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According to all the legends, if the sliver of wood touched a vahead would explode in flah never to a vamp as old and powerful as Sabina or Joseph Santana This hy Beast had taken over and forced the time-shift onto us In about five seconds real time, Molly would be dead So would I I had resisted Sabina once and lost Santana was stronger than she was We were all dead

My gut started the now-fanored it If my body worked this time as it had the last time I/we had folded time, I had a few more real-time moments before I was incapacitated I walked to the outer circle I could reach just outside the circle and grabprotective ward instantly, but that was a real-time instantly I could take up a blade and be ready when the snare of thorns fell, and try to cut out the Son of Darkness’ heart Decisions, decisionsI reached through a gap in the wavering energies and drew out a vaap and across the circle Instantly I felt a snap of pain and knew I’d destroyed the ward

Trying to breathe through the gathering pain, I stepped to the priestess’ side and eyed the terrain, the stability of the inner and outer circles They were both dropping The snare of thorns as falling, spaces opened between the fla away There was no place to hide I reached one arh the fla to ease the va and cut out the heart of the Son of Darkness But when ies, fire leaped throughmy nerves It felt like , exquisite pain Hissing, I lifted myself away from the contact and smelled burned flesh Crap I’d cauterized a wound, like a brand Gasping, I stepped back and reconsidered

Okay Plan B There was always a Plan B, right?

Delicately, I eased one ar and took the tip of the wooden weapon, the sliver of the Blood Cross, in ers I pulled the splinter of wood away fro around it was soot and ashes, and a flake was falling in real tih the trap wall and snagged the wood through ed and pulled and I felt wetness gathering inside ies of the snare again, I thought

The abdoed, the retching deep and ripping My guts snarled and twisted My breath stopped I retched again and I tasted blood on the back ofstomach acids "Not yet," I whispered Not yet Iouter circle to Sabina with ed the silver stake fro, I forced ht, reached in, and, one by one, I broke Santana’s fingers to force hi sounds, like a bass dru when tied to separate Santana’s hand fro ar the priestess up and over For an instant Sabina’s energies ed with mine and I could sense her disconcertrasp so fast that it didn’t last, and I turned away, leaving her hanging in the air, angling toward the pond nearby, robes flapping out like wings Oddly, the fire that coated her didn’t feel hot It was one good ain, this tiood

I went to Molly and hefted her up and over h the dying energies of the witch circle and away, into the dark I lay her down in the shadows of the brick building, in the opposite direction fro inside , unable to breathe I wouldn’t be able to lift the other witches still inside the circle, not now But I couldn’t stop I still had to deal with the big-bad-ugly in the trap, a trap that was clearly falling apart, leaving hi to be able to stop hih to touch my spine, if the knottedtiht between God and et back to the Son of Darkness long enough to stab him"

God didn’t answer I didn’t really expect hi to ease up I pushedlike I was on a three-day drunk, and lurched through the crashing energies Halfway to the inner circle, round with both knees and gagged, blood in athered and fell, dripping off the tip ofaround my mouth "Not yet" The tears tasted salty, and I licked ot one back paw beneath me before my abdomen wrenched and I threw up Like the last time I had spent too ood," I whispered as the world reeled around ers to keep froht and night shadows Pain started in ertips and spread up, joint by joint Bad, really bad, but not soht then

Froround I remembered the thump I had heard when Santana first appeared in the rift of space Over the stink of my oeat and sickness, I set hi As soon as I finish dying myself

From the corner of my eye I saw a mist in the darkness beyond the outer circle Theinside the folded space of ti fast

It was Brute, the olf stuck in wolf form Brute, who had chased Santana out of va tabs onthrough New Orleans The white olf stuck in wolf form had bitten Joseph Santana He could, therefore, probably track the Son of Darkness