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me through the city. They re only wounded and by the time they recover enough
to limp back to the hotel we ll be long gone from here. I asked for their room
numbers so I could steal some clothes from Justine.
We found the first of the rooms. The door opened with a cracking sound as I
shoved hard against the lock. Half a dozen dresses and other ladies things
lying strewn across the gilded furniture told me I d found the right room.
Kali surveyed the empty chamber and then turned to me.
If you even think to cross me, witch-
I have no intention of crossing you, Kali. Since I woke up as a vampire I ve
realized that I ve been wrong about a lot of things, not the least of which
are my former companions. I ve been through too much not to end up on the
winning side of this. I do not intend to cross you; I intend to stand at your
side. I ve found that I rather like the taste of victory.
She looked unconvinced but willing to give me the benefit of the doubt, for
now. We shall see. Stay here and I will return for you shortly.
She walked through the door and I called to her, Kali, another thing. My
name is Cin Craven, High Priestess of the Destroyer. I would appreciate it if
you used it instead of referring to me as witch .
Her eyes narrowed for a moment and then she inclined her head and turned to
walk down the hall.
I closed the door behind her, listening until she reached the end of the
hall, and then sank to the floor, shaking. I must be insane. How could I
possibly keep this up for three days?
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Stealing clothes from Justine, I soon realized, presented a bit of a problem.
I d had to rip most of the back out of the lace mourning gown because I
couldn t reach all the buttons so there was no way that dress was wearable
anymore. Even if it were, the blood in the silk would soon begin to smell. The
larger problem was that I hadn t counted on just exactly how differently
shaped Justine and I were.
The hems of her dresses dragged the ground because she was at least four
inches taller than my five foot five. Her waist was also a bit narrower but at
least the current fashion of waistless gowns was in my favor on that score.
No, it was the bodices I was having the most trouble with. All of Justine s
gowns were low cut and my breasts were larger than hers. Getting them squished
into the dresses was one thing but then they threatened to pop right back out
if I so much as moved the wrong way.
I flipped open the lid of another trunk and found more dresses, none of them
any better than what I was currently bursting out of. A third truck contained
lingerie, chemises and an astonishing variety of the scandalous new
pantalettes fromParis . I held one of the delicate undergarments to my waist
and looked in the mirror, shaking my head. Flinging the pantalettes on the
bed, I regarded the last trunk.
There had better be something useful in that one. Did the woman not own one
modest dress? I opened the lid and nearly crowed with delight. It contained
all of Justine s masculine attire.
The breeches didn t fit a whole lot better then the dresses but they were a
bit of an improvement. They were skin tight across my hips and thighs and
didn t quite button all the way to the waist. I moved around the room and the
fabric gave enough to make the breeches almost comfortable. I selected a loose
shirt of beige linen which was obviously custom-made for Justine and clung a
little more than I would have liked, but it too would do. I found one pair of
boots that probably came to just above Justine s knees but on me they rode at
mid-thigh. They were too big, of course, but I scrounged around and found two
pairs of thick wool socks and with both of them on at the same time the boots
were wearable. I emptied out a valise and shoved a few pairs of breeches and
five shirts of varying colors and materials into the bag.
Crossing to the desk I saw one of Justine s sapphire-tipped daggers laying
there. It must be a spare, I thought, and wondered how many of them she had. I
picked it up and weighed it in my hand. Very nice balance. I tied the sheath
to my thigh so that my boot hid the knife, just as I d seen Justine do. Then I
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