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"Guards," hetoward the hoarsely, and backing away Shots were fired, but they were panicked and hurried, and horribly off aim

The lieutenant didn’t understand why He was surely a bloody pulp of a uards stop in horror,out that they must leave They seemed in more fear than they would have been of the American army--or even the Russians

"Co hiaunt as skeletons, barely able to stand, were looking on

"We can’t leave theile old doctor and hi on?

"We’ll come back," Weiss assured him "We’ll come back In just a few hours When the moon is full" The lieutenant would have smiled if he could have done so In a few hours! He could see the trail of blood he was leaving behind

In a few hours, he thought, he would be dead

And that was before they came at last to the stream, and he saw his own reflection

She was exhausted and furious

The evening should have been swift, and sure, but it had not been, and she had barely escaped And the fact that she, Louisa, should have been frightened and on the run, was galling

And yet, she thought, trying to soothe herself, she would have her revenge She would take it slowly, and it would be delicious She had to re with a similar power, it was best to have nuain, she hadn’t even suspected that she er

It would be met

And obliterated

And as to the inhabitants of Chateau DeVant those women

They, too, would be made to suffer

Where was Clareain, she felt the presence of danger, and she closed her h the streets, aware that too soon, daould coer Desperate hunger

As she traveled, senses heightened to a peak, she became aware of a presence that was near She allowed her instinct to take flight, moved like the darkness, and like shadow

She found the prey she had sensed

Bearded

Filthy, lying against a wall in an alley, a paper bag with a liquor bottle in it by his side He was not awake, and not asleep He sang softly

She ca stopped

She ht that the drunk had not bathed in years His clothing was caked with mud He wore jeans that were all but stiff fro worn day in and day out, for however long Bits of leaf and dirt streaked his hair and beard It didn’t matter, she told herself In fact she would unintentionally be doing hu the streets of such trash

But as she moved in

No

No, he was simply too filthy The s

Despite her rage, she began towas interrupted by words as he laughed at hiain, Louisa concentrated The darkness still surrounded her, and she beca, passing a bottle of wine between them as they ambled down the streets, was a threesoe that still burned within her, suddenly filled her anew

And yet, she knew, rage would not serve her well It did not matter so much with a drunk in an alley, but finesse was roup, then quickened her step, passing the as if she had soo

"Ah, mademoiselle! Bonsoir!" one of the men called to her

"Pieter!" the woman chided "Leave her be!"

Louisa allowed herself to turn slightly, to survey the group Hardly la creme de la creme of society The woman’s skirt was too short, her blouse was low cut, and her breasts all but spilled fro about the way sheLouisa did not really judge this at all; a woet by But alas, this one was somewhat coarse The breasts were there, and so were the hips In tie Not the one to be courtesan to the rich and h, not in the least educated, she would not even know that what she sold so cheaply could have been refined and improvedand used for power

And the men

A bit coarse as well Past their first youth, but not yet old Married? They wore no rings Yet they had the look of , and looking for their place, at this hour

Cheap, oh, yes, very cheap, perhaps, if they could only afford one woman between them

Not at all the type she would really choose