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Idrive into town I didn&039;t have the faintest idea how to help the ghosts, but the Brotherhood people at the church o to theet specifics Maybe one of thehosts on to their reward

Cheered by that thought, I sat back and tried to think positively

The sight of a police car slowly patrolling the streets of the town as we approached ended that happy ot out at the first stop, taking a good twenty h as hosts trailing after hosts, a petulant-looking teenage girl, asked in a grating, whiny voice "Are we going to have to walk all the way to Ostri?"

An older wolance my way "Do not speak so to the reaper She will show us the way"

"So we hope," I , inky shadows fro the alleyways particularly diht suddenly spot me and set up a hue and cry, but the streets were bare of lonely A, too," I said as I cut behind a row of buildings to avoid a busy intersection "All we need now is to run into someone I kno - oof!"

A dark shape loomed up out of nowhere, as hard as brick, and a lowed athere?" I asked, too annoyed at having been duhtened of Kristoff Behind athered Ulfur&039;s horse whinnied

"Who&039;s he?" the elderly host asked

"I don&039;t know I think she knows hih," Ulfur answered

"I do, not that it&039;s here nor there," I answered

Kristoff&039;s eyebrows rose

"Sorry Talking to hosts&039;"

He narrowed his eyes "Ghosts, plural?"

"Yes Thirteen of them Fourteen if you count the horse"

Kristoff was silent for the count of ten "Where&039;s Alec?"

I put my hands on my hips, more than a little peeved "Do you seriously think I&039;d be skulking around back alleys with a herd of ghosts if he ithto find you He hasn&039;t?"

"No" I glared at Kristoff as he e care to avoid the dis I hesitated, feeling unsure of what ard to Alec I had a whole lot of questions to ask hi down to why he had skipped out, leaving me alone without a word "You spoke to hi about Anniki?"

"Oh! It&039;s a Dark One!" Ulfur said behind reement

"He&039;s ever so handsoirl said I shot her a look She smirked at me

"What is there to say?" Kristoff answered, his scowl truly world-class "I suppose I will have to take you to hiusted," I snapped, ain by the fact that he obviously disliked ! And just for the record, I don&039;t like you very much, either You&039;re not at all what a vampire should be like"

That took him aback for a few seconds "And just what do you think a Dark One should be like?"

"Sexy! Like Angel and those guys in the vampire movies Well, except the bun-head version, but that wasn&039;t meant to be sexy"

"You don&039;t think I&039; across his face

"I do!" the teen ghost said

I ignored her andKristoff froht he had been eye candy before, he definitely improved with nearness His hair was sort of a chestnut reddish broith curls that looked as soft as satin His face was hard, as I&039;ve noted, but it was a hard beauty, with a cleft chin that so my eye Like Alec, he was several inches taller than me, but where Alec was bulky with heavy muscles, Kristoff possessed a leaner fra cat, like a lion or panther I ignored the breadth of his chest, telling er, however, and filled out his faded jeans in a hs I had a sudden urge to go peek at his behind, but quickly squelched that The ghosts, I had a feeling, would never let ave a little nonchalant laugh that sounded awfully strained "No, not at all Not in the least That dead rat over there exudes more sexual attraction than you do"

"Is she blind?" I heard the girl ask someone else "Or just stupid?"

"Hush, child, and let the reaper alone," the older woht, hostly woman spoke up "Don&039;t do to let your man think as he can speak to you like that"

"He&039;s notmore

Kristoff just stood there and looked atlike hell Yes, you&039;re very attractive, the kind of sexy that makes women want to rip off their underwear and throw themselves on you Happy now?"

He didn&039;t even blink, just stared at ht in the park?"

My cheeks burned at the ether in a half circle, watchingto see what I&039;d say next "That was a different situation entirely And I had st-men status, I don&039;t like you You have insulted uilty about so that is not od, the teal color darkened a couple of shades I watched in fascination as the black spikes froate and fill the iris "When have I insulted you?"

The words snapped me back from a reverie about how bad men so often had such pretty eyes "What? Oh When haven&039;t you insulted ht"

"If I wanted you dead, you&039;d be dead," he said in an even tone That scared hosts said as there was a general intake of breath

"Yes, well that aside, you told me you&039;d rather h that I didn&039;t care if I was arguing in front of an audience or not

His lips tightened "You didn&039;t want to marry me, either"

"They&039;re married?" the teen asked in a sulky voice "That just isn&039;t right"

"No, of course I didn&039;t want to marry you, and still don&039;t I don&039;t know you, let alone have those sorts of ee And there&039;s the little fact that you&039;re an evil vauys, so this whole Ro to work"

He took a couple of steps closer to"If you think I harbor roe you to rethink I aotten in my ire, I took a step toward him, the toes of my shoes just a hairsbreadth from his as I leveled him a look that told him I wasn&039;t the fool he took me for "With the implication, I suppose, that I&039;m no Juliet? Well, thank you, you don&039;t need to point that out any more than you do the fact that you don&039;t like that Alec and I spent the night together"

A bluish fire flared to life in his eyes as he leaned in towardI&039; up er to the mirror, and you&039;ve made it quite clear you not only think I&039; the sa about?" he asked, his eyes narrowing "I did not say you were repulsive, and I don&039;t give a damn who Alec sleeps with His personal life is no business of mine"

"Who&039;s Alec?" I heard whispered behind ood part"

"You didn&039;t actually say the word &039;repulsive,&039; no, but you i atWhy did I care that he thought I was a fruht hussy? "You can&039;t deny that the only reason you kissed me is because I made you"

"Of course I deny it" He leaned even closer until I could feel his breath "No one can nored the fact that I couldn&039;t seeave him a cool look "Oh, really? So you did want toto do whatever it took to keep you fro the full powers of a Zorya, and I ritty

The air seerees in the alleyway "That would i to clear aze dropped tofact - I wanted hihosts and anyone else andered by I wanted to feel his ainst hin manner But worst of all, I wanted him to force me into a kiss so that I could pretend to ust tumbled around with confusion and indecision inside me How could I sleep with oneto kiss his evil friend? What rong withmortals," Kristoff said in his deep, unusually sexy voice I shivered a little despite the sudden heat that wasmy skin "And I don&039;t find you repulsive"

"Oh," I said,down to providing s to say "Good You&039;re not repulsive, either"

I swear his eyes lightened then They went fro blue, the black flares from his pupils even darker I took a deep breath at his nearness, wondering why I could feel air going into ht-headed and breathless My breasts rubbed against the soft leather of his jacket, the sensation lad you think so" His lips brushed htest of touches, more a little bump than a kiss, but with it, I finally ca two fistfuls of his jacket and shaking the daylights out of his friend the next, no irl! You&039;re bad You&039;re evil You&039;re a vael, and I&039; !"

A puzzled look was followed by a quick spike of anger in his eyes, and then he was kissing ue and his hands in ue twined around mine in an erotic, sinuous dance that enous spots onhi the sensation of his body so hard and hot and utterlyon to o weak under the effect of that kiss By the ti for breath, stunned with the intensity of e from him, but which I unaccountably shared I stared up at him in unadulterated a anymore

His eyes were the pale blue of an icy lake "The discussion of which of us is truly evil will have to wait for another ti for you, and a number of reapers live here"

I stepped back, my face red with ehtmare - a pushy, shameless woman What must he think of od&039;s sake, right in front of a gaggle of ghosts, the very day after I&039;d spent the night with his buddy I lifted ured the police would be looking for h I know you have issues with them, but they don&039;t pose me any threat"

"Don&039;t they?" The faintest hint of a saze up froave myself a mental lecture aboutto do when they find out their precious Zorya is married to a Dark One?"

I frowned "If the Zorya has to oing to be happy, but they&039;re hardly going to do anything to me other than take away the stone and make someone else Zorya"

"That&039;s not hoorks," he said, his face hard and unyielding Even as I marveled that I had wanted so badly to kiss him, the desire to do the same welled up inside me I squashed it down mercilessly "In their eyes, you have been tainted by your e to me The only way they can have a new Zorya is by the eli coet a new Zorya?"

"Uh-oh," Ulfur said "That doesn&039;t sound good"

"You are wed to me," Kristoff said evenly, his face unreadable "You cannot assume the full powers of a Zorya now, and thus you are useless to their purpose It will be for Alec to keep you safe so that they cannot name a new one"

"I don&039;t believe you," I told hi To be honest, I wasn&039;t sure he was, but so true I just didn&039;t knoas what anyed "That&039;s Alec&039;s problem He&039;ll deal with you now I&039;ve done h I would appreciate talking to hiiven that I had just been sucking on his tongue, wasn&039;t a whole lot "As it is, I have a few questions for - look out!"

Three shadows rose up behind Kristoff, shadows that quickly resolved theht off a long blade that had caughte stack of wooden crates I hit my head hard on the wood, but by the timeme, he had merely shoved me out of the hile he dealt with the attackers

And deal with theers that now flashed in his hands, but he whirled and attacked with incredible grace and power, sending two of the threein opposite directions One of theht it down on his head as he was about to rise, feeling iround

The ghosts leaped around, yelling and calling advice, unable to interact with anything, their ghostly for just another level of surreality to the situation

Kristoff&039;s fight with the other twointo the nearest wall, which was enough to send the attacker sliding uselessly to the ground, where he lay in aa sword, screa at Kristoff, and slashed at him with rhyth out with one leg, catching the ainst the wall I was just about to cheer when suddenly I was yanked painfully backward bysensation at my throat The ged me backward, toward the other end of the alley

"Touch h as I&039;d ever heard, and continued in a foreign language

"He can&039;t kill our reaper, can he?" the elderly ghost asked

"I don&039;t think so," Ulfur said hesitantly

"What&039;ll happen to us if he does? The Ilargi will get us!" the teen wailed

I squirround so I could twist out of rip, but he kept , just stalked toward us, his eyes as black asnohat Anniki had said about the van, soerous, and every instinct I possessed told htwhenain as pain burst out in red waves that leftto keepinto a deep, dark pit where I see around a cold metal ria bloodied dagger blade on the prone form that lay at th, staring in horror at the body Although my attacker had fallen facedown, I kneithout a doubt that he was dead

And Kristoff had killed hiht there in front of me

If I needed any proof that what Anniki had said was the real version of as going on, this was definitely it

I looked into Kristoff&039;s now se he felt, saw fury anddown the alley away fros would still work

Voices called out my na off of walls and obstructions and even cars as I dashed- Kristoff was a killer Alec couldn&039;t be like him Could he?