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"Why would I be when I already live in paradise?" she asked, gesturing round the rooh, but stayed silent instead Outside, a bayou sy in the water, brushing against vines like the ones that had given ht decisions tonight, before the faed

"Don’t worry," I told Amari "I intend to take care of my business before dawn"

The witch reached under the table once again, then handedblade, al it very, very soon

5

Amari put the protection spell on me before I walked down the road, just to set a bit of distance between her cabin and what I kneould be tracking

In addition to Amari’s knife, I had taken Philippe’s revolver with ht, a firear I was capable ofthat red-eyed attacker back on its heels, but this was no tiet cocky

After I settled into a crouch on the side of the moon-washed road, my back to one of the trees that clawed overI waited But it was a while, because the sky was paling now, anddown to the ti my body down so they could take their nourishment fro until my hunter had come to me or I needed a bed to sluht have had for leaving Ahts Had one ofme to pursue my family before they reached me? Had I remembered that they would coet to theain?

Any way about it, the boots had a price, and I would gladly pay it, not only because of the burns that returned whenever I removed the boots, but because I feared I would be a nearly ain, just as I had been before Amari had saved me

As the bayou sounds halted for a s, and I kept toto the darkness beyond the trees to see if my attacker was near

I should have kno this hunter operated, though, and when I slowly looked above ainst, I saw those red night-vision eyes against a black et to ain

Before I could think about what sort of balance and stealth that had taken,to kill But the hunter was faster The thing dodged the bullet, yet not all the way--it clipped the Taser, sending the stunner flying once more

When the hunter used a hand to clamp onto my arm and then flipped ht scrao of the revolver, and I had only the long knife that Aiven toin a sheath fro on my arht, Lilly The Meratoliages have been searching for you quite a long ti"

An accent like h "There are more of us all the time We’ve had to activate candidates ould have never considered before you brought the family to its knees" It paused "All ant, Lilly, is to have you with us again"

"So you can putat me, the eyes of my family leader as she watched

"No," the hunter said "If that e had in store for you, I would not have brought Tasers"

I was still dwelling on the "in store for you" portion Perhaps fighting wasn’t my best option at the moment "If I ith you, ould happen?"

The hunter shook its head, as if it were telling e that information And as if it pitiedintoto bloo to helpup a bit of therasped part of the es, gathered round a table, where a dead member of my family lay, his chest open as they prodded and poked

The truth struck iven up on me and wanted to learn from my mistakes, so that they would never be repeated in another member as they pursued their dark arts and tried to raise the dragon to life again

But I wanted to live, even if it was ht

I called upons over one of the hunter’s,the thing doith an electronic grunt of surprise

It didn’t take long for it to hop to a crouch, yet I was already in one, my knife in hand

Unfortunately, it had accessed nunchakus, and as it spun therasped the bottom handle in preparation to knockout, and the next thing I knew, blood slapped

I dove to the ground as the hunter’s electric screaain, it rithing on the ground, clutching as left of its arun still aiht Was she okay?