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"Tell me once and for all you didn’t kill anyone"

"I didn’t kill anyone," he repeated, and his pulse never jumped He still stank of fear, but who could bla I wanted to try, and doing it in front of a bunch of cops, especially Tyler, was risky as hell But I’d never get to be alone with Gabriel, and if there was a snowball’s chance this ht work, I had to do it I’d been able to enthrall the fae guard at Caligula, but I orried Gabriel her nut to crack, mentally

I squeezed Gabriel’s wrist a little harder and he winced, but when I pulled hi azes were locked before I started to speak

"You want to tellhis head to the side "I a to be as easy as saying, These are not the droids you are looking for

"You want to tell irls"

Behind the ?" Tyler shushed him

Gabriel’s eyes took on a cloudy, distant look "Okay," he said and nodded

"Was there any other connection between them?"

"Yes"

"What was the other connection?" You had to be frustratingly specific when it came to the thrall The mind was as malleable as Silly Putty, but once you had it in your hands, you had to shohere to go

He grunted and tried to pull his hand back With his teeth grinding together and a sheen of fresh setting his forehead, it was obvious he was fighting against so But he hadn’t resistedin Gabriel’sme

"Tell me," I demanded

A small moan escaped his throat, and then he said, "Mayhew"

"They were all in Mayhew’s class We know that" Why would he struggle against telling me that?

"No" He shook his head "They were all Mayhew’s"

My fingers twitched, and I al it normally wasn’t necessary to keep hih I also liked to know his pulse was still steady

"What do you mean they were all his?"

"His favorites His lovers"

I remembered my time in Oliver Mayhew’s small office The easy, casual way he’d spoken tothe presence of such an unusualaffairs with his students? It wasn’t that hard to believe

"How do you know?"

"Because we shared"

Then I did drop his hand, disgusted, and broke eye contact He shook, as if awakening fro?"

My repulsion faded, replaced by a cold trickle of dread Gabriel’s reaction to co out of the thrall was so like ht I was shocked I hadn’t made the connection before Because I was immune to the vampire thrall, I never considered it as a possible reason forelse like it, so non-vampiric, with the same impact?

There was a knock on the door, and he and I both turned as Tyler stepped in "Are you finished here, Miss McQueen?"

"I sure as hell hope so"

Chapter Eighteen

I knew all too well I would have to go visit Oliver Mayhew again, but the night was still in its juvenile phase, and I expected the good professor would be keeping late office hours He did have all those young, nubile e that Gabriel and Mayhew had shared the women in their class hadn’t abated This was not the Gabriel Holbrook I’d known And what did it ness and then direct Mayheards the easy pickings, or did Mayhew pass his sloppy seconds on to Gabriel?