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She moved into the kitchen She looked around There were three knives in a wooden block

He saw her He had the kettle in his hand, but he put it back on the stove He turned toward her, assessing

"You seem different"

"You do not Pas du tout"

"French?" He cocked his head She noticed a sheen of perspiration on his forehead The next moment he had a knife in his hand and blurred toward her at preternatural speed

She allowed all the vibrations of Jean-Pierre’s two hundred years of warrior service on Second Earth to live, beat, and breathe within her The knife was just suddenly in her right hand and with her left, she blocked the blurring ar thrust away from her neck Her blade found purchase in the soft belly of Rith’s body She thrust up and up until his back bowed, and she pushed the blade through soave a twist

Rith’s body jerked hard He fell backward and she released the knife so that it would stay within him

She had no particular reaction as his head slapped the tile hard He shook from head to toe, his eyes wild for a few seconds But soon his body fell still and the light in his eye disappeared Blood poured fro in a beautiful red blossom on the fine white line of his shirt, around the ebony handle of the knife

But she wasn’t done

She put her foot on his neck and looked outside Rain now pelted the garden The do through nether-space, reaching for Jean-Pierre She found him almost instantly Which meant he was close by

Come to me now Help me finish this, she sent

She understood Rith’s power She felt in her bones that he could undo this No, she knew he could undo this, that he was undoing it even now

Jean-Pierre watched the mist crumble before his eyes He did not question what he saw He focused on Fiona and folded

A split second later he stood beside her

Rith lay on the floor, a knife up through his abdo But he understood at once why Fiona had sounded desperate Rith was healing his heart and slowly pushing the blade out

Jean-Pierre had but seconds A vampire with this amount of pohich he understood to be a Fourth ability, would not take long

He drew his sword into his right hand and with a single swift arcing swipe, severed Rith’s head from his body

Only then, as blood poured from the head and from the neck, did Rith’s body finally slump into the stillness of real death

Fiona slid her arht?"

"He was deranged," Fiona said

He folded his sword away "Oui At the very least, he was deranged" He withdrew his thin warrior phone from the pocket of his kilt and thumbed it

"Jeannie, here How may I serve?"

"Jeannie, we have Rith at last and he is dead I want you to transfer his body to the ue His head is severed but would you be so kind as to transport them separately and alert the doctor to send the head immediately into the crematorium? Do you understand?"

"Tell you what, duhuro Let’s do the head first We’ll leave the body right where it is until I have confirmation that the head has been disposed of Is that okay with you?"

"Oui A much better idea"

"Good I have a fix Are you ready?"

"Do it" Rith’s head vanished And as though his body understood that the separation was now coh it

He felt Fiona lean into him a little more He slid his arm around her shoulder and held her close Both of the until Jeannie called back A il

"I wish Parisa was here," she said softly "She would want to know that he’s dead"

"Do you want to call her?"

"Yes" He felt her nod against him

He drew his Epic frohed heavily as she put in Parisa’s number She looked up at him She had tears in her eyes

"Hi, it’s ’s fine Better than fine" She paused, drawing in another breath "We got hiot thehis warrior phone next to his ear Jeannie came back online "You there?"

"Oui"

"The doctor put the head in the cre now for the rest of the corpse Shall I take it?"

"I have a favor to ask"

"Anything, duhuro"