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I laidconjure to lessen my practice session aches, and ate breakfast - oat A knock sounded on urt on a busted lip, I answered it in ainst the abrasions on my shoulders Any knock while the shop was closed had to mean Rupert or Audric Both had seen me in much less
As I unlatched the door, the smell hit ar, and vanilla with a gingerlike hint of heat My body reacted instantly I threw the door wide, ed open Thaddeus Bartholoreen light I reached for hi in atsunami My lips found his mouth He tasted like a bakery He smelled wonderful
Distantly, I heard a voice say, "Get her ah me His hands pushed aside my robe I tore at his clothes, found his throat withflared, scorchinghi slipped overcold twisted throughwith pain My spine arched back and wrenched forward in an electric spas a whiteout of frozen ehI dropped to the hallway floor, fingernails carving into the old wood
"Blood of Michael, as that?" so my hair, which had come undone I smelled kylen I wanted But soued the syed the torn lapels of , and I could smell my heat, a raild smell of roses and almonds and a hint of blood From my place on the floor, I looked up
Rupert and Audric were restraining Thadd, as growling like an untamed ani il with one hand and opened it The sigils carried by the state police had built-in conjures, including an antiainst the cop&039;s bare chest Thadd screamed
That cool, co kylen pheroenetic makeup had been hidden from him his whole life, arrested at conception by a powerful seraph conjure held in a turquoise ring, its band shaped like angel wings My buttock stung where the ring had been pressed againstand his heritage had been a forbidden secret kept by hisThe transformation that should have taken place in the woinable power When the ring caans, and cells had begun trying to transforle instant With the ring back in place, the process was interrupted, but he was still kylen, still part seraph Still ser and hot, fierce, furious sex I wanted hiil pressed into his bare chest, his scent faded Intelligence returned to his eyes and they uish The transfor hiil were keeping him sane That and the fact that I wore ave us both protection froathered my robe closer One-handed, I levered ht the wall unsteadily and looked at our rescuers Rupert and Audric were flushed and sweating Blood streaked their faces and hands I se, and kylen I&039;d torn at Thadd&039;s throat withthe taste of his blood, and reopened the tear in my lip I&039;d ripped at Rupert and Audric as they tried to separate us The ihed A shaky sound, but lucid My friends were staring at uarded and cautious
"I&039;m okay," I said, al if your mouth weren&039;t bloody," Rupert said wryly
I licked ain, but the a intoI hadn&039;t drawn on thenized the pulse of power fro Clearly part of its purpose was to help controlthe door wide, I walked into e attributes Behind rabbed clothes fro casual wear and pulled a screen around the bath area to shield it fro, I scrubbed the s es of heat I stuffed the robe into a bag of salt for cleaning later When I could find a new laundress and soed tear
Naked, I looked at myself Beneath the amulet necklace, &039;s training, and on top of the bruises were the i the power of the four-inch stone doughnut and thinking A e in the human world would so to keep heat at bay The visa had a lot of powers I needed to know about It would all be funny if I thought the ath of ti to rise and clamped down on it hard I dressed in layers for warmth and separation froht not be enough
When I e Lucas had left last night Water for as stove Warily, Rupert and Audric watcheda look at Thadd even as an eed his throat Great "How about you?"
He took a slow breath "I&039;e-heat"
"Yeah Explains why I&039;ve been feeling - " He stopped again and flushed
"Right," I said "So why are you here?" I didn&039;t ize or take it back, either
"Two things You ht, and it&039;s still on this rimaced, he said, "And you&039;re under surveillance by the AAS"
"Why?" Audric asked, responding to the surveillance part
"Because she&039;s the only sanctionedhuave a drawn-out, unconscious, Ohhh, of course, at his words When no one responded, he continued "All otherto stiovernments Thorn - " He paused and started over "You - "
"Are loose and running around, having fun A bad precedent for the i the holy humans," I finished sarcastically As I spoke, I found the remote and clicked the television on I didn&039;t even have to wait On the botto a sword to the elder&039;s throat I winced and turned it back off
"And your Lolo keeps calling me" He fished out his satellite phone and looked at it "I&039;ve tried blocking her I&039;ve had headquarters try to block her She keeps getting through She&039;s driving me nuts"
"What does the priestess of the New Orleans Enclave desire of you?" Audric asked in that disconcertingly formal way half-breeds soes
Thadd shrugged, that odd, seraph-like gesture he used, a lifting of shoulder blades, and shifted his gaze to the wall behind me "She implies that she wants us to s are forbidden," Audric said before I could reply
"Like hidingat me "So I don&039;t think it&039;s a plan she just ca tiht had occurred tolooks of the males, I went to the kettle, which had started to sizzle, and busied myself with the ritual of tea I chose al tablespoon into the kettle to swirl in the hot water I found aI liked, one Audric had dead-mined from his town On it were the words BEST FRIENDS ARE CHEAPER THAN SHRINKS I liked the concept As I worked, I thought about Lolo
Rumor claimed the priestess was old, maybe over a hundred years If that was true, it would e War survivors, alive when seraph and h nu when they wanted, and hoes wanted Enclaves abolished So us souls so we o to heaven e die Ru those, but ru huht to be a rumor too, but they weren&039;t Lolo had placed o Was the old woman involved in some plan that required me to be in this town? Required the birth of Thadd, part seraph, part e, to one of Mole Man&039;s descendants? Required hiinal sacrifice took place? And Audric, too? I had wondered all this before, but I couldn&039;t see it - yet I had long ago learned to disbelieve in coincidences I sat at the table and added crystallized honey to the tea, sipping slowly to keep froainst it My flush deepened
"Durbarge is taking a special interest in you, Thorn," Thadd said "Be careful"
"Did he see you enter the shop?" Audric asked
"Probably But if we get back downstairs and I buy so, and if I report back to him on our conversation, I should be safe" When Audric lifted his brows in inquiry, Thadd said, "We talked about the weather; about the ice cap on the TrineAbout the device that rose froht it was all weird I couldn&039;t get anything froey that way," I agreed solemnly
"Be careful And keep those a rueful "Please"
I s hiold aura sparkling with green light Feeling his hands onI took a deep breath to steady myself "I&039;ll try to contact Lolo," I said "Maybe she&039;ll let so slip Or o, I have a bit of inforht not I still wasn&039;t a hundred percent certain that I had really seen what I thought I&039;d seen It could all have been illusion created by the Darkness, and if so, would only cloudy the muddy waters even more
Quickly I told them the vision I had seen beneath the Trine, of the seraph with clipped wings, the cherub, and Zadkiel I finished with the caveat that it ht not have been real, but even so Thadd looked at me like I was nuts "Seraphs in a hellhole?" he said "I don&039;t think so"