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Chapter Thirty-five

It was late, and I was sitting in Kingsley&039;s spacious living roo to various Santa Ana ho questions and satisfied with sley and he invited sley&039;s butler, was noisily preparing our drinks in the kitchen The kitchen was down the hall and around a corner and through a swinging door Soed loudly, or possibly even broke

"I think Franklin is letting it be known that he doesn&039;t appreciate ht sojourns," I said

"Luckily, Franklin doesn&039;t have sley "How&039;s your son doing?"

"Not good"

"I&039;h the tears It was a defense attorney, who had been lounging in a chair-and-a-half across froh to contain hisley, I could tell, wanted to reach out for me, but stopped hio when I had discovered he&039;d worked the systeainthe father of my client

I had serious issues with that I knew that Kingsley was doing his job I get it But it didn&039;t sley&039;s credit he hadn&039;t pushed the issue with h h not to make a rash decision Too many people act too quickly, end relationships too quickly Better to be clear about what you want

I wasn&039;t clear yet; I was still conflicted

But noasn&039;t the tiht, and now all I wanted was a war, a warsley cah I had flirted with the idea of contacting Fang The idea didn&039;t stick Fang was a whole new jigsaw puzzle of confusion that I still needed to piece together, and I just wasn&039;t up to it, not now Not with everything else going on Kingsley, although a bastard, was fa in the kitchen stopped, and a fewroooblet in front of each of us and stood back Franklin wasn&039;t happy He was also a piece of work Literally The ether frosley met him, I didn&039;t know Why such a creature served as a olf&039;s butler, I couldn&039;t isley had promised he would tell me the butler&039;s tale Sosley, maybe I would finally hear it

"Is that all?" asked the butler His slightly melodic accent was nearly impossible to place It could have been British, but it wasn&039;t any British accent I had ever heard The words Old English calish This, I&039; Just how old Franklin was remained to be seen

"Thank you, Franklin That will be all," said Kingsley, waving hi else, please do not hesitate to rousesleep"

"We won&039;t, Franklin Now, off you go!"

Franklin bowed and turned and loped off, his legs seeether Als fro to accept

Kingsley reached for his wine "Drink up, dear"

I reached for lobin, and if I didn&039;t hurry and drink, the surface layer would coagulate

I picked the cold glass up with both hands and brought it tocoppery scent Metallic, rich, alive I brought the goblet to h h

It had takentime to actually acquire a taste for blood To actually enjoy it But it depended on the blood The finer the plaslobin, the better the experience The more pleasurable the experience The y, added strength, and a better life experience

But my blood of choice - or of necessity - co account with them Once a week they delivered the stuff to h they believed it was for scientific purposes The blood was often filled with fur and skin and other floaties that I couldn&039;t quite place Didn&039;t want to place It was utterly disgusting, but it nourished me and no doubt kept me alive

This blood was different This blood was heavenly This blood, I was certain, was from a human There were no impurities in it It was silky smooth and fresh and filled with a life force that absolutely electrified sley

I opened oblet, whose interior was coated noith a thin film of blood

"Very," I said "Would you think less of me if I licked the inside?"

"Waste not, want not, I say"

I ran rily, and only then did I realize how ghoulish I looked "Did that look as ghoulish as I think it did?" I asked

He grinned "Worse"

"Great" But that didn&039;t stop er to swipe at the last few drops of blood

Kingsley watcheda robe and not s were hairy as hell, but also roped withAnd hairy, too He wiggled the at theblood," I said

"It was bound to happen"

"I mean, I&039;ll always hate the aniaser?"

"In every way, but it&039;s late, or early, and I feeltired"

"No worries The blood will more than sustain you for a few days Muchand cow crap you drink"

I had experienced this before Hu else So much so that I realized that I was ned - to kill humans

"So whose blood is this?" I asked

"Do you really want to know?"

"No Yes Shit"

Kingsley got up, and as he did so, he flashed oods Whether he meant to or not, I don&039;t knowbut holy sweet Jesus Did I really just see that? My God, how did he walk around with that thing?

Kingsley, defense attorney, olf - and now, apparently, pervert - sat next to ivento let you in on a little secret," he said, and knocked back the rest of his wine like it was booze-flavored Kool-Aide

"It&039;s not a secret," I said "And it ain&039;t little"

"Excuse ht the srins on his face

"Go on," I said, shaking my head "And this time try to keep the robe closed"

"I do my best to keep it closed"

I patted hisboy Nohat is it that&039;s such a big secret?"

He sat back, but this tih "The blood is fro donor?" I prodded

"Willing enough," he said