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Bain’s words rang in Karou’s ears as she looked around, searching faces in the throng surrounding her Feeling exposed in the e, she squinted at the roofscapes on both riverbanks, her ih a rifle scope

She shook it off He wouldn’t, would he? The feeling faded and she told herself it had only been paranoia, but over the rest of the day it came and went in scattered chills as Zuzana danced a dozenconfidence with each perforain, far exceeding his promised take

He and Zuzana tried to coax Karou out to dinner with the, which was not untrue but was also not fore watched

Her fingertips fluttered against her palms A prickle sparked there and traveled up her are and into the cobbledfollowed She paused and knelt, pretending to adjust her boot as she pulled out her knife--her ordinary knife; her new crescent moons were in their case at her flat--and slipped it up her sleeve while scanning ahead and behind

She saw no one, and kept going

The first ti these streets She’d passed an art gallery and a few blocks later doubled back to find it, and… couldn’t The city had sed it In fact, she had never found it There was a deceptive tangling of alleys that gave the ioyles tiptoeing away, stones like puzzle pieces rearranging the Prague entranced you, lured you in, like the mythic fey who trick travelers deep into forests until they’re lost beyond hope But being lost here was a gentle adventure ofaround corners were Kaz and his cohorts in vaht Karou felt a real threat, and with each step she took, cool, precise, she willed it toThe way it so often taunted her with the phanto, at this ht

"Co her head and quickening her pace "I have a surprise for you"

She was on Karlova, the e and Old Town Square, and tourists continued thick as fish Shelooks back over her shoulder more to craft the illusion of fear than in the hope of catching a glimpse of her stalker At the intersection of a quiet side alley, she ducked left, hugging close to the wall She knew this territory well It was riddled with lurking places for Kaz’s tours Just ahead, the curve of a uildhall created a hidden niche where she had several tiarb She moved into the shadows to tuck herself away

And came face to face with a vampire

"Hey!" said a sharp voice as Karou worked a quick reversal of od," said the voice "You"

The vaainst the wall and crossed her arms in an attitude of bored superiority

Svetla Karou’s jaw clenched at the sight of the other girl She was model tall and thin, with a harsh kind of beauty that was sure to age scary She earing white face paint and Goth eyeliner, with fake fangs and a dribble of blood at the corner of her ruby lips Kaz’s sexy vampire vixen to a T, black cape and all, and she was,place

Stupid, Karou ad places would be stuffed with actors It often a, to see bored ghosts leaning against walls, texting or tweeting while they waited for the next clutch of tourists to be led along

"What are you doing here?" Svetla asked, her lip curling like she sirls with a knack for lanced back to Karlova, then ahead to the next curve in the alley that could provide her with cover It was too far down; she couldn’t chance it She could al nearer

Svetla drawled, "If you’re looking for Kaz, don’t bother He told ht Karou As if any of that mattered now She said, "Svetla, shut up," and thrust herself into the niche right along with her, shoving the other girl back against the stones

Svetla gasped and tried to shove her out "What are you doing, freak?"

"I said shut up," Karou hissed, and when Svetla did not, she whipped her knife from her sleeve and held it up It curved at the tip like the claw of a cat, and its edge caught a thread of light and glinted Svetla gave a little gasp and fell silent, but not for long "Oh, right I’ to stab me--"

"Listen," said Karou, low "Just be quiet for a minute and I’ll fix your stupid eyebrows"

Shocked silence preceded a rasped "What?"

Svetla’s hair was cut in a long, hard bang, so low it brushed her eyes, and it was shellacked with hairspray so it scarcely moved, all in order to hide her eyebrows, on which Karou had wasted a shing in a fit of spite around Christmastime Black and bushy under her hair, they were likely not working any wonders for hercareer

Svetla’s expression hovered soe There was simply no way that Karou could know about her eyebrows, always kept so carefully covered She would think Karou had been spying on her Karou didn’t care what she thought She just wanted silence "I’m serious," she breathed "But only if I’m still alive to do it, so shut up"

Voices drifted over fro with strains of ines She couldn’t hear footsteps, but that didn’tHunters understood stealth

Svetla’s expression rehast, but for the id and fierce-eyed, listening intently

Sohosts of footsteps Out in the alley, a shadow seeped into view Karou watched it lengthen on the ground in front of her as its source drew nearer Her palhter and peered at the shadow, trying to make sense of it

She blinked, and words spilled across her thoughts Not Bain’s words, but Razgut’s

My brother seraph was looking for you, lovely