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My night ing by one wrist over an inferno of fire, smoke, and horrible creatures, the steel of the handcuffs suspendingblood Sh, and my vision blurred as I started to fade out

Then I was in a new place In the dark Cold stone chilled me where I lay upon it All aroundin the shadows Scaly rasps Soft, hungry hisses, together with the gleam of malevolent eyes My heart pounded in my throat

"There you are," whispered one of the voices "I watched the violently "Yeah, well That&039;s why they call them monsters It&039;s what they do"

"They enjoyed it," ca voice "If only I could have videotaped it for you"

"TV will rot your brain, Kravos," I said

So blurred out of the darkness and struck me across the face The blow drove me back and down My vision blurred over with scarlet and h a burst of pain, but I didn&039;t drop unconscious You don&039;t, as a rule, in dreams

"Jokes," the voice hissed "Jokes will not save you now"

"Hell&039;s bells, Kravos," I ain "Do they produce a Cliche Lines Textbook for Villains or so to kill ht as well reveal your secret plan"

The dark blurred towardto defend round, and sat on my chest

I stared up at Kravos For about him like misty clothes I could see the shape of the shadow de the layers I saw Justine there, and Lydia And there, at the center of that distorted, drifting mass, I saw Kravos

He didn&039;t look much different He had a thin, pinched face, and brown hair faded with grey He wore a full, untrimmed beard, but it only made his head seem misshapen He had wide, leathery shoulders, and sys I could vaguely piece together, covered his chest He lifted his hands and delivered two more blows to ibes noizard?" Kravos snarled "Where are your jokes? Weak, petty, self-righteous fool We are going to have a very good tiether, until Bianca comes to finish you"

"You think so?" I asked "I&039;m not sure It&039;s our first date Maybe we should take this one step at a tie of my nose, and my vision blurred with tears "You aren&039;t funny!" he shouted "You are going to die! You can&039;t treat this as a joke!"

"Why not?" I shot back "Kravos, I took you out with a piece of chalk and a Ken doll You&039;re the biggest joke of a spellslinger I&039;ve ever seen Even I didn&039;t expect you to drop like that; maybe the link with that doll worked so well because it was anatoet the chance to finish the sentence Kravos screamed and took my dream self by the throat It felt real It felt cointo ainst him, futile and reflexiveBlackness covered my dream vision, and I knew that he would hold it until he was sure I was dead

People who have near-death experiences often talk abouttoward the light, or flying or floating, or falling I didn&039;t get that I&039;m not sure what that says about the state ofvoice, no lake of fire to fall into There was only silence, deep and ti of ainst h a wall of plastic wrap

I felt a dull thud on top of s Then another thud More easing on s Then more blows to my chest

My heart lurched back into motion with a hesitant thunder, and I felt ed at me for a led to openmy throat, blinked his eyes in shock "No!" he snarled "You&039;re dead! You&039;re dead!"

"Susan&039;s giving his real body CPR," someone said, behind him Kravos whipped his head around to look, just in time to catch a stiff cross to the tip of his chin He cried out in startled fear, and fell off of me

I sucked in another labored breath and sat up "Hell&039;s bells," I gasped "It worked"

Kravos struggled to his feet and backed away, staring, his eyes flying open wide as they looked back and forth between me and my savior

My savior was reat deal like , and had bruises and scratches, mixed with a few burns, all over it Its hair was a wild mess, its eyes sunken over circles of black in a pale, sickly face

My double peered at me and said, "You know We really look like hell"

"What&039;s this?" hissed Kravos "What trick is this?"

I offered myself a hand up, so I took it It took me a moment to balance, but I said, "Hell, Kravos As flexible as the boundaries between here and the spirit world have been, I would have expected you to figure it out by now"

Kravos looked at the two of us, and bared his teeth "Your ghost," he hissed

"Technically," host said "Harry actually died for a hosts are y to create an i a wizard - a real wizard, not a petty fake like you - and with the border to the Nevernever in such a state of flux, it was pretty much inevitable"

"That was very well said," I told lad your theory worked I wouldn&039;t be very good at this, solo"

"Well, thank Kravos here It was hih to etting to sneak attackto be like last time Any questions?"

Kravos hurled himself at me in a fury He overpoweredfor me to overcome directly I thrust a thumb into his eye He screahost came in He wrapped his ar the led, his arhost was a little stronger than I, but he wouldn&039;t be able to hold Kravos for long

"Harry!" ripped Kravos by the throat, letting all the frustration and fury inside well up I held up littering claws Kravos stared at me in shock

"You think you&039;re the only one who can play in dreams, Kravos? If I&039;d been ready for you the last time, you&039;d have never been able to do tointo a muzzle "This time I&039; back what&039;s uts I ripped him open with my claws and wolfed into his vitals, just as he had to , dreaulped down bloody et away I tore him to pieces and devoured hihost-flesh hot and good, easing the ache of emptiness inside of me