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As Xhex took off with V, John&039;s first thought was to go downstairs, put hireat outdoors, and physically block her froo with her--although that would just turn him into the vampire equivalent of a Roht he&039;d reached a neith her, the rug got pulled out from under him and he landed at an even harder, hellish place: She&039;d just volunteered to go into a total unknown that she herself ad it without backup and without any way of hiot hit
As Wrath and Rehv walked up to him, the study came back into focus and he realized everyone else had left--except for Qhuinn, as hovering in the corner, frowning at his cell phone
Rehvenge exhaled hard, clearly in the same fuck-ned fast: What the fuck are you doing, letting her go out like that?
Rehv drew a hand over his brush-cutto take care of her--"
You can&039;t go out during the day How the hell are you going--
Rehv growled deep and low "Watch your attitude, kid"
Right Okay Such the wrong thing to say on the wrong day: John got right in the guy&039;s grille, bared his hardware, and thought loud and clear: That&039;sout there Alone So you can fuck my attitude
Rehv cursed and nailed John with hard eyes "Be careful with that &039;your feame doesn&039;t involve anyone but herself, feel me?"
John&039;s first instinct was to punch the bastard, just pop hihed hard "You want to thron? Fine with me" He put his red cane aside and dumped his sable trench coat on the back of an ornate chair "But it&039;s not going to change a da You think anyone can read her better than I can? I&039;ve known her for longer than you&039;ve been alive"
No, you haven&039;t, John thought, for soe reason
Wrath stepped between theo to your corners, boys This is a nice Aubusson carpet you&039;re standing on You get blood on it and I&039;ll have Fritz so far upon his hankie"
"Look, John, I&039; to bust your balls," Rehv muttered "I just knohat it&039;s like to love her It&039;s not her fault that she&039;s the way she is, but it makes for hell on other people, trust me"
John dropped his fists Shit, as ue, the purple-eyed son of a bitch was probably right
Strike the "probably" He was right--John had learned that the hard way TooA, he mouthed
"That pretty much covers it"
John left the study and went down to the foyer with so As he paced over thepaths over the depiction of the apple tree, he thought of that embrace they&039;d shared outside of the locker roo that close to this?
Had that moment even happened? Or had his stupid-ass nancy side just pulled it out of thin air because he was a sap?
Ten minutes later, Xhex and V carand staircase
As she strode toward across the foyer, she was as John had first met her: black leathers, black boots, blackfroh weapons strapped to her body to outfit a SWAT team
She paused when she came up to him, and as their eyeshiht On the other hand, she wasn&039;t going to stay Nothing he could say was going to derail this--the resolve was in her eyes
As things stood now, he found it very hard to believe she had ever wrapped her arms around him
As soon as V opened the vestibule&039;s door, she turned away and slipped through without a word spoken or a look back
Vishous locked up again as John stared at the heavy panels and wondered exactly how long it would take to claw his way through thehter was followed by a slow exhale "I gave her the best of everything Forties Matched Three clips for each gun Two knives New cell phone And she kno to use the shit"
V&039;s heavy hand clapped him on the shoulder and squeezed and then the Brother took off, his bootsa heavy rhythm across the ed froo back to the Pit
Helplessness really didn&039;t suit hi to hum in the same way it had when Xhex had found him on the floor of the locker room shower
"You want to watch TV?"
John frowned at the quiet voice and glanced to the right Tohr was in the billiard roo on the couch that faced the wide-screen over the ornate fireplace His shitkickers were up on the coffee table and he had his ar the Sony
He didn&039;t look over Didn&039;t say anything else Just kept flipping through the channels
Choices, choices, choices, John thought
He could rush out after her and torch his ass Stay in front of this door like a dog Peel his own skin off with a knife Drink himself into a stupor
From the billiard room, he heard a muted roar and then the screams of a crowd of people
Drawn to the sound, he went in and stood before the pool table Over the back of Tohr&039;s head, he saw Godzilla tra the shit out of a , really
John went over to the wet bar and poured himself a Jack, then sat down next to Tohr and put his feet up on the table as well
As he focused on the television screen and tasted the whiskey in the back of his throat and felt the warmth of the fire that had been lit across the way, he felt the blender in his brain slon a little And then a littleto be brutal, but at least he wasn&039;t conte death by sun ray anymore
So beside, the two of them stretched out as they&039;d done back home when Wellsie had still been alive
God, he&039;d been so pissed off at the guy lately that he&039;d forgotten how easy it was just to hang with the Brother: On soes, the pair of them before a fire, drink in one hand, exhaustion and stress in the other
As Mothra flew in for soht of his old bedrooned, Listen, when I was at the house tonight--
"She told lass "About the door"
I&039;m sorry
"Not to worry Shit like that can be fixed"
True that, John thought, turning back to the television Unlike so ainst the far wall, Lassiter let out a sigh that suggested soht "I should never have given you the re around at a pinata Co Maury"
"What a shame"
"Paternity tests, Tohr You&039;re button-blocking paternity tests This sucks"
"Only to you"
While Tohr held steady on &039;zilla-vision, John let his head fall back against the leather cushions
As he thought about Xhex out there alone, he felt as if he&039;d been poisoned The stress was literally a toxin in his bloodstreaht-headed and nauseated and twitchy
He thought back to all that "Ku before he&039;d found her Honing his feelings, how even if she didn&039;t love hiht and let her live her life and blah, blah, blah
Yeah, he was so choking on that self-actualization Kool-Aid right now