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Lightning cracked in the distance and thunder ru colder Dying Yeah That

Bruiser and I passed through one of the arched doorways and into the center of what must have been the sanctuary He stumbled over the fallen rafters and knelt inside the charred walls The brick still smelled of soot and fire and wounded earth, which felt perfect for rew harder Bruiser set me down on the wet earth and lay me over on my side My body was frozen in the position in which he had been carrying me, a semi-fetal position As he eased back, away from me, on his knees, I could feel the rain on that side of my face It felt heated Where the rain hit into thethat was melted intoblankets over et her"

"Are you sure that’s wise?" Bruiser asked

"She says the lightning bolt did soic She says she can help I don’t think we can turn down any help that’s offered Back in a bit Keep her alive" I heard hi back to the street, his boots loud in theto her s, white and black, snol and crow, fighting Had the lightning offered everyone in the witch circles a choice? Had the triple circles and the wyrds done so planned and used bysoain, and I slept beneath the metallic blanket, watched over by Bruiser In the shadows of uneasy sleep, I dreamed and remembered dreams I saw the cavern of ht and dark Lightning flashed again and again, in drea ain The pain came in waves and spikes, as if I were still in thebetween heaven and earth

I hen the rain slowed, to see Bruiser kneeling in theI wasn’t sure, but it looked like heFor me My heart stuttered and paused and stuttered back into soain, but not a normal rhythm This one hurt and rambled and stumbled Time was out

I struggled to find breath to speak "You got a knife?" I asked hily croak

So rain and bent over me, his knees in the mud, a small blade in his hand "Do you want ht"

Swollen He ed And lifted h me And impaled my hands on his knife

"Jane!" He jerked back and away

I chuckled, a sound more sob-like than huhtning flashed and thundered down Close, like a punctuation to ain

There was a long hesitation; then Bruiser was holding ether fists in both of his He bent his head over mine, his mouth at my ear, and said, "Love, are you sure?"

I smiled and felt, for the first time, my tusks I was still in my half-beast form and my canines were shaped like tusks Weird And he still called me love "Yeah Blood and iron Do it Please" I couldn’t feel it when he pressed the iron discs into my flesh, but I saw it The led bystruck close by and I felt the tingle of electricity as it flashed through the ground and through the standing water I spoke on, stuht phrases, "Cold iron, the iron spike of Golgotha, three cursed trees, a once-black-lohite and pure,are all in the saive el of death fight in the space betorlds, fight in the Gray Between that is within ain, I searched through my fractured Cherokee memories and my childhood memories for prayers and finally caod who sees i had words for the Alhty I said, "Yehowa, Edoda," and tords for Great Spirit caels: "Anidawehi--" I stopped again, to catchinside and the pain was building I had to finish it right then "All that is good and all that was evil, or had been used for evil, are now inside my body, surrounded by ht words and settled on: "my sacrifice of pain Unequa, anidawehi, let me die or help me Help rowling

Once again, lightning struck, slaround only yards away The power of it sent electric shivers through me Bruiser yelped and rolled back My loose hair stood on end despite the rain, and my skin crackled with the pain of electricity, but it seemed to help, and the Gray Between finally opened

Beast?

Change Now! she thought at me

I reached inside, down into thefor the snake that lies within each cell of the body, the twined snakes of DNA that enetic ether in places, into tripled strands that looked like nothing on this earth My heart skipped a beat Sped fast and skipped several Heart pain spread throughthat an awful lot lately It meant I didn’t have time to separate the strands I had to use what I was offered I took the tripled strands inA screas fluttered over me, feathers white and black, the roar of battle, of swords clashing, of the stink of old blood and ozone A vision of black shadows and bright light flashed past, interwoven and forever divided My choices caused this battle Or not Maybe they just contributed to it Oron for eons, in the spaces betorlds, and I was no rain of sand on the shores of war

I yanked on the strands