Page 21 (1/2)

"That’s a lie!" I hoisted the heavy sword, ed

Difethwr leaped to ht, and I missed it entirely I spun as fire erupted from its eyes I tried to block with the sword, but it was too unwieldy, my left arm too slow The twin fla to die in excruciating agony, just like ed roaned andI heard it say, "No, Master The shapeshifter is here" Then it growled Slowly, as if the effort caused it pain, the Hellion reeled the flalowed dully

The Hellion raised its sli arm and pointed at er "It is not yet thy tihter of Ceridwen But soon Soon ill destroy thee and reduce this city to ashes and rubble And thou wilt have no power to stop us"

As if to confir the blade of e, slime-covered blue warts covered its neck and jaw I spoke the spell frantically, whispering the words too fast, slurring theood The sword’s flahter cut off abruptly, and the dee twisted its face "Yes, Master We obey," it said, each syllable yanked out like a tooth being pulled The Hellion wavered, fading, beco transparent

"Who bound you, Difethwr? Whose call do you answer?"

It regarded hter of Ceridwen" It was al for you, though, huh? So the Big Bad Destroyer can be forced to bow to a hue wassoon" Its voice was all that remained now, like the stink of cold ashes after a fire And even that was fading "Soon"

11

I NEEDED A DRINK--AND I’M NOT MUCH OF A DRINKER BUT part of, and in rapid succession What I really needed was to sit down, geton

So I headed for Creature Comforts I’d told Kane I’d try to meet him there, anyway Maybe he could help me make sense of what had just happened Somehow, a Hellion had breached the shield and invaded nor, and left s locked inside Then I ran toward Creature Comforts as fast as ure this out The Hellion isn’t coht I slowed my pace In a few minutes, I was there

Creature Comforts, like most bars in the New Combat Zone, didn’t look like much on the outside But once you pushed open the heavy oak door--well, it didn’t look like much on the inside, either It was dim, like you’d expect a monster bar to be, with sticky linoleu on the walls To the left of the door stretched the longest bar in the Zone, with stools spaced haphazardly along its length Square tables took up the ht and back walls Above each booth hung a single light fixture with a black shade and a forty-watt bulb; the seats sported ancient red vinyl cushions zigzagged with cracks, soarettes (no one tried to enforce any suest whiff of human blood

There was a rumor that Axel, the owner and bartender, pumped in a special blood-scented air freshener to attract the vao all blood-crazed predator on the norms I didn’t believe it Most of the vamps seemed to shoith blood already on their breath Whatever Creature Comforts was definitely the place to be for vampires, their junkies, the occasional olf, and a few human thrill-seekers

I liked it because it felt like holance around the rooht, but because of our crazy schedules, ere each used to the other one showing up late

Axel loomed behind the bar Nobody knew for sure exactly what Axel was Feould even hazard a guess--uy, Axel looked like he’d eat you for an hors d’oeuvre The guy was huge--too big to be huer he looked Not a bad quality in a bartender who doubled as bouncer Axel had a sort of cave arms so hairy there hispers he was part bear Since his lair--er, apartment--was in the cellar below Creature Coht not be too far off

I spotted Juliet at the bar, where she sat with her back to uy next to her leaned in so close he half fell off his stool He looked like a college kid--baseball hat, baggy jeans, a hooded sweatshirt that read HUSKIES

"No way," Husky Boy exclaiin’ way!"

"It’s true I swear onher Bloody Mary She ordered that cocktail not because she liked it, but because it freaked out the norms--they assumed it was made with real blood Most norms think that vampires can’t eat food, but that’s not true They can eat whatever they want, but only hulowed like she was in a cosht But it couldn’t have beenwith a drunken frat boy

Unless, of course, he happened to be taking a Shakespeare class Juliet was a sucker (pun intended) for an English major

I sat next to Juliet, on the side opposite Husky Boy and his buddy, and waved to get Axel’s attention When Juliet saw htly red--whether with to else, I didn’t know "Ah, here’s my roommate," Juliet said "She’ll tell you"

The kid leaned over so far he was alht? She’s not the real Juliet You know, like in Roht up He raised his eyebrows but moved silently down the bar Then I turned to the kid and shrugged "Her name is Giulietta Capu let And she’s been a vaht to me"

"Yeah, but how--"