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When my father finally returned, he was accompanied by Xavier My father held a steel bucket in one hand, containing blood that I could sense ar it I leapt frorabbed it fro to draw a breath as I sed gulp after gulp I tried not to waste a drop, but I was shaking fro down the sides ofwater over a fire By the ti back on the bed, I looked over at Xavier He gave me a weak smile, even as his eyes were filled with concern

I wished I could’ve seen lad they hadn’t entered with her She was a pregnant hu to harm her, I wouldn’t have been able to live with ain, all of us apparently lost for words But all of us, I was sure, ondering the sao fro fro He and everyone else had see the amount of i the cure work, I’d also been certain that he would step out as a human

The plans we had made were crushed into dust Now I didn’t even know if I dared to leave the island, leaving his I supposed I could leave him my blood, but I had already seen that did not alork

I was sure ere all relieved when Ibrahim finally broke the silence

"Obviously we have a lot to reconsider… In the meantiot?"

I rolled upmy skin for Ibrahim to look at, while Corrine examined Ben’s arm

At first I’d been scared to see Corrine so close to Ben I’d thought that he ht crave her blood too, but even I could sense that their blood was different to a human’s It wasto a vampire At least not the way a hurateful for the change of subject before we returned to the inevitable We needed so to break the tension

Ibrahim and Corrine looked at Ben’s and my brands Their expressions were almost identical--deep-set frowns as they looked closely at the etchings And then so flickered in the witch’s eyes all of a sudden Alar that even the warlock hadn’t yet

He eyed her, raising a brow "What? What do you see?"

She didn’t reply as she left Ben andat the tattoo As she examined my brand, the sa quickened as the blood drained from her face

"What?" several of us asked at once

Corrine just bit her lip And when she finally did raise her face to make eye contact, there was an unmistakable look of terror in her eyes