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Raindrops pelted down aroundThe air grew thicker, hotter, even with the rain falling I had to think fast, use my head, be calm, hurry up Murphy&039;s handcuffs still held me fastened to her wrist Both of us were coated in dust that was stuck to the stinking, colorless goo, the ectoplaseneric oo wouldn&039;t last long - within a few more minutes, it would simply dissipate, vanish into thin air, return to wherever it had come from in the first place For the , slimy annoyance

But maybe one that I could put to use

My own hands were too broad, but Murphy had delicate little lady&039;s hands, except where practice with her gun and her martial arts staff routines had left calluses If she had heardthat, and had been conscious, she would have punched

One of the EMTs was babbling into a handset, while the other was on Murphy&039;s other side, supporting her along with et I hunched over beside Murphy&039;s di with the dark folds ofher li to slip the steel loop of the handcuffs over her hand

I took soet the cuffs off of her wrist just as the EMT and I sat her down on the curb next to the ambulance The other EMT ran to the back of the a around inside of it I could hear sirens, both police cars and fire engines, approaching fro&039;s ever simple when I&039;m around

"She&039;s been poisoned," I told the EMT "The wound site is on her right upper arm or shoulder Check for a massive dose of brown scorpion venom There should be some antivenin available somewhere She&039;ll need a tourniquet and - "

"Buddy," the EMT said, annoyed, "I know my job What the hell happened in there?"

"Don&039;t ask," I said, glancing back at the building The rain carees Was I too late? Would I be dead before I could get to the lake house?

"You&039;re bleeding," the EMT told , but it didn&039;t start hurting until I actually saw the injury and remembered I had it The scorpion&039;s claw had rippedof ed and painful "Sit down," the EMT said "I&039;ll take care of it in a second" He wrinkled up his face "What the hell is this stinking shit all over you?"

I wiped rain fro with a bottle of oxygen and a stretcher, and they both bent over their ith Murphy Her face had discolored, pale in parts, too brightly red in others She was as limp as a wet dollar, except for the occasional shudder or flinch, quivers of her muscles that came from nowhere, pained her for a moment, and then apparently vanished

It was my fault Murphy was there It had been my decision to hold information away from her that had compelled her to take direct action, to search my office If I&039;d just beenthere right now, dying I didn&039;t want to walk away froain and leave her behind me, alone

But I did Before the support units arrived, before police started asking questions, before the EMTs began looking around formy description to police officers, I turned on my heel and walked away

I hatedbefore I knew if Murphy would survive the scorpion&039;s veno had been trashed, torn to pieces by deiant insects and my own cluled bodies of Jennifer Stanton and To of fear in ined my own spare frame torn asunder by the same forces

And, most of all, I hated the one responsible for all of it Victor Sells Victor, as going to kill rew I could be dead in another five ot a little ht about the problem and looked up at the clouds The stor over the city It wasn&039;tfast; it was a ponderous roller of a thunderstorm that would hammer at the area for hours The Sells&039;s lake house was to the east, around the shore of Lake Michigan, maybe thirty or forty miles away, as the crow flies I could beat the storet a car I could get out to the lake house and challenge Victor directly

My rod and staff were gone, dropped when the scorpion attacked I ht have been able to call them down froht accidentally blow out the wall if I tried I didn&039;t care to be crushed by hundreds of pounds of flying brick, called to ic and one, too, burned out by countering the tre elevator

I still had my mother&039;s pentacle talisman at my throat, the symbol of order, of the controlled patterns of power that were at the heart of whiteI still had the edge in experience, in sorcerous confrontations I still had my faith

But that was about all I eary, battered, tired, hurt, and I had already pulled ic out of the hat in one day than e already, in both mystic and physical terms But that just didn&039;tdidn&039;t e me, didn&039;t distract hts, htly,steel-hard, steel-sharp I could feel it burning, and reached for it eagerly, shoving the pain inside to fuelto pay for what he&039;d done to all those people, toout before I&039;d caught up to that man and shown him what a real wizard could do

It didn&039;t take h the door in a storry eyes

The place was packed, people sitting at every one of the thirteen stools at the bar, at every one of the thirteen tables, leaning against h the air in a haze, stirred by the languidly spinning blades of the ceiling fans The light was di at the tables and in sconces on the walls, plus a little grey storht ue andthem in a subtle fashion All of Mac&039;s chessboards were out on the tables, but a that was disturbing them

They all turned to stare atrainwater and a little blood onto the floor The rooot really quiet