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Chapter 123
They all got out of the car and gathered in the front of the driveway. Dominic pulled a thick wad of cash from his pocket—he wasn’t about to let the man see his magic wallet. Leesa watched Walt’s eyes lock onto the money. Catnip to a cat, she thought.
“I’ll tell you what,” Dominic said. “I won’t haggle on the price, if you’ll do me one small favor.”
“What’s that?” Walt asked.
“Let us take care of the paperwork. Give ourselves a bit of a break on the sales tax, hey?”
Walt grinned. “I’m all for that. Damn government takes too big a bite out of everything already.”
Dominic counted out the cash and handed it to Walt, who signed the pink slip over to Leesa and handed them the registration papers to fill out later. Dominic and Walt shook hands one more time and then Leesa and Dominic climbed into the Blazer, with Leesa again getting behind the whee
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 124
Several hundred miles to the north of Balin’s cabin, Jarubu led his three companions southward through the Green Mountains of Vermont. Melissa loped almost at his side, staying a respectful half pace back. Behind them, Conley and Alexi ran side by side. They moved rapidly through the night, but not at full speed, for they had many miles ahead of them.Only the very edge of the recent blizzard had reached this far north and west, leaving less than a foot of snow behind. The steep, snow-covered slopes barely hindered the vampires, nor did the forest. When the woods grew too thick or the snow drifted too deep, the vampires simply took to the upper reaches of the trees, leaping and swinging from branch to branch almost as quickly as they raced along the ground. Though racing through the trees would make following them more difficult, Jarubu did not fool himself into thinking it would thwart their pursuers. Only distance would do that.He had no destination in mind. H
Leesa's Advent Chapter 125
Jarubu’s curiosity grew. Behind it, a tiny bit of anxiety arose as well. Why was the man unconcerned by the appearance of four vampires out here in the middle of nowhere? Did he perhaps have allies hidden somewhere nearby and was merely acting as bait? Jarubu sniffed the air and scanned the surrounding darkness with his keen eyes and ears. He detected no sign of any other presence.“Who are you?” he asked.“I’m the man you are going to obey,” the stranger said simply.Jarubu’s temper was never buried very deep, and it began to bubble up at the man’s haughty demeanor. A low growl rumbled from his throat. He wondered what the man’s blood would taste like. His three companions extruded their fangs as well, ready to follow Jarubu’s lead.The stranger raised his arm and pointed a bony finger at Alexi. A bolt of black energy shot from his hand, striking Alexi in the chest. A brief hissing sound filled
Leesa's Advent Chapter 126
“Now, we are doubly connected. If you sense him, I will sense him as well.” He motioned for them to stand. Jarubu and Melissa rose to their feet. “Go now. Enjoy your hunting. All I require of you is that you remain on the move, covering ground I cannot cover myself.”Josef stood up. “Since you two were already heading south, continue on that way. I am going north. I have not searched those lands in some time.”Without another word, he headed off into the trees.Jarubu and Melissa watched him disappear, then turned and looked at each other. Jarubu was certain the relief he saw on Melissa’s face was mirrored on his own.Balin stood silhouetted in the doorway of his nearly three hundred year old cabin, built with his own hands, waiting as Rave carried Leesa the last few yards up the slight incline that led up to the cabin. The old volkaane was wearing a fringed buckskin shirt and buckskin pants he had made himself. L
Leesa's Advent Chapter 127
“Now I want some dessert,” Leesa said, her eyes fastened on Rave, who looked just a bit uncomfortable under her gaze.“Am I missing something?” Dominic asked, looking back and forth from Leesa to Rave.Balin smiled. “Dessert is Leesa’s code name for kissing.”“Ahhh,” Dominic said, smiling now as well.“I know we can’t do it like we were,” Leesa said to Rave, meaning the last time they had kissed, when the kiss had gone too far and Rave’s fire had almost killed her. “But I don’t see why we can’t go back to our five second kisses, especially with Balin here to watch us.” Their first few kisses had been done with Leesa’s cell phone alarm set for five seconds. Those kisses were way too brief, of course, but they were still amazing beyond anything Leesa had ever imagined.“I don’t know.” Rave was clearly still feeling guilty abou
Leesa's Advent Chapter 128
“Are you beginning to see why I wanted a car?” Dominic asked as Leesa drove west through the darkness, toward the Connecticut River and home. They had decided that whenever the two of them rode together Leesa would do the driving, because she was the one with the license in case they were stopped for any reason.“So I could go kiss Rave and you could drink mead?” Leesa joked, though she was pretty clear about what Dominic meant.Dominic laughed. “Those are both very nice bonuses, I have to admit.” The wizard had enjoyed a third mug of mead after he had sensed Josef’s magic, while the four of them talked more about what it might mean.“I understand it’s not smart for you to be around me all time,” Leesa said. “And that the car makes it easier for you put distance between us.”“Exactly. And after what happened tonight, I have another idea for it as well.”Leesa took a
Leesa's Advent Chapter 129
Leesa did not get her wish.Her dream started out fine. She was with Rave, standing arm in arm in one of their favorite spots: a rocky ledge overlooking the Moodus River, not too far from the Maston settlement. Everything was covered in a blanket of clean white snow, including the frozen surface of the river. Not a sound broke the stillness…“I love it up here,” she said, snuggling against Rave to soak up his warmth. “It’s so beautiful. And so peaceful.”“I love being anywhere with you,” Rave replied softly. He bent his head and moved his mouth toward Leesa’s.Leesa knew she should be concerned—Rave was about to kiss her with no alarm set to signal an end their kiss and no one watching to pull them apart—but she wasn’t. All she could think about as his lips moved closer was how handsome he was, how beautiful his deep brown eyes were. She heard herself sigh, and then his
Leesa's Advent Chapter 130
Later that afternoon when Leesa was finished with her classes—finished for the week, since she had no classes on Friday—Dominic came by to work with her. He had no sooner closed the door behind him than she began telling him about her dream and how she had used the technique he had taught her to calm herself and go back to sleep.“I know it wasn’t one of my special dreams,” she said, “but it was plenty disturbing anyway. I hate envisioning that horrible Necromancer. He’s so totally gross and disgusting. Scary, too. But the everywhere/nowhere thing worked great. I don’t even remember falling back to sleep. And when I woke up this morning, I felt great.”Dominic smiled. “It sounds like you are getting pretty good at it. I think perhaps it’s time we moved on to the next step.”“Cool.” Leesa was more than ready to try something new, especially after last night’s success. &ldquo
Leesa's Advent Chapter 131
That same evening, Jarubu and Melissa reached the outskirts of the Hartford area. They had fed the night before, up near Springfield, but they were both feeling hungry again. Jarubu had noticed he felt stronger and more powerful since drinking Josef’s foul blood. His thirst also seemed to have grown more powerful than normal.The farther south they went, the deeper the snow had become. In southern Vermont and Massachusetts, it had finally become deep enough to be an obstacle even for a vampire. They had been forced to leave the cover of the woods and travel in the open along the shoulders of the roadways, which slowed their pace considerably. Whenever there were no cars or buildings in sight, they moved at vampire speed, but when there was any chance they could be seen, they slowed to a walk.Melissa possessed some slight familiarity with Connecticut. She had lived here with her husband more than one hundred and fifty years ago. He had gone off to fight with a Co
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