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.Keeping to the dark.Karl saw the impact damage to the lower balcony as he climbed up the side of the highrise.He didn t stop to investigate.Xiesha met him at his own balcony.She still held the shotgun in her hands.A glanceshowed him the shattered remains of a planting urn and the dark mound of potting soil.He could smell vampire someone other than Maria.The scent lingered even in thewind, strongest by the railings. Where is she? Safe, Xiesha replied. In her room.Reading, I believe.How things changed.She hadn t been much for books when he d first taken her in.Hours of boredom with late-night television could turn anyone into an avid reader. What happened? Delgado tried to distract us by revealing his location, just as Maria was lured throughthe wards by her half-brother. Damn it.I told her to stay inside.Doesn t she ? She s young, Master. Reckless, you mean.Xiesha tilted her head and considered him. There was a time when you describedyourself as such to me.Many times, in fact.The most recently when you spoke of killingthat werewolf for the Order. That was simply desperation.She smiled slightly. Delgado has his link to her.He knows what strings he can pull.And that was the worst of it.Delgado knew her much more intimately than he.Whathope did he have against that? Still, he said, this can t go on.We ve been lucky so far, but relying on luck is notacceptable.If Delgado had come for her tonight instead of playing the role of bait, then Karlwould have come home to an empty house.Distance was their friend if Delgado gotclose enough and found Maria outside the shielding effect of the wards, he could compelher, and free will would be a distant dream to her. What happened to that lower balcony? he asked after a moment. Roberto landed awkwardly when he threw himself from our railing. She nodded atthe urn. I missed.Karl slid open the door and passed through the ward into his apartment, and Xieshafollowed him.The smell of gunpowder lingered.He washed his hands and face in thecrystal basin, taking his time.He paused to stare out the balcony windows, imagining theconfrontation that had taken place there.Finally, there were no more excuses to put it off.He walked down the hall to her room.The door was shut.Instead of faux wood paneling, it seemed to him more like the stonesealing the entrance to a tomb.A crypt door through which he didn t dare to pass.He watched his own hand form a fist and knock lightly.For a long time there came noanswer.Then, just as he was about to leave: Come in.Maria sat upon the floor with a circle of books laid out around her, as if she were asorcerer performing a magic rite.One book lay open in her lap and she bent over it.Sheglanced up as he entered, and ventured a smile tinged with chagrin. I blew it again, she said.He crouched down and lifted a book.Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus.He glanced overseveral others by Goethe.Deep reading.He set them down carefully in the places she hadascribed them in her circle. We had a visitor. I didn t invite him.But we girls won t throw parties when you re gone anymore, Dad.He couldn t help his smile. I hear your brother has joined our ranks. I can t think of anyone less deserving of immortality.He s too stupid to ever realizethe cost and that stupidity allows him to be happy.It s a crazy fucking world, isn t it? I m not surprised Delgado turned him. Karl picked up another book, absentlyturning it over in his hands, running his fingers along the leather. I would ve done thesame. No, you wouldn t have.He looked at her, one eyebrow raised.She shook her head. You wouldn t have taken a man like him.I don t care howexpedient it would ve been how much it might ve hurt Delgado s cause you wouldn thave done it.He set the book down.It gave him an excuse to break eye contact with her. I hope you re as confident that you can deny your Master when he calls, Maria
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