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Leo was barefooted, wearing black gi pants of a style I’d seen hiht in before, his upper body bare and smeared with blood that hid most of his white scars, his black hair plaited flat to his head except for loose strands flying as he s clicked down and his pupils black in scarlet sclera Despite the va on my skinwalker abilities, I took a sniff to deterression
One of the tas out, lying off the fighting , so still alive The other tas in play, but his face looked like it’d been used as a punching bag Which it had been There was blood all over his white gi, the cloth hiding bruises and torn flesh between the fang rents The sounds of thuds and slaps and grunts resounded on the air, echoing brightly through the open space The standing twin spun away and hit the wall I felt the ih the floor anda bloody sood," Wrassler murmured to me "The two of theainst him"
"Hmmm Who else did you call?" I asked softly, as Leo screa My Beast peeked out and purred, and I shoved her down This is not the tioire He’s on the way" Wrassler checked his cell "And Gee DiMercy should be here any minute"
At his words, Gee DiMercy, Clan Pellissier’s Mercy Blade, walked through the door on the far side of the room "Hallelujah, holy Moses," Wrassler murmured beneath his breath It was a Southern Bible Belt phrase uttered by people in a certain age group, and though Wrassler looked too young to use it, he drank vae, whatever it was
"Your gramma say that?" I asked, as I watched Girrard DiMercy froht black pants and a billowing royal blue shirt, and he carried twin flat blades, both long swords with hand-and-a-half hilts for one- or two-hand fighting His hair was back in a queue, tied with a narrow black band The first ti my butt, and I hadn’t had ti man, arms out, hands and talons ready, shoulders tensed, , in that statue-still way of the vamps Funnn, Beast murmured
"Used to," Wrassler murmured "My mama My daddy" He added, his tone mesmerized, "Me"
When he elve feet away, the Mercy Blade tossed Leo a blade, the overhead lights glittering on the steel edge The vah and whipped it out of the air, but the s cut on Leo’s side The Master of the City landed on the balls of his feet and slid away before the blade could bite deep, but his blood flowed fast from the slice
Beside me, Wrassler tapped the mouthpiece of his headset and called for blood-servants to join hi Yeah No ry; it would be wise to have donors on hand
On thewith deadly grace Scarlet droplets flew on the air, the clang of steel so bright and sharp it hurt et a better view
The stench of pheromones increased and I rubbed a wrist onIt was potent and heady, with the reek of violence and an underlying hint of wet feathers from the Mercy Blade and of raer fro both ways: out of control and using his anger to power his vaible, but it was there Out-of-control Leo stank, an acrid taint on the air, tart as a rotten le scent A show, controlled and planned, no matter how out of control and bloody it looked, no hters pirouetted away and back, the swords so fast they were a blur of light on steel and the clash of irl, I thought at her We’re not here to get sliced and diced She huffed and turned her head away from me--a pointed insult
The rabbed Leo’s wrist, sticking out a leg and shoving his master across it Leo landed with a thump The point of Gee’s blade nicked Leo’s throat The others in the roo off the bare, white walls
I lifted h to pass for bored "Onorios heal fast So do Mercy Blades But it was a pretty show, boys"
Leo kipped to his feet, actually breathing now fro, gasping, and s of pain One of the "effing painful" Gee DiMercy chuckled softly "Indeed, you are a bruised mess, dear boy" To me he asked, "And how did you know this was all a play, little goddess?"
Studying Leo, I tapped ers in my jeans pockets "You smell different"
Leo blew off his irritation and looked up at a blast of air frooire, standing there, said so back There was a tiive a bundle to be able to speak French, even though I was betting Leo and his best boy-pal, sparring partner, co off in soe that no huoire had both learned the language centuries ago, and languages evolve faster than most people think
The two vaave the It was a little too ues and bare skin, but then, I’m a prude by most standards, even by the cultural criterion of the Cherokee of the eighteen hundreds I know that for certain because I was alive back then Cherokee skinwalkers live a long tiuess everything has a price
"Will others discern that we do not fight in a rage?" Grégoire asked
"I did warn you she would not be easy to dupe," Gee DiMercy said He was cleaning his blade as he walked, head down, a soft cloth that looked like silk on one side and cha the blade in a hypnotic rhythm