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I took out the bottle and gave it to him No sensation one way or another; I hadn’t felt any click of connection with Rahel, and I didn’t feel any loss of it now But Lewis did, clearly; I saw hihter, and for just a second his dulled eyes took on a ferocious gleam

"She fed off of Jonathan?" he asked

"Not really sure how much of it was Jonathan and how much was David, but she took a lot" I felt ain "David- he’s bad I don’t know if he’s-"

"He’s not dead," Lewis said The way he said it, alive hiht hook, except it wouldn’t have exactly been a fair fight In a tussle between Lewis and a plastic grocery sack, I’d give two to one on the bag

He opened his fist, and I realized that Siobhan’s blood had transferred from my hand to his; it was smeared in dull red clouds over the bottle I squinted, because it looked as if those dull red clouds wereabsorbed

I felt a fast, hot surge of nausea What’s the h for you? Now you’re snacking on hu?" I snapped at hi He considered the bottle balanced on the palm of his hand for a few seconds, then looked up at me with an unreadable expression

"I don’t think I have to do anything Mazel tov," he said, and dropped the bottle to the carpet Then he levered himself out of the wheelchair, lifted his foot, and stoh to shatter it

Soh the room in a silent explosion It was a ruffle of wind in the real world, a white wave of pure energy in the aetheric; I felt it tug hard inside me as it passed, and the Djinn-child inside offork I instinctively took another step back and covered my stomach with both hands, but the kick I felt wasn’t pain; it was soold fro shadow taking for with a loose-liend and memory and power

Rahel’s hair was short now, the cornrows reduced to an elegant half-inch crop around the perfect noble sculpture of her head It set off the line of her cheekbones, the full, lush curve of her lips

Her eyes blazed hot, hot, hot a black, which I’d never seen her do Black silk shirt flowing over her lean, h curves to make her feing black pants, wide belt, no-nonsense kick-ass boots

"Snow White," she said, and the s, but certainly real She gave nificant bow, then turned her attention to Lewis as he sank back down in his wheelchair It was sort of a controlled fall "You seem unwell, my friend"

"Yeah," Lewis croaked "Had better days"

Rahel reached down and put her hands on either side of his face Quite a contrast; her skin was a deep blue-black, unsettlingly re shade she’d worn as an Ifrit, and instead of an Ifrit’s diaain, painted a rich, hot gold

"So I see," sheinto his eyes I couldn’t have held that stare, not for any price Lewis blinked, but ed not to flinch too much "I have suffered, Lewis Like you I understand what it is to lose yourself, to know hunger and pain and rage I understand what it is to face an eternity of it, without relief"

"I’m still human," he said "Eternity’s a little shorter for me"

"So you think?" She shook her head a little "Eternity is the sas"

"Why are you back here?" I whispered "How did you-"

Rahel’s attention turned my way, but her eyes didn’t She made her reply directly to Lewis "Because there was death"

"Human death," I said, and then I shut up fast, because I remembered just how Jonathan had beco with David on a battlefield, surrounded by hu a transforives life That’s what Jonathan told ht be another way for Imara no I couldn’t think about it now Not now

"The power is very strong," she said "Though if I had not drawn so ed it Human death tipped the scales; it did not balance them"

She leaned very close to Lewis, so close she was inches froive you what you need"

His s oddly humorous "You’re an exhibitionist now?" His voice had fallen into a silky lower range, resonating in his chest I knew that tone It had dropped e

"Tell one into the dark, too, ripe and sexy and barely ive ratitude?"

"You’ll have to do better than that" Her lips just grazed his, and I saw his skin flush redder

The whole room-the twenty-odd members of Ma’at who had trooped in with us, the silent waitstaff, Marion, Kevin, thethis I don’t know about anybody else, but I was starting to expect clothes to co completely, wildly inappropriate, and would scandalize the socks off of the Ma’at

And then Rahel sive ry, openh the roo that I felt like I’d wandered onto the set of a Merchant Ivory filht Lewis’s pulse was beating fast; I could see it pounding in his neck Rahel looked perfectly coave me that," she said "I require your love"

I finally sais look completely idiotic Yep That was an utterly blank look, blank as a codfish "What?"

"Love," she said distinctly "Devotion Shall you give it? Or shall I go now and leave you to deal with this as you please?"