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Shit, they were losing the darkness

As John glanced at his watch, the ti in his eyes was telling hiht they had left

Even the proh to ain, the activity at the Xtreed-out stragglers getting vertical on the benches or ducking into the public bathrooms for a last fix Unlike Caldwell&039;s other parks, this one was open twenty-four/seven, with fluorescent lights on tall poles illu the expanse of concrete Hard to tell what the city planners had been thinking with the round-the-clock business--because that hat they had here Round- the-clock business With all the drugs changing hands, the place was like a bar away froh Just hu to humans who used in the shadows

Still, it was prooing to Even with the cops doing their idle-bys in their marked cars, there was plenty of privacy and plenty of notice The park was laid out like a huge terrace, with sinkholes in the ground alternating with ramps and ju and duck behind or into all kinds of shelter

And, e point behind the work shed, he and his boys had seen it happen over and over again Kind of made you wonder why the CPD didn&039;t send unmarkeds over or infiltrate in plain clothes

Orthat already Maybe there were others who, like John, were invisible to the crowd Well, not exactly like him and Qhuinn and Blay There was no way even a fully trained and decorated --which hat John and his buddies had been doing for the last three hours Every time someone passed, they wiped out the memory

It was kind of odd to be in a place, but not of it sensed, but not seen

"We gonna get ghost?" Qhuinn asked

John glanced up at the brightening sky and told hi heat la back under wraps and they could take up res in their little hidden corner and wait again

Goddao"

For a split second, he aletting ready to fly through all kinds of fuck-you, you&039;re-not- my-babysitter shit

What stopped hi around here was going to produce Lash, yelling at Qhuinn wasn&039;t going to get the, either

He nodded once and took a last look around There was a single dealer type who see out to the very end His ainst the center ra in the park, from the far corners to the road where the cops came and went

Kid looked to be about seventeen or eighteen and his clothes were loose on his frame, which was part of the skater style, and also probably a function of his using what he sold He looked like he needed to be scrubbed with a car brush a couple of times, but he was alert and he was savvy And he see territory, usually the dealer in question had enforcers to back hiot juuy he was by himself the whole time

Either he had soet taken down

John stood up froainst the side of the outbuilding and nodded at his boys Let&039;s go

When he took forht became real and a brisk breeze hit him square in the face The courtyard of the Brotherhood&039;s mansion was demarcated by the front flank of the house and the tall shoulders of the twenty-foot-high retaining wall that ran all around the property The white marble fountain in the middle had yet to be filled and jump-started for the warmer months and the half dozen cars that were parked in a roaiting for action as well

The whispered sound of well-oiled gears turning brought his head up In a coordinated descent, the steel shutters were co the leaded glass panes like the lids ofinside Even though there h, the fact that he was going to have to stay put until sundown made the mansion feel like a shoe box

As Qhuinn and Blay materialized on either side of hie double doors and pushed his way into the vestibule

Inside, he presented hisin the security camera Instantly, the lock was popped and he walked into a foyer that was right out of czarist Russia Malachite and claretGold-leafed sconces and ht that further enriched the colors And that staircase the thing was like a carpeted landing strip that stretched up to the heavens, its golden balustrade splitting at the top to form the anchors of the second floor&039;s open balcony

His father had spared no expense and obviously had a flair for the draine a king floating down in robes--

Wrath appeared at the top, his huge body clothed in black leather, his long black hair falling around his trelasses were in place, and although he was at the head of a vast expanse of fall-on-your-ass, he didn&039;t look down No reason to His eyes were now utterly blind

But he was not sightless At his side, George had things covered The Seeing Eye dog was in control of the king, the two united through the harness that went around the golden retriever&039;s chest and haunches They were the ultimate Mutt and Jeff, a canine Good Samaritan with beauty- contestant looks and a brutal warrior as obviously capable of tearing your throat open on a whiether and Wrath was prettywas treated like the royal pet he was--to hell with even Iae ate whatever his master did, which meant prime cuts of beef and lamb And as that the retriever slept in bed with Beth and Wrath--although that had yet to be independently verified, as no one was allowed in the First Family&039;s quarters

As Wrath started down for the foyer, he walked with a li he did over on the Far Side at the Scribe Virgin&039;s No one kneho he sahy he sported a black eye or a split lip on a regular basis, but everyone, even John, was glad for the sessions They kept Wrath on an even keel and away fro, and soh the door John had just used, he had to make his escape If those Shadows had sensed he had fresh ink, the people gathering for last ot close enough

Fortunately, there was a wet bar in the library and John went there and helped himself to a shot of Jack Daniel&039;s The first of many

While he started to ainst the marble slab and wished like hell he had a tih it was hard to knohether he&039;d choose to go forward or backith it

"You want any food?" Qhuinn said frouy&039;s direction, just shook his head and poured solass

"Okay, I&039;ll bring you a sandwich"

With a curse, John pivoted around and signed, I said no

"Roast beef? Good And I&039;ll hitch you some carrot cake Tray&039;ll be left in your room" Qhuinn turned away "If you wait about five more minutes in here, everyone will be seated at the table, so you&039;ll have a clear shot up the stairs"

The guy took off, which lass, there was no other way of expressing his I-ah really, that would just be a waste of good booze--Qhuinn was so hardheaded, you could have hit his frontal lobe with a crowbar and made no impression on hian to take effect, its nu on John&039;s shoulders first before sweeping up and down his body The shit did nothing to quiet his mind, but his bones and ested five minutes, John took his drink and his bottle and hit the stairs two at a ti room followed him, but that&039;s all there was Lately, there hadn&039;t been ot to his roole There were clothes draped on every conceivable surface--the dresser, the wing chair, the bed, the plasma-screen TV Kind of like his closet had thrown up all over everything Empty bottles of Jack cluttered up the two side tables by the headboard, and the dead soldiers spread out fro in the twisted sheets and duvet

Fritz and his cleaning crew hadn&039;t been let in for teeks, and at the rate things were going, they were going to need a backhoe when he finally threw the doors open to the, he let his leathers and shirt fall where they did, but his jacket he was careful with At least until he took his weapons out--then he du on the corner of the bed In the bathroom, he double- checked his two blades and then he swiftly cleaned his guns with the kit that he just left out by the second sink

Yeah, he&039;d let his standards slide lower than even frat-boy levels, but his weapons were different Utility had to be maintained

His shoas quick, and as he worked the soap over his chest and abs, he thought back to the tih to make him hard No more He hadn&039;t had an erection since the last time he&039;d been with Xhex

He just didn&039;t have the interest--even in his dreams, which was a new one Hell, before his transition, when he wasn&039;t supposed to have any awareness of his sexuality, his subconscious had kicked up all sorts of hot and heavy And those sex-fests had been so real, so detailed, it was as if they were memory and not REM-induced fabrications

Now? All that played on his internal screen was Blair Witch Project chase scenes where he was running in a jerky panic but didn&039;t knoas after hiet to safety