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Hanna was standing behind me, a tall, oman who looked far older than she had in the office Maybe it was the lack of makeup, orwere a pale green ribbon tying her dark hair away froreen eyes had a wild sort of look to them, and her skin was unnaturally shiny, as if she’d covered herself in oil of some kind

"What have you done with Kye?"

She raised an eyebrow, green eyes cool and a you mean the man ith you?"

"Yes"

"Oh, he’s probably bled to death by now"

Soht It eird-I ht have lusted after the man, but I didn’t actually like hi to weep for his loss The wolf sure was strange at times

"It’s a shaood blood, but shifting three bodies would have placed too ret letting him die, Hanna"

"Oh, I’d be a little more worried about your health, if I were you"

I orried all right, but I’d been in worse situations than this and had survived And I had no intention of dying today, either

Whether fate agreed with my decision was another ht now

"Tell me, how did you and Jessica , because she looked up in surprise "Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious" I shrugged, the action sending pain rolling across ether," she said after a ift for darker powers and was ostracized by her family because of theether for safety and companionship, because in very o on to become such violent murderers?

"And you looked after her when she had her accident and becaic?"

"It was no accident," she said, voice a little tighter

"What do youbastard who paralyzed her first seduced her mother before he beat theuess that explained why she see after the more affluent vamps rather than any old vamp "Why didn’t he kill Jessica?"

"Her back was broken-shattered-so badly that shifting couldn’t heal it She started screahbors heard and called the cops That’s the only thing that saved her"

"So you started killing vae for what happened to her?" I shifted ainst the hard stone I didn’t know if that would actually turn on the com-link’s sound, but I had to at least try it I’d left tracking on as ordered, but the Directorate wouldn’t actually coht be good at guessing when that ames with me, I could place money on the fact that the one time I needed Sal to act would be the one time she didn’t

"It wasn’t the only reason," Hanna said, her concentration on whatever she was crushing in a small earthen bowl rather than onme of forest and herbs And that set all sorts of alar that sic smelled so foul? It had to be an illusion of so else was, too

I squinted up at the ornate ceiling, trying to see a shiest it was little more than a fancy trick rather than a reality But it stubbornly re like plain old plaster In fact, if not for the fact that this was the domain of a dark sorcerer, I’d sere just in a less rooranted, because the only bits of furniture were the table on which I lay, the largeunit that lined the wall opposite the door

Would a sorcerer intent on blood sacrifices do so in the middle of suburbia?

But then, ouldn’t she? An ordinary, unassu place for evil deeds as any dark cavern

I looked back at Hanna, theyet nore it, but that was al the ache in my shoulder Or the nuh the rest of et out of these chains, had to rip the bullet froe And as sensitive as I was to silver, it wouldn’t be all that long

Trouble ith the silver on and in my body, I couldn’t shift shape, so th and , it was doubtful that strength would get me free Which left telepathy And while she had a nanowire on, those could be beaten So I gathered th and hit her mentally

This time it didn’t just feel like I hit a brick wall

This tito explode

"Oh," said the witch, her voice so "I should perhaps warn you that this rooic and electronically"

"How can you proof a roo hurt In fact, the words seemed to bounce around et her talking The ave the Directorate to find me And I had to hope they were on the way, because it was looking less and less likely that I was going to get out of this byif you’re willing to pay the price for it"

"And what have you been willing to pay, Hanna?" The pain init hurt less to speak Whichif it hadn’tache froain<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>