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Dervish rushes out of the office, leaving a laughing Davida and unconscious Chuda Sool behind Bill-E and I hurry after him "Shouldn’t we have tied Davida up or knocked her out?" I pant, running fast to catch up with Dervish

"No tih the roup of peopletheir way to the assembly point He roars, "Get out! Go back!" They stop and stare at him oddly

"There’s been an explosion!" Bill-E yells, lurching up behind us "They think it’s a gas leak The entire gas system’s been compromised There could be further detonations anywhere within town We have to get out Now!"

"Good one," I coroup turns and heads west

"We need to think about this logically," he gasps, face red fro to kill them, they’ll think we’re as leak instead," I nod "Get theer zone You hear that, Dervish?"

"Whatever," he grunts "But in another few - they’ll see the demons theantic D warehouse A huge crowd has gathered outside Most of the people are at the southern end, but so There are cameras everywhere, on tripods and cranes, in the hands of ca with the crowd, a couple on top of the warehouse roof I guess the cameramen are part of Davida’s inner circle, wise to the Demonata, otherwise she couldn’t trust them to man their posts when the chaos erupts

Several of the crew havethe crowd Dervish storrabs the aphone and shouts into it, "Gas leak! There have been explosions! Everybody out! We have to evacuate now!"

Uncertainand stare at Dervish He’s running up and down, repeating hispeople they have to make for the outskirts of town ie aphone of his own It’s Tunore that lunatic!" Tump roars "It’s Dervish Grady We fired hiet his own back Guards-seize hiuards aphone aside "Enough of this gas-leak crap," he mutters "Tiin on him They float up several metres into the air with yells of alar guards, then on Dervish, who looks like a ed full of electricity

Dervish touches a couple of fingers to his throat and addresses the crowd, his voice far louder than it ith the aid of theto die Davida Hayoing to break out of the warehouse in a couple of minutes and kill everyone Unless you flee now, you’re doonore him!" Tump Kooniart screams "He’s lost his mind!"

I see Bo and Abe close behind their father They look worried, scared, incredulous, like most of the people around us

"Real de to wreck the shoot He-"

Tuaphone, falls to his knees, face purple, hands clawing at his throat and mouth

"Don’t kill him," I whisper in Dervish’s ear

"He deserves to die," Dervish snarls, looking coentle man I’ve lived with all these"But we don’t have the right to kill people We’re trying to save them, even those who don’t deserve it"

Dervish snorts, but breaks the spell Tuain

"Listen to us," I shout, using ic to amplify my voice "I know it’s hard to believe, but you can see the guards floating overhead You can hear our voices, even though we’re not using any equiper You have to run now or else-"

"Enough!" Davida Haym screauards fall back to earth, so behind us, a groggy Chuda Sool by her side Her eyes are blazing "You’re not going to ruin my movie! Cameramen-are you ready?" Dozens nod and shout that they are "Sound?" Davida cries

Dervish raises a hand to stop her Before he can, he’s spun aside by a ical force It’s not Davida’s work Doesn’t look like Chuda’s doing it either There e soain and this tiht Let’s dispense with the countdown and cut to the chase You lot inside the warehouse-it’s tirand entrance

"Action!" she roars, and the hounds of hell are unleashed

The giant door in the middle of the southern wall of the warehouse explodes outwards Those nearest it are caught by flying splinters, soh a few are torn apart and killed instantly by the shrapnel

Stunned silence from those not struck by the debris of the blast Everybody’s staring at the wounded and dead Wondering if this is real or part of thecan happen and nobody is ever really hurt Their senses tell them this is different, it’s not part of a script, they should run But the ure out how the explosion was arranged and how the scattering of the splinters was ti to convince the, the blood isn’t real, it can’t be

Dervish is back up on his feet Staring at the hole in the wall like the rest of us The explosion created clouds of dust around the doorway As they clear, a figure glides forward froht arhs, looking around sadly "Here we all are Bound by chains of blood and death No way out Doomed Dervish tried to warn you, to save you, but he failed Here you are trapped Here you will die"

One of the cameralance back She’s speaking into athe cameraman "His face first, then pan down to the hole in his chest I want to see those snakes slithering"

Lord Loss gazes without htly, then runs his eyes over the crowd, judging theirin their expressions, most more confused than terrified "Ah," he notes "You do not believe You think this is part of the film That I am a movie prop" He chuckles "It is time to burst that bubble of limpse other shapes behind his," Lord Loss whispers

The demons spill out in their dozens, each one ht bile, oozing pus and blood, screeching and howling with lee They collide with the shockedCut into and through the and clawing

Realisation hits the s out Then a volley of them Panic sweeps the crowd A staet away fro down in the crush, dying beneath the feet of their work

Lord Loss laughs and his laughter carries over the sounds of the screams I’, not wanting this to be happening, wishing I could be anywhere in the world but here

I see the ca away to capture the scenes of mayhem "Not yet!" Davida snaps "Stay on the hole Give ht up to Lord Loss’ chest,his ca snakes He -and one of the snakes strikes It lashes out from within the hole where Lord Loss’ heart should be Sinks its tiny fangs into the cameraman’s left cheek He yelps, drops his camera and tries to pull away But the snake has a fires into the hole And now all the snakes are biting The cao still He falls away a few seconds later, his face a blood-red map of bites and rips, skin flailed, bone cracked, brains dribbling down his chin

"No!" Davida gasps "He hadn’t finished the shot! They shouldn’t have"

She stops and studies the de no distinction between the intended victi down ca members of the cast and crew

"No!" Davida screeches "We had a deal!"

Lord Loss looks at her sneeringly "I do not make deals with fools I pros could film, but I never said I would spare any of you You sis, Grubitsch Such a pleasure to see you again I will take , slow, painful death"

"Not today!" Dervish bellows and suddenly he’s by y at Lord Loss The demon master deflects it, but is knocked sideways "Coet out of here"

"But what about?" I gesture at the fleeing people

"We’ll summon the they can do for now is flee That will delay the deins

"No arguments!" Dervish barks "Follow me now or, so help me, I’ll leave you for the bloody Demonata!"

With that he turns and flees south, sidestepping the stunned, frozen Davida Hayn of Chuda, whoto perish along with those they’d planned to sacrifice I’m not sure where he thinks he can run to or hide, but he fled anyway

Davida can’tall her dreao up in flames I’d like to say I feel sorry for her, but I don’t All I can think right now is, "Serves you right, you mad old cow!"

Then Bill-E and I are past the desolate producer, following Dervish through the warren of streets and alleys of Slawter, the screa all the ti, Dervish in the lead, no apparent route in mind He stops in the middle of a street There are doors on either side of us Handy for a getaway if we’re attacked "Are you OK?" he asks us

"Any reason we should be?" I reply calHe looks like a shell-shocked soldier As awful as I feel, I think Bill-E feels a hell of a lot worse

"Billy?" Dervish says softly "Are you with us? Are all the lights on in there?" He taps the side of Bill-E’s head

"They killed the open and shut at great speed "I saw a thing with it looked like a tiger but bits and pieces sticking out it killed Salit He tried to stop it He didn’t knoas real He was acting hishero But it cut him down the middle and-"

"We don’t have tiht, or go and babble somewhere until the de that, but I know he’s only doing it for Bill-E’s sake Cruel to be kind and all that guff

Bill-E glares at Dervish, anger driving the fear away "I’m not hysterical," he says stiffly

"Glad to hear it," Dervish says "Now listen and listen good Lord Loss is the only demon master The rest are his faer than us but most aren’t We need to capture one of the weaker deet out"

"And the other people?" I ask quietly

"We’ll take as many as we can," Dervish promises "If we’re successful, I’ll send a telepathic signal and let all the survivors knohere we are"

"Why not do that now?" I ask "Arrange a ive them more time, a better chance"

Dervish shakes his head "Those orking for the De to Lord Loss-try to save their own foul lives by selling out the rest of us"

"OK," I mutter "So hoe catch a demon?"

Dervish scratches his left cheek nervously "Bait," he says softly And his gaze settles on Bill-E

I don’t like it Hell, I hate it! But it’s the quickest, easiest way We’re up to our eyeballs in trouble We have to take risks

We leave Bill-E standing in thehis hands, face crumpled with fear He trusts us but he’s terrified I would be too in his shoes

"If anything happens to him" I whisper to Dervish

"It won’t," Dervish says solidly "Now don’t talk-watch"

A ony and anguish Every hair on ht I have to keep ums if I don’t take care Part of h, forget everybody else

Save your own skin, it whispers Dervish and Bill-E are the only ones who matter Convince them to leave with you Let the others look after thenore the treasonous, selfish voice-but only with an effort

Move around a corner Dervish and I tense, ready to unleash a burst of ures are children Bo Kooniart, Vanalee Metcalf, three others

"Run!" Bo screa chased! Get the hell out of here, you moron, before-"