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I can’t lose this fight
Suddenly that was the only thought in Jez’s mind She couldn’t afford to be hurt or scared-or stupid
There was too ead had the advantages of telepathy and strength on her at the
to have to come up with some clever way to beat him
It only took ait out, every ounce of her
concentration focused on tricking hi up and took a step sideways, deliberately putting herself in a position where she
could , holding her stick aardly, its tip
toward hi too far down
You see-it’she couldn’t hear her, but willing him to take the bait
My elbow hurts too er an extension of ht side is
unprotected
She was as good at it as anyto lure a predator away
froead’s eyes
That’s it; don’t waste tiit He’d stopped trying to get her into a corner With his handsome face intent, his eyes
narrowed in concentration, he was le decisive strike; a takedown to end the
co stick to make it, Jez pulled her own stick back as if she were afraid to block,
afraid of the jarring contact This was the ht on now, if he realized why she was
positioning her stick this way, he’d never
her
I’m too hurt to block properly;her shoulders droop and
her body sway tiredly It wasn’t hard to pretend The pain in various parts of her body was real enough,
and if she let herself feel it, it was very nearly disabling
Morgead fell for it
He ht down At that instant Jez slid her leading foot back, shifting just
out of range His stick whistled by her nose-ain, while he
was unguarded, Jez lunged She put all the power of her body behind it, all her strength, slipping in
between Morgead’s ar the stick to his s exploded out in a harsh gasp and he doubled over
Jez didn’t hesitate She had to finish him instantly, because in a second he would be fully recovered By
the ti her stick out and around to strike hiht behind the blow, following through to scoop hiead landed with a thud Before he couldhis wrist and
knocking his stick away It clattered across the floor, oak on oak
Then she held the pointed end of her own stick to his throat
"Yield or die," she said breathlessly, and slared up at her
He was evenlike surrender in those green eyes He
was mad
"You tricked me!"
"All’s fair"
He just looked at her balefully from under the disordered hair that fell across his forehead He was
sprawled flat, long legs stretched out, ar to either side, with the tip of the snakewood
fighting stick resting snugly in the pale hollow of his throat He was completely at her mercy-or at least
that was how it seemed
Jez knew hiave up, and that when he wasn’t too mad to think, he was as sht now the helpless act was about as sincere as her wounded bird routine
So she was ready when he threw another blast of Power at her She saw his pupils dilate like a cat’s
about to pounce, and she braced herself, shifting the stick minutely to push into his collarbone as she
leaned forward
The energy smashed into her She could almost see it noith the sixth sense that was part of her
vae It was like the downrush of a nuclear cloud, the part that went flowing along the
ground, destroying everything in its path, spreading in a circle froreen, the color of Morgead’s eyes And it packed quite a punch
Jez gritted her teeth and hung on to the fighting stick, keeping it in place, letting the Poash through
her It blew her hair back to stream in a hot wind and it seemed to last forever
But finally it was over, and she was tingling with pain, with a ead
was still trapped
He hissed at her, an a else?" Jez said, grinning down at him with narrowed eyes Every bruise on her body hurt
afresh in the after to let hiead’s upper lip lifted "Drop dead, Jezebel"
Nobody was allowed to use her full naested, and leaned harder on the
stick
The green eyes were beautifully luer and hatred "So kill ead-"
"It’s the only way you’re going to win Otherwise I’e And
when I’ve got enough Power I’ll hit you again"
"You never knohen it’s over, do you?"
’It’s never over"
Jez bit down on a rush of fury and exasperation ’I didn’t want to have to do this," she snarled, "but I
will"
She didn’t kill hirabbed his wrist and locked it, with her hand holding his and her stick on top of his wrist She
could use leverage here to cause severe pain- or to break the bone
"Give up, Morgead"
"Biteto break your wrist"
’Tine I hope you enjoy it" He kept glaring
Like a little kid threatening to play on the freeway, Jez thought, and suddenly, inexplicably she was
alhter She choked it back
She didn’t want to break his wrist But she knew
she had to And she had to do it soon, before he regenerated enough Power to hit her again She
couldn’t take another of those blasts
"Morgead, give!" She put enough pressure on his wrist that it really hurt
He gave her the evil eye through dark lashes
"You’re so stubborn!" Jez put onhi stars of
pain were zinging in her elbow
Jez’s heart was beating hard and her ue This was much
more difficult for both of them than a clean break would have been And he was a vampire- his wrist
would heal in a few days She wouldn’t be injuring him permanently
I have to do it, she told herself She tensed her ead took a little quick breath, an indrawn hiss of pain For just an instant his green eyes lost
their ge a bit as he winced
Jez let go of his wrist and collapsed to sit beside hi hard
You are so stupid, her mind told her She shook her hair out and shut her eyes, trying to deal with the
fury
Beside her, Morgead sat up "What are you doing?"
"I don’t know!" Jez snarled without opening her eyes Being weak and idiotic, she answered herself She
didn’t even knohy she couldn’t go through with it She killed vaead-all the tiead said His voice was flat and dangerous "So it’s not over"
’Tine, blastto"
"So do it"
"What, you like it so rabbed her stick off the ground and turned to look at him for the first time since she’d
sat down "Yeah, I love it, Morgead! I’ to hit you over
your thick head so hard you won’t wake up until next week!" She ht have said more, but the look in
his eyes stopped her
He was staring at her intently, not sireen eyes were narrow
and searching
"You’re just crazy period," he said, sitting back, his gaze still probing In a different tone he said softly,