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"What is it?" Iris said, her voice low

"I don’t know," Ca connected to the Corpse Talkers It felt like some rite Trust me, we do not want to witness whatever dark rituals they pursue"

"Corpse Talkers?" I shuddered

Lips to lips, mouth to mouth,

Comes the speaker of the shrouds

Suck in the spirit, speak the words

Let secrets of the dead be heard

As children, we’d sung the rhyeys, but like so end had its foundation in fact

Only the women of their race ever became actual Corpse Talkers Only the women were ever seen It was rumored the round city built of bone and ash Able to speak for the dead, Corpse Talkers offered their services for a bloody price, and they orth every penny--worth every heart that they ripped from the victims to seal their co robes, only their glittering eyes showed through the gloom of their hoods

"You’d better stay well away from them," I told Camille

Witches and Corpse Talkers dare not touch one another If their powers collided, the resulting sparks could produce an explosion big enough to blast a good-sized crater in the ground Along with good-sized shrapnel wounds in anybody who happened to be near

As I spoke, the shado larger, loo closer over our heads Hell, and double hell Please, don’t let it be one of the Corpse Talkers We had no idea how they journeyed They ht be able to fly, or teleport, or maybe even run as fast as Super in on one of their private rituals in the rew louder, and I caught a glih this patch of undergrowth With a glance at whatever apparition was tailing us fro to keep up She was fast, but she couldn’t runt, Iris said, "What the--"

I swung around, dagger at the ready in case she was being attacked, but just then S over his shoulder, a surprised look on her face Caet out of the wood Whatever’s winging overhead ood, I can tell that from here We have to be able to--Oh shit!" She juht in front of her

Whatever it as transparent, but enough ripples in the air told us where it was I could see the faint outline of wings, as well as a tail, before it took a swipe at Ca in the round and began to transforht feet tall, the youkai was letting go all the stops as he shifted into his natural shape

Caan to call down the Moon Mother The Moon Mother was stronger here for y shot forth fro hiion It was still hard to gauge whether the creature was bipedal or not, but then the blast ricocheted off the creature and landed in a patch of dry wood to the south and burst into flaed forward but stopped when our opponent began to shiy ball must have disrupted his invisibility, because ere suddenly facing our opponent--and one hell of an opponent it was A weird crossbreed, he looked to be A centaur with huge wings His parents ht, ed him frorappled with hied centaur, I swiped ash opened up under ain when he raised his back left foot and let fly, hitting h the air to land at the foot of a yew tree

"Delilah! Are you okay?" Ca around

I couldn’t answer--he’d knocked the wind out ofback, a blur of white and silver as he dragged his claws across the right side of the beast, leaving five long, bloody gashes in his wake Iris was right behind hi as she pulled out a small box and opened it She shatever was in there, then blew in the direction of the battle, and a hailstor the shit out of the three men: Smoky, Morio, and our adversary

Morio backed away, and Snored the hailstones as if they were dust roan and froze, a thin layer of frost covering his body

Ss seeh ehaht as quickly as ut would let ive us some information, yes, but he’d attacked first rather than ask us ere and ere here I sed the feeling of guilt that rose in my chest

"Get rid of him He won’t talk to us He was out for the kill, and he’s not going to make any deals Even if he did, how could we trust that he wouldn’t hunt us down again, this time with a few more of his buddies?"

Smoky nodded I could tell he approved The same with Ca older, feeling too harsh for my skin This hat it meant to be a soldier This hat it meant to be in a war Shoot first, ask questions later Take no prisoners The one time we’d tried--with Wisteria, a floraedShe’d escaped and led Dredge to us And that had been beyond bad

I sed my fear and turned around "Wait I should do it"

They looked atCamille’s face "Are you sure, Delilah?" she asked