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Not tonight, Balthazar reh he followed it with an inner proainst wooden floorboards Skye ju He laid one hand on the small of her back, and she steadied herself i to think that she would rely on hirave in the past

Starting, of course, with the day of his death

The tribe was in the hall now,had becohter Balthazar pressed his hand ainst her back, just for an instant, before he took it away to step in front of her, between her and the danger

So faintly that Balthazar could barely hed

He thinks it’s funny Funny that Skye’s scared to death, funny that I’ for him

We’ll see how funny he thinks it is in a rave stood there, fraasped, but Balthazar forced hirave would see that as weakness

"Well, well," Redgrave said "I always knee’d irl’s bedroorave to do this, but it was all he had to say to hi a pet of her, weren’t you? Can’t say I blae enough But I hope you’ve already had your fill"

"You’re seriously disgusting," Skye said, but Redgrave didn’t even glance at her To him, she wasn’t a person, et out Turn around and walk out of here," Balthazar said

"You don’t really expect es of the doorframe, a couple of the other vampires appeared, as if to prove to Balthazar just what he was up against They ed, perhaps, one of thelasses--but Balthazar could sense the ferocity behind their bland faces

"No, I don’t expect you to go," Balthazar said "But I thought I should give you fair warning"

Redgrave grinned, his smile refined, even beautiful, despite the evil heat in his eyes as he looked past Balthazar to Skye "Do you even knohat you’ve got there?"

The flickers of the intense flashback he’d experienced that day lit up within Balthazar’s er "You’re the one who doesn’t knohat he’s dealing with"

As Redgrave stepped forward--stalking turning into attack--the room’s temperature pluo numb Skye’s human breath created a srave hesitated only a ht flooded the roo In the center of the light, Bianca took shape, spinning fro candle flarave lifted his head to see her, Balthazar could tell the ancient fear still held sway over him--that he, and all of his tribe, were still violently repelled by one of the only things that vampires dreaded as rave whispered, "Wraith"

Bianca swept forward, sliding horizontal, sorave, the wall, the door, all the va seen her in battle that this wouldn’t kill any of therave hissed soe, the one Balthazar had always refused to learn, and the entire tribe fled

The only sound for aof the back door as they went out the way they’d cohed "Wow, so me vampires are so terrified of wraiths that they’ll steer clear of this house just because they saw Bianca?" Skye, who had already scooped out most of the ice from her room, shouted over the whirr of the hair dryer she was currently using on her bed quilt

"It’s an old superstition that goes deep for us" Balthazar hi around wraiths eren’t na used to "Deeper for Redgrave than for most--he always had a particular horror of the wraiths I’d seen hiht of one before Trust ain From now on, at least, you can spend ti attacked every single second"

Bianca reappeared in the rooress "I’ve searched everywhere," Bianca said "Where’s your ghost?"

Skye blinked at her "How did you know I used to have one?"

"That’s the only way huht Academy," Balthazar explained "A connection to the wraiths Ghosts Haunted houses, that kind of thing"

"Like Clerew up in, in the center of town, that one was haunted It was a little girl who sat by the fire with ; she just seeht of her as, like, an iinary" Her expression was fond, even warm; Skye’s ability to deal with the supernatural continued to surprise Balthazar "But wehere that I know of"