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hour. When I called her back, she said she d found everything I needed. Alex stood at my side as
I opened a gate to HQ so that Beth could bring me the required supplies.
Beth came through the gate with a large pack slung over her shoulder and dragging a
couple of flame throwers. She wasn t a large woman in her human form, and the weapons were
just awkward enough for her that they were difficult to move comfortably. Unfortunately I didn t
have the energy to keep the gate open long enough to go back and forth for multiple loads, so she
managed to get all of it in one haul. I didn t even feel like keeping the gate open long enough for
her to get back right now.
 So this is Alex, she said, studying him for a second after setting the flame throwers on
the floor.  I must say, Suzzy was right, you do make a fine couple. There are more than a few of
the folks back at HQ that will be sad you are off the market now, Tal.
I hoped I wasn t blushing.  Thanks, Beth.
 JP said to tell you good work with the werewolves. And he still has the emergency strike
force standing by in Dallas if you need them. I left the rest of the intelligence team working on
the angle that there might be someone else behind all of this, but so far, we don t have any leads,
or even anything that looks remotely suspicious.
 We ll just have to keep our eyes open, I said taking the pack from her. I rummaged
through it checking to see if everything was there. I pulled out two bottles of light blue liquid.  Is
this all they had on hand?
 Yeah, I checked with Isabella, you know the chief alchemist, and she said that for some
reason the last batch spoiled and these two bottles are from the batch before that. She says the
affects will only last about an hour, so hold off on using them as long as possible. What do you
need me to do?
I took a couple of minutes and explained the plan to her.
By late afternoon, the clan had a pair of pyres built behind the mansion and the bodies of
their former alphas laid on them. I stood before the pyres as the sun dropped below a nearby
butte. Blanca and Lisa said a few words to the gathered clan. Beth, Alex and the gang stood off
to one side with Geri sitting at their feet. When Blanca turned and gestured to me, I called
magical fire and lit the pyres. The flames burned brightly as a pair of large native drums beat a
slow steady beat. Geri raised her voice in a long sorrowful howl. I intensified the strength of the
fires and the wooden pyres burned quickly. By the time the blood moon rose in the sky, there
was nothing left but two piles of ash dancing about on the wind that had come up out of
nowhere. I stood between the pyres thinking that the body count on this caper hadn t been too
high, but I still had to deal with Estaben.
 You ready for the next part of the plan? Alex asked softly from behind me.
Lost in thought, I hadn t heard anyone move, let alone come up behind me. I wasn t used
to having such a close bond to another person as I now shared with Alex. I turned to face him
and realized that most everyone was heading back down toward the house, moving as silently as
only werecreatures and ladies of the night can.
 I m sorry, just thinking a bit. Trying to keep everyone alive. I pulled him into my arms
and kissed him lightly. I really didn t want to let him go.
 Hey, I think we have more than proven that we can take care of ourselves here, he tried
to pull out of my embrace, but I held on and he didn t struggle much.
 I don t doubt that you can take care of yourself, I said.  You ve proved to be an
amazing man. So are your friends, but I really think that if anything happens to any of you before
we put this to an end, Geri is probably going to rip me to shreds.
Alex laughed. It was a good strong laugh.  And knowing you, if something happened to
one of us you d probably let her.
I let him go.  I think you re right. I took his hand in mine and started toward the house.
 Let s follow the others. We need to finish this plan.
He fell into easy step beside me.  Maybe the wererats can help more.
I shook my head.  No, they ve lost enough today. I can t ask them to risk their lives for
this. We have to handle this on our own. And if we can t handle this, then JP will send in a
cleanup crew to take out all the remaining vampires, maybe even Charles.
 So we have to make sure that we handle this ourselves. He sounded unsure, and maybe
even a little scared. It was a good healthy response.
 We ve taken out his wolves, his rats and his sorceress, I said, trying to sound confident
 We weakened his base of power. All he should have left is his vampires.
 And all we have is you, a fledgling vampire mage, a weretiger mage, a coyote, and six
powerless mages who have a little psi skill each and two flame throwers, Alex responded.  Do
we have any idea how many vampires he might have?
 At last count it was about two hundred. Charles added, appearing at our side.
At least he still had his magic to call on, and his psi skills were stronger than the others
after his change.
 Got out of the truck, I see, I chuckled as he fell into step with us.
 Yeah, looks like you guys survived the battle with Marcella. Burn tells me that the rats
didn t make it.
 Yeah, and now we are working on a way to keep the rest of us alive, Alex replied,
again sounding doubtful.
 Well, we need to think fast, Charles commented as we caught up with the others. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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