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I grinned as I hung up, then handed the phone back to Quinn He pocketed it, then gently brushed the stillsweaty strands of hair away froainst my skin, and I frowned

"Why aren’t you as warm as usual?"

He raised a eyebrow "I a up"

"Oh" Maybe it was an aftereffect of the silver Or the fact that ere sitting here in the warh to drive Quinn inside

But that didn’t enes were co to dwell on such possibilities right now My skin , so I saw no point in worrying about it yet "How long was I out?"

My gazeon the other side of the road There were several ambulances out front, as well as Cole and the coroner’s cars In fact, the entire street was blocked I could see the cops diverting traffic

"Less than ten et you out of there and find somewhere to sit, really"

That so had stopped "We would have been more comfortable in your car"

"We would have, but my car wasn’t here at the tiain the little lines around his eyes and suddenly realizing they were froue rather than worry "That’s why your skin is cooler You used your Aedh form"

As an Aedh, he could becoo - not even a very old one He could ride the wind and survive attacks few other vampires could But like any ability, it had its drawbacks In the case of his Aedh powers, it left hiot

"I also fed you energy," he said, and shrugged "I’ll be fine in a few hours"

"Good" I paused, then added, "You said before you could savebeside me - what did you mean by that?"

"The Aedh are blood cousins of the Reapers They are the dark to our light We are the gatekeepers and they are the guides, but our powers are sisomehow alarmed him "I could have - if I’d wished - stopped your soul fro from your flesh and kept it bound until we reain"

I stared at hi to fully know all the facets of thisto truly know just what he was capable of?

And did it matter?

The answer to that question was a decided no I loved him, no matter what he was, no matter what he could do

"That is as scary as hell"

"And the reason why there are so few of the Aedh around Humans kill what they fear, and the Aedh can be killed as easily as anytheiven they could turn to smoke in the blink of an eye "So if you could do all this, why didn’t you drag me from unconsciousness when I was in hospital after Kye died? I mean, Death - or the Reaper, or whoever the hell that shadowy cloak figure waiting for me was - could have snatched me at any time Why didn’t you just pull me awake?"

"Because I can’t, just as the Reapers can’t" He hesitated "Or in their cases, won’t The soul has to make the choice to leave the body before either of us can act"

Well, I guess that was a coht

Across the road, two ambulance officers appeared, with a stretcher between theged sound of her breathing But she lived, and I guess that was so just how many others had died Suddenly, I had to know Besides, I needed to thank Cass, and make sure she was okay

I blew out a breath and forced o but kept one hand close, and it was just as well because the street suddenly decided to do a drunken dance aroundat his arm for support "The silver has really drained o home - "

"I will," I interrupted, "but after I talk to Cole"

"That’s fine" He slipped his hand under ether And then I’ll drive you hoht you didn’t colance as he escorted me across the street "But it’s not far away, either And I’ yours"

"You can’t leave your car, because the local street kids will either redecorate or steal it And I’ mine for the same reason" I patted his hand "If you’re that worried about , but he didn’t need to I could feel his annoyance through the link between us And that wasn’t surprising, given right now I felt as weak as a kitten, but it would pass soon enough

We walked up the steps and into the building The sled with the scent of antiseptic, creating a cloyingout e and flashed it toward the crime scene recorder set up just above the doorway, then stepped over the blanketed figure lying between thearea Frankie had obviously been one of the first killed And if the bulge evident on the side of his hip was anything to go by, he hadn’t even fully drawn his weapon before he’d been shot

There were twoarea, one woman and one e Ibeside yet another wolanced up, his expression as angry as I’d ever seen it "It’s tilad the Directorate has kill orders The bastards who did this deserve death"

But only after Jack had extracted the inforuard by the door, two in the front roo for the back door"

Meaning TJ and the women I’d told to stay hidden had survived That was so "Did you round up the brothel owner? He was here, as well, and he’s the one they were after"

"He’s scah"

If we didn’t, then the organization behind all this would If TJ had any sense, he’d come to that same conclusion and turn himself in Even so, I reached into iven ht as well add it to your report, because I need to rest before I write up mine"

He nodded and slipped the piece of paper into an evidence bag I glanced around at the sound of footsteps, and watched another two ambulance officers walk a stretcher past This ti I hadn’t saved them all I couldn’t have saved theretted that Quinn slipped his hand into htly Coaze returned to Cole "Have you seen a woman named Cass?"

"Yeah She went to the hospital with one of the women Why?"

"Because she saved ain"

"Then she’s someone I need to thank, as well," Quinn said "She savedback the dead"

Cole raised an eyebrow, expression suggesting he was unsure whether Quinn was joking or not I didn’t bother enlightening him but simply said, "Did Jack tell you about the top floor? It’s bristling with security equip a phone and God knohat else"

He nodded "Dusty’s up there now, hacking into the systeet in Do you want to be advised e do?"<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>