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"Does he? What an optimist Well, we may have done his work for him, a chance to seize not only our sweet Elizabeth, but Raphael’s treacherous bitch as well I have dreaain, Asirasp"

Chapter Forty-five

After all the anticipation and worry, Mirabelle’s appearance before Raphael was relatively straightforward As Cyn had told Mirabelle, she’d expected so pompous and formal, but she should have known better Raphael was farGranted, a CEO with the power to kill anyone who displeased him, but then who said corporate America didn’t do the same? Raphael’s methods were simply more direct

Cyn arrived at Alexandra’s an hour before the appointed tiht o’clock Thedone, for now at least The sound of classical piano drifted down the stairs, letting Cyn knoas Alexandra in thein to say hello, for courtesy’s sake, but continued on to Mirabelle’s roo Alexandra had done--that she’d taken Mirabelle into her ho But she wasn’t quite co about Alexandra that hts rarely matched her words

Mirabelle’s door stood open, but Cyn tapped on it lightly before stepping inside to find her wrapped in a long robe of sapphire blue silk and standing in front of the hts see there

"Mirabelle?" Cyn said softly

The young vampire looked slowly over her shoulder, not at all startled, so she must have heard Cyn enter after all "Hello, Cynthia," she said with a sht?"

"Oh, yes," she said She wandered over to the old-fashioned dressing table, picked up a brush and began running it through her hair with srown dark after years out of the sun, had been lightened by a stylist and now gleaold

Cyn looked around The room was all white lace and linen The four poster bed was piled high with frothy pillows of all shapes and sizes, the down comforter thick and pluht about why a vampire would bother to decorate a bedroo room instead? The vah, at solanced at Mirabelle, as once again sunk deep in conte to brush her hair almost automatically

"You redecorated," Cyn said

Mirabelle looked around, as if surprised by the changes "Alexandra did it"

Cyn cocked her head slightly, puzzled "You don’t like it?"

Mirabelle looked over her shoulder with a sad smile "It’s not really my taste, you know?"

"You okay, Mirabelle?" Cyn asked softly

The girl’s blue eyes focused on her, suddenly filled with tears "I wanted to do the right thing, Cyn Everything’s been so messed up, and I"

Cyn crossed the roo her hands on Mirabelle’s shoulders "You are doing the right thing, Mirabelle You did do the right thing It took guts to walk away from Jabril, to take your life back from him and make it your own I’m proud of you Your mom and dad would be proud of you They would have hated what he did to you and to Elizabeth"

"Elizabeth," Mirabelle repeated, straightening out of the eht"

She walked over to the closet where her outfit for the evening hung on a padded hanger She and Alexandra had chosen it fro a selection sent over by one of Rodeo Drive’s finest shops, along with the host of other clothes now filling Mirabelle’s closet No need to leave the safety of Raphael’s Malibu estate--if you had enoughwas possible in this town, and Mirabelle had a lot ofleft out of the shopping frenzy, but she had to adood one The fitted slacks were a fine, worsted wool, and the long,jacket would hit just below the knee The entire outfit was black, but with a brilliant, al on the jacket The style was probably too old for Mirabelle, too so was beautiful, and the black would conceal any unfortunate blood stains Mirabelle stepped into the pants and slipped the robe fro the robe so the younger woman could don the sleeveless silk tank that went beneath the jacket

"Have you talked with Elizabeth tonight?" Cyn asked

"I called, but we didn’t talk very long She said good luck and to call her after She doesn’t really understand all of this, you know This vampire stuff" Cyn watched silently as Mirabelle sat down to put on her shoes, black Ferragamo pumps with a sensible three inch heel "Tohteen"