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She dropped the attitude at the quiet urgency in his voice "U out to look around Valentine&039;s wide shoulder "The head of hair with gold earrings She&039;s always breaking in and screwing aze "Which one is she, in the pink?" he asked, spotting a prostitute with aher face like a lion&039;s o talk to her I want you to start a fight, fast"

"And that&039;s all I gotta do?"

"Make as big a scene as you can Yes, that&039;s all"

"Shit, Marine, I&039;d do that for free"

Valentine turned away from her and moved to the darker woman in a hot pink half-top "I&039;ve heard you&039;re quite a woestively The whore cocked her head and sly

"That&039;s my up, you bitch!" his paid prostitute shrieked

Noisy, even better, Valentine thought

Star reacted with a speed that would have done credit to many of Valentine&039;s former comrades in the Wolves She planted herself, lowered her hips, and spread her ar bobcats spitting and hissing at each other A ring of hooting barflies forh the crowd, snatched a hat off of an unattended table, and moved out the door before any of Alistar&039;s soldiers had a chance to push through the crowd to guard the exit

The conditions could hardly be worse for tracking a s Reapers-city with a two-ht, rain, and the rickshaw-cluttered streets all conspired to hide his quarry Visibility nil-the big bosses never botheredMost men would not have had a chance

David Valentine was not most men He was a Cat, one of the select specimens of huainst the abominations of their vampiric brethren, the Kur The Kur controlled ions that rerasp, like Valentine&039;s adopted home in the Ozarks and Ouachitas, owed much of their freedom to the sacrifices of the Hunters

The Hunters, outnumbered and weak compared with the Reapers and the other creations of the Kur, relied on enhanced senses, physical ability, and tight mental discipline The last was of paramount importance The Reapers, the Praetorian Guard of Kur, tracked hun, psychic auras sent out by sentient beings

Valentine needed to wash the fear fro enee protecting the him out as an enemy of the New Order And somewhere in the rainy darkness, athe alarm bell

Alistar would not just run to the nearest phone He had no idea if Valentine orking alone, or with others who nal and followed him out of the bar Valentine remembered him as a man who liked to be in coet a posse of his own Carbineers together, to better take the credit for his coup in capturing or killing one of Southern Command&039;s "terrorists"

The barracks of the Carbineers wouldwalk, toothe port that a contingent of theuarded then-supply warehouse by the docks Some of Alistar&039;s ood a guess as he could h an alleyway and broke into a sprint down a road parallel to the one Alistar probably took Even if he had guessed wrong, the farther he got from the Easy Street, the better

He loosened his coat to run If anyone saw hi down the center of the near-eht mistake him in the wet and darkness for a Reaper His sprint did not end at the hundred-yardhily, at least to anyone who did not knohat a Hunter was capable of, his speed increased

The warehouse he sought was in an old, brick-paved part of town Garbage lay in heaps on every corner, and better than half the buildings were fire-gutted shells Eaped out at the street like skulls&039; eyes when they were not boarded up

One closed-up ore a freshly spray-painted skull with a heart around it According to the graffiti of New

Orleans&039;s streets, someone just lost a loved one to the Reapers within

Any of the e Reaper This was one of the districts of the city where it wasn&039;t considered healthy to be out after dark, even for a man in uniform He relaxed his mind, let his vision blur, tried to feel for the cold, hard spot on his mind the Reapers sometimes made

Soht

He pulled up at a noisome alley, partially blocked at one end by a stripped car turned on its side Its gutters served as the local populace&039;s latrine, judging fro at his pistol butt, Valentine cut down the alley and back to the hfare Alistar was a for Valentine before seeing hi odor

A thunk and a metallic clatter sounded fro hiainst the half-expected leap as he drew his revolver His keen ears picked up the sound of the skittering, scra rat within

Valentine edged sideways down the alley, gaze flicking froain

He paused in a deep well of darkness under a fire escape, reholstered his gun, and drew a stiletto fro in battle, with bullets cracking the air all around and explosions nu Pre opponent required an entirely different side of his persona It was a version of himself who had killed helpless men in their Control Tanks in Oun in Wisconsin; and knifed lonely, frightened sentries on isolated bridges Cold-blooded need provoked those killings, but his sense of exultation in the deeds bothered his conscience more than the acts themselves did

Valentine heard footsteps over the steady patter of rain, co from the direction he expected Alistar Two people hove into view in the ether under so both from the weather Not his quarry then, but-

One was definitely pulling the other along The insistent guide was about the right size and sex Clever Trusting his hunch, Valentine collected himself for a leap As he crouched, the analytical side of his brain appreciated the irony of Alistar using a woe in the bar The tarpaulin provided just the right touch of shape-concealing cover He probably grabbed her out of a doorway, tucking hi her to accompany him Alistar had always been cool in a crisis

As they passed, not seeing hi broad juht Alistar in the small of the back The two tumbled down, the irl screaht herself He paid no attention, concentrating on getting his knife to the Quisling&039;s throat The led in the folds of the tarry material like a netted fish

He straddled Alistar, pinning his chest and arht andinto his for a squeal "Dave, no! Wait!"

Valentine paused, notthe knife either farther in or back He had not been called Dave since his days as a recruit

"Not what you think," Alistar said as his face drained to white "You think I wanted this? You reot separated The Reapers were after us One got me, picked me up They took , it was join &039;eh, never really joined That&039;s why I ended up in this rear-area pisser, didn&039;t want to fight against y&039;all You have to believe -every chance we get alone, we discuss it Lois wants out"

"You could have contacted me in the bar, then Quietly What did you run for?"

"I-I got scared"

"Looked tofor help"

"I didn&039;t tell the guys you ith Southern Coht over a job You threatened you&039;d kill et o in there and talk to you Make you see our way Lois&039;s honest-you can tell just by talking to her I knew you could always read people, Dave You&039;d be able to get us out"

Valentine listened with Lifeweaver-sensitized ears for anyone approaching to investigate He let Alistar speak

"We can be ready in an hour Hide out wherever you tell us I dunno why you&039;re here, but et away" Alistar paused "Or not Any way you want it Just trust ive me a chance to prove it"

Valentine put hihteenth year, had their roles been reversed, could he honestly say he would not have followed Alistar&039;s path, given a choice of death or grudging service? But how grudging? He wore a nia

He shifted the knife and used his right hand to pull open Alistar&039;s raincoat On his old comrade&039;s breast was a row of little silver studs, projecting out of the green unifore Valentine knew that each stud represented five confirained through turning over friends, neighbors, or comrades to the Reapers

Alistar read his fate in Valentine&039;s eyes and opened his mouth to scream for help Valentine shot his hand up to Al-istar&039;s throat, crushing cartilage and blood vessels in a granite grip A sound like a candy wrapper crinkling and an airy wheeze was all that ca throat

"Would&039;ve let you go another ti his friend&039;s final paroxysm "But what I&039;m here to do is just too daot up off the corpse E discipline of the Lifeweavers had a succoring side effect: it kept hi about what he had just done He carried the corpse off to the stinking alley and went to ith quick, precise ed hole just below Alistar&039;s Ada body and held it inverted The war corpse nauseated him He watched the blood mix with the rain on the cracked and filthy pave from wet cold and nerves

Between the injury and the confused girl&039;s story of a flying assailant out of the shadows, assuo to the Authorities, there was a chance that whoever found Alistar&039;s body would conclude a prowling Reaper had taken hiue

Valentine had seen enough Hood-drained bodies to mimic the injury and disposal of the corpse He stuffed Alistar in a debris-filled ell The Reapers usually concealed their kills so as not to disturb their hu the death on a Reaper feeding was too slender a thread on which to hang the success of his ht