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I re’s girlfriend, faithful even in her iination Every time Balthazar had walked by her in the hallway, she’d drunk in the sight of hi about before

But at night in her dorm room, while Clementine snored in the next bunk, sometimes Skye’s fantasies had demanded their due She’d lie there all twisted up in her sheets, trying to think of the boyfriend she knew she ought to be thinking of, but instead reht’s hallways; wearing fencing whites that outlined his entle s distant andthat uilty flush of longing at the uilty? she asked herself You’re free now And so is he

Except for the part where he’s a vah, Skye coht between never and forever

She decided she liked that, but before she could keep going, a man’s hand pointed into her poem and slid out the word remember He pushed it up so that it formed the phrase remember me?

Skye looked over at him, and in the first moment, she didn’t reotten a man like this He wasn’t especially tall or short, but everything else about hi dark blond hair, the war hazel eyes that alold More like the idealized sculpture of aThe crisp white collar of his shirt looked sharp enough to cut He couldn’t be a student at her school, because he was old enough to be one of the teachers--like Balthazar--

I’ve seen hirave s to know my face" His accent was odd, not exactly British, not exactly A else, too Hard to place "You saw me only in the dark, and only with huer on the board, just beneath remember me

"I’ll scream," Skye whispered It wasn’t much of a threat, but it was all she had

"That would be very silly of you I’ you I’rave glanced over the board’s current offerings and sighed "Not thatLorenzo here if I ever wish to punish him"

Skye wanted to run away, to bolt out of the coffeehouse as fast as she could, but surely that hat Redgrave meant for her to do If she ran out, his va for her "What are you doing here?"

"Getting a coffee, strangely enough And hoping to have a chat with you, now that your bodyguard isn’t on hand" Redgrave’s sly beautiful On hi "Balthazar assuht I have absolutely no intention of spending so much as one day in the county jail or whatever picayune hu to talk, this is the place"

"We don’t need to talk" Even getting those words out was hard; Skye’s entire body had gone cold and clu besides the words This man tried to murder me yesterday

"Nonsense, my dear I see that you are not without resources That you understand the nature of the supernatural So I thought we ht be able to speak like rational creatures, and perhaps strike a bargain"

"A bargain?" She et out of to and leave rave really did laugh at that "You’ve got spirit You see, I can ith you"

Her voice shaky, she whispered, "You’re trying to kill me"

"I think we can coh to see its value" He half turned, leaning against the wall next to the poetry board Skye now thought that, even if she hadn’t recognized him from the day before, she would have known by now that he was a varace and confidence faht All around theht; the piano et what I want It follows, therefore, that your best chance at staying alive is siive me what I want"

Instinctively, she knehat that was "My blood"

He shrugged "People donate all the time, and for what? A sticker and a cup of apple juice I can do far better than that"

"If I let you take any of my blood, you’ll just take it all"

"Which wouldfor me, but no more than that Whereas if you stay alive--if your body keeps creating and heating and pu this miraculous liquid within your veins--I can enjoy your blood any tiesting; she didn’t think she wanted to get a more precise picture "I’m not your personal Coke machine"