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The private airfield was quiet in the hour before dawn As the lira there He had the Beretta ready, but lately he&039;d realized it un So his hand also htful one, that boy Jacob was first off the plane Elijah&039;s brow creased He wasslowly, his face down And he needed assistance His brother ith hi hiant man with copper hair whose perfect beauty, even iht man to deny, screamed vampire Gideon walked a few paces away, an ax hefted in one hand, a crossbow in another He was fairly relaxed--for Gideon It told Ingra pursued, but it was obvious fro and the blood all over them, as well as the weary expressions, that they&039;d been in one hell of a fight Where was the lady? That boy didn&039;t go anywhere she wasn&039;t nearby Alht, a shadow passed over the windshield, a current of wind that had hi his head to see what had just moved over the limo

When the men ithin thirty feet of the car, a creature landed behind theraistered that neither Gideon nor the pretty one appeared startled by its appearance Her appearance, on closer ex- ahten and turn to face her Gideon&039;s lips tightened in that expression that suggested he wasn&039;t entirely happy about matters More than usual The boyback When he went to his knees, it seeh it visibly cost him quite a bit of effort But she was already there to catch hi around the back of his vulnerable neck, drawing hi her at half-fold as she bent her sraantabout vampires, he had room in his mind now for other creatures not part of the hu, there was a fascinating beauty to the lean, fes, the grace- ful way she tilted her head over Jacob and focused on hie, almond-shaped, entirely dark eyes Jacob&039;s body slu hiside the tarmac The copper- haired vampire knelt on the other side of him, and Elijah came to join theuard "He&039;s just passed out again, " Lady Lyssa said quietly "He shouldn&039;t have tried to kneel Honorable knight Foolish aze to study Elijah, Elijah remem- bered a friend of his who had raised wolves from puppies He&039;d as- sured him they were tame But whenever Elijah went to see his friend, the wolves looked at him the way the vampire did now The civilized veneer was just that, and he was tolerated only because it would upset his friend if they ate his coram, " the limo driver said at last

A faintly ironic smile crossed the va his attention back to Jacob, Mason reached over hiround and give the transition tith, " he said in accented tones that whispered of deserts and trade caravans "How about we start by getting him into the limo? It&039;s close to dawn " This froram, not at the others "Gideon " Lyssa drew his reluctant attention "You need to stay with Mason awhile Jacob will need your care and his connection to you as his brother It helps, to keep a new vampire centered After the first three days, newborn bloodlust will strike hard The stron- gest re tied around her neck on a ribbon, and now she bent so Mason could untie it "It&039;s a vial of my blood, " she ex- plained at Gideon&039;s narrow look "The vial came from Brian&039;s tempo- rary lab and Debra helped me fi ll it Because I&039;m his sire, Jacob will need a drop of it once a day for the first thirty days after the full e the pain of the transition If he needs restraining, use a cell Not wrist restraints " "I can&039;t fucking believe this " Gideon walked two paces away, turned in a circle, came back "I can&039;t" "You can&039;t what?" She raised a brow, her eyes narrowing He closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose "I can&039;t believe he let you in on that trick " He said it as if froets out of wrist restraints " "I guessed He didn&039;t tell azed up at hi a HinduMusli to coo find an orphaned Muslim child and raise him as his own And that hefor you, Gideon Your brother is a va " "No, " Gideon said The words ca " He squatted then and laid his hand on Jacob&039;s broith a surprising gentleness At this o, sitting on the edge of a bed, stroking the sleeping head of his eight-year-old brother, taking the place of their mother and father She wished she could reach out to Jacob and touch his head, too, but theclaws, she re back, she cleared her throat to continue, conscious of In- graard "After that, he can drink s when he does, standing guard so you can pull the donor ahen he&039;s reached a pint He needs no er It takes three ain that ability, but only if he has a drop of this every day Mason knows all of this, of course " She shifted her gaze to the liram I need you to make that phone call for me as we planned, for I don&039;t knohat the Council will do about their vote I suspect itives will have other priorities for a while Mason will explain the details Before I left Atlanta, I had Jacob h to keep you coate you But if you would help Gideon with Jacob, I would be grateful " Her voice broke a little as she brushed her knuckles along Jacob&039;s brow again "And don&039;t tell his " Mr Ingram hesitated a moment, then he extended his hand When she indicated the status of her own, he shook his head, reached out and circled her wrist She watched, nonplussed as he bent and kissed the top of her mutated hand "Ma&039;aood woman at least once or twice in his life " He paused, apparently think- ing before he took so it in his hand- kerchief, he handed it to her "This is soave it to her to keep her safe and blessed e fell in love, short though that was I know you can&039;t wear or touch it, but--"

Lyssa felt the h the cloth She took a corner and shook the contents free of the fabric into the cup of her clawed hand When she saw the silver cross, despite herself her gaze strayed down Jacob&039;s bare chest, down to the waistband of the torn and blood- stained slacks, under which she knew the sa chain fortunately, whichthe chain around her neck, she let the talis- man drop between her bare breasts "A final lesson for you, " she said at Elijah&039;s surprised look, extend- ing the kerchief back to him "A vampire with faith may embrace relics as much as anyone I&039;ve never lost my soul " She&039;d come close with Rex and the loss of Thomas, but Jacob had saved it Carried it for her Kept it safe A good man was known to do that occasionally for a woman as well In fact, he carried it now My heart, andthat matters "If you will all take care of hiave an arch look to Mason "And you perhaps will have absolved yourself of one or two of yourat her servant, the trace of hu- , she pressed her lips to Jacob&039;s brow I shall abond Sir Lancelot of the purest heart My life will be ehter, so be happy When the sun shinesand sht touch She couldn&039;t bear more than that, because it res But suddenly, she didn&039;t have a choice A hand curved around her nape, his knowledgeable fingers teasing the sen- sitive skin there Hishers,drawing her down ainst his chest The nipples drew up in aroused reaction,her ravenous to lie upon hi connection, the affirmation that he was alive Alive She couldn&039;t do that For several reasons But she couldn&039;t find it in herself to immediately draw back either Her tears spilled over her lashes, baptizing his face, and heher face, the three tight folds of skin molded beneath each of her eyes

One hand slid down her shoulder to take a grip on the clawed elbow of one wing Her tail curled around his calf, the barbed tip resting just inside the thigh When at last she did draw back, her mouth was soft and wet as the expression in his eyes Mason cleared his throat and rose "We&039;ll wait over there and give you a raram frowned "Not certain Haven&039;t felt any " The vaestures went a long way to easing some of Elijah&039;s tension about the odd band, their postbattle appearance And the lady&039;s unexpectedtoo raot a drink " Gideon grumbled it,shouldered the crossbow "I could use a hit of the strongest thing you&039;ve got nificant look with Gideon, he reluctantly joined theround and his Mistress their privacy Jacob watched Lyssa gracefully lower herself fros at half-spread to balance herself So, you want to explain how Lord Mason can read your mind so well, my lady? The depths of her entirely dark eyes in this form were so deep he could lose hiabond And you once told me if I knew all of your secrets, I would tire of you in no tiardless, he brought her down to hi her fast, hands ling against the desire to curl her claws into hi into his skin, drawing blood Her body was shaking He splayed out his fingers, touching her throat, the ear He wanted to hold her ile As if their brush with death was still too close, and ht shatter the fantasy and take them back to a horrible reality

He let her ease back only because the grayness around his vision from the intensity of the eht I&039;d lost you, " she said "You very nearly did I saw tunnels, white light Relatives " Her face grew still "Should I have let you go?" He shook his head "You weren&039;t there It isn&039;t Heaven if you&039;re not there Plus, I think I saw atory at best I can&039;t i to put up with him on a daily basis " She closed her eyes and lowered her head farther His touch slid to the back of the s the pointed tip of one ear There were no shields between their minds now, probably be- cause of the emotion of the moment Since she was cured of the virus to all appearances, he was sure she&039;d regained the ability to block hioing through herinside her they were ready to detonate "I&039;ve never seen you hold this forht, the answer flashed through herof her lips that told hi to not raise her shields She couldn&039;t The significance of what Mason had said struck him then Why did they need a moment nohen they could have all the moments they wanted somewhere protected--a hotel, her house in Atlanta, anywhere but in an open airfield? Must say good-byeThough she tried to obscure it with other thoughts, she was too used to relying on her shields, and he had a whole new level of psy- chic clarity in addition to his own to defrost theof her ot it all duut

She couldn&039;t change back Whether it was the effect of the serum on her Fey blood that Brian had not factored in, or the stress of turn- ing him when he was already well on the other side of the Veil, she&039;d lost her ability to return to the form she knew he loved so hts and his own, separating the alive had carried hih to dispatch Carnal, but no further He cursed hoeary his body was, how he could do little rip her hand, but he marveled at this new hy- perclarity of his hts at once He wondered if it was that way for all of theht be some truth to the vampire sense of mental superiority "I love you in any forht in a forest when I gladly would have taken you like this You denied entle when roused " "I think I can handle it now I&039;m invincible " "You look ready to conquer the world " Despite the dry tone, she hesitated, her long talons hovering He captured her closed hand, took it to his face and turned into it, kissing her palm while her le- thal claws curled into his hair "You&039;ll regain your strength in three days, " she said unsteadily "Or rather, a fledgling va for a vaet that strength, Mason will teach you how to e it How to feed, how often How to use the h as a servant you already have the basics of that But I think, because you already had psychic ability, that Mason will be a good teacher of how to take greater advantage of that Gideon is going to help, too " Jacob shoved past theto draw hie to test my control?" She wasn&039;t able to keep the humor from her eyes this tie That see about? Where are you going?" He circled her wrist with both of his hands, as if he could hold her there, when he knew she could shake him off like a clumsy infant

Which at the moment he was "I don&039;t know yet " Her lips twisted ironically "Which is good, since I no longer have the ability to keep you out ofyou like this Whether or not the Council coht They won&039;t accept e, it will take tiht now, in their minds, the line is ended No o where I&039;o with you " "No " She shook her head "You need time to think This is a whole neorld for you, Jacob, and the punishainst the , you&039;ll be accepted He&039;ll find you a place in the Middle East, or you could even go to Lady Daniela&039;s territory You need tiure out your place in your neorld " "I&039;ve always known my place " He said it with heat "It&039;s with you " The blaze of anger in his blue eyes shot longing through her He was alive So alive She wanted to devour him Hold him to her breast forever "You stand a better chance with Mason " If they did hunt her, she couldn&039;t bear seeing him harmed, iso- lated, ostracized If she was killed, she didn&039;t want hiuish he would feelShe would feel it Making it that le The it back to Brian&039;s lab to be cut up like a piece of meat "No " He sat up then, seized both of her wrists She closed her eyes Despite the seriousness of the moment, she teased hio, when he had thoughts he didn&039;t want her to hear "I forgot you could do that " "You won&039;t leave without lanced behind hiain, his eyes locked on his lady&039;s

"He can&039;t stop o that I won&039;t follow " "Think, Jacob Please, for my sake"--for one breath, just one heartbeat--"don&039;t think of me Think of yourself Learn fro as a vampire I need to know you&039;re alive and well That&039;s all I want " "Like hell " Did she think he couldn&039;t feel the ache of her loneli- ness already? She&039;d never needed many around her, but those she chose, she chose carefully, loved fiercely In less than two years, they&039;d all been taken from her She would shut down, retreat from the world, let the animal part take her over as she lived in soet what it was to be hu to animal instinct would be easier That hen they hunted her down and killed her, she would only have an ani She wouldn&039;t be tortured by the anguished re-Sun,is being given a new beginning by the gods This is what&039;s best " She freed one hand to trace his lips, then realized she couldn&039;t without cutting him Her face crumpled That doesn&039;t matter Kiss me, my lady Please "I can&039;t " She couldn&039;t stay another rate into pieces She had to let hih he tried to hold on, she wrested away, tears gather- ing in her eyes again, and launched herself "My lady" He tried to struggle up, staggered When Mason ca it hiainst the predawn sky, he sed over jagged glass "My lady " I release you fro at Mason as the ain The amber eyes were syet you inside " It hadn&039;t occurred to hireat deal war hiain, but knowing he could never feel his lady&039;s touch eclipsed that loss, ain He would learn the da he needed to protect her, use his new strengths to do that, and to find her again He had to Not just because he loved her sowithout her, but because she needed him in a way she&039;d never needed anyone since she&039;d matured into her adult vampire abilities She&039;d not only lost the ability to shapeshift into human form She&039;d sacrificed her vampire blood to save his life When the dawn caround Jacob had become a vam- pire, and she&039;d transformed fully into a Fey creature Because of their link, or his new abilities mixed with his own natural ones, he&039;d picked it up frohts While she was still ith and quickness coer had power She was fast, but not so fast she couldn&039;t be folloith the eye If the vampire world learned that, she&039;d be as vulnerable to theainst even one of the lower echelon It was possible even a huht or ical Fey abilities to aid her, but in her mind she&039;d doubted it Without that, Jacob knew even a the Fey she&039;d be considered little better than their lowest caste An untouchable She was his lady, his to protect His to love He was not going to lose her

H e&039;d been in the Appalachians for teeks now, hiking deeper and deeper beyond the touch of human civilization The last evidence of huo, the remains of a camp for recreational hikers By day he pitched his tent, ht he h the wood, not even de- tected by the forest creatures until he was right upon them He could place a hand on a deer&039;s flank, feel the soft coarseness of her hair, s through the night One evening he&039;d e to fi nd a wolf pack surveying his ss They&039;d snarled back But then they turned and loped on Tonight, he&039;d been traveling for several hours before the ed to rise above the cloud cover As he squatted by a strea the feel of the dark- ness, the way the breeze lifted his hair The sounds of the night The stars He&039;d noticed them before of course, but until his lady, he&039;d al- ways been ht person Now he knew the constella- tions,the phases of the moon, and studied with interest the way shadows moved over the silver face of the symbol of feht as actually silent It hat it passed through that gave it a voice Afterimpatience, a calm had finally settled over him She was near Do you really think you can hide from me, my lady? I know you&039;ve been close for several days now Staying just out ofthe time he&039;d had to endure his full transition to a vam- pire form, sometimes they&039;d had to chain hi should be able to break he shattered within three nights So they doubled theht the bloodlust, he kneas tearing at his vitals was not a hunger for blood, but for her Knowing she had no one to protect her Robbed of the great strength she had Handicapped Like hi to her new forth and quickness far beyond ato far less of those qualities than what she&039;d always known Alone He&039;d had the coraitive He did everything Mason told his he could not rush The ability to control the bloodlust only ca of the systems in his body Gideon made it clear he&039;d stake him if he tried to leave before then Mason, while a little less vitriolic, had also made it clear he wouldn&039;t be perer to innocents "Once the transformation is complete, it will not co the first decade it&039;s teer to let it take control You ht it whenever it arises until you are certain you can control it You need that discipline even , for your power is exponentially greater than one " That anoh that he talked Jacob into allowing Brian to study him to help them understand what had happened Brian was aiven Jacob over a thousand years of th, quickness, coth for his lady&039;s experi- ence at reading reat distance While the ability to communicate with a human or vampire whose blood he&039;d taken was a common vampire skill, the ability to reat distances was apparently so a vampire acquired with practice, not as part of conversion A week after her departure, Jacob had panicked upon rising, for he could no longer discern her thoughts in his nitive ability had helped him adapt to the skill quickly as a servant, he hadn&039;t realized how uided by Lyssa&039;s own abilities He could feel her Locate her generally But he couldn&039;t hear her thoughts Only a junal was scraht that was for the best That it wouldfro his name while he was unable to hear her He had no interest in va a place in vam- pire society He knehere his place was To help hi for the damnable transformation to complete so he wouldn&039;t be tempted to drain innocent Girl Scouts, he made the decision to let Brian study him to his heart&039;s content, in return for a vital favor As a result, in addition to his carefully rationed store of blood packed in his cooler backpack, he carried so even more im- portant All he needed to use it was his lady When he tracked her to the Appalachians with Mason&039;s help and had Elijah drive hiain, once he was close enough But she was elusive, so that he only heard snippets Sharp, brittle pieces of thoughts, quick syllables cut off Soness it was like she had found a way to co else crowded out of her brain During one part of the drive, he&039;d felt her fear A blast of fury fol- lowed by physical exertion As if she was runningBeing chased

Knowing he was too far away to do anything to help her, he&039;d only been able to sit there in the second seat, frozen with rage, wanting to rend, to tearFighting for control as the sound of Elijah&039;s blood puh his heart nearly drove hi the distance between them, he still so to get even closer He felt her restlessness Aching want Some- times tiredness Once or twice even illness, when it seemed she tried a food that wasn&039;t the best source of prey He began to feel her physical reactions The ater moved s creek Leaves fluttering against her skin as she curled up in the most dense part of a tree to sleep She was so close She&039;d been watching him for several days now He could have tried to see her, find her, but he had to be patient The hu close The instinctual part, the creature, was mistrustful, uncertain whether he was friend or foe As he&039;d feared, she&039;d allowed that part of her to take over a sig- nificant part of her reasoning functions Because she was close, he could wait, be still and silent The na- ture of a vampire was not to rush He understood it now He could be patient, not only because he had ti beyond his reach to acquire The gift he wanted was her trust Tonight would be the night He was sure of it There was a still- ness in hi "You seek the aberration a us " Jacob&039;s head snapped around He came to his feet in a lithe, quick move as the man stepped out of the shadows of the forest on the other side of the creek Not a man Not exactly A Fey male Jacob had never seen a member of the Fey other than his lady and the depictions in the books given to her by her mother centuries be- fore All of them were associated with an element Like his lady, this one was a creature of the earth His wings reround in fall, the edges curled

The delicate inner web of veins was like gold thread against the s black hair did not coht ear, which was curved back He was tall and lean, his face elegant and chiseled, reical power told Jacob not only was he facing ato fear from Jacob&039;s speed, quickness and power "The Fey can completely kick our asses any day of the week, " Brian had told him "They consider us beneath their notice most of the time An irritant However, what&039;s odd is your lady&039;s Fey form is unknown to us and possibly to the Fey themselves Quite frankly the two species, vampire and Fey, have never been able to procreate, be- fore or since Lady Lyssa&039;s parents " Irritant or not, Jacob wasn&039;t going to let the insult pass "I seek my lady The Lady Elyssa Ahter of a Fey lord and a vampire princess I seek no aberration " Thelike almond-shaped moonstones "She has wandered this area for a week or so now I have chosen not to drive her out as h " Jacob took a step forward, anger flashing through his of fear, pursuit"She should be welconored that "She is liked by our little ones Our pixie fairies are our more simple brethren, but their hearts are pure and playful They will not tolerate proxiood Well, except chocolate " A faint sht any with you " Jacob shook his head, nonplussed "Pity, " the Fey ings as a result If they had not chaone into the forest again, just like that As if he&039;d never been, his words hanging in the air like a warning Jacob stood silently, watching the movement of the trees where he&039;d disappeared

He wondered how many Fey lands he&039;d passed over unmolested the past teeks Lands his lady had been driven out of as if she were unwelcome vermin A queen Control, Jacob He reh he didn&039;t think the vah those sas off the Fey as if they were oversized flies Moer was gone Everything was gone except his aware- ness of as in this clearing She was behind him He knew it, because her proxi outward onto his nape, his back How he&039;d missed that touch Even her touch as a Mistress Thehi beneath him, her body open to him She would not vanish on him this time She would be there Please, God As he co he&039;d wanted and needed to seeelse over the past fourat his curving under her chin She blinked at hi slowly fro he had to fight it down like the bloodlust He stood there, his hands clenched, counting, wait- ing, regaining control She watched hied up and she cocked her head A questioning croon ca The noise seemed to puzzle her, as if she&039;d meant to form words "My lady " Jacob controlled the compulsion to leap on her then and there and hold her fast He wanted her to trust hih he knew hea fool He&039;d missed her so much There was no way to describe how , and he was nearly choked with it now

Mason had been surprised the serpentine mark on his back had not disappeared, for in the past the third mark had disappeared on the sally turned Jacob&039;s had simply turned more silver It hadn&039;t surprised hi carefully, he removed three of the strips of round When he looked up at her, she was studying theaze to hier His lady was definitely in there While he bit back a smile, it drew tears to his eyes "I&039;ve dreamed of you, my lady Have you dreaotten et , shaking her head, and she put a talon to her forehead, scraped "Buzzing, " she rasped "Music Sweet " Her voice was so rusty from disuse, it made his own throat close up in pain "My lady " She stayed in her tree though she tensed as Jacob rose, ca his fingers Her eyes rested on his hand, ered on his lips NotServe ine anyone who has seen you daring to call you anything else, e of possessive command "As you are h her as she re- sponded to it Oh, she was definitely in there It ht she&039;d allowed hiht waiting for four months would drive him to insanity Suddenly four more minutes seemed more than he could bear As if she sensed his ot her haunches under her Was he e in her eyes?

"Colinted "Or I&039;ll show off and coht,on the other side of the strea for her there, crouched just below the branch she was on He sprang and she took off again, but he anticipated her, caught her an- kle She turned on hih the air While she was able to dislodge herself and soar free again, he ht himself and land on his feet half-crouched, as sinuous as a cat