Magic Burns

Page 134

 

 

 

“You don’t cause problems. An unpiloted vampire causes problems. You cause catastrophes.”

 

Rub it in, why don’t you.“Look, after this, I promise I’ll do my absolute best to stay out of your way.

 

Are you going to murder my friend?”

 

He sighed. “No. I haven’t killed any beastkin, and I’m not going to start now. It’s an old, elitist custom.

 

I’d have cut the legs from under it when Corwin found us, but there was a lot of opposition and crushing it without hurt feelings was tiresome and time-consuming. If your friend wants to join the Pack, I suppose I’ll have to revisit the issue.”

 

The sword in my sheath kept my spine from bending all the way and I very much wanted to either slump forward or to lean back. Even my vertebrae were tired. I unzipped my leather jacket, shrugged it off, unbuckled the sword, and set it in the sheath next to me. “She wants to hide. She’s a member of the Order.” He’d figure it out eventually anyway. “I’m going to help her to cover it up. After I find Julie.”

 

“You lost the girl?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“How?”

 

I leaned back. “Her shaman boyfriend snatched her from my friend. He did something that caused her to start shifting, but she couldn’t finish.”

 

“Go on.”

 

“I found her, loaded her into a cart, and drove her to the hyenas.”

 

He gave me an odd look. “You drove her from the Order to there through the deep magic?”

 

“Yeah. We did pretty good except for some weirdness at a gas station.”

 

He thought about it. “How long ago did all this happen?”

 

“Hours.”

 

“Derek couldn’t pick up Julie’s scent at the scene?” A slight growl of disapproval crept into his voice.

 

I shook my head. “The shaman used too much wolfsbane. I’ll find her. I just don’t know how yet.”

 

“If there is anything I can do, I’ll help. Don’t get excited. It’s not because of you. For the child. If it wasn’t for her and the flare, I’d throw your dumb ass out of this window.”

 

“What does the flare have to do with it?”

 

“I don’t want it to be attributed to a loss of control on my part. When I throw you out of the window, I want there to be no doubt the act was deliberate.”

 

Wow, he was pissed.