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Out of the corner of e

"You’d better tel me Camil e’s in no shape to, and so whatever it is you have to say, I’ that I’d better know about it"

Vanzir stared at his hands "I was feeding on whatever that ghost wasyou remember that?"

I nodded "Yeah, so what?"

"Do you reet out of the way? Her life force is so bril iant when she’s running her ic that it’s liketo be honest, it’s like a hard-core turn-on Why do you think I avoid her y and I’y"

"Holy crap You fed on her?" I swerved, barelya parked BMW

"No NotWhy can’t I just not give a fuck like the rest of my kind?"

"Because you’re not like the rest of them Just tel me what happened I’l take responsibility if she finds out I order you to telout in the open Now

He shuddered "Crap You fucking bitch You would, wouldn’t you?" But his voice held no anination "Fine There are tays my addiction comes out One is to feed, but when I can’t feed, and the impetus is stil there, then I"

As he paused, I had a flash of memory: what he’d said to her just shortly before that If I didn’t snag you in withyou raw

Oh crap Was I going to have to kil him myself? "You didn’t!"

Head in his hands, he shook it violently "I didn’t host and II was so wired and so poised to feed I broke"

"Oh for the love of" I swerved over to park against the curb and, hands on the wheel, forced myself to stare at the maple tree in the nearest yard "Go on"

"I started to feed on her and she screa to pul back the entire ti to stopfrenzy I think she knew because she grabbed my hands and put them on her waist, then pul ed up her skirts"

I didn’t want to hear Didn’t want to iineherself up to put an end to it

Vanzir continued, relentless, his voice cracking "She was screae, but the only way I could stop was towas to fuck her I slaht She letthat she knew that I couldn’t control it I’d fed too deep on the ghost and was out of control I know it’s no excuse, but I was so caught up in the frenzy that"

Holy Mother Hel I counted to ten, then twenty, then thirty before speaking "Ca on her life force?"

He nodded, tears streaking down his cheeks "I didn’t want to I didn’t want to hurt her I didn’t want to feed on her, but with al the energy flying through the air, with al the fighting, I was so hyped up that"

"That your nature took over, even though you knew she could kil you for it But she didn’t kil you, did she?" As ht there, I forced e

If Camil e hadn’t destroyed Vanzir for his actions, then was it my place to finish the job she’d chosen to leave undone?

"There’sat the floor

"Oh Great Mother, no What else?" I didn’t kno much more I could take

"While I waswhile erewhile I was fucking her, her eyes turned color--they flashed fro I’m not even sure she knows that she did She said,

‘If you don’t like your nature, demon, then forsake it’ And that’s when it happened"

"What happened?" I was almost scared to hear

"My feelers, one When she said that, part of me was stripped away It was horrible, so out an essential part of ure out how I used to It’s like part of me is dead" He stared at me, a bitter look in his eye "Your sister did better than kil me She destroyed what I a one, butjust a slave"

As I gazed into his eyes, I kneas tel ing the truth There was no way he could lie about it to er able to feed Cah Camil e--had destroyed hisleft to say I shifted back into gear and pul ed out froht just kept getting worse For once, the thought of daylight and sleep loolanced at the clock "Cutting it thin, aren’t you?"

"Yeah, but this night has justtwice as hard as it should be Any word on Morio?"

"Ca in the bed next to hi roo his own But they’ve run perilously low on the blood he needs Delilah’s put out an eling in the past hour or so, so that’s one good thing"

"What the fuck is this about Wade being the serial kil er?"