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She turned the ignition and picked up her cell phone, realizing as the call went through that it was probably too early, that as a young vae and turned for ho in ht have spent her first night in jail, but she didn’t have to smell like it

Chapter Thirty-seven

After a shower, Cyn drove into Malibu and had breakfastor dinner Whatever she called, it, several days of odd hours and erratic y So she sat at an actual table, with a bacon and cheese omelet, several pieces of wheat toast smeared with fresh peach preserves and a fresh carafe of hot coffee Thus fortified, she was back on Pacific Coast Highhen her phone rang A glance at the display told her it was Mirabelle returning her earlier o to voice mail and made a quick left turn onto the narrow entrance lane for Raphael’s estate Mature trees arched overhead, so thick and close they forhts, it was so dark beneath these trees that her headlights barely ht, with so toward full, bits of light filtered through the evergreens to glint silver on the naked, pale trunks of sycaate, beyond which the grounds were nicely raceful roll of verdant lawn to theAlexandra’s uardswhen she arrived She met Cyn halfway down the driveway, jittery with excitement "Lord Raphael’s home, Cyn, did you know? They kept him in jail all day! My God! Everyone here was totally upset, even Alexandra was juht for sure the va You should have seen it!"

Cyn eyed the girl silently and heaved a deep sigh She was thrilled Mirabelle had recovered so quickly Really She was Her ht, Mirabelle?"

"Right He got hoo Everyone rushed over to the reet hi there waiting for hi a word And then suddenly this big black SUV pulls up and he gets out andI swear, Cyn, it was like they all breathed at once, a big sucking air sound" She shook her head "My heart was pounding like crazy, I was so happy to see him You think that’s what it’s like?"

Cyn considered the question "What what’s like?" she asked finally

"Having a ed to someone like Raphael Like you can’t breathe if he’s not around"

Since Cyn herself had trouble breathing when Raphael was around, she took the idea seriously She thought about what Duncan had told her once, about his unswerving loyalty to Raphael, about the absolute power Raphael had over every single one of his sworn vampires "You know, Mirabelle I think that’s probably exactly what it’s like"

"Cool"

Cyn raised a skeptical eyebrow "If you say so I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Liz?" she asked hopefully

"But, I did! I was about to call you yesterday when this whole thing with Raphael blew up"

Cyn stared at Mirabelle Forget about breathing, was this what happened between a master vampire and his children? All of Mirabelle’s loyalty and affection, so utterly destroyed by Jabril’s casual cruelty, was now being resurrected and channeled coiance that Raphael enjoyed froods, there were thousands of theant bastard

"Anyway, yeah," Mirabelle was continuing "Liz lefther stay at his place, says he’s going to help her get her hteen" Mirabelle rolled her eyes "As if I told her that was a really bad idea and that we’re here in California and Raphael’s really cool, but she doesn’t believethis conversation? Did she call you?"

"Oh, no Weher use his computer Hers was stolen, like you said Anyway, so I told her to call that friend of yours, Luci She said she would, but then we got kind of cut off, and word came up from the main house that Raphael was on his way and I didn’t want toto absorb the rush of information "Okay LetShe checked the display and flipped it open

"Hey, Luce"

"Hi, Cyn Listen, I think I have your lost chickie here" Cyn looked over at Mirabelle and pointed at her fully "She’s a bit twitchy," Luci continued softly, "but I’uys"

"I appreciate that Can I talk with her?"

"Not yet In fact, why don’t you drop by later? She’s pretty stressed right now The guy she was staying with kind of freaked out on her"

"Is she hurt?"