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She froze "RAT? You think there are rats in here?"

Cielito, you&039;re going to pass out if you hyperventilate, and then I&039;ll have to stop guarding you to resuscitate you, and that will leave the path open to the mouse to touch you with its feet

She screaht, but made an effort to breathe He couldn&039;t help but s about facing down one of Bael&039;s wrath deht of a few rodents

"Distracton taking her into his aruard Distractbeasts I suppose we should talk about Eleanor"

"I&039;d prefer not to"

"I hate to say it, but I&039;d rather not, as well What a chicken I am Tell metell me about your past Jas told me that vampires are either born that way or made Which were you?"

"My father was an unredeemed Dark One; thus I was born that way, as well What do you want to know about my past?"

"Wellhow old are you? You look like you&039;reyou&039;re older than you look"

"I was born in 1336 in what is now Dachau, Germany"

"The place where the concentration camp was?"

"Yes It is a lovely area, despite that blot on its history I have a summer home there that I think you&039;ll like"

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"None left living My mother had several children before my father seduced her"

"Sounds like Daddy had some issues"

"Several, not the least of which was an inability to reer than a feeeks He died in a fire in the eighteenth century"

"Really? I didn&039;t think you guys could die"

"We can be killed, yes We don&039;t die of natural causes, however, and it&039;s not easy to end our lives, but inhe was in collapsed on hi him in the fire Even a Dark One cannot stand up to that sort of thing"

"I&039;m sorry," she said, and he knew she honestly was sorry about the loss of his father

"Thank you I was not close to hi family member I felt his loss" He didn&039;t say more, but she read it in his mind nonetheless

Her arainst his back After you&039;d already lost your Beloved I&039;m sorry, Alec Sorry that I wasn&039;t around for you when I should have been

It wasn&039;t your fault, querida It was just one of those cruel accidents that fate deals us sometimes He wanted to add that it would be worth it if he knew he had found his Beloved at last, but he kept his thoughts to hi her to make the decision for herself and not be swayed by his need

"What&039;s a lichmaster?"

"Hmm?" Cora&039;s question interrupted his contemplation of how much time they had, and whether he could convince her that the rooh to make love to her "It&039;s someone who controls liches"

"Like Ulfur?"

"Yes In fact, it&039;s Ulfur that Kris and Pia are trying to save"

"Ah, is that how you kneho he was?" she asked, snuggling up against his back

Hehidden like he was a cri of the small room, but he&039;d happily stand there to the end of his days to protect Cora, if she continued to rub herself against his back that way She was so obviously his Beloved, the one woman put on the earth to be with hinized her froe before de Marco stole his soul and used it to have hiuy Do you think that monk can summon Diamond, too?"

"From the Akasha? No That would take a Guardian, and unless he has one on call, he wouldn&039;t be able to organize a rescue for your friend"

"Well, I&039; about her soon, Alec She&039;s been in there for so else, my ex-husband will be worried about her"

"Time passes differently in the Akasha than here," he said, not liking the feeling of obligation she felt toward the other woman, but aware that it was now his problem, as well "We will contact the Guardian who summoned us to have her do the saainst the back of his neck, her breath war little rivulets of fire into his veins "That&039;s got to be expensive"

"It is"

"You&039;d do that forwide on his belly

"Of course You&039;reto say

"That&039;s still nice of you Alec, do you think we could go to aod, yes, I really like that one! Can we do that? Right now?"

He laughed, turning to face her, about to say that he would be happy to indulge her every fantasy, but at thatsound

"It&039;s justtheod There&039;s aa visible shudder before hurrying out of the room

Kristoff looked past Alec to the shadohere the rat stopped cleaning itself to consider them "Indeed," was all he said before Alec helped him push the door back into place

"I assu er didn&039;t convince you to turn me over to them?" Alec asked as they trooped back upstairs

"Did you think I would?" Kris asked, a se"

"We don&039;t want revenge," Pia said as they entered the sa roo her with food as the tomen sat opposite each other "We never have That&039;s e had Eleanor&039;s reht back to life Even before that, we didn&039;t want it Kristoff spoke on your behalf after the council had you banished, but those new vampires who took Rowan&039;s and Andreas&039;s places on the council are bastards Well, and that Sebastian guy, who I have never liked"

"He&039;s had a hard ti tortured by a demon lord," Alec said with a little smile at Cora as he sat next to her on the couch She ate three ginger cookies rapidly I&039;ry, or I would have asked Pia to feed you

It just kind of hit oodies Is that lemon pound cake? It is! I love lemon pound cake!

Alec pushed the plate of cake closer to Cora, whotwo slices

"Oh, Kristoff toldpain in the butt, but that doesn&039;t make him any easier to take Cora, if you like the pound cake, you have to try the creaet them from a little bakery in town, and they are to die for I&039;ve always said that if you&039;re going to eat for two, you ht as well eat what you like And by &039;eat for two&039; I don&039;ta baby, so you can just put your eyeballs back in, Alec I ives you a bit er of popping out, thank you," he said drily, leaning back, one arm draped over Cora&039;s shoulders as she and Pia consumed just about every last bit of food "Where is Eleanor?"

"Still pouting in her bedroos to say about you, which I&039;ed"

Cora looked surprised "Why did you encourage that? "

Pia smiled at them both "Because she didn&039;t know that Alec wasn&039;t down here, so she was e in private Which er"

"What did Julian say?" Alec asked, needing to know the worst He had to protect Cora from whatever penalty the council would mete out on him

"The council knows you&039;re out, of course," Kristoff answered, sitting next to Pia on the love seat "They assume you&039;ll come here I told them I would tell them if I saw you"

Alec&039;s eyebrows rose "You lied?"

"Of course But that&039;s not going to fool theht accuseyou hidden away, but he did notice your car, and he&039;s not stupid He&039;ll be back And when he does" Kristoff&039;s gaze shifted to Cora

"Why do I have a feeling that what you&039;re not saying is so to dislike? " she asked hi her neck as he mulled over the possibilities "I will have to leave"

"Yes, but that&039;s not the answer," Kristoff said, aze with one that spoke volumes "They&039;ll simply follow you"

"Do they have so ability?" Cora asked, worry uppermost in her mind "Will they be able to find you quickly, I mean?"

"Not if I don&039;t wish to be found, no But Kristoff is correct that they won&039;t give up - they&039;ll continue to track me until they find me and return me to the Akasha"

"Well, don&039;t let theht "I went to a lot of trouble to have that Guardian pull you out of there Maybe if you talked to the with hiers on a linen napkin before sitting back "We talked ourselves blue in the face, but they absolutely would not listen They maintain that Alec&039;s actions have indirectly caused the deaths of Dark Ones, and that he should pay for that That&039;s e resurrected Eleanor"

Cora&039;s shoulders dropped as she leaned into hi his senses with her warm, feminine feel and scent "Maybe you could hide, then, somewhere that they won&039;t find you"

"It&039;s possible," he said, wondering if she&039;d consent to shut herself aith hi "They&039;ll find you, Alec"

"There is one solution," Pia said, her hand on Kristoff&039;s leg She glanced at hi

"What&039;s that?" Cora asked, and in a flash she knehat Pia would say

Pia took a deep breath and pinned Cora back with an intense look "Someone has to Join with Alec I know you said you didn&039;t want to, but there&039;s really no other way to save hi to have to make a decision, Cora; it&039;s either you or Eleanor One of you is Alec&039;s only salvation"