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Please stop

Be thou bound to my service

I felt the David I&039;d known snuff out like a candle, his personality and presence obliterated by the bonding

He was Star&039;s

His eyes shifted spectruhtless brown

She took the book away froaze followed her with the unsettling attention and devotion he&039;d once given me

"He&039;s lost," Rahel said Her voice had turned ice cold, hard enough to cut "Trust hiainst her"

She let the illusion snap to darkness I felt ain I rested ainst my braced knees

Rahel&039;s hand rested briefly on ive ht of panic in ainst tears My face felt hot, ht

"I don&039;t understand," I said "Why is she doing this?"

"She doesn&039;t have the Mark anymore," Rahel said She crouched down, fluid as a shadow, to lookto fill her emptiness"

"Then where did the Mark-?"

The ansas in her sad, furious, outraged eyes

"Oh, God," I breathed "Lewis tried to save her He took it from her And now she wants it back"

"Now you see," Rahel said soberly

I did Vividly Horribly Lewis had so much powermore power than me, than anyone Lewis had done exactly what his nature de so, he&039;d been vulnerable to the Mark, and that washorrible Lewis corrupted, without a conscience, with unlimited power

Apocalypse never seemed like such a personal word before

"Is he still with her?" I asked She tilted her head to one side, then back "C&039;ames"

"I think so We have found no trace of him"

"Why doesn&039;t he leave?"

She blinked slowly "I think he can&039;t"

"Shit!" I slapped the ground hard enough to make my hand hurt "Why didn&039;t you tell me?"

"What would you have done differently?"

"Well, crap, ht into the trap, you idiot!"

Rahel gavewith Power Capital P "I ahted nature of mortals, Snow White I deal with you as we have always done with humans It is not our nature to explain ourselves We expect you to understand this"

"Whatever Man, if Ito have souys suck at it!" Shit I didn&039;t have time for this, the situation was out of control, and as so, I had a bird&039;s-eye view of the nasty landing "I need to get to Oklahoma City"

"I can&039;t take you there," she said "I&039;m-"

"Yeah, free, I know You can only travel the speed we do" She looked pleased and surprised that I already knew "Get me to the closest car lot"

She nodded "Hold on," she said She threw her arround

Now, I&039;ve flown in Oversight hundreds of times, maybe thousands-and I&039; away But this was different My body wasn&039;t safely down on the ground waiting forin ly sense of humor

I let out a scream that came out more like a helplesson for dear life as we soared up into the cool air Heat batteredover the blazing orange pyre of the Land Rover

A bird dipped wings and darted closer to check us out; I read confusion in his dark little bird eyes and absolutely felt for hi in his airspace, either

"You know so"Did you knoe could do this?"

I shutin it

Rahel touched us down on the corner of an intersection in Norman, about ten miles from where we&039;d started, and let ht off the urge to puke She found it a

"You walk the worlds," she said "Yet a little levitation bothers you?"

"A little? Hello, a lot," I shot back, and sed "What are we doing here?"

Here being a closed, deserted car lot called Perforave me a look so exasperated, I was surprised she didn&039;t just snap her fingers andyou transportation"

Right, the Land Rover was a pile of s a car"

"Unless they offer late-night test drives, I believe so"

So, it was going to be straight-up grand theft auto No probleht up, and besides, next to the death sentence ticking away inside et to OKC and find Star, and wheels sounded like a damn practical idea

I scouted around for witnesses Not much traffic in this part of town after sunset, especially with a stors and the rattling huly harsh wind The few cars that did drive by didn&039;t seem to be bothered by our presence

Rahel waited for ed "I need soh-end Honda, maybe an Acura, neutral colors I want to blend into traffic But first, take care of these security cameras"