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He wanted to stay with thee of flesh last night, but that wasn’t going to last with all the high-flying tension--so he had to find a fight to burn the edge off It was going to be his only salvation

"Be careful," Bitty said as he took his leave

"Always," he whispered over his shoulder

Instead of going to the prearrangedZ and Butch and the trainees for orientation, Rhage went straight to the alleys west of Caldie’s financial district, proceeding directly into the heart of the field, to the paveht was as cold as the previous one, but there was a hu snow The humans would like that They would find it "seasonal" for their holiday

There was no one wandering the stretch of deserted buildings he chose to hunt, nothing to mark the street but the burnt-out shell of an old sedan, a rotting couch, and a series of scrawny dead trees in the cracked sidewalk

No Christoers No carols, no sleigh bells, no reindeer, no presents

Breathing in deep, he felt a great burn inside his chest … and it was as if he were back to square one

Ever since Mary had co because thanks to the Scribe Virgin’s good old breeding prograned since conception to protect and defend his race But there had been none of this old-school desperation, this twitchy unhappiness, this … sad sense … that he was not a ated to it because of his curse--

Cranking around, he tilted his nose up Inhaled again

Let out a growl

Lessers were fewer and farther between now than ever, and there had been sightings, by others in the Brotherhood, of a very different kind of foe

They were trying to deteres like that in the ere rarely good news--and clear evidence that the Oain

But the stench of baby powder that rushed up to greet him now?

It was like the one wish he’d needed to coranted

Well, the one other than Bitty staying where she belonged

Baring his fangs, Rhage went on the hunt

TWENTY-SEVEN

The only way thatcould have been ested his daughter was dealing drugs on the side Into prostitution after dark Leading a second life taking candy froht as he let hi fancy-ass door and strode away fro in the freezing cold wind in--wait, was that a pink fuzzy bathrobe?--Elise was like an apparition Except she was oh, so veryhis nose, her presence warht to tropical teet any further than that She ran up to hi hi for all she orth