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"Gloriana St Clair" I heard ht breeze I shivered at the malevolence that each syllable carried with it

"Who are you? Come out and face me!" I looked from side to side Whipped around and stared behind me No one "Coward! What? Afraid a vampire can take you down? Lucifer? Back for a rematch? I know you won&039;t hide in the bushes" I kept taunting who or what must have crept into Jerry&039;s yard and decided to spook , as it tried to knockdown but I felt like I was about to jump out of my skin

Jump Good idea I concentrated and dematerialized, only to pop up on Jerry&039;s doorstep Iain, as if I&039;d soood and plenty I breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the doorbell An owl hooted and I stu bad and let a bird spook , Glory

Jerry answered al in the car for a while" He pulled ? Are you hurt?"

I looked behind me Of course the sweet and creepy air had vanished "My mother was in the car I&039;ll tell you about it later" I droppedstep and hurt my ankle" Which actually throbbed like a bitch "It&039;ll heal but I wouldn&039;t turn down an ice pack"

"Sure, I&039;ll get it You want a bottle of synthetic while I&039;m in the kitchen?" He started to lead et the picture of Lily&039;s threesoreat, but let&039;s go upstairs to talk In your office" I tried to shake off the heebie-jeebies

"Whatever you say Careful on the stairs" He walked toward the kitchen

I limped up to the second floor It seemed to take forever but we finally settled in his office in two leather chairs The man did like his leather

"Hoas Mia back a souvenir likespooky for the front lawn?

"Yes, but it wasn&039;t easy to leave so soon I hired froh his hair "Screw the business I never should have told you my past didn&039;t concern you, Gloriana Not after all you did for me when I lost my memory"

"Jerry, I took care of you because I love you You don&039;t owe as for five years and you herever, it was understood that ere free to live as we chose" Of course Jerry had hired Valdez as uard and I&039;d learned thatI&039;d done to his boss Secrets? I just had one big one now

"I know When we took breaks from each other, we had lovers I know you did and I did too" He drank froh he&039;d made the effort to pour my synthetic into one Jerry and lovers Here it cao south, you can erase their lanced at et it So I had a ular basis"

"Is this your big confession?" I took a deep s to hideh I&039;d done it ot up and started pacing "You know I like powerful women" He stopped in front of h you look nothing alike"

"I don&039;t need the details, Jerry" Oh, as I kidding? I wanted to know every excruciating one Was this payback? For how I&039;d hurt hi to run out of the roorabbedto hurt you I have to warn you Sit down, Gloriana" He pushed me down into the chair and carefully adjusted the ice pack on ain "Listen to me This is important or I wouldn&039;t bother you with it"

"Warnto do with, uic or evil? I just had the weirdest experience outside I had to deet to your front door"

"What?" He looked like I&039;d dropped a house on him Then a knife suddenly appeared in his hand "Did she hurt you? Is that what happened to your ankle? Outside you say?" He didn&039;t wait for answers, just ran out of the rooo after hiic on Jerry? Was he under a spell? Could I shift the blame for their affair to her and let him off the hook? Wouldn&039;t that be nice? Was she beautiful? Of course she was And he was a man with needs I knew that While I waited I let my mind run on an endless loop of what to do or not to do Then Jerry&039;s front door slan of her except that sic?" He slipped his knife back into his boot "Is that how you hurt your ankle, Gloriana? Did you two have a confrontation? I&039;ll kill her if she hurt you"

"A confrontation You could say that, though I never saw her" I couldn&039;t hide my relief that he was back and obviously more concerned with me than that other woman "She tried to keep me out of here, Jerry I think it&039;s pretty clear she wants you for herself And she&039;s evil I know evil when I smell it You know that"

"What did she say? Melisandra is a voodoo priestess Yes, she&039;s erous, Gloriana" He knelt in front of me, seriously worried I liked that look on him

"Jerry, I have powers I can handle her" I took his hands "Not saying it was fun dealing with that shit again It kind of knocked me for a loop so I stuuess I kno you felt when things happened between Rafe and me"

"Jealousy bites, doesn&039;t it? I can&039;t believe she&039;s already here I tried to erase her ether, like I&039;d do with an ordinary mortal No dice" Jerry sat on the arm of the chair next to me "I don&039;t blame my infatuation with her on one of her spells I know better It was her blood, Gloriana It was almost addictive It was as if I dreer fro it got hih

"Do I really need to hear this, Jerry?" I dropped his hand

"Yes, you do" He was up and pacing again "She kneas vaot off to it She was comfortable in the paranormal world Too comfortable It made me uneasy I knew I had to end the relationship so I stopped drinking her blood It was a relief to know I could give it up I told n I needed to get away froet my relationship with you back on track if I could So I put ood hands and took off I didn&039;t know that she would take it so hard"

"You did say good-bye, didn&039;t you?" I could see how this wo Jerry her blood night after night anda future with him Then he took off to parts unknown to be with me No wonder she hated me

"Of course I told her I had a commitment somewhere else but didn&039;t nae my name Problem was, I couldn&039;t sell uess you&039;ve noticed I&039;ve had problelanced at his laptop "I&039;m still worried about it"

"Yes, you&039;ve s out or to see her?" I gripped the aran affair all this ti unfaithful?

"I didn&039;t intend to ever go back I&039;m pretty sure all my troubles at the hotel have been caused by Mel She can use her voodoo powers tothe staff, even an infestation of vero back and then she would show up, s the way she does" He looked at er "It&039;s the blood, Gloriana It calls to me I&039;d like to blame it on a voodoo spell but I&039; over" He looked away and I took that as an adot from the woman

"Well, shit What am I supposed to do with this, Jerry?" I couldn&039;t sit still another lanced down and saw that I had ripped lines in the chair&039;s leather Tough

"Please, let er had told her iven him his orders while I was in Scotland That really steas, like that damned sorcerer did Said you&039;d been unfaithful to me and that you didn&039;t deserve me If I didn&039;t come back to her, she&039;d make sure I had no choice to " I wasn&039;t about to let hih his hair "I wasn&039;t going to be threatened into a relationship I told her that I was done with her even if you weren&039;t in the picture But she kept on, ured it was just wild talk, a woman scorned, you knoanted to kill her" He had a knife in his hand again and I knew he aze "I know, not very nice ofto kill a woman She&039;s evil, Gloriana Like you said"

"She must be a servant of the dark arts" I believed him That he wanted to be done with her

He put the knife away "This is serious Now that she&039;s here, be careful, Gloriana She&039;s capable of just about anything" He dropped to his knees in front of ht this to you"

I ran h his hair How could I condes to him The latest had been amnesia and a spell that had almost boiled his brain

"It&039;s okay, Jerry We&039;ve both made mistakes And I&039;ve faced a lot worse than some witch who smells like a kitchento listen in with her voodooit on, bitch"

Jerry pulled h talk You don&039;t know her Yes, I think you can handle just about anything But can you handle the fact that I betrayed you?" He rested his cheek on my hair

I just stood there for a o there I could rationalize his slip with a voodoo priestess It had started before our reunion in Texas and of course she didn&039;t want to let hi score, I ay ahead in the infidelity depart to tell his between us Bringing up Ray noould do nothing but dae our relationship and ease my conscience It would be selfish of me to unload on Jerry now

Luckily he&039;d assumed his lover&039;s vision ofit at that I slid ht to Austin First thing you need to do is convince her that you would never ever be with her again no matter what she tries Is that the way you feel? Can you be around her and resist her blood now?" I touched his cheek and stared into his eyes

"Of course She was a bad chapter in my life that I&039;m ready to close the book on You&039;re my future, Gloriana I&039;ll do whatever it takes to keep us together" He didn&039;t look away and opened his mind to me so that I could see his truth I felt ashamed that I couldn&039;t do the same "I love you, Gloriana I don&039;t want to lose you Just take this seriously Melisandra is powerful I&039;ve seen her power at work and it&039;s scary as hell"

I suilt As far as I was concerned, ere even And if I was his future, he was ot news for you, Jerry I&039; me close as he strode to the bedrooe" When he tossedyou up, Jerry Whatever she tries, she&039;s not running et everyone but him

"Stubborn and scary too What more could I ask for in a woainst mine, just as it always did "Guess ere h, don&039;t you?"

My ansas to kiss him Meant to be I heard thunder and the bed actually shuddered beneath us Of course ere I inhaled his scent, dear,to come between us No one