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Asa

"Shit," comes Rafe&039;s voice over the line "What happened?"

The wind howls,orders to track Emiko and not interfere Sanji tracked her down and they battled for quite a while"

"Where are you?"

"Near the ski area" The long shadows cast by the chair lift add a spooky, scary-movie feel to the kill scene Thanks to the nearby fluorescent lights, the splashes and pools of blood look like ink against the white background

"You told me about Bebe and how Sanji drank froue walk away froe circle of tramped-down snow splattered with black "They sliced each other up with swords and Emiko took some blood to heal As far as I could tell, she sustained hout the entire encounter The rogue didn&039;t drain the corpse nor did she finish decapitating Sanji or cut out her heart She ran off right before I called you"

"Holy fucking hell," sounds off toover froot visitors, Asa?" Rafe says

"Yeah, must have been why Emiko split before the task was done"

"You knohat to do-finish the kill and store the corpse where you put Bebe Call me back when you&039;re alone I have some more details to fill you in on" With that he ends the call, leaving e," says Jet while checking out the blood pools, "wouldn&039;t you say?"

Liam walks over and examines the Indian vah the right arm at the shoulder And her head is barely attached" He turns his attention toback to the corpse, "Did you witness the fight?"

"Yes"

Jet walks around the forty-foot clearing The nearby light on a pole di most of the details discernible with our enhanced vision "Lots of prints How long did the encounter last?"

"Over thirtyti blades, driving fists, and flying feet fill my mind "They didn&039;t just stick to swords"

"What&039;s your ih in his excitehly skilled and tends to play with her opponents" Jet raises an eyebrow atto tell hi alley and stripped me of hts From what I witnessed, she could have ended Sanji&039;s life ht minutes sooner"

Liam shifts his battle-axe to his other shoulder "I wonder if it&039;s worth it"

"You mean this hunt?" Jet asks

"Yeah"

"Donald didn&039;t think so," I say

"What do you mean?" Jet crosses the circle to stand over the body

"He bowed out when he kneas outclassed as a fighter Offered to end his participation in the hunt if she spared his life"

"And she honored such a request?" he asks

"Yup And took a nice snack at his neck to seal the deal"

"&039;Spoils to the victor&039;," Lia to a runts and continues to exa of slash er and the shredded coat falls away, revealing blood soaked clothing "It looks like a pattern"

"I&039;, silver knife froh "But I have a job to finish" Both vaer to watch when I cut out their fallen comrade&039;s heart

I push the ferocity oforders to correctly dispose of a dangerous corpse is not the sa a trained soldier Rarely e ever required to do anything even remotely as brutal as what I&039;ve been exposed to in my new undead existence

I slide the blade under her shirt and cut the material away to provide better access Thewhat I said earlier inwith her

"Is that a word?" Liaht They dodown, I push more fabric aside to reveal her abdomen Hacked, shallow cuts clearly spell out the word &039;GUILTY&039;

"Well, if that don&039;t beat all," Jet says "Talk abouta statement"

"Could it be true?" the Scotsman asks

"What criuilty?" I say

"True," he replies "But I think I&039; to head back to the inn and think on this for a bit It took a long tie-not toand bend to h butter In a moment the first step to my job is co-ready for burning

"Can I borrow your axe?" I ask of Lia me the heavy weapon "Knock yourself out"

One strike is all it takes for the olive-toned skin and long black hair of the old vampire to roll away into the snow I hand back the bloody axe, for adrinking from the body

"It&039;s not your kill," I say

"From what I heard, it didn&039;t stop Sanji with Bebe," Jet replies

"And did it do her any good?"

"No honor in it," says Liam "I&039;ll pass"

The two hunters slink off into the darkness, in the direction of the inn and not the fleeing footprints of the rogue I heft the headless body overthe head by its long, trailing hair I carry e shed near Gen One, where I stowed the garbage bag with Bebe&039;s ot her head and quickly freezing body lodged next to the Brazilian&039;s bagged remains

It occurs to me, as I reach for e forand would be the one to clean up her latest kill I doubt it was intended to ame Why focus on ht not have juain, from what I&039;ve seen of her abilities, she meant me no permanent harm

When Rafe answers, I tell him of the words found carved on the body andI&039; onto the snow as I walk I can&039;t wait to dispose of it and get it out ofthe heart inside the inn It makes an awful stench when you burn it Use the fire pit in the stone garden Should be so box"

"Got it Want o check in with the wolves in cabin number three Drew reports, via the GPS locators, that there are two more wolves back in the cabin I want to make sure none of them are injured A pack can be pretty stubborn when it co for outside help"

"Didn&039;t you have so you wanted to tell me before?"

"Yeah, but I&039;ll fill you in when you co at one has been pushed to two"

"Okay"

We end the call and I head west to get back to theand the stone fire pit The statues, wrapped in rope lights, twinkle in the false twilight of the garden Nuhten the courtyard in a si between the carved sexual antics on display

Near the glass wall of the pool wing lies a gathering of benches The smooth paver stones fro An indentation in the e cedar box, ot to be where the wood is kept Brushing off the snow, I uncover a sainst the back In a fewout the pit, load it up with some dry wood, and set the small pile ablaze

I sit and watch the dance of fire, enjoying the exuberant lick of flaht bears down onto the inn just twoaway from the undead life I&039;d come to hate