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A the problems with shame was that it in fact did not make you shorter or quieter or less visible You just felt like you were
Phury stood in thefacade of the Brotherhood&039;s ho s, the place was like a giant that had been buried up to its neck and was not happy with the dirt subo into the mansion than it seemed ready to welcome him
As a breeze caust in upstate New York All around it was still su and the potted urns on either side of the house&039;s entrance The air was different, though Little drier Little cooler
The seasons, like time, were relentless, weren&039;t they?
No, that rong The seasons were but a measure of tietting older, he thought
As his mind started to head off in directions that see he was likely to find in the h the vestibule and into the foyer
The queen&039;s voice came out of the billiards rooether and a couple of thunks Both the curse and the laughter that followed had a Boston accent Which meant that Butch, who could beat everyone else in the house, had just lost to Beth Again, evidently
Listening to them, Phury couldn&039;t reah even if he had, he wouldn&039;t have been completely at ease He never was For hi for disaster on the other
You need another blunt, mate, the wizard drawled Better yet, have a bale of the stuff Won&039;t change the fact that you&039;re a right bastard fool, but it&039;ll increase the chance of you lighting your bed on fire when you pass out in it
On that note, Phury decided to face the o upstairs If he was lucky, Wrath&039;s door would be shut¡ª
It wasn&039;t, and the king was at his desk
Wrath&039;s stare lifted fro over a docuuy was pissed "I&039;ve been waiting for you"
In Phury&039;s head, the wizard swooped up his black robes and parked it in a Barcalounger slipcovered in hudo to be specTAAAcular
Phury walked into the study, his eyes barely registering the French blue walls and the crea smell of lesser in the air told hiht where he was
"Guess Z talked to you already," he said, because there was no reason not to call a spade a spade
Wrath put the nifier down and leaned back behind his Louis XIV desk "Shut the door"
Phury closed theether "You want h of that" The king lifted up his massive shitkickers and let them fall on the dainty desk The pair landed like cannonballs "You do plenty of that"
Phury waited for the list of failures to get rolling out of courtesy, not curiosity He ell aware of where he was at: trying to get killed out in the field; assu thethe cere overinvolved with Z and Bella&039;s life; not paying enough attention to Cor all the ti and waited for a voice other than the wizard&039;s to run down his fuckups
Except none of it ca
Which seeest that the proble at a bo to leave a crater in the paveht," Wrath said, "tell me what I should do about you Tell me what the fuck I should do"
When Phury didn&039;t reply, Wrath murmured,"No comment? You mean you have no idea what to do, either?"
"I think we both knohat the answer is"
"I&039;m not so sure about that What do you think I need to do?"
"Take me off rotation for a little while"
"Ah"
More silence
"So is that where we&039;re at?" Phury asked Man, he so needed a blunt
Those shitkickers knocked together at the toes "Dunno"
"That ht?" Which would be a better outcoive you my word¡ª"
"Fuck You" Wrath stood up in a quick surge and ca back here, but dollars to shit piles you went to see Rehvenge You promised Z you&039;d stop with the slayers and you didn&039;t You said you&039;d be the Pri out your ass about how you&039;re going back to your rooet some sleep, but we all knohat you do in there And you honestly expect ?"
"So tell lasses, the king&039;s pale, unfocusable eyes were searching "I&039; to help, because I don&039;t think you&039;ll do either"
Cold dread curled up like a ounded dog in Phury&039;s gut "Are you going to kick me out?"
It had happened before in the history of the Brotherhood Not often But it had Murhder caet the boot
"Not as siet curbed, where does that leave the Chosen? The Primale has always been a Brother, and not just because of blood-lines Besides, Z wouldn&039;t take to that well, even as pissed off at you as he is now"
Great His safety nets were saving his twin fro the Chosen&039;swalked over to the s Outside, the su wind
"Here&039;s what I think" Wrath popped his sunglasses up off his nose and rubbed his eyes like his head ached "You should"
"I&039;m sorry," Phury said, because that was all he had to offer
"So alasses fall back into place and shook his head As he returned to his desk and sat down, his jaas set along with his shoulders Popping open a drawer, he took out a black dagger
Phury&039;s The one that had been left in the alley
Zand carried it ho turned the weapon over in his hand and cleared his throat "Give me your other blade You&039;re off rotation permanently Whether or not you see a shrink or how the shit shakes out with the Chosen is not my business And I&039; to do what you&039;re going to do Nothing I de to make a difference"
Phury&039;s heart stopped for a ht this confrontation would play out, Wrath&039;s washing his hands of the mess had never been in the cards
"A just stared at the dagger¡ªwhich gave Phury the three-word answer: in nas didn&039;t need to be said, did they
"I&039;ll talk to Z," the king murmured "We&039;ll say you&039;re on administrative leave No s anymore"
Phury felt a rush as if he were free-falling off a building and had just made eye contact with the pavement that had his name on it
No nets any was concerned, he was on his own
Nineteen thirty-two, he thought He&039;d been in the Brotherhood for only seventy-six years
Bringing his hand up to his chest, he paler, unsheathed the weapon in a single pull, and put it on the silly pale-blue desk
He bowed to his king and left without another word Bravo, the wizard called out Such a shame your parents are already dead, hted in this proudthem back, shall we?
He was slaes: his father passed out in a roo in a bed with her face turned to the wall
Phury went back to his room, took out his stash, rolled up a blunt, and lit it
With everything that had happened tonight, and the wizard playing the role of the anti-Oprah, he either smoked or he screamed So he smoked
Across town, Xhex was not in her happy place as she escorted Rehvenge out of ZeroSum&039;s back door and into his bulletproof Bentley Rehv didn&039;t look any better than she felt, her boss nothing but a grith sable coat as he slowly h the alley
She opened the driver&039;s-side door for him and waited as he eased himself into the bucket seat with the help of his cane Even in the seventy-degree night, he cranked the heater and pulled his coat&039;s lapels closer to his neck¡ªa sign that his last hit of dopah He alent unmedicated It wasn&039;t safe otherwise
Wasn&039;t safe, period
For twenty-five years, she had wanted to go with him to back his ass up for these visits with his black shut down every time she asked had made her cut her losses and keep her yap shut The cost of her silence was a bad fuckingat your safe house?" she said
"Yeah"
She shut the door and watched his were, but she knew the rough vicinity The GPS system in the car indicated he went upstate
God, she hated what he had to do
Thanks to her fuckup two and a half decades ago, Rehv had to whore himself out the first Tuesday of every month to protect theerous And hungry for him
At first, Xhex had waited for the bitch to turn him and Xhex in anonymously for deportation to the syot shipped, they&039;d be lucky to survive sixas they were Half-breeds were no match for the full-bloods, and besides, the Princess was mated to her own uncle
Who was a power-driven, possessive despot if there ever was one
Xhex cursed She had no idea why Rehv didn&039;t hate her, and she couldn&039;t fatho, though, these nights hy he took such good care of his girls Unlike your average pimp, he knew exactly how the prostitutes felt, knew precisely what it was like to screw so you needed, be it cash or silence
Xhex had yet to find them a way out, and what made the situation even et free What had once been a crisis situation had beco to protect them, and it was still Xhex&039;s fault, and every first Tuesday of the month, he went and did the unthinkable with someone he hated and that was life
"Fuck," she said to the alleyway "When is this going to change?"
The only reply she got was a gust that blespaper pages and plastic bags her way
As she went back into the club, her eyes adjusted to the flaring lasers, her ears absorbed the trippy ht drop in temperature
The VIP section seeulars, but she made eye contact with both her bouncers anyway After they nodded the all-clear, she looked over the girls orking the banquettes Watched the cocktail waitresses tray empties and deliver replacements Measured the bottle levels behind the VIP bar
When she got to the velvet rope, she looked over the crowd in theon the dance floor wastogether again Couples and trios on the fringes were gyrating while they hooked up, the lasers bouncing off shadowy faces and bodies that were ht was relatively low traffic, as the weeks geared up slowly, attendance growing until traffic peaked on Saturday nights For her as head of security, Fridays were usually theoff the residue of a bad eek by doing toointo brawls