m here Listen, thanks, Lonnie That’s what I needed Oh, and about Mirabelle She’ll probably be staying with Alexandra after tonight She’ll be safer there until this whole thing with Texas is worked out"

"Alexandra?" Lonnie’s surprise was obvious

"Yeah Duncan suggested it That won’t be a problem, will it? I ht?"

"Yeah, yeah I do Let me knohen you make the move"

"Great Thanks, Lonnie Talk to you later" Theup By the time she had poured a fresh cup of coffee and sat down to enjoy her uest suite Mirabelle was finally awake and no doubt starving

While she waited for Mirabelle to finish her shower, Cyn pulled the cooler out of the fridge and quickly scanned Lonnie’s note In addition to his recommendation that Mirabelle drink both pints, he’d included instructions for bringing the blood to the preferred temperature She was a of blood for someone’s breakfast see when Mirabelle walked into the kitchen

"Thank you," Mirabelle said softly, refusing toher the young va "I’ to run upstairs real quick and shohile you have breakfast, Mirabelle"

"Sure" Her relief was evident

"Good So, here’s the plan for tonight First, you need so Elke will be co over from the estate to join us She’s one of Raphael’s security team"

Mirabelle looked worried, so she added quickly, "Duncan doesn’t think there’s any danger, but he thought you ht feel safer that way And Elke’s okay" She paused thoughtfully "Although, I wouldn’t take her advice when it comes to clothes, if you knohat I , we’ll head over to the estate to visit Raphael’s sister, Alexandra If you guys get along, you’ll stay with her If not, we’ll figure out so with Raphael’s set for a week from today" She tapped the sticky note she’d placed on the fridge "I guess there’s rules to this vaht?"

She started up the stairs to her shower, but re toattention "Lonnie said for you to drink both pints of blood, but if you don’t feel like a second one right noe can stop back by here after we go shopping and before we head over to Raphael’s estate I don’t know about you, but shopping irl’s face lit up with exciteht And on Raphael, of all people "We’re going to the estate, but we probably--hopefully, she added silently--won’t be seeing Raphael," she clarified "Alexandra has her own house there"