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"No"
His heart broke as she sobbed, but he didn&039;t let her go He couldn&039;t "Take what&039;s inside of h, but take me anyway¡ª"
"Don&039;t make me do this¡ª"
"I have to" God, he felt like crying with her
"Butch" Her body bucked and strained against his, their clothes flapping as they struggled "I can&039;t hold back for o before I hurt you"
"Never"
It happened so fast His na blaze of pain at the side of his throat
Her fangs sinking into his jugular
"Ohfuck yes!" He loosened his grip and cradled her as she latched on to his neck He barked her name at the first erotic draw, the first hard suck on his vein, the first s for her As she repositioned for a better angle, pleasure swah his body as if he were orgas This was so the way it had to be He needed her to take from him in order to live¡ª
Marissa broke the contact and deht out of his arms
Butch fell headfirst into the e into the sofa cushions In a messy scramble, he shoved himself to his feet and spun around "Marissa! Marissa!"
He threw hiet free
Then he heard her broken, desperate voice on the other side "I&039;ll kill you God help me, but I&039;ll kill you I want you too much"
He pounded on the door "Let me out!"
"I&039; And he feared her resolveelse "I&039;m so sorry I&039;ll come to you afterward After it is done"
"Marissa, don&039;t do this¡ª"
"I love you"
He beat the ith his fists "I don&039;t care if I die! Don&039;t go to hiave way, he burst into the hall and ran flat out for the staircase
But by the tione
Across town, in the underground parking garage where the brokered fights took place, Van hopped into the chicken-wire cage and bounced on the balls of his feet The druh the concrete levels, cutting off the silence
Tonight there was no crowd, just three people But he was juiced like it was standing rooested the locale to Mr X, and he&039;d shown thehts, he&039;d been sure there wouldn&039;t be anyone around this evening and a big part of hi, not in some anonymous basement somewhere
He tried out soth, then eyed his opponent The other lesser was just as lit for the hand-to-hand as he was
Froe, Xavier barked, "You don&039;t stop until it&039;s over And Mr D, on the ground un is not &039;over,&039; we clear?"
Van nodded, already used to being called by his last initial
"Good" Xavier&039;s palht was on
Van and the other lesser circled each other, but Van had no intention of letting the slow-dance crap go on for long He ainst the cage The guy took the bare-knuckled pounders like they were nothingrain on his cheeks and then tossed out a le, splitting his lip open like an envelope
It hurt, but the pain was good, a strengthener, so that focused hi, a body bomb on the end of a steel chain Sure as shit it took the lesser down, sprawling the guy flat Van jumped on his opponent and cranked hi one arm back and around so the joints strained at the shoulder and elbow Just a little tighter and he was going to pop this sucker right off¡ª
The lesser pulled a s Van in the balls with his knee Quick switch of positions and Van was on the bottom Then another roll and they were up on their feet
The fight went on and on, no ti the holy hell out of each other It was flipping o for hours, no ine in hi force, one that was not as dulled by exhaustion or pain as his old self had been
When the break in the action finally ca factor was Van&039;s special whatever it was Though the two of theth, Van was thefor the win He popped the other slayer in the gut, nailing a liver shot that would have left a hu in his shorts Then he picked his opponent up and sla floor As he mounted the body and looked down, Van&039;s blood welled frouy&039;s face like tears black tears
The color moe of the lapse in focus by spinning hi, not this tiuy&039;s te the lesser stupid With a quick surge, Van kicked his opponent over, straddled the slayer&039;s chest and repeated the punch over and over again, battering the skull until the bone hel to the task until the very structure of the , his opponent dead and then some
"Finish him!" Xavier called fro hard "I just did"
"Nofinish him!"
"How?"
"You should knohat to do!" Xavier&039;s pale eyes shined with an eerie desperation "You must!"
Van wasn&039;t clear on exactly how rabbed the lesser by the ears and twisted until the neck snapped Then he eased off the body Though he had no heart that beat anyy froy didn&039;t last
He started to laugh Already the strength was returning to hi in from somewhere else as if he&039;d eaten and slept and recovered for days
Xavier&039;s boots landed hard in the ring and the Fore-lesser strode over, furious "I told you to finish hiht" Christ Xavier just had to suck the triu away froe as he took out a knife "I told you to finish him"
Van tensed up and leaped to his feet But Xavier just bent over thatin the chest There was a flash of light and then gone Nothing but black s&039;s tar "What the hell"
Froht at Van&039;s chest "I have expectations for you"
"Like what?"
"You should be able to do that"¡ªhe jabbed toward the disintegration ive me a knife next time"
Xavier shook his head, a bizarre kind of panic flaring in his face "Fuck!" He paced around, then o"
"What about the blood?" Man, that oily black stuff suddenly ive a shit?" Xavier picked up the dead lesser&039;s duffel bag and left
As Van followed hi annoying that Mr X was playing it like this The fight had been a good one and Van had won He wanted to enjoy the feeling
In strained silence, the two of them headed for the , Van scrubbed his face with a towel and tried not to curse When they got to the car, Xavier slid behind the wheel
"Where are we going?" Van asked as he got in
Xavier didn&039;t answer, just started to drive, so Van stared out the windshield, wondering how he could get away frouy Not easily, he suspected
As they passed by a new skyscraper that was going up, he eyed the hts, the union creere all over the building like ants, and he envied the what they did
Man, if he were still one of the with Mr X&039;s crap attitude
On a whi pinkie, re stupid He&039;d been at a construction site, cutting boards on a table saw, and decided to take the guards off the o faster One lapse of focus later and his finger had ended up flying through the air with the greatest of ease The blood loss had see the saw&039;s flat back, soaking into the ground Red, not black
Van put his hand to his chest and felt nothing beating behind his breastbone
Anxiety tre under his collar He glanced at Xavier, the only resource he had "Are we alive?"
"No"
"But that guy was killed, right? So we must be alive"
Xavier&039;s eyes shot across the seat "We&039;re not alive Trust me"
"What happened to him, then?"
Exhaustion flared in Xavier&039;s pale, dead stare, the drooping of his lidshim look like he was a million years old
"What happened to him, Mr X?"
The Fore-lesser didn&039;t answer, just kept on driving