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Gus’s hand clutched at et my attention

"Save her!" he pleaded with me "They want her! I don’t knohy, but they want her!" It took ether, and then I realized that the "her" in question was Gus’s boulder

I was about to tell hiht of incubusthat both Gus and I turned as one

Graeme stood there, his waxen face even odder than before The incubus had been gorgeous once: an Apollonian delight of perfectly syolden male beauty But such beauty had only barelyout of those sky-blue eyes When Conleth--the ifrit halfling--had s had left the incubus with a weird, waxen parody of his forlory In other words, he now looked on the outside like the horror he was on the inside

Grae his cohorts behind him The look in his eyes froze my blood; he wasn’t any more of a fan of me than I was of him

"Jane, you stupid little cunt," he articulated in a tone that was paradoxically friendly and light "What on earth do you think you’re doing?" Graeme backed up his words with a wave of juju poured directly atas visions of sex and pain crowded into ic

Focus, Jane, I scoldedto keep my shields up and intact, I pulled Gus closer toto protect him or to remind myself that I wasn’t alone with Grae like this," Graeme’s voice floated toward estions I shook my head violently as ht, frantically I’d never dealt with anything like what Grae Physical assaults, sure But mental? I didn’t even know that was possible

"Jane’s not a fighter," ca into my mind "Jane’s meant to be tied up… fucked… like the little slut she is"

I’h that I ed not only to solidify e ball that I lobbed at Graerumbled my libido, as Graeme’s shields absorbed the iroorowing fear behind bravado " ’Cause this Jane’s gonna kick your ass!"

Okay, it sounded a bit lame, even to me And Graeme’s only response was a chuckle so evil it raised the hair on my arms another inch I must have looked like a scared cat or a porcupine, at that point

"Slut," Graeme hissed "Just a little slut, built for your pain, e balls that I pulled out of the air with practiced ease Anger was , but I needed to watch my power levels

Unfortunately, Grae Behind hian had backpedalled toward the boulder, where he was doing so I couldn’t quite make out It was a testament to how badly Gus was hurt that he didn’t even see , little Jane," Grae to refocusat it "I know it’s what you want, what you crave…"

Again, ies assaulted my mind: bodies bent, chained, whipped, bruised, cut… blood and se across lacerated flesh and I moaned

"That’s it, Jane… open your mind… drop the inhibitions that fetter you… let… ic rolled acrossas if so a chisel into my skull