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"Who is it you fear, Asim? The human?" Jabril scoffed "You are an old woht Calixto instead of you, after all He, at least, would not be fretting over unseen dangers No, Asim Soon, Raphael will be humiliated and Elizabeth will belittle choice in the matter, Asim acquiesced with a sharp nod "Your will, my lord"
"Yes, Asim Always"
Chapter Fifty-four
The Land Rover had pulled off the highway so across the hard desert Theiras he climbed from the driver’s seat She dared a quick peek out theThey were parked in the hts of a shts illu it harder to see anything beyond their glow The white-haired PI was standing by the side of the truck, rubbing his back Apparently the long drive had taken a toll on him physically
"Try it froain below the back of the seat The tape on her hands and ers too slick with blood and clurip on the multiple layers of tape So the hell with her feet; she didn’t need her feet to shoot a gun and Jabril could be here at any er woman "Wake up, hon I need you toith confusion "What? Huh?" She struggled to sit up, and Cyn saw the knowledge of where they were flash across her face before she fell back to the floor with a reed with the sentiment "That about sums it up," she said briskly With no time to waste, she took hold of Liz’s ared her to move away from the side compartment where her weapons were stored
"Your hands!" Liz whispered in shock "HowCan you undowhen she saw the blood slicking Cyn’s fingers "What happened? Oh er probleain as they htly with theinto the distance
"I’ve got a bad feeling about this," she es of the side compartment It cah of relief when she saw everything still there and reaching i knife velcroed to the wall of the co her own feet first, and then freed Liz’s hands with a quick swipe and handed her the knife "Do your feet," she said tersely
She grabbed a black canvas case next, unzipping it to reveal two Sig Sauer handguns She picked up one at a time, did a quick safety check on each and reached for a box of 147 grain Hydra-Shok ammo This was her va in, but a really big ured even a va his brains splattered into tiny pieces If nothing else, it would put hih for her to stake hiun with practiced efficiency and picked up the second
"Okay, we’re in a world of shit here, Liz," she said, speaking fast and low "But we’re not down yet Have you ever shot a gun?"
She looked up and saw total fear on the teenager’s face Cyn stopped what she was doing, put the gun down and drew a cal breath Panic would kill them both "Listen to me, Liz," she said slowly "Raphael’s on his way I can feel him init’ll take hiet here Either e can’t afford to sit and wait, so I need your help" She took the girl’s shaking hands in her blood-covered fingers "Can you do this? You were strong enough to get away once, can you do it again?"
Big tears began to roll down Liz’s face, and Cyn’s irl suddenly returned Cyn’s grip strongly "I’d rather die than go back there," she whispered "Tell irl," Cyn breathed "Okay Have you ever shot a gun?" she repeated Liz shook her head ht have been better if they could both shoot, but the truth was a straight 9to do shit to a va over a load of her "special" a people, like Cyn or Liz herself, to end up dead
"All right We can’t beat theht anyway They’re too fast and too strong, so we need to be sht Screao easily Jabril wants you alive, but he’s a sick fuck, so he’ll probably bite you for the hell of it" Cyn didn’t honey-coat the possibilities She wanted Liz angry and ready to fight, not hysterical because the big bad vampire had sucked a little blood, or even a lot of blood "Reht hurt like hell, but it won’t kill you and it won’t le bite to do that"
Cyn ducked down as the darkness was suddenly drowned by a wash of light Peering over the seat, she saw three cars drive past the truck and co the rear of the vehicle One of those cars was a nice long li in the back seat The appearance of Jabril’s bodyguards confiriant Calixto wasn’t a security detail The va sedans and took up positions around the lireet his ee, carrying a black briefcase, then dropped back to the floor of their compartment and sent a silent plea to Raphael to hurry "It’s Jabril," she said to Liz, struggling to keep her voice steady "Asim’s with him and a whole lot of others Are you ready for this?"