Part 21 (1/2)
He didn't expect a responsewhich was good, because I had none to give It was so late at night that any ordinary for by hi at the obelisk, and forgot about ain
”I didn't knohat I was at first,” he said ”I was just souy stillat heart But then it started happening I would lose time I would cease to beand terrifying experience This ferocious joy would overwhelht”
He turned and s about It was like soer than he was
Mind you Gaven was big
”This was bigger,” he said ”Better than anything I had ever known But when I went to share it with other people I realized I was all alone That is what it is to be the Alpha Even when Lia turned, I could not share everythingwhat all of this meant to meeven with her I have been a olf now for ten years And I can feel it slipping away frosroe For seven years those whoet or they never knew This party tonight is an exas are not as they seem They are not as others would choose to believe The Dioscuri have seen to that
”I think Iyou,” he said to me
I didn't knohy, but I told hiht it was
”Soht And Ballard Ballard is part of it Ballard”
”Ballard,” said Gaven, ”is special”
”He's protecting ain
It was a while before he spoke
”Promise me,” he said, ”that if you should ever take leave of Romeno, listen to me Promise me that you will take Ballard with you I think he is meant for more than this He's worth ten times as much as uidance before the end Well,
”You are like the Wolf, Halsey Rookmaaker The Wolf that I was I look for hione Ballard will explain to you I will let him in on the secrets of our Pack Risky would have wanted it He was the greatest ho ever lived, Risky But he had his time Watch out for Ballard He doesn't say it, but he will need your help Co was a buzz of dullness, until over breakfast Ballard explained to ht
”I' into his pajata, which was calf intestines, calling it the quinto quarto, whatever that htly sick to ht before Ordifferent about Ballard I couldn't put ed Like the old Ballard was gone
Liahi jealous After all, as a Wiccan, Lia had been shunned, in a way, fro its co-Head, the alpha feured out as going on with her shi+ftingif she could anyone forever
Noas Ballard's turn to exhibit
”That blood-lipped vein drain is gone, I take it Last night,” he said, ”with Liesel Guy coht”
”He wasn't starting a fight, you idiot He asked Liesel for a dance” Lia couldn't control it any longer ”But no You have to go and cause a scene Moain, I'll”
”What? You're beco a real problem child, you know that, Ballard? Co to be late”
I hurried after her Ballard went back to his food, with an angry look on his face
”What was that all about?” I asked
Lia slowed down once ere out of Meadpalace
”He just doesn't think I swearI thought he was going to shi+ft, right there, when he shoved that va with these people If Ballard's not careful, he'll end up starting a war”
We turned a corner, and went down the tunnel to the Star Room I liked it better when it was decked itchhazel and all of the other flowers Noas cold and stone And Lux was, too, when he finally got there Maybe he was still hurting froht before
We had never had that aard moment, Lux and Iof whether it was a date or notor as the protocol, and so forth, for ending the evening
There was that guilt again
An i us from a doorway
”Vampires What kills them What they can do And e can do to counteract some of their nastier aspects That will be the lesson for thisfor someone to speak
”Anyone?” said Lux ”Come on Don't be shy Yes, you there Shaharizan, is it not?”
”Yes sir I was just thinking well”
”I see You feel that we should be friends with vampires Is that it? You see them here and you think that this is their normal behavior By all means, let us here froley, I think
”It's just, it's a littleand I mean no disrespectbut it is a littletwo-faced, don't you think? Itohow to kill each other It's just rude, is all”
”Isn't it?” said Lux
I got that swashbuckling sense froover, or whatever, with the pain from his Wiccan scar Maybe it had interfered with his niceness, because he was being more direct with us than he had ever been before, less inclined to coddleI almost wrote cuddleus
”Wiccans make war So do vampires,” he said ”We like to kill each other”
”But”
”This is not an ivory tower, it is a sandpit”
Badgley stopped talking
”Rude perhaps But I think you'll be glad of the training you received from someone like me if a vampire ever tries to attack you”
Was that a possibility?
As I felt to my neck, I knew that it was ”Besides, this is an intellectual discussion,” said Lux ”You will not need your callouses”
The wit of that Like ould have to build up our resistance to senti it would appear