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"And what is that?" I asked, knowing I wasn’t going to like it

"We will once again place you in the center of the hedge with the item that will attract Santana You will hold the sliver of the Blood Cross and the blood diamond in one hand, so that they touch And you will drop your blood upon theet me and everyone in the circle with ic everywhere"

"No That will not happen You have used the sliver before Your blood has been upon it before The diae except you will be able to call Santana to you with the power of your blood"

I knew instantly that they had been talking to Molly about me and that she had shared the story of the first time I wielded the sliver of the Blood Cross She had told thereatest secrets Until now, the nuht I killed a coven of blood-ic practitioners to save her children had been extremely limited I turned wounded eyes to esture that looked defiant I didn’t knoas happening to Molly She was changing, and I couldn’t see where the changes would take her except soic," Bruiser growled, sounding a lot like he had the first ti Leo Noas defending erous"

"Worst-case scenario?" I asked

"You burn to death," Molly said

"That’s what I always liked about you, Mol Honest to a fault Except when you aren’t"

She flinched, a minuscule recoil at my words Yeah Molly wasn’t so honest anymore That hurt And it mademean "Where’s KitKit?"

"In the van in her travel carrier, fro through her teeth "She’ll be fine The s are cracked and I left her water" Her bright eyes stared ath she had shared e Like a line in the sand, one that Molly wondered whether I’d cross Would I really tell the witches of New Orleans that one to the dark side? That she was drawn to the practice of death ive awayher over to her own people, if it et the cage out," I said, e "A little night air will do her good"

Molly narrowed her eyes Her hair blew out in a wind that wasn’t there, a wind that instantly died Staring ather feet with care, she stepped to the outermost of the three circles I turned my back on her, a Beast- watchful over It was a donized

I opened the van’s hatch and saw the cat cage, the tiny cat staring at h the rounds I lifted the carrier by its handle to carry the cage to the edge of the grassy area where the witches had activated their circles

Sabina atchingI had to wonder howlife she had been teic, to kill so, or someone, for an end that appeared worth theshe had a soul Most Christians said no vaious, there was no proof And then I wondered, what if Molly had already been there, done that, and was getting ready to betray us all? Crap Toothe people I needed to be able to trust

I set the carrier down on the grass and looked up at Clan Rousseau’s er, stretched across the roof’s ridge Instantly I felt better I had stopped next to Bruiser, KitKit’s cage at his feet, his war about Molly and the other witches was off-kilter but that he trusted ht breath, chestTwo people here that I can trust with my life, Eli and Bruiser I can ith that

Deep night had fallen when the witches were finally ready, dark night, with a whipping wind and clouds building overhead, anvil shaped, round, it was still and heated, the wet hanging on the air and slicking our skin, the huhtning flickered uncertainly between the clouds,down to earth, not yet, but dancing frohtened the mausoleums and the marble vampires who stood atop each, statues of the clan founders depicted as angels going to battle Caination story of the vaed the alignht practitioners instead of nine, four in each circle, with candles on the outer ring at the cardinal points of the co at the intermediate points of the compass At the north coer than snare of thorns, where Santana would be captured if all went as planned Molly found her place on the innermost circle and sat--the circle called the inretio circle, which was Latin for trap And she sht reflected in her eyes

"Eli," I said, loudly "If Molly starts doing soerous and Bruiser doesn’t stop her, shoot her"

"What is the probleht," I said, "one with lethal consequences Not so as Molly is a good little girl"

"Angle of shot is acceptable," Eli said from the roofline "Placement of shot preference?"

"Not so about ht liimpy"