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Raising her eyebrows a fraction, Lurine turned her gaze on the bartender

He returned it i "What are you lookin’ at, Goldilocks?"

"I’htful

Stefan Ludovic chose thatforward frorace He paused briefly at the sight of Lurine, and then circled her, his head slightly cocked, his longish black hair brushing the collar of his leather vest His ice-blue eyes were curious, their pupils waxing and waning She re sublimely unconcerned

Definitely so ritual Possibly both

Detective Wilkes consulted his notes "Unored hiuesoo? Or somewhere else?"

Lurine smiled at him "Oh, I don’t think so, sweetie"

His nostrils flared, and he said soe

She replied in kind

And then he said soe; or at least that hat it sounded like to me Lurine answered hiot the better of ot a few issues to discuss Can we talk, please?"

Stefan inclined his head "Step into ly luxurious and well-appointed, a back roo and leather-upholstered furniture Nice recessed track lighting, too

Stefan took a seat behind the desk, indicating a pair of chairs in front of it "Ladies, gentles After an uncertain glance at Cody and the detective, I took the other seat "First off, one of your ghouls attackedin the stairwell of my apartment He tried toum, feed on me"

His pupils contracted to pinpoints "I’m very sorry to hear it," he said in a clipped tone "That is unacceptable Can you identify hiuy with the mustache"

"Ah" A complicated expression crossed Stefan’s face "When you were here before, he tasted you, did he not?"

"Umyeah" Ick

He nodded "As a result of your, shall we say, e, your emotions are unusually powerful, Miss Johanssen For one of our kind" His pupils expanded in a rush, givingin the pit of ross on Al the Walrus, but creepy-hot on Stefan Yeah, fine, call me shallow "For one of our kind, I fear it is rather like a strong drug"

"I thought the nectar of chemically induced emotions was poisonous," Cody observed in his most laconic voice

Stefan raised one eyebrow Of course he was one of those guys who oodartificial about Miss Johanssen’s eain "Indeed, I suspect they are a singularly pure nectar And having tasted it, Al is ravening"

"Ravening?" I echoed

He inclined his head "Like an addict craving a fix, only erous It is a condition to which the undisciplined aered by exposure to extreme emotion, and causes the afflicted to seek to provoke further extremity inunfortunate ways"

"Like murder?" Cody asked bluntly

"No" Stefan turned his ice-blue gaze on hiained fro"

My skin felt cold and prickly

He looked back at me "But that is not the case here Your ordinary eh At any rate, do not be concerned I will attend to the matter"

"Mind if I ask how?" I said

Apparently, he did "You have ood enough I want details"

For the first time since I’d met him, Stefan Ludovic looked irritated There’s a whole hierarchal thing that goes on in parts of the eldritch coed "This isn’t a matter that concerns mundane--"