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As a soft ticking sound rose up, John looked down at hi up and down as fast as a rabbit&039;s

But he wasn&039;t going to blow it He waited behind the shed and waited and waited

It took the fucker nearly an hour to wander his nasty ass around, but when he was finally in range, all that foot tapping was so worth it

With a quick shot of ive them a little privacy And as the bastard looked up, John stepped out from behind the shed

The lesser&039;s head snapped around and clearly he recognized that the war had just come and knocked on his door: The sonofabitch smiled and put his hand into his jacket

John was not concerned that he was going to flash heat The one rule of engage at it in front of human bystand--

An autoloader appeared and went off in a quick one-two punch, the discharged shot sounding out with a pop that carried loud as a curse through the park

John dived for cover, a whole lot of what-the-fuck giving hi, the lead ricocheting off concrete as humans screamed and scraainst the wood and pulled his own piece As Blay and Qhuinn slid into ho? that coincided with a pause in the bullet shower

What the fuck is he thinking? Qhuinn signed Public much?

Heavy footsteps approached and there was the clicking sound of a sleeve of alanced at the shed door The Master Lock on a chain was a godsend, and he reached up with his pal it free of its links so that it hung loose

Go around the next corner, John told his boys And make like you&039;re wounded

Oh, hell, no--

John swung his gun uy recoiled, John just stared right into his buddy&039;s blue and green eyes This was going down John&039;s way: He was going to be the one to do business with the slayer End of discussion

Fuck You, Qhuinn mouthed before he and Blay deroan, John let hiround like aout on his stomach, he kept his SIG under his chest with the safety still off

The footsteps grew closer And so did a low laugh, like the lesser was having the time of his life

When Lash returned from his father&039;s, he took form in the bedroom next to the one he kept Xhex in As much as he wanted to see her, he stayed away Every tiood half hour and he wasn&039;t about to be stupid and give her a chance to kill him

Because she would And wasn&039;t that sweet?

Lying down on the bed and closing his eyes, his body was slow and cold, and as he breathed deep, he felt as though he was thawing out like a slab of beef Not that it was freezing on the other side In fact, his father&039;s digs were toasty and well-appointed--assu you were into the Liberace shit

Daddy-o had alh candelabra to sink a ship The oh-chillies see to do with the leap back into this reality and every tile to rebound The good neas that he didn&039;t think he was going to have to go over there asof tricks had been fully explored and a wasn&039;t exactly stih-about-othrown out by an admittedly powerful, evil fucker who happened to be your pops, it got old fast

Besides, his father&039;s love life was disturbing as shit

Lash didn&039;t even knohat those fucking things in that bed were Black beasts, yeah, but the sex of them was as indiscernible as their species, and the way they oiled around was creepy Plus they were always looking for a fuck even if there was company present

And his father never said no

As a beep sounded out, Lash reached into his suit jacket for his phone

It was a text frouy

Lash looked at the clock and shot upright, thinking that the tio--how had he lost track so badly?

Going vertical threw his sto his hands up to rub his face took ht of his body, coupled with the aches, otten colds or flus Sa sick?

Made him wonder if anyone had come up with a product like Dead- quil or so his arlanced over to the bathroom The shower seemed miles away and not really worth the effort

It took hiy, and when he got to his feet, he stretched hard to get his black blood flowing The bathroom turned out to be not miles away but aover to start the hot water, he admired himself in the mirror and checked out his collection of bruises Most of the to get more--

Lash frowned and lifted up his arer, not ser, it didn&039;t hurt, but the thing looked nasty as shit, a flat, open wound that was gray in the middle and bordered by a black line

His first thought was that he needed to go see Havers except that was ridiculous and nothing but a re to show up at the clinic and be all, Hey, could you fit my ass in?

Besides, he didn&039;t knohere they&039;dto Which was the probleet took your threat seriously and went deep underground

Getting under the waruring if it was soht about other things

He had a big-ass night The induction at eight Meeting with Benloise at ten

Back here for soot out, he dried hi appeared to be pissed off at the attention he&039;d given it, a thin black ooze welling up over its surface

Oh, that stuff was going to be great to get out of his fucking silk shirts

He slapped a Band-Aid the size of an index card on the thing and thought that ht he and his GF would play nice

He&039;d tie her up for a change

It took hina suit and head out As he passed by theon the wood loud enough to wake the dead, he s chains"

He waited for a response When there was none, he reached for the knob and put his ear to the door The sound of her even breathing was soft as a gentle current of air, but it was there She lived And she would be alive still when he returned

With deliberate self-control, he released the knob If he opened the door, he&039;d lose another couple of hours and his father was not into waiting

Down in the kitchen, he took a stab at so The coffee o, so a quick lift of the pot showed soe, he didn&039;t see anything that appealed even though he felt starved

Lash ended up de froreat co to miss the show--if for no other reason than he wanted to see what had been done to hi his induction

The farmhouse was out north and east of the brownstone, and the instant he took form on the lawn, he knew his father was inside: An odd shiver in his blood bubbled up every tia, like an echo in an enclosed space although he wasn&039;t sure whether he was the sound and his father the cave, or if it was the other way around

The front door was open, and as he mounted the porch steps and went into the shitty little hall, he thought about his induction

"When you becaa was in the living roo his face and hands, his black energy seeping out onto the floor, a dark shadow formed by no illumination

"Are you excited, lanced over his shoulder at the dining room table The bucket and the knives that had been used on hi

The sound of gravel crunching under tires had hi to the door "They&039;re here"

"My son, I should like you to bring ry for fresh ones"

Lash went to the doorway "No problened More inductees a ca ood son"

For a split second, Lash&039;s dark heart ached The phrase was exactly the one the vampire who&039;d raised him had said from tiot out of the Lexus and brought the human forward It hadn&039;t dawned on the little bastard yet that he was a pair of jeans and a T-shirt away froot a look-see at the O to become clear as a bell