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"You know Darin’s blind as a bat" Mrs Haffey twisted her hands "He can’t even see what he’s shooting at The other day he co at the mouth He’d brushed his teeth with Aspercreme instead of toothpaste …"

A note of hysteria slipped into her voice At five ten, she had eight inches of height onover "I called down to the station, but they say it will be twenty ht since you ith the Order …"

I used to be with the Order When I was a Knight of Merciful Aid, it was my job to help people when the cops wouldn’t or couldn’t assist theic hazmat I had decorations and a stellar service record, but none of it mattered when the Order found out that I was a shapeshifter They branded me mentally disturbed and unfit for duty and "retired"or my skills

I pressed a latch ina small niche that used to be a hallway closet and which I had converted into leaht

Mrs Haffey clicked her s, but I needed soauge shotgun with a 32-round clip was always a good choice It fired 300 rounds per s Squeeze the trigger once, and get a single shot that would punch through a car door Hold the trigger, and anything on the other end, no matter howpile of meat in six and a half seconds I’d paid a fortune for it and it orth every dollar

I grabbed the AA-12 and put on a hip holster, into which I stuckand its twin "Mrs Haffey, I need you to stay here" I gave her a nice big smile "Lock the door behind me and don’t open it until I come back Do you understand?"

Mrs Haffey nodded

"Thank you,and heard the deadbolt slide shut behindpale strands over the walls It rese ball and instead of working in a spiral had decided to weave only in a vertical direction I crossed the landing and inhaled Usually there was an up-draft here, the air rising fro Today no movement troubled the stairway, but I smelled the sharp metallic odor of fresh blood all the same Tiny hairs on the back ofdeep inside, opened her eyes

I padded down the stairs, un ready Even though ic and I played nice Give rew thicker At the Haffeys’ landing, it sed the walls and the wooden stair rail I turned, heading down The stench of blood assaulted ue All of my senses went into overdrive My heart beat faster My pupils dilated, i sharpened and I caught a distant noise,

I took a few e a round drops Either someone bled and walked, or someone bled and was carried Please don’t be Darin I liked Darin and I liked his wife Mrs Haffey was always kind towas a narrow tunnel within the web The door to apartment 1A was intact, but buried in white strands The same solid wall of white sealed the way downstairs, and none of it was torn No sign of Darin going that way The door to 1B lay in a splintered wreck Bloodyinto the aparted inside

I stepped into the hallway A new scent tugged at htly sour, prickly odor that set off instinctual alarood

The apartment had the exact sa into the kitchen on the right, the living room on the left, then the first bedroo to the utility roouest bathroom, and finally to the master bedroom with a bathroo the pie around the corner: starting at the wall and htly away from the wall to see the threat around the corner before it saw et your head blown off

Kitchen--clear

Irooe wicker basket full of yarn Two long wooden needles stuck out of it at an angle Next to the basket lay a severed hue wall-to-wall carpet in a dark red stain

Pale skin Not Darin Haffey No, this was likely Mrs Truman who lived in this aparte with her knitting club and collected yarn for "special" projects, hich she never did anything Now her torn-off ar stash No time to absorb and deal with it I still had Darin to find

I er

Bedrooaped in the floor of the utility rooh the floor and tile fro down

No movement The floor below h the quiet

My ears twitched

Woof! Woof!

Chief was still alive somewhere in there I jumped into the hole, landed on the concrete floor of the baseh the hole No need to present a clear target

Gloo froer existed There was only hite and endless