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"I think we’ll be okay here They see us" And it was true--the swar out In fact, I was able to count the number left from here, and it looked like only twelve remained I had no clue how many we’d killed, but it had to be nearly seventy-five, if not lanced back at Frank "Dude, you said Chase called you?"
"Right Johnson told ic and who could land a good punch with silver blades That’s all he knew So I set the phone tree in et here on the fly" Frank let out a slow breath "That dragon husband of yours knoield a sword, that’s for sure" He was staring at S silver sword A wickedly nasty long silver sith one serrated edge and one flat
"Cripes, I had no idea he owned that" I blinked "I wonder if it was his grandfather’s?" Sreat , tucked away in Sleaht of the storainst one of the deloould flash
As theup the last of the de weary and covered with mud and welts
"What happened to you?"
"The spirit deuess this is what happens when you don’t have ical power They left rows of bite uess the powers of a Death Maiden aren’t tasty enough for them"
"Yeah, either that or…perhaps they can’t handle your energy because it’s connected to the Autuht be right" She nodded at Frank, an easy shake of the head, and dropped to the grass while aited I joined her, resting ot hit a couple of ti to suck out y"
"Was it like when Vanzir…" Her voice trailed off and she arched her eyebrows
I shrugged Vanzir had tried to feed on h to be fair, it wasn’t really his fault We’d been under pressure, he’d been using his powers, and I was radiating so ic that he’d been unable to control hi my mind, and that had led to another can of wor it deliberately These things are out to hurt--they’re out to destroy And though the end result is the same, there’s definitely a different feel to it I’d never liken Vanzir to the spirit deht not want to aduarantee you, any other dream-chaser demon wouldn’t show the restraint he does, and I have no doubt that they would be out to feed on you Deliberately" She shaded her eyes, trying to see as going on "Almost done, it looks like"
"Maybe so, but Vanzir’s not just any other dee help to us, and he didn’t have to stick around once the soul binder vanished"
She sighed, pushing herself to her feet and dusting the back of her jeans "Listen, I know Vanzir’s not like the rest of his kind, but you can’t deny he’s dangerous Never, ever forget that" She reached down, offering me a hand, and pulled ths of uely annoyed, but too tired to do anything about it, I juh the area and the clouds opened A sheet of rain so thick you could barely see between the droplets cae
After asplit the sky, and thunder ruh just behind it The rain turned to hail and ere inundated with pea-sized ice pellets I yelled as they sliced against lanced around, then grabbed my hand and pulled me beneath a nearby cedar He motioned for me to crouch beneath the lower branches Delilah followed, and we covered our heads with our hands as the hail went on and on
Frank stood straight, face front into the hail, guarding hs with us, but I kneouldn’t budge It was a matter of pride for hih Delilah was here now, he felt like he had to honor that promise If I tried to persuade him to protect himself from the weather, he’d take it as a personal insult
Unable to see as going on across the street fro the fresh, crisp scent, as I sent up a whispered prayer to the Moon Mother Please, let them find all of the spirit demons Please don’t let any of them escape Please, let our friends be okay
Anotherthe shower of ice Delilah crawled out from beneath the tree, and then I stumbled out Frank helped me up As we stood there, the others made their way back across the street Rozurial looked exhausted Vanzir had fallen in the mud several times Shade and Morio looked tired but no worse for wear And Smoky, of course, was pristine and clean, as always But none of the
Behind the on their buddies, but most looked okay I anxiously waited as Smoky walked up to us, Jonas by his side
"How did we fare?" I almost didn’t want to know--if we’d lost any of our Supe Community friends, it would be too much We’d already lost all of the witches who had forainst us
"Severalhelp The spirit deone And the witches…" Sh, then lifted azed down at me, his frosty eyes a swirl of snow and mist "They’re all dead But you knew that,my head on his chest as I slipped my arms around him He smelled musky, and yet fresh, like newly fallen snow I knew that scent--I knew it so well, I dreamed of it Each of my men, I loved in a different way, but none of them any less than the others
"I’ently back and forth "I know it hurts you to lose people who aren’t directly involved in the battle I do understand, even though I’ood people die, and children, too It is the way of the world If ere simple, we’d never strive for peace"
"We don’t see peace" I wanted to cry Hoe going to tell Lindsey that a group of her friends were dead, their life energy fed to a horde of ravenous spirit demons?