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I joined her, just as confused as she was "I think…so just sucked the spirits out of this ceiant vacuum cleaner"

"What would do that? And why?" She reached down to give Chase her hand, and I took his other side We lifted him to his feet, and he draped his ar?"

"I caughtfrom a bone-walker I don’t know if it’s broken, but it hurts like hell" He sighed "I’ to pretend I can walk on my own But can you find my men? Two officers were out here with me I lost track of them e split up They went down a different path to check out a noise we heard, and I haven’t heard froo look for hislot Shade, colers"

Shade nodded Chase let out a "Huh?" as Morio, still in his deed "Dude, it’s going to be quicker if I carry you"

"Fine, but hurry You’ve got soaveOver the past few o and had fallen into his place in the group He was a vital ht of hi his physical lieoned out

Morio set off with Shade behind hiht was growing darker, and the clouds now covered the ar and adrenaline rushes had worn off, and I just wanted to drop into bed

"Coet this over with" I hoped, really hoped, that Chase’s men had found a place to hide, or that so lot, but the cynic in ht be slow, but they never tired, and fear made for clumsiness

We headed for the nearest sidewalk--probably fifty yards away--in silence The scattered re along the ground, toes struggling to move on their own I passed an arers were pulling it along the ground, grasping at blades of grass as it inched toward us Sazed at it silently for ait beneath his foot That took care of that He looked back at us

"Once we find Chase’s , breathing people Their remains deserve respect, not this desecration" He rejoined us

"That they do" I led the way off the grass onto the sidewalk The path wound through another thicket of trees, this time birch and ravestones here had been toppled, too

Everything felt eh I knew one Shortly after death, the majority of spirits went on to their next phase in life, or to be with their ancestors, but every graveyard held at least a handful who could not let go I’d never encountered a co unsettledleft Whatever sucked up the spirits got the riht about it for a moment Ivana Krask, the Maiden of Karask, was one of the Elder Fae--and a definite freak show She kept a garden of spirits, where she would torerous ones But even though Ivana had a staff that could clear out the ghosts in a li was beyond even her At least I thought it was

"We’ll ask her, but I don’t think she was responsible Never hurts to check, though" As I pushed aside a low-hanging branch overshadowing the sidewalk, I stopped cold Up ahead, just off the path to the left, was a man, in uniform Or as left of aGreat, first bone-walkers, a bloatworgle, goblins, and noalking rimaced as I noticed they’d ripped open his torso and were dipping into the organs One of the zo on intestines, and the slick tubes of viscera hung li woh her bloodstained lips made s in my time and this was no worse than some of the others--and looked around for the other officer

A ways up the path, we caught sight of the second body Again, a zolanced up at us, a wary gleahouls, who had soy as well as flesh, zombies and bone-walkers were mere autoic until they were stopped or until the spell ran out And all three types of the undead continued on until torn to pieces, and once that happened, they were helpless until thethe cells leached out or was cut off by the spellcaster

S ra the zombies off the first body With one swift blow, he broke the neck of the dead girl, the bloody feast splattering out of herto one side The other zo hisover the other cop We had a head start, and it ignored us until ere near enough to be a threat Then, using the arm as a weapon, the zombie stumbled forward I pulled out ed it face-on With a shout, she spun, one booted foot catching it on the chin

The zo Taking advantage of Delilah’s attack, I plunged the dagger into it, shoving forith all ht The zombie went doith me on top of it

"Hurry, while I’m on its back, carve it up!" I tried a choke hold while Delilah got to work Apparently, I was better at clutching than fighting, because Ithrough the arer

Surprised, I noticed there was no blood splatter Whoever this had been, he’d been eested their food--ran through , yes, but lanced at me as I perched on the back of the zo apart when the necro it together is the h the arers from the li up a side of beef Except eren’t about to fry up steaks for dinner

Smoky joined us "I dispatched the other two," he said, watching as we finished detaching the ars "Here, I can ingerly got up off its back, feeling grubby and hoping there were no parasites clinging to me fro to shreds

Meanwhile, Delilah and I returned to the bodies of the fallen officers "To her head "I didn’t know them all that well, but they seemed nice I think Markus has a family"