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Staring at his prone forret, but the only thing I could think about was rescuing Chase, and how this ertip I wiped my blade on his back and turned to help the others

Roz had cut down the man in front of him, and Menolly had taken care of her opponent For the ain

Camille walked over to their swords and picked up one "These could come in handy Not iron--but sort of alloy The enchanter and more deadly I don’t think its aimed at any one particular race or species" She tossed one to Morio, one to Roz, and offered the third toblade

"I dunno, I’er It would be hard to run with this On the other hand, it’s good for holding people at arth Vanzir, you want it?"

Vanzir looked at the blade with a hunger I seldom saw on his face "I’ll use it to cut out his heart," heabout Karvanak He took the sword and swished it around Obviously the dude had experience frolanced at Morio "You don’t have any clothes that you could spare in that bag of yours, do you?"

He grinned "Don’t like looking like a hoochie mama? I have a spare karate outfit The pants will be short, but it’s got to be better than what you’re wearing" He zipped open his bag and tossedwith a belt, also black

"Thanks," I said, yanking off s of torture Everyone stared I was buck naked beneath the laive a shit I just want out of that crap and into sohed as I yanked on the pants, which came up to my shins, and belted the top "Feel better?" she said

"Much Thethe glittering hooker togs "At least my skin can breathe now"

"Take them with you," Ca They’ve got her scent and essence on theht workthe, then zipped it shut

"Okay, let’s find Chase We’ve still got a bunch of bloatworgles and venidemons to deal with" I led the rooht the venideh it looked in better shape I also doubted we’d find a portal here; the energy wasn’t strong enough for that At least, I hoped ouldn’t

I opened each door as we cas: wool, hand-woven, and beautiful The next was a bathroom, and the third was a bedroom Lush and opulent, the room smelled like Rāksasa I was about to cross the threshold when Ca wards You’ll blow your head off if you go in there Let’s find Chase and get him out of here" She pulledaround

"Where’s the base around like a chicken with et Chase out, and then come back for Karvanak

"See that door over there--the one that looks like it ht lead to another bedroom?" She pointed to a door on the other side of the arch leading out of the hall "That’s it The basement is unfinished, so it’s cold and dank I have no idea where the venide them loose down there The creatures are mindless and would have tried to use your detective as an all-you-can-eat diner"

But the bloatworgles weren’t , definitely But uard My guess is that the bloatworgles are down there Don’t go in without your defenses being up By the way, Roz savedtoasted by the one on our property Remember, they breathe fire"

As I opened the door, a fetid shtful A pair of glowing eyes gleamed from the darkness below

Those sure as hell aren’t cat eyes, I thought With a shout, I decided to play Han Solo and ran full tilt down the stairs, screaer like a crazed berserker

Apparently, blind and foolish courage has its advantages, because I landed right square on the stomach of the creepy critter before he could shake himself out of his astonishht, and he looked like he’d just sed his tongue Before he had a chance to open his ht down on his eyes While his hide was tough, his eyes were not, and I drove the dagger deep A spray of gray green ross, yes, but there was no ti Morio’s karate suit No ti I was on autopilot: Seek and destroy the eneeon Any sense of reing along on adrenaline and instinct

I leapt to my feet as the others joined me Where was the next little creep?

A flash of ht my eye, and I whirled just in time to see a second de blast, hitting Vanzir straight in the stomach Vanzir didn’t seem to even flinch, and I wondered what the hell dream chasers were really made of We’d never seen hirowl in his throat and h to carve a nice little niche in the bloatworgle’s arain Man, those suckers were tough!

"Move," Morio said, sounding a little like Sht to eight feet tall, his nose and chin s I stared, always impressed by his youkai foruely vulpine Though he was covered with a downy reddish fur, his hands and feet reh and through Altogether, he was one scary-looking mutha

I ju the potbellied creature up in his arle let out a squeal and made a nosedive for Morio’s muzzle, its mouth open to land a bite

Before it couldaround the neck and sent it sle let out a gurgle and slid to the floor Morio turned toward Camille, who nodded

It was then that I saw the door in the back of the basement Chase was in there; he had to be I raced toward it, heedless of whether there were any other demons in the room As my hand touched the doorknob, I heard a scuffle behindout another bloatworgle, playing volleyball with the denored them--they could handle it--and yanked open the door

I flipped on the light, and cockroaches scattered in every direction The inside of the rooe had been built in the back A cell, really, with floor-to-ceiling bars There was a bare incandescent lightbulb screwed into a ceiling fixture, giving off all of forty watts The room was empty save for a chair near the door to the cell, and a layer of grime covered the walls The place s food