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As John Matthew stood on the shores of the Hudson River about fifteen minutes north of don Caldwell, he felt like he was a thousand miles away fro breeze as well as a s cabin that, if you didn&039;t knohat it was, you&039;d write off as so not worth the effort to knock over The place was a fortress, however, with steel-reinforced walls, an ih firepower in its garage to make half the population of the city see God up close and personal

He had assumed Xhex would come here Been so convinced, he hadn&039;t bothered to track her

But she wasn&039;t -

A flare of headlights off to the right brought his head around A car was co the cabin

John frowned as he got an earful of the engine: low, deep, a rowl

That was no Hyundai or Honda Couldn&039;t be a Harley, too smooth

Whatever the hell it was , all the way to the tip of the point where that big-ass house had been put up A few o on inside theout of its curved porches and stacked, three-story straightaways

Da looked like a spaceship about to take off

Not his biz And it was tio, anyway

With a mute curse, he scattered his molecules and zeroed in on the armpit of Caldie, that stretch of bars, strip clubs, and tattoo places down around Trade Street

The Iron Mask had been Rehvenge&039;s second club, a dance/sex/drug facility created to cater to a Goth deraphic unserviced by his first establishment, ZeroSum - which had had more of a Eurotrash kind of vibe

There was a line to get in - alas - but the two bouncers, Big Rob and Silent Tonized him and let him in ahead of everyone else

Velvet drapes, deep-seated couches, black lights women in black leather hite makeup and hair extensions down to their asses et laida bullet

But maybe that was just his mood

And she was here He could sense his blood in Xhex, and he headed through the crowd, zeroing in on the signal

As he got to the unmarked door that led into the staff-only part of the club, Trez stepped out of the shadows Natch

"What&039;s doing," the Shadow said, offering his palrip, knocked shoulders, and slapped each other&039;s backs

"You here to talk to her?" When John nodded, the guy opened the door "I gave her the office beside the locker roo her staff reports - "

The Shadow stopped abruptly, but he&039;d said enough

Jesus Christ

"Ah, yeah, she&039;s back there," the guyout of this one

John ducked in and strode down the corridor When he got to a closed door, he didn&039;t see a sign with her na that would last

And he knocked, even though she had to knoas here

When she called out, he pushed in -

Xhex was in the far corner, bent over and pulling at solare, she froze; which told him that, in fact, she hadn&039;t noticed he&039;d arrived

Great She was so into her new old job, she&039;d forgotten about hi back down, she resu at -

An extension cord whipped out fro flying

Before it ripped around and caught her a good one, he leaped forward, snatched a hold on the thing, and took the hit hie

"Thanks," she said as he handed it over and stepped away "It was ja to work here now?

"Yeah I am I don&039;t think that other option is realistic And" - her eyes got hard - "if you try to tell me I can&039;t - "

God, Xhex, this is not e are He motioned back and forth over the desk that separated theuess it is, because we&039;re here, aren&039;t we"

I don&039;t want to stop you fro -

"But you have Let&039;s not pretend otherwise" Xhex sat down in the office chair and leaned back, a squeak rising up "Now that you and I are , take their cues from you - no, wait, I&039;m not finished" She closed her eyes as if exhausted "Just let me talk this out I know they respect ative over his shellan more It&039;s not specific to the Brotherhood - it&039;s the very fabric of vampire society, and no doubt it&039;s because a bonded e that, and I can&039;t live like that, so yeah, this is where we are"

I can talk to them, make them -

"They&039;re not the root problee to punch a wall I can change

Abruptly her shoulders dropped, and her eyes, those gunrew stark "I don&039;t think you can, John And neither can I I&039; to sit hoht"

I&039; you to do that

"Good, because I&039; back to the mansion" As John felt the blood drain out of his head, she cleared her throat "You know, that whole bonding thing I know you can&039;t help it I was pissed off when I left, but I&039;ve been thinking it over ever since then, and - Shit, I know if you could feel different, be different, you would The reality is, though, we could spend anotherthat out, and learn to hate each other in the process - and I don&039;t want that You don&039;t want that"

So you&039;re done with ned Is that it?