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"Yeah?" I asked, not willing to throw back the shower curtain to see hi that if he wanted me dead, he could have already fired I had no place to run anyway Butto be naked in front of Derek I took the weapon in a two-hand grip and spreadonly we know So that I’ll know it’s you talking through your n vamp who’s made you his"

"You wore a party dress the first tiic char"

I chuckled

"Also," Eli said, "he’s got ain, I thought, but feeling relieved "You boys have got to learn to play together"

"Too close, Ranger boy I’d take you--"

"And you’d sit in a chair the rest of your life So go ahead Make my--"

"Go away!" I yelled I turned the water back on and set the gun aside They could play Ranger versus SEAL on their own tih And one of those as I always the only fe and creepy that all the other female security personnel who used this locker room made themselves scarce when I was here? It was kinda weird

• • •

Once I was dressed, I read my new texts and sent several, one to tell the Kid I was headed into the security conference roo outside the locker roo up opposite walls Eli had an abrasion on his cheek that hadn’t been there the last ti a bloody lip "Idiots" I shook my head and asked Eli to run an errand for me, fast He nodded and took off I asked, "Your men?"

Derek’s face turned down, the lines beside his on and Antifreeze are down for rehab Trash Can and Acapulco are both dead"

He didn’t want sympathy I didn’t knohat he wanted, but sympathy wasn’t it I kept o to the services," I said "Anything I can do for the families, please let esture, and I lifted a finger pointing to the conference room Derek followed me down the hall into security, and I felt him behindbig-cat

If he had been rolled, then I could be a target, though I could tell by his body scent that he wasn’t fighting anything; nor was he overly, abnormally calm He sry, but it was norry, cory He stepped up beside ed as alked, a hint of adrenaline, an increase of testosterone It s me that the person he wanted to hit was me

I could take him if he attacked Most likely, I could Probably Maybe Most days Maybe not right noithlike"You shot me," I said, casually

From the corner of my eye, I saw the satisfaction flit onto his face, as he said, "Yeah Sorry about that" But he didn’t sound sorry His voice went harder, colder "Leo instructed erous for us to let any more hunals he was giving off Ito hiid, corded littered in his dark-skinned face, but he stared into the distance "I’m sorry about your men," I said "I’h life to be turned He’ll be an insane suckhead for ten years, but he’ll be alive, if you call that living" Sunrise had lost a tooth in Leo’s service not so long ago He was good people All Derek’s er, his grief, and I tightened rip It had to hurt, but he didn’t meet my eyes I understood that too I wasn’t huer when one of the monsters had said no hu in deep Too deep? How deep did I have to get to be happy that Sunrise had been turned instead of dying? "We’ll honor their sacrifice Your ht now, I honor their sacrifice"

I closed my mouth with a soft snap I didn’t have time for this, but I also didn’t not have time for it I shoved my conflict down deep inside and shook his arm until he looked at me "In the ways of The People, the War Woe after battle I aed, though I couldn’t tell what the pheroht to choose how our enemy will die If you choose, then for each man true-dead, I will cause our enemy to scream until he can’t screaain for the nextthem a cup of his still-warm blood to drink If you choose this, the death of the one we hunt will not be clean or easy"

Derek’s head went up, hiswhat you want done"

"Clean death," he spat "I’m not a monster"

I smiled, and kneas bitter "No You aren’t And for that I’m thankful"

He blinked several times, then said, "You don’t want todo what you said"

"I really, really don’t But for you, to honor your men, to remember your men, I would have" I let a small smile soften my face "The last time I counted coup--to use a word not of The People--I was five years old and randain, this ti on a clearly identified horror in the chemical mixture "Humans, ordinary humans, can be far worse than the monsters To torture a randy and the ed who I becao back to that time if you need me to"