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The angel's lab coat is soaked in blood Around hi meat, like bits of liver torn and tossed on the floor

A chunk of flesh has been ripped out of his cheek

He’s thrashing so hte hunches over hiet a better hold on his tre body Her hair and clothes are splattered in blood Her face drips with it

Herrows of shiny teeth At first, I think that so braces onto her teeth But they’re not braces

They’re razors

She bites into the angel's throat Worries it like a dog with a chew toy Pulls back fro torn flesh

She spits out a chunk of bloody meat It lands with a wet thunk on the floor next to the other bits of flesh

She spits and gags She is revolted, although it’s hard to tell if the revulsion is from her actions or from the taste An unwantedinto Raffe barges into el flesh The thought slips through the cracks in my mind and I instantly shove it back

The delivery guy retches again, and e opens her ain in ani flesh

"Paige!" My voice coh in question

The girl who used to be el and looks at me

Her eyes are the wide baby brown of innocence Drops of blood hang suspended fro lashes She looks at me, attentive and docile as she's always been There is no pride in her expression, no viciousness, no hunger, no horror at her actions She looks up ata bowl of cereal

My throat is raw froh, which is handy because I need to s back uy e unfolds away froainst anything

Then she takes two graceful, h re she was crippled

I don’t dare to breathe I stare at her, resisting the urge to run up and catch her in case she falls

She spreads her aresture, the way she used to when she was a toddler If not for the blood dripping down her face and streaking her stitched-up body, I would have thought her expression as sweet and innocent as it's always been

"Ryn-Ryn" Her voice is on the verge of tears It's the sound of a frightened little girl, one who's sure her big sister can e hasn't called me Ryn-Ryn since she was a baby

I look at the angry stitches crisscrossing her face and body I stare at her bruises--red and blue all over her poor face and body

It’s not her fault Whatever they did to her, she’s the victim, not the monster

Where have I heard that before?

Soe of those chewed-up girls hanging on the tree Had that crazy couple said soht? Is theirto ht sneaks into e could only eat huo so far as to use hu I could help her?

Too horrifying to even think about

And totally irrelevant

Because there’s no reason to think Paige had to eat anything Paige is not a low deetarian A born hu Dalai Lael to defend me That’s all

Besides, she didn’t eat hinawed on him a little

The chunks of flesh quiver on the floor My stoe watches ed with doe-like lashes I concentrate on that and purposely ignore the blood dripping fro froel convulses in earnest His eyes roll, leaving thes repeatedly on the concrete floor He is having a seizure I wonder if he can live with chunks of fleshand most of his blood on the floor His body is probably frantically repairing itself even now Is there a chance that this monster could recover fronore the slimy fluids under my hands My throat burns and I feel stiff and bruised all over

"Ryn-Ryn" Paige still has her ar el sword and grab it I walk back a little ain

I look at the angel's blank eyes, his bleeding ainst the floor

I slam the blade into his heart

I've never killed anyone before What frightens htens h hi but a rotten piece of fruit I feel no sy There is no guilt or shock or grief at the life that was and the person I have beco flesh and the slow exhalation of his last breath

"Great Lord in Heaven"