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The first thing Butch thought when he came around was that someone needed to turn that faucet off The drip, drip, drip was annoying

Then he cracked an eyelid and realized his own blood was pulling the Kohler routine Oh¡­ right He&039;d been beaten and he was leaking

This had been a long, long, very bad day How ated? Twelve? Felt like a thousand

He tried to take a deep breath, but some of his ribs were broken, so he picked hypoxia over more pain Man, thanks to his captor&039;s attentions, everything hurt like a unshot wound

Just to keep questioning going longer

The only saving grace to the night about the Brotherhood had passed his lips Not a thing Even when the slayer went to work on his fingernails and between his legs Butch was going to die soon, but at least he could look Saint Peter in the eye and knoasn&039;t a squealer when he got to heaven

Or had he died and gone to hell? Was that what all this was about? Given some of the shit he&039;d pulled on earth, he could see why he&039;d ended up in the devil&039;s guesthouse But then wouldn&039;t his torturer have horns, like devils did?

Okay, he was flirting with Looney Tunes here

He opened his eyes a little farther, figuring it was ti nonsense He had a feeling this was probably his last shot at consciousness, so he should make it count

Vision was blurry Hands¡­ feet¡­ yup, chained down And he was still lying on so hard, a table Room was¡­ dark Dirt shtbulb revealed¡­ yeah, the torture tool kit He looked away fro

What was that sound? A di louder Louder

As soon as it was cut off, a door opened upstairs and Butch heard a man say in a muffled voice, "Master"

Soft reply Indistinct Then a conversation, with one set of footsteps pacing around, causing dust to filter down from the floorboards Eventually, another door squeaked open, and the stairs next to him started to creak

Butch broke out in a cold sweat and lowered his eyelids Through the cracks between his lashes, he watched what cauy was the lesser who&039;d been working hiuy from over the summer, from the Caldwell Martial Arts Academy¡ªJoseph Xavier was his name, if Butch remembered correctly The other was draped from head to foot in a brilliant white robe, his face and hands completely covered Looked like some kind of monk or priest

Except that was no man of God under there As Butch absorbed the person&039;s vibe, he couldn&039;t breathe from his repulsion Whatever was hidden by that robe was distilled evil, the kind that mobilized serial killers and rapists andtheir children: hatred and ht, solid forh the roof He could handle being knocked around; the pain was bitch, but there was a definable end pointBut whatever was hiding under that robe heldthe likes of which were biblical And how did he know? His whole body was revolting, his instincts firing off to run, save hih his mind The Lord is ure&039;s hood turned toward Butch with the boneless swivel of an owl&039;s head

Butch slah the Twenty-third Psalet the words into his reen pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters¡­ He restoreth hteousness for his name&039;s sake¡­

"This h the base him lose his rhyth out of a sci-fi un had the Brotherhood&039;s bullets in it"

Get back to the Psalh the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil¡ª

"I know you wake, huht into Butch&039;s ear "Look upon me and know your captor&039;s master"

Butch opened his eyes, turned his head, and sed co down into his was condensed blackness, a shadow cohed a little "So you knohat I a, has he, Fore-lesser?"

"I&039;m not finished"

"Ah, so that is no And you have worked hiiven how close to death he is Yes, I can feel it coain and inhaled the air over Butch&039;s body "Yes, within the hour Maybe less"

"He&039;ll last as long as I want hia started to circle the table and Butch tracked thein the centrifugal force of the Evil&039;s pacing Around, around, around¡­ Butch treether

The shaking dried up the second the Oa came to a halt at the far end of the table Shadowy hands lifted up, grasped the white robe&039;s hood, and pulled it off Overhead, the bald light-bulb flickered as if its illumination were sucked in by the black fora said, that voice like a wave, filtered and enhanced by the air in turns "You are leaving hi the others to stay away froht

"What?" the Fore-lesser said

"The Brotherhood has a loyalty, do they not? Yes, paralyzing fidelity They claia held out its hand "A knife, please I am of a mind to oing to die"

"But I&039;ive hiift Knife"

Butch&039;s eyes cracked wide open as an eight-inch hunting nua placed one hand on the table, put the blade to the tip of its finger, and bore down There was a crack, like a carrot had been cut

The Oa leaned over Butch "Where to hide, where to hide¡­"

As the knife came up and hovered over Butch&039;s abdo as a shallow slice was a picked up the little part of itself, the black digit

Butch fought, yanking against the binds Horror had his eyes bulging until the pressure on his optic nerve blinded hiertip into Butch&039;s gut, then bent low and blew over the fresh cut The skin sealed up, the flesh knitting together I inside hi He lifted his head The skin around the cut was already turning gray

Tears raced to his eyes Seeped down his raw cheeks

"Release him"

The Fore-lesser went to work on the chains, but when they were off, Butch realized he couldn&039;t move He was paralyzed