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He stopped at the look ona brutal blow to the unknown vae

"Where's the other chopper? We were delayed, so Crispin should have beaten us here"

Ian had never sounded so edgy As if in slowit for the past several hours waiting for his call Nerveless fingers punched in those ten nu that served as a ring

Mencheres came to stand next to me, but I didn't look at him All I could do was stare at the helicopter rotors like I was transfixed My heartbeat was so loud, I al

Onetwothreefour

God, please I'll do anything, please Let hiht

Fivesixseven

He has to answer, he has to!

Eightnineten

There was a click and then background noise I didn't wait for more, but screamed his name

"Bones! Where are you?" I couldn't hear his voice, just more residual sounds "Can you hear me?" I yelled even louder Maybe we had a bad connection

"Yessss"

It was a hiss that drove straight througharound me The voice wasn't masculine, and it had a distinct Middle Eastern accent

"Who Is This?"

Each as a growl corip my arms, but I didn't feel it

A woined, I foundon the ground?

If she said anything else after her next four words, I didn't hear it I kneas screa, that Mencheres snatched the phone froht to stay outside My eyes were still fixated on the slowing helicopter rotors as if they could ht streaked through my mindIf they stop, then Bones won't come out of that chopper Someone, turn them back on! Turn them back on!

No one did They halted with a last, lazy rotation even as Spade forcedexploded in me then, more powerful than the wordpain could ever enco, brutal, satisfied question

Is this the ?

Chapter Twenty-One

I WAS SEATED NEXT TOSPADE, ANGUISH IN MYsoul gougingto claw its way out

But to Spade, I simply asked, "What happened?"

Pink tears streaked his face "Cooper waited at the train station, and about tenup on him with several Master vampires We wanted Anubus alive, so Ian and I secured hiht the rest of theed to run off, so Crispin told Rodney to fall back with us while he went on to skewer the wretch He was supposed to meet up with us here We reckoned he'd beat us, since he didn't have to take the long ith a hostile prisoner I'el So damnably sorry"

Mencheres strode into the room, and the rush of animosity that swept over me left a small, detached part of me curiousWhy are you mad at him? This was all yourfault

"It's not safe here," he announced "Patra may have learned our location from Bones, so we have to leave"

"Could she have lied?" I was grasping at straws, but drowning hands reached for anything

Mencheres cast a look at me that was no less syh to knohen she's lying She was not"

We cleared out in a hurry Randy, Denise, Annette, and my mother were on their way here when a phone call frorateful for I could hardly bear to think the words, let alone hear theain

"all ofno chances," Mencheres snapped into his phone before throwing it to the ground and s it to pieces

Another vampire hurried to hand hi to hie it He could have shriveled atmyself be hustled by the current of people around me

We left by the same helicopter Ian, Spade, Cooper, and Rodney had flown in on My eyes were dry, staring at nothing That's all I see

With a lurch ere airborne Tate called Don and told hi for him to evacuate Whatever my uncle said in reply was drowned out by the sounds of the helicopter and my own apathy What was there to care about anymore? My heart was in pieces

"Cat," Tate sighed when he hung up, putting his arm around me, "Don said-"

He stopped and stared almost stupidly at his chest The knife I'd pulled from my coat and jammed into hi my face crack like pottery that dried too quickly

"That was a warning The next one won't be Did you think you could just slide into Bones's place and I wouldn't ain and I'll finish you, Tate"

I meant every bitter word If there was one person happier than Patra right now, it was Tate He'd hated Bones fro when he shot hi to let Tate dishonor Bones's ht he'd gained by Bones's death, he rong

Tate yanked the knife from his chest without a word He wiped the silver clean on his pants and then handed it back to me

"I'ot up to move to the rear of the craft

No one else spoke after that, the whole two hours north to Canada

We landed in a frozen grass field a hundred yards from a house surrounded by thick trees It was bitterly cold, or maybe it was just me I couldn't seem to remember arm felt like

"Cat, we nored as I hopped down from the helicopter

"What time will Denise and my mother be here?"

He folded his ar up supplies on their way"

"Whatever it is you want to talk about, can it wait until later?"

My emotional armor was on with full reinforcements, but that wouldn't last I needed to be alone so I could break down, I didn't want to do it with an audience

Mencheres nodded