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"Celia, the Needle is built on a node--a nexus of lines of ical power Its protections tap into the node It takes four ether--and a death to access the power, and it would take another death to break it The warden would know if there’d been a death at the Needle Every inch is under constant surveillance"

I sighed, leaning forward so that ere very close and no one could possibly overhear "This isn’t for public consumption, John, but the outer perimeters had both been broken and the minefield was disabled That’s where they found Isaac"

He pulled back, startled beyond calrirace to blush "Sorry, sorry" He looked around Eventually people went back to their food, but they were keeping an eye on us now

"So you told Isaac there was a problem and he went to check it out"

"Yes"

"And soe on duty disappeared At first I thought hedown and for what happened to Isaac, but I’aze intensified "Why not?"

"You said they’d need to kill soe who’s supposed to be checking the the renewal spells?"

He looked a little sick "That makes sense … but the only way soe, even for a little while, is if he was a spawn"

Ah, yes, spawn, the child of a demon by a human There weren’t a lot of them, so far as anyone knew, but it was hard to be certain Most of them could shape-shift to look like anyone, and they lived er than normal humans They weren’t immortal, but they were very hard to kill Fortunately, for the most part, they were subject to the same weaknesses as all demons: holy water, holy artifacts, and the like

My eyes locked with John’s I barely spoke above a whisper "Nobody sprayed le artifact to be seen I’ve gone through tighter security at Birchwoods"

Now he looked horrified "That’s not right I consulted with the architects on the n I knohat the procedures are supposed to be"

"Well, I don’t knohat they’re supposed to be I can only tell you what I ran into when I was there yesterday, and I wasn’t iht a spoonful of soup to my mouth It had cooled to the perfect temperature As the food hit my stomach, I felt a tension inside ofdown on my inner bat I’d just done it Now that I ay fro, o even that little bit was a huge ers, my vision shifted to hyperfocus I beca, steady beat of the pulse in his neck

"Celia?"

"Ssssorry" I closed my eyes; it helped not to look But I could hear his heartbeat speed up--and the smell of him … God, it onderful I wanted The need to hunt et you some beef juices Can you hold on while I do that?"

"Yessss"

I keptdeep, slow breaths My hands clutched the edge of the table Froiving, bending Itsound Or maybe that was ne, the fabric softener on his clothes I also smelled what he carried Meat juices There was the clink of e pitcher in front of me, then slowly backed away

He didn’t leave the cafeteria He stood, out of my reach, between oing on, but he did I kneas in his ain control of myself He was almost sure of it But if I went feral, he’d shoot me If he had to, he’d stake me, kill me He didn’t want to It would kill a piece of him to do it But he would If he could If Iin the scent of the juices Grabbing the pitcher in both hands, I raised it tothe bat in roaned in pure pleasure as tears of o back upstairs Instead, John led me out to the rental car he’d picked up at the airport He called Gilda and explained what had happened She told him she would be fine, to take me home So he did

25

I didn’t lose control Ten points to me John stuck with me the whole time, on the drive to the strip where he’d left his plane, on the flight back to Santa Maria, and on the drive hoing butsure that I wouldn’t hurt anyone else if I lost control Ten bazillion points to him