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I faced off with otI can do to get you to restore Jerry&039;s li vision that claimed to be my mother solidified in front of ht

"So happy you asked, Daughter" She had put herself in ner dress thatto stick around, ht

"Don&039;t keep h? I will do anything to get Jerry&039;s ing when she ers Towhich she opened to pull out a lipstick She grabbed my chin and had the nerve to hold it steady while she ran the tube over my lips

"Good to know" She closed the lipstick "There, that&039;s better You were looking pale Always put your best face forward, Gloriana There&039;s no excuse for going out in public looking less than your best"

"You&039;re giving e to wipe the stuff off "Come on, I&039;m in pain here Jerry, the love ofto do about it?"

"We Love that word First you are going to agree to a few terms" She pulled out a compact and dabbed powder on her nose She started to hand it to hed "Vampire No reflection It is just not to be borne"

"Bear it I&039; in yourto live in Olyet I&039;ve met the Stor and chauvinist attitude" She made a face "But he&039;s the exception There are sohtful males to be enjoyed there And that&039;s part of the &039;deal,&039; as you so crudely put it, that I will have you uy Jerry I&039;lanced at the opening to the alley Every once in a while soht and this row of doctors&039; offices wasn&039;t exactly a tourist mecca, or even open for business now except for a certain va here, I couldn&039;t iine what they would think

"Relax, Gloriana, no one will see us I&039;ve put a vanishing spell around us We&039;re invisible to everyone, even your friend Caitlin, should she return"

"Fine Good trick Now tell ot up your sleeve" I had to ade Dior The outfit would sell for big bucks in ain? I wondered Having a mother from Olylea that in my mind "Gloriana, cooperate and we can have a wonderfulet Jerry cured, Mother? Spit it out" I&039;d thrown in the "m" word to please her but I put aive other ible males I&039;ll send from " She smiled and put her hand on hlander"

"You wantoff the hand that suddenly gripped me hard Impossible "Seriously?"

"Yes, I a on the earthly plane You can find an acceptable mate and come live with ent wohter I think you can becoether before we are done You can&039;t iine the poould wield" Her smile this time was so fierce I shuddered

"Mother, please, reconsider I kno O-toorks after dealing with the Storm God It&039;s all about politics Are you sure there&039;s not a spy listening right now? You don&039;t want to make Zeus mad at you And talk of a takeover"

"Hush You&039;re right I knew you were smart" She stroked h talk I will begin sending you likely candidates for a mate immediately You must promise to have an open mind Give each of them a chance to court you Choose one to be your consort and ill go from there"

"And if none of them please me? I don&039;t see you hooked up with a daddy dearest, do I?" I sighed when she finally releaseddown it, a heap on the wet bricks, " me

"I&039;ve never met a soul mate, as you call your Jeremiah I have made a formal alliance of course But no love match So much of e do in Olympus is for political purposes" She stepped back, her forehead wrinkling

"Sounds like a swell place" I could almost feel sorry for her Too bad she&039;d started our relationship so cruelly

"All I&039; is that you try, Gloriana For the sake offor sympathy, just my cooperation

"And if I don&039;t click with any of these guys? Will you still fix Jerry&039;s hen up and negotiate "No promises But I will keep an open s But I need souarantees from you before I start this date-a-thon"

"You aren&039;t calling the shots here, Gloriana I a over her shoulder "Know this If you play along, give the , then I&039;ll consider your request to &039;fix&039; your lover I don&039;t offer guarantees Sos aren&039;t as simple as they see keeping Jerry fro out "Mother! What the hell?"

She exaood time, Gloriana Cooperate That&039;s your best play here"

"Send theet this over with" I looked her over "Can you fix ood is being a goddess if you can&039;t show off a trick or two?"

She sht you&039;d never ask"

I looked down and noore a fabulous designer wrap dress in a blue silk that reat brand and my coat had a faux fur collar that felt soft next to ner clutch I hoped she&039;d tucked lish s either

"Thanks, Moushed a little before I rereat clothes "But this doesn&039;t ive you for hurting Jerry"

"Of course you will Or I&039;ll have to alter your et the blouse" She pointed to the bloodstained satin resting on top of the garbage bin "Test it for DNA, I dare you You will see that we are awas necessary and I&039;m sorry for it If I&039;d had any idea that Achelous was such an ass, I never would have put you under his power"

As an apology, I figured that was as good as I was going to get But I couldn&039;t bringshe clearly wanted

"I need to get to the doctor&039;s office You&039;ll let uys do I have to meet?"

"Five, I think That&039;s a fair number If none of them suit, then I&039;ll do what I can to restore your Jeremiah&039;s memory" And with a wave, she vanished

What she can? I didn&039;t like that It ht not be able to fix hi at me, I headed to the end of the alley and toward Bart&039;s office

I walked into chaos Jerry held a chair over his head, obviously ready to s to talk hi on here?" He didn&039;t spare lance, his eyes fixed on the hypodermic needle Bart held

"He wants to stick me with that Says it will , I lost my fuckin&039; mind"

"Relax,You&039;re overwrought This is a tranquilizer I was hoping it would help you relax enough to let et to some of those memories you&039;ve lost" Bart laid the needle on thethis away Obviously not your thing We&039;ll try so up on the chair-in-Bart&039;s-face plan, though I could see his ar with the effort to hold it over his head Where had his strength gone? And so quickly? It hadn&039;t even been a week since the attack and he&039;d been feeding steadily A vampire healed, daed a chair leg "See reason Bart here&039;s a doctor A family friend, Da says We have to trust hiave her the chair then collapsed on it once she&039;d set it on the floor "Shit, I&039; with lanced at ain

"Maybe the poison is still in your systelanced at the doctor

"I&039;d know more if he&039;d let oing to let me stick a needle in him Are you now, Jerry?" Bart waved toward the laden cart that had all sorts of medical equipment on it "The MRI was an epic fail too One look at the machine and he was all &039;Hell, no&039; and would have no part of it"

"Jerry, how can Bart treat you if you won&039;t cooperate?" I slid close to him, but kneouldn&039;t welcome my touch

"You want a blood sample?" Jerry jumped up and stalked over to the cart There he picked up a scalpel and, like my mother, ran it across his pal hand

My nostrils flared and s descended I looked around the room to see Bart and Cait with the sa

"Jerry! That&039;s not the e do things now" I covered my mouth with my hand

"If Bart wantsit What do you say, Doc?" He shook his hand in Bart&039;s face, drops of blood scattering on the table That got Bartrabbed a swab, then so some samples for aa trip down ed blood He&039;d loved to havesex It hadOh, God Would we ever feel that close again? When I caauze though I was sure the wound had probably already stopped bleeding on its own Jerry looked pale as he sat down again

"Why is he so weak, Bart? Hasn&039;t he been feeding properly?" I edged closer

"It&039;s the poison, Gloriana" Jerry frowned at ht to be concerned You say you&039;ve had plenty of blood, most of it synthetic, since you were attacked, but look at you, barely able to stand Healing sleep should have set you to rights by now" Bart shook his head and picked up the saet on this immediately Analyze what&039;s still in your systeave me too"

"Good" Jerry leaned back in the chair "You&039;re right I&039;o with you? To your lab?" Cait was on his heels as Bart headed for a staircase "I did a stint at the e here It was one of my interests for a while Till I decided it was more fun to play doctor than to be one"

"I&039;ll keep that in rinned "And I could use the help Follow me The lab is upstairs" He turned around, suddenly all business "Jerry, you need real blood Quit being a hard-ass and drink from Gloriana I know she&039;s offered and she is part of the past you can&039;t re your memory"

Jerry stared at o into et coestured for Cait to precede him "The playroom, er, lab is up the stairs, first door on your left"

"Jerry, do what he says What if this is all you need to get your memories back? Don&039;t let the stubborn Campbell pride screw you over, brother dear And, don&039;t worry, I&039; until we figure out how to fix my brother&039;s proble once to take off her ruined shoes I heard Bart ask her what had happened to the out a trash fire in the alley

"I guess I should give it a try" Jerry sounded like he had been sentenced to the hanget allit next to my bloodstained blouse on a chair, before I strolled into what Bart had called his lounge It was an elegant waiting room for his clientele A vampire doctor I assumed he took care of paranormal patients, like Ian MacDonald did in Austin We were immortal but that didn&039;t mean we couldn&039;t have the occasional ured out I&039;d once been a Siren He was also constantly working on special vas There was a lot I didn&039;t know about Bartholomew O&039;Connor I hoped the laird had checked hiht didn&039;t ht me my instincts weren&039;t always reliable

"Mushy?" Jerry looked puzzled as he followed reen velvet sofa

"Itthat With me anyway" I sat on the opposite end of the couch then crossedhts I leaned back into the corner, pretending to be relaxed Let hi to play this cool He wantedfor it

I pushed forward a little, just to an to coht be weak, but his ely Is that how A fros to the wide-screen television set in the corner of the roo the eye candy contest