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40e5564
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Yeah. Now when I look back at it, I realize it was a test. His Furry Majesty was trying to gauge what I was made of and I showed him." I shrugged. "Live and learn." So many problems could've been avoided if I hadn't crouched down in the darkness and called out, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty."
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Ilona Andrews |
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c5a93d9
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I know William," Kaldar said. "He's married to my cousin, Cerise, who is more like my baby sister. If her life and happiness were at stake, William would burn the world just to see her smile. Jack is a changeling like William. He would move the earth and the moon to protect his brother. "So"
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Ilona Andrews |
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a208232
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I will record our meetings and send the feed to your screen." "Good. Do not agree to anything, Dina, before consulting with me. Make no promises. They will be held against you." "I understand." I rose. "Thank you." "You're welcome, although I'm not sure exactly what I'm being thanked for." George grinned, and his smile had a mordant edge to it. "This ought to be exciting. It's good to have some fun once in a while." "You said yourself, this..
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Ilona Andrews |
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f4d1555
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It wasn't a bluff; I heard it in his voice. He would do it. He would walk away. "You would leave all these people, all the bowing, and the . . ." His gray eyes looked into mine. "If I fought for them and was crippled, they would all say nice things, and then they would replace me and forget I was ever there. You would stay with me. You would take care of me, because you love me. I love you too, Kate. If you ever became hurt, I would not lea..
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Ilona Andrews |
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617ffbb
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Andrea stared at me. "You're not taking me seriously!" "That's probably because you're not excited enough," Derek said. "You should clench your fists like they do in the movies, shake them, and yell, 'This is bigger than any of us! It goes all the way to the top!' " Andrea pointed her finger at him."
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Ilona Andrews |
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3898e54
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I could've fallen for someone steady. Dependable. Well-grounded. But nooo, I had to lose my head over this idiot. Curran
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Ilona Andrews |
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a0bd3cd
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Working for Spider was difficult. He was reasonable, but only when circumstances permitted; understanding of difficulties, yet completely unaffected by them. And he expected impossible things in an impossible timeframe.
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Ilona Andrews |
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adbd145
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Kissing me won't make me more agreeable," she whispered. "I'm not trying to make you more agreeable." His voice was rough and low. "I just can't help myself."
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Ilona Andrews |
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e4afe2e
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He tried a different line of attack. "I've never come across anyone like you."
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Ilona Andrews |
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21f99b7
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Did they think I would throw a tantrum?" "Baby, you're not the tantrum type. You are the scary-smile-and-stabbing type." I looked at him. "Hard-stare type." He grinned."
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Ilona Andrews |
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12938a3
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Only poor people are weird. Rich people are eccentric.
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Ilona Andrews |
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3367573
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Bono give you any terms?" "Me, the Crusader, and you. Tonight." How nice. A party for the top three on the upir's most wanted list."
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Ilona Andrews |
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be04c70
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I like the hair," he said. In the spirit of an off-duty Friday, I wore my hair down. I mostly braided it or curled it into a bun to keep it out of the way, but today it just sort of hung there, a long dark brown wall shifting in the breeze on both sides of my face. I flexed my wrist, popping a long silver needle into my palm from the leather wrist guard, grabbed my hair, twisted it into a bun, stuck the needle into it to hold it in place, a..
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Ilona Andrews |
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006734f
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The cloak coupled with a black leather vest made me suitably menacing. All that was missing was a giant neon sign with rotating sparklers proclaiming HARD CASE. LINE TO GET YOUR ASS KICKED FORMS TO THE RIGHT. A wide smile stretched Raphael's lips. "If you laugh, I'll kill you," I told him. "Why the rifle? Everybody knows you can't shoot." Who were these everybodies and would they like to stand in front of me, preferably within ten feet, so ..
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Ilona Andrews |
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08775be
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What is this Christmas?" Wing asked. Orro turned from the stove. "It's the rite of passage during which the young males of the human species learn to display aggression and use weapons." Sean"
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Ilona Andrews |
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de6b4c7
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Kate, I'm afraid the sword has to stay." "No." "Weapons are forbidden everywhere but the Pit level. You won't get through the door." Shit. I sighed and put Slayer between the front seats. "Stay here. Guard the car." Saiman shut the door. "Is the sword sentient?" "No. But I like to pretend it is."
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Ilona Andrews |
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0e47c75
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Raphael pulled out a paperback and handed it to me. The cover, done back in the time when computer-aided imagine manipulation had risen to the level of art, featured an impossibly handsome man, leaning forward, one foot in a huge black boot resting on the carcass of some monstrous sea creature. His hair flowed down to his shoulders in a mane of white gold, in stark contrast to his tanned skin and the rakish black patch hiding his left eye. ..
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Ilona Andrews |
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eaa38d2
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I took a couple of forms from my desk, put them into the vamp's mouth, and pulled them up by their edges. "What are you doing?" Ghastek asked. "My hole puncher broke." "You have no respect for the undead." I sighed, examining the ragged tears in the forms. "It's a personal failing. Have you thought of anything, or can I be on my way?"
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Ilona Andrews |
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f6dee17
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Does he understand what you say?" I asked. "He does. It's his own kind of magic," Astamur answered. "If it weren't for supplies, I'd never go back down to town. But a man has to do what a man has to do. Hard to live like a king without toilet paper."
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Ilona Andrews |
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7866038
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To drink or not to drink? That was the question. I sipped it. If he'd spiked it, I could still kill him before I passed out.
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Ilona Andrews |
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1a0b7c6
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A vivid image of a man with a pencil through his left eye orbit flashed before me, complete with bloody smudges of my fingerprints on the yellow shaft of the pencil. Thank you, dear memory, for once again attempting to sabotage my conversation.
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Ilona Andrews |
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639b9d3
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You are not meant to be at peace. We, the human beings, are meant to live life to its fullest. We are meant to experience it all--sadness, disappointment, rage, kindness, joy, love. We are meant to test ourselves. It is painful and frightening, but this is what it means to be alive. You are hiding from life here. This isn't peace. This is a slow, deliberate suicide." He"
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Ilona Andrews |
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197bac0
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It is an up close and personal war, fought with savage weapons," Odalon said. "At first when you're young and dumb and you hear about it, you think it will be glorious. That you will be like the hero of old, ripping through the ranks of your enemy. Then you find out what six hours of fighting with your sword is really like. The first hour, if you survive, is exciting. The scent of blood is intoxicating."
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Ilona Andrews |
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a910949
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The second hour, you are injured but you keep going. The third hour, you realize you've had your fill of blood. You want to be done. You want off the battlefield. In the fourth, you notice the faces of people you kill. You hear their screams as you hack off their limbs. It is no longer an abstract enemy. It is a living being that you are ripping apart. It is dying by your hand, right there in front of you. In the fifth, you bleed and vomit,..
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Ilona Andrews |
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0a2fb23
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I had to wait in the lobby while Rene pretended to find my name on the roster of fighters. "Fools," she said, flipping through the pages. "Is that a description of your team's intelligence or your need to amuse?" "It's our motto." "Hmmm . . ." She pretended to leaf through paperwork. "You like screwing with me, don't you?" She offered me a mordant smile. "Just doing my job properly. Like you told me." She'd keep me waiting for a while. I sh..
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Ilona Andrews |
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cac02ec
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function.
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Ilona Andrews |
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1870059
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Raphael leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Have you ever seen a lion hunt a herd?" "No." "They are very single-minded. When a lion stalks a herd, he sneaks in close, lies down, and surveys them to choose his victim. He takes his time. The deer or buffalo have no idea he's near. He finds his prey and then he explodes from his hiding place and grabs it. Even if another, perfectly serviceable animal ends up within his reach, he isn't going..
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Ilona Andrews |
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0e0f8fe
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You can stay out here and compare inches for the entire night, but I'm going inside.
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Ilona Andrews |
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be2018e
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I paused with the pen in my hand. "He burst into flames?" "He became engulfed in fire." "Was his buddy made out of orange rocks and did he at any point yell, 'It's clobbering time'?"
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Ilona Andrews |
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39c8cdb
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We reached the doors and I presented the crew passes to the outside guards. They waved us on to Rene's welcoming arms. Recognition sparked in her eyes. She surveyed Jim and turned to me. "Congratulations, love. You traded up. Does he treat you well?" "He's a teddy bear," I said. Teddy bear looked like he was suffering from murder withdrawal."
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Ilona Andrews |
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aca23ed
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He noticed the hole in the wall. "What the hell happened?" "We redecorated." I kept my voice level. "Where have you been?" "Did they succeed?" "Hell no. Everybody was tired from the hunt and irritable as fuck. They bickered about inheriting the pass, and did their grandstanding, and accused each other of things. Radomil fell asleep. For a few minutes it looked like they might actually agree on something. Then the younger brother--Ignazio--d..
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Ilona Andrews |
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271eff8
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alone with her sadness . . ." "Curran, stop while you're ahead, or I swear,"
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Ilona Andrews |
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2d72030
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from a blueblood noble house. Only the blueblood man was allowed to enter. He sat in their kitchen, an older grizzled warrior with a sword on his waist, and laid it all out. Only bluebloods
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Ilona Andrews |
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d5e369e
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With you, I breathe.
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Ilona Andrews |
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82fed68
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wasn't sure who would win then. TEN KALDAR lay on a low ridge, wearing one of the Mirror's night suits.
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Ilona Andrews |
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25f7bef
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Where was this taken?" Jardin recovered enough to speak. "Near Lawrenceville."
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Ilona Andrews |
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7a60e32
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When people had trouble of a magic kind, the kind that cops couldn't or wouldn't handle, they called the Mercenary Guild. If the job happened to fall into my territory, the Guild then called me.
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Ilona Andrews |
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3d1f227
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Unfortunately, no matter how well you hide, sooner or later your big secret will bite you in the behind, and you might find yourself standing on a telephone pole, not sure why or how you got there, while the neighborhood pretends not to hear your piercing screeches.
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Ilona Andrews |
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bd8485d
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wanted a man to look at her like she meant the world to him, and failing that, she would settle for someone who thought she was beautiful and told her so. William would probably fit that bill. Part of
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Ilona Andrews |
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6382f51
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Want to know a secret?" "Sure." "It's not the bathtub, baby."
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Ilona Andrews |
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a84b2f1
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he had another think coming.
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Ilona Andrews |
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290ba25
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You want to be the best innkeeper you can be. He wants to be the best soldier he can be." Wilmos"
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Ilona Andrews |
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fc089b4
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He glued the chair to my ass." Silence."
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Ilona Andrews |
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0d97e74
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Now we had two invisible intruders. Because one wasn't hard enough.
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Ilona Andrews |