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Soft words filled the air in the gyoire was cursing fluently under his breath, the syllables French-sounding, and Leo hispering back in the sa sound and the Master of the City lifted his wrist, biting the flesh on the inside of his oer aroire’s lips, cradling his friend’s head with his paloire sealed his lips around the bite and sucked

Bethany appeared with a small pop of air and settled to the floor with theoire’s arm near the brachial artery Her hair, as always, was knotted and twisted into locks, worked with hundreds of gold and stone beads, theher ears, but showing thethere Bethany Salazar y Medina was African Unlikeyears without the sun, her flesh had reht Her sclera were brownish, her irises blacker than that dark, storht As she sucked, she lifted her head to irl kinda way Bethany was scary I took a step back as her power began to rise and tingle across oire, healingon their skin, nearly asapart fro at us Eli murmured, "How badly are you hurt?" I turned from Bethany to him and then looked dohere his eyes rested on my bloody clothes

"I don’t know" I looked back to my opponent and Leo and the priestess It occurred to me that she was around an awful lot lately Or, rather, that she lived here and I was the one as around a lot lately I wondered who she was feeding off of to keep her relatively sane I was pretty sure it used to be Bruiser I shook ics, and took yet another step away "How bad is Grégoire hurt?"

"He’s undead How bad can it be?"

I spluttered with laughter that I turned into a cough as Eli took my elbow and led me from the room, to a small less space just off the women’s locker room It was about ten by twelve, with two sazines I had never been in it Eli had been exploring, which was good We needed to know this placearea off a surgery suite, or off a courtroom, with dull brown and blue plaid stain-resistant furniture and industrial carpet Eli quickly loosened his ohite gear and then started helping me to reht, with the skin sliced deeply into theitself to the fabric over the wounds There had been no pain until I saw gashes, and then they started throbbing, a steady, poundingsurface of the hard sofa Eli slipped out of the roo the bottoof S’s Blood flooded out across my side and belly, under my ruined undershirt

From the hallway, I heard Eli say to so the door softly behind hi a basket of rolled towels He pressed one to the newly opened wound Quietly, he asked, "Do you need to shift? Do you have tiain Not here Not ever Not near--" I stopped

"Not near fangheads Especially not near Leo Who wants to own you enough anyithouthim more covetous of you"

My eyes found his face and I shuddered with a tiny laugh He understood Withouthim, Eli understood "Yeah That"

"I’ve asked Edmund to help Okay?"

I nodded Ed but powerful vaood And helpful And hadn’t tried to roll me with compulsion I heard a knock and Edht, brown haired, hazel eyed, and he seeood terht look like a pushover, but Edmund was old and powerful As he closed the door behind him, I could feel his power as he pulled it up and around himself, icy prickles, like spikes of frozen air Yet, despite his dazzlingthe back of my neck, he’d lost blood-ht had a loton than had been reported--to a vamp named Bettina and ended up as a slave to Leo for the next twenty years When vaain," he said Eli stepped aside and Edmund knelt near me He breathed in and held the scent of ht inhale the perfue When he exhaled he said, "I heard about the sparring match No one mentioned that you had been injured as well"

"Isn’t that just like the fangheads?"

Edmund smiled at the insult and leaned close to ainstmust come away," he said, sadly "Fast or slow?"

"Do it"

Edripped the hem of my undershirt in both hands and yanked It ripped up the middle and out of the wounds I hissed with pain and said so I didn’t usually Eli chuckled and I speared him with a look just as Edue slicked the blood away Heat followed in its wake, heat that danced along ue delved into the cut

I closedAbsolutely nothing I worked to keep ed to keepbullet Maybe For about half a ht to my core I kneas bad when Eli left the roo back And then ies bentand desire, two halves of vaainst h ainst his body I felt another ain Not Gonna Happen