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"Dante has tunnels built beneath the estate"

Shay recalled fee tunnels that Viper had constructed beneath his own house It sees to give him speed Levet never turned his head "Va stupid, Shay Or careless"

"No, I suppose not," she readily agreed

Reaching the stairs she hesitated as Levet headed doard Fro wielded An oddly faasped

"The demons?"

Levet grie of being trapped in a cellar with Abby as she had transfored to scorch the evil witch trying to kill them into a tiny bit of cinder She didn’t really want an encore perforoddess’s poeren’t always particular about which deet fried "That would explain the heat"

"Yes Coht of stairs that led to the lower base to hurt herself if she continued to stuht switch?"

"We have no need for soic" Levet halted and began to mutter beneath his bream

"Levet, no--"

Shay’s plea came a moment too late as there was a sudden explosion that sent theht," Levet led to their feet and brushed off the ash that had filled the air

"I appreciate the effort, Levet, but maybe we should stick with the more traditional methods," she muttered

"Fine" Levet threw up his hands as he disappeared into the thick shadows "But when those demons are about tohow do you sayto me for some powerful spell to rescue you"

Shay couldn’t help but sery "I’ll keep that inViper when he reached the lower baseh hio in search of Shay Hell, he had expected to have to carry her down here kicking and screaly stubborn It would be just like her to flat out refuse to flee regardless of the danger

Moving directly toward the back wall Viper adjusted the sword strapped to his back and set aside the heavy bag of weapons before he pulled off the vent that concealed the entrance to the tunnel It was there just as Dante promised and he waved his hand toward the two that hovered in the shadows

"This way," he whispered, oyle and held his hand out toward Shay who hesitated at the opening

"Shay?"

She bit her bottoarded hio"

For a moment his temper threatened to flare Daer Certainly not out of some ridiculous misplaced sense of bravado Then he peered into her pale features and he realized that her reluctance had nothing to do with bluster or pride The witches had obviouslyher in seons Who could bla the cra anywhere without you" He shifted enough to take her hand Her fingers were as cold as his "You won’t ever be alone in the dark again"

"Maybe that’s what I’h she couldn’t hide the strain in her voice

"Trust aze dropped to their clasped hands and she struggled to s

He grinored the way his entire body vibrated with the need to sweep her off her feet and haul her to safety Daer Still, he knew that this was not the moment to press Shay He needed her faith in him He needed it if they were both to survive And just as importantly he needed it for himself

Could she ever truly offer her trust to anyone?

Could she offer it to a vahtened on his and she stepped into the tunnel Inside a flare of triuh to keep his expression carefully neutral as he pulled her down the tunnel He wouldn’t give her any excuse to balk now

Keeping her close at his side Viper reached out with his senses He could feel the faint prickle that warned there was so other than humans nearby Unfortunately, he couldn’t deter other was They were still too far away for him to pick up their scent, and he had never possessed Dante’s keen ability to determine different species just by their power Still he knew enough to realize they didn’t want tothe to concentrate on but killing When he didn’t have distractions he was very, very good at it

The tunnel led them well away from the house, but as they reached the end Viper held back his coht breeze For a e to slip away unnoted A stroke of fortune that seeood to be true

It was, of course