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We were too far fro to encircle us If I could blow a hole in the wall, we et out of here

"Good question What do you have in et down"

Rather than waste tirenade in my hand and hurled it Chance hit the deck and rolled as debris showered down on us The entire hangar groaned and shuddered, but when the sh to crawl through

I could feel the cold of the shadows closing in on us Any closer and we’d start to freeze up I reony from the cemetery

"Hurry up!" Fear ency On hands and knees, we scraed metal sliced my palround into the open wounds, and I couldn’t restrain a rass, the spirits slowed Maybe they couldn’t tolerate the sun? I guess I’d seen too rate or catch on fire, but they hesitated before boiling out of the ragged hole in the wall

The light wasn’t enough

Ragged ars that contrasted unnaturally with the chill in the air The light hurt them as they pursued us even into the sunshine Oddly, they see for confirmation of their desire to suck the life out of us

I stumbled to my feet and tried to decide what to do Chance didn’t look sure His nose bled, no longer a single drop but a steady streaed "He already knoe’re here"

Gri on anyot worse

A lightning bolt split the sky, and thunder clouds boiled up froray that would ripen into blue as the day went on We stood in the heart of unnatural night, carrion winds rising around us, and still couldn’t see our enemy

From everywhere and nowhere, a voice boomed out "Finish thear, the specters spread into a writhing wall before us Through their shifting massmovement--the stiff, pale forht of the rising stor airthe scene even more surreal

Jesus, that wasn’t even fair With the , the warlock could create two enemies: their transformed spirits and their dead flesh I slanted a quick look at Chance, who had taken a position at ed to smile as I said, "Seeuess we pissed him off with our persistence Lion, thorn in paw"

Chance and I had been backed into ht spots, but this qualified as the worst I recognized the chill creeping over me as the wave of shadows crept closer Overhead, the sky boiled with unnatural clouds We needed light, but I didn’t think I could count on a stray sunbeam, especially when Kel had called the one in the cemetery

Where the hell was he anyway?

Then the entire upper story of the house exploded, sh the darkened air as fire burst the s The impact sent me face-first into the dirt

The shadows hesitated, no longer bound to their purpose Beyond the steps taking them away fro with flame I heard the screams of Kel’s combat with the warlock, but I couldn’t think about his affronted by the heat and vitality of the living

Screw it I wouldn’t go out quietly

I’d practiced last night Press doith my thumb and slide the pin out, then let fly I’d done it once already, against the hangar wall With fingers gone nurenade and pitched it at the advancing shades The explosion roared into the shadows Except make them recoil

"Heat," I called to Chance "They’re afraid of fire We should head for the house!"

His look said I’d gone insane But I’d lived through conflagrations that killed other people, and these things couldn’t take heat or light When Clayton Mann lit his own lair on fire and I fell three stories, I’d proved I could survive ain

I spun and staggered toward the burning building I wasn’t sure how I felt when he followedcrazy to my insides

I could hardly ish Deadly frost whispered at my heels as I ht be seeking the least objectionable way to die

All around us, the storm roared with insane fury The warlock wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long with soKel didn’t slaughter hiht, incinerate him in holy fire

Pure heat roared over me as I coiled myself under the sill Chance tried to wrap himself around me, but the closest shadow snatched at my arm instead A wave of blackness washed over me like an oil spill

It wanted ht back this tih Too slow, not quite hot enough