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"What do we do with this?" I indicated the silver-charred pulp "He’s still on fire"

"Put out the fire?" Bruiser looked up at the sky, turning his face to the rain, which washed away his spreading blood He’d taken a cut to his face, across his eyebrow and up into the ’s peak of his hairline He was holding his gut together with both hands, but already the flesh was knitting together He ht have some dandy scars, but he’d heal Onorios--whatever they are--are hard to kill Which looked to be a really good thing He looked back at the body "The rain doesn’t seeht work"

Bruiser chuckled, the sound exhausted and beaten

He was staring atunknown lit his war turned over in rowl and turned, lifting the vamp-killer, but it was only Brute The white olf stood in the doorway, his hackles high, his canines glistening in the candlelight He et and stank like dog

"Too late, Brute"

The white alked slowly into the ruined house, his nose on the ground, sniffing He stopped at the body of Joses Bar-Judas / Joseph Santana and sniffed When he was convinced Santana wasn’t going to get up and do anything, he sat in the mud and looked up at , I pulled out the dia I wondered if the doohickey would turn Brute back to human Or maybe just kill him I remembered the dream where someone--Me? Brute?--asked to be set free Not worth the risk to prick either one of us, I guessed

Hu to call your new toy?"

"I was going for Glob What do you think?" I held it up

"Simple Catchy" From his position in the mud, Bruiser kicked at Joseph’s left hand It flopped before it fellin the pals worse for hi from the body of Joses Bar-Judas and shoved the tip of the Glob inside the cold, bloodyheated and icy as it passed from the weapon into the flesh of the Son of Darkness, but I saw absolutely nothing S And then there was a soft sizzle and the smoke died away "Huh It worked How ’bout that?"

Bruiser shook his head in what looked like amused affection

"Janie?" Eli called from the dark "Janie, where are you?"

Had he tracked me via the cell? I touched a pocket It had once held a cell phone, but it was gone now Reading mythe fight"

"I have Molly," Eli shouted

I tucked the Glob back into my bra, which was uncomfortable, but I didn’t have much choice, and shouted, "Over here! Bruiser’s hurt He needs va mass of meat to the Master of the City," Bruiser added, softly, "before he heals enough to get away"

Eli and Molly trudged through the softening rain, passed through the empty doorway, and walked inside the walls of the burned house When they reached us, Molly’sat my feet "Looks like I missed all the fun Not bad, Janie," he said "Not bad at all"