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I heard Finn pass the walkie-talkie over Eva, as in the car with hi, but I'din and well away froer the water elemental posed

"I'm fine, but I'll be better when that bitch is dead You promised me, Gin You promised "

"I know," I said in a soft voice "But I promised Owen too "

Eva sighed "But he has such a blind spot when it comes to Salina He always has "

I didn't tell Eva that I was planning to end that blind spot tonight - permanently She kneell as I did that Salina had to be put down All that remained to be seen nohat Oould think of me after the fact

I looked through the binoculars a final tirabbed fro some extra knives, and slid the in a pile of leaves As a final touch, I picked up a long staff that Finn had gotten when he'd swung by Fletcher's house earlier - a staff that huic

A feeeks ago, I'd used the staff to defeat Randall Dekes, a nasty vampire who'd wanted to keepainst me, and I'd had the staff ready when he did Since the staff was ic Dekes had thrown at me Even now, all these weeks later, the metal felt cold to the touch

My silverstone knives also contained hts with both Dekes and Mab before him, and they were my backup plan, just in case I couldn't overcome Salina with the poithin the staff But if that was the case, I'd probably already be dead Salina wouldn't be giving me second chances to kill her

"All right," I said "Stand by I' in "

"Good luck," Eva whispered back

I tucked the walkie-talkie into another pocket onfor every scrap of luck I could get tonight - and then some We all kneas at stake

Fortunately, the area between the woods and the laas still a bit overgrown fro Salina's absence, and several large holly and rhododendron bushes had sprang up, providing plenty of cover I crept fro closer and closer to the mansion I hadn't spotted Owen in the croith my binoculars, so I had to assume he was already inside - and that Salina ith him, since she hadn't put in an appearance yet

The staff made it difficult to be as invisible as I wanted to be, since it was such a large weapon and the silverstone that it was leamed in the sunset But theeach other up, while their guards all eyed each other The waiters were just trying to keep everyone happy and their heads attached to their shoulders So no one noticed the dark figure slinking through the shadows

Finally, I caerous part of ht by one of the Ice bars It was far too close to the crowd for et to one of thein the other direction, then leftspot and sprinted the few feet over to the bush, crouching down behind it andmyself as small as possible

I counted off the seconds in my head Tentwentythirtyforty-fiveAs the ured I was safe enough to make the final sprint from the bush over to the door