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I said, "Thanks," sat, and added crea silver and tinkled as I stirred I noted that the outclan priestesses were also using sterling, handling the silver as if they no longer had to worry about silver poisoning I could count on etting blistered, and have digits left over I sipped and discovered that the tea was delicious Not that I was surprised Vas they treasured

"You are welcome in our house We offer hospitality to you," Sabina said

I was flying by the seat of my pants already and the vaured that the formulaic welcome meant they would let ed up the ht to me in the children’s home where I was raised and said, "I aift of it, and, um, thanks for the tea Too The tea also," I clarified Crap This was stupid But I didn’t say that aloud I was learning "It’senchanting" Could tea be enchanting? I wondered Poisoned, yes, but enchanting? I shook away the s

Sabina and Bethany were both nearly two thousand years old, belonged to no clan, and were the keepers of the holy relics They were also the arbiters ofthat Leo couldn’t or didn’t want to handle And both were scary powerful I was s allowed to drink tea with theous honor, but all I could think was that they were about to put me in a bind, one way or another I’d come in there to ask them how to track Joses Bar-Judas, per Leo’s order, but I had a feeling they had agendas of their own

"Have you seen the camera film of Leo after the Son of Darkness escaped?" Sabina asked, her nunlike, starched white gown rustling

"No, ma’am Should I?"

"Yes Turn on your device and ask it be sent to you" She pouredrelaxed I hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, and lunch was long past, and rowled, deep and low I pressed a hand there to keep it quiet I had food to eat and stuff that needed doing, but if the priestesses wanted me there to watch video, that is where I’d be Into e of Leo after Joses escaped? Send to me He sent back a K, andvideo

I waited as the vid opened on ot free The footage was of Leo, holding Gee DiMercy down in the hallway, surrounded by hu The humans looked jittery, uneasy I didn’t bla kind to Gee; there was no tenderness or laving with tongue to stop pain Leo was savaging Gee’s throat

My own throat spasain I claood hand around my throat protectively as I watched Over the vid, I heard Leo growl like a wild anirizzly, deep and sonorous This was violence far worse than what Leo had done toleft of Gee DiMercy’s throat If he were human, he’d already be dead I waited for a human to pull Leo off, to shout for help That didn’t happen Had Leo killed Gee? Was I gonna have to watch that? The pain in ood six levels into an inferno

What was Leo upset about? He had been fine when he leftAdrianna

On the video, Gee’s hands unexpectedly ca hiht a fractious baby Leo’s body went li Gee’s blood fro hand Gee’s throat closed up, healing as I watched

Leo looked better now Cal? Maybe what Gee had just done had cal siestured for them to follow hi Adrianna, as still dripping blood and brains That was gonna be hard to get out of the carpet Brains were sticky and adhered to fibers

There was a blink in the digital vid, and I was now seeing the camera down the hall fro, all heavily blood-drunk and weak looking--anemic I checked the time frame Half an hour after Leo had bled Gee

"Is Gee okay?" I asked

"Our Misericord is well," Bethany said "But he will not remain well if the er"

"Youhi Leo’s coht like a bird in a raptor’s talons, ill remove his sacred blood to tame him and place him back upon the wall," Bethany said

"And his blood will fill the holy relic for preservation," Sabina said, her voice carefully bland

I stared back and forth between the two priestesses Those stateo with any of the information contained in them Their faces were expressionless and cool, as if the idea of starving a va him for their own ends was an acceptable practice And I had no idea what the holy relic was, but chances were it wasn’t anything to do with religion as I understood the word

Hu ways to preserve vamp blood so they could test it for use in huo Vamp blood decomposed quickly, no matter the preservative they tried, and even fresh, it didn’t cure every human illness; some of them seemed impervious to vamp blood, unless the patient was turned And even turned, they had to go through years of the devoveo--thephysically or , sos at all

Va abilities of the va fro the vauards The addictive properties of va blood-servants or paying for the privilege of drinking it Va kept prisoner, or not openly, anyway, and drained of blood for sick humans to become healthy But if human researchers ever discovered that there was a way to preserve vaht and shackled the va and cures and whatever else they could devise, all in the name of humanity and compassion The relic, whatever it was, needed to remain secret