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"And you do?"

"I found Jean-Luc’s body, you’ll recall"

"Tell you what If it comes to that, I’ll call you"

"You’ve never asked foron one of the cocktail napkins "Here, my number, just in case you need it" He passed the napkin to her "Please, it’s just a phone nureat impatience

But she slipped the cocktail napkin into her purse

"Why won’t you dance with me?" he asked her

"I think I’ve been fairly plain I don’t trust you I don’t particularly like you" He extended a hand toward the tightly packed dance floor "You’re a liar You’re very suspicious, but I intrigue you, and I think that you like me just fine"

"Rather sure of yourself, aren’t you?"

"Maybe But I don’t think I’"

"Let’s see, Iht You know I didn’t do it"

"But you do know soh to know that you’ll put yourself in danger if you can’t learn to trust ive yourself half a chance? Perhaps it’s just in the back of your artistic mind, and maybe it’s more than that, but I don’t believe you really think I could cause you any harm But all that aside, just what do you think I could do out there on the dance floor? Co, coave her no choice He had risen, and taken her hand

There was nothing tight or fierce about his grip at all

And yet

She wasn’t at all certain that she could have broken it

CHAPTER 8

That ticould be the most wonderful

And that hen she heard hi louder Faint, a drea, desire And then

I can feel you, speak to ed with every fiber of her being The fact that he was nearthat he reh her, and her reply caht or effort

But then she held back

There was so else out there Someone Another entity

And when she replied, she did so carefully, already bitter, feeling a new rise of hate and detero

She inhaled the sweet smell of ancient earth She felt the power of the new life, the new blood, filling her veins Felt the war

I will find you

Her na

And then the realization on his end Silence

They could be found

Yes, ill find one another

She closed off, purposely, and yet

It was still out there That hint of danger Strong

They were hts came to her mind, and she was bitter Because she could sense there was th and pohich she was acquainted

She rose It was night now Darkness had descended

And it was her time to rule the earth

Ah, well, start small She didn’t need to rule the earth

Just Paris

Ann was having the time of her life

Once they were on the dance floor, Tara decided wryly that Ann e shepherd dog the night before--but Paris, and the surrounding villages, were full of wolves

They all see, she didn’t have to worry long about being too close to Brent Malone

And she was close They were bumped into every other second, it seeainst him Then she realized that she had been sadly ht him slim or wiry He was lean, but must have been made of pure muscle