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“I told you”—her eyes burned into him, full of a thousand secrets—“witches were burned at the stake I’h the veil people put between themselves and the world, who could strip away lies to reveal the heart of darkness that lived within mortal and immortal bothand for whom immortals were the enemy of her sanity He ran his thu escaped his grip with hunter slickness

Walking to the techs, she hunkered down to talk to theh she had to know the chance was low Criminals could be stupid, but Janvier didn’t think this was one of those ti a hue It took a soul of ice to do that and walk away, and so would cover his or her tracks with the saht of Lijuan and of how the Archangel of China had fed froet word to Raphael about the ene the life force of others, had ended up with his back all but sliced open Still behind enemy lines, Ashwini and Janvier had worked to slon the hostile forces any way they could

“Is she yours?”

Naasir’s question, silver eyes gleaainst the rich brown of his skin

“Touch her and find out”

“You better hurry, Cajun”

Janvier was going as fast as he dared, but he feared it wasn’t fast enough Ashas a hunter; hazard pay was a standard part of hunter contracts for a reason And if—ar caht beside hih her torso in the final hours of this battle had co other internal organs Death could’ve stolen her from hile inch before he struck

Furious defiance burned under his skin

He’d watched everyone he ever loved die of old age They had wanted to go, having lived happy, contented lives, and he hadn’t tried to force them to hold on, to apply for a chance at vampirism and near-i when it cao out

Not her

12

Dht of the candle that burned in a holder to his left It put hi

Illiu spread on the carpet “Looks like he has you, Sparkle”