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Unfortunately, it looked like I would be the one to pay the price for the tiet an elbow out and rolled over slightly, so I could see I was on a bed, in a roo panic, I pulled a pillow to ainstuts roiled like a bucket full of snakes I pushed down on the nausea, hard It would be really bad if I threw up right now I took another breath and this time, I smelled Del everywhere, in the coverlet, on the pillows, perain Stuff came up Too tired to lift my head, I spat it onto the covers beside ross Old blood meant that I hadn’t shifted totally If I’d shifted, any blood in ed inside ot wasted But in a partial shift, I was starting to realize, things could be way different Things like e, and the functions of my brain

"How are you?"

I tiltedat le that made my stomach roil I closed my eyes Fro How are you?"

"Alive Thanks to your help And thanks to the priestess"

"And Derek Last tiot away," she said shortly

I sed and the nausea faded just a hint I could hear Delup ed to ask

"Leo and his heir are well Grégoire is recuperating Derek is injured, but will survive, as willthrough the front entry Andand Wrassler He said to give you his thanks" I felt the ain I sed it back down, desperate not to be sick, desperate to hear Del’s report I pressed the pillow harder intoHis are of the bed "How rinus’ fighters, ten dead and left to rot Of ours, seven dead, two of them Derek’s "

"Missing?" I focused on her face Missing didn’t sound right Why would anyone be ?

I realized I had spoken the question aloud when she said, "We don’t know But it has soot all the Mithrans fed, she disappeared And she took soathered ht,the pillow into me as hard as I could Del placed pillows behind me and I rested back on them I was in a bedrooold and creaun--not one of mine--lay on the bedside table The room looked like Del, all soft and reserved but with hidden surprises that could hurt you "Sorry about the spread," I said, ed and crossed her arms over her "

I could hear the vibration of generators "I’ll have to deal with the power situation"

Del nodded I realized that we both were trying to avoid dealing with the reality So I took a slow, deep breath and asked, "I’ on the wall of Leo’s dungeon" Del looked away "What was it? Who was it?"

She cursed softly, s et my knees to uncurl an inch, and touched my belly It was still hard, and now ached I should never do that again Never And certainly never in the ant and lissome, Del dropped her ar herself from a prison "They called hilish He is a Son of Darkness A child of Ioudas Issachar" She stood and walked to the door, looking elegant and delicate and all the things I would never be, blond and beautiful and graceful She stopped at the door and looked back at s The presence of Joses Bar-Judas, as a prisoner here, makes it quite likely that, rather than parley with theo to ith the Europeans"

Shock ain Leo Leo had known The Son was Leo’s prisoner Leo had beendrinking fro Why his priht back to life--and turned into an Onorio--because Leo had been oire’s twin primos, Brandon and Brian, had been turned into Onorios

Reach had known or guessed Leo’s secrets and had given theotten humans killed

Leo had done this Gotten an old lady across the street from me killed Gotten three construction workers killed A cop killed So many dead because of this secret "Did you knoas down there?"

"No," she said, her voice expressionless "As far as I know, no one knew but Leo, his pet priestess, and his Mithran lovers" She left the room and closed the door behind her

The pet priestess and Leo’s Mithran lovers: Bethany, Katie, and Grégoire "Well," I said to the empty room "That sucks Too bad Leo didn’t stay dead one of the tiht have to kill hi

This was Leo’s fault All of it was Leo’s fault Leo’s and Reach’s

I stretched outand curled the pillow back aroundon the wall in the base to remember what I had seen in the ti inkilled by Derek

The thing had been male Crucified to an old brick ith silver stakes The wall had been slashed repeatedly by his talons, which were more like the Wolverine’s blades than ed wall had shown soht--ic ite on the Son’s body Scraps of clothes Body wasand focused on me