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"Yeah, that o o"

"I had my own reason I hoped if I pretended to lose interest in you, they would stop hunting you"

"Wait a sec You thought if you dated so me? I don’t understand what you have to do with any of this I thought they were after me because--" My jaw snapped noisily shut before I could finish hts I had the sudden co the roo, sh-tech and shiny But all of theer, his eyes held the faintest shadow of uncertainty "You were saying?" he asked

"They aren’t attackingfor me before we ever met Before I htest bit "What do you mean?"

"Iabout so I kno s that are following me, and what are they?"

He stood froloo-shee," Bridger whispered "That’s Navajo for ‘With it he goes on all four’ "

I opened my mouth to ask him what the heck he’d just said, but his face was so pale, so lost in another world, I didn’t make a noise

"The Navajo call them witches They steal the skin of an aniht his dark eyes up to meet mine "I can feel the evil in so I have ever experienced in my life" A shiver racked his body "They do horrible, ain by beco an animal And they are srasp so He clenched his jaw and stared athe didn’t want to

"How have you survived four attacks, Maggie Mae?" A light seemed to burn behind his dark eyes "And how did you kill three un? A knife? Are you trained in hand-to-hand co my throat and took a deep breath, about to tell hihts flickered and the house went pitch black before a word left my mouth

It lasted only a heartbeat, that blackness, for the lights flickered back to war shattered the silence I juer’s side

"It’s all right," he said, voice shaky "It’s just soate"

He walked to the front door and I followed on his heels, but instead of opening the door, he pushed a button on an intercom

"Who is this?" he demanded

A sharp jolt of static cracked from the intercoirl to us," the voice said

Bridger’s eyes turned hard "Over my dead body," he barked into the intercom

"Well, wouldn’t that be a lovely bonus," the woround I could hear the chortling and braying of aniainst you Don’t think ill spare you because of who your father is You are one; we are legion You can’t keep us at bay forever"

Bridger’s voice was steely cold when he spoke "I will give you a warning But only one I won’t be alone for long Leave now or you will all die"

There was a pause before the wo fro much smoother than the typical Aive the warning We have disarmed your security system You have ten minutes to decide what to do before we coer’s breath quickened The small muscles of his jaw flexed and released over and over His eyes met mine

"I will not hand her over so that you can er insisted He reached for my hand and pulled htly "Who said anything aboutto die We just want her back"

35

His hand jerked away from the intercoainst mine Slowly, his eyes met mine Doubt and despair battled across his face "No, please no," he whispered "Please say you aren’t one of theie"

I looked down at my bare feet, unable to answer

"You are one of them, aren’t you" It wasn’t a question It was a statement A realization I looked at hih, for he closed his pain-filled eyes and shook his head slowly back and forth When he opened his eyes, they were full of repulsion

Faster than I thought any person could un case He opened it and re And then the coldbecaer disappeared I shifted I heard gunfire I aler disappeared I shifted Danni, wearing ht at the er was there With a gun

The choker, the heishe beads he wore, were the same as those worn by Rolf Heinrich Rolf Heinrich had been huntingme, too?

I closed my eyes and waited for ainst ed breath moved noisily in and out of his throat