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Sinking his nails deep into the arthen Before he had been chained to the Chalice, he would have drained theout his throat

A pity

His head lowered Unfortunately the wizard was not about to be sacrificed without a fight With cold deter the darkness even as he reached into his pocket to reht suddenly filled the hall, blinding Dante and forcing hie backward A stake was a stake, and he wasn’t about to allow overconfidence to lead to his de

The wizard glanced down at his bleeding arms "You do know there is no need for us to be eneive me the Chalice and I shall ensure you are set free"

Dante smoothly reached out to slash the man’s face ’You think I would trust you?’

The wizard flinched but his coain for me to kill you For the moment, you stand in my way, but if you were to step aside, we could prove to be valuable allies"

"Te, but I don’t think so"

"The witches have you that cowed?" he taunted, the stake held casually in his fingers as if he forgot he even held it Dante was not stupid The wizard hoped to rile his anger and give hied "It has nothing to do with the witches"

’Then…" The wizard gave a sudden laugh "Ah, of course You have coirl You are worse than cowed; you’re completely neutered"

"Actually, you have missed the most obvious reason I refuse to join forces with you"

The cold eyes narrowed "And ould that be?"

"I don’t like you"

At last realizing that Dante was not going to be bullied or coerced, the wizard grasped the er of his master if he were not to die in this hallway

Dante crouched, preparing hiht air, Abby was shivering

It was h the spider-infested tunnel Or the realization that by standing on the corner by herself she n that said "Coo

It was h the back of her hts, but his e a false trail Or even searching for the scent of the strange de the wizard

She could feel his lethal intent as if it were her own

Daination failed her, but it was going to be really, really bad

Stewing on potential repercussions, Abby froze as she heard the un footsteps

"I’ bloodhound," a male voiceUnless you want to return to the master and confess you have failed him?" an icy voice demanded

Silently Abby pressed herself into the bush beside the tree Her pursuers seemed to be human, but she wasn’t overly relieved

Not after she had seen what the wizard did to the coven

Ick

"She could be anywhere by now"

"Listen to h the leaves, Abby watched a short, squat rab a pimply faced boy by the throat "When I found A I have no intention of joining him in hell At least not yet"

Another man as built like a linebacker and possessed the expression of savage stupidity curled his hands into fists

"Perhaps the varowled

The shortto risk your life on an impotent vampire?" He waited for either man to speak They were obviously not as stupid as they looked since both dropped their heads to study their toes "Fine Fan out and search the block"

There was a brief, tensea knife in the head goon No honor a to their senses, they turned and grudgingly trudged down the street

Abby forced herself to re merry man to be on his way There were all sorts of hidey-holes to be searched

Most of theent spots for hide-and-seek than her own sad, scraggly bush

He didn’t scurry away He didn’t even meander away He remained as rooted to the spot as the ancient oak It see firesture that would havetwit reached into the pocket of his heavy robe and pulled out a strange rock that was hanging upon a chain Holding it upward, he began to chant beneath his breath