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Batildis fell into two pieces with a fountain of blood that shot toward the unfinished beams overhead Horror crossed the Devil’s face The soh for Bethany to fall on her, fangs buried in her throat The blood-servant and fighter of legend fell back, dropping her ar to the clay floor Her mouth opened to screa on the wall, and bit its foot

Derek, corinus Like a hundred tiun that crushed the silence, that echoed against the walls Rounds missed and ricocheted I landed, my back paws firm and stable on the clay floor But Derek hadn’t seen iven to Beast by an angel

I took a round ht of my navel Another penetrated my left shoulder Beast screamed I fell at Derek’s feet and he leaped overthe weapon that shattered the stillness of the rooainst my eardrums Bethany rose from the Devil, the priestess’ face and clothes covered with blood The Devil stared sightlessly at the beas bent and liel of death on the clay of the earth She no longer had a throat, just the bones of a spine She was no longer a threat

Bethany stood besideOr, I was pretty sure she was screalittered with fury But the gun ripped into the air, stealing the sound, and then there was a flash of light, the scintillation of srinus pulled reality around hione, the bodies of the Devil and Batildis with hi behind

I lay on the floor, cradling the Judge, the weapon that I hadn’t even fired yet, as Derek’stoo weak for the wounds--unless a round had hit so Like the descending aorta or the big artery that feeds the liver Funny I couldn’t remember the na with ti

Beast? I said

She didn’t anshich couldthe front of the roo She ripped the silver chain fro hi the MOC’s head like a baby’s or a lover’s As she raised back up, she paused and tore the thing’s leg open With her teeth A trickle of black blood fell from the fresh wound into Leo’s mouth He shook as if an electric pulse had hit him He vah the black trickle and placed it into Grégoire’shis head, before adding another trickle And another He took a breath, a wet, grinding sound like rubber over sand She repeated the action with Katie All three va Bethany then ripped her orist and offered it to Leo, who latched on and drank Grégoire, looking like an ill, bloodless child, took her other wrist Katie crawled up Bethany and bit into her throat Three mostly naked and blood-s, feeding on the priestess Ick If I’d had breath, I ht fluttered and telescoped down into a pinhole of vision, centered on the thing on the wall It was staring atthat it knehat I was and that it wanted ray and black h, I thought to Beast

Beast was busy, she thought back

And then I remembered the arcenciel It had been here Bethany hadn’t taken her or ridden her or whatever But the pocket watches that were hanging on the crucified thingYeah, pocket watches I’d last seen theet hold of were inon the wall in the dungeon of the Master of the City of New Orleans and ht shriveled down to a bright pinprick, where Leo had gotten his pocket watches From Natchez? Or from my bank? Which would imply that the MOC had way more power in the human and financial world than I had known I needed tiotten into ht disappeared

CHAPTER 21

A Bucket Full of Snakes

I ca over ilt, polished and so brilliant that the light reflecting back fro overhead was painted like the Sistine Chapel, or another fancy cathedral in Italy, with angels and hu on clouds, faces etched with ecstasy Vas out Weird Vamps eird Their art eirder

I took a breath It hurt so bad that I groaned, then coughed, which hurt even worse I wrappedcold blood on etting old Cats had nine lives, but I had already pushed that score into unknown territory and I had to wonder how et shifted in ti with ti me outside of time A time bubble that let o on without uts twisted into a knot and then yanked tight I pressed into et bigger

I tried to stretch out and thought my insides would rip in two Beast?

Janehere

Breast chuffed atJane has air Jane should think of time

In the deeps ofin front of the fire pit, fla shadows across her

Tiht to relax, to not panic, and closed my eyes

I had actually seen a ti with Molly way back when, and we had found a ti a poltergeist Wrong It had a vampire stuck in a time loop, in a time bubble, with a witch I had always been aware that time slowed down in battle Soldiers had reported that phenomenon from time immemorial But this was different More distinct More intense Longer lasting Now Beast and I hadlike slon time, fold time, at will Or place us in a bubble at will Freaky stuff