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A shiver ran throughthe worst That she was fine and unharht fly

I brushed the thought aside and slipped out into the hallway The stench of vah I could hear no sound, instinct warned ht I stepped across the hall and, keeping my back to the wall, crept toward theer, and my nose twitched in distaste I still couldn’t hear him, but then, Blake had the money to hire the best

He’d hired Kye, after all

For the first time since I’d killed hiht of his name The emptiness remained - would probably always reed Maybe my decision to commit to Quinn had been exactly what I’d needed - what my soul had needed

I stopped several feet away from the corner, with a hall table between me and the stairs I reached out and carefully picked up a vase of long-dead flowers The vamp had to knoas here - he’d hear the beat of my heart even if he was as blind to body heat as I seemed to be - and he’d co to distract hiht somewhere infast One , thin stretch of vaun

I swung the vase and let it go Dead flowers and foul-s the carpet I ju the vase with a kick He ducked both and pulled the trigger I twisted out of the way, felt the bullet burn pasthi hi

I leapt for it, ht his balance and lunged for er so I siainst his face with as ave way under the impact and he went down, but he was still far from out I scrambled to my knees and hit him in his throat with the side of my hand His eyes rolled back into his head and he went lih to be i - even by a blow that would have killed a huun’s safety on, shoved it into the waistband ofThere was no blood and the wound hadn’t split, but the ache was deep and relentless, despite the nuuess if that was the worst aftereffect of getting shot with silver for the urabbed the va his head and shoulders off the floor, then dragged hiuard hadn’t counshot, so I had to presurab hihskills are not as rusty as I thought Did the other oneyou?

The bullet barely even scrapedyou, probably means there’s a hole the size of a fist in your body

I laughed and hauled the vaed hi on the porch, his arainst the thick white coluuard already" As I stepped over the door threshold, Quinn took the va hiuard Not that either entle treath "Neither of the"

"Good" I glanced down at my side My sweater was torn, but the wound was little more than a scratch and there wasn’t evenhow much I’d lost before Harris had reot a key on them? Lyndal’s door is chained and padlocked"

He patted down both guards, then shook his head "Nothing in their pockets Check the kitchen or their sleeping quarters"

"On it" I spun around and headed back into the house The kitchen was at the back, and it was huge But the counters were full of crap and the sink was littered with unwashed dishes Obviously, neither of them orried about mice or ants, because there were cru the leftovers on several plates

All of which was just , because surely any lengthy stay would have required a bit of hygiene The wolf, at least, would have been driven to distraction by the sh that could have just been the aro fro, I hunted around for keys but failed to find anything except stacks of newspapers and betting slips I guess they had to do so to fill up the days - and they couldn’t harass Lyndal twenty-four seven if they wanted to keep her alive

I turned around and walked back up the stairs The first roo area There was a TV in one corner, several lounge chairs, and a coffee table set against the side walls To the left of the door was a bank of wires and monitors

I stepped inside Fourviews of the sides of the house and the iate, another swept the rear garden, a third appeared to be scanning a bathroom, and the last one was in a bedroom

I watched the pan of the camera Saw the bed, the TV, and the bucket, and felt fury sweep through me The bastards hadn’t even offered her decent toilet facilities I should have smacked that vampire a little bit harder

The cah to reveal Lyndal She was standing near the , her face pressed up against the barred glass, as if desperate to see around the corner of the house and figure out as going on She was naked, her skin bruised but otherwise clean, iven her proper toilet facilities, they’d at least allowed her to shower It didn’t ease the anger burning through h

I spun around and headed into the next roole beds and a battered pine coffee table squeezed in between them On this sat wallets, coins, cash, and keys - two sets of car keys and another ring holding five other keys I swept them up, spun around, and ran for the padlocked roo to find the right one "It’s Riley Jenson from the Directorate I’m here to rescue you"

One of the keys finally slipped into the lock and it snapped open I unlatched the door and pressed it open A bucket cah the air

"Whoa," I said, ju out of the way "Easy, Lyndal I really am here to rescue you"

"Riley Jenson is up in Dunedan, not down here in Melbourne"

So the- which was only more evidence to the fact that they never intended for any of us to live

She stepped intoher features Her face was un fire, but her lily welts around her wrists and ankles She’d been tied with silver ently rounded belly had bruises, and for the second time in a matter of minutes, I wished I’d hit the va now?" she added furiously

"No game, I promise you" I reached intoEvin, if you like"

I pressed the appropriate nu, then tossed her the phone Her expression was still a mix of defiance and disbelief, but she nevertheless held the phone to her ear and waited

Evin answered, and her face just about cruod," she said, "It is you"

I don’t knohat Evin said, because it didn’t exactly sound coherent froet these two back together ASAP Any chance of your plane coet another pilot, but yeah, we can do it

Fantastic I stepped over the puddle of urine and fecal aze jumped to mine and she backed away a step "What does she look like?"

I paused, waiting Her gaze slipped downher eased She closed her eyes briefly and said, "Yeah, it’s her"

I held out a hand She hesitated, then handed et any further, because he was all but crying "Thank you, thank you, thank you" over and over

"Evin," I said sharply, even though o You need to listen"