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When he brought the bike to a halt, it was mere feet from a snowy cliff that overlooked the river they’d just crossed Ashwini couldn’t see any houses, only towering trees on either side of this narrow clearing, so either this land was unclaiel’s property line Taking off her hel off the bike, placed the hele of the cliff The lights of Manhattan sparkled on the other side of the water thatin deep drafts of the bitingly cold air, she tried to shake off the crawling sensation she’d felt inside Giorgio’s elegant town house New as the house was, she’d picked up nothing from the walls, no embedded whispers of horror Her response derived solely from, as Janvier had put it, “the sickly devotion of it all”
Having reio’s household has little to recommend it”
Ashwini frowned, shifted on her heel so she could see his face “You say that like the cattle-master relationship isn’t a bad idea full stop”
“It’s not always about exploitation” He leaned forward on the handlebars, leather jacket unzipped and hair a sexy mess “I know vampires who have had the same cattle for decades They truly treat the men and women as family, are more loyal to them than to other va raveyards of New Orleans are to blood fa the food happy”
“Food is not so difficult to find, cher” A liquid shrug “Va physical beauty and many are also wealthy and powerful Mortals are drawn to them like flies, yet it is the oldest of io, the majority don’t view it as a sexual relationship or treat those in their blood family as trophies, the physical appearance of their cattle an unimportant consideration Friendship, affection, respect, these are the keys I once asked a six-hundred-year-old friend why he kept cattle, and he said he was tired of the constant round of less seduction, wanted only the inti back up, he played with a blade he must’ve slipped out from his boot “You must remember that many of my kind were born in a tienerations one on top of the other, newborns sharing roorandparents, and warriors seated side by side with younger siblings, cousins, and fosters That is what they seek to recreate, for the old ones often find loneliness the worst pain of all”
His words stopped Ashwini; she’d never considered things frorew up like that,” she found herself saying when most of the tirandparents lived with us, as did an aunt before she got h a divorce” It had never been quiet in the Taj household
Janvier’s expression was intent “So you understand”
“The need to create a family? Yes” Wasn’t that what she’d done with the Guild when her own broke into too ether? “But that’s nottoday”
“No” He stared out toward the water “Giorgio treats his women as pretty dolls His to own, to dress, to bejewel Marie May had such a fire in her when I first io Soon she will forget her dreae her out like he’s doing with Laura and Penelope”
“Oui What they see as kindness is sis”
Red in her vision at thebastard who, it was clear, would soon push poor, lovesick Brooke to the curb, she folded her arht, he said, “They are of age and the Tower cannot interfere in doe ith hi off the bike and came to stand beside her “I’ll call Marie tomorrow and reiterate that she and the others can co about their o into it with eyes wide open”
“Five minutes alone with Brooke,” Ashwini said, “and I’d know for certain if she was telling the truth” Meel Nazarach, but with a little more effort, Ashwini could pick them up from those under four hundred The latter limitation hy she could continue to work as a hunter—it was extremely rare for the Guild to be contracted to hunt an older vaels usually took care of any problems at that level themselves
Unfortunately, the limitation wasn’t set in stone Janvier was opaque to her—had always been that way—but usually, the better she knew soardless of age And every so often, even a young stranger would set off her senses, drag her under It hy she was so careful about physical contact
Janvier ran his knuckles down the line of her spine “If you find darkness in Giorgio’s blood slave, it’ll live in you forever No, I won’t perht to ‘perrabbed hold of one of her wrists, his grip gentle but unbreakable “Who was he?”
Her response was instinctive, her ony of it all “None of your business”
Hauling her to hi steady and strong under the thin barrier of the T-shirt, his body so warm she wanted to stretch out into it like a cat before a fire “We are beyond that, and you know it That’s why you’ve been running so hard fro you,” she said, her traitorous fingers curling into the heat of hied her closer, and his voice, it held so many layers when he spoke “I see such pain in your eyes, such loss” Breath shallow and shoulders rigid, he whispered, “Did you love him so much?”
At that instant, she knew she could strike a blow that would be a sledgeha between them, the connection that had forrinned at her as she notched a crossbow bolt in place, then blown her a kiss and race she’d come to associate always and only with hi she was there to bring hiel