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John tracked corrass, her white robing flowing behind her, part flag, part wing He didn&039;t know that ing behind her, part flag, part wing He didn&039;t know that Chosen were allowed to run around all willy-nilly in their bare feet, and had the feeling that she was breaking rules

Well, good for her And beautiful for hiht but not part of the darkness, a firefly, a brilliant dancing spot against the forest&039;s dense horizon

Phury should see this, John thought

His phone went off with a beep and he took it out of his pocket The text frot fritz 2 t8 u 2 blays nor redy He hit his buddy back: yup

He put the BlackBerry away and wished like hell he could dematerialize You were supposed to try it for the first time a couple weeks after your transition, and Blay and Qhuinn had had no proble Hi and was always slowest and weakest and worst All you had to do was concentrate on where you wanted to go and will yourself there At least in theory Him? He&039;d just spent a lot of time with his eyes shut and his face twisted up like a shar-pei&039;s, trying to force hisexactly where he was He&039;d heard it could sometimes take up to a year after your transition before you could pull it off, buthe&039;d never be able to do

In which case, he needed to get a fricking driver&039;s license He felt twelve with all the can-you-take-reat chauffeur, but coo

Cormia circled around and came back toward the house As she stopped in front of hi, the folds swaying forward before settling on her body She was breathing fast and her cheeks were cherry red and her ser than the full moon

God, with her blond hair all loose and her pretty flush, she was the perfect suha apple pie next to a dewy pitcher of le a red-and-white bikini

Okay, that felt wrong

"I like it outside," she said

The outside likes you, he wrote, then showed her

"I wish I had co around the terrace As her hand crept onto her neck, he had a feeling that she wanted to touch the

He cleared his throat so she would glance over You can pick one if you like, he wrote

"I I believe I would"

She approached the roses like they were deer that ht spook, her hands by her sides, her bare feet slow over the slate She went right for the pale lavender ones, bypassing the bolder red and yellow buds

He riting, Be careful of thorns, when she reached forward, yelped, and yanked back her hand A drop of blood for it look black on her white skin

Before he knehat he was doing, John leaned down and put his mouth to work He sucked quick and licked quicker, stunned by what he was doing as well as how delicious it was

In the back of his mind, he realized he needed to feed

Shit

As he straightened, she stared at him wide-eyed and frozen Double shit

I&039;et on your robe

Liar He&039;d wanted to knohat she tasted like

"I"

Pick your rose, just be careful of the thorns

She nodded and gave it another shot, partially, he suspected, because she wanted to get her flower and partially to fill the aard silence he&039;d created

The rose she chose was a perfect speci, a silver-purple spear with the potential of being the size of a grapefruit

"Thank you," she said He was about to you&039;re-welco to the mother plant, not him

Corlass houses ater"

Let&039;s go get you a vase, he wrote That&039;s what they&039;re called here

She nodded and started for the French doors that led into the billiards rooh, she looked back outside Her eyes held on to the garden as if it were a lover she would never see again

We can do more of this sometime, he wrote on his pad If you&039;d like?

Her quick nod was a relief, considering what he&039;d just done "I would like that"

Maybe we could watch a movie, too Upstairs in the theater

"Theater?"

He shut the doors behind the stuff

"Can we see thetone to her voice made him recalibrate his iht just be training, he decided, and not personality

I have to go out But we could toht?

"Good We will do that after First Meal"

Okay, the meekness was definitely not personality WhichI have class, but we could do it after that?

"Yes And I should like to learnhere" Her s fire, and as she pivoted around on one foot he thought of those pretty pop-up ballerinas in jewelry boxes

Well, I&039; you, he wrote

She ca "Thank you, John Matthew You shall be a fine teacher"

As she looked up at him, he saw her colors more than her face or her body: that red in her cheeks and lips, the lavender of the flower in her hand, the brilliant pale green of her eyes, the buttercup yellow of her hair

For no good reason, he thought of Xhex Xhex was a thunderstorray, power leashed but no less lethal for its control Corhtness, warmth realized

He put his hand over his heart and bowed to her, then left As he started up for his room, he wondered whether he liked the storm or the sunshine better

Then realized neither was his for the taking, so what did itin the alley with his nine pressed into the liver of a Brother, Mr D was barn-cat alert He would have much rather put the business end of his weapon to the vampire&039;s temple, but that would have required a stepladder Honest to heaven, the bastards were huge

Made big ol&039; cousin Tommy seem no taller than a can of Bud And just as crushable

"You got hair like a girl," Mr D said

"And you set a tri Old Spice"

"Next tier Like horse manure"

Mr D pressed the muzzle in harder "I want you on your knees Hands behind your back, head down"

He stayed right where he hile the Brother coet out his steel cuffs Sissy shit on his silo notwithstanding, this va away from you, and not just because a Brother captured was a feat for the history books Mr D had a rattler by the tail, and well he knew it

Reaching into his belt to get his wristies, he¡ª

The tide turned quick as a twitch

The Brother spun around on one knee and punched a paler on reflex and the bullet kicked out to the sky, flying uselessly to heaven

Before the popping sound stopped echoing, Mr D was on his back on the ground, doing the dazed and confused, his cowboy hat once again off his head as he was overcome

The Brother&039;s eyes were dead as he stared down, lifeless in a way that their bright yellow color couldn&039;t change But then it ht mind would pull a spin deflection when he was on his knees like that Unless he was already flat lined

The Brother lifted his fist over his head

Sure &039;nuff, this was going to hurt

Mr Dfree of the hold on his shoulder and twisting to the side In a quick jab, he kicked both feet into the right calve of the Brother

There was a snapping sound and holy shit, a part of a leg went flying The Brother teetered, his leathers going loose from the knee down on that side, but there was no ti bastard fell over, cru

Mr D scae, daa over the Brother, grabbed a fist full of that sissy hair, and yanked back hard as he went for his knife

Didn&039;toff the paves and threw an arh¡ª

In a flash, the earth tilted wildly and¡ªfuck¡ªthe Brother turtled &039;round and fell backward, turning Mr D into a ranite slab fall on your chest

Mr D was knocked stupid for a split second, and the Brother grabbed the advantage, shifting to the side and using his elbow as a gut rarunted and started to heave, there was a flash of a black dagger being unsheathed, then the Brother rose up onto his knees

Mr D braced hi that he&039;d had less than three hours of being the Fore-lesser, and wasn&039;t that a sorry showin&039;

But instead of getting stuck in the heart, Mr D felt his shirt get pulled out of the waistband of his pants As his belly flashed white in the night, he looked up in horror

This was the Brother who liked to slice before he killed Whichto be a long, bloody process Sure, it wasn&039;t the Destroyer, but this bastard was going to make Mr D work for his ride to the Pearly Gates

And lessers ht be dead, but they felt pain like everyone else did